# Death to Green Bean Casserole **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 13, 2006, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-to-green-bean-casserole/380299 "2006-11-13T21:00:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Caterpillar22](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b5a626/32.png) [@Caterpillar22](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Caterpillar22)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2006, 8:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-to-green-bean-casserole/380299/61 "2006-11-16T08:26:39Z")
I _love_ green bean casserole. I’m going to my boyfriend’s parent’s house for Thanksgiving, and I’m bringing that. They’re big foodies, and will probably turn their noses at it - but that doesn’t matter, I’m bringing it for me. I should also note that I don’t use canned beans - its amazing how the taste of it improves just by switching to fresh veggies. It’s a family tradition for me, so if nobody else wants it…that just means more for me! I’m also bringing fudge, which everyone will gladly eat. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![thirdwarning](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecccb3/32.png) [@thirdwarning](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thirdwarning)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2006, 10:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-to-green-bean-casserole/380299/62 "2006-11-16T10:13:12Z")
What’s all this stuff about jellied cranberry sauce in the can shape? People, people, you’re supposed to slice it. That’s what the little lines are for, isn’t it? And the best thing is to slice it and then cut it with seasonal cookie cutters. That, and tearing up the stuffing bread, were my jobs at Thanksgiving time when I was a kid. My mother endeared herself to my husband by saving a small dish of unadorned green beans for him when she made green bean casserole for the rest of us. He hates the stuff. ---
**Author:** ![velvetjones](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/5f9b8f/32.png) [@velvetjones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/velvetjones)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2006, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-to-green-bean-casserole/380299/63 "2006-11-16T13:19:14Z")
[QUOTE=Max Torque] I just wanted to jump in here and note that Jones Soda once sold a “Holiday Pack” that included a “Green Bean Casserole” flavor. That flavor was, according to [X-Entertainment](http://www.x-entertainment.com/articles/0920/), “gross enough to warrant throwing up eight times with flailing arms.” [/QUOTE] OMG :eek: did you say _green bean casserole soda?_ the mere idea of it is enough to warrant throwing up eight times with flailing arms. And I don’t know what it is about sweet potatoes. Every recipe seems to add sugar and stuff like marshmallows (ick) to make them sweeter. Just serve mine with a little butter please. Though I must say, a properly made Sweet Potato pie is a thing of beauty. ---
**Author:** ![GingerOfTheNorth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/cdc98d/32.png) [@GingerOfTheNorth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GingerOfTheNorth)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2006, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-to-green-bean-casserole/380299/64 "2006-11-16T14:55:28Z")
[QUOTE=Stranger On A Train] I weep for humanity. Next, we’ll have a thread where people profess to like the canned cranberry gelatin-like substance, still congealed and sliced into disks, better than fresh cranberry sauce. [/QUOTE] I think you’ve been hanging out with my in-laws. I’m used to picking my own cranberries and making a fresh whole-berry sauce; I offered to make it the first American Thanksgiving with the family, and they were horrified that you could make such a thing, and that someone would prefer it to canned gelatinous goop. I had also never had green bean casserole until that meal. Whatever, when in Rome and all that - but we put on a big turkey dinner a few weeks later and I do everything that I want to do. I LIKE plain sweet potatoes, roasted in the skin. The in-laws’ traditional meal includes has them processed into some sort of overly sweet casserole. ---
