That's so Bay Area... (Oakland, Berkeley: buy, live, restaurant)

[sav858]

Most of the Bay Area has plenty of chains to choose from. Outside of SF, Oakland, and Berekely and probably some small wealthy cities I don't know of any area's where it would be hard to find chains to eat at. Probably not as much as other parts of the country but still a good mix imo.

[socalinnorcal]

Originally Posted by 04kL4nD

I wouldn't say holding a strong opinion is exclusive of being a Bay Arean, but I guess if you're from SoCal and someone questions your opinion, they are automatically being "superior". Right?

So get this-- I'm from the BAY AREA

[dmode]

Starbucks? Starbucks is so over. I only get coffee from Blue Bottle or Ritual these days. I just bought an espresso machine at home and get whole beans from Blue Bottle mostly to make drinks for myself.

There are several other Bay Areanisms:
1. Tech and app awareness. Everyone is constantly downloading the latest app in their smartphones and exchanging notes. Yesterday, I downloaded Fliple. Pretty cool app. Also, people get their news from Techcrunch, GigaOM, Mashable etc. and not news papers

2. Wine and Beer - I can never buy wine from Safeway or Costco or some chain store. I prefer to buy them directly from the wineries. I would take a wine country tour once every few months and stock up on wines. Also, beers have to be from microbreweries.

3. Grocery Shopping - Whole foods or nothing

4. Winter dressing throughout the year. I swear I have worn my woolen coat in July

[sliverbox]

Some of these observations are spot-on. Especially about cars and food. Back where I grew up, everyone drove Fords, Chevys, Toyotas, and Hondas. Here there are so many BMW 3 series they're like Camrys.

As far as food, never have I lived anywhere where people hate food so much. What I mean by this is that so many people Ive run into are always into some weird food diet thing. These come in waves. The big thing now is that everything is glutten-free. Or its vegan. Or you can't eat eggs. Or something like that. Its never just sit down and eat whatever, its always this game where suddenly instead of enjoying food, nooooo, instead its food that was chosen specifically out of the belief in whatever latest yuppie food fad craze.

[pondermin]

Originally Posted by sliverbox

As far as food, never have I lived anywhere where people hate food so much. What I mean by this is that so many people Ive run into are always into some weird food diet thing.

This is a pretty apt observation, somewhat paradoxical to the "foodie" generation. I too think some of these fad concepts can actually foster unhealthy attitudes toward food, especially if they're imposed upon children. Of course, there are true food allergies. But the trend of more and more kids being "sensitive" to multiple food groups according to their parents, in the absence of confirmatory testing, could be dangerous, since it may teach kids to "pathologize" food at an age where they are particularly vulnerable to eating disorders. Anyway, very off topic, so sorry.

[pch1013]

Originally Posted by pondermin

I too think some of these fad concepts can actually foster unhealthy attitudes toward food, especially if they're imposed upon children.

For example, the fads for bacon and cupcakes.

[sliverbox]

Not all foodie stuff is that bad. For example, there is an awful lot of smaller breweries here and around the state and I've had some really good stuff. But what I find ironic here is that in many cases, while some of these folks who drink microbrew beer and detest anything from the big brewers, at the same time quite a few will then drink PBR, which granted I like when its 90 degrees outside, but its basically the same stuff.

For example, the fads for bacon and cupcakes.

Or pimento cheese, 'fancy' BBQ ( makes no sense to me) and fried okra, grits, and chicken-n-waffles which back home were everyday "po people food" and yet here they're stuck on a pedestal as this latest-greatest fancy delicacy with the high prices to match.

That and wine. I love wine but many people assume that good wine has to cost a lot of money or come from boutique producers. I've had wine that was excellent which only cost $3. Wine is made in abundance here so no need to pretend its all special and so on.

[Gentoo]

Originally Posted by 04kL4nD

I wouldn't say holding a strong opinion is exclusive of being a Bay Arean, but I guess if you're from SoCal and someone questions your opinion, they are automatically being "superior". Right?

yep been there done that. Then again, so have you

[pch1013]

Originally Posted by sliverbox

Not all foodie stuff is that bad. For example, there is an awful lot of smaller breweries here and around the state and I've had some really good stuff. But what I find ironic here is that in many cases, while some of these folks who drink microbrew beer and detest anything from the big brewers, at the same time quite a few will then drink PBR, which granted I like when its 90 degrees outside, but its basically the same stuff.

And then there are the neo-Luddites who eat nothing but raw food and eschew such fripperies as multiple gears on their bicycles (fixies are like so HONEST and TRUE, you know?) -- and carry $2000 worth of state-of-the-art gadgetry on their persons at all times.

[clongirl]

One thing that drives me a bit crazy about some Bay Areans (and not much else does, really), is that anyone/and everyone that rides a bicycle looks like they're pros. You know, they all have the little speedo pants,the most expensive and fancy bike gear, and look like they're racing in a sponsored competition all the time. Whatever happened to just tucking your jeans in your pant leg and having fun?