Reveal Your Uncool Culinary Beliefs Here

An open faced peanut butter sandwich is superior to a flip over or one made of two pieces of bread.

i dunno if i love anything as much as i love a ballpark brand boiled hotdog

lol I ate this exact thing far too often in high school (1980s). Also ate loads of Steak-umm sandwiches.

Trying to think of a contribution though, this is kinda hard.

Every once in a while I will eat a food that I loved when I was a kid, and it's just unpalatably bad.

In about 1986 my mother got a job that had her commuting home too late to cook dinner, so we were all on our own. We ate Steak-Umms, Chicken Rondeles, freezer food. I have fond memories of that time but I can't really reconnect with the food.

Like, au gratin potatoes from a box used to be a treat. I made them last year, for nostalgia, and almost gagged. Chunky sirloin burger soup has these hilarious tiny burgers - with grill marks! - but is actually terrible.

1980s processed food felt like a miracle at the time, but compared to the many many things we can make now - with fresh ingredients - just as fast? No comparison.

Like, it doesn't take any longer to make an actual stir-fry or pasta than it does to microwave a TV dinner. I can make a real soup in the same time it takes to heat up a canned soup.

I hated guacamole as a kid, thought it tasted like diarrhea.

in my mid-20s, I realized I liked it. in my 30s, I fell in love with it.

last year, I brought a mediocre brand of it to a party and did not care for it at all. since then I haven't enjoyed it once - even when getting good, quality guacamole.

I know palettes change over time but idk if it's that or if that one off brand classically conditioned me, but wtf, it wasn't that long ago I was munching on a $13 gigantic guac appetizer in San Juan nightly on my company's dime and being addicted to it.

YMP - yr right that it's not so much a convenience thing anymore. but hitting a few buttons on a box still 'feels' more convenient i think.

lol at Chicken Rondeles, I forgot about those.

i'm kind of worried about getting stomach cancer due to all of the processed foods I've eaten over the years. so trying to be more mindful.

We used to eat mini pizzas and all sorts of crap when I was a teenager and my parents also worked terrible hours, and now I can put veggie noodles on the table in almost the same time and they have fresh (well, frozen) proper vegetables in them. I'd rather eat beans on toast for my dinner than a lot of the more highly processed options. Speaking of which, I get very annoyed when I hear people dissing UK/Irish food because they think it's weird we eat beans on toast. I don't understand how beans on toast is any weirder than a bean burrito. It's beans and bread. Either it's all weird, or none of it is.

Re: guac., the year-round availability of fresh ingredients is salient here. Give me a ripe avocado and in two minutes I will serve a better guacamole than anything that comes in a package.

That said, I acknowledge that there are huge environmental and social costs involved in making it so that I can casually stroll down to the corner store and grab a ripe avocado in the middle of February. I'm well aware that I'm here in the DC area and half of the abundant produce in my basket comes from Chile or Ecuador or some such.

We live in a world that reeks of privilege, and we should be cognizant of that. But it's really hard to pass up those gorgeous nectarines or whatever.

I try to be a seasonal eater and a locavore and shit, but I just don't have the moral strength to be all "Little House on the Prairie" and live on preserved boiled yams or whatev.

Let me eat Peruvian blueberries while the world dies, thxbye

guacamole is only good after it's been sitting around for a while and the ingredients muddle

eating slices of Kraft American cheese singles one at a time is awesome

― hootenanny-soundtracking clusterfucks about milking cows (Neanderthal), Friday, 24 March 2023 02:22 (twelve hours ago) link

Yeah they are good, and sometimes they taste better on burgers/melt sandwiches than "good" cheese

Also I think Costco Pizza should be considered its own style of pizza, and it's good

Here's one -- almost all delivery food is bad by the time it makes it to you, and people shouldn't do order delivery if they can help it.

The only way it's good is if you put the pizza back in the often (and probably add some extra seasoning, let's be honest) or heat up Thai food properly on the stove, in which case you still have the same amount of dishes to do. I get that it's a timesaver for people with kids who may not even be able to go get takeout (in which case you can usually time it so it's a bit fresher), but I also know a lot of lazy people who aren't above getting Taco Bell or a sub delivered, which just blows my mind. You absolutely could have just made food in the time it takes to get overpriced, cold, soggy food delivered to your door.