**Author:** ![Monstre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e274bd/32.png) [@Monstre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monstre)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2006, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-to-green-bean-casserole/380299/65 "2006-11-16T18:06:28Z")
[QUOTE=velvetjones] I mean, really, what is the big deal with this stuff and why do so many people think it’s so great? [/quote] I’m with you – I mean, I don’t hate it, but I can take it or leave it. And if given the option of green bean casserole or something else, I’ll usually pick the something else. HOWEVER, with that said… > [@](#): > > I brought my favorite “Hearts Salad” to the pot luck: > 1 can of Artichoke Hearts quartered Nothing tastes more like preservative to me than canned or jarred artichoke hearts. Bleaaahhhh. I love artichokes, but not that overly pickled stringy-on-the-ends junk. The only good artichoke is a fresh artichoke. * * * In other news, sweet potatoes rule. (And my dad makes it with brown sugar and crushed nuts as a topping, but marshmallows are fun, too). And my SIL makes a kick-ass cranberry-chutney sauce. Yum. ---
**Author:** ![Anne\_Neville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Anne\_Neville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anne_Neville)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2006, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-to-green-bean-casserole/380299/66 "2006-11-16T18:20:40Z")
[QUOTE=Monstre] Nothing tastes more like preservative to me than canned or jarred artichoke hearts. Bleaaahhhh. I love artichokes, but not that overly pickled stringy-on-the-ends junk. The only good artichoke is a fresh artichoke. [/QUOTE] But fresh artichokes that are past their prime are nasty, stringy, tough, and bitter, and you just can’t get good fresh artichokes most of the year ☹ I prefer frozen artichoke hearts to canned- they taste less pickled. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2006, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-to-green-bean-casserole/380299/67 "2006-11-16T18:43:17Z")
[QUOTE=Anne Neville] But fresh artichokes that are past their prime are nasty, stringy, tough, and bitter, and you just can’t get good fresh artichokes most of the year ☹ I prefer frozen artichoke hearts to canned- they taste less pickled. [/QUOTE] People often say that, but I’ve never in my life seen frozen artichoke hearts. Do you have to live with a Trader Joe’s or something? ---
**Author:** ![Carl\_Corey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Carl\_Corey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Carl_Corey)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2006, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-to-green-bean-casserole/380299/68 "2006-11-16T19:17:49Z")
> [@picunurse](#): > > Greenbeans, fresh or frozen, taste like grass. Campbell’s Cream of Mushroom soup tastes like… Campbell’s Cream of Mushroom soup, no matter how you try to disguise it. Icky, icky. I could get graphic, but I won’t. > > Cranberries, in any form, I suspect are really poison. Some people are more immune to them. Not me. Again, icky, icky. > > Sweet potatoes and yams are slimey. Putting marshmallows on them doesn’t change that. Icky, icky. Well, geez. . . Maybe we should call you **pickynurse** instead. 😛 > [@Nightsong](#): > > This thing called a ‘green bean casserole’ that I normally see? A can of green beans (yuck), glopped into a dish, with a can of cream of mushroom (yuck) glopped on top, and some onion-thingies (yuck) tossed on top? YUCK! It’s about as appealing to me as the typical \ in aspic dishes from the 50s and 60s are. Which is to say, no appeal what so ever. You’re telling me. About 15 years ago my grandmother served aspic at thanksgiving dinner. Everyone there under 40 had that particular look of horror that says: “Oh dear God, I do not want to eat this, yet I can’t hurt Gran’s feelings. Gah!” I tried the aspic. It was. . . ugh. I like both kinds of cranberry sauce. And properly made sweet potatoes are good. Butter is all you need. No marshmellows, syrup, nuts, KY jelly, whatever. But in our house sweet potatoes are not Thanksgiving food. Creamed onions are, though. And that yummy oyster dish. . . ---
**Author:** ![Anne\_Neville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Anne\_Neville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anne_Neville)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2006, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-to-green-bean-casserole/380299/69 "2006-11-16T19:28:52Z")
[QUOTE=Zsofia] People often say that, but I’ve never in my life seen frozen artichoke hearts. Do you have to live with a Trader Joe’s or something? [/QUOTE] 😕 I get them at a regular supermarket, like Safeway or Albertson’s, in the freezer case with all the other boxed frozen vegetables. I don’t think TJ’s has them- I would get them there if they did, because they’d probably be cheaper. ---
