# Food and drink that used to seem "premium" that no longer do... **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 9, 2015, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/food-and-drink-that-used-to-seem-premium-that-no-longer-do/727415 "2015-08-09T23:59:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![BurnMeUp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/91b2a8/32.png) [@BurnMeUp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BurnMeUp)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2015, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/food-and-drink-that-used-to-seem-premium-that-no-longer-do/727415/61 "2015-09-02T21:31:00Z")
Food wise, coming from deep woods MN and then moving to Salt Lake City we would go to a Chinese place that to me was the most exotic thing in the world. Little raised dishes that they served the food in, lazy susans on the table. It seemed like another world. I look at that place now and it looks just like any mediocre American chow mein hut food now. My grandparents thought it was an amazing treat though. Then they got a Chinese place in their town and it was… as delicious as you would expect Chinese food in deep woods MN to be. I also remember Pizza Hut being the primo pizza, that and Shakeys. more often we’d wind up with those $5 for a large pie joints. now the major pizza chains are only where I turn to in desperation and laziness. Way back in the mid-late 80’s I was taking karate from a man who studied it in Okinawa for many years and once a year the class would all go out to the one Japanese place in town and eat sushi, donburi and other delights. People were still shocked at the thought of raw fish. now you can get sushi at grocery stores (not that I would). ---
**Author:** ![Elemenopy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b5e925/32.png) [@Elemenopy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elemenopy)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2015, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/food-and-drink-that-used-to-seem-premium-that-no-longer-do/727415/62 "2015-09-03T13:21:55Z")
> [@Stink Fish Pot](#): > > Just talking about this. > > Pizza Hut was EXPENSIVE… > > I wish I could remember what that expensive Pizza Hut pizza actually tasted like. I am sure they’ve changed ingredients as they’ve lowered their price point, but as a kid, I thought it was great. They had two choices… Thick and chewy, or thin and crispy. The [Priazza](http://library.duke.edu/digitalcollections/media/jpg/oaaaarchives/med/AAA5853.jpg) was pretty darned good. Chicago-style deep dish at Pizza Hut; wish I could get that delivered! ETA: Oooh, [look what I found](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WtLFpUEkMDs)! Somebody mentioned shrimp. When I was growing up in landlocked flyover country, my mom would get [these](http://static.caloriecount.about.com/images/medium/sau-sea-shrimp-cocktail-54176.jpg) little numbers for a special treat/appetizer. More sauce than shrimp, but we would be sooo excited! ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2015, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/food-and-drink-that-used-to-seem-premium-that-no-longer-do/727415/63 "2015-09-04T03:37:37Z")
In Spanish you can describe something as being _más caro que el salmón_, more expensive than salmon. The expression evidently predates both farmed salmon and modern transportation; quite as clearly it didn’t originate in a country rich in them such as Scotland, where according to tourist guides it used to be eaten so often it was “salmon again?” ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2015, 8:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/food-and-drink-that-used-to-seem-premium-that-no-longer-do/727415/64 "2015-09-04T08:19:06Z")
Before their unlimited salad bar, Ponderosa was a once or twice a year treat growing up. It seemed fancy to me, I guess also because the building was big enough that we had a reasonable amount of privacy. And then their salad bar started and it became fairly cheap to just eat at the “salad” (i.e. cheese sauce, bacon bits, and ham) bar without getting a steak, and so it became less of a treat, and more crowded, so became less special. ---
**Author:** ![Frylock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@Frylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frylock)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2015, 12:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/food-and-drink-that-used-to-seem-premium-that-no-longer-do/727415/65 "2015-09-04T12:11:12Z")
> [@Aeschines](#): > > S No craft beer drinker today would think of Sam Adams as anything good at all, Just one thing: [ratebeer.com](http://ratebeer.com) ratings don’t _only_ come from craft beer drinkers, but their ratings do seem to basically track snob tastes pretty well, and they rate Sam Adams very, very highly for its style: [http://www.ratebeer.com/beer/samuel-adams-boston-lager/158/](http://www.ratebeer.com/beer/samuel-adams-boston-lager/158/) I agree with the rating, ftr. ETA: And now that I read the thread I see this point has been hammered on already. Oh well, I’ll leave my post here for the record. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2015, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/food-and-drink-that-used-to-seem-premium-that-no-longer-do/727415/66 "2015-09-04T14:55:20Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > I’m not much of a beer drinker, but when I was in college in the late 1960s, we could not get Coors beer in Texas. So the thing was if you had any friends going to Colorado, they would bring back a case of Coors. (I’m not making this up.) Yeah, I remember when Coors suddenly became the cool thing in the East in the early 1970s, because you couldn’t easily get it. Then you could, and it became just another beer. And I remember when foreign food meant Chinese, Italian, or Mexican, or French if you wanted to go upscale. Now Indian and Thai are practically passé. ---
