evongvisith

I used to be really picky about the foods on my plate not touching each other, to the point where I'd scrape them all apart before beginning to eat, but I stopped that when I was in my mid-teens. I do, however, loathe celery, and if I get a dish in a restaurant that has some of that unfortunate vegetable in it, I will sit there and relentlessly pick all the celery bits out and put them to the side before I'll even start eating whatever it is I've ordered. This sometimes drives other people nuts, but most of them are either used to it or don't notice I agree with whoever said that the eating-one-thing-at-a-time and other similarly methodical behaviors sound more autistic than neurotic. Several of my friends have Asperger's (I hang around with a lot of geeks), and I've observed similar behavior in them while eating.

I currently live with some friends on their small farm, where we have seasonal access to raw goat milk, organic eggs and fresh organic veggies and where, during the winter, there are home-canned and frozen veggies and humanely-raised goat and sheep meat and the occasional chicken. We also have a friend who has frozen wild-caught fish sent to us regularly. Several of us have various food allergies as well (soy, refined sugar, food dyes, etc.) So you'd think this would be a bucolic wonderland of all-natural, shortcut-free cooking. Well...no. We have not one but TWO jars of Better than Bouillon in the house. Granted, they are most often used as a base for slow-cooked soups containing the aforementioned organic veggies and sheep or goat meat, but still...heh. We have been known to eat Kraft Mac n' Cheese (made with goat milk!) into which is mixed cut-up cheap weenies, canned mushrooms and frozen peas. Despite having a bread machine (and a housemate who knows how to use it) we often get bread from the "day old" bin at the grocery store. Also, despite the abundance of eggs in the warm months (during the summer I collected over a dozen each day, most of the time) packaged breakfast cereal is so coveted that people have to mark their initials on the box to keep the others from eating it all. There is an economy-sized flat of Ramen in the pantry, and more than one person consumes it. Because the farm hosts a lot of gatherings for my friends' church group, we are often left with party food like marshmallows, cookies, bags of chips and jars of dip and salsa which everyone consumes with gusto, ignoring the healthful stir-fries or stews someone has been cooking all day. On the other hand, there are a lot of home-canned goods around, and baking takes place pretty regularly in the wood stove during the colder months, and not much produced on the farm is wasted -- for instance, the spines from butchered animals are put into pressure cookers to make soup. We often get fresh fruit from other organic farms or from the "dead bin" at the store, and make tasty pies or other desserts from them. But still, lurking in the fridge are many jarred and bottled condiments and other food items we did not make ourselves nor which are really necessary, and the pantry has more than its share of dinged-up discount canned vegetables and beans, as well as snack foods and (worst of all) some kind of pre-cooked ground meat in a vacu-seal package that one housemate in particular adores (the rest of us think it tastes and smells like spoiled cat food.) Maybe this makes us sound like a bunch of slackers who don't appreciate what we've got, but honestly, we do consume a lot of tasty, healthy, SOLE food here. It's just that even people who have immediate (as in, from the back yard) access to fresh organic food sometimes desire a can of Progresso instead of a tupperware container of last fall's beet soup, or would rather throw together a microwavable meal after a hard day cutting firewood than take an hour to roast a leg of lamb. Life's too short to obsess or feel guilty about the shortcuts. Granted, none of us have ever tried to pass off Stouffer's as our own cooking, or steamed clams in a dishwasher (which we don't have) but rural areas generally lack the same opportunities for such audacity, amusing though it is to think about

Nope -- she was totally serious. And to comment on something that was posted far up the thread, I'm at the point when I'm filled with fear whenever someone says they're making their "specialty" for a dinner or potluck I'm attending. Based on past experience, that usually means something terrifying is going to be dished up. Like the recipes here: The Company Cookbook

I haven't had too much truly awful food in other people's homes, but two incidents especially stand out. When I was in grad school, I went to dinner at the home of some vegetarian friends. They said we were having spaghetti. Okay, I thought, some marinara or maybe a sauce with veggies in it. Uh, no. What they gave me was spaghetti topped with lukewarm Ragu and big white cubes of unmarinated, unpressed chunks of tofu that were oozing water and still cold in the middle from having only recently been taken from the fridge. Then there was a Halloween potluck a few years ago at some other friends' house, where someone brought frozen Swedish meatballs that had been mixed with grape jelly and heated for hours until glazed with an obnoxious-looking, rubbery brownish goo. I have no idea what that was all about, but it was disgusting.

Celery and green bell peppers. I don't like their flavor, raw or cooked. Also I like Scandinavian and German food, but just can't get myself to enjoy pickled herring.

When it's a "barbecue" place that has no smell of smoke or cooking meat, nor a chimney with any smoke coming out of it, where you hear a microwave go "ding" the second you walk in (actually went to this place in Oklahoma years ago.)

The question of who is and isn't a foodie, as it pertains to being a snob, reminds me of how everybody here in Colorado complains that no one else on the road knows how to drive on ice or snow except themselves, when really they're just as careless as the next guy. It's always those other people that are the smug, picky elitist types, right? FTR, I too agree with ThatGrrl -- the term "foodie" doesn't have to have negative connotations. I'm guessing most of the "non-foodie" population probably regards the likes of us with a certain amused benevolence, rather than thinking we're all snobs.

