Food Snobbery

Before Rachael Ray became screechy, catch phrased laden and HUGELY overly exposed, I watched 30 Minute Meals with great frequency. I could *tolerate* EVOO. But once she started with the Yummo! Delish! and saying "a wink and a nudge" I gave up. Television watching should be joyful; not akin to fingernails on a chalkboard.
However, I remember her once saying that she felt sorry for food snobs because they'll never know the greatness of the tater tot.

Screechy delivery or not, there is so much truth to that statement.
I heart tater tots.
Who doesn't love the overly processed french fry reject parts mixed together with unpronounceable binders, shaped into a little cylinder form and then fried?

Considering their less than stellar nutritionals, we eat them rather infrequently. Yet, when tater tots do make an appearance on the dinner table, they bring joy to my life in a way that I'm not sure I can explain with words.

Wednesday at Caroline's school is potato "smiles" day.
Same stuff, different shape.
The aroma of potato smiles wafting through the hallways upon my entrance into the school for our Wednesday lunch date is smile inducing. Immediately whittling my cares away, their aroma sums up my feelings on elementary school: fun and comforting.
Even though I almost never bought lunch at school, catching a whiff of those tater smiles quickly brings back all kinds of lunch room memories from my younger years.
Makes me happy. And hungry.
Strangely craving an It's-It ice cream sandwich that my elementary school sold at lunch time.
Clearly, I'm not a food snob.

As much as I love to cook and bake, I'll never be a "foodie." A good meal to me doesn't mean stuffy four star restaurants. Foo-foo artistic food. Big plates with little portions.
I consider my palate to be somewhat adventurous, but there are a few foods I'd rather not eat. Raw oysters. Foie gras. Beef carpaccio. Squid Ink Pasta. Eel. Sweetbreads.

I tried to like goat cheese, but I couldn't make it work. We weren't made for each other.
The same thing goes for wine.
And sushi.
Raw foods don't mesh well with the germ freak in me.

On the flip side, there are a few "low brow" foods that I can't bring myself to eat either. Cheese in an aerosol can. Carl Buddig lunch "meat". Canned beef-a-roni. Canned stew. Canned corned beef hash. Spam. Those little cans of deviled ham. Vienna sausages. Potted meat. (what exactly IS potted meat?)
Maybe I'm more of a food snob than I thought!

Quick side note: When Craig and I were newly married we shared an apartment with one of his fellow soldiers and his wife and kids. Now THAT was one heck of an experience. And thankfully a very short one. They were from Mississippi and the wife fed her little girl Vienna sausages. Only she called them "vy-eeena sausages."
Come to find out, that's how Georgians pronounce their state's town of Vienna

That lengthy intro has FINALLY lead me to my thoughts on Velveeta, which sparked this whole post idea in the first place.

I've been bothered recently by a Kraft ad campaign that is encouraging people to buy Velveeta because it's more economical than real cheese. They claim the package size has not changed, therefore it's still as economical as ever.

This bothers me so very much.

Kraft also markets real cheese so I'm not really following their logic. Maybe they should lower the price of their natural cheese products instead of pushing the less healthy option. But then again, it's not their job to tell us how to eat. We need to make those choices for ourselves. But still, if they chose to lower their cheese prices I wouldn't complain. Craig and Caroline eat their respective weights in cheese on a regular basis.

I received the latest issue of Kraft Food and Family magazine. Given the nation's current economic distress, it's quite natural that their emphasis for this issue was on cheap eats. I'm all for getting the most for your money, but just because Velveeta is cheaper doesn't mean that it can/should replace real cheese.

I'll admit that Velveeta has it's place.

If you're making a nacho dip. Or, maybe macaroni and cheese.

Velveeta lasagna? Um, no.

Velveeta on enchiladas? Ew, no.

Velveeta shredded on salad? Holy Heck, no.

I think I'll spend a few extra cents and get the real stuff.

Anyway, I prefer my processed cheese in the form of Cheetos.