# 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:** 8
**Author:** ![Haldurson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/51bf81/32.png) [@Haldurson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Haldurson)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2015, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-overrated-foodstuff/727192/141 "2015-08-09T17:50:30Z")
> [@Catamount](#): > > People who say there is no bad pizza never had school cafeteria pizza. Pizza is one of those foods that if you’ve never had good pizza, you can’t tell how mediocre to poor most pizza actually is. Even so, it varies wildly. Nearly all chain store pizza span the range of mediocre to ‘ok’ – and a few are just awful (Papa John’s, for example). One clue – any brand that advertises that their pizza has less crust, or is substituting non-pizza items for the normal crust, is telling you that they don’t know how to make good crust. Frozen pizza can be almost as good as chain-store pizza, but usually it isn’t. Note that even within a chain, pizzas can vary widely. In Connecticut, I’ve had Dominoes Pizza that literally had freezer burn. But Dominoes is generally better than that. Pizza Hut is one of those places where I’ll never ever go to again even in a pinch, simply because the service I’ve found to be universally awful (one waitress turned her back to me when I started choking, and pretended I wasn’t there). One of the best pizza’s I’ve had was at this little family-owned place in New Jersey – it was brick-oven pizza, cheese that melts in your mouth, fresh herbs, real italian sausage that doesn’t taste like the usual cardboard you get at other places, etc. So while MOST pizza is certainly overrated, you CAN find extraordinarily good pizza if you look in the right places. ---
**Author:** ![1224rattusrattus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/1/ec9cab/32.png) [@1224rattusrattus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/1224rattusrattus)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2015, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-overrated-foodstuff/727192/142 "2015-08-09T18:24:48Z")
Meat. There, I’ve said it. Even as a child it was obvious meat was extremely overrated. There’s this whole mythology behind it being the best part of the meal and there’s that many people who claim they get sick if they don’t have tonnes of it every dinner time, but seriously… North Europeans & presumably Americans as well eat utter garbage when it comes to dead animals. Any culture that pretends that sandwich ham is not in fact, a cheap & nasty cut of meat of last resort is seriously deluded. There’s so much fatty sickening shitty meat that people consider the highlight of their day merely because it’s a dead animal. And I say this as someone who likes good meat, but it’s clear as day that so little of it ever makes it to my plate. ---
**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 9, 2015, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-overrated-foodstuff/727192/143 "2015-08-09T18:34:11Z")
> [@Haldurson](#): > > Pizza is one of those foods that if you’ve never had good pizza, you can’t tell how mediocre to poor most pizza actually is. Even so, it varies wildly. > > Nearly all chain store pizza span the range of mediocre to ‘ok’ – and a few are just awful (Papa John’s, for example). One clue – any brand that advertises that their pizza has less crust, or is substituting non-pizza items for the normal crust, is telling you that they don’t know how to make good crust. Frozen pizza can be almost as good as chain-store pizza, but usually it isn’t. > > Note that even within a chain, pizzas can vary widely. In Connecticut, I’ve had Dominoes Pizza that literally had freezer burn. But Dominoes is generally better than that. Pizza Hut is one of those places where I’ll never ever go to again even in a pinch, simply because the service I’ve found to be universally awful (one waitress turned her back to me when I started choking, and pretended I wasn’t there). > > One of the best pizza’s I’ve had was at this little family-owned place in New Jersey – it was brick-oven pizza, cheese that melts in your mouth, fresh herbs, real italian sausage that doesn’t taste like the usual cardboard you get at other places, etc. > > So while MOST pizza is certainly overrated, you CAN find extraordinarily good pizza if you look in the right places. Pizza is not overrated in the slightest. But if you go into chains and buy it that’s your own fault. Don’t blame the foodstuff. Next thread is “Most guilty food” ---
**Author:** ![jnglmassiv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f07891/32.png) [@jnglmassiv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jnglmassiv)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2015, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-overrated-foodstuff/727192/144 "2015-08-09T18:34:35Z")
I agree with the overratedness of steak (yes, I’ve had 60 day dry-aged ribeyes), IPA beers, bacon (I mean, it is OK but not some god meat), burgers in general. I disagree on wings (love em), seafood, mayo on burgers and ‘fancy’ mustard. I only keep plain yellow mustard around for use as a glue for making rub stick to meat on the smoker. I’ll add butter as overrated. It is just salty, neutral grease. I have absolutely no use for it and haven’t had it in the house for years. I don’t butter rice, pasta, veggies, seafood, corn, popcorn or bread. I don’t saute in butter. I don’t bake. And I know this makes me the odd man out but I’m highly sweet adverse. You’ll never catch me eating cake or cookies or candy. ---
**Author:** ![Infovore](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/infovore/32/420_2.png) [@Infovore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Infovore)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2015, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-overrated-foodstuff/727192/145 "2015-08-09T18:48:04Z")
Sriracha. And before that, Chipotle. I’ve never tried either of them (I don’t like spicy stuff) but I’m sick of hearing about them, and I’m sick of seeing them put on _everything_. ---