The last time I was in Bangkok, about ten years ago, my dad dragged us to this tiny place across the road from the train station, where at sunrise, still jet-lagged and groggy, we had breakfast. The setting was far from picturesque; it was a shabby wooden shack right by the street, with cars and buses roaring past only a few feet from the three or four tables, which were all haphazardly rickety (I was sitting on an upended plastic crate). The cooking was done over a single gas burner with a large pot holding the rice porridge, to which you could add any number of ingredients. I had ground pork, fresh basil leaves, and dried chiles in mine. It was indescribably good -- salty and somehow rich, hot (temperature-wise) enough to make the heavy, muggy air feel cool by comparison, and with enough spiciness to wake me up right away. I forgot that I was tired and grouchy and ate every last spoonful and grain of rice, totally ignoring the dogs sniffing around the tables, the smell of diesel, and the noise of the trains. I don't think I'll ever forget the taste of it, though I'm not sure why it had such a lasting effect on me (I was in my mid-twenties then and had eaten Thai food many times both there and at home.) Unfortunately, Dad went back a couple of years later for another family visit and called me one night (it was morning over there) only to report the horrible news that the shack was gone without a trace! So his hopes of ever having another bowl of that stuff were dashed

For road trips: flour tortillas (you can get meat or cheese to put in them at stops along the way for a quick roadside snack), packets of condiments, fresh or dried fruit, beef jerky, napkins or paper towels and bottled water. I also carry a Swiss Army knife with can and bottle openers. All I need is a grocery sack to keep everything in, rather than taking up space with a cooler (I have a small car). On airplanes, I bring water, good chocolate, a small bag of pretzels or crackers, and fruit. And count me in as another who packs a small bottle of hot sauce while traveling. I also dislike the usual non-calorie sweeteners that are everywhere, but now that stevia comes in little packets, I've started carrying them instead of Splenda, which tastes weird to me.

My first job was at a family-owned local fried chicken shack in Tulsa; I was there for about four months. I had to ring up orders, wash dishes, clean the dining area and restrooms, refill all the ketchup and honey bottles, and do whatever else the other, older employees were too busy to do. We got meals free and the food was actually pretty good, but one night I slipped and wrenched my knee pretty badly and couldn't work for a few days. I was then let go for supposedly being late, but I suspect they were just afraid I'd try to file workers' comp. (Being 16 and naive, I had no clue about such things, anyway.) They also billed their onion rings as "homemade," but the rings came frozen from a box. I did think all this was...um, not very nice of them, especially considering that the owners were frequent churchgoers and made sure everybody knew it For years I couldn't even stand the sight of the place, but after a decade or so had gone by, I drove through and picked up some of their chicken and it tasted the same -- really good, but not necessarily worth the exhorbitantly high prices they were then charging. I have no idea if they're still in business now. Well, I am pickier about fried chicken now

Yes, yes, yes! Battered in cornmeal and deep-fried, in gumbo, and pickled, with a hot red pepper or two in the jar (I recommend Taste O' Texas brand.)

Mmmm, eggses...I like 'em numerous ways: soft-boiled on toast, soft-scrambled with fresh morels, in egg salad (made with Dijon mustard, mayo, bits of crispy bacon and sliced Spanish olives), and fried on top of fried rice, Thai-style. Yum.

I'm originally from Oklahoma, and my mom and grandma used to make a sort of casserole out of grits, Velveeta, garlic powder, and salt and pepper, mixed up with a beaten egg to hold it all together, in a greased casserole dish, then baked in the oven until it set. I remember liking it when I was younger but I'm not sure I'd be so fond of it now.

Cheap: Pasta, noodles, ordinary canned mushrooms, canned or frozen veggies and beans, tomato paste, vegetable oil, peanut butter, commonplace Asian ingredients like canned water chestnuts or bamboo shoots. In the middle: Jam and jelly, cream cheese, American "cheese" (I'll admit to buying this, and yes, the cheapest stuff really does taste far worse than Kraft), fresh fruits and veggies, oat-nut bread, seafood, soy sauce, oyster or hoison sauces, jasmine rice in bulk from the Korean grocery down the block, fruit juice, tea. Splurge: Olive oil, good table cheese, non-factory farmed meat and eggs, certain imported fruits and vegetables like lotus root or lychees, Tommyknocker soft drinks, exotic mushrooms fresh or dried, imported and/or organic chocolate. Also, Nutella is one of my regular must-haves; I don't know if it counts as a splurge because there's (AFAIK) no equivalent generic brand. choux said: The single thing that I couldn't skimp on would be toilet paper. I hate that thin and scratchy stuff! Soft and fluffy for me!! Me too. I like to be comfy, but sometimes I do wonder why I'm paying so much for something I'm just going to flush down a toilet...

Of these, I've only tried Kerrygold myself, so I don't know how it stacks up against the others, but it is better than Challenge or any of your widely available supermarket butters by far. Nice and creamy, has a distinct but mild flavor, is easier to spread from the fridge than most other butters, and it helped make my colcanon taste rich and delicious