We are no longer officially an "Eating Liberally" Group...so we can just be a Liberal Eating group. Okay not so clever but it works for me. Since the Central Brooklyn Eating Liberally group didn't meet in December (holidays) and January (John Liu's Birthday), the higher ups in Living Liberally suspended the group. So we will go independent since I never found their organization that helpful.

The February meeting of Central Brooklyn Liberal Eating will be on Darwin Day (February 12th) at 7:30 PM (half an hour later than usual) at Fort Reno BBQ:

669 UNION ST, BROOKLYN, NY

http://fort-reno.us/index.html

It is a tiny place with a bar and great BBQ smoked in their own kitchen. Owned by the same people who own Palo Santo across the street (Palo Santo is great but more expensive).

Hope to see you all there!

Really, Bill?

BILL PERKINS, a Democratic state senator who represents Harlem, has introduced legislation that would ban eating in the New York City subway system and fine first-time violators $250 (twice that for repeat offenders). [...]

It’s far from clear that the proposed ban would be enforceable, or would do enough to overcome cutbacks in cleaning stations and tracks. Worse, the claim that noshing leads to litter and filth harks back to racial and class stereotypes from the Victorian era. In those days, social reformers tried to crack down on working-class public eaters and food vendors — many of whom were immigrants — by linking them to squalor, disease and shame.

To 19th-century guardians of public morality, the newfangled habit of eating outside the home was a menace to body and soul. The oyster stalls of downtown Manhattan were an assault on the family values of the dinner table. The “hot-corn girls” who sold their wares on the streets were no better than prostitutes. Public eating was a gateway sin that led to drinking and debauchery.

“Eating in public may beget a certain freedom of manner and nonchalance in little ladies and gentlemen,” Putnam’s magazine warned in 1853, “but we fear the practice is not calculated to promote the health either of the mind or the body.” For children, the magazine hinted darkly, eating in public was worse than unhealthy — it was bad for their morals.

We've come to expect finger-wagging nanny-state daddy-knows-best over-reaching from Mayor Bloomberg. You can't smoke in parks anymore, food stamps may soon no longer buy you a soda, New York City has maybe half a dozen decent nightclubs left due to noise complaints, the list goes on.

But a Democrat in the Senate putting on his French maid's outfit and joining the fun? What, is the good Senator worried that the body he serves in might, entirely by accident and not by design, be seen as having any practical use to man or beast?

This month we can tell Hurricane Irene stories, discuss Libya and think about what comes next for local politics.

I should note that the primary and special elections are at the same time. If there is anyone who wants to skip the meeting to campaign for Cheryl Gonzales or David Weprin, contact Lambda Independent Democrats and tell them you want to help where Cheryl Gonzales and David Weprin's districts overlap (which is basically the Brooklyn part of Weprin's district). That is the most critical place for campaigning.

To volunteer email: LIDBrook...@gmail.com

or call: 917.499.8198 or 917.696.1781

For those who are attending Eating Liberally, please join us at Cafe Steinhof in the South Slope. 422 7th Ave (at 14th St) for some great Austrian food. Check out their menu here: http://www.cafesteinhof.com/html/dinner.html

Read my review of the restaurant here.

But I do urge people to spend some time that day helping out Lambda Independent Democrats or New Kings Democrats elect Cheryl Gonzales and David Weprin.  read more »

As a head's up, the next Central Brooklyn Eating Liberally group meeting will be September 13, 7 PM at Cafe Steinhof in South Slope. The notice of that meeting will come later. For now I want to re-post my review of the restaurant.

I once knew an Austrian scientist who has since moved on to bigger and better things. Back when we used to hang out drinking together, he told me of a wonderful Austrian restaurant he had found right in my own neighborhood in Brooklyn. Thus I was introduced to the "Austrian comfort food" of Cafe Steinhof by someone who knew Austrian food from birth.  read more »

The August meeting of Central Brooklyn Eating Liberally will be
Tuesday, August 9th at 7 PM at Zaytoons in Prospect Heights.

594 Vanderbilt Ave
(between Bergen St & Dean St)
Brooklyn, NY 11238

Good Middle Eastern food and I am sure people will have a lot to talk about with all that's going on these days.

Some special elections in NYC to discuss plus general discussion about
national politics. That also happens to be the night the fate of
Wisconsin will be decided!