Does everything have to be "artisanal" now??

M

moyn

Well-known member
I just saw an ad for Olive Garden touting their "artisanal ravioli"

Considering the food at OG comes already made in pouches and all they do is reheat on premises, is there really an artisan dude putting hand made ravioli, with hand-made cheeses in individual vacu-packs, one by one?

All of a sudden everything is "artisanal", bread in the supermarket, jarred spaghetti sauce, cookies in the deli...

Is it just me? Or is Artisanal the new black?

 
Artisanal may be the new black. Also the new "natural," "restaurant quality," "chef-prepared," and

who knows what else.

Remember when all an ad had to do was include the word "me?"

"My painting, and Nice 'N Easy. This I do for ME."

"'Artisanal' is the new 'ME.'"

And it's mostly crap.

 
Pet peeve of mine....

.... the "artisan bread" in five minutes a day

I know I am in the minority, but "artisan" and "dump the flour in a bowl, dump the water and walk away" simply do not match.

I know the book is a huge success and teaches how to make pretty decent bread, I know it has done a great job by making folks less afraid of baking bread at home, but the name just rubs me the wrong way

 
Speaking of, I want to thank Michael for mentioning Hunt's spaghetti sauce in a can.

A friend had a potluck where she used a can of this mixed with a can of Heinz chili sauce as the sauce for a crockpot of turkey meatballs.

It shouldn't have worked, but it did. Possibly my taste buds were numbed into submission by the NaCl. Later that week I used Hunt's "Four Cheese" ($1 a can!!) plus a jar of chili sauce simmered with homemade meatballs. It was surprisingly good, expecially when dunked with crusty bread.

Not exactly artisanal, but tasty!

 
Olive Garden: Chefs trained in Italy!

Do you remember the television commercial several years ago where the Olive Garden claimed it had recently sent its chef off to Italy to learn new recipes from master Italian chefs? The ad featured actors dressed as chefs in a Tuscan-esque theme park kitchen, all hand preparing, rolling, cutting, stirring small pots etc.

I screamed every time I saw this blatant lie.

When did it become acceptable to lie in advertising?

 
If I need a quick sauce and don't have cans of whole tomatoes around, this is my "go to"...

...red sauce.

I only buy the "four cheese" flavor. The others are ok, but I think the "four cheese" is much better, and it's usually the same price as the other flavors.

I wait for a sale and stock up. It makes a good base for other additions.

Michael

 
You two remind me of the Ron White story where his relatives, who live in a very...

...small town, are enthusiastically telling him that they now have their first real Italian (Eye-tal-yen) restaurant.

"Is it any good?" asks Ron.

"Yeah, it's really good!" comes the answer.

"Seriously?" says Ron, skeptical.

"Well... it ain't no Olive Garden."

I've heard it a hundred times and it still makes me laugh.

Michael

 
I don't think we have the no-sugar variety. At least not in my local Kroger-affiliated store.

The four cheese flavor is reasonably seasoned. It's still sweet, but not nearly as syrupy as most of the national supermarket brands.

I'll look for the no-sugar variety.

Michael

 
Apparently they go from artisanal to amnesiac on the long plane ride home. smileys/frown.gif

 
I went into a rant when I saw that commercial considering that

today I planned on making artisanal bread, ciabatta with cheese, to go with our artisinal ravioli. Oh, is it legal to call our homemade ravioli "artisanal"? The bread recipe is from Peter Reinhart's Bread Bakers Apprentice.
Bread is baked and smelling mighty yummy, have to freeze it until Saturday for our family ravioli dinner. Let's hope I don't get sick, I want to make 3 desserts on Friday and dear hubby has the flu right now.

 
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