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I found caviar and truffles (the mushroom kind) to be disappointing.
Caviar is one food I really do not like and I am a salt lover. The first time I had it was at a vey upscale business dinner hubby and I attended when we were in our late 20s. The appetizers among other things were caviar on toast. I took one bite, almost dropped by drink and didn't know what to do with the gross toast. Thank God some of the top executives wives were as appalled and simply put the toast in a napkin and then in an Ashtray. That was a positive thing about smoking, I guess, you could always find an ashtray.
I love salmon/trout caviar, sea urchin roe, black truffles, angulas, Galician clams, gooseneck barnacles, tuna belly, and lots of other "high-end" foods.
I think it just depends on your tastes. I wouldn't call sushi high-end, though, unless you go to a 5-star sushi joint, or Jiro's in Japan. Good sushi is on the pricy side, with $12-13 getting me an averae of 8-10 pieces in my area at quality sushi bars. It's a nice treat maybe once every couple weeks, but just doesn't make the list of high-end foods for me.
Personally, I love "high-end" food, though I feel a lot of it *is* overrated. Truffle-infused food is absolutely fantastic; there's just something about the unique, prominent-yet-subtle earthiness that I love, but I don't know that I would pay the high-end price for truffles themselves unless I was making six figures. I was shocked to see them once at one of my favorite grocery stores and I was initially tempted to grab some, but then I noticed the price for them. Yikes.
Caviar is also divine, but then again, I love delicately salty food as well as any kind of seafood thrown at me (the more "oceany" or fishy, the better; smoked salmon is my favorite). For those who prize the quality of flavor they get in food, spending extra money may actually be a small price to pay.
I think the things we "acquire" a taste for are more interesting and delicious.
My personal opinion is that as we become grown-ups and our taste buds become more discerning and sophisticated, we start to appreciate foods we didn't have as kids. For example I love the sharp metallic taste of a fine blue-veined cheese like Roquefort or the sweet yet briny taste of raw Chesapeake oysters or the fiery spiciness of certain Thai dishes.
If we did not "acquire" a taste for these things we would all be eating hamburgers, hot dogs, meatloaf and mashed potatoes, Kellogg's Corn Flakes, and Mrs. Paul's fish sticks for the rest of our lives.
Reading this thread prompted me to peruse the menus of some high end restaurants. While some of the offerings were a bit weird, many had some rather basic dishes like chicken, steak and fish. Years ago, a bison was cindered outrageous. I remember when polenta was all the rage at $$$ places. It's cornmeal mush. People with average tastes eat that.
Sushi is not high end, it can be if made with high end ingredients but it is just raw fish on a bed of rice and seaweed, how is that much different than Swedish Gravlax, a common staple there. Many of the so called high end foods here are simply traditional foreign cuisine that's been out for hundreds of years. Many coastal countries eat cavier, raw clams, and oysters. Not new or high end it's that majority of Americans that are inland that are not exposed to seafood and other true foreign cuisines.
I live in L.A so there are a ton of sushi places . I don't view it as high end , although I know there are some really expensive sushi places which I haven't been too.
I know that sushi is more popular in more parts of the country now . People used to view it as " a weird thing people in California eat"
It's likely there are some smaller towns where the idea of eating sushi would be pretty foreign.
I recently met an older Canadian guy in his late 70s or so and he had never had sushi before.
I guess people just sometimes view things that are new or " exotic" to them as high end.
It seems what happens is that after a while once these cuisines are introduced then they just become ordinary until the next thing comes along.
It's interesting to watch the food trends evolve.
Reading this thread prompted me to peruse the menus of some high end restaurants. While some of the offerings were a bit weird, many had some rather basic dishes like chicken, steak and fish. Years ago, a bison was cindered outrageous. I remember when polenta was all the rage at $$$ places. It's cornmeal mush. People with average tastes eat that.
LOL. I meant to say bison burger was considered...
Seems to be that oftentimes something that is "high end" was low end at one time.
Around here the restaurants feature calamari a lot. Not fooling me--it's squid. Yuck. Maybe it's the relative rarity that makes something high end. Often it's something that peasants used to eat, then with more affluence, people didn't have to eat it anymore so it fell out of favor and became rare. As people have said, once it's rare and we've never had it before, it becomes high end.
I don't care if frog legs or caviar or lobster or oysters or anything else is high end. I'd rather eat a good meatloaf or roast lamb any day. And I'll take it with mashed potatoes and gravy.
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