# Rehashed: Foodie snobbery, fusion, and overall pretentiousness **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 11, 2013, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rehashed-foodie-snobbery-fusion-and-overall-pretentiousness/658085 "2013-05-11T16:17:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 6
**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:** [May 13, 2013, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rehashed-foodie-snobbery-fusion-and-overall-pretentiousness/658085/102 "2013-05-13T20:15:04Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > Well, not anymore. Sam’s dead. that was Some Pig. ---
**Author:** ![August\_West](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/august_west/32/18069_2.png) [@August\_West](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/August_West)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2013, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rehashed-foodie-snobbery-fusion-and-overall-pretentiousness/658085/103 "2013-05-13T20:24:59Z")
> [@miss\_elizabeth](#): > > If you remove the stems and chop it up, and cook it in the rendered fat of thick cut grain fed organic cruelty free hickory smoked bacon, it can be pretty delicious. I didn’t know we were using “cruelty-free” as an adjective for pork now. And “grain-fed” is pretty meaningless. Maybe I’m being whooshed? Anyway, I grow my own bacon. Pasture-raised and Certified Naturally Grown, if we must adjectivize. To bring this around to the OP, [here](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=431447) is a post I made a few years back about a BLT I “grew” myself here on the farm. Now you can all tell me if I was being pretentious. ---
**Author:** ![MeanOldLady](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/meanoldlady/32/10737_2.png) [@MeanOldLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MeanOldLady)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2013, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rehashed-foodie-snobbery-fusion-and-overall-pretentiousness/658085/104 "2013-05-13T20:28:12Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > I was referring specifically to this: > > That’s ubiquitous in Portland? Hyperbole meant to convey excessive detail given about the food, and yes it is ubiquitous. > [@jz78817](#): > > that was Some Pig. Damn it, I should have named him Wilbur! Everybody pretend the aforemention pig is named Wilbur. I think miz liz was joking about the pork. I think. It really does get hard to tell around here. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2013, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rehashed-foodie-snobbery-fusion-and-overall-pretentiousness/658085/105 "2013-05-13T20:28:31Z")
> [@August\_West](#): > > And “grain-fed” is pretty meaningless. I’m sure he meant to say “grass fed.” ---
**Author:** ![steronz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steronz/32/11765_2.png) [@steronz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/steronz)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2013, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rehashed-foodie-snobbery-fusion-and-overall-pretentiousness/658085/106 "2013-05-13T20:30:35Z")
> [@August\_West](#): > > To bring this around to the OP, [here](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=431447) is a post I made a few years back about a BLT I “grew” myself here on the farm. Now you can all tell me if I was being pretentious. If that were on Facebook, I’d give it an A-. A picture would kick it up to a solid A. ---
**Author:** ![Duke\_of\_Rat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Duke\_of\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duke_of_Rat)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2013, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rehashed-foodie-snobbery-fusion-and-overall-pretentiousness/658085/107 "2013-05-13T20:47:52Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > I’ve never eaten shit, but I’m pretty sure it sucks. Careful, seems like a few posters will take you to task for saying something sucks if you haven’t tried it. “What we have here is a roll of concentrated essence of a previously digested Organic Corn Fed Black Angus Ribeye, roasted Vermont Fingerling Potatoes with chives in a drawn creamery butter, and grilled organic artisanal Aztec Maize on the cob. Fully digested for 24 hours before being captured in a hand thrown pottery urn to preserve the maize kernels and topped with our signature Fecessoise Sauce.” I still ain’t eating it. ---
**Author:** ![Tequila\_Party](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a6a055/32.png) [@Tequila\_Party](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tequila_Party)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2013, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rehashed-foodie-snobbery-fusion-and-overall-pretentiousness/658085/108 "2013-05-13T20:49:05Z")
> [@bump](#): > > I think sometimes the ingredients aren’t really all that exotic, but the trend to describe them in detail makes them sound both exotic and pretentious when it’s all spelled out. > > For example, a BLT made with center-cut, hickory smoked bacon, organic buttercrunch lettuce, vine-ripened heirloom tomatoes, and served on slices of multigrain baguette with olive oil mayonnaise sounds pretentious, but is made of stuff I can get at my local Kroger- several of the things I mention are either mass-market items (Oscar Mayer center-cut bacon, Kraft olive oil mayonnaise) or are standard produce items (organic lettuce, heirloom tomato) and the only one of any pretense is the bread, and that’s from the store’s bakery. > > It’s not generic store-brand bacon, nameless tomato and iceberg lettuce on a slice of wonder bread with Miracle Whip, but it’s not particularly pretentious either, unless you go out of your way to describe it as such. Exactly this. I think it’s more of a push to _sound_ a certain way (some read that as foodie, others as pretentious) that warrants notice. It’s like the use of “artisanal.” That used to mean something, but now, every gramma on Etsy has caught on that it’s a trendy byword that translates to more cash and then it is everywhere. Which in turn, causes more eye rolling. ---
