My sister calls me a food snob, but I swear it’s not true. I am not above eating down-to-earth meals like meatloaf or fried chicken, and although I prefer to make my own pie crusts, salad dressings, pasta sauce, soups and more, I’m no stranger to ready-made products.
The simple truth is this: when you change what you eat, you change what you like. And over the years, some of the foods that use to make my eyes roll back into my head with pleasure now hold no appeal. That includes my sister’s sugar bomb of a chocolate cake!
This metamorphosis didn’t happen overnight and, if I remember right, my path to becoming what some might consider a food snob most decidedly involved a learning curve. But the more I experimented with healthier ingredients and different cooking techniques, the more my taste buds evolved. Below are a few of the foods I used to love but these days, I’d rather live without them.
Processed Cheese
Real cheese — the kind made with milk, salt, enzymes and patience — tastes so much better than the processed stuff that it’s hard to even compare. Those neatly wrapped single slices are super convenient, and sure, that big block of processed cheese food does create an easy party dip, but I’ll take flavor over convenience any time.
Sometimes you have to fork over a little moolah for better quality ingredients, but once you eat real cheese, you’ll never go back to the rubbery, salty and neon yellow stuff.
Pan Pizza
I’ll probably lose all of the Chicagoans on this one, but pan pizza lost my admiration long ago. I love pizza, but I’m much more interested in the toppings than the crust. Load a thin, crisp crust up with protein, veggies and real cheese and you’ve created one healthy meal.
White Chocolate
There was a time in my life when I thought white chocolate was the bee’s knees, but now my hierarchy of chocolate has completely reversed itself and the white stuff comes in dead last. It’s too dang sweet.
My choice of chocolate these days is dark and contains at least 70 percent cocoa. Besides, white chocolate isn’t even made with cocoa, so you get none of the good stuff like antioxidant flavonoids and trytophan.
Fast Food
I don’t need to be hit over the head with a ton of salt, grease or sugar for food to taste good, and I no longer consider fast food a treat. A true indulgence for me is a homemade cobbler made with loads of juicy fruit or fresh hand-rolled pasta smothered in Bolognese sauce. Or, if I’m being honest, a bag of Fritos (yep, Fritos, I love that corny crunch). If that makes me a food snob, well then, so be it!
Sorry, sis, I’ll take a pass on the cake, but I still love your tabouleh salad. And you, too!
Are there foods you no longer like? Or maybe things you use more sparingly these days? —Karen
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