Ramanisblog

Tag: Dining

  • Consumers Stop Hotels From Fleecing

    There are quite a few things I have not understood.

    One such the experience of Dining in a Hotel or Restaurant.

    Amma Canteen
    Good economical food

    We use both the terms .

    My son in Law and daughter are always under tension  when I go out dining with the family, my son and daughter are used to my behavior.

    The reason?

    I vehemently oppose leaving tips in any Hotel, as  matter of principle, probably the one I am able to follow!

    You pay for your food in a restaurant at a price fixed by them, not you.

    You do not haggle the prices.

    Why pay tips?

    Polished people tell me as if they are informing an idiot that Tips is to insure prompt Service, so the term TIPS(acronym)

    The proprietor or the Company even if it is Multinational Chain of Hotels have inbuilt the cost of labor while fixing the price.

    So, why should I pay?

    Again if my service can be ensured only by my paying tips, it conveys to me that the waiter will not offer me proper service if I do not pay tips.

    This implies that the restaurant is deficient in its service as I am paying their fixed Price.

    The other reason touted is that leaving a tip is a Status symbol and in abroad you can not leave out without paying.

    I had been abroad and I never paid a tip.

    The worst I got was a nasty look.

    That’s nothing new as when any one my Home asks me how the food is , if it is good, i would say so, I get the same looks.

    (Why do people ask for Your opinion only to confirm what they think?)

    No this leas to another aspect of eating out.

    The prices.

    In Tamil Nadu the State Government has opened up  Restaurants selling good tasty food at  affordable Prices.

    The low-cost canteens in Chennai, serving breakfast and lunch at rock-bottom rates, are an instant hit. And the welldressed office-going crowd does not seem to mind sharing space with the slum-dweller for that tasty rice-sambar sold at Rs.5 and curd-rice sold at Rs.3.

    Other hotels charge anything between Rs 18 per plate of two Idlis and Curd Rice around Rs 20.

    You do not get a Masala Dosa for anything less than Rs 70!

    Why?

    People think it is beneath their dignity to question this extortion.

    Imagine people with a salary for Rs 4000 to 5000 per month ,are staying alone and have to take food in restaurants.

    Is this not fleecing?

    Why The Consumer groups are silent on this issue?

    I saw a Talk show in Vijay TV Neeya Naana where the Hoteliers met  with the customers for  a discussion.

    And they offer you what they  think you like, never an authentic Tamil Nadu Cuisine except Idli Vada Ponga and Poori (which has become South Indian now( and a few other items)

    Whys no specific Tamil specialties?

    I can name quite a few.

    Think about it,

    Related.

    Piping hot Pongal is the latest item for breakfast at Amma Canteens in Tamil Nadu. A plate of this popular cuisine costs just Rs. 5. Three months ago Chief Minister Jayalalithaa launched these canteens in Chennai to help the poor get quality nutritious food at subsidised prices. Fluffy idlis cost just Re 1 each; sambar rice Rs. 5 and curd rice Rs. 3. Following good public response, these restaurants were set up at all 200 wards in the city. Now the state government has taken these canteens to nine other cities: Coimbatore, Madurai, Trichy, Tirunelvelli, Tuticorin, Salem, Erode, Vellore and Tirupur.

    A customer told NDTV, “Pongal is a very good addition. It is easily digested. Idli too is easily digested. Anybody can have pongal, even patients like to have idli or pongal. It is a good move.”

    In Chennai’s Santhome area, Amalraj and his wife Daisy say they’ve stopped preparing breakfast at home over the last three months. He is a Security Guard with a private agency and their house is just a few hundred metres away from the canteen. Amalraj says “for Rs. 20 we both finish our breakfast, we just walk here every morning. It’s cheaper than home food.”

    There’s more to choose for lunch. Lemon rice and curry leaf rice have made a debut at an extremely affordable price of Rs. 5 a plate. The introductory sambar and curd rice would continue too. The menu draws people from all classes. Labourers to corporate executives simply walk in. Mr Raman, a first timer, says “the quality is very good for the price. Outside even tea sells at Rs. 7 now.”

