# The exact psychology behind people being angered by others' food choices? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 17, 2019, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-exact-psychology-behind-people-being-angered-by-others-food-choices/844986 "2019-12-17T13:23:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2019, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-exact-psychology-behind-people-being-angered-by-others-food-choices/844986/61 "2019-12-18T00:29:35Z")
Now, wait a minute. are you saying Boy-Band-Kareoke’ing Asexual Scientologists who eat vegan hot dogs with yellow mustard shouldn’t be relocated to Tierra Del Fuego? Wish you’d posted sooner, 'cause the last planeload just took off. But, seriously, folks… I had a cadre of Militant Vegan Super-Models in one of my classes. Whenever a public figure died, they went to great lengths to lecture everyone on why they’d still be alive if they’d avoided meat (and eggs and leather, presumably). Even the guy who’d been hit by a truck… ---
**Author:** ![Two\_Many\_Cats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8dc957/32.png) [@Two\_Many\_Cats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Two_Many_Cats)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2019, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-exact-psychology-behind-people-being-angered-by-others-food-choices/844986/62 "2019-12-18T00:49:40Z")
Most of the verbal food fights are all in fun mostly. But what I’m starting to find irritating are not people who criticize how food is cooked, but people who who are tight-assed about the ingredients. “Oh, I NEVER eat any sort of processed food.” Yes, you fucking do. Unless you’re a subsistance farmer, the stuff you eat came from somewhere else, and was picked and processed in the field. ---
**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:** [December 18, 2019, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-exact-psychology-behind-people-being-angered-by-others-food-choices/844986/63 "2019-12-18T01:14:21Z")
> [@Two\_Many\_Cats](#): > > Most of the verbal food fights are all in fun mostly. But what I’m starting to find irritating are not people who criticize how food is cooked, but people who who are tight-assed about the ingredients. “Oh, I NEVER eat any sort of processed food.” Yes, you fucking do. Unless you’re a subsistance farmer, the stuff you eat came from somewhere else, and was picked and processed in the field. Yeah, the organic and non-GMO crowd can get a bit annoying to me. Oddly, I’ve never had any issue with proselytizing vegetarians or vegans, but I do seem to run into a few vocal organic and non-GMO folks. The one that I find silly is the people who insist on buying “uncured” hot dogs and deli meats and the like, not realizing (or perhaps not caring because it’s from a “natural” source) that the food is still jacked up with nitrites in the form of celery juice/powder (and, in fact, can have more nitrites than “directly” cured meats.) ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2019, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-exact-psychology-behind-people-being-angered-by-others-food-choices/844986/64 "2019-12-18T01:22:13Z")
I don’t get angered by people contracting tapeworms, Listeria, E. coli or Salmonella from undercooked meats. If they want to pitch a fit about others who make different food choices, I am not required to pay attention to their whining. ---
**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:** [December 18, 2019, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-exact-psychology-behind-people-being-angered-by-others-food-choices/844986/65 "2019-12-18T01:45:06Z")
> [@digs](#): > > Now, wait a minute. are you saying Boy-Band-Kareoke’ing Asexual Scientologists who eat vegan hot dogs with yellow mustard shouldn’t be relocated to Tierra Del Fuego? Wish you’d posted sooner, 'cause the last planeload just took off. Dude…_yellow_ mustard? Of course they should be exiled. Stone-ground! ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2019, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-exact-psychology-behind-people-being-angered-by-others-food-choices/844986/66 "2019-12-18T01:52:49Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#): > > I don’t get angered by people contracting tapeworms, Listeria, E. coli or Salmonella from undercooked meats. How many listeria cases do you see? I saw exactly one, listeria meningitis, on the very FIRST day of my residency! I expected to see that disease every other day, after that experience. Haven’t run across a case since, and that was back in 1983. It’s a shame to ruin a good cut of meat by overcooking, but I’ve got other things to stress out over. I would prefer my hot dogs with chili, cheese, and sriracha sauce, but if that’s not available, I’ll add ketchup. I loves me some pineapple pizza, but **silenus** is right, toppings are secondary. A proper neapolitan pizza consists of wheat flour dough, olive oil, salt, yeast, San Marzano tomato sauce, fresh buffalo mozzerella, (add other toppings as it suits you, but that basic pizza is divine) then toss into a wood fired oven cooking the 'za in 1.5 minutes at 900 degrees. ---
**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:** [December 18, 2019, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-exact-psychology-behind-people-being-angered-by-others-food-choices/844986/67 "2019-12-18T02:08:48Z")
> [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](#): > > A proper neapolitan pizza consists of wheat flour dough, olive oil, salt, yeast, San Marzano tomato sauce, fresh buffalo mozzerella, (add other toppings as it suits you, but that basic pizza is divine) then toss into a wood fired oven cooking the 'za in 1.5 minutes at 900 degrees. And it doesn’t even have to have that. One of the three official\* Neapolitan pizzas is pizza marinara, which doesn’t even have cheese. Just tomatoes, garlic, and a sprinkle of oregano. The other two official Neapolitan pizzas are pizza margherita (fresh [cow’s] mozzarella/fior di latte, tomato, basil) and pizza margherita extra (same as above except with buffalo mozzarella from Campagna.) \*official as defined by the STG (Specialità Tradizionali Garantite - Traditional Guaranteed Specialty) EU label for pizzas that can be labeled “pizza napoletana.” ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2019, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-exact-psychology-behind-people-being-angered-by-others-food-choices/844986/68 "2019-12-18T03:04:16Z")
