I'm not a foodie. In fact I find the whole "foodie" culture insufferable.
It's just food, eat it and move on.
It's because of this culture of food obsession we've all tried some meals or restaurants that just don't live up to the hype.
All of these online people running around, taking scads of photos and videos of themselves feeding their faces has gotten out of control and lead others to make questionable dining decisions.
A burger is just a burger. If the meat is fresh, I don't care what you fed the cow.
Is the salmon not discolored? Great, then cook it.
We don't need to be spending tons of cash on meals. Keep it simple, it's the best way.
RedditorYannisAPwanted to discuss what's on the menu, so they asked:
"What food is overrated?"
I have been to too many fancy places and tried their key extravagant meal only to be left disappointed and heading to Wendy's after.
No ice cream is worth one thousand dollars. New Yorkers know where I'm talking about.
Insta-crap
"Those 'instagramable' burgers, burritos, etc, that are all covered in melted cheese. Don't cover things with liquid cheese. Drink it, coward." ~ Biscuitquit
GiphyWhen in France
"It's not quite a rule, but for many restaurants, if it has a view the food is terrible. As an example, cafes near the Eiffel Tower are generally bad, tourist traps."
"Overpriced and unimaginative offerings. French food is so much more than that, but a trip to Paris is so overwhelming."
"Tourists don't always find the truly great meals, and instead go home thinking that little cafe found when your feet were tired from walking back from seeing the sights is somehow representative of the entire cuisine." ~ math-yoo
Jerk
"The little packets in beef Jerky that say do not eat." ~ wallacem21
"I knew a guy once who thought they were flavoring packets. Ripped one open and was about to proceed to dump it into his recently rehydrated meal."
"This was apparently his first dehydrated meal, so I guess I can sorta understand, but still." ~ onetoothless
Gold Loss
"Gold covered anything is a waste of money and the definition of superfluous excess since it doesn't add flavor and wastes the gold." ~ phroggyboiii
"Wastes the gold? In 1000 years when all the gold has been panned out of Alaskan streams, future panners will still have a source of gold in our ancient crap rivers. They'll probably market it as 'rare archeological privy gold' and charge accordingly." ~ Batherick
"The thing is, it's not even pure gold. There has been traces of aluminum, lead, tin, and other such metals in the gold flakes."
"It's not just wasteful, and doesn't taste like anything, it's also sometimes toxic." ~ CursedJade
Purrrrfect
"Meow Mix for sure." ~ Hardinyoung
"Dude! Meow Mix is delicious, even if it doesn't contain cats like on the packaging. Kinda a scam, but still tasty." ~ CursedJade
GiphyWhy are cats so picky?
And why do we indulge them?
They're pets, but we treat them better than kids when it comes to meal time.
Bad Sizzle
"Bacon flavoured/infused anything."
"Don't get me wrong, I love a couple of rashers as much as the next man, but c'mon, bacon fat-washed whiskey?" ~ bumbershootle
GiphyBad Batch
"Those red berries on bushes in parks." ~ Gold_Ad_6543
"We had some Brazilian Peppertrees outside of my old job (actually an invasive species, but they planted them for looks I guess), and some women I worked with used to pick off the berries and smash them into their soups and stuff. They're pretty spicy!" ~ legendariel
"We called them snake berries. No idea if it's multiple different kinds of red berries or one, but they are sour and apparently make you sick if you eat em. But they look really tasty." ~ Sololop
DO NOT EAT!!
"Funny story: My family was living in China a few years back and our parents had bought these moon pie thingies for lunar new year. I saw the moisture absorbing bags in there, didn't read the English words that clearly said DO NOT EAT, and put it on the moon pie."
"I spat mine out because it tasted gritty and awful, but my brother seemed to enjoy it. We ended up calling American poison control because the local poison control didn't have someone who spoke English and they basically said just drink a lot of water and you'll be fine." ~ ryleu
Deactivate...
"Activated charcoal anything." ~ eremophilaalpestris
"The only reason should ever be eating activated charcoal is if you've got gas, or have overdosed on something (IN A MEDICAL ENVIRONMENT). That crap can really mess with your meds and food."
"It is technically a detoxifier... but turns out there's a good reason why chemists don't stock that stuff in the wellness section. This includes toothpaste, but for a different reason - it's like sandpaper for your teeth. Yes it whitens them, but it also strips the enamel off them." ~ Plethora_of_squids
I love weddings!
"Wedding cakes for sure."
"I work weddings; I've been to something like 150 of them so far, and have tried the cake at literally all of them."
"The vast majority of them are simply awful."
