# Food trends that can stop right now **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 20, 2013, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/food-trends-that-can-stop-right-now/666740 "2013-08-20T20:08:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![Aji\_de\_Gallina](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aji_de_gallina/32/260_2.png) [@Aji\_de\_Gallina](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aji_de_Gallina)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2013, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/food-trends-that-can-stop-right-now/666740/101 "2013-08-21T16:59:43Z")
> [@zoid](#): > > I’m assuming you mean some kind of himalayan pink salt, and not the [sodium nitrate stuff.](http://www.amazon.com/D-Q-Curing-Salts-Pink-Salt/dp/B0050IM4MY) Yeah, Himalayan, or in the case of Peru, Maras Pink Salt. > [@nearwildheaven](#): > > I can tell the difference between sea salt and plain table salt. It has a drastically different texture, too. Straight up to your tongue, sure they can taste a bit differently and of course there the texture, ditto for coarse salt. Fully dissolved in food like a stew, nobody can. > [@clairobscur](#): > > Quinoa : who ever got the idea that quinoa should be imported in any country that can grow any other kind of cereal? Hey, don’t mess with my country. You’re gonna import quinua and you’re gonna like it. 🙂 Seriously, quinua is good but it can get ridiculous when cook substitute something with quinua (like Quinotto) and think they deserve the Nobel Peace Prize. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2013, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/food-trends-that-can-stop-right-now/666740/102 "2013-08-21T17:08:22Z")
> [@dropzone](#): > > > [@ZipperJJ](#): > > > > Does everything have to be fucking spicy? Do we need jalapeno and chipotle and buffalo and siracha flavored everything? With banana peppers and pepper jack on top, too. > > Just iceberg lettuce? Banana peppers are “spicy?” So what you are saying is that Cleveland is still stuck in the 1950s, same as it was when I moved out in 1965? First off, note that I am complaining that every food I come across EVEN HERE IN CLEVELAND is seasoned with/fashioned around peppers. So I would say that the majority of Clevelanders PREFER spicy. How you figure from my post that Clevelanders only like iceberg lettuce and are “stuck in the 50s” after I just got done lamenting that everything is over-spiced, including the new hot restaurant, is beyond me. If your palate is only as refined as “pepper or lettuce” then you’re the one with a problem. Secondly, glad you left the area. Please stay gone. Third I don’t care if banana peppers are spicy or not. I am tired of every dish being seasoned with some sort of pepper. Bell pepper is fucking gross too. There are dozens of other spices to use that are not pepper-related. I would like to see other flavors highlighted not just pepper on everything. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2013, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/food-trends-that-can-stop-right-now/666740/103 "2013-08-21T17:33:41Z")
> [@jz78817](#): > > \ PROTIP: If someone brings up casu marzu, and your first impulse is to say/post “OMG I would SO eat casu marzu” you’re not impressing anyone. you just look like the douchecanoe you are. I looked it up; eeeeyeewwww. I really prefer my food _without_ live, squirming maggots! > [@zombywoof](#): > > They’ve always struck me as incredibly wasteful - how many trees are cut down to make boxes whose sole purpose is to hold a fast food burger for the 10 seconds it takes to carry it from the counter to one’s table? I’ve started taking my paper waste home with me, to put in my recycling bin. I hate it when my husband and I finish eating a fast food meal, and there is a whole tray of garbage left. > [@Werekoala](#): > > \ > Marketing - it’s what’s for dinner. You betcha! > [@kaylasdad99](#): > > \ > Or worse, _lumpy/chunky_. Which brings me to coconut water… Coconut water seems to work quite well to prevent dehydration. I don’t want it chunky, either, though. > [@RTFirefly](#): > > And when you _can_ find plain yogurt, it’s in quart-sized tubs that you know you’ll be lucky to use half of before you have to throw it out. Safeway still has plain yogurt in small cups (at least, they do here). I also hate that all the yogurt is fat-free only - some of us want a little dairy fat in our diet! > [@leftfield6](#): > > \ > And another thing. Gigantic gourmet cupcakes. My boss loves these things. Nothing shouts snobbery like a goldarn $5 gourmet cupcakes. Unless it’s a $5 MOJITO cupcake. > > Maybe there is a reason my boss weighs over 300 pounds. I had one of those once - holy moleys, that is a LOT of icing! A little cupcake goes a long way - I don’t need all my calories for the day in one cupcake! ---
**Author:** ![johnpost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f17d59/32.png) [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2013, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/food-trends-that-can-stop-right-now/666740/104 "2013-08-21T18:37:19Z")
burgers the size of battleships. Woman dislocates jaw trying to eat massive burger > **[Woman dislocates jaw trying to eat massive burger](https://news.yahoo.com/blogs/daily-buzz/woman-dislocates-jaw-trying-eat-massive-burger-143407286.html)** > > A Liverpool, UK woman learned that eating a triple-patty burger comes with risk of injury when she dislocated her jaw at a local restaurant — but after leaving the hospital, she said she'd return for another taste of the burger. … Continue reading → ---
