Food Snobbery

Munchies? :slight_smile:

less sinister, but just as addictive:

Christmas :smiley:

JAR
$4 a pound??? U.S.???
Wow. In southern Ontario, I get chain brand butter for 2.65 CANADIAN! (about .35 U.S. hee hee)

Did’ja happen to catch my contribution to that thread? Two ingredients- eggs and Durkey Sauce. Doesn’t get much simpler than that, kiddo.

I’m one of those food snobs you speak of. Frozen vegetables? Yuck. Kraft cheese? Yuck. Comfort foods? Please. And don’t get me started on the abomination that is cooking with Campbell’s Soup.

But you know what? If you like it, and you’re eating it, then go for it. I may be surprised that you’d rather eat that stuff than real food, but as long as you’re not making me eat it, I don’t mind that much.

But I REALLY don’t understand flying off the handle about margarine. I use butter, and it does have different characteristics, but margarine definitely has its place, especially in baking.

Ah Necros. You must be a lot of fun at family dinner parties. I suppose you send your entree back if it isn’t to your liking.

I guarantee I could cook for you with ingredients not ordered from New York City, and you would like it. I god damn guarantee it.

WooHoo Albertson’s by my house has real butter (store brand of course) on sale for 99 cents a pound, limit 2. Guess who has 4 lbs in her freezer. And who plans to get a couple more pounds tomorrow.

I may use some of it for baking, but most of it is going on piping hot home made biscuits and cornbread ! As the great Randy Macho Man Savage would say Ohhhh yeah !

jarbabyj said:

Of course not. If I’m a guest, I am absolutely going to treat my host with respect. That doesn’t mean I’m going to necessarily enjoy my dining experience, though. I’m not going to voice my sentiments aloud to be polite, but I will definitely share my opinions with my girlfriend in the comfort of our own home afterwards.

And I didn’t say that your ingredients had to be from New York. I don’t buy ingredients from New York. But I suspect that even in the teeny-tiny town of several million people you live in, you can find real, non-processed-cheese-food cheese. And you can definitely find real vegetables. And you can probably find something better than Campbell’s Soup to cook with.

If you’re making food that you got from your Polish relative that calls for six ingredients, that doesn’t make your cooking bad. I suspect that it’s wonderful. It’s when you decide to cut corners like using said condensed soup that things go bad.

Simple doesn’t equal bad. I’ve said before that my favorite meal in the whole wide world would be raw tuna, white rice and Champagne with plain bittersweet chocolate for dessert. It doesn’t get much simpler than that. Most of your OP sentiments are fine. Many many ingredients doesn’t make something good, nor does goat cheese.

But others in this thread have said they use frozen vegetables because slicing vegetables is a waste of time. I’m sorry, but what? If you can’t tell the difference between frozen vegetables and fresh, then I don’t know what to say. And Hamburger Helper Beef Stroganov? I’m speechless. But I guess someone must buy it.

I don’t really have anything to add here, but that I hate going out to eat, and the menu is chock full of adjectives.

One night I had my date take me to B3 something (buffalo joint, I can’t remember the name, its on Lincoln by the Biograph, I think.) for a burger, because the menu at the first place (where we waited for 45 minutes for a table) had too many adjectives.

Believe it or not, I’m really a low maintenance kinda gal.

And bugger off you beer snobs, we’re not asking you to drink Miller Lite, just don’t bug us about it!

While I am a food snob, I do enjoy making “comfort foods” too. I use real butter in certain recipes and margarine in others, depends on what the final product is.

I actually had grilled cheese (using Velveeta slices) with ham sandwiches on WHITE – yes WHITE bread last week with Campbells Tomato Soup on the side. I had about four.

My Hamburger Pie rocks. Yes I add more than what is listed in the 1962 Betty Crocker Cookbook that I have, I have just updated it with some spices (have a mix of store brand and name brand spices but nothing too exotic) and garlic. But the instant mashed potatoes on the top are so yummy.

When I shop, I do try to buy the freshest and most organic products I can find. I do think that most milk is filled with hormones, I don’t choose to put that in my body. I do prefer vegetarian fed organic eggs, they taste and cook better. Same with meats, I prefer to have no hormones in my meats. As for vegetables, they don’t have any truly organic produce in the store near me, but I am not as concerned about them as if you wash your produce well enough you can get rid of a major amount of the pesticides.

I would go to the local “health food” grocery and stock up on all organics but it is not cost effective at this time for me. Produce here is very expensive as it is.

So, while I am a “food snob” it is only from my own tastes that I have become so. I love to cook, everything from the most elaborate dish to the simplest tuna fish salad sandwich.

jar, I agree with you on so many fronts but some people do enjoy to put 5 million ingredients into one dish, they just haven’t figured out how fun it can be to cook simply too.

The Campbell’s Soup Kitchen has a number of Beef Stroganoff recipes. Here’s one. Here’s another. My mother used to make one of these, but I didn’t really care for it. I made three different casseroles over the past two weeks using three different Campbell’s soups – they’re wonderful.

Ick! I always hated the dreaded grean bean casserole. (Cream of mushroom, BTW.)

Beer snob checking in. You can have your margarine and grocery store brand peanut butter, hell you can eat Circus Peanuts™ for all I care. But I can never, never overlook the drinking of this insubstantial excuse for a beverage. Pisswater has more body and saliva is more refreshing. I’d rather lap up puddle water from the parking lot of a dollar-a-dance strip club than one ounce of Miller Lite.

