Over stepping the line

Recently I met with a book store owner in regards to selling The Rotten Food Cookbook. Two quotes from the conversation stand out:

There is a line, and this book has over stepped it.

The other one was:

Some of these recipes are just in bad taste.

When I asked him which one, the Banana Spit recipe was one that he immediately commented on.

What did those in the hospitality industry think?

At the recent Fine Food tradeshow I was able to ask people from within the industry what they thought of the comments.

One classic response was:

He’s only saying that because he has no idea what really goes on.

So it would appear that these sorts of jokes may be a bit too common for our liking.

 

But wait, it gets far worse

A couple of chefs actually commented on “that Coogee incident”. In case you missed it (which was nearly impossible because it was on every media outlet in Australia) check out: SMH: Human excrement in gelato and for the final payout check out: Telegraph: Payout deal.

So while my joke is about spit in ice-cream, the reality is that a disgruntled employee can do far worse, and the damage to your reputation could be huge. Personally I think they escaped lightly with a $50k payout because it is the type of story that will continue to pop up over and over again – like here.

So Is Banana Spit in bad taste?

Absolutely. It’s meant to be.

So should Banana Spit be in the book?

Absolutely. Because it happens.