Re: [CH] Faux Chipotle
jim@wildpepper.com
Mon, 02 Jun 2008 10:48:56 -0400
I *knew* without even opening it that it was going to be a rant from
Rael :-) I grinned as soon as I saw the sender, knowing it was 'soap
box' time!
Here's a couple of points for general discussion....
At what point does a small manufacturer cross over to "evil corporate
mass marketer type"? I enjoy a certain amount of good will and have a
decent reputation (I think ;-) but my goal is, as a business, to make my
Chipotle Sauce the number one seller in the world. At what point in
that goal do I go from 'artisinal maker' to 'mass marketer' and from
good to evil? Since the formula and taste of the sauce doesn't change,
where is the crime committed that takes it from acceptable to being
railed against? Or should I say 'rael-ed against'? :-P What drives the
change in perception?
Can the point not also be made, that by 'dumbing down' some of this
stuff, that we are in fact converting legions of people to the CH side
who otherwise would not have dared? We've talked about Tabasco as a
common gateway drug for most of us into the CH world, for good or ill,
so why is this any different? People will try the 'faux chipolte' and I
suspect a good many of them will then want to experiment further having
discovered that chiles have flavor and not just heat. How many of us
would be here if Tabasco were as hot as Dave's? I also suspect a good
number of the folks will be drawn further into the CH world *because*
they recognize this as 'faux chipotle' and are left unsatisfied.
This ever increasing drive to sameness and blandness is on an exponetial
curve at the moment. The government, in all it's benificance, has
implemented yet another sweeping set of food regs that are going to
drive most all small manufaturers out of business if rigidly enforced.
I myself have never been so close to 'chucking it all' at the
frustration of trying to keep up with all the expensive (!!) and
mind-numbing changes. It's just not worth my while. And I'm far from
alone in that! Several other folks you know and love as sauce makers
are near the breaking point as well. As more and more of us go out of
biz at the hands of the gov, your choices as consumers will become less
and less- better get used to faux chipolte ;-)
Oh, and before fingers start getting pointed left and right.... The
single biggest beaurocratic increase came (surprise!) in the Clinton
Admin. If nothing else, he would have been remembered as the 'food
safety pres' for the sheer volume of new regulations enacted. The
setting of them into stone, with the force and full power of law
enformcement behind them, came in under the Bush Admin with the
Bio-terrorism/Food Safety Act. I hear Dems rael against "big oil" &
"big tobacco" & "big business" but the worst of the 'bigs' is one
they're in bed with and the most dangerous of all- "Big Government"! I
hear Repubs give lip service about how little businesses are the engine
driving economic expansion yet I see danged little evidence from them
that they truly believe that. And since both are just as complicit as
the other at getting us to our present state, the finger can only be
pointed at the people that put them there and that would be us.
Group hug now.... :-)
-Jim
http://www.StepUpforCharity.org