Are Your Cooking and Dining Choices Atrociously Outlandish?

[flyinglentris]

I suppose there are a few things that mark people as being atrociously outlandish in their cooking and dining, by others ... certainly, none would consider themselves so.

- very lavish and meticulously detailed
- very expensive in ingredients and accompaniments
- excessive in quantity
- often very creative and spontaneous, incredibly unique, trying alternate ingredients and methods
- expensive in terms of cooking and serving appliances and utensils, table settings, etc.
- violating all the fears of diets and free radicals, all that stuff about this causes cancer and this will cause you to go blind.
- rarely eating the same thing more than once in a year or several months, unless it's something very simple that everyone else, normally consumes (like my oats for breakfast).
- ???

 

[flyinglentris]

One more thing ...

- allowing food to play a major role in one's lifestyle

 

[rascal]

One more thing ...

- allowing food to play a major role in one's lifestyle

What about my friends daughters who are nuts, they are bringing their kids up vegan and Pescatory?? Sp??

Russ

 

[flyinglentris]

What about my friends daughters who are nuts, they are bringing their kids up vegan and Pescatory?? Sp??

Russ

There comes a point where I don't want to say what you might really consider atrociously outlandish. Vegans do exist who are intense in their cooking and dining habits and I am not want to insult them.

 

[caseydog]

I suppose there are a few things that mark people as being atrociously outlandish in their cooking and dining, by others ... certainly, none would consider themselves so.

- very lavish and meticulously detailed
- very expensive in ingredients and accompaniments
- excessive in quantity
- often very creative and spontaneous, incredibly unique, trying alternate ingredients and methods
- expensive in terms of cooking and serving appliances and utensils, table settings, etc.
- violating all the fears of diets and free radicals, all that stuff about this causes cancer and this will cause you to go blind.
- rarely eating the same thing more than once in a year or several months, unless it's something very simple that everyone else, normally consumes (like my oats for breakfast).
- ???

Okay, I'm confused. Are these bad things? Am I misunderstanding "atrociously?" I may not be the sharpest knife in the drawer, but I've never considered "atrocious" to be a good thing.

CD

 

[mjd]

I'll also add...I've been on other cooking forums, some general cooking and some specialty things, and I think compared to other cooking forum members, we're all "normal," because seeing a man carrying a giant platter of no doubt extremely expensive steaks is normal...for us. Or taking all day to smoke some ribs, or all day to make a beautifully-decorated cake. Hey, it's what food-focused folks do!

But compared to a lot of people, people who eat to live (as opposed to living to eat), we probably all seem "atrociously outlandish" at times. Most of my online friends cook spaghetti and red sauce, but the sauce is from a jar, and it's a bagged salad, bottled salad dressing, and that's fine, but you're not going to turn any heads that way. To them, simmering a sauce all day and making your own dressing from scratch and actually thinking about what goes in the salad is...atrociously outlandish.

Matter of fact, I made a loaf of bread once, very pleased with it, and sent a pic to a friend, who sent back her loaf of bread...which had been made from store-bought frozen dough. Nothing wrong with that, but her comment was, "Who has time to make bread from scratch? Duh!"

They say the pandemic has led to a resurgence in home-cooking. That may be true, but I'll bet it hasn't led to a resurgence in homemade cooking. That's still too much trouble for most of the people I know.

This is along the lines of my thinking as well. I almost always cooked at home when I had my family. I even made all of my baby food from organic fruits and vegetables. I never gave them jarred or boxed baby foods. I made their school lunches from last night's dinner so they didn't get pb&j and chips. The other kids were always trying to snag their lunches.

Mostly, I think TastyReuben hit on it in that all of us are clearly interested in foods, preparation, presentation, etc. so something that would be "way too much work" for others is a "labor of love" for us. The first time I even had a clue that I was overdoing it is when an elderly woman I had met on a support group for wives dealing with a spouse's affair asked me "And, why the hell are you making him a King's dinner every night?" Until that moment, it honestly never crossed my mind because it was just something I always did. I even cooked for him after he walked out on us. The reason behind that was I would send the kids with home-cooked foods they could have when they were with him (they like my food better than restaurant food). He would eat my food and give them fast food. Instead of arguing about it, I just started preparing enough for all three of them.

Now that I live alone, I don't usually go to that much effort. I will have a lifelong GI problem which makes it even harder to justify cooking the way I used to. We have a community room with a full kitchen and an enclosed porch with grills (all closed now due to COVID) which I could use but I've only used the kitchen once. My first year here I prepared a huge holiday meal to share with my neighbors that didn't have family to visit. It was a lot of work (probably we could say "outlandish") but I didn't mind. I just haven't done it since because of my own health problems.

I know people that have NEVER eaten a vegetable. I know people that make their own tortillas. I know others that have never cleaned a fish or cut up a chicken. I know people that ONLY cook with a microwave. I know people that make their own pasta. I know people that will only eat certain colored foods. I think we could go on and on with that. Somebody somewhere is going to think it's outlandish no matter what. In fact, when I first joined CB, TastyReuben posted a recipe for me to make hamburger buns. I read it and thought "this man must be crazy". (Sorry TastyReuben!). It turned out well but before that I thought he was from another planet. So, *outlandish* is RELATIVE! They say if you love what you do it doesn't feel like work. ;-)

 

[medtran49]

bringing their kids up vegan and Pescatory?? Sp??