Jordan, this is why I try to pick up takeout rather than rely on delivery

Mh: Agree to disagree. For me, the best guac is guac that just got made, and is still zippy from a finishing glug of lime juice and a third of a minced onion

Chili, however, definitely benefits from waiting a day and reheating.

xpost for me, it was often that I was teaching an 8 hour class and only had a 30 minute lunch and I didn't feel like getting up early to pre-make myself a lunch.

outside of that though i try not to use Uber Eats because it about doubles the cost of what you're getting unless you're like buying for your whole family

re:steak talk - yeah I've never really enjoyed a steak. ultra-thin slices of marbled steak with kimchee on rice, yes that's good. huge chunk of semi-cooked flesh, however good it is, I get bored after a few mouthfuls.

burgers are also usually a disappointment, especially any more than a few inches tall. how am I supposed to eat it? have they not considered this?

subway is much, much worse than mcdonalds / burger king / kfc / any other fast food restaurant you can name, also not cheaper or healthier

An open faced peanut butter sandwich is superior to a flip over or one made of two pieces of bread.

I need an explanation for this!

Like, it doesn't take any longer to make an actual stir-fry or pasta than it does to microwave a TV dinner. I can make a real soup in the same time it takes to heat up a canned soup.

― carne asana (Ye Mad Puffin), Friday, March 24, 2023 7:00 AM (fifty-one minutes ago)

do you just have a really slow microwave or are you not including prep time in your calculations? also, what kind of soup are we talking about here? ... last night I heated up a store bought container of split pea soup in the microwave. It took less than 10 minutes from fridge to table. Making split pea soup from scratch ... I would really like to hear how that can take 10 minutes or less.

I don’t really like biscuits (uk definition: mainly wheat-based crunchy sweets, what Americans call biscuits are fine) - this might not be uncool idk, but ppl here are mad for the things, they’re like the go-to quotidian treat & are frequently consumed by the packet; I don’t hate them but I’ve never bought a packet & don’t care if I never eat one again

al dente is not cooked enough. i'm sorry, that's just the way i feel.

Agreed!!!

#2 I’m totally down with fusion cuisine that tastes good, preferably made by me. It’s fun, allows for imagination, thrifty on ingreds, and usually delicious. (I rarely eat restaurant food so most of my culinary beliefs are reflected in home cooking.)

subway is much, much worse than mcdonalds / burger king / kfc / any other fast food restaurant you can name, also not cheaper or healthier

― Camaraderie at Arms Length, Friday, March 24, 2023 9:49 AM (one hour ago) bookmarkflaglink

I hate Subway. But btw have you had Burger King anytime recently? IDK if it was just my bad luck at one NJ Turnpike rest stop but it was HORRENDOUS. Even my kids hated it.

Shake Shack also is nothing great - I don't find it tastier than McDonalds but it costs more and has more pretense. And the restaurants aren't even particularly pleasant to eat in notwithstanding how hard they tried with their design.

Not an uncool belief but since we're talking bad uk chains I just had food at a place called LEON and it was one of the worst meals of my life

lots of thoughts so far:

electric stoves - I will acknowledge that they are not as good, but I cook on one all the time and make good food

don't have particular love for bread bowls, but there's a soup stand at Quincy Market in Boston that sells things like clam chowder and bisque in bread bowls, and I will eat tf out of those

onion soup is good

I actually think American cheese is the ideal cheese for burgers because it is less greasy than "real" cheese

my uncool thought is that presentation is overrated in home cooking, but that may just be because I'm too lazy to get it right

My wife used to not let us buy American cheese, so I often struggled trying to get the right heat and thickness of slice to make a grilled cheese sandwich without fucking it up. In the early pandemic, all cheese was out at the store except American Pasteurized Cheese Food Product. I've never looked back.

xps I had a burger in the burger king in leicester square, the avatar ii premiere was taking place next door and about 50 people were crowded round the windows upstairs trying to get a look at (whoever is in avatar ii) - the burger was slightly better than mcdonalds, it had barbecue sauce and bacon, a solid 4/10, would eat there in desperation at finding anything affordable again if I hadn't since discovered the new jianbing shop in chinatown nearby. or might go there if it's raining.

But btw have you had Burger King anytime recently? IDK if it was just my bad luck at one NJ Turnpike rest stop but it was HORRENDOUS. Even my kids hated it.

Burger King has been my historical favorite fast food burder. But when they do it wrong, it's utter shit.

burger

the worst burger, actually the worst food I have ever eaten, was a burger from florenc bus station in prague. expectations were set low when the woman took it out of an unrefridgerated plastic bag and heated it in the microwave for two minutes. the bread was stale, soggy and chewy, the lettuce had been thoroughly cooked, the tomato slices were a mealy mush, and the meat itself was a bright red jelly made from grade-F reclaimed meat, it smelled and tasted strongly of stale sweat.