Shame. I would have pegged you for drinker of heartier fare. Guinness is on me if you ever get your wits about you.

I’ve got an idea Waverly. You drink what you want to and I’ll drink what I want to.

Think it’ll ever work?

jar

What I think is odd is that the OP speaks of margerine and simplicity. One reason I don’t use margerine is because butter is simply milk and salt, but margerine is a bunch of chemicals.

And I agree with Necros to a point: Use frozen veggies if you like (it saves time) but don’t pretend the taste or texture is the same. And enjoy your hamburger helper, but don’t pretend it’s real food.

That said, eat what you like. For me there is a time for the finest ingredients and a time for junk food. I like butter and real cheese, but if jar is making the cookies, I’m not going to ask what fat she put in there! I’m just going to put on my best begging expression and whimper a little.

Vicki, getting a bit peckish…

Isn’t that an oxymoron?

Oh, and jarbaby, unfortunately my macaroni press is in the shop.

Blech.

I have long thought that most people have no taste buds. This thread confirms the fact.

HOWEVER, I do recognize one thing - “comfort food.” Yup, I eat the stuff I grew up with and like it cuz it’s, well, comfort food to me. I dearly love grilled cheese sandwiches made with Kraft Singles. I detest the damn things on anything else, but on a grilled cheese, it’s OK. That’s not to say that I don’t like grilled cheeses made with Tillamook Sharp Cheddar. I just like the ones made with Kraft Singles, too.

On the same note, I’ll eat Kraft Dinner til the cows come home. I prefer “real” Mac and Cheese, but KD is OK for those nights when I’m tired and don’t really want to cook.

I’ll drink Miller, too. Give me a break - sometimes a person just gets sick of heavy beers. I’ve homebrewed, I’m on a first name basis at the local brewery, I can be a beer snob. But goddamn it, sometimes a good Coors Light or Miller tastes good, especially when it’s 100 degrees out.

All of these were things I grew up with (well, maybe not the beer). I think that’s why I still like them. So I can understand why people would like the stuff they grew up with. However, as I get older, I find myself more and more preferring the “real” version of things. I hate to admit it, but I grew up with Miracle Whip. Now the stuff is not welcome in my house. Margarine, too. Sure, make your baked goods with it, but recognize that it just doesn’t taste like butter. Maybe YOU can’t tell the difference, but I assure you, I can. Doesn’t mean that I won’t like your cookies, but I’ll probably be thinking to myself “boy, these are good. But they’d be GREAT if she tossed the margarine and used butter.” $5/pound in Chicago? Really? Store brand here in Colorado is between $2-$3/pound. I feel sorry for you. Butter is divine.

Jarbaby: Well, no. I only feel validated when people agree with me.

Scarlett: It’s all relative. I’m also moderately wine savvy, but by no means a wine snob. But how could anyone who’d consider laying face down in a dollar-a-dance club drinking from puddles be much of a snob at all?

Food snobbery?

Where IS Zenster?

Necros, frozen vegetables are not so evil. Yes, I can tell them from fresh ones, but as an ex-junk-food-junkie (for about two years at least) you should be pleased that now I get cravings for those Bird’s Eye mixed baby corns, carrots, and brocolli instead of McFood.

What I /really/ can’t stand is canned vegetables soaking in water or whatever for so long. I can’t eat those things, I used to when I was a kid but now I can barely choke them down – if I manage to at all. I go to the store and buy the small frozen bags of veggies or veggies and pasta that you steam, and eat half of the bag after work for dinner.

My boyfriend and I cook all kinds of fresh veggies from the open air market near his home and unusual European dishes when I’m with him (we live in different cities at the moment), but I just don’t have the energy to cook a huge amount of food only for myself to eat alone. :frowning:

The frozen vegetables and such are good, even a nice can of Cream of Mushroom soup with a bit of added garlic is better than a frozen pizza or something greasy from a restaurant that’s just going to make me ill afterwards.

As for margarine… it’s okay, but I prefer [unsalted] butter almost any day. Especially if it’s on my toast, rice, or vegetables. We usually buy the store brand, and I’ve never noticed that it was particularly more expensive than margarine. I hope that doesn’t make me a food snob. :slight_smile:

I’m a “No Frills”[sup]1[/sup] person myself, mainly due to financial pressures. I use marg at [sub]quick conversion[/sub] about $0.30/lb, sometimes even for frying! :eek: Other times I use the nice Virgin Olive Oil I’ve got. It all depends.

The main reason for using frozen veg is that it keeps longer. The amount of vegetables I’ve had to throw away after it’s got too mouldy (I’m talking keeping the fridge door bolted shut here) is too large. Frozen means I can just dip into the freezer for some food which isn’t trying to persuade me not to eat it.

As for nice meals, one of my favourite dishes is soy sauce chicken: a couple of pints of soy sauce, some chicken, ginger and leeks. But the food I use the most is tinned plum tomatoes - one tin and some mince makes a quick bolognese sauce, just add spaghetti (or potato, or rice, or bread).
[sub]You’d never guess I’m a student…[/sub]

PT
“Rota volvit sed cricetus mortuus est”