Gobbledegeek 2.o

The BBC report today that Chef McDonald (no relation to Ronald) of the Selfridges department store restaurant, has come up with the world’s most expensive gourmet sarnie, a snip at £85!

The McDonald Sandwich, as it is to be known, is filled with Wagyu beef, fresh lobe foie gras, black truffle mayonnaise, brie de meaux, rocket, red pepper and mustard confit and English plum tomatoes, all delicately stacked between 24 hour fermented sour-dough bread. A rather rich beef club sandwich you might think and you’d certainly need a bob or two to be able to afford one but the ingredients are not simply your average supermarket faire.

An expensive sarnie

The Wagyu beef, also known as Kobe-style beef, comes from a Japanese breed of cattle famed for it’s marbling characteristics and tenderness but more so for being reared on beer and grain and receiving regular massages with Sake. Incidentally, Australia, known to have the best Kobe beef outside of Japan, export their produce back to Japan as well as US, Europe and the Middle East.

All said and done, £85 ($182 AUD) is somewhat obscene and decadent but believe it or not The McDonald is still not the most expensive sandwich in the world. No, that dubious honour goes to the ‘von Essen Platinum Club Sandwich’ costing £100 ($214 AUD).

An even more expensive sarnie!

The most expensive club sandwich boasts ingredients of Iberico ham, poulet de Bresse, white truffles, quail eggs, semi-dried Italian tomatoes and 24-hour fermented sour dough bread, and weighs in at 530 grams, that’s over half a kilo? “…for a bloody ham sarnie?” I hear you protest. Well, in fairness, the extremely rare ham is air-cured for nearly 30 months and comes from a black-footed pig. Ah, it all becomes clear now.

The Earl of Sandwich would be turning in his grave!

I’ve read that many take up blogging as a way to connect with a wider audience. I’m not referring to the so-called ‘pro-bloggers’ whose aim is to generate an income but for those casual minds who feel they might have something to say and a hope that someone will listen.

Blogging enables one to connect with like-minds when one desires. I can post when I feel the need and retreat without feeling I’ve walked out on a discussion or ignored someone. In the real world, this can be deemed offensive or hurt the feelings of those you are socially engaged with.

Discussion forums can perform in a similar fashion to the web log in that they are always on and accessible to virtually anyone, anywhere and at any time. As with any social gathering they have the potential to form virtual communities and without the often limiting discrimination or constraints of disability, race, creed, colour or sexual preference, these virtual communities facilitate interaction in the form of discussion or commentary when it suits it’s members. You are not required to be constantly present in order to be a part of the discussion.

Forums, blogs and their users are neither affected nor restricted by time or location. They are open to anyone at anytime from anywhere on the planet (with the possible exception of Belarus, Burma, China, Cuba, Egypt, Iran, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Tunisia, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Vietnam who have recently been ‘blacklisted’ as ‘enemies of the Internet’ by human rights group Reporters Without Borders).

For me, the demand-free, ‘no strings attached’, relational aspect of a virtual community with it’s often deeply personal and incisive yet anonymous nature appeals to me. The anonymity affords me the ability to shut off and ignore the world when I desire and given my constant battle with depression, this suits me just fine. I wouldn’t say that I am particularly backwards in coming forwards but in the real world, it does take some time for me to feel comfortable enough in my surroundings in order to engage in a meaningful manner.

Disclaimer

It is not my conscious intention to connect and participate in a virtual community but I see blogging as more a method of self-help by means of venting on the occasions I feel that I have something to say. However, just because I might post some random musing or personal observation, it might not necessarily follow that it assumes any importance to anyone but myself.

If, in the process of pouring my thoughts into Cyberspace someone visits and perhaps even comments, then I’m happy. Who knows? I may even say something that interests someone other myself!