# Things there isn't really a fancy version of **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [May 19, 2020, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-there-isnt-really-a-fancy-version-of/854137 "2020-05-19T19:39:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2020, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-there-isnt-really-a-fancy-version-of/854137/41 "2020-05-20T15:49:26Z")
> [@Wesley\_Clark](#): > > Not so much chicken, pork and soft drinks. There are, but they’re more along the lines of small-time “artisanal” producers of chicken and pork, who often have heirloom breeds, etc… I mean, you don’t hear about Mangalitsa pigs unless you’re looking at the higher-end pork. But then again, rich people don’t generally pay for high end raw materials like pork, chicken, beef, etc… they pay a chef to make them delicious food, who sources that stuff because _they_ think it tastes better, etc… Soft drink wise, there are higher end brands, but they’re not _that_ high end. I mean, you can go buy Fever Tree, Fentimans or any number of super-local sodas made by bearded hipsters, but they’re not (at least to me), markedly superior to the mass-market stuff, especially when talking about commonplace flavors. That’s the catch- in lots of stuff, there are higher end options, but they’re not _that_ much higher end. For my vote on the OP’s question, I’m going to nominate laundry detergent and dishwasher detergents. Somehow I doubt that the super-rich (or their servants) are using some sort of laundry detergent made from organic coconuts, or that they have some kind of special dishwasher detergent. Their undies are getting washed in Tide or Gain just like everyone else. ---
**Author:** ![SpoilerVirgin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4491bb/32.png) [@SpoilerVirgin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpoilerVirgin)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2020, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-there-isnt-really-a-fancy-version-of/854137/42 "2020-05-20T18:26:06Z")
Breakfast cereal. I collect breakfast cereal, and even the most expensive, organic, ancient grains fancy stuff doesn’t cost much more than the average box. The only time you will pay more for breakfast cereal is if it’s a discontinued variety that is no longer available in stores. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2020, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-there-isnt-really-a-fancy-version-of/854137/43 "2020-05-20T19:13:32Z")
You’d think you can’t really improve on or mark up a 5-gallon plastic bucket but [you’d be wrong](https://www.rei.com/product/124906/yeti-loadout-5-gallon-bucket) (it’s another $30 for a [lid](https://www.rei.com/product/124908/yeti-loadout-bucket-lid)). \*\*SpoilerVirgin \*\*I want to know more about your breakfast cereal collection. Do you do a blog or have a site? ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2020, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-there-isnt-really-a-fancy-version-of/854137/44 "2020-05-20T19:38:17Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#): > > I don’t _think_ there’s a Rich Person ground horseradish, but I could be wrong. [Wasabi](http://www.makesushi.com/real-wasabi-paste/)? ---
**Author:** ![Scribble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scribble/32/3317_2.png) [@Scribble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scribble)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2020, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-there-isnt-really-a-fancy-version-of/854137/45 "2020-05-20T19:45:33Z")
> [@AlsoNamedBort](#): > > I’ve been to restaurants with “fancier” ketchup and they were always objectively worse than good old Heinz. I would have agreed with you if I hadn’t had the restaurant-made ketchup at [Crazy Burger](http://www.crazyburger.com/). Though Crazy Burger is a little pricey, to my NYC eyes, it’s not outrageous. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2020, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-there-isnt-really-a-fancy-version-of/854137/46 "2020-05-20T19:49:22Z")
> [@don\_t\_ask](#): > > Shivs. Good user name / post combo. ---
**Author:** ![WildaBeast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wildabeast/32/6_2.png) [@WildaBeast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WildaBeast)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2020, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-there-isnt-really-a-fancy-version-of/854137/47 "2020-05-20T20:43:11Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > Lots of Southern dishes would come under that heading as well: chicken-fried steak, for example. You can make it poorly, you can make it well, but what you _can’t_ do is use expensive meat. The fancy stuff can’t take the processing without falling apart. It occurs to me that many dishes like that originated specifically as a way of taking poor quality cuts of meat and making something good out of them. Barbecue would be another example, hell probably _the_ classic example. The whole purpose of barbecue was to take the cheap, tough cuts of meat and make them tender by cooking them for a long time. There’s a saying that you can tell if a barbecue place is good by the fact that there are both pickup trucks and Cadillacs in the parking lot. There’s no such thing as fancy barbecue. If a place is good people of all economic classes will eat there. