Biggest loss at this years event - food discussion

I’m scheduled to be a the VEXMen event this Saturday,

https://www.robotevents.com/robot-competitions/vex-iq-challenge/RE-VIQC-21-5493.html#general-info

And the sister Elementary event, Vexmen Open - VIQC Qualifying Tournament - Elementary School : Robot Events

These are the Must GoTo events for me, because the mothers and grand mothers of the roboteers put on a display of the finest Indian lunch you could want. Miles above plain cheese pizza, these are delights that have been created with love, based on years of meal satisfaction. As an official you run the calories off from field to field. As a judge you run from pit to field to pit with tons of energy,

Sadly the last two years, Nana’s cooking has been eliminated from events, And while I know why, and I still go for my cold slice of plain cheese pizza, I pray that next season will bring food back.

What do you miss at your events, Or is room temp cheese pizza just fine for you?

(I used to go the Indiana FIRST Invitational, ( a three day event) they had people hand picking corn at dawn, soaking it in water and then grilling it with the husk on, When it was done, they would peel the husk down to make a handle. Quick dip in butter and a flash of salt it then was mine for $1. First corn of the event, I gave them $20 and said when it ran out, let me know. First two years, I went over, but the staff were fine. Third year, the staff was concerned about my health at ear 20, but cut me off three ears later.)

So roboteers, what event has the best food, and how much do you take advantage of it,

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We’ve always done 25 cent ice cream cones at our home tournament.
Let me tell ya, a nice soft serve cone hits the spot when you are stressed :ok_hand:

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Ehrler’s Ice Cream and Mini Donuts from VEX Worlds. :frowning_face:

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Alright, I’ll bite (pun intended). Prepare for massive wall of text!

For standard events, our team has always done pizza for lunch. Usually Dominoes, but every so often we get the massive slices of Costco pizza. I like to fold two pieces together, make a sort of calzone I guess. One tournament there was a baseball game going on behind the gym and our team watched for a little bit.

Our tradition is always In-N-Out on the way back from the tournament. I really missed it during Change Up, but we’ve been able to have In-N-Out this year. We always sit outside. Always.

To me, In-N-Out is a staple of existence that the entire world should know about, but I am aware that the East Coasters at least, do not, so I will take the burden of describing it.

I’m a teenager, so I go all in, getting delicious piles of food. In-N-Out is famous for their secret menu, which of course is prioritized in my purchasing. I get a 4 by 4, which is insanely delicious. 4 burger patties, 4 slices of gooey American cheese. The bun is toasted, and it crisps the slightest amount as you take a massive bite out of the burger. Man, my mouth waters just thinking about it. Of course, I add on an order of cheese fries, because burgers and fries are kind of a thing. I can see them pour the fries out straight from the fryer onto a tray, then throw on cheese slices and melt them. When I get them, I instantly start cramming my face with the crispy and salty sticks, occasionally taking a slight detour to dip them into ketchup, or my chocolate shake. Mmmm chocolate shake. Thick and delicious.

But if I really have to talk about food, I have to talk about Vex Worlds 2018-2019. Back when it was in Louisville (back when it actually happened every year!)!

Hotel breakfast was interesting, but every table was full in the hotel, crammed with roboteers who were wolfing down some nutrition to make it through an exercise-crammed day of scouting. Let me tell you, if you haven’t scouted at Vex Worlds, you have not had a good workout. The tables were full, so our entire team ate in one of the meeting rooms.

Our mentor had been to Louisville, like a lot. Around 10 times maybe? So he knew the drill.

He brought us some pizzas from Derby City Pizza Co., which was really close to the Kentucky Exposition Center. Oh man were those pizzas good. Ultra-thin crust. Lots of small slices. Some cheese. Oh man. I couldn’t believe how good it was.

I managed to convince my parents on our way back there the next day that we needed to stop and get a pizza. They agreed, and we ate the entire pizza in the car. I was gobbling up piece after piece. Mmmm. SO GOOD!

Dinner, we found a BBQ place. Chicken, brisket, ribs, lathered in BBQ sauce, with some form of bread to soak it up. Delicious.

Then after worlds ended, we got to go into Kentucky Kingdom, the amusement park next door. We were obsessively going over the new game, Tower Takeover. We had no idea what was going to happen that same time next year.

At Kentucky Kingdom, I passed a funnel cake stand, and I knew I had to get one. I ordered, and they fried it up fresh. Gave it to me on a flimsy paper plate, with some plastic forks. It was crispy and looked absolutely perfect. Coated in powdered sugar so much that I positively choked on it. The flimsy fork could barely penetrate the fried outer shell, but I managed to anyway, chowing down on sugar.

Ok. Now I’m hungry.

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I agree. “Worlds ice cream” is legendary for my teams. I remember on one of the days at 2019 Worlds we actually got ice cream twice. It was that good. In 2020 when Worlds was canceled and I was notified that two of my teams were invited to play Virtual Worlds I actually tried to order some and get it shipped here. Alas, it was deemed impossible to ship ice cream from Louisville to San Diego, but I would’ve paid any price to let the kids taste it again.

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ranch sauce

ranch sauce

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Personally I am a picky eater. And whenever I am at an event (not just vex, luncheon any event) and the organizers are all “people are so sick of pizza lets do X instead” I end up leaving starving. They always choose to get something complicated from a place they personally like that I won’t eat. I was part of a summer intern program where we had a luncheon every week, I just decided to always eat before hand because they never had anything I would eat.

So I say to you Foster, when pizza is a nice generic choice where everyone can be reasonably satisfied, why are you trying to make everything so complicated? No one is going to look at pizza and rather go home hungry…

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I miss eating manapua at 7am with the other members of the team after we woke up at 4 am and drove over to the comp. Bentos always hit diff after a day of competition, but those are still here as I remember them. Just no more snacking at the pit tables / grabbing a manapua and taking a break outside :(((

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Yikes! Last time I saw this passion was on the new High Strength Shafts

First up is DRow and love for https://www.ehrlers.com/ Gotta say dude, that initial picture had car keys in my hand ,and mental calculation on my current MasterCard Limit . How far is that really …

@trontech569 - Funnel cake is never eaten with a fork. They knew you were a rookie, and gave you the pity fork. Pro tip, date a mid-west person, they get their own funnel cake, just saying. (If they share with you … )

@RanchSauce really, I had pegged you for Blue cheese. TIL.

@meepmeepme So I had to go look up Manapua. So Fluffy. filled with amazing things. I can imagine that the morning with this would make a great day.

And for @tabor473, sorry for my love of the food that Nanas make for all of us. There is plain pizza, and pretzels and fruit at the event. If you ask they will make food for you. For years I’ve worked with a “healthy eating person” and there was always a “salad / protein” for them. I soon glommed on to them and asked for two,

Mom says “If you don’t ask the answer is always no.” Ask twice to be sure you are heard.

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This!!

During pre-covid, it was almost like a initiation for 1st timers to worlds.
I remember the seniors will bring the juniors that were attending worlds for the 1st time to the ice cream cart.

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I miss the Hard Rock Cafe at worlds in Kentucky. Those were good times. Food was good

uh oh. Can someone explain?

Hard Rock in Philly. Call, pick a date, I’ll meet you and even pay…

Edited to add

@RanchSauce posted Ranch Sauce and I snarked backed with “really, I had pegged you for Blue cheese. TIL.” Like Ranch Sauce would be a Grey Poupon person…

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