Ethnic foods you're supposed to like (but hate) - Page 17

Has anyone here on SF tasted your food? You don't have to tell us where you cook if you don't want to.

Can you list some places you consider "real culinary establishments?"

I thought you were generally pretty involved in foodie and restaurants threads.

I used to think this way as well, but I've slowly grown out of it

I never realized how much I missed SField until now.

As a side note, what's with the Chinese cuisine apologists? 'My step-father is Chinese and I can't even make what he makes so that means Chinese food is amazing' was

Good luck. It's clear from your responses in this thread and your general attitude that you're very close-minded when it comes to food.

If you're referring to my former company - Nothing is "cooked" out of a truck. If you had any understanding of the business, you'd know that they are putting out similar food, using the same purveyors and ingredients, and utilizing the same techniques the same as those in the "real culinary establishments."

No, I was also including most people who work at "real culinary establishments". The majority of those people have no input in creating the dishes or the menu (or understanding the customers who eat there), they just crank out what a head chef / chef de cuisine / etc tells them to make. They taste their food, and can do so well enough to produce consistent dishes (using classic techniques) which adhere to the recipe, but it doesn't mean that are developing dishes that taste good.

In contrast, I would say that there are also less trained chefs at "run of the mill" or lower places who are much more in touch with the food that they are serving and the customers who are eating it. They create dishes which appeal to their audience and are probably more adept at developing flavours and textures than some chefs at higher end places.

Somehow in popular culture the job of chef has been elevated and put on some pedestal. In reality, the majority of "chefs", regardless of "real culinary establishment" or not, are merely semi-skilled assembly line workers.

Note, I'm not trying to put down chefs at higher priced restaurants. I just think that the world of food is too wide, varied, and subjective to try and pick such specific benchmarks. Plus, there is much more to the job than the palate.

K

(this isnt only in response to your post, but also a general commentary)

I would not, and cannot, make a blanket statement about "ethnic foods that [I'm] supposed to like...." There are some ingredients, flavors and techniques I dislike; I avoid cuisines that focus on these.

What I truly dislike are the "Church of Food" types of places like those you have listed here. It's the obsessing that gets to me - chefs and food critics obsessed with perfect technique, foodies obsessed with going to the "must-go" places. I find it all both baffling and boring.

Do I have my own obsessions? Of course. Do others find my obsessions baffling and/or dull? Of course.

You may now return to your regularly-scheduled pontificating.

Sfield, name some places where you eaten for less $20. The places you named are to put it plainly "damn expensive". These places are for most people a verrrrrry special occasion place at best or at worst, once in a lifetime place. I don't think the average person would frequent these places on a regular basis because of the $$$$ price tag.

Also, let everyone know on a given ordinary day, what you eat? Also name a junk food that you crave!