I was trying to think of an uncool belief but my only one is dining out is overrated and increasingly not worth the cost, basically the only reason to do it is for truly amazing meals (whether they’re $ or $$$$) or for socializing (not a bad reason at all.)

So many times I’ve gone out for a well-presented meal at some supposedly good/great but actually mid spot and the only thing I feel after is full. This is why I only do homemade pizza now too.

Someone’s probably already said something similar upthread idk

xxp my god

have we ever had a "worst meals" thread? it should prob be on ILTMI if not, lol

Camraderie I think this is relevant to your post: Hungry? Perhaps you'd like a POOP BURGER

ok also uncool belief, Korean barbecues are fun and there are some amazing ones with great food here for good value but I don't wanna cook my own damn food, esp since I'm terrible at it.

managed to cross-contaminate my entire plate by accident , but fortunately didn't get sick after.

Yeah I refuse to go to any restaurant that involves paying to cook (the 'cook your own steak/burger' places are hilarious, hot pot/fondue, etc).

My mom would eat open faced Peanut Butter sandwiches, so I picked it up as a kid. If I am at home, still my preferred way of making one. To me flipping over a single slice or two slices- in a simple PB and bread situation throws off the balance in a bite - too much bread and if you slather on the PB, too much butter also in a bite.

It’s kind of like taking two pieces of toast flipping the butter side down and having them at the same time.

But hey, I get for ease of the road going flip over or two pieces of bread or of you like to load up your peanut butter sandwich with jelly, jam, banana, pickle or crushed percocets.

Ah yes, the classic PB&P

quinoa sucks

That one is a truth bomb for me… we mostly eat vegetarian and I’m always looking for ways to make sure there’s protein, so I keep quinoa on hand but I never get excited to use it.

quinoa is really good when roasted with pork belly and spices

omar little at 11:37 24 Mar 23

I was trying to think of an uncool belief but my only one is dining out is overrated and increasingly not worth the cost, basically the only reason to do it is for truly amazing meals (whether they’re $ or $$$$) or for socializing (not a bad reason at all.)

So many times I’ve gone out for a well-presented meal at some supposedly good/great but actually mid spot and the only thing I feel after is full. This is why I only do homemade pizza now too.


^^^^^the worst is these new sort of family friendly quasi cool places like breweries that serve where they serve "fancier" bar food so like $19 hamburgers and shit and by time you have burgers, an app and a couple pints each, it's close to what you would have spent at an actual good restaurant... I'm now pretty much only high end as a splurge a couple times a year or cheap dive bar food

Eating out is even expensive if you eat fast food.

My Wendy's combo was $13.

Our Peruvian friends used to cook quinoa in a sort of mash with apples and spices, it was actually pretty good that way.

ums extremely otm

I know what I am purchasing when I eat out: it's not the food so much as the experience of having it be someone else's problem. Buying ingredients, coming up with recipes, chopping things, setting the table, cleaning up afterward, all that business.

You know how most ancient Romans ddidn't have kitchens? There was a whole infrastructure of mass-produced convenient food. Those fuckers knew how to live.

I recently became unemployed but, perversely, immediately thereafter went out and spent something like four hundred dollars on a five-course tasting menu for two at a ridiculously fancy restaurant. I regret nothing.

i often do it to 'get out' but i get stressed when friends and/or my mother want to do it too often because that shit adds up monthly if yer not careful.

I'll enjoy a $55 Fogo de Chao night which I don't get to do often as a treat. but going to like an Applebee's type place multiple times a week, it makes me anxious due to the cost, plus since my time out of the house is much more limited, I prefer not to spend most of it sitting in a booth waiting for mediocre food (though a Fogo type experience where they just bring you meat for hours and you say 'yes' or 'no' to the cut is p amazing and in fact I want to do it right now).

fortunately my best friend is a foodie so we like to find great Thai places where the meal and ambience are always lovely

even if the one place plays "Michael Learns to Rock" and nothing else on the PA

xpost to YMP

but I bet that was a memorable meal. I've had those and never feel ripped as a much as I did the other day when I took my daughter, my niece, mom and SO to a fairly mediocre "nice" bar and spent close to $200 with tip

wing scarcity causing high wing prices is a travesty IMO

time was you could at least go to a good wing place affordably

the fav place for me and my other friend now lists the pricing as "market price" for each wing