> [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](#): > > How many listeria cases do you see? I saw exactly one, listeria meningitis, on the very FIRST day of my residency! I expected to see that disease every other day, after that experience. Haven’t run across a case since, and that was back in 1983. You mean they don’t serve sushi and steak tartare in the joint? 😃 I neglected to mention Campylobacter, Clostridum perfringens and Yersinia. > [@Qadgop](#): > > It’s a shame to ruin a good cut of meat by overcooking, but I’ve got other things to stress out over. Thank goodness. I don’t want to feel guilty for stressing you out over my medium well steak. \*Meat is not “ruined” by cooking, with the exception of burning it to a crisp. It’s a matter of taste. I don’t get the vapors over people preferring their meat minimally cooked. Though in some it sounds like an affectation on the order of the sooper-dry martini. ---
**Author:** ![PatriotGrrrl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/9dc877/32.png) [@PatriotGrrrl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatriotGrrrl)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2019, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-exact-psychology-behind-people-being-angered-by-others-food-choices/844986/69 "2019-12-18T04:13:24Z")
> [@steronz](#): > > It’s got nothing to do with food, people get upset about other peoples’ opinions _all the time_. Movies, books, hell all of pop culture, sports, technology (Apple), any product really (Tesla). The one that puzzles me is when someone asks which phones still have a headphone jack, inevitably people jump in and get incredibly insistent about how there can be no possible reason to want one and thus anyone who does must be ignorant and old-fashioned and lazy. Why does it bother them so much? ---
**Author:** ![Dr\_Paprika](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr_paprika/32/3042_2.png) [@Dr\_Paprika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Paprika)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2019, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-exact-psychology-behind-people-being-angered-by-others-food-choices/844986/70 "2019-12-18T04:33:21Z")
Some people are busybodies. Some people think their choices are healthier or better than others. Some people conflate identity with their choices, and in these superficial times food is an easy and popular form of “this is who I am”. The OP might include eating at certain fast food restaurants which are popular but mediocre or déclassé. With regard to specifics in the OP: 1. Well cooked steak can be tough. I personally associate it with English people who were not always great chefs, and people over concerned about food safety issues. It can take good quality meat down a few levels. 2. Ed Zotti referred to ketchup as the catch-all of garbage. It has a tons of unami and sugar improves mediocre food. Children love it. It can be stereotyped as unsophisticated. I like it on a few specific foods only, but could care less what sauce you prefer. I have an old cookbook of “great world recipes” which has a recipe for spaghetti with ketchup. It’s English. 3. The mayor of Iceland came out with tough words against pizza with pineapple. Not my favourite, but a nice change occasionally. It’s less controversial to have strong feelings about food than politics. And people are very nostalgic and competitive. Ultimately, anger may be overstating things. But people on raw, vegan or other special diets tend to think they are healthier or superior in some way. ---
**Author:** ![Vic\_Parrish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Vic\_Parrish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Vic_Parrish)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2019, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-exact-psychology-behind-people-being-angered-by-others-food-choices/844986/71 "2019-12-18T17:22:08Z")
This thread reminds me of my grandfather telling me “Artichoke leaves are just a spoon for eating mayonnaise”. Such wisdom. ---
**Author:** ![Horatius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/horatius/32/3572_2.png) [@Horatius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatius)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2019, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-exact-psychology-behind-people-being-angered-by-others-food-choices/844986/72 "2019-12-18T19:53:34Z")
> [@bump](#): > > So if you’re a person who takes a lot of pride in where you’re from and what you eat from there, I can see how you might be annoyed or even angered by someone from somewhere else making it _wrong_, and then talking about their wrong version like they know WTF they’re talking about. Take chili, for example. It evolved in Texas, and is a quintessential Texan dish. It traditionally doesn’t have beans and is made from beef. So when I hear about some sort of f-ed up other kinds of chili elsewhere, it is mildly annoying (to me) because that’s NOT chili. Chili is exactly the reason I pretty much ignore all of this sort of food gate keeping. If I tried to make a chili that didn’t include any of the ingredients that I’ve heard someone exclaim, “X never goes in chili!”, I’d be cooking a pot of air. And then I’d probably run into some jackass who starts telling me how you should always cook your chili in a vacuum. ---
