# What are you a "snob" about? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 29, 2024, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-you-a-snob-about/1004962 "2024-07-29T16:47:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 16
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2024, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-you-a-snob-about/1004962/301 "2024-08-13T21:32:48Z")
No, not at all. There may be a Japanese restaurant in town. Not sure. And I can’t eat fish, so a lot of Japanese stuff is out of the question. I do love Jasmine, Basmati and Sushi rice though. Use it as a side to ‘Meat on a stick’ 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2024, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-you-a-snob-about/1004962/302 "2024-08-13T22:45:50Z")
> [@Mama\_Zappa](#): > > I literally can NOT go into a cheap shoe store and find anything that fits - with my huge feet I cannot “try on” shoes. It’s creepy. I know my size. I grab a shoe I like in my size and buy it. Sometimes I win, other times I buy shoes that absolutely suck, but I still wear them until they wear out. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2024, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-you-a-snob-about/1004962/303 "2024-08-13T22:54:36Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > As I understand it, Southern Italians tend more towards dried pasta, and Northern fresh, but it depends on what you’re making and what is expected. A chef friend taught me how to make uovo ravioli. It’s impressive and lots of fine work, so I always make my pasta from scratch. But for spaghetti, who cares? ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2024, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-you-a-snob-about/1004962/304 "2024-08-14T00:01:49Z")
> [@Mama\_Zappa](#): > > I literally can NOT go into a cheap shoe store and find anything that fits - with my huge feet These days, I doubt I could even find anything that fits in an expensive shoe store. Combination last shoes don’t seem to be made anymore. Medicaid will pay for one pair a year that almost fit. They almost have room for my toes (which are wide and do not taper), and if laced tight enough are only a little sloppy in the heels. They’d be very expensive if I had to buy them; I wouldn’t be able to do it. ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2024, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-you-a-snob-about/1004962/305 "2024-08-14T00:58:05Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > But for spaghetti, who cares? I generally just buy the dry stuff. Because my wife doesn’t care. Spaghetti is pasta. This could change over to how to make proper pierogies. I really don’t anymore. They, are a lot of work. ---
**Author:** ![BippityBoppityBoo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bippityboppityboo/32/5745_2.png) [@BippityBoppityBoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BippityBoppityBoo)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2024, 3:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-you-a-snob-about/1004962/306 "2024-08-14T03:53:08Z")
> [@enipla](#): > > Ok, nothing to get in a battle about. [ETA: this was meant for @enipla, my tech peasantry messed up the quoting]. Ahem, you were the guy suggesting pistols at dawn. Fresh pasta is tasty but I agree with @pulykamell, it’s not superior, it’s different. For every day, I also agree with him: store bought “I like Del Cecco, or Barilla’s red label line.” Trader Joe’s also offers some fun pastas, affordable and lots of quirky variety, but always quality (and, yes, usually imported, without the imported price). ---
**Author:** ![Strenger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecae2f/32.png) [@Strenger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Strenger)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2024, 8:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-you-a-snob-about/1004962/307 "2024-08-14T08:06:07Z")
A snob about everything, really. - Music. - Clothing. - Manners. - Pronunciation. - Spelling. - Education. - Literature. - Polyglotism. - Elocution. - Film. - Sport. - Food. - Drink (adult varieties). Yet I permit myself to diverge when it suits me, which is often. Because, after all, taste is free to those who can afford it, very expensive to those who cannot. ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2024, 11:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-you-a-snob-about/1004962/308 "2024-08-14T11:09:12Z")
> [@BippityBoppityBoo](#): > > Ahem, you were the guy suggesting pistols at dawn. That’s called hyperbole. I mostly eat the dried stuff of course. Much easier. Ya know when you have an experience that sticks with you? My wife and I where at an event where the athletes where served spaghetti. Sponsored by Barilla. I don’t know how they did it, but they screwed it up. I really can’t remember the details, perhaps it was over cooked. The sauce was bad too. I’ve been quite picky about spaghetti ever since. I’m sure Barilla is fine, but I avoid it because of that experience. ---
**Author:** ![xtenkfarpl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/c2a13f/32.png) [@xtenkfarpl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xtenkfarpl)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2024, 11:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-you-a-snob-about/1004962/309 "2024-08-14T11:24:06Z")
> [@enipla](#): > > I’ve been quite picky about spaghetti ever since. I’m sure Barilla is fine, but I avoid it because of that experience. This reminds me of the worst meal we ever had in Italy. Our kids were quite young at the time, and wouldn’t eat any ‘weird foreign’ stuff, so dinner HAD to be spaghetti. After searching round Piazza Navrona for a while, we ended up at a place close to the Pantheon. Breaking Rule One of travel, of course: never eat at a restaurant with a view of a tourist attraction! The spaghetti was obviously a cheap dried version, and somehow they had actually managed to _burn_ one end of it. The sauce equally obviously was straight from a can. And the wine was, well, vinegar. Happily very much an exception: almost all the meals we have had in Italy have been very good. ---