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2020, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-there-isnt-really-a-fancy-version-of/854137/48 "2020-05-20T20:45:22Z")
Nepalese food. Possibly the most horrific cuisine in the world. Basically just a bunch of stewy glop dumped on some rice that you’re expected to eat with your hand. ---
**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:** [May 20, 2020, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-there-isnt-really-a-fancy-version-of/854137/49 "2020-05-20T21:44:29Z")
Ah, but Nepalese spices make the glop wonderful. And then they put the glop in nice little buns… But I dropped in to mention that my poker gang is full of _gourrrrmands,_ who HAVE to tell you the brand name and price of everything they bring to a potluck. The wine from the south slope of the Tuscan monastery where you have to stay for a week before they’ll sell you only three bottles. The cheesy poofs from under the counter of a convenience store in Kuala Lumpur, but “I’m the only gaijin allowed to taste them because I _might_ have killed the man who left the proprietor’s daughter at the altar…” So, you bet there’s rich people meat: "Now, this is a beef you’ve never had, it’s like waygu but it’s hard to find. Literally. I have to get off the bullet train between Tokyo and Kyoto at an unmarked station and walk over a mountain. I could tell you where, but you are never going to find this little farm, no one knows it’s there. Anyhow, this guy has a select number of cows that he keeps indoors, and personally filets the best one for me while I’m standing there. The guy’s amazing, he uses a tiny samurai blade from the Wang Dynasty, and the cut is like a filet mignon but from a specific area of the cow just behind that. “Now, I’m going to just sear the outside until the Maillard reaction kicks in, but the inside’s going to be almost raw, just take a small bite and roll it around in you mouth… oh, _why_ did you take a sip of wine? Now you’ll have to wait fifteen minutes until you get your bite.” ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2020, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-there-isnt-really-a-fancy-version-of/854137/50 "2020-05-20T23:02:39Z")
> [@digs](#): > > The guy’s amazing, he uses a tiny samurai blade from the Wang Dynasty I’m a dilettante-- I’d be happy with just [these](https://soranews24.com/2020/04/06/crowdfunded-samurai-sword-inspired-kitchen-knives-now-available-for-general-sale/). ---
**Author:** ![Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hilarity_n.suze/32/6223_2.png) [@Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hilarity_N.Suze)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2020, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-there-isnt-really-a-fancy-version-of/854137/51 "2020-05-20T23:11:31Z")
Back in the '90s a coworker (low pay level) was dating a really rich guy (she was hot). She wanted to get him “the most expensive [something]” but was really limited in what she could afford. So she found a high-end jump rope. I think it was around $60. Nice jump rope, to begin with, but one of the handles measured your heart rate and the other one counted your jumps. So you might think there is not a fancy version of a jump rope. Anyway I thought that. But there was! And now there are probably even better and fancier ones, if you look. But a regular old jump rope will still get the job done. ---
**Author:** ![Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hilarity_n.suze/32/6223_2.png) [@Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hilarity_N.Suze)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2020, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-there-isnt-really-a-fancy-version-of/854137/52 "2020-05-20T23:13:31Z")
> [@solost](#): > > Ketchup. There are a million varieties of fancy mustard, but not really ketchup. According to a fairly well-known Malcolm Gladwell article, it’s because the sweet, salty and acidic flavors of ordinary ketchup are already in perfect balance, crating a whole more than the sum of its parts, and can’t really be improved upon. Or something like that, don’t feel like re-reading the article but here it is: > [The Ketchup Conundrum | The New Yorker](https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2004/09/06/the-ketchup-conundrum) What you’ve never heard of Dijon Ketchup? (Probably spelled Catsup.) ---