    Ashwin, an executive who stops at the canteen often, adds “without this poor people will not eat and may skip meals. They can’t go to hotels too; they would just remain hungry.”

    Amma Canteens are run by women from self-help groups. Each is paid Rs. 300 a day. Officials claim their focus is on hygiene and quality. A sanitary inspector from the Chennai Corporation explains “customers are served purified drinking water. Come September machine made chapatis would be served.”

    http://www.ndtv.com/article/south/what-makes-jayalalithaa-s-amma-canteens-so-successful-374929
    Hotliers openly admit that their profit is from 40 percent to 100 %!

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  • Thirty Dining Rules Hinduism

    Hinduism accords Food the highest priority.

    Dining Rules.Hinduism.
    Food served in Plantain Leaf South Indian Style.

    Sikshavalli of the Taittiriya  Upanishad starts , after Invocation and general instructions, with the explanation and description of the importance of food.

    Sikshavalli is an anthology of instructions by the teacher to the students.

    ‘Never Insult Food, let this be your vow”

    Annanna Nindhyath That Vratham’

    So Rules have been laid as to how one should eat and how the food is to be served.

    The Smriti declares that one who eats once a Day is a Yogi,

    Twice a Bhogi (Glutton), and

    Thrice a Day is Rogi (Sick person)

    One has to take one meal around Noon after Madhyanniha of Sandhya Vandanam.

    One light snacks, Lahu Aahara at Night before sunset, after evening Sandhya Vandana.

    Rules.

    1.Food is to be taken in a Plantain Leaf, with its tapering part(shorter end) intact.

    2.One should face either the East or the North. Facing East will bring all that is Good including Longevity; North Wealth.

    3.The Plantain leaf is to be placed with its tapering end at the left side of the Diner.

    4.The leaf should be sprinkled with water, which should be placed at the left hand side of the Diner, and cleaned  with the right hand by the Diner.

    5.No conversation is allowed  during the Meal.

    6.Water should not be drunk during the Meal, except when one has hiccups; it can be drunk after Meal.

    7.Payasa or Sweet Porridge is  to be served first on the right hand bottom corner of the Leaf.

    8.Items to be served from the top right hand corner (directions from the view of the Diner), in the following order.

    Pachadi/Salad

    Curry,

    Kootu,

    Avial,

    Pickles,and table salt at the top left hand corner of the Plantain Leaf.

    9.Cooked Dal at the left hand side of the leaf by the side of Payasa.

    10.Cooked Rice.

    12.Ghee.

    13.After Parishajana Sambar.

    14.Papad.

    15,Second helping of dishes.

    16.After Sambar Rice is over, Rice and  Rasam is to be served.

    17.Then Payasam.

    18.Special sweets. if any and Mixed Rice like Puliyodarai, Coconut Rice.

    19.Rice followed by Curds or Butter Milk.

    20, The food is to be served neither more nor less.

    21.If one needs more, it should be indicated by gestures touching the place it has been served.

    22.If one has enough, it has to be indicated by lifting the left palm at the face height.

    23.The Diner must complete the Parishajana after food is fully consumed.

    24.The leaf should be left with some food;the leaf must never be totally clean;it is the practice to leave some food  the top right hand corner of the Plantain leaf once the food is served for the consumption by the animals.

    25.The house holder’s wife must take the Plantain leaves to bring in Prosperity.

    27.The leaves should be left at a specific place for animals, Dogs, especially, to eat.

    28.Thamboola is to be offered.

    29.The house holder must prostrate before the Diner after he washed his hands.

    30.The Diner should Bless the Host with Vedic Benediction.

    This post is based on Apastamba Sutra based Smritis; variations(slight ) are there for Vaishnavas and for different regions-For South India.

    I am unable to find information for the North.

    Readers may contribute.

    But the core is the same.

     

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