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Comment by nestlequ1k | Hacker News Reader

To take a contrarian point of view, I have to agree with one of the chef's in the article. If I knew buying a prepackaged type of food would taste better to customers than what I can make in house 99% of the time, then wouldn't it be pretty stupid not to use that instead?

I've been using an automated espresso machine at home and what it makes tastes better than most of the fancy coffee shops in San Francisco.

When stuff gets automated it takes that fun out of things, but the end result improves regardless.

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I agree with "what tastes good" but the problem is if prepackaged tastes better than you can make then just sell me the package and I'll re-heat it at home.

I don't know why but I expect food at a restaurant to be made at the restaurant and generally the same day. If I wanted packaged food I would have gone to the supermarket and bought packaged food.

I guess what I'm saying is just be honest about it. If you think people are fine going to a restaurant for re-heated packaged food then say so on the menu. For whatever reason it feels dishonest to not do so.

Are you a chef? What makes you think you can make prepackaged food at home as well as a chef?

Do you have ambiance at home?

Do you have other random people go so you can people watch?

Do you have a wide variety of meals so all the people you invite can eat what they want?

Is your house central for everyone to go to?

Do you have all the machines to properly prepare the pre packaged food?

Can you go home early to start the processes some of which might take hours before the meal?

Do you have a good selection of beer and wine?

Can you serve food with the style of a waiter (And not mind not eating while everyone else does)

Edit: Admittedly I don't eat steak at restaurants now I have a sous vide machine. But it still takes work to make, and washing & cleaning that won't fit in a dishwasher. But there's obviously always still many things on a menu I nether have the knowledge or the tools to make at home, pre-packaged or not.

Those are all good points.

I think my basic objection is it feels like I'm being deceived. It's like going to a concert and finding out they're just playing a recording and pretending to play their instrument live or sing live. Sure there's the crowd, the venue, the stage, the show, but at a basic level I paid for a live performance, not a recording. Similarly I paid for a meal made by the restaurant, not made by someone else and just served at the restaurant.

Just be honest about it.

I don't get upset when the menu says "Donuts from Dynamo Donuts" or "Ice Cream from Humphry Slocombe" so tell me "Chicken Kiev by Sarah Lee" if that's the case.

The with a prepackaged food the chef has no influence on the food. And so neither the patrons of the restaurant. Having the choice to bar the prepackaged food gives consumers better control on many aspects of the food. Directly or indirectly.

Not necessarily true. The prepackaged food industry has plenty of offerings for foods that are partially prepared cutting out tedious (time consuming) or expensive parts of the prep process while still requiring further processing by a cook for finish. Like most things this is not as black and white as many here are making it out to be.

Even for the foods that are nearly completely ready to server the ingredients, recipes, and flavor profiles may have been created by the actual chef from the restaurant. The packaging process offloads the labor in this case but not the creativity. In that case the argument against prepackaged food seems to be against time/place shifting labor more than anything else.

The concern wasn't about it being better or cheaper, it was that most restaurants were claiming that the food was home made while it was prepackaged. It's not forbidden to serve prepackaged food.

> I've been using an automated espresso machine at home and what it makes tastes better than most of the fancy coffee shops in San Francisco.

Do you use the same beans? I find that many of the fancy coffee shops in San Francisco lately are doing the lightly-roasted, sour-tasting coffee thing, which I'm not really into.

> lightly-roasted, sour-tasting coffee thing

A well made espresso with light-medium roast bean should taste fruity and maybe a little tangy and sweet, though this depends on no end of factors. Coffee Angel around Dublin is a good one.

Most of the beans I saw when visiting the US (even in the hipster artisan places) were roasted to the point of being indistinguishable from toner and made for bitter, unpleasant coffee.

Still, I needed my hit.

It's not comparable to your automatic espresso machine.

Your espresso machines doesn't pack the espresso with conservatives, possibly freezes it for storage, and then claim to make you a fresh cup of home made espresso, which cost you more as it's "home-made"

Sure - but I don't think it should be labelled as "home-made"

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