Does anyone else feel like a food snob? (red wine, beer, ingredients)

[Chowhound]

I grew up very meat and potatoes. I loved my mom's cooking, as most people like their mom's cooking. However I'm starting to notice that as I become more of a foodie, I feel like I'm turning into a snob.

Mrs. Chow and I are always trying new recipes and experimenting with various ethnic foods.

That being said it seems like most of the people in our families are very vanilla in their cooking and/or eating fast food too much.

One day we were at Mrs. Chow's mother house and she said something about just having a can of "Campbell's Chicken Noodle Soup" I cringed at her comments. I can't stand that stuff. It's strange that she would eat that as when she does make soup she makes her own stock.

Anyway, are there other burgeoning food snobs out there??

[movingtohouston]

Yep count me in. My family was very meat and potatos too. In fact my dad's idea of a great meal is an extremely well done steak, burger, chicken etc. (Read burnt) I wasn't exposed to a lot of different foods growing up. Spices were salt, pepper and ketchup. Canned soups were a staple in any and all casseroles.

After I met my hubby we started expanding our food choices/spices and now there is no going back. Yes I cringe now when I have to eat bland food.

My Aunt recently visited and we were going to have chicken for dinner. I started going through my recipes til I found something I liked and proceeded to make up a sauce for my chicken from scratch. She just looked at me funny and said that growing up they always ate chicken the exact same way every time. Nothing new, you knew if you were having chicken it was going to be xyz kind. She told me she was proud of me for expanding my horizons.

I hope that is as snobbish as I get. LOL

[plaidmom]

Guilty.

Only, I grew up with a mother who had a catering business.

So I am second-generation.

[Woof Woof Woof!]

I like good food, but I'm on a tight budget so peanut butter on toast is good enuff.

[1badgmc]

My mom rarely ever used anything more than salt & pepper for seasonings. I was always a picky eater, and still am pretty picky, but my tastes have changed for sure. My mom doesn't even try to cook for me anymore. She knows I'm too picky. I love big flavors. I have an entire cabinet for all my spices and oils and stuff and I can't even be lazy and make a Hamburger Helper without throwing a little something extra in anymore.

So, yeah, I've gotten a little snobby.

[Fontucky]

I'm snobby about some things, and very proletarian about others. Examples: I'm very picky about coffee, buying expensive beans in small quantities and grinding them when I need to make a pot. I buy only premium butter and cheese, especially when it comes to the hard cheeses. When I want Parmesan or Romano, it has to be freshly grated off a hunk of quality imported Italian cheese. Don't you DARE expect me to use that garbage from the green can, that Kraft product. My mozzarella has to be either imported buffalo or artisan cheese from a small dairy in Northern California. Tomatoes? They'd better be homegrown or hothouse types. Can't stomach grocery store tomatoes that were picked early and artificially ripened with ethylene gas infusion. My maple syrup has to be the dark amber real stuff from back east. For orange marmalade, nothing but imported Dundee brand will do.

Picky, picky, picky.

On the other hand, my cupboard is well-stocked with canned chili. I can and do on a regular basis destroy a bowl of chili, cheddar, onions and saltines. And I'm happy to wash it down with a Budweiser instead of some overpriced imported beer or craft brew. A loaf of store label white bread is good enough for my toast requirements. Tap water made into sweet tea (regular old Lipton or Luzianne) or plain, flavored with lemons from my trees satisfies my H2O requirements. Certainly don't need expensive bottled water or fancy teas.

[moonshadow]

Well I didn't think so but then I made the humungous mistake of taking the family to Heronswood for Nan's Birthday lunch.

I thought that fresh food, prepared simply, with heritage vegetables and fresh herbs would be a hit but apparently it was too fancy and too expensive.

So I'm guessing that in future I'll book the family into the pub for a counter meal or The Pancake Parlour and save the "fancy" stuff for when I'm out with friends and family that have a more varied palate. (It's a damn good thing I didn't book them into the Thai restaurant like I wanted to! )

[ivanabacowboy]

I'm definitely a food snob, and love to experiment with different cooking styles, cultures etc. My winter phase was Italian. My current phase is a lot of eastern cooking (Indian, Thai etc.) We have an excellent Asian market here in Phoenix, which aside from being able to find just about any exotic ingredient a recipe calls for, is well known for being one of the cheapest stores in town. Tho it is sort of fun because on some of the ingredients, all of the packaging is of course in Asian languages lol so you have to scout around a bit and find the labels on the shelving underneath the product which are in English to figure out what you are really buying lol! Although equally as interesting is that of course Phoenix has a large Hispanic population, so there is a section of Hispanic items with packaging in Spanish in the Asian store. (At least I know Spanish so I know what those items are lol!)

That said, I will qualify my food-snobbiness with an example. I have a 21 year old son. A few years back I was so proud of myself spent a fortune and hours assembling some gourmet meal with tenderloin and puff pastry and balsamic/red wine reduction, and a list of ingredients longer than my arm, perfectly garnished, divine. This was definitely high-end restaurant worthy. Sat down to dinner proud of my achievement. Son: "What is this? Why can't you just make pot roast in the crockpot?" LOL! (His favorite food of all time is crockpot pot roast with nothing more than cream of whatever mushroom with dried onion soup mix-blech! I haven't made it in years.) So I have to tread fairly carefully to please Mr Pot Roast Man.

Tho it works out well for me. My sister lives 3 miles away and she is a food snob too. So if I want to try out something I know Mr Pot Roast Man wouldn't go near, I invite her for dinner lol!

I have become a lot more adventurous on spices and seasonings, and using fresh herbs and fresh ingredients. There are some things that were just never meant to be in a can or box or frozen into unrecognizable forms. ;-)

With my vast culinary explorations, here is what I figured out. It isn't the recipes with the never-ending list of ingredients and prep that includes dicing while standing on your head with your left arm behind your back and singing the national anthem that are the best. It is the recipes with a few GOOD QUALITY ingredients that win every time. So yes I have paid $25 a pound for fish-but GOOD fish. Or good chocolate rather than the Nestle's in a bag thing. And I do a lot of organic which of course doesn't help the budget either.

My personal specialty is still pastry though. But man cannot live on cream horns alone so I do the other stuff of necessity LOL!!!!

One experimental item you want to stay away from unless you have a deep stomach and blocked nasal passages: Durian. They don't call it "stinky fruit" for nothing lol! The smell is atrocious. The inner fruit is sort of resembling of a custard type consistency/taste which actually isnt that bad. If you can get past the smell!

[Fontucky]

Originally Posted by ivanabacowboy

But man cannot live on cream horns alone...

I'm willing to try.

[BlueWillowPlate]

Originally Posted by Fontucky

I'm snobby about some things, and very proletarian about others.

Ditto. I've got more than one can of chili beans in the pantry.(Chicken noodle soup, too, but I think it's Progresso.)
But tonight we'll be eating pasta with homemade pesto, and locally caught shrimp.

I can't stand holier-than-thou food fetishists and try not to fit that description, but I do prefer fresh food, and I *try* to buy organic and locally grown.