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Broken Base: Food And Cooking
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Most of this is due to the fact that a lot of dishes has several variants to making said dishes. Especially among different regions, and culture. But people insist that there's only one way to do it. This is especially true if someone adds an ingredient out of left field to a traditional dish.
- Omnivores vs Vegetarians/Vegans
- Pescetarians or vegetarians? Vegetarians vs vegans.
- Five star restaurants vs. mom and pop restaurants and buffets
- In the BBQ community there's a divide over tomato-based BBQ sauce or vinegar-based and Beef Vs. Pork.
- Coal or Propane?
- Coal: Straight charcoal or wood-smoked accented?
- Sauce cooked on or added afterward? Sweet or savory sauce? Spicy or mild? Liquid Smoke: Boon or Blasphemy?
- Or sauce vs dry rub only?
- And of course, there are die-hards who will not burn anything they didn't cut off a tree.
- Purists who insist that barbecue MUST be slow-cooked from an indirect heat source. Technically they're correct, but most people don't have an actual barbecue pit.
- Chili wars make even the BBQ battles look tame. The big one is over whether beans are allowed or not; they lynch people in Texas who prefer beans. Then there's ground meat vs. chopped meat, red vs. green, soupy vs. thick, and how spicy is too spicy?
- Whether vegetarian chilis count or are an unholy abomination depends on the person.
- Stoves: Electric or Gas?
- And if electric, Fan assisted or convection? Ceramic hobs or induction?
- Pizza: New York style or Chicago style?
- The Italian original vs the American "blasphemy"?
- Pizza-Hut vs. Domino's vs. Papa John's
- Thin-crust vs. regular crust vs. deep dish
- Stuffed crust: heretical bastardization of the "pizza" concept, or just a way to make the least-flavorful part tasty?
- Standard toppings like pepperoni, onions, and bell peppers vs. innovations like pineapple, grilled chicken and barbeque sauce. And God help you if you like Greek pizza, because neither the major chains nor local pizzarias will carry it.
- Five Guys vs. In-N-Out vs. Chick-fil-A.
- McDonald's vs. Wendy's vs. Burger King vs..etc..
- KFC vs Church's vs Popeye's vs..etc..
- How to take care of cast iron cookware. Seriously, there's one school that holds you wipe out the residue when you're done cooking in it, and otherwise leave it alone. Soapy water should never touch it, and scrubbies are right out. Another school of thought is "wash it out quickly then heat it and oil it." If something scorches on, light scrubbing is acceptable.
- Coke vs Pepsi, to the point where Coke drinkers screamed "Ruined!" at the top of their lungs in the 80s when a failing Coke changed their formula to make the soda taste more like Pepsi.
- This exists between most similar sodas on a lesser scale: Mountain Dew original vs it's many spinoff flavours (I.E. Code Red), Mountain Dew vs Mellow Yellow, Sprite vs. Squirt, Mr. Pibb vs Dr. Pepper, and countless others.
- After watching a Food Network special, apparently there seems to be a small war going on about hotdog condiments. Either you believe ketchup is a good addition to a hotdog, or an awful condiment used only be people with sub-human tastes.
- With hot dogs there is the controversial NK-17 rule. No ketchup if you are over 17 years of age.
- Regular drip coffee vs. espresso.
- Regular espresso coffee vs. drip.
- What's the correct way to make a Philly Cheese Steak. Mayo or no mayo?, and what type of cheese? (this seems to be the main divider), and what cut of steak?
- There's also the debate between Pat's and Geno's, the two "originators" of the sandwich which do each part of the sandwich differently.
- Coffee has a broken base of people who just prefer a plain old "cup of joe" versus people who like espresso and lattes.
- This has become symbolic of the divide between blue-collar workers versus hipsters and yuppies. Starbucks, the major purveyor of espressos and lattes and the like, is seen as being a dainty establishment frequented by effete hipsters and yuppies, while establishments like Dunkin Donuts that offer a good old "cup of joe" are seen as being more emblematic of working class people.