Russ

Pescatarian I think

 

[TastyReuben]

One more thing ...

- allowing food to play a major role in one's lifestyle

Ok, I'm guilty of that. I can honestly say that I view my life much in the context of food, and I think of my day as points between meals, so to speak, like the food is my anchor, if that makes any sense.

In fact, when I first joined CB, @TastyReuben posted a recipe for me to make hamburger buns. I read it and thought "this man must be crazy". (Sorry @TastyReuben!).

Moi? Crazee?

 

[medtran49]

I suppose there are a few things that mark people as being atrociously outlandish in their cooking and dining, by others ... certainly, none would consider themselves so.

- very lavish and meticulously detailed
- very expensive in ingredients and accompaniments

Not atrocious in any way. Maybe some would consider outlandish, but then again maybe they haven't tried it. Like CD and Rock noted, you can make it yourself for a lot less than at a restaurant.

excessive in quantity

I don't believe anybody on here from what they have written is in excess.

- often very creative and spontaneous, incredibly unique, trying alternate ingredients and methods

And any of those would be atrocious or outlandish because...?

- expensive in terms of cooking and serving appliances and utensils, table settings, etc.

Maybe outlandish depending on how high you go, but that depends on your financial situation. Some would think a place setting of china that's over $500 per is outlandish, but I know people who wouldn't and didnt blink an eye.

violating all the fears of diets and free radicals, all that stuff about this causes cancer and this will cause you to go blind.

A personal choice and not anybody else's business.

- rarely eating the same thing more than once in a year or several months, unless it's something very simple that everyone else, normally consumes (like my oats for breakfast).

So what, it may be months and it has been years between dishes we make and like. They can be peasant type foods too. We like varied menus. Neither atrocious or outlandish.

allowing food to play a major role in one's lifestyle

Again, personal choice and nobody else's business. It's like a hobby for us and something we both really enjoyed doing for many, many years, though I've slacked off a bit mostly because of my arthritis in doing more creative and involved dishes.

 

[caseydog]

Ok, I'm guilty of that. I can honestly say that I view my life much in the context of food, and I think of my day as points between meals, so to speak, like the food is my anchor, if that makes any sense.

I know what you mean. For me, cooking is something I enjoy. Before Covid, I spent half the year in airports and hotels. I ate overpriced, unhealthy restaurant food. When I got home, my kitchen was like a sanctuary to me. It was my safe room. It was a place where I called all the shots.

It's not quite the same now, but my kitchen is still a place where I can "escape" for a while. I cooked a cheeseburger tonight. Simple. No big deal. I ate it standing up from a countertop in my kitchen, with a bottle of IBC Cream Soda. It tasted good, but more than that, it felt good.

CD

 

[Morning Glory]

Do you more often than not, overdo it? Do you go beyond the norms of what the civilized tract home dweller sees as fit and normal meals?

I'm having trouble understanding what you mean. I don't know what a 'civilised tract home dweller' means. I really don't!

 

[flyinglentris]

I'm having trouble understanding what you mean. I don't know what a 'civilised tract home dweller' means. I really don't!

Tract housing is an American phenomena where all the houses are identical in design and appearance, mass produced. The joke is often about a drunk coming home, finding his key doesn't fit the door and banging away, waking up his neighbors and accusing his wife of locking him out.

Back in the post WWII days, this sort of thing started and is only slightly modified today. It's a way we had over here of all looking alike, doing the same things and going from day to day in a mundane fashion, being adherent to a civilized way of existence.

Tract housing is slightly different today. Instead of one basic home design, they mix about four into a cluster neighborhood and sell each for anywhere from 1/2 million dollars USD to over a million with 30 year loans that can be mortgaged several times to allow buying furniture, 3 cars and a swimming pool. It's all very much in the 'more is better' spirit of life. It helps to breed huge flocks of real estate agents who can afford the houses after the loans suffer foreclosure. It's all in good economic fun.

Tract housing leads to another American phenomena called suburban sprawl.

 

[Morning Glory]

Tract housing is an American phenomena where all the houses are identical in design and appearance, mass produced. The joke is often about a drunk coming home, finding his key doesn't fit the door and banging away, waking up his neighbors and accusing his wife of locking him out.

OK - but I'm still not clear what you mean by 'atrociously outlandish'. 'Atrocious' when applied to food means poor quality, extremely bad and unpleasant.

Maybe you need to change the thread title?

 

[flyinglentris]

OK - but I'm still not clear what you mean by 'atrociously outlandish'. 'Atrocious' when applied to food means poor quality, extremely bad and unpleasant.

Maybe you need to change the thread title?

The thread title doesn't need to change. You need to think what others might think, not what you as a cook and food lover think.

 

[Morning Glory]

The thread title doesn't need to change. You need to think what others might think, not what you as a cook and food lover think.

Well, strictly speaking then the title should read 'Do others think your cooking and dining choices are outlandish?'

I hope most people would like what I cook. But its pretty obvious that people have different tastes and often prejudices about what they are prepared to eat. There are also huge cultural differences across the world. Lots of people hate fish, for example so wouldn't touch my fish dishes. Others don't like curry - yet in the UK its virtually a national dish and liked by all walks of people (though not everyone).

I'm not sure that in the UK there is a typical diet which relates to our equivalent of tract housing. Most people here it lots of different cuisines. You only have to look at the fresh 'ready meals' on offer in supermarkets here to see that.