Inch Worm
21March 23, 2009 by seanbrock
Tonight at the restaurant a guest found the smallest inch worm I have ever seen on a leaf of lettuce. So we made her another salad as fast as we could….inspecting every leaf of course. When the server took the new salad out the guest made a face that would make you think we were serving a plate of vomit to her. She said no way, I’ll have the soup!. So we gladly gave her a soup and I ate the salad, not wanting to waste such gorgeous lettuce. After the meal the guest asked one of the managers if he knew about her horrific experience with the deadly inch worm. He replied, yes mam, we made you a new salad, apoligized and then made you a soup after you didn’t want the second salad. He then explained to her that we only use organic farmers for our produce and no insecticides are ever used. She looked at the manager and said “well this will reflect our online review! and stormed out the door…….what the hell is wrong with people? food is grown in dirt. it is washed at the farm and then it is washed as soon as it walks into the kitchen…if she saw how many bugs are at a farm she would never eat again I suppose
PING ISLAND STRIKE 
Yeah, there’s definitely a chasm between some diners and their food. And it’s entirely too bad, because as time goes on diners get more vocal and have more outlets for their perceptions both informed and uninformed. Not everyone will take the time to go to the farm, grow their own food, or figure out that their food probably shouldn’t come from a big monocultured farm using pesticides, a central wash tank, and who knows what else. The bottom line is that we have to change the culture…and that always takes time.
To be honest it sounds like the classic case of someone trying everything they can to get something for free. I’d expect alot more of this overly dramatic crap from customers this year – more than usual anyway.
Whatchootalkinboutwillis? Organic locally grown produce? That’s crazy California hippie talk! We’re in the South, dammit, the salad should have been deep fried iceberg lettuce and the dressing should have been sausage gravy! Do the Yankees need to come teach you a lesson about what being Southern is?
Seriously, how far North was she from? And how do these people make it through life? Do they have any idea how many rats fall into the juice vats at Tropicana?
I would have been amazed and amused to find an inchworm in my salad. I would have named him Herbert and let him have his lettuce leaf.
pardon the crass language, but I guess you can say she’s trying to put your dick in the dirt also.
Give her an inchworm and she’ll take your smiles.
If it happened to me I’d probably put the inchworm on the table and enjoy watching him crawl around during dinner.
I guess some people love their pesticide ridden food
It frightens me how disconnected a people we’ve become from our food, our heritage and our planet. Reactions like hers can really point out who is and isn’t informed about food and where it comes from. Your efforts seem wasted on someone like that who would rather eat skinless, boneless, pale, styrofoam wrapped chicken and cryovac’d spinach with a shelf life of 6 weeks from Safeway.
Keep at what you are doing.
It’s inspiring to many.
Ciaran
Vancouver, Canada.
Eh, what a baby.
That is rediculous…some prople are so sheltered and assume they know more than they really do or ever will. I’t would have been great to sit across the way and enjoyed those lovely greens in front of the women with a “shit eating grin” of course that is what you were serving her in her mind. Keep it up Sean and staff..you all are true Green Beret’s..K.L.M
it’s just because that worm was too small for a salad fork
amen.
sounds like another yelper from hell with out a clue
It is really sad what people think about food. Pretty winter tomatoes in a grocery store makes no sense and they have no flavor. Good for you on standing your ground and kudos to your manager.
i feel your pain..
she was just looking for a free meal, Iam sure she didnt walk out until she had finished her whole meal (;=
Something tells me this woman has never bought anything that wasn’t hermetically sealed.
Amen, that is exactly the problem with diners and people in general. They are so far removed from the food production process they seem to forget all the sanitized, antiseptically packaged meat comes from a living animal.
Fruits and vegetables are grown and picked by human hands. The food fairy doesn’t just show up to the grocery store and drop it off.
Recommended therapy may be to plant a little garden and get familiar with the process. Homegrown always tastes better anyway.
Great work Mr. Brock. I am doing a 2.5 month stint in Mexico. Lots to learn
Thanks
James Naquin
I just returned to my home in Nashville after visiting Charleston and dining at McCrady’s. Being a born and bred Southerner, the Lowcountry cuisine fascinates me. What I loved even more was getting to experience your Spring menu firsthand and learn of your farm on Wadmalaw. I really appreciate the use of the fresh ingredients… and I think little inch worms give a plate character. 😉
I’m sorry that something so tiny and cute could cause such a rukus. I too hope for a day when finding an inch worm on your salad is a sign of freshness and quality, and not a tromatic event. I would have eaten the inchworm in front of her, that would have been great.
people are really this disconnected from their food. It amazes me too
the same exact thing happened to me at chabella in savannah ga! We also use our own organic farm! The worm was on the garnish I think it was like a fresh arugula topping on the fish! She said that she liked the whole idea of organic but that was just a little too organic for her! Those little inch worms are some tuff basterd because we wash the hell out of our greens and that thing was still alive! I felt like a dumbass but its nice to see that i am not the only one in the world that missed one of those little guys!