# Cracker Barrel adds Impossible Sausage to their menu, conservatives lose their minds **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [August 4, 2022, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cracker-barrel-adds-impossible-sausage-to-their-menu-conservatives-lose-their-minds/969101 "2022-08-04T17:11:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 9
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2022, 5:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cracker-barrel-adds-impossible-sausage-to-their-menu-conservatives-lose-their-minds/969101/161 "2022-08-07T05:23:32Z")
> [@bump](#): > > They’re not rural or small-town restaurants, they’re not particularly Southern, and they’re not a small time operation. They’re a humongous nationwide restaurant chain that has a menu that consists of more or less “country” foods, and who deliberately cultivates an “old-timey”, “country” or “down-home” atmosphere. I’m not sure how many Americans want a [truly authentic](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pWC0sKCS5oA) small Southern diner experience. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2022, 8:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cracker-barrel-adds-impossible-sausage-to-their-menu-conservatives-lose-their-minds/969101/162 "2022-08-07T08:09:06Z")
> [@DesertDog](#): > > I’m not sure how many Americans want a [truly authentic](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pWC0sKCS5oA) small Southern diner experience. You know, I’d have expected an Italian like Vinnie to recognize polenta. ---
**Author:** ![Crane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crane/32/3495_2.png) [@Crane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crane)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2022, 12:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cracker-barrel-adds-impossible-sausage-to-their-menu-conservatives-lose-their-minds/969101/163 "2022-08-07T12:10:55Z")
> [@bump](#): > > But it’s not authentic Yeah - No flypaper ---
**Author:** ![crowmanyclouds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crowmanyclouds/32/19884_2.png) [@crowmanyclouds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crowmanyclouds)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2022, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cracker-barrel-adds-impossible-sausage-to-their-menu-conservatives-lose-their-minds/969101/164 "2022-08-07T13:44:19Z")
A really strange missed moment in that film. Should have been the moment that Vinnie realized that he was just in “Kansas” and not in “Oz”. ---
**Author:** ![Bill\_Door](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/50afbb/32.png) [@Bill\_Door](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bill_Door)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2022, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cracker-barrel-adds-impossible-sausage-to-their-menu-conservatives-lose-their-minds/969101/165 "2022-08-07T14:21:05Z")
You don’t recognize the creeping decline here. It was only 2020 that Cracker Barrel started selling alcohol, and now this. It’s the slippery slope personified. Conservatives went [nuts about the beer](https://www.christianpost.com/voices/cracker-barrel-no-apple-pie-but-they-got-booze.html) as well. ---
**Author:** ![Tfletch1](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tfletch1/32/5340_2.png) [@Tfletch1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tfletch1)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2022, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cracker-barrel-adds-impossible-sausage-to-their-menu-conservatives-lose-their-minds/969101/166 "2022-08-07T15:06:54Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > I admit, my irony meter may not be perfectly calibrated. But that particular blanket statement presuming to understand how a broad group of people think and tersely dismissing all of them, rather than trying to see their point of view or understand where they’re coming from or, well, _empathize_ with them in any way, pinged it pretty hard. There are actual studies showing that conservatives show much less empathy for those outside their social groups than liberals. Here’s a nice [review](https://jspp.psychopen.eu/index.php/jspp/article/view/5209/5209.html) that also refutes a counterview. Conservatives also have very strong feelings of disgust especially for the “other”. Losing their shit over impossible sausage is partially programmed into them by the shows they watch, but is also explained by how averse they are to different things. So, I don’t see irony in a statement based on evidence. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2022, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cracker-barrel-adds-impossible-sausage-to-their-menu-conservatives-lose-their-minds/969101/167 "2022-08-07T15:08:01Z")
Huh. I’ve been to Cracker Barrel maybe three or four times in my life, and somehow have never noticed that they didn’t serve alcohol. I would not have expected that. But no apple pie? That really does seem bizarre to me for a restaurant with that image and cuisine. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2022, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cracker-barrel-adds-impossible-sausage-to-their-menu-conservatives-lose-their-minds/969101/168 "2022-08-07T15:15:10Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > Huh. I’ve been to Cracker Barrel maybe three or four times in my life, and somehow have never noticed that they didn’t serve alcohol. [But they do, now.](https://www.cnn.com/2020/09/19/business/cracker-barrel-alcohol-sales-trnd/index.html) (ETA: as noted in the post you replied to) [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/C5wlnLFQZdU/maxresdefault.jpg "How To Drink At Cracker Barrel") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C5wlnLFQZdU) ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2022, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cracker-barrel-adds-impossible-sausage-to-their-menu-conservatives-lose-their-minds/969101/169 "2022-08-07T15:16:41Z")
> [@Bill\_Door](#): > > You don’t recognize the creeping decline here. It was only 2020 that Cracker Barrel started selling alcohol, and now this. It’s the slippery slope personified. Conservatives went [nuts about the beer](https://www.christianpost.com/voices/cracker-barrel-no-apple-pie-but-they-got-booze.html) as well. - From the link. > It just doesn’t seem like Cracker Barrel anymore when **I look at the table next to me and see numerous empty beer cans.** Moreover, it’s not comforting to know the folk at that table just left and got back on the highway. God doesn’t like liars. Dear lying “Christian”, Jesus turned water into wine. Deal with it. I will agree on the apple pie. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2022, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cracker-barrel-adds-impossible-sausage-to-their-menu-conservatives-lose-their-minds/969101/170 "2022-08-07T15:17:24Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > But they do, now. No, I got that part of the post – I just didn’t notice pre-2020 they didn’t have alcohol. But I’m more shocked they stopped serving apple pie because – well – as the saying goes: “As American as …” and that’s the last place I’d expect not to see apple pie on the menu. (Beer’s pretty engrained in American culture, too, which also expresses my surprise that they didn’t serve it.) ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2022, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cracker-barrel-adds-impossible-sausage-to-their-menu-conservatives-lose-their-minds/969101/171 "2022-08-07T15:23:26Z")
