Food Snobbery

[stellabella]

A friend got miffed at her dad recently when he openly disparaged, with overt condescension, all "people who have commercial salad dressings in their refrigerators."

I often notice what someone is eating and think, "My god, that's repulsive." But I don't make negative assumptions about his or her character based solely on the food he or she is eating.

On the other hand, I believe I am guilty of food snobbery, because I have strong reactions of revulsion to certain types of food and food-related products, many of which are consumed by people I dearly love:

--I am appalled by low-fat desserts, Snackwell's cookies, etc. I am appalled by Cooking Light magazine.

--commercial brands of bagels--you know, the ones that sit on the grocery shelf with an expiration date

--fat-free half and half

--fat-free salad dressings, especially the ones that are by their very definition, fat-full, like bleu cheese

I clearly have a probelm with fake fat.

I am guilty. Mea culpa, mea culpa.

PS I am partial to Newman's Own and Annie's Goddess dressings, myself.

[Jinmyo]

I am partial to Newman's Own and Annie's Goddess dressings, myself.

[tommy]

not guilty. but then again, i'm just great.

[Stone]

There's a difference between having a strong dislike for foods that other people eat and thinking that the people who eat them are low-class trailer trash.

[macrosan]

Nope, I don't have a problem. I don't care what those ignorant plebs eat, so long as they don't do it when I'm watching.

[Jinmyo]

Of course, of course.

[Wilfrid]

not guilty.  but then again, i'm just great.

You've revised your views on New Jersey pancake houses and huevos rancheros, then?

I am now a snob, and it's embarrassing because I turn my nose up at foods I used to eat with pleasure. I can't look at plastic wrapped cheese and cold cuts any more, let alone sliced bread, canned vegetables and frozen meals. Not to draw general conclusions about people who do, because it could still be me.

[g.johnson]

Snob? Moi?

[Miss J]

I've always been a little snobby when it comes to food, though at a fairly low level (why would anyone LIKE well-cooked beef, etc). But I have to say, I've become much, MUCH worse since starting to read egullet.

So it's all your collective fault.

Edit: I'd like to point out that I still eat plastic-wrapped cheese. So I maybe I'm still reasonably down-to-earth.

Edit 2: Oh no I'm not - I've just remembered that I currently have no less than FIVE types of salt in my cupboard - fleur de sel, gris sel marin, malden sea salt, cheap rock salt, and even cheaper table salt. Oh dear.

[britcook]

Guilty as charged. I am appalled by some of the stuff that is presented in supermarkets and "restaurants" as "food". Very much the attitude "you wouldn't catch me eating that". On the other hand I don't look down on people who do eat, and apparently enjoy, this kind of offering. I sometimes feel a little disappointed that they don't know any better but hey, I don't dress like them, talk like them, watch different TV programs so why should It bother me if they eat different food.

[Bux]

So it's all your collective fault. 

We have started to change things around us, although (and this should answer those who ask about how this site operates without advertising) our ultimate goal is world domination.

[John Whiting]

The word "snob" carries certain associations of publicly humiliating those who don't measure up to one's own standards. "Fussy" can convey a particularity which may border on the precious, but does not necessarily involve poking fun at others. Anyone who bothers to read and post to eGullet is bound to have certain foods which are either loved or loathed. Using one's knowledge and taste as a means of disparaging others, however, passes out of the realm of discrimination and into the shabby area of one-upmanship.

Miss J wrote:

I'd like to point out that I still eat plastic-wrapped cheese. So I maybe I'm still reasonably down-to-earth.

*Vacuum* packed cheese is very practical and not at all to be disparaged. It allows you to buy more than you need at the moment and open it later, knowing that it will not have either dried out or gone soggy. How many people live so close to an excellent cheese shop that they can time their purchases precisely to their consumption?

[SobaAddict70]

I love Ms. Dash.

heh

SA

[Wilfrid]

Miss J wrote:

I'd like to point out that I still eat plastic-wrapped cheese. So I maybe I'm still reasonably down-to-earth.

*Vacuum* packed cheese is very practical and not at all to be disparaged. It allows you to buy more than you need at the moment and open it later, knowing that it will not have either dried out or gone soggy. How many people live so close to an excellent cheese shop that they can time their purchases precisely to their consumption?

Maybe for a thread of its own: I concede, of course, that vaccuum packaging will keep cheese fresh, but what good cheeses can you get vaccuum-packed, John?

