Choose a Name Wisely

That's right. Naming a dish cannot be taken lightly. This concept is true in many areas. Giving a blog entry a title, for instance. I could have named the entry "Dandelions," or "Cooking Dandelions," but instead I named it "Hey Man, I am Cooking Weed." Just the word "weed" caught the readers' attention. The entry drew the second highest traffic the blog ever had. Of course most visitors were looking for a different type of content and they left immediately but nonetheless they came to the site. I tried.



Recently I went to a favorite sandwich shop, The Village Market and Cafe located in Gardiner, NY for a quick bite. Well, what can I tell you. I love meatloaf and I can't have enough of it. They have a nice sandwich that they call Workin' Manwich Sam-ich. They serve the meatloaf topped with caramelized onion, cheddar (love it!), and horseradish mayo. Never has one sentence contained so many favorite words of mine. But I digress. Since this is my favorite sandwich I want to see it do well and become a favorite of many customers. But then it hit me. Perhaps, and only perhaps, a female would not order this sandwich because its name is...too masculine. I can only picture heavyset, bearded men, order this sandwich.

Sure. They have other sandwiches like: Yes Dear, BLT, and Tofunito. I can see a lumberjack or a young female order a BLT, but, no way, no how, would a teenage girl order a Workin' Manwich! They also have brownies there too and they call them...brownies! If they called them Girly-Whirlies instead would a lumberjack order one? Would a police office go up to the counter and order a Girly-Whirly?

So, I explained to the person behind the counter my issue and the message was relayed to the manager/owner. But the message was received with bridled enthusiasm and a nervous smile.

Why can't they name this sandwich: Best Meatloaf Ever, or Hot-to-Trot 'loaf, or even better, Yummy-Yummy-Down-my-Tummy Meatloaf, or...The Grilling Greek's Meatloaf.

I beg any local readers of this blog to go to The Village Market and Cafe and tell the owner(s) about this issue and urge them to change the name of this sandwich. It will make me soooooooo happy.