**Author:** ![Gray\_Ghost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c0e974/32.png) [@Gray\_Ghost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gray_Ghost)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2020, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-there-isnt-really-a-fancy-version-of/854137/53 "2020-05-20T23:22:24Z")
> [@Wesley\_Clark](#): > > …Electronics too. Yeah you can get a bigger TV but what can you do to upgrade a gaming console, DVD player, phone etc? Cover it in gold and diamonds? There isn’t some super fast PS4 out there you can buy for five figures… Well sure, if you simply want to only be a console peasant… Though even there, the whole experience is a lot snazzier with a bunch of speakers and a giant TV. On the food part, there may not be rich people chicken and pork, but your local farmers market may have examples of both of those that go for 3-6 times per pound what a typical grocery pork chop or broiler does. Are they worth it? Ehhhh, depends on your budget. I’d say they taste different. For sodas there’s always stuff from foreign countries. The engineering that goes into some Japanese soft drinks is amazing. Not a repeat buy from me though. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2020, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-there-isnt-really-a-fancy-version-of/854137/54 "2020-05-20T23:54:56Z")
Tiffany & Co has a [whole line](https://www.tiffany.com/home-designs/shop/everyday-objects/) of normal stuff made expensive. Like a paper plate, except in sterling silver. Or a small set of LEGO-type building blocks in sterling silver and walnut. ---
**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:** [May 21, 2020, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-there-isnt-really-a-fancy-version-of/854137/55 "2020-05-21T00:19:15Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > I’m a dilettante-- I’d be happy with just [these](https://soranews24.com/2020/04/06/crowdfunded-samurai-sword-inspired-kitchen-knives-now-available-for-general-sale/). Ha, and did you see their [Katana Scissors?](https://soranews24.com/2015/10/02/chop-up-paperwork-with-katana-scissors-inspired-by-the-swords-of-oda-nobunaga-and-other-samurai/) Way over the top, especially the way they’re presented meticulously wrapped, in a handmade wooden box. ---
**Author:** ![Dahu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dahu/32/3416_2.png) [@Dahu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dahu)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2020, 7:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-there-isnt-really-a-fancy-version-of/854137/56 "2020-05-21T07:45:30Z")
> [@ZipperJJ](#): > > \*\*SpoilerVirgin \*\*I want to know more about your breakfast cereal collection. Do you do a blog or have a site? I second this. ---
**Author:** ![solost](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/solost/32/11776_2.png) [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2020, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-there-isnt-really-a-fancy-version-of/854137/57 "2020-05-21T14:19:18Z")
> [@Hilarity\_N.Suze](#): > > What you’ve never heard of Dijon Ketchup? (Probably spelled Catsup.) Wow, talk about life imitating art (I checked the article date and it’s not April 1): > **[Curiocity Vancouver - Get the most from your city](https://curiocity.com/vancouver/)** > > With a curated slate of what matters in your city, Curiocity presents you with the most relevant local food, experiences, deals, and adventures. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2020, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-there-isnt-really-a-fancy-version-of/854137/58 "2020-05-21T14:46:14Z")
Perhaps there’s no fancy version of ketchup because sophisticated types don’t eat it? Surely there are fancier sauces one would eat, possibly something based on one of the mother sauces. Or one’s chef could prepare ketchup from scratch. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2020, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-there-isnt-really-a-fancy-version-of/854137/59 "2020-05-21T14:52:26Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > Perhaps there’s no fancy version of ketchup because sophisticated types don’t eat it? Surely there are fancier sauces one would eat, possibly something based on one of the mother sauces. Or one’s chef could prepare ketchup from scratch. Excuse me, do you have any Red Poupon? ---
**Author:** ![solost](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/solost/32/11776_2.png) [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2020, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-there-isnt-really-a-fancy-version-of/854137/60 "2020-05-21T15:00:15Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > Excuse me, do you have any Red Poupon? Sounds like a condition that would warrant a doctor visit 😃 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-there-isnt-really-a-fancy-version-of/854137.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-there-isnt-really-a-fancy-version-of/854137.md?page=4)