Sysco Convention

I have the Culinary Arts class on Monday and Tuesday mornings. Yesterday was different--we went on a "field trip" to help out at the Salsa and BBQ Competition held at the Sysco Convention instead (which turned out to be a lot more fun than I had anticipated). We really didn't do much; just poured the salsa entries into numbered containers, and served them in little cups so people can sample them and judge which salsa tasted the best.

So we ended up with a lot of time on our hands, and Chef Instructor encouraged us to go look around before leaving. And boy were there a LOT of stuff to look at!

Ready-to-serve frozen desserts. If I am to work at a five-star restaurant...I think I'll make mine from scratch instead of thawing the ready-made store-bought stuff...

But these DO look good.

Fresh produce--from lettuce to kiwano melons to mushrooms.

Artisan cheese. They had a fruit and cheese skewer for a sample. I loved the port-wine and sage derby...my stomach however, had a lot to complain about.

Fresh crustaceans! I got to try their cocktail shrimp and seared scallop...very juicy and succulent.

Also, fresh sushi-grade salmon, tuna, and halibut. Unfortunately, he didn't have samples...but it turned out he and my former boss (from the time when I worked at a Japanese restaurant) knows each other!

With all the dizzying arrays of food displays, pre-packaged dishes, prepared soup mixes, ready-to-serve desserts, I couldn't help but wonder....exactly what are we REALLY eating at restaurants? Are the plates of food that come out of the kitchen really made on the spot? Is that chicken noodle soup made from real chicken or the chicken-flavored powder (i.e. chicken stock granules)?? How fresh really is their "freshly baked bread"??? Are all the restaurants simply throwing the ready-made stuff together, adding their own spice to it, and calling it "made from scratch"?? What are the customers paying for??

Hmmm...so this maybe what the restaurants do:

Whip up a chocolate cake made from Betty Crocker cake mix, smear it with store-bought fudge frosting, layer it, drizzle with Hershey's chocolate syrup, whipped cream and chopped nuts, give the cake a fancy-schmancy name like "Decadent Death-by-Chocolate Cake" and charge a customer $8 for a slice. And the customer will gladly dish out the cash for it.

Clever, yes. This is a proven strategy to make money. A restaurant generally charges 4 times the cost it took to create the dish. For example, it probably took McDonald's $0.25 to make their $1 hamburger.

One thing I learned from this Convention--eating at home can potentially cut the food cost down to a quarter.