I’ll chime in with water.
There’s so many different flavors of water. Just trying tap water in random places is such a different experience. Although I only specifically remember the worst. What the fuck was that bitter thing in Budapest.
As for mineral waters, I definitely go for Budiš in a glass bottle, chilled.Amsterdam had the best tap water I’ve tasted of the places I’ve been.
yeah, I live in a town with really clean fresh tap water (the water taste won some award in 2016) and so whenever I go anywhere else, especially inland, I cannot stand the taste of the water. I’ll drink it, but it isn’t an enjoyable experience in most places other than where I live.
Any kind of sandwich, burger, taco, hotdog, etc. that is too overstuffed to pick up and eat pisses me off. If its open face or whatever and you’re eating it with a fork that’s fine but if its not then I need to actually be able to eat it without food going everywhere when I pick it up. Giant burgers you can’t pick up or fit in your mouth are especially stupid and I hate them.
Or ones with so much condiments, that everything slides around as you handle/bite it.
Pizza. I came to realize when I first started traveling that being from Connecticut and having easy access to extremely good New Haven, Greek, and New York style pizza is a luxury. It’s my favorite food. Whenever I travel, I make sure to try the area’s so-called “best” pizza for at least one of my meals. It is seriously pathetic what some regions consider good pizza.
Agreed. Truly nailing a specific style of pizza can be tricky, but overall it’s not hard to make really good pizza. It seems like so many places just don’t even try. Dishonorable mention to Texas, who otherwise produces really good food.
You should come to Norway and try Grandiosa!
Burgers, sandwiches, kebaps, etc. Stay away with your stupid sauces. I want to taste the ingredients, not the sauce. No, not even your super fancy handmade burger sauce. The stupid thing about sauces is that you can’t even take them off when you don’t like them. They’re sticky and smooth and get everywhere.
Give me this person’s sauce.
I want more sauce, I hate how dry these usually are. As much as it fits. Inject that thing into the buns.
You would like tortas ahogadas --> drowned sandwiches
I don’t like sauces…
Lobster, scallops and squid need to be cooked just right otherwise they tend to be rubbery.
Coleslaw. Mayonnaise has no business here, vinegar slaw or nothing.
agreed.
Bagels. They MUST be toasted and topped with butter ONLY. It’s not that I don’t like cream cheese, it’s that I vastly prefer the taste of butter.
Of course, this all gets thrown out the window if we’re talking about some kind of bagel sandwich. Then whatever I like gets thrown on that thing, and toasting is optional.
It is hard to be overly picky about bagels unless you live in Manhattan. Crossing over to Jersey City immediately drops the quality. Venturing futher is just asking for trouble. I will happily eat the things that pass for bagels in the rest of the U.S., but one trip to the big city set the mark so high that I don’t try to for perfection elsewhere. The lowest mark I’ve sampled was set in Montreal where I thought a onion bagel bought straight from the bakery would be be lovely… but instead was a crumbly, bready disaster. Obviously the Québécois have different expectations of bagels than do New Yorkers.
I’m the opposite. Bagels shouldn’t be toasted and definitely not used for a sandwich. Even breakfast sandwiches. Cream cheese or butter, maybe some lox, but an egg and cheese should go on a roll or the severely underrated English muffin. Gets in the way of a good bagel
Sushi/nigiri.
I do not screw around with low quality or bad meats, especially fish meat. I had enough fresh fish when I lived in Japan to know what it’s supposed to look and smell like, and if the nigiri I’m served smells any bit off I’m simply not eating it.
If your fish smells like fish, it’s gone bad. Most types of fish if properly preserved should smell somewhat like clean seawater, with some variation by species
Edit: Also, if the rice looks dry or doesn’t adhere properly, I assume the kitchen has no idea what they’re doing and won’t eat it
I have unreasonable high standards for Mexican foods and their derivatives (TexMex, CaliMex, Burritos de Gringos, Jalisco, etc.)
Tomatoes for me, always trying to buy the more expensive/on the vine tomatoes to get more flavour, the basic ones are just too watery and flavourless for me.
cheesecake. PLAIN CHEESECAKE ONLY. absolutely no bullshit on or in my cheesecake.
