It is becoming increasingly popular asking customers if they want pepper in their dish, the waiter flashing a huge pepper grinder that they move as if they were playing a musical tropical instrument.
Just in the last week, I have found the same foolish nonsense anti-gourmet practice in three different restaurants in the city. None of them are high class or the top of the range. I guess they think this is something that will impress the customer, or that it is the right thing to do. The thing is that, if you ask the waiters, if the dish has already any, they usually do not know. You do this sort of thing when somebody is cooking for you and this somebody, in his/her house, knows for a fact that the food has no pepper and the dish needs it.
It is a ridiculous practice. Who has decided that it is good peppering or salting your food before it has been tasted? Who has decided that this practice is appropriate in a good restaurant?
Do I need to develop my sixth foodie-sense to learn by osmosis that my dish indeed needs pepper before trying it?
