Are steaks still a celebratory family meal or is that more of a baby boomer era thing?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I put fried chicken and steak into the same category.

+1 dog food

[Anonymous]

I feel like this is so specific.

When I was a kid step was special and we occasionally went to steakhouses for celebrations.

We don't eat red meat much (or for me, at all).

In my family now we celebrate with whatever the person being celebrated wants. A while back for my DH that was steak. Now for my son and him it tends to be Japanese. For me it's Japanese or Thai or sometimes a fancier small places thing like Nina May.

Yes, I think steak dinners are a thing of the past but I also live in a more elite bubble so I don't know about areas outside of UMC DC suburbs.

[Anonymous]

I mean, everyone has different tastes, and there’s definitely more variety in food these days, but a medium rare, dry-aged ribeye still hits the target for me.

I genuinely don’t give an ish whatever status foods are. If it tastes great, I’ll eat it!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I put fried chicken and steak into the same category.

+1 dog food

Now I’m genuinely curious about what food you find delicious, given that absolutely bonkers take on food that is literally enjoyed by almost all corners of the globe. I can’t wait to hear how special and discerning your palate is!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I put fried chicken and steak into the same category.

+1 dog food

You’re nuts. Go enjoy your celery and carrots.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
I never grew up like this, OP. I spent my childhood in Europe in a middle class family. Just because something is expensive doesn't mean it's desirable and has to be feted. That's a very shallow point of view, don't you think? Are you sure you want to replicate that aspect of your childhood?

We celebrate with Japanese food that we don't make at home. Sushi or ramen!

DP but since you didn’t grow up in the US, you don’t have the same perspective. “Nice steak dinners” are a very American cultural experience.

DP. I grew up in both. When in Europe, a celebratory meal was often a really good Indonesian restaurant. In North America, it was often a steakhouse or grilling a good porterhouse or whatever.

Thinking back, I preferred that awesome fancy Indonesian restaurant.

My kids appreciate both kinds of experiences. But when given a choice, they always choose good Chinese over a steak for occasion dinners. If I'm grilling "steak," it's more likely to be a California style trip-tip or a marinated skirt steak.

I think the plain sirloin steak is more likely to be a boomer thing. Can appreciate it for the memories, but it's not a go to anymore.

Sorry, again these comparisons of Europe and North America make no sense. You know this was just your idiosyncratic experience, right, and that we’ve had various Asian restaurants in the USA for decades and there are steakhouses in Europe? This post would make more sense if you were actually Indonesian.

NP. 2 of my European colleagues' favorite things to do in the US are get a cheap manicure and have a steak. They say ours taste much better than theirs. So not all Europeans are turning up their nose at steaks!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I know of people that did this, but I saw it more as a lower middle class thing. My family never did it. We celebrated with French restaurant style.
Knowing what we know now about dangers of eating red meat, I’d be insulted if someone suggested a steak dinner to celebrate something in my family.
We celebrate by going to an Indian restaurant now.

Why do "the dangers of eating red meat" cause you to become insulted? You think someone is trying to harm your family's arterial integrity? Please get over yourself. I'm honestly laughing at how ridiculous you are.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m from Europe and I have never heard of a celebratory dinner at Indonesian restaurant. That is so weird.

Don't be so proud to be locked into your small white, eurocentric mindset. All foods can be celebratory. In this day and age you are the weird one.

I am not the weird one, just the regular person who doesn't throw Indonesian restaurant in Europe! Plus, most European cities do not have Indonesian restaurants. You might be our resident French/Parisian dcumer. We all know you for a huge snob. Unless you are from Holland, so you should not be bragging about eating food from your colonies that you violently and brutally abused. Plus I do not live in Europe anymore, and hopefully neither do you otherwise what are you doing on dcum??

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
I never grew up like this, OP. I spent my childhood in Europe in a middle class family. Just because something is expensive doesn't mean it's desirable and has to be feted. That's a very shallow point of view, don't you think? Are you sure you want to replicate that aspect of your childhood?

We celebrate with Japanese food that we don't make at home. Sushi or ramen!

DP but since you didn’t grow up in the US, you don’t have the same perspective. “Nice steak dinners” are a very American cultural experience.

PP you replied to. Believe me, it's appreciated in the UK and France and Japan and many other places as well. By people who like steak! Please accept that not everyone appreciates every single expensive food. Do you like large platters of seafood? I don't. They're expensive as well, and some families treat them with the same reverence you have for steak.

I like foie gras and caviar, if that makes you feel better... and I do consider them "treats".

NP here - then WTF is your point? OP does love steak, and it was a special treat for her growing up. She was asking if anyone shared the same experience. I have no idea what your response was trying to convey (particularly the "That's a very shallow point of view, don't you think?"), other than that you are a snotty d-bag. And your second post didn't do anything to dispel that impression.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m from Europe and I have never heard of a celebratory dinner at Indonesian restaurant. That is so weird.

+1. I'm also laughing at the post about an Indian restaurant being celebratory. I've been to India many times for work, have plenty of Indian family friends ... overall, it's a gross unsanitary country and their cuisine is rubbish.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I know of people that did this, but I saw it more as a lower middle class thing. My family never did it. We celebrated with French restaurant style.
Knowing what we know now about dangers of eating red meat, I’d be insulted if someone suggested a steak dinner to celebrate something in my family.
We celebrate by going to an Indian restaurant now.

Why do "the dangers of eating red meat" cause you to become insulted? You think someone is trying to harm your family's arterial integrity? Please get over yourself. I'm honestly laughing at how ridiculous you are.

LOL @ “arterial integrity!” PP sounds like a real wet blanket.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My boomer dad grew up poor and rose to mc. Steak dinners for birthdays, etc. were for him a sign that he’d “made it.” Millennials have different status foods, so I do think it’s less of a thing now.

What are the millennial status foods? That salt guy was pretty viral among millennials for a few years and he was serving steaks, right?

The viral tiktoks for food seem to focus on cheaper food items like trendy burgers, pizza, bbq, sandwiches, and pastries (ex cronut at Dominique Ansel Bakery). The trendy item right now seems to be chicken Caesar salad wraps, which at most is like $15 or 20.

[Anonymous]

Gen X with middle class upbringing, steak was rare and not our celebratory dinner. I don’t think we had one. Mon would ask whoever was being celebrated what they wanted. We never went out for dinner, or lunch, maybe breakfast.

DC don’t think of steak as celebratory dinner. We have it too often (DH is a fan and grills when he is in charge of dinner).

[Anonymous]

If you want your kids to connect a certain meal with celebration and pride, you just have to serve it that way. They don’t know how much ribeye costs. My kids feel that way about delivery pizza because it’s a special treat and everyone is in a good mood.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I know of people that did this, but I saw it more as a lower middle class thing. My family never did it. We celebrated with French restaurant style.
Knowing what we know now about dangers of eating red meat, I’d be insulted if someone suggested a steak dinner to celebrate something in my family.
We celebrate by going to an Indian restaurant now.

Why do "the dangers of eating red meat" cause you to become insulted? You think someone is trying to harm your family's arterial integrity? Please get over yourself. I'm honestly laughing at how ridiculous you are.

I laughed at that, and the Indonesian restaurant threw it around pp. I assure you that this Indonesian restaurant is so random and weird, even in 2024, yet she came to call me a peasant, white euro trash! This Euro peasant proudly eats steak and meat, and the first thing I wanted to do on my first visit to the U.S. was eat steak! And have a glass of whiskey shuffled down the saloon bar to me! My dreams came true, and I had the pleasure of both steak and whiskey!