I used to be a picky eater.
The older I get the more I can’t stand picky eaters.
I was wrong when I was a picky eater.
It’s so annoying. People base whole chunks of their personality on not liking tomatoes or cilantro or whatever. Grow up. Pathetic.
Cilantro tastes like bug spray to me and no amount of eating it anyway has helped and any significant amount ruins whatever I’m eating. That said, the only time I bring it up is in conversations like these.
I used to be picky too, I learned it from my mother. At some point I realized that if a restaurant is serving it, that means people are buying it, and its worth trying. It turns out that most food is delicious, even if I think its a little weird at first.
Exactly! If millions of people are eating something, then it probably tastes good! You just haven’t really tried it yet.
You’re not a special unique flower because you don’t like something. You not liking avocados doesn’t make you more interesting, it makes you boring.
Judging people based on how they like their steak makes me think less of you
There’s nothing special about red meat.
Spicy food challenges are doing everything to ruin spicy food for everyone. They focus entirely on heat, not flavor.
If you want a spicy hot challenge and only care about the heat, there’s pepper spray.
But super spicy hot foods should be intentionally made to also taste great. The challenge he should be the allure of the spicy food conflicting with the pain it puts you in. If you’re gonna struggle with the heat, you should be equally tempted by the taste.
Da Bomb, for example, is a fucking abomination and shouldn’t ever have stayed in business, nor be promoted by Hot Ones.
For some of us who like spice, it can be tough to get that across. “No heat challenge, but spice it like it should be. Spice it as if I weren’t white”
Car dependency is bad for food culture. It encourages massive chains and drive throughs and makes it harder for mom and pops to thrive
cold take my man
Good lol
Tradition and authenticity is bullshit.
Food from good ingredients prepared well matters more than if the cheese was stared at for two hours by the sheepwife of the mayor of Scrumthrorpeshireffield.
For example: Wine tasters were clear that French wine just tasted better than Californian wine. They were extremely convinced. Then they tried a blind test and hoo boy did everyone get pissed when they couldn’t tell the French wine was better without knowing it was French first. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judgment_of_Paris_(wine)
Tradition and authenticity are good and important if your goal is to experience the culture.
If your goal is to just eat good food, then they’re not important at all.
For example, if you go to Italy and want to really experience Italian food culture, then you should be looking for tradition and authenticity. But if you go to Italy and you just want some good, tasty food … then you don’t need to worry so much about that.
if your goal is to experience the culture
I think people also get touchy on what is “authentic”. Italian cuisine in Italy changed in a similar manner to Italian-American cuisine in the USA. So, you can have “authentic” Italian-American cuisine that comes from Italian roots, but Italians from Italy don’t want that cuisine to be seen as authentic.
but then again culture is not comprised only of traditional ways of preparing food but also how it evolved to where we are
True. Culture, history, etc as an experience is valid.
It is where people pretend it is important to quality and taste, I call bullshit.
As for the experience… If the old bearded Italian man who served you traditional cheesemelt pig in wooden clogs while singing Por Trancone Parditto were to, say, replace the cheese with Swedish Gulost and not tell you… You would have the same experience.
Not saying it’d be the same, but that the food taste and quality are entirely separate from the authenticity.
Norrbagge detected, vi kallar det bara ost, inte gulost! c:
Traditional and culture are good if you like the food as it was originally. Here in the us, too much ethnic food is Americanized, sometimes for the worst. After experiencing a few more authentic Chinese restaurants, I’ve come to realize the many I don’t like are because they’ve been Americanized. Badly. A lot more sweet, milder flavors, everything fried.
Professional wine tasting seems like a scam anyway. Somehow, professional wine tasters are unable to tell red from white wine in blind tastings that hide the visual information.
When served correctly, you can easily tell them apart by temperature.
Thinking of for recipes, authenticity matters if you’re wanting that specific thing the way you’ve always (more or less) had it. Otherwise, go wild.
