At least most of what you’d call food snobs are people that pay attention to taste, texture, where the food came from, the price of food. They know a lot of things about food. They know how to buy it, how to prepare it, how to enjoy it. I don’t call that snobbery. I call that paying attention to an activity that you need will need to do every day the rest of your life.
You probably don’t realize just how well you can eat for the same cost of the things you do eat.
Why should it?
It’s a breaded topping on a creamy dish. That describes “Chicken & Rice” casserole. That describes the old “Durkee Onions & Green Beans” casserole on Thanksgiving. That might describe “Shepherd’s Pie”, or “Chicken and Dumplings”.
If those are things that you consider snobbish food. . . well, I don’t even know what to tell you.
It’s not a fancy food thing at all. Putting a breadcrumb crust on a creamy casserole is one of the oldest down-to-earth, comfort-food, basic techniques there is.
Sounds to me like some of you think the opposite of “lazy” is “food snob”.
No. She doesn’t “need” liberating. If she wants to explore some things she’s never explored, more power to her. If she doesn’t want to, there’s no need. You may feel she’s missing out. She may feel she’s not wasting time on stuff that doesn’t matter to her. You can both be right.
The only spices I ever ate as a child came out of a package labled “taco” or “meatloaf”. Most of my food had a brand name on it- Hamburger Helper, Speghetti-O’s, Kraft Dinner, Kraft Singles, Wonder Bread. I had never tried wheat bread until I was in high school. I didn’t know what garlic was beyond knowing “garlic bread.” I’d never seen a bottle of wine.
And I hated every second of it. You’ve never seen a kid refuse to eat like I refused to eat. Every single damn thing they offered to me- I hated it. I’d cry because the food was so aweful. The years of canned tuna, meatloaf, Shake’n’Bake and Hamburger Helper wore me down. At 16 I declared myself a vegetarian, starting going to the grocery store alone, and forced my Brazillian boyfriend to teach me how to cook.
Thank god!
Now, my kitchen isn’t very fancy. But I make some damn good food. My weekly shopping includes little more than a bag of potatoes, a tub of yogurt, some cheap veggies, rice, beans, lentils, tortillas, a brick of cheddar and a brick of Jack. But I can turn that in to all manner of wonders- Spiced persian lentils with carmelized onions. Indian potatoes with a creamy yogurt sauce and homemade naan. Hearty bean soups. Gooey wondeful nachos. Roasted vegetables with olive oil and rosemary. People come far and wide to sample my spicy, garlicy, rich and wonderful beans.
Of course, everyone has different palates. But sometimes it’s easy to stick to what you know and what you grew up on. But there is so much more out there. Food went from being a daily fight to one of my greatest pleasures. “Fancy” food has made my life richer and better. Stick to what you like, but try something new now and then.
That’s because both have zero need to be liberated.
There is no right way to live or to eat. You can’t be liberated if you are already free.
The OP specifically mentions a couple of threads in which people are talking about very luxurious food items. $20/pound cheeses, for example. Since those are the specific examples she brought in, those are the specific examples I’m referring to when I say that not everyone can afford to eat that way. Not everyone cares to eat that way.
And she doesn’t like crunchy mac ‘n’ cheese. She’s allowed not to like her mac ‘n’ cheese to be crunchy, your “Why should it?” notwithstanding.
Which are all foods I find gross. I don’t like crunchy bits in my creamy food; even if it’s something I prepared myself and I know it’s just breadcrumbs, there’s always a small part of my hindbrain worrying, “Is that a bug?” Come to think of it, there’s not many creamy foods I like at all, because I can’t tell at a glance what’s in it.
Who said that? I didn’t even use the term “food snob” in my OP. If one of your hobbies is cooking then knock yourself out. This thread is about food “hicks”; nobody here is dumping on the foodies.
I like all different kinds of food. I’m no “food snob”, but I’m definitely not a “food hick” either. However, I will not stand for insults directed at Ro-tel/Velveeta queso dip. Nectar of the Texas gods, I tell ya!
I’m in agreement with the OP with the exception of the cheap frozen pizzas. If I wanted that taste I’d dip my saltines in a can of tomato sauce. I gotta have my DiGiorno three meat cheese cruster if I have pizza at all.
