THE GURGLING COD

Sikes Sit In Sign

It has been a Time here at the day job. The main administration building at Clemson has been occupied by students for a week. You can read how come here. The short version? People of color at Clemson are tired of being treated like stepchildren of the much vaunted "Clemson Family." I am pushing a little bit of my time, a few dollars of my treasure, and as much talent as I can steal from the Momofuku cookbook to the center of the table and cooking up some bo ssam tacos to serve tonight (Wed 4/20 at 6pm) - come by if you can. More important, if you have a minute, and you are behind these brave young men and women, add your name this doc, print it out, take a picture holding it, and send it back to me at [email protected] I will put them together here. Thank you. Our administration seems a little bit overwhelmed by these events so some helpful guidance from our peers and friends would help. 

 

 

 

Guiteau Monday: Food Truck Obituary Ed.

Been a minute since I rapped at you, for which I am truly sorry. There is worse to tell, right on the same corner of campus, but, shouldn't we all stick to something, instead of noticing the raging dumpster fire all around us? Theoretically, I claim the proud title of semi-retired food blogger, so, food: 

Here is a picture of the food truck that visited my day job today. I have probably complained a few times about working in a food desert, IE a campus w/ an Aramark food contract. Also, the physical layout of the campus means that it is impossible to park on public/IE not campus/Aramark controlled space, so there is not the robust food truck culture that some campuses have enjoyed for decades. Elsewhere in the United States, food trucks have been "hep" for a decade or so. In an effort to provide Clemson with the top-notch amenities Clemson deserves, it appears that in 2016, the year of our Lord, there is a spot for one food truck. But! It's the food truck arm of Table 301, the Greenville, SC restaurant group that controls most of the high-end spots in Greenville, (also many of the ones John Mariani inexplicably extolled in Esquire). This is the same restaurant group whose flagship hosted a fundraiser for a prominent dog abuser, and whose flagship embodies the antithesis of the Coco Chanel edict to get rid of one thing before you go out. And Table 301 restaurants were among the "downtown restaurants" that "felt threatened" by food trucks, and worked to enact laws to keep them out of downtown Greenville in 2013.

So! Fast forward to 2016, and the powers that be decide that occasional visits from a food truck are a good Amenity. (Aramark, one imagines, gets its pound of flesh.) Do they reach out to one of the actual food trucks? They do not. Instead, Clemson invites a fake, shades of  Applebee's truck bankrolled by a restaurant group that doubles down on its rep for mediocrity and, drumroll, brings cheeseburgers and quesadillas to the people! This is the food truck version of astroturfing, which makes it just another Guiteau Monday.