# Silliest Foodie Item, Idea, or Trend? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 16, 2013, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silliest-foodie-item-idea-or-trend/650533 "2013-02-16T20:04:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 8
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2013, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silliest-foodie-item-idea-or-trend/650533/141 "2013-02-18T20:07:31Z")
> [@pancakes3](#): > > Pho is also starting to be oversaturating the market. A lot of bad chinese buffets are adding their half-assed versions to their stations. But “pho” is such a fun word to say! ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2013, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silliest-foodie-item-idea-or-trend/650533/142 "2013-02-18T20:11:08Z")
> [@Spoke](#): > > Elaborate, please. How is it that milk, fish, and pasta before 1924 didn’t have enough iodine to meet nutritional requirements, but now they do? I think the issue wasn’t that they didn’t have the necessary nutrients back then, but rather, large sections of the country didn’t eat those things. Unless you lived on the coast, seafood was a real rare treat, and unless you were from an ethnic group who ate pasta regularly, you probably hadn’t even heard of “pasta” and might know about macaroni or noodles, but they probably weren’t a staple of your diet. Milk was common, I’m sure, but how many adults actually drank milk back then? People really did eat meat & potatoes in large part; chicken wasn’t as common, and neither were many vegetables that we take for granted year-round, unless they were in season. ---
**Author:** ![Furious\_Marmot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/dfb087/32.png) [@Furious\_Marmot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Furious_Marmot)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2013, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silliest-foodie-item-idea-or-trend/650533/143 "2013-02-18T20:30:45Z")
> [@bump](#): > > …unless you were from an ethnic group who ate pasta regularly, you probably hadn’t even heard of “pasta” and might know about macaroni or noodles, but they probably weren’t a staple of your diet. > … At that time in the US, wouldn’t pasta have been made from the same wheat as everyday bread, which was commonly consumed? If so, shouldn’t they both have had the same iodine content, or lack thereof? ---
**Author:** ![Motorgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e36b37/32.png) [@Motorgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Motorgirl)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2013, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silliest-foodie-item-idea-or-trend/650533/144 "2013-02-18T20:37:13Z")
> [@Furious\_Marmot](#): > > At that time in the US, wouldn’t pasta have been made from the same wheat as everyday bread, which was commonly consumed? If so, shouldn’t they both have had the same iodine content, or lack thereof? Does pasta have iodine because it is made with enriched flour, or is iodine a natural component of wheat flour? When did they start enriching flour? ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Bravo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_bravo/32/493_2.png) [@Johnny\_Bravo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Bravo)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2013, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silliest-foodie-item-idea-or-trend/650533/145 "2013-02-18T20:39:46Z")
> [@Motorgirl](#): > > Does pasta have iodine because it is made with enriched flour, or is iodine a natural component of wheat flour? When did they start enriching flour? The 40s, but I don’t think iodine is one of the things they add to flour to make it enriched. ---
**Author:** ![Athena](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/35a633/32.png) [@Athena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Athena)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2013, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silliest-foodie-item-idea-or-trend/650533/146 "2013-02-18T20:47:47Z")
> [@bump](#): > > That’s not quite fair. The word itself dates back to sometime around the end of the 19th century to distinguish innovative craftsman-style bartenders who developed their own unique drinks from the generic shot of whiskey/mug of beer types. > > And it still holds true in that capacity, although a lot of places are calling their generic bartenders “mixologists” when they really are beer and shot slingers, not people developing new and unusual drinks. > > In other words, there’s a world of difference between a Dale DeGroff, Tony Abou-Ganim or Jerry Thomas, and the guy who serves mugs of Bud Light and frozen margaritas at your local Tex-Mex joint. > > Another way to look at it is that mixologists are architects, while your vast run of bartenders are like construction workers. I was about to say the same thing, but you beat me to it. Not all bartenders are created equal, and though I’m not wild about the term “mixologist”, it would be nice to have a way to differentiate between the college student who knows how to open a bottle of generic Margarita mix and slop it into a glass with some tequila and the guy who meticulously juices the limes, can speak to the differences in the various tequilas, and who gives a damn about what he’s doing beyond his paycheck/tip. ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2013, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silliest-foodie-item-idea-or-trend/650533/147 "2013-02-18T20:58:25Z")
> [@gigi](#): > > But “pho” is such a fun word to say! Had some last night. Like the old Vietnamese folk saying goes: “_phở_ today, diarrhea tomorrow.” ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2013, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silliest-foodie-item-idea-or-trend/650533/148 "2013-02-18T21:08:08Z")
