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None of those sound pretentious. In fact they are all comments that would be made by someone with common tastes and an undiscerning palate.
"I only drink red wine" A pretentious wine drinker would brag about how selective they are about the vast diversity of varietals, white and red, that they drink.
"I only like dark beer" Same thing with the wines. Why would someone with a sensitive and informed palate resign themselves to such a limited set of beers and 'dark' does not say anything about beer except for its color.
"The hotter/spicier food is the better!"So a pretentious person considers burning out their tastebuds to the point of not being able to tell the flavor of their food? That doesn't sound pretentious.
"I only drink single-malt whiskey" Go to Scotland and you will find that the most pretentious scotch drinkers drink plenty of blends.
It sounds like most of the pretentious people you know are pretty ignorant about food and drink.
Sorry for any offense, but you don't seem to get what "pretentious" means.
all the above suggestions just sound like matters of taste to me.
As I stated in the OP, they CAN be and certainly are sometimes, but increasingly I think are not, but rather are people being pretentious.
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Originally Posted by bjh
I eat and drink to enjoy, not to impress.
Me too.
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Who would I be impressing and why?
Are you kidding? Their peers, mostly. People do many, many things to do so - wear certain clothes, listen to certain kinds of music, engage in certain activities...the list goes on and on.
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Originally Posted by Praline
An example of pretentious to me: When I told a few co-workers that I enjoy a Tequila Sunrise using Jose Cuervo, the response was: "You're STILL drinking Cuervo? Goodness, I though everyone knew that one should at least use Patron tequila!"
Don't get me started. Pretentiousness among various types of alcohol - esp wine and "hard" liqours - is IMO by far the worst. eg the Grey Goose vodka groupies
Coming into this a bit late but I guess I'm pretentious. I only eat/drink it if I really like it.
Seriously, I live in Pretentious City (Sydney), in a trendy-eatery-dominated inner city burb. I'm not bragging here, we like the area, but there is just so much food snobbishness BS around. The kinds of places where one can fork out a good chunk of one's salary for microscopic portions of food (I think) artfully arranged on the plate-of-the-moment.
Thinking about it, it's possibly the eateries, rather than the food that attracts pretentiousness but the types of people they attract are probably similar to people who are pretentious about food/drink. Thankfully, there are still a few good pizza joints and down-home bars nearby.
Thinking about it, it's possibly the eateries, rather than the food that attracts pretentiousness but the types of people they attract are probably similar to people who are pretentious about food/drink.
Of course marketing can play into pretentiousness. And the more famous eateries often have developed their own specialties which became fashionable food. Does anyone remember vertical food in the 80's?
Stacked food is not only difficult to eat, it looks to me like a showy method for hiding flaws in flavor and/or creativity.
Advertisers know that these sorts of pretensions can appeal to certain insecure people.
So many of us distrust our own personal experience and require some sort of commentary.
Then you get into exclusivity: There are those in our short attention span consumerist world who constantly seek The Next Big Thing, so they flit from one trendy new place (or food) to the next. Then, while patting themselves on the back for being so in-the-know, they spread their superior knowledge.
Sometimes word of mouth really is the best way to find out about something, but not every little hole-in-the-wall restaurant is a hidden gem waiting to be found. Not every Next Big Thing deserves to be big.
Or.....maybe......they really only like red wine or dark beer lol!!! People really like to make too much out of nothing imo. Don't some people only like their coffee black? Only like their bread white? Well why can't they only like their beer dark? Believe me, I tried one of my husband's bud light limes and I let him have it Yuck! Microbreweries have been around since the 80's and 90's, well probably before that but I've been a patron since then. Believe me, I drank before I was 21 back in those days, and I generally only drank one or two dark microbrewed beers. Much better than putting back a 6pack of bud, but to each his own! (Dont worry my daughter is a much better kid than I was lol). I dont know why people always have to attribute things to being trendy.
Ever heard of the movie Sideways? It was about wine. I drank pinot noir before the movie. All of a sudden, the movie gave pinot some popularity and it became "trendy" Oh well, thats what happens. No big deal. Same with sunglasses, clothing, anything when it gets big exposure like that. But thats not always the case, and anyway even if it is, who cares!!??
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Originally Posted by joey2000
Anyone else notice this trend? I know some people like these things simply because they like them, but I notice a lot of people liking (or saying they like, or convincing themselves they like) certain food/drink or certain types or brands of food/drink because it's "cool" or trendy or whatever. :vomit: For example:
"I only drink red wine"
"I only like dark beer" (and don't get me started on the microbrew thing)
"The hotter/spicier food is the better!"
"I only drink single-malt whiskey"
Or only liking the most expensive or trendy brand of something and exclaiming it's SO much better, when in reality they probably couldn't pick it out of a lineup most of the time.
Sorry for any offense, but you don't seem to get what "pretentious" means.
People who are ostentatious or pompous about their tastes are pretentious.
I just don't get how people as described in the original post with simple tastes are pretentious. Most people who have simple, pedestrian tastes don't make a big show about it, thus are not pretentious.
In other words:
Not pretentious: "I only drink red wine"
Pretentious: "When I was in Bordeaux I discovered this fabulous little meritage vineyard.. Oh, no I'm sure you have never heard of it, it is very exclusive. Anyway, I had just come from five days of sampling Beaujolais Nouveau... What's that? You don't like Beajolais Nouveau? Well you just don't understand it... Blah, blah, blah.."
Pretentious: "When I was in Bordeaux I discovered this fabulous little meritage vineyard.. Oh, no I'm sure you have never heard of it, it is very exclusive. Anyway, I had just come from five days of sampling Beaujolais Nouveau... What's that? You don't like Beajolais Nouveau? Well you just don't understand it... Blah, blah, blah.."
If you re-read my OP, you'll see I made of point of saying people who like (whatever) aren't automatically pretentious.
But I have noticed a growing trend of people liking (or saying they like) something as a means of basically looking "cool" or hip, or otherwise as a means of social posturing. The examples I gave were some of the more common ones I've experienced. eg some people prefer red wine simply because they've tried others and generally found they prefer red wine due to taste or whatever.......but many prefer them (or say they do) because they feel there is some form of social identity to be had by doing so.
Don't get me started. Pretentiousness among various types of alcohol - esp wine and "hard" liqours - is IMO by far the worst. eg the Grey Goose vodka groupies
Grey Goose is a good vodka. I guess if a person doesn't want to drink Smirnoff or that god-awful Dark Eyes, they're pretentious now.
DH and I are not food snobs, but enjoy good food. When we want to take care of our pizzza craving for example, we absolutely will not order from the nationally known chains for delivery. That means it's time to throw something together ourselves unless it's on a weekend day when we have time to drive to where we can find something we enjoy. (We live on an island without a lot of other choices.)
Hmmm... now that I look at that, are we food snobs?
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Yuck! Microbreweries have been around since the 80's and 90's, well probably before that but I've been a patron since then. Believe me, I drank before I was 21 back in those days, and I generally only drank one or two dark microbrewed beers. Much better than putting back a 6pack of bud, but to each his own! (Dont worry my daughter is a much better kid than I was lol). I dont know why people always have to attribute things to being trendy.