**Author:** ![Spud](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spud/32/347_2.png) [@Spud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spud)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2015, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-overrated-foodstuff/727192/146 "2015-08-09T20:01:35Z")
> [@Infovore](#): > > Sriracha. > > And before that, Chipotle. > > I’ve never tried either of them WTF??? Seriously? Do you also hate movies you have never seen… places you’ve never been to… books you’ve never read… experiences in general you have never experienced? How on earth can you possibly claim that something is overrated that you admit to having never tried? Oh wait… this is the internet… never mind. ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2015, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-overrated-foodstuff/727192/147 "2015-08-09T20:10:35Z")
Sriracha is awesome. I don’t love Chipotle – it’s just okay, for me. But I find sriracha (the Huy Fong version, anyway) useful for nearly every entree I cook. ---
**Author:** ![Infovore](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/infovore/32/420_2.png) [@Infovore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Infovore)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2015, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-overrated-foodstuff/727192/148 "2015-08-09T20:46:34Z")
> [@Spud](#): > > WTF??? Seriously? > > Do you also hate movies you have never seen… places you’ve never been to… books you’ve never read… experiences in general you have never experienced? > > How on earth can you possibly claim that something is overrated that you admit to having never tried? > > Oh wait… this is the internet… never mind. The question was what I think is overrated. I’m sick of hearing everything sriracha’d and chipotle’d. I offer no opinion about how either of them taste just that I’m sick of hearing about them. I love bacon, but I think that’s overrated too. It’s tasty and yummy, but it’s not the food of the gods. ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2015, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-overrated-foodstuff/727192/149 "2015-08-09T20:57:26Z")
I love virtually every condiment made. I’ve actually researched making my own brand of hot sauce as an income source. If I won the lottery I’ve often joked that I would have a closet like Emelda Marcos, except it would be filled with every available condiment/sauce one could get rather than shoes. But for some reason Sriracha sauce leaves me flat. Don’t get me wrong, it doesn’t make me gag, but I could take it or leave it. I have my suspicions that its the first sauce that non sauce people happen to discover lately. ---
**Author:** ![Spud](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spud/32/347_2.png) [@Spud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spud)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2015, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-overrated-foodstuff/727192/150 "2015-08-09T20:59:36Z")
> [@Infovore](#): > > The question was what I think is overrated. I’m sick of hearing everything sriracha’d and chipotle’d. I offer no opinion about how either of them taste just that I’m sick of hearing about them. But how can you possibly say that without trying either? Do you think Paris is overrated… but you have never been there? Is Casablanca overrated but you have never watched it? Just because something is popular and you are tired of hearing about it (although never bothering to see what the fuss is about) doesn’t make it overrated. ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2015, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-overrated-foodstuff/727192/151 "2015-08-09T21:19:21Z")
I think that people’s opinions of things they have never experienced is W-A-Y overrated. ---
**Author:** ![Spud](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spud/32/347_2.png) [@Spud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spud)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2015, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-overrated-foodstuff/727192/152 "2015-08-09T21:21:03Z")
Missed the edit window… sorry. I like both Sriracha and Chapotle… I also like bacon. It is very possible that they are all overrated because I don’t go nuts over them like some seem to. I have never seen a single episode of Game of Thrones nor Dr. Who. There have been tons of discussions about each. They really don’t sound like they would appeal to me personally, but I would never dream of claiming that they are overrated just because I don’t like that particular genre and I’m sick of people who do discussing them. ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2015, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-overrated-foodstuff/727192/153 "2015-08-09T23:08:14Z")
> [@billfish678](#): > > I have my suspicions that its the first sauce that non sauce people happen to discover lately. You suspicions are not universally correct. My family and I have collected different sauces before it was even a trend (yeah, we were hipsters in that arena). My mother even has the full collection of Tabasco prints that represent most major painting styles carefully framed and hung on her walls as well as an expensive walnut display cabinet with nothing but sauces, hot and otherwise, from around the world. We are quite experienced with sauces from all over. However, something was a little different back in 2002 when I worked around the corner from a crappy little Asian diner that happened to have Huy Fong Siracha sauce on their counter. The first time I tried it, that was a revelation. I started ordering tofu and vegetable dishes from them because all I was really interested in was that sauce rather than the food itself. I stopped going when supermarkets around me started carrying it. I don’t use it that often anymore but I still think it is an unusually distinctive and versatile sauce that deserves the attention that it has gotten. Remember that Huy Fong siracha only grew its brand through organic word of mouth. It wasn’t created by some mega-corp with a large advertising budget. It was created by an immigrant on a shoestring budget and the packaging is positively downscale to this day. It isn’t like there weren’t other hot sauces out there when it took off. There were thousands of them and that was the one that people responded extremely well to. ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Krupe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ebca7d/32.png) [@Leo\_Krupe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Krupe)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2015, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-overrated-foodstuff/727192/154 "2015-08-09T23:09:48Z")
> [@Laggard](#): > > Woosh. Going to guess that Leo’s post was a joke as to just how backwater his hometown was. Exactly. It’s like saying my town is so small the zip code is a decimal. Sushi isn’t “trendy” the way sriracha is, because it’s been around, but it just seems to me like it exploded in popularity around 10 years ago. ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2015, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-overrated-foodstuff/727192/155 "2015-08-10T00:28:45Z")
> [@Leo\_Krupe](#): > > It depends on your definition of “trendy”. I live pretty much in the backwater corner of the Midwest and Southeast, in between Rural and Urban. We just found out about Pop-Tarts not too long ago, and Tang just came into our local A&P…that’s how far behind the times we are here. > [@Laggard](#): > > Woosh. Going to guess that Leo’s post was a joke as to just how backwater his hometown was. How would I know that? Virtual posts don’t lend themselves to recognition without emoticons. Old fart here. ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Krupe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ebca7d/32.png) [@Leo\_Krupe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Krupe)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2015, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-overrated-foodstuff/727192/156 "2015-08-10T01:09:14Z")
> [@samclem](#): > > How would I know that? Virtual posts don’t lend themselves to recognition without emoticons. Old fart here. Sorry. But you’re right of course. I’m not a big fan of emoticons, which is why I didn’t put one on my post. And in real life, my humor is very dry and deadpan, so even face-to-face, people often don’t know when I’m joking. Still, I’ll either make my jokes much more obvious, or put a smiley or something on it. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2015, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-overrated-foodstuff/727192/157 "2015-08-10T01:57:14Z")
I don’t care for yellow mustard, but brown mustard? MMMMMM. I like bacon too, but I consider it a condiment, not a dish. Right now, we’re in fresh green bean season, and I love them cooked in the Crock Pot with onion, garlic, and bacon. 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![D\_Odds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/d_odds/32/2882_2.png) [@D\_Odds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D_Odds)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2015, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-overrated-foodstuff/727192/158 "2015-08-10T02:30:46Z")
> [@enipla](#): > > I’ll go ahead and say it. Fancy mustard is over rated for me. Sure, it’s fine. But French’s yellow mustard is what you put on a burger or hot dog. [Mustard Sommelier](http://mentalfloss.com/article/62123/mustard-sommeliers-10-tips-tasting-mustard-better), anyone? Gulden’s Spicy Brown on hot dogs and sausages (never on a burger). Supermarket-brand Dijon on sandwiches and in vinaigrettes. ---
**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 10, 2015, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-overrated-foodstuff/727192/159 "2015-08-10T03:27:04Z")
Balsamic vinegar overrated ---
**Author:** ![Yookeroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yookeroo/32/323_2.png) [@Yookeroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yookeroo)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2015, 6:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-overrated-foodstuff/727192/160 "2015-08-10T06:57:54Z")
> [@Joey\_P](#): > > 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”. This. I was thinking this trend has to be over now, but IPAs still dominate. I love the craft brewing explosion, but can we get past the IPA thing already? > [@Aspenglow](#): > > I don’t think most people do GF to lose weight. At least, I don’t. I do it because I do actually have a wheat allergy. Most people are GF because it’s trendy. I’m sure that there are people who are allergic…but not THAT many. It’s crazy how many people are looking for GF products now. > [@Aspenglow](#): > > In answer to the OP, I’ll add my vote for sushi. The craze is not as bad as it was a few years ago, but I just don’t get why people go berserk for it. It’s ok… not a squick thing for me, just… meh. I love some of the sauce flavors, but I’d enjoy them more on fish that was cooked. > [@Leo\_Krupe](#): > > I only read the first few and last few posts, so I’m sure this is in there somewhere. > > Sushi. I don’t like seafood at all, much less raw. But sushi has got to be the trendiest, most over-rated food out there right now. It’s been a couple of decades or more since you could consider sushi a “craze” or “trendy”. It’s as much a craze as pizza or Chinese food is nowadays. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-overrated-foodstuff/727192.md?page=7) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-overrated-foodstuff/727192.md?page=9)