Giphy"I have only actually enjoyed eating the cake twice the entire time I've worked this job: once with some sort of specialty Korean cake, and one that was made by the Bride's mom. And what's worse is that these cakes cost an exorbitant amount of money! We're talking like $500 3-tier art pieces that look nice, but taste like a sponge with shaving cream on it."
"Just not something I can get behind. So, with that being said, word to the wise: don't buy a crazy-expensive wedding cake, I promise you it is not that good." ~ HDNHD
I love wedding cakes.
How could you not?
And bacon?
Yeah, we've gone overboard with the bacon. It doesn't need to be on everything.
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I love food but I am no foodie. Food is here to sustain survival or to fill your feelings because you're unloved, I jest. I clearly have a complicated affair with the munchies. Who doesn't? And all of that drama begins at birth.
Think of it... before we can express ourselves properly we're being force-fed food we may loathe. So when we're kids, meals can be traumatizing. Some ingredients just do not mesh with your body chemicals. And that's ok. So parents stop force-feeding the gross.
Now as we age our palette refines and grows. So some of the food we hated we can learn to love or appreciate. But it takes time.
Redditoru/y_kamawanted to chat about the menu, so they asked:
What did you dislike to eat as a child, but now do you adore?
Liver. I will not ever eat liver. I had to say that. But I use to hate spices, any spices, even pepper, now I adore them. In fact the bland I was in love with makes me sad.
Bad Parents
Basketball Wives Ugh GIF by VH1Giphy"Most foods as prepared by my parents."
"I didn't appreciate my traditional dishes until I moved to America where my friends would beg me for portions of my meals."
I prefer Manicotti...
"I refused to eat lasagna as a kid because it looked gross. Then at a school camp there was nothing else on offer so I tried it and realised it's delicious and I was a freaking moron."
"Thank you sir, I thought I was the only freak disgusted by the look of lasagna as a kid. I pretty much went through the same process. I was sleeping over a friends house and his mom made lasagna for dinner. Would be kinda awkward to say I'm grossed out just looking at your mom's food. Had to chomp it up. Boy does that sh*t smack though."
- FoxyDrew
Be Brave on Fridays
"My parents would have pizza every Friday night, but I would always go to the restaurant next door and had a burger. I always forced my brother to go with me otherwise I wouldn't be able to go to another place. I remember being brave one day and trying pizza and it was just kind of okay. Now I love pizza."
THAT!!
"I clearly remember my dad trying to get me to try fudge at my grandpa's birthday party and definitely thinking grown ups were NOT going to trick me into eating that. I don't recall when I figured out it's just chocolate with extra sugar added... I just remember the giant gross looking dessert on the buffet table."
"I liked fudge somewhat when I was a kid, now I can't stand it. Waaaaaaaay too sweet for adult me."
- Wowtuck
Because of farts...
How-To Vegetables GIF by Food52Giphy"Beans. I only ate two beans through my whole life by the age of 10-11. Now I love them in burritos and stuff."
I kind of like beans. Not all beans, but most. Beans are also super healthy. And what psycho hates fudge?
Hot Hot Hot!
spicy bill hader GIFGiphy"Spicy food. Now I love it."
"Same here! For me, it probably wasn't until I was in my 20s or 30s when I started to really like heat."
Sub Capers
"Olives."
"Give me all the Kalamatas. I hated olives as a kid. Maybe because we only had the canned black ones at home. Then I tried some food with real olives and it blew my mind. And capers. I'll eat a spoonful of capers as a snack. I never salted my food when I was single. My now wife is a mad woman in the kitchen and should me how spices and salt can make things 100x better."
The Looms
"Tomatoes - now I've got 8 different heirloom varieties in my garden."
- kirkl3s
"I'm so surprised this isn't a more popular answer, tomatoes are one of the things where I just woke up one day and I was like "oh wait, maybe a slice of tomato on a burger would be amazing?!" It's one of the more fun things about getting older."
The Strangest Superstitions People Actually Observe | George Takei’s Oh Myyy
The world can be a superstitious place. If you've ever knocked on wood or thrown salt over your shoulder then you've run into one or two throughout your life...Getting Peppy
"Bell peppers. I didn't like them but I got one little piece of one in my sub sandwich once and didn't notice until I bit into it. I put them on almost everything now."
"I absolutely loathed bell peppers until I accidentally ordered something absolutely loaded with them at a Vietnamese restaurant with my labmates. I tried it out of a sense of shame or obligation, and was shocked to discover that it was basically candy in vegetable form. I have no clue what my mother does to bell peppers in order to convert them into butter, inedible pellets, but I now eat them regularly."