**Author:** ![zoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zoid/32/336_2.png) [@zoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zoid)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2013, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/food-trends-that-can-stop-right-now/666740/105 "2013-08-21T18:47:23Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > My wife doesn’t like spicy foods, but she’ll tolerate banana peppers in her dish whereas she usually won’t tolerate poblanos, for instance. 😕 A poblano is just a miss-shaped green pepper in my book. Every time I’ve had chiles rellenos it’s been way low on the spicy scale. Maybe I need to try better places. ---
**Author:** ![Labrador\_Deceiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7c8e57/32.png) [@Labrador\_Deceiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labrador_Deceiver)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2013, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/food-trends-that-can-stop-right-now/666740/106 "2013-08-21T18:53:28Z")
The poblanos I grew in the garden this year lit us up. We roasted them and made an enchilada sauce, the spiciness of which shocked everyone at the table. ---
**Author:** ![aNewLeaf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ac91a4/32.png) [@aNewLeaf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aNewLeaf)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2013, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/food-trends-that-can-stop-right-now/666740/107 "2013-08-21T18:59:53Z")
Poblanos have a wide range of piquancy, partly genetics and partly growing conditions. Anaheim poblanos will generally be far less spicy than New Mexico poblanos. In neither case are they hot in a macho sense, nothing like a cayenne or jalapeno. ---
**Author:** ![zoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zoid/32/336_2.png) [@zoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zoid)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2013, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/food-trends-that-can-stop-right-now/666740/108 "2013-08-21T19:19:55Z")
I’ve had jalapenos that ranged from no taste at all to a nice kick. All the poblanos I get are just frankly boring. I must be getting bad ones. ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2013, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/food-trends-that-can-stop-right-now/666740/109 "2013-08-21T19:20:25Z")
With every pepper type, there can be a difference in just how spicy (or not) any individual pepper is. [Go back and look at the scale I posted for the normal ranges and you’ll see that there are quite a few mild peppers.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=16591918&postcount=83) What is commonly (ime) called a banana pepper is considered very mild. But even a mild pepper plant might produce one or two hotter peppers. Plus, what constitutes _ **HOT** _ vs hot will vary greatly among people. The scale is pretty accurate, tho, imho, ymmv ---
**Author:** ![puddleglum](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puddleglum/32/137_2.png) [@puddleglum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puddleglum)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2013, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/food-trends-that-can-stop-right-now/666740/110 "2013-08-21T19:26:47Z")
Fancy lettuces on sandwiches. The purpose of having lettuce on a sandwich is the crispy texture. Iceberg lettuce is the crispiest lettuce so that is the kind of lettuce that should go on a salad. Butter or Boston lettuces are barely acceptable but leaf type lettuces go in salads, not sandwiches. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2013, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/food-trends-that-can-stop-right-now/666740/111 "2013-08-21T19:32:14Z")
The subset of the above is putting whole leaf uncrispy lettuce on a sandwich _between two condimented layers!_ It always results in a lap full of filling and a deconstructed sandwich. Don’t “chefs” ever actually **eat** what they put out? ---
**Author:** ![kcor1953](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kcor1953/32/3221_2.png) [@kcor1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kcor1953)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2013, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/food-trends-that-can-stop-right-now/666740/112 "2013-08-21T20:38:12Z")
> [@Lightray](#): > > Totally agree on the awful, bitter salad greens and overwhelming spicy in everything. > > But my biggest peeve is chips, nachos, crisps, pretzels, popcorn, and everything else that’s been tarted up with horrid artificial flavors. Oh, yes! And nobody but I mean nobody will buy the unflavored ones for get-togethers. About twice a year I go to a store and buy myself some Lays. Even a Pringles. ---
**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 21, 2013, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/food-trends-that-can-stop-right-now/666740/113 "2013-08-21T20:39:58Z")
> [@zoid](#): > > I’ve had jalapenos that ranged from no taste at all to a nice kick. All the poblanos I get are just frankly boring. > I must be getting bad ones. Poblanos are generally on the low end of the heat scale, but I have to check each individual one when cooking for my wife. I’ve had some that were barely distguishable from green bells, but others that started reaching in the ballpark of a jalapeño. I find banana peppers, on the whole, to be milder than poblanos. ---