I’m lactose intolerant now too so if I’m gonna eat cheesecake it better be world class lol
What type of cheesecake? NY (dense), Philadelphia (lighter), Japanese (hyper fluffy), or one of the Ricotta variations (possibly more authentic?)? There’s a bunch of others that are less common outside their native countries, but these styles are at several places within an hour’s drive, so I’m counting this list as the most common.
never really thought about the regional types because all the best cheesecakes I’ve had have been home baked by someone (lucky me!) they’re probably the dense NY style based on the descriptions
i did try fluffy Japanese cheesecake and did enjoy it but as like, its own thing. it should have its own name cuz it’s basically its own dessert
ricotta style probably slaps. gotta try that
these styles are at several places within an hour’s drive
hi fellow mid-Atlantic northeasterner lol
Somewhere between NY and Philly
I shouldn’t even have to say this, but graham cracker crust is an iron clad requirement. I bet a lot of you out there are reading this and thinking “well DUH”. I envy you.
I had a “cheesecake” that some idiot made in an ordinary pastry pie crust. Not enjoyable.
oh god. i have also suffered the first world horror that is a pie crust cheesecake. never again
This pumpkin cheesecake recipe uses gingersnaps instead of graham crackers… it might change your mind about acceptable crusts, but it isn’t in the ‘plain cheesecake’ category because: pumpkin!
I’d definitely try that!
Coffee. I’m not a regular consumer as I don’t find many modes that cater to my snobbery.
I only like the Italian, one sip ristretto. Very well made, thick and nutty. Unfortunately outside of Italy this is incredibly hard to come by.
So I basically never drink coffee. Without an expensive machine in not able to make it at home (I tried all ristretto options for Nespresso, but they don’t cut it).
There’s only a couple of coffee bars that I trust to serve me good coffee… It’s infuriating as coffee culture is global, yet there’s almost nowhere where my taste buds are satisfied.
You may like moka pot coffee. I’m a real coffee nut, been roasting my own for over a decade now. It’s a real rabbit hole, and something you could almost certainly get into if you’d like, but only really worth it if you’re looking for a new hobby. If you’re not, probably best to keep it as a nice occasional treat.
I’ve tried moka pot coffee, but it’s too acrid for me and lacks the leopard print crema layer from a good expresso (or I’m not good at it).
I’ve done barista courses and found out that what I like takes a expensive piston espresso maker and an intricately calibrated grinder.
And that’s cool, I’m content to be a snob until I win the lottery (which is very unlikely as I don’t play) luckily I’m not very dependent on caffeine intake.
I’m just a bit miffed that what I can get on every street corner in Italy is so rare where I live.
Understandable, moka pot coffee isn’t my favorite, just thought it might be a serviceable budget friendly option. I’ve had decent cups out of mine by preheating the water before putting it in the bottom and putting an aeropress filter on top of the bed of coffee grounds.
Those piston machines are insane and the grinders are even more expensive. It may just be a thing that’s best kept as a nice treat when you’re in Italy then.
Yeah that’s exactly how I approach it. I’ll keep on trying stuff to see if it works for me (Croatia does coffee quite decently, I think the proximity to Italy has effect).
But I’m not too disappointed, like I said I’m not an habitual caffeine consumer.
But it’s good to explore the extent of my snobbery, how rare it is to have a cup that really satisfies me is quite important to realize.
Thanks for the suggestions! It’s great that you took the time to think along with me. I’ll raise my glass of sparkling water to you! (my own habitual daily drink I have trouble doing without)
I see this from two different perspectives:
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There are some ingredients I just don’t like the taste of. But, in some recipes and if prepared properly, I’m fine with them. Green beans are an example. I don’t like them. But creamy green bean casseroles are fine and vegetable soup with green beans is totally acceptable.
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Then there are things like desserts that I’m picky about because if I’m going to screw up my metabolism and caloric intake for the day, it better damn well be worth it. I’m not going to waste my time on a substandard sugar and/or fat filled treat. I’m going to skip on that dry cake, jello salad, faux ice cream, fake chocolate sludge, etc.
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American BBQ. There’re a lot of regional flavors and differences but most of them are bad in my opinion. Memphis dry rubs and Kansas City molasses sauces are my 2 favorites
Carbonara.
I’ve been served this dish with peas, with onions and with cream.
I can forgive the bacon if it’s really good bacon, as guanciale/pancetta can be hard to get here, but for gods sake don’t ruin it with anything else.I rarely order it when out because so many places just serve a generic dish with bacon and ham without mentioning it, and I am not being the snob that asks what they use.
ala zozzona is infinitely better IMO.
No more carbonara for me.