[stellabella]

I am now a snob, and it's embarrassing because I turn my nose up at foods I used to eat with pleasure.

for example the other day i ate a sandwich made with thick white bread--what some folks call"Texas toast"--and good ol' white trash chicken salad: canned chikken, mayo and relish. people, that was one damn good sandwich. and yet i felt that eating it was below my dignity.

i secretly confess to envy of those who allow themselves to enjoy real junk food. while being, at the same time, of course, a food snob.

[John Whiting]

Wilfrid asked:

what good cheeses can you get vaccuum-packed, John?

I'm glad you asked that. The Sillfield Farm stall at the Borough Market has excellent mature farmhouse cheddar, mature farmhouse Cheshire, six-month old double Gloucester, parmesano (both reggiano amd ordinary) and sometimes cantal and auvergne bleu. They're all vacuum packed and are frequently marked down to half-price. I regularly stock up well beyond my requirements, knowing that when I open them they'll be pleasantly edible. As good as La Fromagerie? No, but a quarter of the price. I'd rather not weigh my daily cheese allowance on a jeweler's balance.

[Bux]

A friend got miffed at her dad recently when he openly disparaged, with overt condescension, all "people who have commercial salad dressings in their refrigerators."

I get miffed at my wife when she makes those disparaging comments about all those people who spend their lives on the internet.

[Priscilla]

I am now a snob, and it's embarrassing because I turn my nose up at foods I used to eat with pleasure.

for example the other day i ate a sandwich made with thick white bread--what some folks call"Texas toast"--and good ol' white trash chicken salad: canned chikken, mayo and relish. people, that was one damn good sandwich. and yet i felt that eating it was below my dignity.

i secretly confess to envy of those who allow themselves to enjoy real junk food. while being, at the same time, of course, a food snob.

Stellabella, I think of such treats as a sort of Petit Trianon, you know, the little model farm Marie Antoinette kept for the times when she wanted to play Naughty Milkmaid.

Like over on the Sloppy Joe discussion I wrote about preparing the eponymous dish, using the Heinz canned stuff and the Pound of Ground Beef. It was fun! Yes, it was fun.

But then I am happy to return to the Big House.

[Wilfrid]

John, it sounds like Sillfield Farm is a noble exception. I suppose it's the kind of cheese one usually finds in vaccuum packing to which I object,

[Suzanne F]

John, it sounds like Sillfield Farm is a noble exception.  I suppose it's the kind of cheese one usually finds in vaccuum packing to which I object,

Cheese-racing cheese?

[researchgal]

...--I am appalled by low-fat desserts, Snackwell's cookies, etc.  I am appalled by Cooking Light magazine.

--commercial brands of bagels--you know, the ones that sit on the grocery shelf with an expiration date

--fat-free half and half

--fat-free salad dressings, especially the ones that are by their very definition, fat-full, like bleu cheese

I clearly have a probelm with fake fat. 

I am guilty.  Mea culpa, mea culpa.

PS  I am partial to Newman's Own and Annie's Goddess dressings, myself.

Stella, you don't sound like a snob. Think of it like your Newmans could be someone else's Snackwell.

[Fat Guy]

Although I always prefer cut-to-order cheese to cryovac cheese it's not a dealbreaker for me. Plenty of the best stores sell it that way: Vinegar Factory in New York, Pusateri's in Toronto, etc. At Vinegar Factory you can get the various Neal's Yard Dairy cheeses in pre-cut cryovac portions and Pusateri's has the three-year parmesan from the red cows packaged that way.

The most relevant definition of snob in Merriam-Webster seems to be: "one who has an offensive air of superiority in matters of knowledge or taste." By that standard I don't consider very many people on this site to be food snobs. Certainly there are a few, but to describe most of us we need a better word.

[maggiethecat]

Stella is no snob. That junk she hates is horrifying slop. To paraphrase Duke Ellington: "If it tastes good, it is good."

(I admit to a fondness for California dip made with dry onion soup mix, an ingredient that would never hit my pantry if not for the dip!)

[stellabella]

to describe most of us we need a better word.

obsessed?

paranoid?

HUNGRY!

the only cheese i have is wrapped in plastic. i live in rural georgia. what are my options?

[researchgal]

the only cheese i have is wrapped in plastic.  i live in rural georgia.  what are my options?

Mail/web order, girlfriend!

Formaggio!