- jrhoffa
Fresh Please
Jim Carrey Asparagus GIFGiphy"Asparagus. My dad used to insist on canned vegetables for some ungodly reason and canned asparagus is rancid. However, as an adult, I was introduced to fresh asparagus and I absolutely love it."
- Keri2816
"cheese"
"Broccoli." ~ nhjuyt
"My mom would steam broccoli for about 7 years, approximately. The whole house smelled like freshly soiled butt cheeks. It was served with "cheese" sauce, but the only similarity it shared with cheese is that they (probably)could be purchased in the same store."
"The mouth feel was akin to canned mushrooms, and tasted. Of some unworldly eldritch horror, like licking a wall of oozing eyeballs. I do not have fond memories of steamed broccoli." ~ venomoushealer
Pearls....
"Onions." ~ throwawaygrosso
"Pearls of the earth. I loved them even as a kid. My mom would pan-fry a steak sometimes and cook a bunch of onions and garlic in the pan too. They were generally reserved for my dad but he would give us the tiniest little bit of them and we would savor them like they were the best thing in the world." ~ tacknosaddle
Shroomed
"Mushrooms." ~ abbyrosaleen
"I was the same way until a friend talked me into trying a fried morel. I love fresh mushrooms of all forms now. I think the problem was, when I was growing up my folks always got the cheap stems and pieces in a can and I couldn't stand them. I still thank that friend for challenging me to try something different." ~ 1980pzx
Popeye Lied
popeye the sailor man GIFGiphy"Spinach." ~ Lord-AG
"We grew spinach and chard in our garden when I was growing up, so I always loved it. I didn't realize why everyone hated it until I tried some from a can. That stuff was awful." ~ thecookiemaker
"bad cooking"
"It took me a while to realize my parents weren't just bad cooks - they were barely "cooking" at all most of the time. If I think back to when I was a kid, a good 75% of our meals were pre-prepared to some degree, or else were "instant" box versions, or frozen versions made to heat up in the microwave that they didn't augment at all (like those microwaveable pouches of veggies)."
"And the parts that they did cook themselves were usually overdone and unseasoned. Obviously I'm sympathetic to the fact that anyone who relies on this stuff does so because they're strapped for time, which my parents certainly were, but man....I literally didn't like ANY homecooked meal besides spaghetti until I was about 18 years old." ~ isilluminated
Just give me jelly...
"I don't know about 'adore,' but I spent the first 38 years of my life thinking peanut butter was the crap of Satan. No idea what I didn't like about it. Couple years ago when I was doing an art stream, someone asked what foods I liked and whatnot, and peanut butter was mentioned."
"They challenged me to eat a spoonful of it on stream, and at the time, that was a big deal for me because I'd convinced myself it was the worst thing. I did it anyway, realized it was perfectly fine, and now, a couple years later, I have peanut butter pretty much every other day in some way or another."
"It's really weird how tastes can change. I was hopeful it would have happened with beer as well, but I still just hate it." ~ rxsheepxr
Dip in Ranch
"Nobody said celery because if you hate it, you hate it for life. F celery." ~ 14159265q
"I've never minded celery. That being said, I don't seek it out or buy it regularly. But if it's getting ignored on a veggie tray, I'll dip it in ranch and enjoy it. It's also a great ingredient for soups and can add juiciness and depth of flavor. Also, I've had really crappy, chewy celery in the past. I can understand hating celery based on only having bad celery." ~ HurtMyKnee_Granger
The Go-to...
"Brussels sprouts. My mom used to steam them from frozen (still gross imho). Now I roast fresh ones and they're my go-to veggie." ~ PopeAlexanderVII
"I never tried them when I was a kid, and only had them about a year or two ago. But, I still remember it as the quintessential food that kids don't like.I especially remember watching a cartoon with (I think) toys as main characters, and one of them had pretty much a phobia of them. So, when I tried it (I also roasted them), I was like "Wtf? Brussel sprouts are like the best vegetable ever!" ~ Hundvd7
Bougie...
String Cheese Reaction GIF by MOODMANGiphy"Cheese. Hated it. Now I love it! Turns out I just hate Kraft singles and fake cheese. Apparently I'm a bougie cheese person." ~ Itwasntmeforreal
Not without pancakes...
"Real maple syrup. As a kid I only wanted the fake corn syrup stuff. My dad was always trying to get me to put the real stuff on my pancakes and I refused. Now it's one of my favorite things, pancakes with real maple syrup. Yum." ~ jbm72710
"When I was younger I thought I didn't like maple syrup. Turns out I only don't like the fake stuff, and real maple syrup is amazing." ~ quacks_echo
I could live off of asparagus. At ten I would've thrown out of a window. See how you grow.
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