# Most overrated foodstuff **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 6, 2015, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-overrated-foodstuff/727192 "2015-08-06T21:32:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2015, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-overrated-foodstuff/727192/81 "2015-08-08T00:08:02Z")
Bone marrow. I’ve had it recently, liked it, but it seems like upscale restaurants are overdoing it. Overrated. ---
**Author:** ![Aspenglow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspenglow/32/76_2.png) [@Aspenglow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspenglow)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2015, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-overrated-foodstuff/727192/82 "2015-08-08T00:26:41Z")
> [@nearwildheaven](#): > > I do not have to avoid gluten, but I like to try new things, and I like quinoa pasta. > > Not long before Jay Leno went off the air, he said, “I tried some gluten-free bread. Wow! I had no idea how good gluten is! I keep a bowl on the side for dipping now.” 😛 LOL, love the Leno line!! I quite like quinoa, so figured I’d like the pasta. Or maybe I just don’t have the knack of cooking it. But going from homemade pasta to that… it didn’t work for me. I love buckwheat noodles, thankfully. One thing I’ve noticed is there is a huge variance in the quality of different GF products. Some are really excellent, and another of the same item can completely suck. Maybe I just haven’t hit the right brand yet. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2015, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-overrated-foodstuff/727192/83 "2015-08-08T00:33:01Z")
> [@furryman](#): > > Restaurant Buffalo hot wings: either too hot or substandard chicken. Wings in general are the most overrated foodstuff. 85% bones, 10% skin, and the 5% that’s actual meat requires more work to eat than it’s worth. Plus I dislike the Buffalo flavor that seems to be so hot (heh) nowadays. ---
**Author:** ![marshmallow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/df705f/32.png) [@marshmallow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/marshmallow)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2015, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-overrated-foodstuff/727192/84 "2015-08-08T00:56:48Z")
> [@Jake\_Jones](#): > > All I can really say here (and I’ve never had a stupid expensive steak) is that if you’ve never had a steak that made you stop and think (or say) holy fuck! then you’ve probably never made into the upper half of what a steak can be. I’ve never had _any_ food provoke that reaction, at least not since I was 8. I agree it’s a common reaction though, hence why I call it overrated. I know dudes who will plan their entire weekend around buying and cooking steaks to their exact specifications and talk it up like it’s a transcendental experience. I’ll add grits in there too. Congratulations, you’ve made edible sand. “B-but you gotta prepare it just right!” “Add cheese! Or brown sugar!” It’s fine, it’s your bare bones staple dish, but I don’t know why Southerners bring it up so much like it’s something to be proud of. Just admit you’re talking up the gruel they fed slaves. ---
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2015, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-overrated-foodstuff/727192/85 "2015-08-08T01:01:39Z")
> [@RobDog](#): > > Coca-cola. I like an occasional ice-cold Coke on a hot day, but I don’t know why it’s THE most popular soft drink in the world (although I think it’s being overtaken by bottled water?) > > It’s brown fizzy sugar water. Eh, brown fizzy sugar water would be better. Coca-Cola is a bizarrely specific simulation of dilute, chocolate-flavored stomach acid. ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2015, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-overrated-foodstuff/727192/86 "2015-08-08T02:27:36Z")
> [@Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](#): > > Cheese. > > Cheese in general. > > I like a good hard sharp cheddar, preferably with chips or salty crackers, but **I will never understand the American enthusiasm for pouring massive quantities of melted cheese over just about everything**. I was starting to feel a little indignant until I got to the part I bolded. OK. I can understand that. Especially because most of it is either melted Velveeta or something from a can. > [@Colibri](#): > > I was just thinking about this the other day. Now I like caviar quite a bit, but I think it became the epitome of “fancy food” more because of the price of some kinds than because it tasted better than anything else. Is all roe included in the term caviar? Because I’ve discovered that I like salmon roe more than a little bit. > [@stillownedbysetters](#): > > . . . The other was a very old, very high falutin’ bottle of red wine my uncle won in a charity auction. He saved it for Christmas dinner and we were all salivating, waiting to find out what a really good wine tasted like. Well, this one tasted like wet dust. I don’t know if it was something wrong with that particular bottle of wine itself, or that’s just how collectible wine tastes, but at the prices those bottles go for, I’ve never felt tempted to try one again. It could be a couple of things. It’s possible that the wine wasn’t stored properly. Even a small amount of time at the wrong temperature can kill the taste. It may also have been the sort of wine that doesn’t age well. Not every wine improves with age, even if properly kept. Some degrade relatively quickly. > [@GoodOldKJ](#): > > Have to agree with wings. I just dont get it, they are way too much work for a bite of BBQ chicken. Sigh. I remember wings selling for $0.29/pound. Bake up a couple of trays and it would keep the kids busy and content. They kind of pile up on a plate, looking bountiful, and kids eating chicken count the number of pieces they get to eat. Damn you Buffalo! I think the love of bacon is a backlash. Too many people cut it out of their diets for too long and developed cravings. Avocados, like wine, taste different depending on how they’ve been treated and how ripe they are. ---