**Author:** ![Jasmine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jasmine/32/2964_2.png) [@Jasmine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jasmine)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2024, 11:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-you-a-snob-about/1004962/310 "2024-08-14T11:32:31Z")
> [@Die\_Capacitrix](#): > > Oh. About salty licorice? I can’t have it in the house. I‘ll eat it until I‘m bouncing off the walls due to the sugar. Have you ever had “Australian Black Licorice”? It is to die for! I don’t buy it for the same reason alcoholics in recovery don’t buy booze. Oh, in regards to the snob thing, the only real licorice is black. That cheap red stuff they sell in stores is crap. It shouldn’t even be allowed to be shaped like true licorice. 😩 ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2024, 12:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-you-a-snob-about/1004962/311 "2024-08-14T12:11:47Z")
> [@enipla](#): > > Ya know when you have an experience that sticks with you? My wife and I where at an event where the athletes where served spaghetti. Sponsored by Barilla. I don’t know how they did it, but they screwed it up. I really can’t remember the details, perhaps it was over cooked. The sauce was bad too. > > I’ve been quite picky about spaghetti ever since. I’m sure Barilla is fine, but I avoid it because of that experience. Though it’s very easy to cook dried pasta al dente, it’s also easy to fuck them up. Exact timing is the key. If you undercook them by just a minute, they still have too much bite, one minute over they’re too soft, and two minutes over they’re mush. The spaghetti I usually cook need exactly 9 minutes and that always works out. So you can use the best product, if the timing is off you ruin it. ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2024, 12:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-you-a-snob-about/1004962/312 "2024-08-14T12:14:14Z")
Also, the CEO of Barrilla is a raging bigot, so there are plenty of excuses to go with some other brand. ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2024, 12:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-you-a-snob-about/1004962/313 "2024-08-14T12:15:08Z")
Yeah, I avoid Barilla too for that reason. ---
**Author:** ![griffin1977](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/977dab/32.png) [@griffin1977](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/griffin1977)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2024, 12:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-you-a-snob-about/1004962/314 "2024-08-14T12:26:03Z")
Beer and cheese definitely. For beer I always say I have Stockholm syndrome from living in California for 15 years, so will generally drink super hoppy IPAs. I won’t turn down a macro brew American lager but IMO that barely qualifies as beer (when I first came to California I said Americans are just overcompensating as they had such terrible beer for so long, that now they will only call it a proper beer if it’s 12% and has a pound of hops in each glass) Cheese is the opposite I will stand by opinion that the most expensive cheese in a fancy upscale American cheese shop is equivalent to a slightly premium piece of cheese at a regular European supermarket (probably barely that if the supermarket in question is French) ---
**Author:** ![BippityBoppityBoo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bippityboppityboo/32/5745_2.png) [@BippityBoppityBoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BippityBoppityBoo)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2024, 12:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-you-a-snob-about/1004962/315 "2024-08-14T12:36:21Z")
> [@madmonk28](#): > > the CEO of Barrilla is a raging bigot, so there are plenty of excuses to go with some other brand. I’m willing to go through with that from this day forward. Thank you for pointing that out. Dle Cecco, preferably that toothsome bucatini or Trader Joe’s exotic pastas for me henceforth! Timed to the minute as well. . ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2024, 12:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-you-a-snob-about/1004962/316 "2024-08-14T12:39:53Z")
In addition to being a snob about bourbon and coffee, I recently realized that I’m a snob about peaches. It is impossible to get a good one at the grocery store. Fortunately, the farmers market near me has amazing peaches right now. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2024, 1:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-you-a-snob-about/1004962/317 "2024-08-14T13:32:04Z")
> [@madmonk28](#): > > peaches. We eat peaches daily (I grill them for dessert) but only while our neighbors’ trees are being harvested. We have a few weeks of peaches, then a year to recover. ---
**Author:** ![FS65](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ea666f/32.png) [@FS65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FS65)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2024, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-you-a-snob-about/1004962/318 "2024-08-14T13:43:24Z")
I was hoping the “snob” conversation would come to champagne, so I can share one of my favorite stories. Back in the 80s, I’m in my early 20’s, earning about $20K, so I bring two $6 bottles of sparkling wine to a family holiday gathering. My brother a few years older and probably making 5x my salary shows up with a much “better,” ie more expensive champagne, and states that he “won’t drink the cheap stuff.” So of course I have to taste both. I taste them and I agree “there is a taste difference, but I like this one (gesturing at the cheap champagne) better.” A good hour later, we’re pouring my brother the cheaper one (without him knowing) and I’m raving about how amazing his champagne is, and he’s fully agreeing while unknowingly actually drinking the cheaper one. The whole family had a good laugh about that. ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2024, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-you-a-snob-about/1004962/319 "2024-08-14T13:45:34Z")
Yeah, I’m almost that way about tomatoes, but I miss them by winter time and buy the plastic red balls they call tomatoes in the grocery store. ---
**Author:** ![FS65](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ea666f/32.png) [@FS65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FS65)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2024, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-you-a-snob-about/1004962/320 "2024-08-14T13:48:29Z")
Love this. I drink to get a buzz! Don’t need fancy brews, etc… IPA’s are bitter as hell–but they’re stronger, so quicker/better buzz so I’ll indulge. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-you-a-snob-about/1004962.md?page=15) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-you-a-snob-about/1004962.md?page=17)