WTF is a cracker barrel anyway? There are whiskey barrels, pickle barrels and rain barrels and on and on. But a cracker barrel? I know it’s just a marketing gimmick, but do cracker barrels exist as a real thing? ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2022, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cracker-barrel-adds-impossible-sausage-to-their-menu-conservatives-lose-their-minds/969101/172 "2022-08-07T15:23:48Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > (Beer’s pretty engrained in American culture, too, which also expresses my surprise that they didn’t serve it.) For me (who used to have clients in the casual dining restaurant industry), I see Cracker Barrel as being in the same segment as IHOP, Denny’s, etc. – heavy on the breakfast items (which are available all day) and traditional diner fare. Restaurants in that segment frequently don’t serve alcohol at all. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2022, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cracker-barrel-adds-impossible-sausage-to-their-menu-conservatives-lose-their-minds/969101/173 "2022-08-07T15:25:22Z")
> [@enipla](#): > > I know it’s just a marketing gimmick, but do cracker barrels exist as a real thing? Answered upthread, but yes, they really did exist as a thing – soda crackers were shipped to stores in barrels, and the term came to be used for sitting around said barrel and talking. > **[Definition of CRACKER-BARREL](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/cracker-barrel)** > > suggestive of the friendly homespun character of a country store… See the full definition > **[The Glory Days of the Common Cracker](https://www.csmonitor.com/1991/0517/17172.html)** > > WERE I not so involved with my worldwide philanthropies I might try to restore the common cracker to enhance the common weal and heighten the joy o ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2022, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cracker-barrel-adds-impossible-sausage-to-their-menu-conservatives-lose-their-minds/969101/174 "2022-08-07T15:29:31Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > Answered upthread, but yes, they really did exist as a thing – soda crackers were shipped to stores in barrels, and the term came to be used for sitting around said barrel and talking. Thanks kenobi. Huh. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2022, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cracker-barrel-adds-impossible-sausage-to-their-menu-conservatives-lose-their-minds/969101/175 "2022-08-07T15:31:22Z")
Ah — mentally I had it more in my mind as a place like Texas Roadhouse or even Applebees’s in terms of feel and alcohol expectations. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2022, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cracker-barrel-adds-impossible-sausage-to-their-menu-conservatives-lose-their-minds/969101/176 "2022-08-07T15:32:50Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > mentally I had it more in my mind as a place like Texas Roadhouse or even Applebees’s in terms of feel and alcohol expectations. From the faux-country decor, I can definitely see that. But, both Texas Roadhouse and Applebee’s are in a different market segment – bar and grill – and they have actual bars within the restaurants. Also, restaurants in that segment tend to not serve breakfast. ---
**Author:** ![D\_Anconia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@D\_Anconia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D_Anconia)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2022, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cracker-barrel-adds-impossible-sausage-to-their-menu-conservatives-lose-their-minds/969101/177 "2022-08-07T15:36:07Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > Also, restaurants in that segment tend to not serve breakfast. Right, the local Texas Roadhouse doesn’t open until 3 pm weekdays. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2022, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cracker-barrel-adds-impossible-sausage-to-their-menu-conservatives-lose-their-minds/969101/178 "2022-08-07T15:39:16Z")
> [@Tfletch1](#): > > There are actual studies showing that conservatives show much less empathy for those outside their social groups than liberals. … > Conservatives also have very strong feelings of disgust especially for the “other”. … > So, I don’t see irony in a statement based on evidence. I am reluctant to continue this discussion, because I’m afraid of it being a hijack of the current thread. But, it’s largely _because_ liberals are supposed to be the empathetic ones that I saw such irony in a statement (“Conservatives lack [empathy] completely”) that I (perhaps uinfairly) interpreted to be dripping with disgust for the other (the “other” in this case being conservatives). ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2022, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cracker-barrel-adds-impossible-sausage-to-their-menu-conservatives-lose-their-minds/969101/179 "2022-08-07T15:41:11Z")
The thing was, it was never catering to them. At risk of stirring a different pot, I’d call Cracker Barrel a great example of cultural appropriation. It’s a huge national chain that basically took all the trappings of rural America, homogenized and standardized them, and then regurgitated them out as part of a corporate identity. It was founded in 1959… I’d guess that even then the Cracker Barrel style was something of a deliberate nod to old folks and a reactionary anti-Space Age sort of thing. Why? Because they thought people would want to eat that sort of food in that sort of atmosphere. They weren’t carrying some sort of rural torch. Which is why this whole outcry about Impossible Sausage is so silly- they’re doing the exact same thing- they believe that people will want to eat that for breakfast at a Cracker Barrel. Which is the one common thread about all restaurants- their goal is to sell food- the “set dressing” is just there to make you comfortable/amused/intrigued while you order and eat your food. It’s not a cultural statement or declaration of principles or anything stupid like that, especially not in a nationwide, highway-centered chain. Believing it to be so is just stupid. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2022, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cracker-barrel-adds-impossible-sausage-to-their-menu-conservatives-lose-their-minds/969101/180 "2022-08-07T15:45:04Z")
Now, if **Waffle House** starts offering Impossible Sausage, then we’ll be seeing riots in the streets. 😃 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cracker-barrel-adds-impossible-sausage-to-their-menu-conservatives-lose-their-minds/969101.md?page=8) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cracker-barrel-adds-impossible-sausage-to-their-menu-conservatives-lose-their-minds/969101.md?page=10)