**Author:** ![drad\_dog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@drad\_dog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drad_dog)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2015, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-overrated-foodstuff/727192/87 "2015-08-08T02:38:31Z")
Pomegranate. Nothing there for a lot of work. I thought it was a treat when I was a kid. ---
**Author:** ![Nefario](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/59ef9b/32.png) [@Nefario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nefario)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2015, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-overrated-foodstuff/727192/88 "2015-08-08T02:52:48Z")
> [@koeeoaddi](#): > > Pho +1 Pho appears to be “bricked” ramen soup with a double portion of water. ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2015, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-overrated-foodstuff/727192/89 "2015-08-08T02:59:45Z")
> [@Joey\_P](#): > > Anything Gluten Free. What I have found is that it is not GF necessarily but the GF/vegan crap with no milk or eggs. ---
**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:** [August 8, 2015, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-overrated-foodstuff/727192/90 "2015-08-08T03:45:56Z")
> [@kiz](#): > > Oh, I’m not talking about dry rubs and meat cooked low and slow. I love that stuff. > > I’m talking about things like pulled pork or ribs which seem to have to be basted often. Pulled pork shoulder and ribs (along with beef brisket) are the quintessential low and slow cooked, dry rubbed BBQ meats. You can get away with grilling ribs (and that does require a good mop sauce) but pork shoulder absolutely has to be cooked low and slow to break down all the connective tissue. Whether you cook it in an oven, crock pot or smoker, you should never have to baste a pork shoulder. When I smoke a pork shoulder, I don’t even look at the thing for 8-10 hours, much less baste it. Ribs, I might spritz with apple cider vinegar once or twice over a 4-5 hour cook. > [@marshmallow](#): > > I’ve never had _any_ food provoke that reaction, at least not since I was 8. Really? You’ve never had a “holy fuck, this is good” food experience since you were 8 years old? Never tried a new food or new quality or preparation level of food so much better than what you’ve experienced before that it astounded you with how good it tasted? I don’t think I’ve ever spent more than $60 on an entree in my life (and that’s a stretch) but I’ve been blown away by dishes at a quarter of that price at times. I’m not even a huge food person. I don’t regularly spend shit-tons of money for “culinary experiences”. If you were just saying that a steak could only get so good, I might understand. The fact that you’ve never eaten anything in your adult life that amazed you is kind of hard for me to wrap my brain around. If I offered to buy dinner at a restaurant for you and a guest, anywhere you wanted, and pay up to $200 for your meals (food only, no wine or drinks) where would you eat? What would you order? ---
**Author:** ![Periwinkle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Periwinkle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Periwinkle)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2015, 6:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-overrated-foodstuff/727192/91 "2015-08-08T06:08:23Z")
> [@Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](#): > > What an awful story. I agree that both mayonnaise on a hamburger and ketchup on a hot dog represent a crime against humanity, but would go further and describe each as an abomination unto the LORD. This is exactly how I feel about lightly steamed green beans, which are extolled on menus as something wonderful. I like them the way my Southern relatives make them. I can only imagine their sorrow and kind concern for someone so lacking in cooking acumen as to serve this abomination, when an hour of boiling and a bit of salt pork would fix them right up. 🙂 I love tender crisp asparagus and many other vegetables prepared that way, but not green beans. ---
**Author:** ![Haldurson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/51bf81/32.png) [@Haldurson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Haldurson)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2015, 6:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-overrated-foodstuff/727192/92 "2015-08-08T06:42:03Z")
Cheese steak, waffles, cereal (particularly, but not exclusively, hot cereal), bacon, most fried sea food, General Tso’s Chicken. Some foods I hesitate to include because they vary widely based on preparation and location – there can be a vast difference between sea food on the coast, where it’s more likely to be fresh, and further inland or in chain restaurants. Or it simply may be prepared totally differently in different locations (or prepared poorly). ---