I’m always reminded of the time a chef my mother was dating tried to impress me by cooking pierogi (my favorite non-seafood food). He tried to make it fancy with toppings and it was so unsatisfying. Just give me my fried onions and sour cream.
I don’t entirely disagree. But the thing about tradition is, it’s done the same way every time. I’m more likely to trust the person who has done a thing their whole life and learned from their parents rather than someone who started last week.
But I’d prefer either of them over mass-produced versions.
For example: Wine tasters were clear that French wine just tasted better than Californian wine. They were extremely convinced. Then they tried a blind test and hoo boy did everyone get pissed when they couldn’t tell the French wine was better without knowing it was French first. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judgment_of_Paris_(wine)
Two Buck Chuck (an inexpensive blend of wines sold by Trader Joe’s) also has scored well among California wines. So it’s not like expensive California wines are obliterating more-pedestrian counterparts, either.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Shaw_wine
Charles Shaw is an American brand of bargain-priced wine.[1] Largely made from California grapes, Charles Shaw wines include Cabernet Sauvignon, White Zinfandel, Merlot, Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, Shiraz, Valdiguié in the style of Beaujolais nouveau, and limited quantities of Pinot Grigio.
The cost of the wine is about 30 to 40 percent of the price, with the bottle, cork and distribution the larger part.
Charles Shaw wines were introduced at Trader Joe’s grocery stores in California in 2002 at a price of USD$1.99 per bottle, earning the wines the nickname “Two Buck Chuck”, and eventually sold 800 million bottles between 2002 and 2013.[2]
At the 28th Annual International Eastern Wine Competition, Shaw’s 2002 Shiraz received the double gold medal, beating approximately 2,300 other wines in the competition.[13]
I’d add that the same sort of thing goes for “audiophile” gear. Things should be blind-tested. It’s very easy to have a perceptually different experience when you know what it is that you’re using.
I remember a point where Joshua Bell was busking in the New York subway.
https://www.classicfm.com/artists/joshua-bell/violin-busking-washington-subway/
He’s one of the finest talents in the classical music world, and in 2007 violinist Joshua Bell went busking as an experiment. Would the public realise just what was happening, alongside their daily bustle?
Music director of the Academy of St Martin in the Fields, worldwide star soloist, and former child prodigy. His instrument is a Stradivarius from 1713 and his hair is an icon of classical music in itself…
Joshua Bell is one of the world’s great virtuosos, and one of the biggest names in classical music.
And in 2007 he did some anonymous busking, as a little social experiment to see what might happen.
Over a period of 43 minutes, the violinist performed six classical pieces, two from Bach pieces, one Massenet, and one each from Schubert and Ponce.
Out of 1,097 people that passed by Bell, 27 gave money, and only seven actually stopped and listened for any length of time.
In total, Bell made $52.17 (£42.18). And this includes a $20 note from someone who recognised him.
I remember the violinist one when that came out, and watched some of the videos. He made terrible choices for songs to play that would be nonsensical unmelodious noise if listened to in a second or two of passing by. If someone on the street just hears a disconnected sequence of unrelated notes they’re not going to stop unless they are specifically looking out to be entertained. I’m sure he’s an incredible musician but musician and busker are different skills. A good busker can be a mediocre musician but play catchy, immediately compelling or memorable songs that are recognizable and instantly understood, and have a distinctive stage/street presence.
I was so frustrated by the implication that because he made a pittance that “people don’t know good quality” etc. No, he was just terrible at busking. Honestly he was lucky that he pulled even that much doing it for the first time. What do you honestly think is more attention getting, Violin Partita No. 2 in D Minor played by some white dude in a ball cap or a keytar wielding bear playing a cover of Watermelon Sugar with his whole heart and soul?
I went to a blind dinner recently (You eat in a completely dark room, and are served by blind people).
After each course, the guests had to guess what they were eating, and what sort of wine was served.
