Knowing Your Limits
Posted by The Editorial Desk / Wednesday, March 11th, 2009
Fellow food blogger Mike Johnson (he joined the Endless Simmer ranks a few months ago) today posted a tongue-in-cheek account of how a weekend trip to Ikea reinforced his decision to remain on the periphery of professional food criticism:
“Of course, no trip to IKEA is official until I load up my shopping cart with a bag of frozen meatballs, two packets of sauce and a jar of lingonberry preserve. That’s when it really hit me.
I have absolutely no idea what Swedish meatballs are supposed to taste like. I know what the ones they sell at IKEA taste like.”
Johnson is only too happy to remain blissfully ignorant of what REAL Swedish meatballs
(Photo: champ_des_revs)
should/actually taste like, arguing instead:
“As long as I get to go home, bake those delicious little morsels in the oven while I mix up the sauce (complete with idiot-proof illustrated instructions…just like my end table!) and spoon a dollop of that jam on the side of the plate, I’m happy.”
Johnson told us he considers himself “an enlightened amateur” when it comes to food appreciation, estimating that he’ll be just fine if a regular restaurant reviewing gig doesn’t turn out to be in the cards.
And what about the D-I-Y speaker plan that lured him to Ikea in the first place?
“Oh, they’re still sitting in the box,” he shared. “But I’ve eaten half of the meatballs. So that part of the project is well under way.”
–Warren Rojas
Tags: Endless Simmer, food critic, Gut Check, Ikea, restaurant reviewing, restaurants, Swedish meatballs