**Author:** ![Tangent](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tangent/32/3098_2.png) [@Tangent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tangent)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2015, 7:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-overrated-foodstuff/727192/93 "2015-08-08T07:22:40Z")
I like bacon–I always have it with breakfast on weekends and sometimes I’ll add some to a sandwich or burger. But I don’t want other things that are bacon-flavored. I recently bought a bag of Dum Dum lollipops, which had a variety of flavors–mostly fruity stuff and also root beer and butterscotch, all of which I like. But I discovered they had a new flavor: bacon. It was awful. Made me want to gag. ---
**Author:** ![chappachula](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d2c977/32.png) [@chappachula](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chappachula)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2015, 12:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-overrated-foodstuff/727192/94 "2015-08-08T12:55:19Z")
Expensive Wines. An entire industry which exists solely for the purpose of playing games of obnoxious one-upmanship. Yes, this one is fruitier, and this one has a nice finish. So what? Just shut up and drink it with your meal. ---
**Author:** ![Haldurson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/51bf81/32.png) [@Haldurson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Haldurson)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2015, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-overrated-foodstuff/727192/95 "2015-08-08T13:55:06Z")
> [@chappachula](#): > > Expensive Wines. Most people don’t get that taste is in your brain, and often has less to do with the actual flavor of an item than with your perception of the flavor of an item. An experiment that has been done often (not only with wine, but with bottled water, and fruit and vegetables (organic vs. non-organic, for example) is to fool people into thinking that there is a difference by the label on it. You can take the cheapest wine (and I’ve seen this happen) and put it into a bottle with a fancy french label that makes it look expensive, and then put the same exact wine into a bottle with a cheap-looking label, and not only will people tend to prefer the wine from the more expensive-looking bottle, but can go into GREAT detail about the differences between the two wines. It’s not that they are lying, but that taste, like all your senses, is processed in your brain, and your expectations tends to influence it much more than most people think. [![](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/y_eEJtxidCg/hqdefault.jpg "the truth about bottled water") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y_eEJtxidCg) ---
**Author:** ![Blue\_Blistering\_Barnacle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blue_blistering_barnacle/32/3386_2.png) [@Blue\_Blistering\_Barnacle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blue_Blistering_Barnacle)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2015, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-overrated-foodstuff/727192/96 "2015-08-08T15:02:24Z")
> [@Joey\_P](#): > > When I read the thread title the first thought I had was bacon. I’m not a huge fan of bacon, but even ignoring that, it’s bacon, folks, I’ve got no idea why it’s suddenly so popular. It’s not like it was just invented 5 years ago but suddenly in _everything_ and everyone talks about it like they’ve discovered this magic ingredient and they’re the only one that knows about it. > > The other one is IPA beers. Again, not a fan of IPAs in general, but I know that’s not the point. They’re suddenly so popular that some breweries make almost exclusively IPAs. On top of that, people search out the most IPA IPA they can find. The bitterest of the bitter. IIPA’s, Hopslam, double IPAs, etc, paying $15+ for a 6 pack. Sometimes even treating it like a challenge. I mean, I guess if you truly think it’s a great tasting beer, go nuts, but if you’re just choking it down some Unearthly or Hop Stoopid to impress your friends (remember when you and your friends would see who could finish a Warhead), I think it’s a waste of money. > One of my problems is that, like I said, some breweries make almost nothing but IPAs, so I end up writing of the brewery as a whole. > Look at a brewery like Green Flash. I’m looking at their year round beers. I see 8 beers, 7 of them are IPAs. All of their seasonals (3) are IPAs and the three random beers they list that aren’t affiliated with a season or being year round…also IPAs. So of 15 beers, 14 are IPA. The last one is a double stout. Since I don’t care for IPAs, I don’t know how the brewery is as a whole so I’m not likely to pick up the last one. Might be great (because I know the brewery is supposed to put out good beer), might be crap that they just put out to appease non IPA lovers. C’mon guys, give me lager or an amber or a wit and maybe next time a friend shows up with an IPA I’ll say “that other beer I had from them was pretty good, I’ll try this”. > > So, that’s my contribution. IPAs. I’m anxiously awaiting a shift in the hipster world to loving dopplebocks or brown ales or wheat beers so the market is flooded with those. There’s plenty of great wheat beers around, but Optimator is getting old and if a bar doesn’t have my favorite local brown, the only option I have (and it’s a perfectly respectable option) is Newcastle. Seconded. I like IPA’s, but seriously, I don’t want one EVERY time I have a beer, especially when the last time it was double or triple hopped. (Unfortunately I was a bit ruined for hops after I ate some at the brewery tour I took a year or two ago…) ---