**Author:** ![Slash1972](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slash1972/32/6461_2.png) [@Slash1972](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slash1972)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2019, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-exact-psychology-behind-people-being-angered-by-others-food-choices/844986/73 "2019-12-18T19:59:41Z")
> [@Horatius](#): > > And then I’d probably run into some jackass who starts telling me how you should always cook your chili in a vacuum. Upright or handheld? ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2019, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-exact-psychology-behind-people-being-angered-by-others-food-choices/844986/74 "2019-12-18T20:03:21Z")
> [@Horatius](#): > > And then I’d probably run into some jackass who starts telling me how you should always cook your chili in a vacuum. N/M Ninja’d ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2019, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-exact-psychology-behind-people-being-angered-by-others-food-choices/844986/75 "2019-12-18T20:25:41Z")
I once had an on-line encounter with someone who had a _serious_ meltdown over people calling a mashed potato topped casserole variant made with ground beef _shepherd’s_ pie. NO NO NO ONLY GROUND LAMB CAN BE CALLED SHEPHERD’S PIE was how the rant started and it only got hysterical and incoherent from there. It would have been entertaining if he wasn’t entirely drop-dead serious. Amazing how worked up people can get about food _other people_ are eating. ---
**Author:** ![Slash1972](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slash1972/32/6461_2.png) [@Slash1972](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slash1972)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2019, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-exact-psychology-behind-people-being-angered-by-others-food-choices/844986/76 "2019-12-18T20:33:28Z")
> [@Broomstick](#): > > I once had an on-line encounter with someone who had a _serious_ meltdown over people calling a mashed potato topped casserole variant made with ground beef _shepherd’s_ pie. NO NO NO ONLY GROUND LAMB CAN BE CALLED SHEPHERD’S PIE was how the rant started and it only got hysterical and incoherent from there. > > It would have been entertaining if he wasn’t entirely drop-dead serious. Amazing how worked up people can get about food _other people_ are eating. Pretty sure the beef version is cottage pie. ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2019, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-exact-psychology-behind-people-being-angered-by-others-food-choices/844986/77 "2019-12-18T20:42:45Z")
> [@Broomstick](#): > > I once had an on-line encounter with someone who had a _serious_ meltdown over people calling a mashed potato topped casserole variant made with ground beef _shepherd’s_ pie. NO NO NO ONLY GROUND LAMB CAN BE CALLED SHEPHERD’S PIE was how the rant started and it only got hysterical and incoherent from there. > > It would have been entertaining if he wasn’t entirely drop-dead serious. Amazing how worked up people can get about food _other people_ are eating. I can understand someone getting upset over food being mis-labeled in their opinion, though. It would be like someone putting raisins instead of chocolate in a cookie and calling it a “chocolate chip cookie.” It would be more about semantics than judgmentalism. What I am baffled about is people who get upset over someone eating something they themselves don’t like. Getting upset over someone cooking their steak well done is like someone who loves chocolate cookies, getting angry at someone else for eating raisin cookies. It’s not going into \*your \*mouth or stomach is it? ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2019, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-exact-psychology-behind-people-being-angered-by-others-food-choices/844986/78 "2019-12-18T20:44:17Z")
Yeah, that is one argument. However, in North America lamb isn’t terribly common and “shepherd’s pie” and “cottage pie” have in many ways become the same thing. Outside of North America many people still make the distinction and some don’t. Even so - not to many people have a meltdown over it. ---
**Author:** ![nightshadea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/7ba0ec/32.png) [@nightshadea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nightshadea)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2019, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-exact-psychology-behind-people-being-angered-by-others-food-choices/844986/79 "2019-12-18T21:11:30Z")
the pizza topping argument always amuses me because of it always comes down to not being “Italian” which leads me to believe they’ve never seen what Italians actually put on a pizza… things like eggplant leaf spinach alfredo sauce… broccoli…heck and have for a century or two ---
**Author:** ![Guest-starring\_Id](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guest-starring_id/32/21736_2.png) [@Guest-starring\_Id](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guest-starring_Id)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2019, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-exact-psychology-behind-people-being-angered-by-others-food-choices/844986/80 "2019-12-18T21:12:04Z")
You have to be _kidding_ me you like beets. ::stealthily, evilly prepares chloroform rag:: [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-exact-psychology-behind-people-being-angered-by-others-food-choices/844986.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-exact-psychology-behind-people-being-angered-by-others-food-choices/844986.md?page=5)