Story Notes: The Sandwich Sorcerer · 11:50pm Feb 25th, 2018
No pre-readers on this one, folks! Surely nothing will go wrong.
A Thermopolium is the first fast food restaurant. They existed in ancient Rome, and were popular with tradesmen and slaves. They usually had bread and the soup of the day (probably mostly variations on lentil soup, to be honest).
A stand-up restaurant would likely be quite popular with taxi ponies, 'cause that way they wouldn't have to unhook their carriage.
La Valette du Var is a real restaurant. Actually, from googling, it's apparently a lot of restaurants, but never mind that. One of them is very, very expensive.
One time, my brother and I were walking around East Lansing, and we were looking for somewhere to eat. For those of you who know the town, there's a bunch of restaurants (some locally famous, such as the Peanut Barrel) on the north side of MSU's campus. We went into one—both of us wearing jeans and t-shirts—and there was a Maitre D' standing there wearing a tux, so we just turned around and walked back out.
The Sandwich Sorcerer name was chosen by a co-worker . . . the same one who, among other things, suggested that Pinkie Pie have a remote control submarine in Pinkie Pie vs. the TSA.
It's also inspired by a trip I took not that long ago to Bilbo's pizza in Kalamazoo. The restaurant is very LoTR themed, and sandwiches there have names, and I got to thinking, what if that was actually a sandwich Gandalf had invented?
At first, that was just going to be a silly little detail, but when I was writing the story, I came up with the reason why unicorns invented sandwiches, and if you want to use that headcanon, go right ahead.
To my knowledge, second-floor restaurants aren't common in the US, or at least not in Michigan. I can't really think of any reason why you couldn't put one on the second floor of a building; after all, lots of famous tall buildings and towers have a restaurant near the top where you can look out at the sights while you eat. Some of them even rotate, like the one in Seattle's Space Noodle.
I'm also indebted to Oliver for research help. I couldn't think of that many that were historically famous, and it turns out that there just aren't; in fact, he shot down one of my suggestions. Ah well. Just the same, if you want a compendium of blog entries about episodes, books, and comics, you'd do well to follow him.
He also pointed out that Snowfall Frost probably isn't historical, although he thinks that she may have been based on a historical unicorn who had a different name.
I'm sticking with her anyways, because I love a pony in spats.
Regarding the sandwiches themselves, all of them actually exist except for Star Swirl's, Cayenne's, and Snowfall Frost's . . . and I wouldn't be surprised if they did, too; I just came up with the ideas for those on my own, rather than look through various lists of good (and bad) sandwiches. Well, maybe not Snowfall Frost's; hay isn't a common ingredient on human sandwiches.
Spuckie is a regional term for a sub sandwich, apparently only in the northeast. One source said it was unique to Boston, but then I also found it on a list of Maine slang.
If you play that GIF in reverse, a kind eagle gives Trixie a sandwich, and Trixie then, realizing her good fortune, shows it to the ferrets.
Huh.
I wonder what kind of sammich Twi invented.
I bet Sunset's involved eggs.
I was in Pompeii a few years back and snapped this thermopolium off one of the main thoroughfares. The large openings here would apparently hold soups and/or alcoholic drinks.
Imgur Link. Right-click and open in a new tab. Sorry.
Fun tip, about 1/3 of the million people living in ancient Rome were slaves, and of the 2/3 who were citizens, 200,000 each month received a free "corn dole" ration of 35-40 kilos (about 90lbs), to keep them not just alive, but content enough not to become dangerous to the state. And because most Romans lived in apartments that were basically only a safe-ish place to sleep at night, they had to rely on bakers to turn that corn ration into bread. I imagine that this would also have made thermopoliums very popular.
"A stand-up restaurant would likely be quite popular with taxi ponies, 'cause that way they wouldn't have to unhook their carriage."
Wouldn't a drive-through also work?
If we're discussing unusual restaurants, the Pick'n'Pig in Carthage NC is a prototypical Pegasi friendly place - it has its own landing strip and helipad, and fly-ins are common.
http://www.pik-n-pig.com
I imagine towns under courier routes especially for air freight might develop similar restaurants. Probably with more vegetarian options.
An upper floor location works for high end or destination restaurants, but casual diners just will not climb up or down more than necessary. Even as small a thing as adding or removing steps from a building's design can have a drastic effect on an eatery's success. It's the damndest thing.
4805362
I'd go for Heybacon with Sunset as well.
Maybe something including Egg plants for Twilight, or something relating to books?
4805362
Twilight's is a hayburger patty, a layer of horseshoe fries, lettuce, tomato, onion, a bisected roasted red pepper, and every condiment she could reach during the sandwich exam, all on an extra-absorbent bun. And no cheese. She hadn't eaten for two days before the test out of nervousness.
Sunset made carbonized kale and dared the proctors to call it burnt.
Heh. I'm legit eating lentil soup right now.
4805475
Corn is a new-world plant. Do you have a citation for this?