**Author:** ![Blue\_Blistering\_Barnacle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blue_blistering_barnacle/32/3386_2.png) [@Blue\_Blistering\_Barnacle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blue_Blistering_Barnacle)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2015, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-overrated-foodstuff/727192/97 "2015-08-08T15:40:11Z")
> [@Jophiel](#): > > Bacon, easily. I have a theory that this whole bacon nonsense started from people currently around my age for whom bacon was a sometimes-treat and their mother would ration out a few slices to each person. then we got older, got jobs and decided “I can have all the bacon I want!” and invented some taste mythology to justify why we needed to each it like potato chips. I mean, it’s good and all. I don’t hate bacon. But people who praise it like it’s divinely touched seem a little wrong in the head. > > I would suggest lobster but, truth be told, I don’t know if I’ve ever given it a fair shake. I’ve had it but I haven’t had it fresh while visiting New England or anything. Heck, I haven’t had it fresh out of the big fish tank at Red Lobster. So I guess it’d be unfair to judge. > > I’ve had plenty of bacon though so those people can give it up, already. > > Edit: Also pizza, in a way. People don’t go insane for it so much as people give it too much credit. Anyone who says that there’s no such thing as bad pizza just hasn’t had bad pizza yet. > [@DCnDC](#): > > Avocado. Just oily, green nothing. > > Chicken breast. Boring, tasteless, nearly always overcooked. > [@pulykamell](#): > > Note the phrase “has to.” If it _has to_ be sauced, it ain’t good barbecue. Now, sure, a little sauce can compliment the meat, but cue isn’t about the sauce, although I love making sauce every time I make cue. It’s always served on the side, though. > > Anyhow, the hamburger discussion reminded me–gourmet over-sized pub burgers. You know, the ones that come a half pound (and up), and have all sorts of crap on them. Now, I do eat them every once in a long while, but I’ll prefer a fast-food style burger 9 times out of 10. Just in general, I prefer fast food burgers to anything served at a restaurant or bar. (So, yes, for me the overrated In N Out is rated just right, as it’s my favorite burger in the world) :o You hit my trifecta for goodness. Red Robin makes a (spendy) guacamole bacon burger that tastes sooo good to me that I can’t try their other burgers. Fast food places have recently jumped on the guacamole bandwagon (and have been on bacon for years, as others have noted), but they do a very poor job with it. ---
**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2015, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-overrated-foodstuff/727192/98 "2015-08-08T15:56:20Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > I was just thinking about this the other day. Now I like caviar quite a bit, but I think it became the epitome of “fancy food” more because of the price of some kinds than because it tasted better than anything else. Same here. It’s good… but it’s just fish roe when it comes down to it. And as such, it’s more or less on par with all the other kinds of fish roes out there. ---
**Author:** ![It\_s\_Not\_Rocket\_Surgery](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/it_s_not_rocket_surgery/32/312_2.png) [@It\_s\_Not\_Rocket\_Surgery](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/It_s_Not_Rocket_Surgery)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2015, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-overrated-foodstuff/727192/99 "2015-08-08T16:05:10Z")
Not mentioned yet: Anything Alfredo. This stuff is on practically every menu other than non-Italian ethnic restaurants, but it tastes like it goes directly into the arteries to clog them. Plus, the smell is overpowering. Cilantro is another flavor that is used too much and overpowers anything it’s in. Of course, it doesn’t help that I’m one of the lucky few for whom it tastes like soap (although I’d characterize it more like “spicy soil”) Come to think about it, I’m not a fan of anything where one flavor overpowers another, if the more subtle flavor is the better one. Lobster Newburg and bacon-wrapped filet mignon come to mind. ---
**Author:** ![Catamount](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/catamount/32/2840_2.png) [@Catamount](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Catamount)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2015, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-overrated-foodstuff/727192/100 "2015-08-08T16:34:22Z")
> [@Jophiel](#): > > Edit: Also pizza, in a way. People don’t go insane for it so much as people give it too much credit. Anyone who says that there’s no such thing as bad pizza just hasn’t had bad pizza yet. People who say there is no bad pizza never had school cafeteria pizza. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-overrated-foodstuff/727192.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-overrated-foodstuff/727192.md?page=6)