**Author:** ![Caterpillar22](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b5a626/32.png) [@Caterpillar22](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Caterpillar22)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2006, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-to-green-bean-casserole/380299/70 "2006-11-16T19:47:55Z")
[QUOTE=GingerOfTheNorth] I think you’ve been hanging out with my in-laws. I’m used to picking my own cranberries and making a fresh whole-berry sauce; I offered to make it the first American Thanksgiving with the family, and they were horrified that you could make such a thing, and that someone would prefer it to canned gelatinous goop. I had also never had green bean casserole until that meal. Whatever, when in Rome and all that - but we put on a big turkey dinner a few weeks later and I do everything that I want to do. I LIKE plain sweet potatoes, roasted in the skin. The in-laws’ traditional meal includes has them processed into some sort of overly sweet casserole. [/QUOTE] This post is dripping with snobbery. ---
**Author:** ![cbawlmer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/71e660/32.png) [@cbawlmer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cbawlmer)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2006, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-to-green-bean-casserole/380299/71 "2006-11-16T19:52:33Z")
[QUOTE=Caterpillar22] This post is dripping with snobbery. [/QUOTE] Or, you know, opinions. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2006, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-to-green-bean-casserole/380299/72 "2006-11-16T20:36:42Z")
[QUOTE=Caterpillar22] > [@GingerOfTheNorth](#): > > I think you’ve been hanging out with my in-laws. I’m used to picking my own cranberries and making a fresh whole-berry sauce; I offered to make it the first American Thanksgiving with the family, and they were horrified that you could make such a thing, and that someone would prefer it to canned gelatinous goop. I had also never had green bean casserole until that meal. Whatever, when in Rome and all that - but we put on a big turkey dinner a few weeks later and I do everything that I want to do. > > I LIKE plain sweet potatoes, roasted in the skin. The in-laws’ traditional meal includes has them processed into some sort of overly sweet casserole. This post is dripping with snobbery. [/QUOTE] Snobbery? No more than the OP or any other like-minded posts (mine included). I’m constantly amazed that people can’t tell the difference between fresh and frozen vegetables, or that they’ll _prefer_ a canned sauce to one that is freshly prepared. It’s one thing to eat prepackaged/canned foods because you don’t have time, money, or access to make it fresh. I’m not trying to be a snob; it’s just that there’s such a dramatic difference in taste and quality, I don’t understand why someone would prefer canned. But to prefer canned cranberry sauce (which I have to agree with the description provided by \*_GingerOfTheNorth_) to a freshly prepared sauce? Bizarre to an extreme. The canned stuff is like…congealed brake fluid. I hated cranberries until I had fresh sauce. Stranger ---
**Author:** ![cbawlmer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/71e660/32.png) [@cbawlmer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cbawlmer)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2006, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-to-green-bean-casserole/380299/73 "2006-11-16T20:52:22Z")
For me, green bean casserole made with fresh green beans just doesn’t taste right. I love them fresh normally, but that’s not what you use to make old-school GBC like grandma used to make. It’s recreating a specific combination of flavors and textures – and memories, which can be important in comfort/holiday food – that I have enjoyed since childhood. If you don’t like those flavors and textures, I completely understand. I can make an excellent hamburger at home. Beef patty seasoned and grilled to perfection, whichever kind of cheese I want, my choice of condiments. But if I have an odd craving for a Big Mac, my homemade gourmet burger isn’t going to work. Is the homemade burger better? By most standards, yes. But it’s not really the thing I want right now. Same thing for the green bean casserole. I never liked canned cranberry sauce as a kid, so I don’t want to eat it now either. I’ve made the fresh stuff though, and I love it. My sister-in-law’s lifelong love for canned cranberry sauce is legendary in my in-laws’ family. As a toddler, she would happily eat as much as they would give her. Once when she was in elementary school, she got all excited because they were serving slices of dark red deliciousness in the cafeteria line. She asked for extra, and the cafeteria lady gave her a weird look but gave her extra anyway. She hurried over to her table and took a great big bite of what turned out to be canned beets! Ew! She was disappointed and not a little grossed out, but when she told the rest of her family they thought it was so funny they retell the story every Thanksgiving. And they always serve the canned cranberries, and never the fresh. Bah! ---
