Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:I feel like this is a weird straw man argument you've set up here, OP. Yes, some people have bizarre snobbery around what they consider to be "good food." But I don't think it necessarily follows that even those people consider it to be a 'morally superior virtue' to appreciation of knowledge of other sorts, whether that be sports or art or music or what have you. Are you really seeing people in your circle scorn others who are expert in non-food areas specifically vis-a-vis that expertise and liking certain kinds of food?
How many IL threads have you seen that put people down because they do like fly-fishing, or don’t like collecting expensive handbags?
Anonymous wrote:OP here. For example, the poster on this forum who is clearly turning up her nose at her ILs because (her generalization) they are old and Midwestern and therefore (her generalization) like plain, bland food. Which may be true for those two people who also happen to be old and Midwestern. But my point is…so what?
Maybe FIL is an expert fisher and MIL makes beautiful quilts by hand. But OP feels superior to them because they prefer bland food. The Family Relationships forum turns into a nonstop complain-fest around the holidays because [insert name of relative or in-law] doesn’t like spicy food, or doesn’t like many vegetables, or won’t go out for Mexican food or sushi, or blah blah blah.
Anonymous wrote:Some people are food snobs, in the same way they’re address snobs. Sounds like that poster is one of them. It’s not so much the bland food as it is about the disdain over the l Midwestern background that is inferred. Such people feel superior that they live in the big city instead of “flyover”. It’s their way to other people that they can’t other by skin colour.
I’m guessing that same poster would be all over something like congee, just because it’s “exotic”, but it has the same roots of basic comfort food.
I appreciate people who appreciate “good food” for all that it can be - from a delicious midwestern casserole with potato chip topping to delicious dals, to ramen, to fancy gastronomic fare made with science.
Anonymous wrote:I feel like this is a weird straw man argument you've set up here, OP. Yes, some people have bizarre snobbery around what they consider to be "good food." But I don't think it necessarily follows that even those people consider it to be a 'morally superior virtue' to appreciation of knowledge of other sorts, whether that be sports or art or music or what have you. Are you really seeing people in your circle scorn others who are expert in non-food areas specifically vis-a-vis that expertise and liking certain kinds of food?
Anonymous wrote:As an avid Food, Cooking and Restaurants forum reader and contributor, I love food! I love cooking, dining out at restaurants, trying new things, trying new recipes, and sampling cuisine from all over the world.
That being said…I know nothing about golf, cars, tennis, the intricacies of finance, football, knitting, ballet, and a host of other hobbies and interests that other people appreciate and know tons about.
My question: why is liking “good food” seen as such a morally superior virtue, and, say, appreciating and being very knowledgeable about fine art or figure skating not so much?
So many people on this forum and others (ahem, Family Relationships) seem to use food as a litmus test or a measuring stick to either like and accept and connect with other people, or have cause to look down on them and see them as “other.”
And in the immortal words of Diondre Cole, I gots to say…”What’s up with that?”
Anonymous wrote:As an avid Food, Cooking and Restaurants forum reader and contributor, I love food! I love cooking, dining out at restaurants, trying new things, trying new recipes, and sampling cuisine from all over the world.
That being said…I know nothing about golf, cars, tennis, the intricacies of finance, football, knitting, ballet, and a host of other hobbies and interests that other people appreciate and know tons about.
My question: why is liking “good food” seen as such a morally superior virtue, and, say, appreciating and being very knowledgeable about fine art or figure skating not so much?
So many people on this forum and others (ahem, Family Relationships) seem to use food as a litmus test or a measuring stick to either like and accept and connect with other people, or have cause to look down on them and see them as “other.”
And in the immortal words of Diondre Cole, I gots to say…”What’s up with that?”