Make it a Better Dinner through Unapologetic Snobbery

I had a great night out yesterday evening with mi esposo and some friends. The night was great because of the company and the laughter, because if we had judged the evening on the food we consumed, it would have been an abysmal failure.

The “calamari” we started with was reconstituted fish product. Although it was deep fried like calamari often is, it was totally lacking in the usual character of fresh squid. The pizzas we ordered were under-flavored, did not feature anything close to a homemade sauce, and the pies were over-cooked to boot. Somebody distractedly slapped the pies together, threw 'em in the oven, and kind of forgot about them. I get all itchy when people over-use the word “passion’, but in this case, the food really did lack any semblance of passion.

Sigh.

I won’t bash the eating establishment because I vote with my wallet (read: I just won’t give them my food money ever again.)

I never thought I was a food snob. Why not? Well, I like some really humble stuff. After all, my guilty pleasure is an occasional greasy burger. I never met a Buffalo wing I didn’t like. And “the cheaper the cut, the sweeter the meat” might as well be my motto when cooking in my own home. Furthermore, my un-glamorous home kitchen and paltry selection of fine cookware has always been a little too primitive to allow me to consider myself a food snob. And please don’t tell on me, but sometimes I think the hoity-toity farmers’ market is an inconvenient pain in my neck, so I just wind up buying regular produce at the grocery store around the corner.

But I DO appreciate quality. It doesn’t take very long after upgrading your diet to really fresh stuff to make the over-processed and less-than-fresh alternatives that so many fellow Americans eat on a regular basis totally unpalatable. Fake calamari?? Come ON! At least have the courtesy to re-name it “squid fritters” or something.

I cannot underscore enough how NOT fancy my diet is, generally speaking. Sure, I love to indulge in the elegant and exotic from time to time, but most of what I whip up at home or at work can be concocted in less than an hour with basic ingredients from a regular grocery store. I love to do it, too. Maybe I have a passion for it or maybe I’ve found that fresh stuff made with some degree of focus is simply a joy to eat. Life is hard enough. Why can’t this eating thing be our pleasure?

This way of looking at food has utterly ruined me for over-priced rubbish. I’m so grateful we’re in the middle of a national food revolution. My wish for you is that you will be ruined, too. I hope you and the people you care about get so accustomed to “fresh”, “whole”, and “real” food made with some care that your taste buds reject the rubbish as scornfully as do mine.