**Author:** ![GingerOfTheNorth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/cdc98d/32.png) [@GingerOfTheNorth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GingerOfTheNorth)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2006, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-to-green-bean-casserole/380299/74 "2006-11-16T21:11:56Z")
[QUOTE=Caterpillar22] This post is dripping with snobbery. [/QUOTE] Then I guess my opinions are snobbish. Just as everyone else in this thread’s must be, because we all have them. [QUOTE=Carl Corey] And properly made sweet potatoes are good. Butter is all you need. No marshmellows, syrup, nuts, KY jelly, whatever. [/QUOTE] I agree. KY Jelly is a big fat no-no at the Thanksgiving table. That’s probably not something you want to actually find out on your own, though. ---
**Author:** ![pinkfreud](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pinkfreud/32/17603_2.png) [@pinkfreud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pinkfreud)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2006, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-to-green-bean-casserole/380299/75 "2006-11-16T21:24:11Z")
I do see some food snobbery in this thread. There’s a difference between saying that you don’t like something and saying that it is gross or disgusting (with the implication that no one in his/her right mind would like it). ---
**Author:** ![GingerOfTheNorth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/cdc98d/32.png) [@GingerOfTheNorth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GingerOfTheNorth)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2006, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-to-green-bean-casserole/380299/76 "2006-11-16T21:37:46Z")
[QUOTE=pinkfreud] I do see some food snobbery in this thread. There’s a difference between saying that you don’t like something and saying that it is gross or disgusting (with the implication that no one in his/her right mind would like it). [/QUOTE] I never said anything was gross or disgusting, and I have a lot of my own food preferences I would never push on anyone. I don’t even eat cranberry sauce of any kind. I have made it fresh every year for my family in Canada at Thanksgiving as an adult, because I’m the cook and other family members like it. It was made fresh simply because the danged cranberries grew on the rocks in the back yard and we had them at hand. ---
**Author:** ![yellowval](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/919ad9/32.png) [@yellowval](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yellowval)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2006, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-to-green-bean-casserole/380299/77 "2006-11-16T21:38:33Z")
The green bean casserole will be on our Thanksgiving table but I won’t be eating any. I don’t care for green beans on their own (will eat if I have to plain) but throw mushrooms and onions in and I’m definitely out. On Thanksgiving I won’t waste my time eating anything I even remotely don’t care for. There are too many fabulous things to choose from. My mom makes a great fresh cranberry sauce that’s to die for. I don’t even know what all she puts in it but it’s fabulous. I make the sweet potatoes, and there are no marshmallows involved. However, I do add a touch of cinnamon and vanilla, and top them with walnuts and brown sugar. They’re mashed and definitely not slimy! ---
**Author:** ![yellowval](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/919ad9/32.png) [@yellowval](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yellowval)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2006, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-to-green-bean-casserole/380299/78 "2006-11-16T21:41:33Z")
Then I forgot to say what I came in here to say. What I really despise is Cool Whip on my pumpkin pie. If you’re not going to bother with the real thing even on Thanksgiving, I’ll take my pie plain. Pumpkin pie with real whipped cream is the real reason I’m thankful on Thanksgiving. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Monstre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e274bd/32.png) [@Monstre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monstre)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2006, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-to-green-bean-casserole/380299/79 "2006-11-17T20:28:25Z")
[QUOTE=Zsofia] People often say that, but I’ve never in my life seen frozen artichoke hearts. Do you have to live with a Trader Joe’s or something? [/QUOTE] Yeah, I don’t think I’ve ever seen frozen ones either. Although I’d probably prefer that to the pickled kind, too. But I’ve had them fresh at varying times of the year – I just keep an eye out for when my grocery store has them for a better price. I loves me a good fresh artichoke – keep that pickledness away from me! 😉 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-to-green-bean-casserole/380299.md?page=3)