**Author:** ![jz78817](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jz78817/32/1028_2.png) [@jz78817](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jz78817)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2013, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/food-trends-that-can-stop-right-now/666740/114 "2013-08-21T21:55:47Z")
One thing I’ve seen that makes no sense to me whatsoever is sausage. I’ve seen a number of packages of sausage at the store (whether fresh, cooked, or cured) which proudly state “made from premium cuts of _\_” Which AFAICT totally misses the entire point of sausage. > [@pulykamell](#): > > Poblanos are generally on the low end of the heat scale, but I have to check each individual one when cooking for my wife. I’ve had some that were barely distguishable from green bells, but others that started reaching in the ballpark of a jalapeño. I find banana peppers, on the whole, to be milder than poblanos. yeah, I’ve even had wide variability in jalapenos from a single plant. Some duds, some firecrackers. ---
**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 21, 2013, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/food-trends-that-can-stop-right-now/666740/115 "2013-08-21T22:09:29Z")
> [@jz78817](#): > > One thing I’ve seen that makes no sense to me whatsoever is sausage. I’ve seen a number of packages of sausage at the store (whether fresh, cooked, or cured) which proudly state “made from premium cuts of _\_” Which AFAICT totally misses the entire point of sausage. Not really. While sausage can be just made from the scraps, that’s really not the “point” of sausage. I’ve been to pig kills in Poland and Hungary where they turn a good portion of the pig (the majority of it) into sausage (Poles and Hungarians being big sausage eaters), and I can tell you, it’s pretty much all ground up primal cuts of pork. The blood may go into a blood sausage; the liver into a liver sausage, and such, but the sausage meat is generally big chunks of pork. The odd bits usually go into something like head cheese. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2013, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/food-trends-that-can-stop-right-now/666740/116 "2013-08-22T02:36:19Z")
Beyond that, you want about a 70/30 ratio of fat to meat in sausage, and it’s hard to come up with that just using scraps. Plus, I’m guessing with efficient butchering techniques, there just aren’t enough scraps off your average pig to make much sausage anyway. ---
**Author:** ![DummyGladHands](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/49beb7/32.png) [@DummyGladHands](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DummyGladHands)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2013, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/food-trends-that-can-stop-right-now/666740/117 "2013-08-22T03:25:29Z")
Really tricked out food in very very tiny portions. A salesman took me to lunch. The salad was I swear to god, greens I’d never seen outside of a weed bin with a dressing of some sort drizzled sparingly over it. The entre was 2 (TWO) nicely cooked scallops on a bed of arugula, with a fancy fried onion string cage over it. I stop at at Jack in the Box on the way back to work. And I rarely eat fast food, but I was HUNGRY, dammit. ---
**Author:** ![Leaper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/4bbf92/32.png) [@Leaper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaper)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2013, 3:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/food-trends-that-can-stop-right-now/666740/118 "2013-08-22T03:53:37Z")
> [@anu-la1979](#): > > Whole wheat pasta is disgusting. Thank you whole wheat pasta haters, I thought I was the only one. More controversial in modern-day food circles is my hatred of brown rice. Only processed white basmati, jasmine or sushi rice will do for me. I think part of it is the attitude: that you can’t eat white rice or pasta _at all_ because it’s empty carbs and will spike your blood sugar, so you can’t have rice or pasta ever if it’s not brown. ---
**Author:** ![Athena](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/35a633/32.png) [@Athena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Athena)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2013, 12:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/food-trends-that-can-stop-right-now/666740/119 "2013-08-22T12:24:28Z")
I guess I’ve never seen these fresh “banana peppers” you all keep talking about. When I hear “banana peppers” I think of pepperocinis - the pickled hot peppers that come in a jar. The words are interchangeable in this area. When I lived in the west and southwest, I never saw large mild yellow peppers at the grocery store. If I wanted a mild pepper, I bought a bell pepper. Everything else was deliciously hot. Here in the Frozen North, we do get what I think you’re calling banana peppers, but they’re not common, and they’re just called “yellow peppers” or “hot yellow peppers.” The mild ones are indeed very mild. The hot ones are decently hot. So there’s my confusion. I’ll steer clear of mild yellow peppers if I ever see 'em. ---
**Author:** ![WolfpackJeep](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpackjeep/32/2921_2.png) [@WolfpackJeep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WolfpackJeep)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2013, 12:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/food-trends-that-can-stop-right-now/666740/120 "2013-08-22T12:31:54Z")
I’ve encountered two distinct types of peppers that were both called “banana peppers”. One type is the very mild, sort of tangy ones like you find at Subway. The other type I sampled was offered as a pizza topping at an independent restaurant; these had a heat level just under that of a jalapeno. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/food-trends-that-can-stop-right-now/666740.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/food-trends-that-can-stop-right-now/666740.md?page=7)