> [@bump](#): > > I think the issue wasn’t that they didn’t have the necessary nutrients back then, but rather, large sections of the country didn’t eat those things. Actually, the problem was that in large sections of the country there was little iodine in the soil. From the Great Lakes region out to Washington and Oregon was an area particularly lacking. And now, with the farm-to-table movement (meaning more people are eating locally-grown produce), and the switch from iodized salt to various sea salts, dedicated foodies in that section of the country particularly are returning to conditions that led to goiter epidemics in decades past. Oh, and as to enriched flour, from [wiki](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enriched_flour#Enrichment_requirements): > [@](#): > > According to the FDA, a pound of enriched flour must have the following quantities of nutrients to qualify: 2.9 milligrams of thiamin, 1.8 milligrams of riboflavin, 24 milligrams of niacin, 0.7 milligrams of folic acid, and 20 milligrams of iron. The first four nutrients are B vitamins. Calcium also may be added at a minimum of 960 milligrams per pound. Iodine is not on the list. ---
**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:** [February 18, 2013, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silliest-foodie-item-idea-or-trend/650533/149 "2013-02-18T21:20:16Z")
> [@Spoke](#): > > Oh, and as to enriched flour, from [wiki](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enriched_flour#Enrichment_requirements): > > Iodine is not on the list. 1. I’m not convinced that a large number of people are successfully avoiding commercially produced flour. 2. As you noted, the iodine content in wheat flour doesn’t come from enrichment. ---
**Author:** ![Inner\_Stickler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inner_stickler/32/318_2.png) [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2013, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silliest-foodie-item-idea-or-trend/650533/150 "2013-02-18T21:21:15Z")
> [@VinylTurnip](#): > > I concur with **guizot** , not necessarily because they fall apart but because even an intact cupcake is in a shape designed to resist being eaten. Someone pointed this out-- Adam Carolla, maybe? And I realized I agreed wholeheartedly: you have two choices with a cupcake, either eat it with a fork/knife and look like a total douche, or bite directly into it and get frosting up your nose. Perhaps I’m weird but I eat muffins and cupcakes the same way: remove the wrapper and flatten it. Pry the top of the cake off and lay it on the wrapper. Eat the gross bottom half. Savor the delicious caramelized and crusty top half. When I make cupcakes, obviously I don’t overfrost them. Whatever amount I use is necessarily how much frosting I think is appropriate. As for storebought, well, I’m not in the habit of buying food that doesn’t appeal to me. > [@Kimmy\_Gibbler](#): > > (2) “Quality” as an adjective?!? What would those poor Benedictines who educated you have to say about that? Beats me. I was never educated by Benedictines. ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2013, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silliest-foodie-item-idea-or-trend/650533/151 "2013-02-18T21:25:52Z")
Here’s [another column on the iodine issue](http://www.nutralegacy.com/blog/general-healthcare/natural-sources-of-iodine-full/): > [@](#): > > Unfortunately, more people are moving away from table salt and using other varieties including kosher and sea salt. The problem here is that these alternatives are rarely enhanced with iodine. > > If you can have salt, opt for versions enriched with iodine. You can also find some iodized salt that is low in sodium, too. Table salt is, after all, the most reliable of the sources of iodine available. To bring it back around to the OP, this is why the gourmet salts fad is silly (and beyond silly, dangerous). It ignores the need for iodine in the diet, and the fact that iodized salt is the single most reliable source. ---
**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:** [February 18, 2013, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silliest-foodie-item-idea-or-trend/650533/152 "2013-02-18T21:28:27Z")
> [@Spoke](#): > > It ignores the need for iodine in the diet, . No, it doesn’t. ---
**Author:** ![Max\_the\_Immortal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/6de8d8/32.png) [@Max\_the\_Immortal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_the_Immortal)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2013, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silliest-foodie-item-idea-or-trend/650533/153 "2013-02-18T21:33:16Z")
> [@SecretaryofEvil](#): > > On an unrelated matter, I also think foodie is a stupid fucking word. There’s got to be a better synonym out there that could be used in lieu of foodie. I think of “foodie” as a pejorative term for food snobs; a stupid fucking word to describe stupid fucking people. Bear in mind that I wouldn’t call **bump** or someone like him a foodie; I would call him a gourmand. In my lexicon, a gourmand often enjoys fine food, but is fully capable of appreciating lowbrow fare; a glutton or trencherman enjoys large quantities of (not necessarily fancy) food; a foodie chases trends and defines his palate largely by what he refuses to eat. ---
**Author:** ![Inner\_Stickler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inner_stickler/32/318_2.png) [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2013, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silliest-foodie-item-idea-or-trend/650533/154 "2013-02-18T21:40:13Z")
In my world, foodies are the people who are always into trying new dishes and foodsters are the ones who get into slapfights about whether chili has beans in it or not. ---
**Author:** ![lisiate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f05b48/32.png) [@lisiate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lisiate)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2013, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silliest-foodie-item-idea-or-trend/650533/155 "2013-02-18T21:41:03Z")
For me it’s the obsession with locally produced foods. While I have no problems with supporting local farmers and growers, I live in a largely rural food production area with a fairly wide variety of crops grown. It’s entirely unrealistic for anyone in a major urban area to expect that more than a tiny minority of their foodstuffs can be sourced from within an arbitrary mile limit. Quite apart from foods that just can’t be grown in your local area - eg, good luck finding locally grown chocolate, bananas or sugar cane outside of the sub tropics. Moreover the obsession with ‘foodmiles’ as a way of reducing ones environmental impact completely ignores all the other inputs into food production. In many cases the food sourced from the highly efficient production area takes less energy to produce than the locally grown variety that needs to be grown indoors. So while it might seem counter-intuitive, often the product shipped from thousands of miles away is actually a better choice conservation wise than the locally produced but inefficient alternative. ---