**Author:** ![miss\_elizabeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/838e76/32.png) [@miss\_elizabeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/miss_elizabeth)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2013, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rehashed-foodie-snobbery-fusion-and-overall-pretentiousness/658085/109 "2013-05-13T20:57:43Z")
> [@August\_West](#): > > I didn’t know we were using “cruelty-free” as an adjective for pork now. And “grain-fed” is pretty meaningless. Maybe I’m being whooshed? > > Anyway, I grow my own bacon. Pasture-raised and Certified Naturally Grown, if we must adjectivize. To bring this around to the OP, [here](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=431447) is a post I made a few years back about a BLT I “grew” myself here on the farm. Now you can all tell me if I was being pretentious. It was a joke. I’d have to check, but I think my bacon is Oscar Meyer, actually. ---
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2013, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rehashed-foodie-snobbery-fusion-and-overall-pretentiousness/658085/110 "2013-05-13T22:23:30Z")
Does the current obsession with burgers, macaroni and cheese, cupcakes, white bread, etc., a counter-reaction all this pretentious nonsense? Food is food-and what tastes good is good food. ---
**Author:** ![Eonwe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eonwe/32/240_2.png) [@Eonwe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eonwe)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2013, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rehashed-foodie-snobbery-fusion-and-overall-pretentiousness/658085/111 "2013-05-13T23:22:14Z")
> [@pancakes3](#): > > The duck egg blt with wasabi mayo on wheatberry has the duck egg, bacon, and chicken egg fighting out for umami flavoring. I’m totally not judging, but I have to chuckle at an OP about foodie snobbery and pretentiousness that uses the word “umami”. I think that a lot of people get so obsessed with the sound/image of their ingredients that they fail to realize which adjectives are important to the recipe. In the case of the OP, all of the adjectives describing the sandwich were relevant to the taste (except perhaps the wheat berry bread . . . I highly doubt that the eater would know the difference between that and some other variation on a wheat bread), so I think your example is a little off base, **pancakes3**. > [@ralph124c](#): > > Does the current obsession with burgers, macaroni and cheese, cupcakes, white bread, etc., a counter-reaction all this pretentious nonsense? Food is food-and what tastes good is good food. Yes, except that it has elevated these foods (and their prices while dining out) to ‘gourmet’ status. There’s a place here that serves different mac-and-cheeses as its specialty. It has never been as tasty as my own preparation, and at $15 a plate and up, depending on what ingredient they mix into it, it’s disgustingly expensive. The same with burgers at a similar price point. “See, traditional ‘just-food-food’ can be gourmet as well, look at how expensive it is!” > [@silenus](#): > > The OP’s example isn’t pretentious. Pretentious is fancying up peasant food and trying to make like it’s hawt cewsine. The reason people ate hog jowls, pig’s feet, bird’s nest soup and chitterlings is because some righ bloke already buggered off with the rest of the pig and the eggs! Stop trying to make it sound good. It isn’t. Yes, this. A somewhat relevant [video on YouTube](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ukdoK3l4aM4). ---
**Author:** ![tomcar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7993a0/32.png) [@tomcar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomcar)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2013, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rehashed-foodie-snobbery-fusion-and-overall-pretentiousness/658085/112 "2013-05-13T23:28:37Z")
> [@ralph124c](#): > > Does the current obsession with burgers, macaroni and cheese, cupcakes, white bread, etc., a counter-reaction all this pretentious nonsense? Food is food-and what tastes good is good food. You mean the people who are proud of themselves for liking bacon? You are right I think. To the OP, you can scoff at the labeling of food, but the fact is there are 50 types of bread on a store shelf and most people pick a distinct style from a specific brand. Ex. Home style Honey Oat from Brownsberry. That’s the same thing. Do you drink Bud, eat wonder bread, use Barbarsol for shaving and drive Chevy to prove that you can’t process stuff after 1986 or whenever your worldview quit developing? ---
**Author:** ![Eonwe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eonwe/32/240_2.png) [@Eonwe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eonwe)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2013, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rehashed-foodie-snobbery-fusion-and-overall-pretentiousness/658085/113 "2013-05-13T23:29:03Z")
> [@Eonwe](#): > > I think that a lot of people get so obsessed with the sound/image of their ingredients that they fail to realize which adjectives are important to the recipe. > > In the case of the OP, all of the adjectives describing the sandwich were relevant to the taste (except perhaps the wheat berry bread . . . I highly doubt that the eater would know the difference between that and some other variation on a wheat bread), so I think your example is a little off base, **pancakes3**. Didn’t make it in under the editing window, but to finish that thought with what I had originally planned to post: Tonight for dinner I made pork chops with an onion/mushroom/beer sauce. If I told you that I had local pork chops from my farm share, from pigs raised in such-and-such a way, that would be . . . obscuring what I ate with information about the food systems I participate in, which might or might not be pretentious, depending on why we are having the conversation in the first place. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rehashed-foodie-snobbery-fusion-and-overall-pretentiousness/658085.md?page=5)