Literally no one was even able to tell the difference between white wine and rosé.That tells me there was something wrong with the rosé, honestly.
I genuinely don’t like eating steak.
I’ll eat it if it’s put in front of me but I genuinely just don’t get the appeal of a giant slab of meat that’s that chewy (even after being tenderised) and fights you when you cut it.
Steak chunks that have marinated in a sauce for a long time until they melt apart in your mouth is devine.
But a giant hunk just slapped on the plate isn’t my thing at all and I don’t understand why people like it.
Steak is amazing when properly cooked and seasoned (salt, pepper, garlic powder). If its chewy its likely a cheap cut, cooked too long, or cut the wrong way (cut against the grain, not with it).
Since we’re doing hot takes, I disagree. This one’s gonna piss off a lot of people.
I’m also not a huge steak eater, but I find medium well and well done are less chewy than the other options. Rare and medium rare are like eating gum. I can’t get them down.
I do love a slow cooked meat that can fall apart with a fork
Uh, pro tip for the budget constrained:
Buy some packs of instant ramen.
Get a rice cooker.
Get a rotisierre whole chicken.
Get some mixed leafy greens, or bean sprouts.
(Optional) Get some kind of ramen seasoning.
(Optional) Get some kind of seasoned oil meant for noodles.
Water into pot.
Carve off or even just tear off some of the chicken, put in pot.
(Optional) Add seasoning / seasoned oil.
Turn pot on, bring to full boil.
At full boil, add in instant ramen for about 5 minutes.
After 5 minutes, turn pot off, stir a bit, add in veggies, stir some more, re-cover pot for another 5 minutes.
You now have hot pot.
…
Oh, this was supposed to be hot ‘takes’ not hot pot.
Oh well, you have hot pot.
Food culture only exists because people aren’t hungry.
No chef or restaurant can beat the satisfaction of eating whatever you have when you’re truly hungry.
Personally I don’t care for “Mexican pizza”. I mean I like the flavors, but together I just don’t.
One day I started a job at a warehouse as a picker, walked like 15 miles that day pushing a cart around climbing up and down shelves, I was exhausted. Stopped by my GFs house, she asked if I was hungry, I was but all she had was a frozen Mexican pizza. It was at the time, the greatest food I have ever tasted.
True. If people were extremely hungry though, especially constantly, you get food religion
Its more important to enjoy what you are eating than it is to follow someone else’s food “rules”. Put ketchup on hotdogs, pineapple on pizza, smear wasabi on sushi, coffee with pasta.
smear wasabi on sushi
There is nothing wrong with this. Sushi cehfs put it on the underside. If you want more, put it on top. It’s generally considered bad manners to mix soy sauce with wasabi and dunk but, to be honest, I see that fairly frequently here in Japan as well. Mixing soy sauce and wasabi to pour over chirashi is fine.
Ah I see you are enjoying yourself. Would you care to know that you are, in fact, enjoying yourself incorrectly?
There is no joy to be had the way you are doing it. If there is, it is a fault in your character.
The only time I think somebody can really enjoy something incorrectly is in karaoke (not bar karaoke, real karaoke where you get a room) because you can bring down the whole experience so easily. It’s a social activity, not a contest. And it’s a fun activity, not a wake.
since when was ketchup on hotdogs considered unusual!? i thought that was normal my whole life!
not that it matters anyway :P
It is standard.
Baseball.
I like ketchup and mustard on my dogs. I think pineapple on pizza is revolting, but I don’t pineapple-shame those who like it.
I got a hotdog at a food truck that appeared near my house a few years ago. I asked for just ketchup on the dog. She laughed and said “You’re a little boy! That’s OK, little boys get hotdogs too.” I’m like, lady I am giving you money right now, is there a version of this encounter where you’re not judging me?
It’s 100% the norm to put ketchup on hot dogs. She can go fuck right off.