**Author:** ![Hampshire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hampshire/32/4887_2.png) [@Hampshire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hampshire)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2015, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/food-and-drink-that-used-to-seem-premium-that-no-longer-do/727415/67 "2015-09-04T15:14:16Z")
When I went to a **Benihana** back in the late 80s it was a pretty upscale experience. It was in a downtown area, expensive, and we even wore a shirt & tie to go. Now they’ve moved out to the suburbs, lots of kids, people in shorts & t-shirts, etc. ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2015, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/food-and-drink-that-used-to-seem-premium-that-no-longer-do/727415/68 "2015-09-04T16:39:37Z")
> [@RTFirefly](#): > > Yeah, I remember when Coors suddenly became the cool thing in the East in the early 1970s, because you couldn’t easily get it. There was some connection with President Gerald Ford, I remember. He had it shipped in to the White House when he wanted to watch football games on television. My dad got all excited about it, and actually scored a six-pack in 1975. He was as enthusiastic as I was when I bought a lid of Columbian weed at the same time. Which was odd, because he wasn’t much of a beer drinker. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Evil\_Prince\_Zorte](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@The\_Evil\_Prince\_Zorte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Evil_Prince_Zorte)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2015, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/food-and-drink-that-used-to-seem-premium-that-no-longer-do/727415/69 "2015-09-04T19:45:12Z")
> [@Stink Fish Pot](#): > > Just talking about this. > > I wish I could remember what that expensive Pizza Hut pizza actually tasted like. I am sure they’ve changed ingredients as they’ve lowered their price point, but as a kid, I thought it was great. They had two choices… Thick and chewy, or thin and crispy. In high school in the '80s I worked at a Pizza Hut restaurant. The toppings were chopped and prepped in the morning, and we made the crust from scratch. A few years later in college I delivered for Pizza Hut and by then all toppings came from bags in the freezer. The crusts were frozen discs and that were taken out of boxes, dropped into pans and put into the proofer to rise. During the time I was delivering they reduced the size of large pizzas enough that customers often thought we were bringing them mediums by mistake. ---
**Author:** ![Dorjan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dorjan/32/12440_2.png) [@Dorjan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dorjan)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2015, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/food-and-drink-that-used-to-seem-premium-that-no-longer-do/727415/70 "2015-09-04T19:51:43Z")
When I was a kid Pizza Hut was a semi-classy joint. You went there and sat down, and got waited on like any other sit-down restaurant. There was a nice salad bar, the pizza was made fresh, and there was always a video game cabinet by the entrance to wile away the time while waiting for the pizza. That is, if we could bum a quarter off the 'rents. We often went before going to the movies, so Pizza Hut became a cherished family outing. Completely different joint back then. IIRC they started changing for the worst in the early 2000’s ---
**Author:** ![Do\_Not\_Taunt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/do_not_taunt/32/2968_2.png) [@Do\_Not\_Taunt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Do_Not_Taunt)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2015, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/food-and-drink-that-used-to-seem-premium-that-no-longer-do/727415/71 "2015-09-04T22:13:24Z")
> [@BurnMeUp](#): > > Another one that was high class for no reason Lowenbrau - do they still even make that?. It’s one of the classic six Munich breweries. I’ve never had it in the US, so perhaps they rented the brand to a crappier product, but the German version is certainly good. > [@Nava](#): > > In Spanish you can describe something as being _más caro que el salmón_, more expensive than salmon. The expression evidently predates both farmed salmon and modern transportation; quite as clearly it didn’t originate in a country rich in them such as Scotland, where according to tourist guides it used to be eaten so often it was “salmon again?” During the depression, salmon were known as “poverty steaks.” It’s obviously a product whose reputation has improved in the US! ---
**Author:** ![No\_umlaut\_for\_U](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ea5d25/32.png) [@No\_umlaut\_for\_U](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/No_umlaut_for_U)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2015, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/food-and-drink-that-used-to-seem-premium-that-no-longer-do/727415/72 "2015-09-05T21:25:00Z")
Hazelnuts/hazelnut flavored coffee or chocolate. So sophisticated 30 years ago, so mundane today. Breyer’s ice cream, or any of the regional, semi-premium brands like Blue Bunny. Today, over-stabilized globs. And, I am old enough that fresh-shipped citrus was a big deal. (So was Harry & David’s Fruit-of-the-Month Club) Honeybells still are! ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2015, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/food-and-drink-that-used-to-seem-premium-that-no-longer-do/727415/73 "2015-09-05T23:27:56Z")
– Any kind of coffee better than bitter, scalded diner swill – Any kind of burger better than McDonald’s/Burger King/Wendy’s/Burger Chef – Any kind of pizza better than Godfather’s/Pizza Inn/Domino’s/Pizza Hut/Little Caesar’s – Any kind of fried chicken better than Kentucky Fried Chicken/Lee’s Famous Recipe – Sushi – Real deli sandwiches — corned beef that didn’t taste like rubber, and anything made from brisket – Barbecue that wasn’t something baked and slathered with a sauce from a jar – Chinese food — it was a treat. It’s where we went when we had special guests – Seafood restaurants — birthdays only — Shrimp (at a restaurant), crab, and scallops were _special_. Lobster was still too expensive to actually order. – Thai restaurants — Vietnamese, Korean, Japanese, Malaysian, Ethiopian, Argentinian, Indian, Middle Eastern/Mediterranean, Noodle houses — Heck, any ethnic cuisine outside of Mexican, Italian, and Chinese restaurants ---