**Author:** ![FoieGrasIsEvil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foiegrasisevil/32/16638_2.png) [@FoieGrasIsEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FoieGrasIsEvil)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2013, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silliest-foodie-item-idea-or-trend/650533/156 "2013-02-18T21:48:46Z")
> [@bump](#): > > That’s not quite fair. The word itself dates back to sometime around the end of the 19th century to distinguish innovative craftsman-style bartenders who developed their own unique drinks from the generic shot of whiskey/mug of beer types. > > And it still holds true in that capacity, although a lot of places are calling their generic bartenders “mixologists” when they really are beer and shot slingers, not people developing new and unusual drinks. > > In other words, there’s a world of difference between a Dale DeGroff, Tony Abou-Ganim or Jerry Thomas, and the guy who serves mugs of Bud Light and frozen margaritas at your local Tex-Mex joint. > > Another way to look at it is that mixologists are architects, while your vast run of bartenders are like construction workers. I know…I was kidding around. I’ve made and created some pretty _frau frau_ drinks myself in some high end places I worked in the past. ---
**Author:** ![CrazyCatLady](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dfb087/32.png) [@CrazyCatLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CrazyCatLady)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2013, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silliest-foodie-item-idea-or-trend/650533/157 "2013-02-18T22:07:23Z")
> [@Spoke](#): > > Yeah, that’s exactly what my friend used to say, before she got her goiter. But fast foods and processed foods (like potato chips) do not utilize iodized salt. No, they don’t. But most people aren’t eating just stuff they made at home or fast/processed foods. They’re going to restaurants that use regular table salt, or eating at the homes of friends or family who use it, or chucking some extra salt on something from the shaker in the break room. Combined with a reasonable wide-ranging diet, that’s generally plenty of iodine to avoid goiter. ---
**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:** [February 19, 2013, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silliest-foodie-item-idea-or-trend/650533/158 "2013-02-19T00:21:19Z")
> [@FoieGrasIsEvil](#): > > I know…I was kidding around. I’ve made and created some pretty _frau frau_ drinks myself in some high end places I worked in the past. And I threw it up there because it’s just _such_ a softball on a message board like this one. I’m not much of a cocktail guy (I like my liquors straight), but the few places I’ve been to where “mixology” was taken quite seriously have been incredible. ---
**Author:** ![Tapiotar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3be4f8/32.png) [@Tapiotar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapiotar)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2013, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silliest-foodie-item-idea-or-trend/650533/159 "2013-02-19T00:43:17Z")
> [@Spoke](#): > > And yet in spite of all these alleged other sources of iodine, until we started iodizing our salt, large swaths of our country had epidemic numbers of goiters. Do you suppose that before 1924 nobody ate fish, milk, or pasta?. Before a good highway system, refrigerated trucks, and reasonably-priced shipping by air, seafood was a very rare treat for most people. Ocean fish also has much higher iodine content than freshwater fish [cites](http://www.google.com/search?client=safari&rls=en&q=iodine+content+freshwater+fish+vs+saltwater+fish&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8), so people not living near a coastline had fewer opportunities to get fish. The great abundance of cheap fresh or fresh frozen seafood we have now was uninmaginable even a few decades ago. ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2013, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silliest-foodie-item-idea-or-trend/650533/160 "2013-02-19T00:48:16Z")
> [@VinylTurnip](#): > > I concur with **guizot** , not necessarily because they fall apart but because even an intact cupcake is in a shape designed to resist being eaten. Someone pointed this out-- Adam Carolla, maybe? And I realized I agreed wholeheartedly: you have two choices with a cupcake, either eat it with a fork/knife and look like a total douche, or bite directly into it and get frosting up your nose. > > And while as a kid I thought it was the greatest thing ever, as an adult I find frosting kinda disgusting in general. I didn’t notice it until my wife mentioned it; in Brazil cakes tend to be soaked in fruit juice and/or condensed milk rather than frosted, and I’ve come to prefer them that way. I rip the top off, eat the bottom then eat the tops on the rare occasion I do a dessert. > [@Athena](#): > > I was about to say the same thing, but you beat me to it. Not all bartenders are created equal, and though I’m not wild about the term “mixologist”, it would be nice to have a way to differentiate between the college student who knows how to open a bottle of generic Margarita mix and slop it into a glass with some tequila and the guy who meticulously juices the limes, can speak to the differences in the various tequilas, and who gives a damn about what he’s doing beyond his paycheck/tip. Well, I do know a guy who works in a bar in Key West that specializes in 150ish different rums ranging from the bottom of the list rums all the way to some specialty ones that run around $300 a bottle. he doesn’t make a mojito using a premix 😛 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silliest-foodie-item-idea-or-trend/650533.md?page=7) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silliest-foodie-item-idea-or-trend/650533.md?page=9)