by Beth Goulart

Loving to cook doesn't mean never eating out. I love going to restaurants. But letting someone else do the cooking doesn't mean I don't want to know where the food comes from. So I ask.

My friend Lyssa asks, too. She's passionate about eating only free-range meat, so before ordering, she asks her server whether the meat on the menu meets that criterium. But she says it makes her dining companions uncomfortable. They think it's rude. She deserves to know, she insists.

My friend Hillary asks, also.

She's excited about the health benefits - and the flavor - of grass-fed beef, so she asks her servers if they offer any grass-fed before she orders. But she embarrassed her husband by asking this question at a dinner with his colleagues at Ruth's Chris Steak House. Her husband was mortified - he felt the question was totally inappropriate, particularly in a business setting. (The answer was "no.")