4806943 I was paraphrasing, and should have used "grain" to be clear. Corn is/was simply used as a generic phrase for common food grains.
One example (Wiki):
4806984
Huh. The language pedant in me is enraged by this needless spitting in the face of accuracy and precision by much of the world.
4807007 Well, I understand that. But life is ultimately messy. Best thing to do (IMO) is to forgive the mistakes of others and try to not make them yourself when it's important.
4807011
True.
Thankfully, regardless of what my inner language pedant says, the attitude the outer me has is that it's just not worth the energy to care.
4805358
That's why Trixie is Great and Powerful.
4805362
Strictly speaking, in the story it wasn't required that it be a sandwich. Any food item would do.
I'm imagining Twilight being more of a dessert pony.
I'll just leave this here:
derpicdn.net/img/view/2014/10/21/747570__safe_sunset+shimmer_equestria+girls_rainbow+rocks_solo_waifu_whipped+cream.jpg
4805475
Your imgur link doesn't work for me.
I'm not authorized.
I'm not 100% sure on this, but I think I read somewhere once that cooking at home wasn't always common in cities back in Ye Olden Times. Which--if it's true--makes sense. You'd need to have space for a kitchen, plus firewood and stuff. Might be easier and cheaper to just get your food from someone else.
My own headcanon is that pegasi rarely cook, since it's impractical to have a kitchen in a cloudhouse. And if pony tech largely relies on wood stoves, that suggests that there are lots of places in Equestria where it might not be practical for everypony to cook. Plus, there's also the social element to consider. . . .
Also, FWIW, there's places near where I live that will cook fish for you. I think you have to buy it there, though; I don't think you can bring in your own fish. But there are probably also places that will cook fish that you caught.
I'd think so.
4805481
Yeah, although carrying food with you while you're pulling a carriage might be a challenge.
Man, I'll try to remember that. I'm working on another story with pegasi on Earth, and they're not unreasonably far from NC . . . I wonder how many restaurants there are with helipads?
And that's actually a good thing to think about, too--in a big town like Manehattan, a rooftop restaurant might be quite popular with pegasi.
Yeah, there's a good chance. Also, here's another idea: food clouds. Like food trucks, but clouds. A pegasus (or several) with a knack for cooking could take it around and bring fresh food right to your window.
4805490
That's probably because people are lazy.
There are probably also some difficulties with high-volume locations being on a second floor--if you don't have an elevator, carrying all the fresh food upstairs and then sending the garbage back down . . . not an unsolvable problem, of course, and probably not a big deal on a second-floor restaurant, but if it was a fourth floor walkup. . . .
Plus, I do think that you'd have trouble attracting customers just walking by, which means that you'd be better off relying on some other reason to bring people in (such as being at the top of the Space Noodle).
4805600
Hmm, eggplant is a good thing. They're practically her coat color.
Maybe an eggplant salad <-----shameless self-promotion
4805694
To be fair, I think that the food exam is less like Iron Chef and more like a take-home test. Although I do like the idea of it sometimes being administered cold. Especially if the unicorn's just picked at random, and maybe has to include one particular ingredient that the proctors decide upon that day.
"Lemon Hearts--exam room 1. Your ingredient is oleander."
"Isn't that poison?"
"Yup. Good luck."
At least she won't accidentally summon a demon with carbonized kale.
4806205
I personally don't understand the appeal of lentils. Maybe I've never had them prepared the right way.
4807482
I wouldn't put it past her.
"Every freaking time! Was my kitchen built over some ancient burial ground or something?"
"Hey, word gets around in Hell."
4807493
That's a good point. And there probably are demons in hell that would like kale, carbonized or otherwise.
Fun fact: kale is apparently cold-weather hearty. I had a kale plant in my garden bolt, and it wound up growing a giant stalk and lived through an entire winter and the next year as well. In fact, it might still be out there in the backyard, just biding its time.
4807473
If you need a firsthand impression of it, shoot me a PM!
4807484 Like any bean, they really don't taste like anything. The only appeal is that it's protein, and you can make it taste like whatever you want.
4807652
I honestly can't think of a single place I could use that in any stories I currently have planned or in progress; on the other hand, knowing something I didn't know before is always worthwhile, and I could possibly figure out a way to work it in to an upcoming pegasus on Earth story. . . .
4807678
Well, that's a good point. Beans are cheap and if you keep them dry, they last a long, long time.
If you have a TSA story could you link me there?
If you have any FAA stories that would be nice too!
OSHA stories..let's just get all the regulation out of the way.
5268172
Sure:
- MLP: FiM
- Comedy
Pinkie Pie tries to fly internationally. What could possibly go wrong?The FAA comes up now and again in Silver Glow’s Journal, although they’re not a major plot point.
For something that’s a nice combo of the FAA and OSHA--the NTSB--I got a one-shot:
Air Accident Brief--Midair Collision Northwest of Ponyville
5268993
Great thanks!