Social Networking

If it's the Psychic Network why do they need a phone number? - Robin Williams

OK, you can love or hate Facebook, and the effect it has on our lives, but it is a network over all. Yes, you can meet old school buddies you have lost touch with, but in the end it is also a network.  A place where people of similar interests, like food, can meet and share ideas.


That is how I met a friend - for the sake of convenience let's call her Christa - who is friends with a lot of my friends in the Buffalo food community.  She is also an ardent supporter of local food and local cooks.  We traded occasional quips and barbs via Facebook, but it wasn't until the Field and Fork network's annual Farmer/Chef  conference (she was an organizer) that we started to get to know each other.

My Comrade in Culinary Catastrophes (we'll call him Fred) called me the day before and asked if I wanted to join him, but a quick scan of the web site showed it was sold out.  So I contactedChrista and offered to coat myself with EV Olive Oil if she could slip me in.  She couldn't, but put me on a wait
 list and within hours I had a slot.


It was enjoyable, and I got to meet Christa and some other new friends, as well as reuniting with old friends.  Lunch initiated some interesting discussions.


Some time after, when Christa put out a call for where to get something, I volunteered my Restaurant Depot account. she had one through Buffalo Rising, where she was working again.


I told her it was a wrong answer.  The correct answer was "yes, I'll use your card, and then we will have lunch at El Canelo", a favorite of both of us.  This prompted her to question why we don't have a "real" Mexican restaurant here.  Her post was here, my response is here.

And we may have a solution here.

Ultimately we did get together at El Canelo - only to find that that location had closed.  So we had an unremarkable meal at a chain. During that meal, she asked if I wouuld like to write for Buffalo Rising.  My first article was on fish sauce.  My second went up today, the first part of a discussion about hot dogs.

So remember, social networking may be social, but it is also networking! 


ETA: I have been advised by this person who calls herself  "Christa" that it was Nickle City Chef that provides her with the membership to Restaurant Depot. :)