Blessing or a curse?

[Sandtree]

When I was growing up in small city UK lentils were orange or green, awareness, let alone owning, of other varieties simply didn't exist. Having tied up our store cupboard yesterday we have 10 types in there. My wife is South American and often gets slightly exasperated by having to always clarify what type of something she wants.

On the one hand each type has a different flavour/texture and so variety is great, on the other hand they are taking up a whole shelf, its unlikely all will be at their best by the time we get to the bottom of the jar and despite having 10 types you'll still find a recipe asking for one you don't have.

So is choice a good thing or was it better when there were only one or two options?


Was in two minds how to frame this thread as if you do like choice its interesting how variety varies by country... even a basic supermarket will have 40 different cheese on sale in the UK, a better one could have double that whereas my experience of US was a tiny variety outside of specialist shops. On the other hand with fresh chillis if you are lucky you will find three... red, green and Thai and probably not even that many of different dried chillis whereas US forumites always discuss having access to a wide range of options available.

 

[Morning Glory]

Well, we have enormous choice in UK supermarkets, far more than in many other countries which are more reliant (and self sufficient) in terms of home grown produce. Not only do we have a huge variety of ingredients available, we also have more fresh ready-meals than any other country, I believe (whole aisles of them) which cover all manner of international cuisines.

Are we spoilt for choice? Probably, although I do value the fact I can get hold of almost any ingredient I want, if not from supermarkets then via specialist suppliers (seafood for example), who, because the UK is such a tiny place will arrange next day delivery to your door (or at any rate within a few days).

I also have a stupid amount of store cupboard ingredients such as lentils and other pulses.

You have 10 types of lentils? I don't think I have that many! Are you including things like Mung dal (which is not technically lentils)?

 

[karadekoolaid]

I think it´s great to have plenty of choice, but it needs to be tempered with "ok, when am I going to use this stuff?"
A few years ago, we had serious food shortages in Venezuela, and my wife began stockpiling lentils, peas, beans, etc.
Last year, I had to toss a load of these packets, because they were simply too old to cook. I pressure-cooked a packet of black beans for 40 minutes and they were STILL hard.
When I was recently in the US, I could always find serrano, habanero, jalapeño and banana peppers. Here in London, Sainsbugs has Long red, thai and some other variety. In Mexico City, there are always 2 dozen varieties of chiles available.Depends on where you go.

 

[Morning Glory]

When I was recently in the US, I could always find serrano, habanero, jalapeño and banana peppers. Here in London, Sainsbugs has Long red, thai and some other variety. In Mexico City, there are always 2 dozen varieties of chiles available.Depends on where you go.

Ah - but places like the South Devon Chilli Farm grow masses of varieties and deliver. I think their fresh chillies are only available in season but dried chillies are always available. I haven't counted how many varieties, but there are pages and pages of them. Dried chillies: Our Devon-grown and imported

 

[Sandtree]

You have 10 types of lentils? I don't think I have that many! Are you including things like Mung dal (which is not technically lentils)?

According to Wikipedia the following are true lentils:

Red-cotyledon types:

• Nipper (Australia)
• Northfield (Australia)
• Cobber (Australia)
• Digger (Australia)
• Nugget (Australia)
• Aldinga (Australia)
• Masoor daal (unshelled lentils with a brown seed coat and an orange-red cotyledon)
• Petite crimson (shelled Masoor lentils)
• Red Chief (light tan seed coat and red cotyledon)

Small green/brown-seed coat types:

• Eston Green
• Pardina (Spain)
• Verdina (Spain)

Medium green/brown-seed coat types

• Avondale (USA)
• Matilda (Australia)
• Richlea

Large green/brown-seed coat types:

• Boomer (Australia)
• Brewer's: a large brown lentil which is often considered the "regular" lentil in the United States[5]
• Castellana (Spanish)
• Laird: the commercial standard for large green lentils in western Canada[6]
• Mason
• Merrit
• Mosa (Spain)
• Naslada (Bulgaria)
• Pennell (USA)
• Riveland (USA)

Other types:

• Beluga: black, bead-like, lens-shaped, almost spherical, named for resemblance to beluga caviar.[7] Called Indianhead in Canada.
• Macachiados: big yellow Mexican lentils
• Puy lentils (var. puyensis): Small dark speckled blue-green lentil from France with a Protected Designation of Origin name
• Alb-Leisa three traditional genotypes of lentils native to the Swabian Jura (Alps) in Germany and protected by the producers' association Öko-Erzeugergemeinschaft Alb-Leisa (engl. "Eco-producer association Alb-Leisa")

So there are well over 10 varieties of true lentils but yes, in my count of 10 I was including certain other dried split pulses that Indian's would call dal/daal/dhal

 

[TastyReuben]

I’ll always come down on the side of choice, but I suppose one downside that I can see is that supermarket/warehouse space isn’t infinite, and at some point, to have one thing, they may have to get rid of something else to make room for it.

Even in my lifetime (I’m 55), I’ve seen a lot of change at the local market. Noticeable areas include cheese, and olives, and fruit and veg, along with all the specialty vegan/natural stuff.

When I was a kid, it was American cheese, Swiss cheese, cheddar cheese, Colby cheese, grated Parmesan cheese, and that was it. Period. We didn’t even have things like Monterrey jack cheese, or even mozzarella, and there was no such thing as a cheese shop.

Now, I can go to my local small-town Kroger and get a much, much larger selection of cheeses, even more at ALDI, and if I go to