I think it comes from growing up very poor and developing a taste for the types of food that I grew up with. I have been to really good restaurants and tried their supposedly really good food, but it literally doesn't taste good to me. Offer me a choice between a free dinner at a five-star French restaurant or paying for myself at Taco Bell, and I will be eating 2 tacos and a bean burrito with Pepsi. Sorry to make so many of you cringe, but that's the flat-out truth. Taco Bell was so cheap when I was in college that I ate there pretty much every day. It cost me $2 for the abovementioned meal.
This is the thing my wife hates most about me. She is my polar opposite when it comes to food, a caviar and wine girl if there ever was one. Give her a choice between something that looks amazing but tastes like crap verses something low brow but good tasting, and she will pick the presentation or pedigree any day.
No, I am stuck with all these local foods that taste pretty crappy to me. June 21 can't come quickly enough, when I will get to spend a few weeks back home and get some decent food for a change!
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LOL: Taco Bell doesn't make me cringe at all. In fact, I get this aweful craving for a crunch taco supreme at the oddest times during my work day. I'm a fan of cheap good food :)
ReplyDeleteAh, see, now I know why you're in you're chosen profession; its to give your wife cultural experiences in cuisine tasting :)
I lived and traveled in Europe. Yep, I know what you mean about low-brow food. A heart-attack in a sack wins out every time for me. I love Tombstome Pizza, but really prefer the cheese or ham. Ya know, pepperoni is so greasy . .
Speaking of local food: where did you end up? If you can tell us and not shoot us :) Sorry, I've been out of blogger world a while, and whn I'm here, I'm not really paying attention.
......dhole
Hi Donna, my family is really thrilled that we get to go to Budapest this summer for the next three years!
ReplyDeleteFancy food is overrated and is probably just as bad for you.
ReplyDeleteGive me a raw vegatable any day...It makes a good weapon to hit the artfully arranged plate with.
My philosophy is 'vegetables are dangerous'. They make you live longer, but you have to live longer while eating vegetables, so it's a matter of torture. I'm not looking to hit seventy!
ReplyDeletenot looking to hit seventy!
ReplyDeleteHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAA!!!!!!
yup. i like cheap food too. (good thing cause that's all we can afford :P ! but not spam!blech! )
my youngest son LOVES taco bell so much! it's pretty yummy, but- as mommy- i worry about the lack of dangerous vegetables when we go there. :)
frozen pizza- tombstone is too expensive now! go for the tony's pizza, cook it directly on the rack, it is crispy deliciousness! and only 2.50 for a pizza! :)
Victoria, I can't get any hot dogs here, yet I had a lot of cans of Bush's beans, so I began frying up Spam really crispy and dicing it into the beans in place of hot dogs. I didn't love it at first, but it grew on me!
ReplyDeleteHa! You're funny Ted.
ReplyDeleteAren't you near Armenia? They have good food there. And, contrary to popular belief, it is not that hard to make good, cheap food. Provided you can get the ingredients.
Yes, Matt, I am next door to Armenia, however I am picky to the point of pretty much only liking my American brand junk food. I do try the food in each country I visit, but I haven't found any I really love, except for Mexican.
ReplyDeleteI was with you until the picture of Spam.
ReplyDeleteLuke, that was meant to represent the ultimate in low brow!
ReplyDeleteIt still needs to taste good, but I prefer the quality food. Never been one for fast food either. Unless you count pizza. And then I like Brooklyn style.
ReplyDeleteAlex, so you're one of THEM!
ReplyDeleteI can sympathize. Give me a burger at a greasy spoon any day. The one exception would be a really nice place in Boston, North 26. I got the ribeye burger and it was possibly one of the best burgers I have ever eaten, but yeah I am the guy that goes into the nice restaurant and gets the burger. Chicken is my favorite vegetable.
ReplyDeleteI love good food and good wine. But sometimes a trip to Taco Bell is just what's needed. Enjoy your trip back home. We'll warn the restaurant chains you're coming.
ReplyDeleteL.G., I should be a boost to the economy, eh!
ReplyDeleteFried SPAM is pretty good. They have a spicy version, too.
ReplyDeleteGads, it's not just me! I also grew up very poor but had a close friend from an affluent family who took me all over the state to some incredibly well-known 5-star restaurants. There was one instance I still cringe over. Think primo table with window overlooking the SF Bay, chipino, crap, chipino crab smear on window, crab under table. Anyway, I found I just didn't like the taste of the fancy foods (sushi being the exception). Give me a good ol fashion corn dog. (I'm also one of those people who eats ramin...by choice.)
ReplyDeletecrap=crab. Freudian misspell.
ReplyDeleteCrab tastes like crap to me! Corn dogs! I love them when done fresh, like at Hot Dog on a Stick.
ReplyDeleteHmm, so why not dig into the best of both worlds so as not to miss half the story? (Dom Perignon with McDonald's french fries.) ...^-^.... Have a great weekend!
ReplyDeleteLaila, I've never had alcohol. Hmm, never had coffee, either, so you all will probably find me odd. I just don't like things that taste bad to me.
ReplyDeleteDon't over-do when you get back on June 21st though!! Your stomach isn't prepared for such an onslaught of tacos, pizza, and fried chicken.
ReplyDeleteAlways good to drop by here, Roland
We used to have this place in town where I grew up that would smash hamburgers on the grill for $1.25. I lived on them for a long time. Full of grease but with mushrooms and onions, the best burgers in the world. You could smell them a mile away.
ReplyDeleteRoland, I do this every two to three years, depending on the length of my posting! I am used to it!
ReplyDeleteAnne, it's funny how I used to just love burgers, but now have kind of grown out of them. I can still enjoy one on occasion, though.
Ted - I love Taco Bell! :)
ReplyDeleteI'm a foodie to the core, and that means I love everything food - from that 5-star French restaurant to the fast food industry. I'm not a food snob by any means. If it tastes good and brings me enjoyment, I'm in! That includes Big Macs and foie gras and sushi and prime rib and KFC!
Glad to hear you'll be returning to the States for a bit! Hope you get to enjoy some of your favorite food pastimes. :)
Now I want an Arby's sandwich.
ReplyDeleteJust throwing this out there, but the reason you may have "low brow" taste could be is that you have no inner fat person. I've always struggled with weight and it's not because of hormones or anything like that...flavors just explode in my mouth (no other way to describe it). I love food. And through the course of my life...some are prepared better than others. I love fine dining. I love tasting the flavors that come out of a chef's kitchen and I have to force myself to no more than probably one or two fine dining experiences in a month (more than that and I'd probably end up weighing 800 pounds).
ReplyDeleteMichael, you may be right. I have always been too thin. It is nice, in a way, to be able to eat whatever you please, but on the other hand this doesn't lead to healthy eating habits.
ReplyDelete