robert piepenbrink | 18 Apr 2021 11:10 a.m. PST |
I'd been griping about dining options at particular venues recently, and a thought has occurred. We need or want--some of us, anyway--food which is available when we want it between events and which won't cost the money we've saved for dealers hall or flea market. I'd like to propose--period food! Sign on for a major convention, and along with your badge, program and t-shirt, have food for your period of choice waiting with your swag bag! Moderns people get MREs, Flames of War and Rapid Fire players get C-rations, ACW gamers get hardtack and AWI players get parched corn and beef jerky. The games are uninterrupted, and the con makes money. Any suggestions for the ancient world? I know the Spartans went for the black broth in garrison, but was that their marching ration as well? And, since we must have more poll questions, what's your marching ration of choice? Me for C-rat ham and eggs--as long as I have a command track to carry it for me. |
Thresher01 | 18 Apr 2021 11:37 a.m. PST |
Hmmm, I suspect only a few adventurous souls will want to endure that. Perhaps French-style, modern rations, which I've read are much better than your average ones. Makes me wonder what Italian rations are like too, since I prefer Italian food to French. For me, it'd probably be peanut butter crackers, or a PB sandwich (sans jelly), and beef jerky, downed with your 20th Century, canned, ice-cold Pepsi. |
Dadster | 18 Apr 2021 12:18 p.m. PST |
I prefer to leave the premises and dine elsewhere after my gaming day is done. Can always come back to it after eats. Or you can have Uber Eats deliver your ration to you. You could of course just stuff some hardback and jerky into your carry (goody bag if they give them out)bag |
d88mm1940 | 18 Apr 2021 12:21 p.m. PST |
Sign me up for the Mexican-American War. I love tacos! |
JimSelzer | 18 Apr 2021 12:30 p.m. PST |
no way one of my favorite things about GenCon is the food truck court Its my Vacation and I don't want venue burgers or hotdogs I have a food allowance built into my budget |
114th Pennsylvania | 18 Apr 2021 1:51 p.m. PST |
Robert you bring up a good question…but what is your price point? 1) 2 Hotdog, bag of Chips and a drink? $5 USD? 2) 2 Slices of Pizza and a Drink? $5 USD? 3) 2 Tacos, chips and Salsa and a Drink? $6 USD? 4) Meatball Sandwich, bag of Chips and Drink? $8 USD? 5) Hoagie/sub, bag of chips and a Soda? $8 USD |
SpuriousMilius | 18 Apr 2021 2:02 p.m. PST |
Ditto Dadster. I prefer skipping Con food & try to find a local restaurant that appeals to me. It irked me when Bayou Wars moved from New Orleans to D'Iberville; NOLA is one of my favorite cities with great restaurants & you can't beat The Café du Mond for people watching since it's across from Jackson Square. I always tried to have one top flight dinner while there, a frozen Zombie (or 2 or 3) on Bourbon Street & a Sazerac in a 1 of the older bars. |
robert piepenbrink | 18 Apr 2021 3:04 p.m. PST |
114th, you're bringing a serious question into a humorous discussion. Actually, my convention price points are better than that, but dinner isn't lunch. I'll go up to $10 USD each for breakfast and lunch--on the order of eggs, toast ham and hash browns for breakfast (or waffles, once a convention) burger, fries and diet soda (or hot dog and diet) for lunch, but I want to be able to sit down and read and eat undisturbed. For an evening meal I'll go $20 USD, but I want steak, potato and vegetable or a proper chicken salad--not the chef making a statement, or what passes for haute cuisine these days. My experience in recent years is that the convention motels take advantage of me for breakfast. Lunch can be had at my price but time and space for lunch can be tricky. And the evening meal can be a complete mess--overpriced, long waits and sometimes nothing to be had but "fine dining" or a repeat of the lunch menu. It's one of the reasons I've gotten gun-shy about new venues. I'm continually being assured of "fine dining" near an expensive convention motel, when I'm looking for a Longhorn, an Outback or perhaps an Applebee's. A $50 USD dinner has to come out of the vendors hall money. |
huron725 | 18 Apr 2021 3:51 p.m. PST |
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Striker | 18 Apr 2021 4:02 p.m. PST |
Every 4 gameers should get a bag of flour to make their own bread but have to forage for anything else. |
epturner | 18 Apr 2021 4:19 p.m. PST |
If that's the case, then I shall truly enjoy fighting The Conquest on the side of New France. Vive le Roi! Eric |
Oberlindes Sol LIC | 18 Apr 2021 5:06 p.m. PST |
I usually just get by on the convention buffet for lunch and dinner, eat breakfast in the car on my way, and carry snacks in my bag. Breakfast is usually a bagel and tea, unless my wife has made char siu bao or some other dumpling that's easy to eat while driving. Snacks are usually Kind bars, nuts, dried fruit, decent chocolate (like Toblerone), beef jerky. Food is part of our convention budget, definitely. |
Dadster | 18 Apr 2021 9:06 p.m. PST |
Spurious, my favorite place in the world! A sazarac after a nice dinner at Commanders Palace, Mr B.'s, Arnauds or many other great places. Love Hawkins! |
John the OFM | 18 Apr 2021 9:24 p.m. PST |
The Chinese food at the Host, with a can of Sterno , and broccoli that has aged for at least 12 hours. Will I be playing a Stalag 17 game? |
John the OFM | 18 Apr 2021 9:25 p.m. PST |
I miss going for breakfast at Lapp's with the Lapp dancers. |
Old Contemptible | 18 Apr 2021 10:15 p.m. PST |
One or two good food trucks. |
jurgenation | 19 Apr 2021 1:35 a.m. PST |
Totally impractible ,logistics wise.20.00 for a ..steak? ,Hell the food cost alone is 10 bucks .You need to set up price point food stations ahead w/ Hotel,otherwise yes you will pay more,but also your on vacation ..spend alittle. |
robert piepenbrink | 19 Apr 2021 3:04 a.m. PST |
I knew we shouldn't have let this get serious. jurgenation, I don't know where you eat, but $20 USD covers a steak dinner as described at Outback, Logans, Longhorn and a couple of other chains and includes a 20%+ tip. It's at our beloved "fine dining" locations that the price suddenly doubles. I miss Lapp's too--and of course the famous Lapp Dancers. |
Marc33594 | 19 Apr 2021 4:01 a.m. PST |
Has the potential to bring us together! All for it! Those of us who get the C-rats will have those with the fruit cocktail seeking those who got the pound cake. I am in! |
dapeters | 19 Apr 2021 9:08 a.m. PST |
Turnips are not potatoes, pre-Columbus, no peppers, no corn etc. |
robert piepenbrink | 19 Apr 2021 11:05 a.m. PST |
Oh, me for the pound cake! With the cocoa packet and powdered milk for icing! But for the game that runs through lunchtime, don't forget John Wayne bars--or drop back a century or so and go for parched corn. |
etotheipi | 19 Apr 2021 3:49 p.m. PST |
Authentic historical food … link … may not be the best idea. And other genres like dystopian scifi … link … well, your call. Or pulp prehistoria … link … can we light fires in the convention hall? But there are good genres, too … link link link … and the middle one would be the only zombie game I play. Serious enough? I got more … link … but some are just a can o' bull. :) |
von Schwartz ver 2 | 19 Apr 2021 5:54 p.m. PST |
Do I even need to say it?……. SPAM!!!!!!!!!!!
