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Wednesday, August 24, 2005

How's that toast taste?

Last Monday night, on our usual burger night, xtian, ivaner and I ran into an old friend at Whitlow's who was working with the Discovery Channel and was at the restaurant doing some filming for a piece on the five-second rule to be aired in a show about medical myth-busting. They were taking some pretty creative liberties with the scenes they were filming, but what they would have been really interested in filming was the scene that unfolded at the table next to me at lunch today.

Cue up a shot of a young couple, he with the baggy jeans and over-curled ballcap, and she with the tight clothes, expensive haircut and lack of realization that she could do better than her lunch companion. She gets up to go to the bathroom, giving her Dude a sweet smile, a kiss and a hug. Their food arrives shortly after she leaves, and she's gotten a breakfast plate with a couple of pieces of toast.

While she's still gone, I notice that something hits the ground near my feet, and I look over on the floor to see a piece of toast. Dude leans over and picks up the piece of toast. I assume that he'll put it on the table and then tell her what happened, but no: back it goes onto her plate, fresh off the floor, while he looks around nervously to see if anyone (especially the girl) notices his new take on manners.

I was eating with my endlessly-impressive friend Weston, but even his tales of his self-renovation of his apartment couldn't keep me from watching out of the corner of my eye as she came back, gave him another kiss and sat down and ate her piece of toast, and I did everything I could to keep from laughing.

2 comments:

d-lee said...

Wow. Over on the hockey blog, I wrote something about foodbourne illness just this morning. How bizarre that you would be writing about food sanitation as well.

For the record... As a foodservice professional, people "joke" about the so-called "five second rule", but nobody acutally believes that dropped food is devoid of contamination during the first five seconds.
If it has dirt and grime on it, it has dirt and grime on it.

Like anything, with prolonged exposure comes greater risk. Being on the floor for less than five seconds is not as bad as being on the floor for, say, four hours. However, being on the floor for five seconds is being on the floor five seconds too long.

I'll refrain from the lecture about foodbourne bacterial growth with respect to time, cooking temperatures, storage techniques and personal hygeine practices.

Besides, god made dirt. Dirt don't hurt.

Anonymous said...

5 seconds on the floor of your own kitchen is one thing. 5 seconds on the floor of a restaurant that has hundreds of people a day walking on it...that's quite another.

that reminds me of the seinfeld episode where jerry drops his g-friend's toothbrush in the toilet. wonder if that dude was able to kiss her later on without thinking about the toast...