Ok so here is a story that I witnessed in a Shwarma place here in Ottawa. I was reminded of it because I saw a person complaining that Campbell’s was un-American in the grocery store. That even in Canada they should be able to find stuff as American as Apple Pie and Baseball. Well I bit my tongue for a couple of reasons Baseball and Apple pie may be American Icons but they may have been invented elsewhere. Baseball for example may actually invented and played for the first time in Canada. It’s close cousin Rollers which baseball may have been adapted from was widely played in the US. The baseball glove was also invented in Canada. Apple Pie is thought to have been originally made in Canada but it may also be Dutch.
Ok the story. I was going to get a shwarma and garlic potatoes at lunch and walked into a new place that opened up this summer down the street from work. Since its been about 6 months since its opened the place is pretty much packed and no longer the hidden gem it was before. Anyway I waked in and the place was packed but really quiet and the whole lot of them were looking at the counter. At the counter was a woman asking questions of the clerk with a think southern accent and a habit of sighing and sucking on her teeth like a computer clicking when it was thinking. She had never been to a shwarma place before and she didn’t know what it was. She was asking what each thing in the menu contained and then thought about it for a second on each pause she would sigh and make a clicking sucking sounds then say “No I don’t think I want that” The guy ahead of me said she had been doing this for about 15 minutes. She was near the end of the menu and as it was winding down she sighed and clicked and then asked the most amazing thing. Do you have anything that isn’t Foreign food. I started to laugh and the guy in front of me and someone behind me basically said “Lady it’s a Lebanese restaurant” She then sighed clicked than walked out and went into a subway place next door. I ordered and as I was leaving a clerk from subway was showing her the way to the nearest MacDonald’s since she obviously wasn’t having anything there either.
I honestly was looking for a camera crew thinking it must be set up like Rick Mercier’s Talking to American’s show.
Cheers
Tyler
Barside Beer Reviews
