A. G. Sulzberger is covering the Midwest for the NYT.
A.G. Sulzberger is a vegetarian.
A.G. Sulzberger wrote a piece for the NYT food section about how hard it is to be a vegetarian in the Midwest.
So, yes, I’ve “eaten” at some of these famous restaurants. There was the meal at the Golden Ox steakhouse (baked potato), Stroud’s fried chicken (rolls) and Arthur Bryant’s barbecue, where, searching for vegetarian options on the menu, skipping over the lard-bathed French fries, pausing to consider the coleslaw, I ordered the safest option (a mug of Budweiser).
So, you’re a vegetarian, and you went to a steakhouse, a fried chicken restaurant, and the single greatest restaurant in the world (according to Calvin Trillin, anyway). Good planning, guy.
I never liked meat. And when I learned, while eating a burger at the cafeteria of the American Museum of Natural History at age 5, that “meat” was actually a euphemism for — and even dedicated carnivores hate being reminded of this — muscle, I felt my preference had received a hearty endorsement from common sense.
“Common sense” my ass. And as a dedicated carnivore, I’m no more bothered by the fact that meat is muscle than Mr. Sulzberger seems to be by the fact that tofu is coagulated soy milk.
This is the kind of thing that makes me not just agree with Anthony Bourdain, but wish that Mr. Bourdain and Mr. Trillin meet up with Mr. Sulzberger face to face one day and have a frank and open exchange of views.
(I do love the caption on the photo at the top of the article, though.)
This entry was posted on Wednesday, January 11th, 2012 at 8:01 am and is filed under Beef, Clippings, Food. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
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A. G. Sulzberger is covering the Midwest for the NYT.
From the whining in the quote I thought he must be exiled to some remote burg with one stop light, a Dairy Queen and a Golden Corral.
He’s in Kansas City. It’s a friggin’ metropolis. If he’s starving there he’s being a leafy drama queen.
What I like about your comments, Brian, is that they often prompt me to consider things I had not considered previously.
According to Wikipedia, the 2010 population of Kansas City, MO, was 459,787, with 2.1 million people in the “metro area”.
The Austin, TX 2010 population is 790,390, with an estimated 1,716,291 in the Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos “metro area”.
The “Kansas City, MO-KS MSA” ranks 29th according to Wikipedia’s list. The “Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos, TX MSA” ranks 35th.
Point being, there’s no shortage of vegetarian restaurants and restaurants with true vegetarian offerings in the smaller Austin area. Mr. Sulzberger’s article might have been more interesting if he had concentrated on why vegetarian restaurants are apparently unable to make it in the larger KC area.
[…] The New York Times, in its infinite genius, sends a vegetarian to review steakhouses and BBQ joints in Kansas City. That’s some mighty fine reporting there, Lou. (Hat tip: Dwight) […]
[…] Hey, remember A.G. Sulzberger? We wrote about him, and his struggle to find vegetarian food in Kansas City back in January. […]