I’m very pleased to learn about chicha. I’ve known for years that one of the great human traditions is to ferment anything that won’t crawl out of a pot, but the big hole in my understanding of that principle was that I didn’t know of a maize beer.

What have tacos got to do with football ?  Good question. 

  

They’re shaped the same, and both are vital to our daily lives? 🙂

Football games are sprightly garnished with cheerleaders too. [:D]

What have tacos got to do with football ?  Good question. 

   

They’re shaped the same, and both are vital to our daily lives? 🙂

Mr. Mariner, the kayaking session was run really well.  They gave us good instructions on what to do/not to do and they had two experienced staff in the water keeping an eye on everyone.  I was tired afterwards!  It really is a workout and made the taco oh-so satisfying and deserved!

Yeah, Scorereader, I pretty much agree with everything you say.  My inclination, though, is to get maximum participation rather than useful data.  People like to play along.  Once in a while, the “I Don’t Like” number is even interesting.

You’d be surprised – the polls almost never come from the threads.  I don’t spend a lot of time there.  There is probably a lot of overlap because I often try to make the poll appropriate for the season, which is also the natural thing to be discussed in the Forums.

The taco poll was inspired by a recent Michael Stern review where he raved about the freshly made tortillas, and how that made such a difference to the tacos.  That fit with my own experience, and it got me thinking how much I also enjoy salsas and garnishes that are bright and fresh rather than dull and old and sad-looking.  I’m pretty sure that I’ll try to tie in the next poll to the recently announced New Mexico Roadfood tour.

Michael, at times I’ve tried to cover as many bases as possible.  Like the poll for mustard type on hot dogs, I included some main types, an “other” category, and a “no mustard on dogs” category.  I suppose to be true to my inclusive philosophy I could have also included “I Don’t Like Hot Dogs” as a choice but it starts to seem a little silly to me at that point.

The part of the software allocated to the front page poll is very limited.  Not only are all those complex answer choices not available, but even the number of characters for the title of the poll, and the choices, is very limited, which sometimes results in some pretty strange wording as I try to shoehorn the poll into the space provided.

Best tacos I have ever had were from street vendors in Mexico. Gloves…We Don’t Need No Stinking Gloves…Russ

Got that right.  Love grabbing an afternoon cervesa or two and seeing just what’s available on the street.  Mexican street food is win-win.  Tasty and cheap, and I’ve never gotten sick. 

Bruce and/or Susan:

If you’re trying to see “what’s your favorite type of ice cream,” then “I don’t like ice cream” doesn’t answer the question. “none of the above” could answer the question, but stating you don’t like ice cream doesn’t answer the poll question. 

The statistical information doesn’t have to include all people because you can’t poll all people anyways – plus, you’re not getting everyone who hits the site to take the poll. So, the percentage of people who don’t like that type of food, doesn’t really create a useful number.

It’s hard to state what I mean, exactly, but statisically speaking, whether someone or not likes the food in question in the poll is rarely an important number, because what you really want to know is, of those who eat ice cream, what do you like. 

For example: Best place for pizza: NY, CT, Chicago, Gary IN, Philly, I don’t like pizza.

“I don’t like pizza” is irrelevent. What’s the use of that statistic? If you’re trying to figure out where to have the next Roadfood pizza meet up, the percentage of people who don’t like pizza doesn’t matter. They won’t come no matter where its held. And if you’re trying to see what pizza people prefer, “prefers none” won’t help you – unless you’re going to change your food choice.

None of the above works if one likes the food, but prefers a different choice, but then you have to do some statistical balancing to figure out what percentage of those people just don’t like pizza rather than some other region not listed – like Scranton (that’s for you Mosca).

I guess the point is, that expressing that you dislike a food in most polls seems unhelpful. Most important part of BBQ? Rub, woodchips or charcoal used, quality of meat, the sauce, I don’t like BBQ.

Well, if you don’t like BBQ, then your opinion on what makes BBQ good, is irrelevent to the discussion.

Most of these polls seem to come from some current topic being discussed in the threads. They seem to come out of “since we’re talking about what we’re making for SuperBowl Sunday, lets see what people make for the game.” In a case such as that, “I don’t like football” is completely irrelevant. It’s not like any useful statistic can be used from those few people who respond like that. And, who cares if you don’t like football. You’re probably communist, but, since we can’t discuss politics, that opinion has no place here.

It’s about as useful as someone coming into a thread like “what I’m making for SuperBowl Sunday” and saying “I’m not making anything because I hate football.” In that case, the thread, doesn’t apply to you, move along.

Which is different that someone showing food they made, and more or less asking for comment.

None of the above, or all of the above, could be useful sometimes. A rating system would be really useful for some of those polls – especially ones that look really lopsided, but you know the 2nd favorite item is well loved, but it looks pathetic in numbers in a one pick scenario and a rating system would show the love better. But, I know thats a much more involved software program to do that kind of a poll.

I probably haven’t made the world’s strongest case on the matter – it’s late in the day, I’m ready to go home, so I’m not putting my usual “all angle” position on the floor here where I can dig my heels in and swing from a grounded position. Ultimately, it just bugs me and I see not point to say, “I don’t like hotdogs” when someone asks you what toppings you like on hotdogs. What can I say. We all have our limits. ;o)

There are also Tex Mex tacos. Those are made w/ ground beef.
Joe

If the choice had been “all of the above”,
The answer would be a superior dining experience.
Except in Ohio, I guess. 🙂

That girl was one of our Bolivian tour guides. We chartered a private tour to the Incallajta Ruins in the Andes Mountains, a place few Americans have ever gone, Chimboata, a Colonial Spanish abandoned village, and Pocona, another small Spanish colonial village where we met with the locals at this chicha bar and also I got to tour her backyard brew works where the chicha was brewed. Chicha is kind of like a maize beer.

I kinda liked the poll… seemed like it hit on all of the reasons I go out for a taco.  Only problem with it is that I would’ve like to see the option for ‘e.) all of the above’.

I agree with none of the above or I don’t like. Also the butter poll should have included corn on the cob.
If the purpose of the poll is to show how many of the RF participants like various ‘stuff’ on or in the Taco, I think having the alternate choice that says “None of the Above” is a valid entry. 

     I wish that some of the polls had the capability to allow multiple answers, or a prioritized response..say three points for your top selection, two points for your second choice and one point for your third pick.  These would let you say what many seem to want to say…I like the Meat and Cheese but Gucamole is important also.

I don’t respond to some polls because I just don’t care for the item being measured. If there is a place to say that, I will vote ‘Yuck“. That should tell the reader that a small (or large) percentage of the participants may not care for the item at all.

Dave, is that girl single? Oh, I’m not. Anyway she is cute!

Tacos, all the possibilities are mind boggling!
Joe

Spelling??? I can’t do it! I can grill steaks for 50 people and get each of their rare/med rare/med/med well, requests done right. I however will not go beyond med well. And even then it hurts my soul!
Joe

Edit; misspellings :~(

Hold the popcorn Joe, I’m not bothered at all.  I really am curious.  I’ve had mixed feelings about it myself, but I tend to want to give as many people as possible the opportunity to answer the poll question, and “I don’t like” does that.

Hey Bruce, It wasn’t your response I was getting the popcorn for[;)][:D]