Lunches around here? PBJ, just make it the PP whipped kind with strawberry preserves. Bologna and kraft slices. Canned tuna and with nothing but a glob of mayo. White bread, but I like wheat occasionally. I buy a bag of apples and maybe some oranges every week. Don’t need no fancy fruit here.
I LIKE ramen, especially the teriyaki chicken flavor. Sometimes I get a little crazy and toss some bacon bits in the mix. No bacos though; that’s just gross.
I prefer parmesan in a can. I’ve had it freshly shredded/grated. I don’t care for it that way. If I want fresh I’ll by some kraft cheddar or jack. It’s going on my canned ravioli anyway…don’t want to overpower the fine flavor of Chef Boyardee sauce, no sir.
Velveeta and rotel with doritos? Gooood eats! If I have leftovers from the dip I’ll mix it in with my generic mac and cheese the next day. Then I’ll cut up some burner -roasted hot dogs and toss it in the mix.
I do like my veggies but nothing fancy. Blech on asparagus, artichokes and anything I can’t identify. Bag salads are a gift from God, especially when I catch them just about out of date-they mark 'em down to 99 cents that way.
Wouldn’t surprise me if that came from her. She was great! I saw her on some show once … Oprah, maybe? … and there was a segment in which Julia was looking through her refrigerator. I think all she had in there was beer, some ham, and a tiny bit of unidentifiable cheese. It was hilarious!
Sorry for posting again so soon, but I forgot this before: Did you know they make whole grain white bread now? It’s the best thing since … well, never mind.
It’s possible to be both, you know. I have Mac & Cheese in a box in the pantry. I bake my own bread. There is Coors Light in the fridge. I also have a rather extensive wine cellar. My wife is an amazing cook. So am I, for that matter, but sometimes I just can’t be arsed to do it. At such times a bag of Doritos and Ro-Tel Queso is dinner, and a damned fine one at that!
I spent my summers on my grandfathers farm until I was 17, and learned to love vegetables. I love just about any veggie with the exception of squash. Maybe it’s the name?
I can cook. Do often. You don’t get to be as big a fat-ass as me without being able to destroy some groceries. But I gotta say, all those things you’re talking about doing? I can do them all at least as well if not better sitting on the couch waiting for the delivery guy than I can if I’m cooking something. I find I can relax much more laying there watching a ballgame than I can standing over a burner stirring something. Waiting for Pizza Hut is all the relaxing, with none of the prep time. It’s nice that you enjoy it and all, really it is. But I can spend time with someone’s wife, listen to the radio and have many drinks without going any closer to the stove than the refrigerator. I just personally don’t see why the cooking part is necessary.
That said your Mac & Cheese does sound quite tasty, if way more trouble than I want to go through.
I think that Trunk has hit the nail on the head here in regards to his comments that the opposite of “lazy” isn’t “food snob” and that we Americans have lost sight of what cooking is all about.
I would also like to throw out another consideration which weighs heavily on my decisions on what I eat. Because of my need to limit saturated fat intake, I found that relying on eating out was not a viable choice as there was no control on what my fat content was since most places have no clue of what the nutritional content of their food is and eating “prepared” foods were also a lost cause as “prepared” might as well equal “high fat”. Now those that say that all I need to do is purchase low fat food, my answer is to say that “low fat” equals “no taste”.
How to remedy the situation? Pick out my own ingredients, be wise in what I select, and gain the satisfaction of preparing it myself and also sharing it not only with my family but with friends. As Trunk also mentions, it is possible to actually save money and yet be creative in your cooking.
One last thought is that most of the food that is offered in supermarkets has become overrun with such things as “high fructose corn syrup” and farmed pigs and chickens, which I believe will adversely effect our, and future, generations health and well being. And please no requests for cites since no one, pro or con, can have any basis to draw any conclusions at this time and they won’t be able to for at least another 10-15 years. I am very selective about the ingredients that I use and that is another advantage of my being a “food snob”.
My last thought is that the “sandwich” and “cheese” threads offer a lot of good ideas and thoughts on expanding your horizons and you should embrace the idea rather than reject it simply because it doesn’t fit your present model.