I thought she was judging him for not having mustard.
And rightfully so.
coffee with pasta, Do you just plonk it in with the sugar or do you dunk like a biscuit?
in parts of Italy it is highly discouraged to have a main dish with a coffee drink.
Nor do Europeans drink soda with a meal.
I love food bullies who get off on telling people how to eat and what they should like. The Chef was written for those people.
Try it the recommended way for at least one or two bites and then judge how to improve it for yourself.
If we are talking about cuisine, then mine is that intensely spicy food (e.g. Indian, Korean, Laos, etc.) is heavily overrated.
I prefer a taste bouquet of a carefully crafted meal. Hotness should be a nice touch, not a dominant agony. Food should not require a built tolerance to it’s ingredients in order to be enjoyed.
Those foods are good, not just because they are spicy, but because of their flavor profiles.
I like a small proportion of what I eat to be very very spicy. Not everything, and not every day. But sometimes it’s exactly what I want and some foods are so good that way. Lots of other flavors are sort of learned too - wine, bitter greens, there are foods I tried every year until I could like them (mango and raw tomatoes, and wines, also Swiss cheese) and I am glad I did develop a palate for them. Spicy I’ve always liked, only one of my kids was like that but all of them like it now.
I guess my hot take is that just because I like milk and/or sugar in coffee, doesn’t mean I don’t like coffee. Most people who like chocolate don’t like unsweetened baking chocolate and nobody is gatekeeping that like they do with coffee.
also balut looks tasty mfs just have no class
I tried balut in the Philippines. Definitely something you should try at least once.
It’s just another food that people eat everyday that someone tried to make sound scary. Not sure why people do that.
When I was a kid they told me that Koreans eat cabbage that they bury in a jar in their backyard for a month. OH MY GOD SCARY.
Now I eat kimchi 2-3 times a week.
i wanna try a redonkadonk
and chapulines
Steaks are diminishing returns for the price.
Most people can tell a $30 steak is better than a $6 one, but I think most people aren’t going to get much of a difference between a $30 and a >$100 steak.I agree… but I also think that applies to LOTS of other foods, particularly in the setting of a restaurant.
Not just foods, either. Tons of products are like that.
The gap between an El Cheapo lowest-bidder product and the midrange product will be far, far more significant than the gap between a midrange product and the high-end stuff.
Holds true for almost every product in almost every industry. Clothes, cars, sporting goods, electronics, you name it.
Unless you just absolutely cannot afford it, then the midrange product is usually the best choice. The high-end stuff will be slightly better, sure, but unless you’re an extreme enthusiast with very specific needs, the upgrade to high-end stuff just isn’t worth the price premium you’ll pay for it.
Babish figured out how to make a beef Wellington with a $10 cut that rivaled a $120 cut. A little science and time at sous vide.
Diminishing returns applies pretty universally, it’s just a matter of finding the point that’s good enough.
Sadly, this doesn’t apply to a lot of seafood, however. Absolutely buy the most expensive scallops, for example, because they are handled, processed, and stored better, resulting in a very noticeable difference in quality; on the other hand, the difference between the cheapest and mid-range is less noticeable. Same with most sashimi. Oh, and even moreso with sake (obviously not seafood).
And that $30-100 steak is going to underperform against a mediocre home cook as long as the latter can take their time and prep the meat properly.
Unless someone I don’t like is buying me dinner, I’m skipping the steak every time. I do it better at home.
We’re finally starting to get there, but American food culture really needs to embrace communal eating more. Think tapas, hot pots, even simply ordering a few dishes to share with the whole table.
It’s more of a social and interactive activity, you get to try more things–it’s just a better experience. And you don’t get ostracized if you have some specific reason that you need your own separate food (medical, personal, whatever).
confused about that last sentence. in my experience, adding more people to the mix drastically increases the chances of ostracization
Well, then you know who not to have dinner with anymore.
