# 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:** 17
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2024, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-you-a-snob-about/1004962/321 "2024-08-14T14:00:27Z")
Potato chips. If they’re not kettle cooked chips, I’m not interested ---
**Author:** ![TRC4941](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trc4941/32/6792_2.png) [@TRC4941](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TRC4941)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2024, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-you-a-snob-about/1004962/322 "2024-08-14T14:24:45Z")
I’m the one that started this spaghetti war. My grandparents were born in Calabria, Italy which is in the south (the toe of the boot). They came to the US in the 19-teens as kids. My grandma never made homemade pasta when I was a kid. We always had the dry, bought in the box pasta. It could have been that she saw it as a great convenience. A new-fangled, American convenience. IDK. That will be added to the long list of questions I never thought of asking her when she was alive. Here’s another thing that may cause some of you heart palpitations. Our family meatballs are never fried or baked. They are cooked by just plopping them in the sauce as it simmers on the stove. It makes for very tender meatballs. AND they are not round meatballs, they are egg-shaped. We always have spaghetti AND meatballs, which are half ground beef and half ground pork. We also throw in pork ribs or another cut of pork with a bone. It adds amazing flavor to the sauce and is so tasty. ---
**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:** [August 14, 2024, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-you-a-snob-about/1004962/323 "2024-08-14T14:34:03Z")
Their red bronze line is the only one I like, but now that I know this, I’m happy to avoid Barilla at all costs. > [@TRC4941](#): > > We always had the dry, bought in the box pasta. It could have been that she saw it as a great convenience. A new-fangled, American convenience. IDK Dried pasta goes back to 12th century Sicily at least. (And I’d bet much farther back if you include cultures east of there.) Not sure when they started putting it in boxes, but it’s not really an American concept. ---
**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, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-you-a-snob-about/1004962/324 "2024-08-14T14:45:44Z")
> [@TRC4941](#): > > They are cooked by just plopping them in the sauce as it simmers on the stove. It makes for very tender meatballs. AND they are not round meatballs, they are egg-shaped. We always have spaghetti AND meatballs, Sounds great. I will brown them first and then put them in the sauce. My wife does not like meat balls though, and prefers meat sauce. We go with ground hot Italian sausage, browned and drained and put it in the sauce. 🤷‍♂️ > [@EinsteinsHund](#): > > Though it’s very easy to cook dried pasta al dente, it’s also easy to fuck them up. Exact timing is the key. Yeah, when it gets close, I start plucking strands out to test it. I do rinse it. This stops the cooking process once you have it off the stove. Otherwise the hot drained spaghetti will continue to cook for a bit. My wife doesn’t seem to care if it’s al dente, I do though. ---
**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:** [August 14, 2024, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-you-a-snob-about/1004962/325 "2024-08-14T14:47:24Z")
I pull it short of al dente and finish in the sauce with a bit of the pasta water. ---
**Author:** ![peccavi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peccavi/32/388_2.png) [@peccavi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/peccavi)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2024, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-you-a-snob-about/1004962/326 "2024-08-14T14:51:49Z")
> [@BippityBoppityBoo](#): > > 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). Here’s an Italian transplant’s take on “Italian” food at Whole Foods (the whole channel, Pasta Grammar, is fairly hilarious as an Italian wife tries to navigate American food (she hates pineapple on pizza but she loves street tacos!) and learn how to make do in the kitchen with what’s available here. (at 6:44, she answers the question “Do you have Barilla in Italy?”) [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/ReJlJxQtcOI/maxresdefault.jpg "Italian Shops at Whole Foods for the First Time | An Italian Shops in America") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ReJlJxQtcOI) ---
**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, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-you-a-snob-about/1004962/327 "2024-08-14T14:52:39Z")
Hmmm. We sauce ours right before serving. I like less sauce than my wife, and can eat it just fine with a bit of pepper and a little olive oil actually. ---
**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, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-you-a-snob-about/1004962/328 "2024-08-14T15:00:37Z")
> [@enipla](#): > > Yeah, when it gets close, I start plucking strands out to test it. I do rinse it. I do that too when I’m using a brand or kind of pasta I never made before, you can’t always trust the instructions on the box. Though I don’t rinse them. My mother used to rinse pasta no matter what after cooking, but that’s a deadly sin, just like she used to put a little bit of oil in the cooking water. Both are refuted myths about cooking pasta. > [@pulykamell](#): > > I pull it short of al dente and finish in the sauce with a bit of the pasta water. Yeah, for some pasta dishes I do the same, for instance when making Pasta Alfredo, which I usually make with tagliatelle. ---
**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, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-you-a-snob-about/1004962/329 "2024-08-14T15:27:52Z")
> [@EinsteinsHund](#): > > Though I don’t rinse them. My mother used to rinse pasta no matter what after cooking, but that’s a deadly sin, just like she used to put a little bit of oil in the cooking water. Both are refuted myths about cooking pasta. Yeah, I don’t use oil in the water. And rinsing for me is mostly to stop the cooking process. I work from home so I will cook before my wife gets home, timing is a little difficult. ---
**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:** [August 14, 2024, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-you-a-snob-about/1004962/330 "2024-08-14T15:41:58Z")
I don’t dunk it in a gallon of sauce. Just a reasonable amount. You don’t need a lot of sauce for your pasta, and Italian-American places are typically wayyyy too saucy for my liking. Something like this is what I like for most pasta dishes: [![](https://www.carolynscooking.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Pomodoro-4.jpg) ](https://www.carolynscooking.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Pomodoro-4.jpg) ---