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Wolfhag | 19 Apr 2021 9:45 p.m. PST |
I'll take the French rations with a small bottle of Cognac. However, I'd be willing to trade it for a pound cake and fruit cocktail. Wolfhag |
HMS Exeter | 19 Apr 2021 10:40 p.m. PST |
The very first Fall In at Gettysburg offered an open pit BBQ vendor that rocked. It poured down rain all weekend, so they set up under a hooded loading dock, meaning they were technically outside, but filled the whole venue with a delightful aroma. Re Italian field food, the Uber detailed SPI game Campaign for North Africa went into agonizing detail on supplies, including tracking unit water consumption. The rules provided Italian troops consumed extra water, which they called the "pasta point." Re Uber Eats, at the last Cold Wars a bunch tried using it. It was a catastrophe. After several hours, no food and no good sense from UE, the order got cancelled. This whole topic suggested a question. Did either side in the ACW explore issuing Pemmican? It'd be something I'd expect the Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa and The Nations would have brought with/ sent to their men. At one Historicon some guys at the old Congress were grilling out on the sidewalk using an Hibachi. I miss the Virginia cons. Apparently, a banging complimentary breakfast buffet is considered de rigueur down there. For my 2 cents, if my room has a fridge and a microwave, I bring my own food. That and a giant bag of PB Cups, kept in the freezer box. I'm good. YMMV |
BTCTerrainman | 20 Apr 2021 6:18 a.m. PST |
I remember my earliest conventions (early 90s), when money was always tight for a young up and coming family man. I usually split the room with a pal to cut costs. First thing was a trip to the store to purchase, bread, cold cuts, fruit, snacks etc. This was our main source of food (other than breakfast which we ate out as it was a lower cost meal). Times have changed. Today I usually forego lunch and just snack on nuts/fruit and some liquid bread. I definitely prefer a good offsite meal after a long day. Hard to be on your feet for 9.5 hours and then scarf down some junkfood. I remember very few shows with "good" venue food. Perhaps the earliest Historicon's in Fredericksburg were decent with the outside vendor making Ribs. But then there are always good restaurants to find at all show locations…. |
dapeters | 20 Apr 2021 9:54 a.m. PST |
I would go into the town great inexpensive places with nice tap list. |
shthar | 20 Apr 2021 1:19 p.m. PST |
Stop by my sutlers wagon in the flea market. |
Flashman14 | 21 Apr 2021 5:36 a.m. PST |
A ladle full of hot stew in everyone's welcome kit should be quite satisfactory I would think. |
robert piepenbrink | 21 Apr 2021 5:58 a.m. PST |
Wouldn't that depend a little on where the convention was held, dapeters? |
dapeters | 21 Apr 2021 9:47 a.m. PST |
What you can't read my mind? I was continuing BTC comments about Fredericksburg. |
etotheipi | 22 Apr 2021 9:45 a.m. PST |
So, to put my little jokey bits into formal poll suggestions of my ration of choice (paired with the genra): – Old West (real and pulp), extra farty beans – Dystopian SciFi, Soylent Green – Prehistoric, berries and nuts, charred mammoth (or maybe mammoth tartar) – Prehistoric Pulp, brontosaurus ribs a la Fred Flintstone – Halloween, candy! – Zombie, brains – Zombie, candy (as it was a Halloween game that used candy on a shuffleboard like printout to resolve actions) or ice cream (which was the weapon available to the protagonists) – Kaiju, gingerbread cookie buildings – Pulp Cannibals, … uhm … long pig? |
von Schwartz ver 2 | 22 Apr 2021 5:44 p.m. PST |
A ladle full of hot stew in everyone's welcome kit should be quite satisfactory I would think. Wouldn't that be a tad messy? |
etotheipi | 23 Apr 2021 4:32 p.m. PST |
You say the food is not to your liking. I hear you are not hungry enough. - Attributed to My Dear Old Dad |
Oberlindes Sol LIC | 24 Apr 2021 7:34 p.m. PST |
@etotheipi: I have heard it as "hunger is the best seasoning" from my wife's uncle, who survived the Great Leap Forward and the Cultural Revolution. |