**Author:** ![Cub\_Mistress](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ea666f/32.png) [@Cub\_Mistress](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cub_Mistress)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2015, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/food-and-drink-that-used-to-seem-premium-that-no-longer-do/727415/74 "2015-09-06T01:22:37Z")
I still remember the first pizza I ever ate, at a Pizza Hut in Tupelo, MS. It was delicious and exotic! Heck, when we went out to Shoney’s as a kid (rarely) I would order that daring exotic dish…spaghetti with meat sauce, complete with it dainty little garnish of fresh parsley! Nutella was something only military kids who had lived overseas knew about and now it is everywhere, and not special at all. In the late 70’s I scored a 6 pack of Coors to take on my honeymoon weekend in Columbus GA where my then husband was in jump school. He was very pleased! Scarcity often fuels the illusion of superiority. ---
**Author:** ![Honey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/honey/32/5074_2.png) [@Honey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Honey)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2015, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/food-and-drink-that-used-to-seem-premium-that-no-longer-do/727415/75 "2015-09-06T01:48:46Z")
When I was 18 or 19 (1982-1983), we used to drive up to Canada to buy, and bring back a case of Brador. Everybody here wanted Brador. It was like gold. It you showed up at a party with a case of that, you were the coolest. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Dave\_Hartwick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7feea3/32.png) [@Dave\_Hartwick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dave_Hartwick)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2015, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/food-and-drink-that-used-to-seem-premium-that-no-longer-do/727415/76 "2015-09-06T01:53:17Z")
People still use gelatin for desserts, but it appears that back in the 50s Americans thought meat suspended in unflavored gelatin was not only edible, but the sort of [stylish](http://lileks.com/institute/gallery/knox/3.html) chow you’d serve company. I googled “gelatin main courses” and the top results were no-kidding recipes from UK sites, so maybe some people still do. I watched a bit of a documentary series called “The Supersizers” and one of the episodes said that potatoes were a fad food for the French aristocracy. ---
**Author:** ![Ellis\_Aponte\_Jr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@Ellis\_Aponte\_Jr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ellis_Aponte_Jr)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2015, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/food-and-drink-that-used-to-seem-premium-that-no-longer-do/727415/77 "2015-09-06T02:59:32Z")
> [@BurnMeUp](#): > > Another one that was high class for no reason Lowenbrau - do they still even make that? Basically what happened was in the 1970s Miller Brewing bought the rights to the Lowenbrau name and its packaging design but then made the beer in the US to less exacting standards than the German version. Anheuser-Busch actually sued Miller for misleading advertising, since the public was sort of led to believe it was a real German import. Ironically, Anheuser-Busch InBev now owns the original Lowenbrau brewery in Munich. I have tried a real German Lowenbrau in a bottle at a dive bar in NYC. It was nothing to write home about, but I suspect it may have been a case of the beer not traveling well, as often happens with Euro imports. Normally the Munich lagers are my favorite kind of beer. ---
**Author:** ![Jake\_Jones](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e0b2c6/32.png) [@Jake\_Jones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jake_Jones)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2015, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/food-and-drink-that-used-to-seem-premium-that-no-longer-do/727415/78 "2015-09-06T03:47:40Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > Of course. If they had it here in the Midwest, it’d be my cheap beer of choice. I’m not sure you find it much west of Pennsylvania or perhaps Ohio. I last had it when I was in upstate New York this spring. Yuengling has a pretty big footprint these days and is mostly limited by production. They acquired a defunct Stroh’s facility in Tampa in 1999 and opened a new facility in PA in 2000. If you draw a line straight down from the middle of Lake Michigan, you can find Yuengling in all states east of that line with the exception of upper New England (VT, NH and ME). In terms of production, they’re almost dead even with Sam Adams at ~2.5 million barrels a year (Yeungling is slightly higher), but Sam Adams sells for almost twice the price. Yuengling is not on par with Sam Adams quality, but they don’t compete with Sam Adams. Their price point puts them at competition with Bud, Coors and to a lesser extent, Miller (who sells at a slightly lower price point). Their product is considerably better than any of the three. I think **bump** pretty much nailed this one. > [@bump](#): > > Pretty much anything that’s regional and mass-market is going to work that way. I mean, I think Yuengling is decent, but hardly the nectar-of-the-gods that some make it out to be, and In-n-Out is also decent, but not _that_ awesome. Certainly not any better than Whataburger. And I’m sure people from PA are underwhelmed by Shiner beers, and Californians are underwhelmed by Whataburger. > > A whole lot of the phenomenon is pretty much summed up in being a marginally better local alternative to the big national chains, which was a bigger deal when distribution wasn’t so widespread and chains were more local. Yuengling and Shiner Bock are better than Bud or Miller products, just like In-N-Out and Whataburger are both superior to McDonalds’ and Burger King. But none of them are objectively crazy good, and nor have they ever really been. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/food-and-drink-that-used-to-seem-premium-that-no-longer-do/727415.md?page=3)