**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, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-you-a-snob-about/1004962/331 "2024-08-14T15:43:13Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > Italian-American places are typically wayyyy too saucy for my liking. But they serve Italian bread with the meal! ---
**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:** [August 14, 2024, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-you-a-snob-about/1004962/332 "2024-08-14T15:46:04Z")
I’m also weird because I hate stuffing myself on bread before or during a meal. Shakshuka excepted, but that’s because it doesn’t already have a starch. ---
**Author:** ![Mama\_Zappa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@Mama\_Zappa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Zappa)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2024, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-you-a-snob-about/1004962/333 "2024-08-14T16:33:39Z")
> [@thorny\_locust](#): > > 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. Yeah - if your feet are at all oddly shaped (narrow heel / wide front, it sounds like), regular shoes are nearly impossible. Sports sandals might work for you but they are not terribly useful in the winter. When I was in college, there was a shop where they would custom make a basic sandal - You would literally stand on the leather, and the shoemaker would trace around your foot. He would cut that shape out, then attach straps, then a sole (rubber or leather, your choice). I LOVED those. And this was a somewhat warmer climate, so I could wear them a good 6 months of the year. ---
**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, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-you-a-snob-about/1004962/334 "2024-08-14T16:38:56Z")
> [@Mama\_Zappa](#): > > When I was in college, there was a shop where they would custom make a basic sandal Reminds me of Jerry Jeff Walker’s friend Charlie Dunn. > **[Charlie Dunn](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlie_Dunn)** > > Charles Russell Dunn (c. 1898 – September 23, 1993) was an American bootmaker of handmade Western, or cowboy boots for more than 80 years. Dubbed the "Michelangelo of cowboy boots," he first gained widespread notice in the wake of Jerry Jeff Walker's song "Charlie Dunn" (1972). By the time he retired in 1988 from Texas Traditions, his shop in Austin, he routinely charged up to $3,000 for a pair of boots, had a waiting list of hundreds of interested buyers willing to wait three years for d Don C... ---
**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, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-you-a-snob-about/1004962/335 "2024-08-14T18:42:01Z")
> [@Mama\_Zappa](#): > > Yeah - if your feet are at all oddly shaped (narrow heel / wide front, it sounds like), regular shoes are nearly impossible. That’s common enough that some companies used to make combination last shoes to fit such feet. They seemed to stop doing so maybe twenty or thirty years ago. Apparently while 40 thousand (number rectally derived) fractionally different styles are worth making, and multiple widths are worth making in many of them, making combination last is just too much hassle/expense to be worth any company’s doing so, even though it was for most of the previous century. And I can’t afford custom made. > [@Mama\_Zappa](#): > > Sports sandals might work for you but they are not terribly useful in the winter. Some do work for me; but not only are they not useful in the winter, they’re not useful for field work as they don’t protect my toes. I have a pair of sandals that fit (adjustable heel/ankle strap which I can tighten enough, ball-of-foot strap that fits on its widest position, entirely open toe) but I mostly only wear them if I’m in or right around the house in warm weather. ---
**Author:** ![chela](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chela/32/21582_2.png) [@chela](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chela)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2024, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-you-a-snob-about/1004962/336 "2024-08-14T19:12:21Z")
Snob for simple single pan cooking with big flavors. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/bnRF6VLcHew/maxresdefault.jpg "White Meatball Pasta with my Daughter") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bnRF6VLcHew) Simply gorgeous, like you! 🍝 ---
**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:** [August 15, 2024, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-you-a-snob-about/1004962/337 "2024-08-15T03:13:35Z")
> [@Slithy\_Tove](#): > > It’s challenging to be a snob and a frugaltarian as well. I get by with an occasional smidgeon of quality… THAT is a great Life Plan! I’d rather have one really good coffee/beer/burger/BBQ/breakfast than a bunch of the cheap stuff. Friends and I discovered we were beer snobs when our local bartender said “Hey, we got light beers for $2 tonight…” We each ordered a different one, but every single one was like water! I thought back, and I’d been drinking nothing but local microbrews for years. ---
**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:** [August 15, 2024, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-you-a-snob-about/1004962/338 "2024-08-15T03:32:04Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > I won’t wear cheap socks any more. I now only buy Smartwool socks. Even on a hot summer day, my feet are cooler because the wool is so good at wicking moisture. (But I can’t wear socks with sandals… I’m not “fashionable” at all, but I guess I do have some minimum standards of dorkiness.) ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2024, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-you-a-snob-about/1004962/339 "2024-08-15T04:02:19Z")
> [@digs](#): > > Friends and I discovered we were beer snobs when our local bartender said “Hey, we got light beers for $2 tonight…” We each ordered a different one, but every single one was like water! I thought back, and I’d been drinking nothing but local microbrews for years. What if (just supposing) a person drank one or two high quality beers, then, once the taste buds were fulfilled, the rest of the night went to chugging the cheap stuff? That was a hack we did back in college. ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2024, 4:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-you-a-snob-about/1004962/340 "2024-08-15T04:19:30Z")
> [@digs](#): > > I now only buy Smartwool socks. Even on a hot summer day, my feet are cooler because the wool is so good at wicking moisture. Huh. Me too, for several years now. Cost a pretty penny when they need replacing, but I think there are other areas where I’d economize first if it ever became an issue. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-you-a-snob-about/1004962.md?page=16) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-you-a-snob-about/1004962.md?page=18)