- Among gourmet coffee drinkers, there's also a broken base of Starbucks fans vs. fans of local coffeehouses.
- Sierra Mist Natural vs Original Sierra Mist.
- Milk chocolate versus dark chocolate. Or whether or not white chocolate should be considered chocolate at all.
- Pumpkin Pie or Sweet Potato Pie?
- Microwave oven or Strictly traditional?
- Preservatives or No preservatives?
- How would you like your steak? You may regret what you answer with.
- The Irish Michelin-starred chef Richard Corrigan (best known in the U.S. for BBC America's "Chef Race: U.S. vs. U.K.") said basically that only the immature take issue with people who prefer their steaks cooked well-done and that he doesn't have an issue with people who come into his restaurants and order their steaks that way. He stated that as a stealth jab against Anthony Bourdain, who's basically said that people who order their steaks "well done" are horrible people who only deserve the absolute worst cuts of meat.
- What to put on hot chips/fries. Often depends on the country you're from. Mayonnaise or tomato sauce/ketchup or barbecue sauce or sweet chilly sauce? To salt or not to salt?
- If you are in Edinburgh, Scotland, then there is only one answer: the rather ill-defined brown concoction Edinburghers call "chippy sauce." Notable for being despised by everyone else in the entire world.
- Does cereal only taste good with hot milk, or is drinking it with anything other than refrigerated milk an abomination against your taste-buds? What about eating them plain?
- Waffles vs Pancakes vs French Toast.
- What's the proper topping for any of them?
- The proper way to make coleslaw, people tend to have their own way of making it.
- Which is better: Lasagna or Baked Ziti?
- Is it called "farmers pie", "shepherds pie", or "cottage pie"?
- I think cottage pie is specifically beef and shepherd's pie mutton, but farmers pie? I'm not sure if that's beef or mutton!
- What's the proper way to cook rice? Is frying it worthy of death, or is boiled rice tasteless? Should it only be eaten plain?
- Pies vs Cobblers
- The name of Luncheon Meat in Australia and New Zealand. It has 6 names.
- Vegemite vs Promite vs Marmite
- Mustard. Sweet or savoury? Wine or vinegar? How much? In Europe, Frenchmen defend Dijon or "French" mustard as the only proper type. The Germans cling like limpets to Bavarian sweet mustard. The British think they are both wusses and go in for spicy English mustard (usually Coleman's). And what will they all agree on? That American mustard is worse than Hitler.
- What constitutes a healthy diet? Low-carb or low-fat?
- Then there are the people who think both above options are terrible and tend to go for other solutions — calorie counting, portion control, the Weight Watchers/Jenny Craig way, the diabetic ("carb counting") diet, etc.
- If you thought that was bad, try starting a discussion of whether a healthy diet can include meat or not...
- Chicken salad: dark meat vs white meat, fruit or no fruit etc..
- The proper way to make banana pudding, some think using instant jello pudding mix is blasphemous.
- There seems to be a recent split about using ketchup at all. Is it too strong of a sauce, overpowering and dominating anything it comes in contact with? Is it genuinely useful as a sauce, improving the flavor of something without getting in the way? Or is it indeed overpowering and aggressive but it tastes so good it doesn't matter?
- Nutella. Original Nutella or no-name imitations? With or without butter underneath? Spoonwise or not? And the most base-breaking question: Is its German article DER Nutella, DIE Nutella or DAS Nutella? (Duden dictionary says all three versions are allowed.)
- Within the candy loving community there's American Smarties
 ◊ vs International Smarties◊. American Smarties, also known as "Rockets", are fruit flavored wafer candies while the version sold elsewhere is more similar to M&Ms. Given that Smarties are known as the chocolate ones almost everywhere the argument tends to be in favor of the international version.
- Miracle Whip vs Mayonnaise. The most common consensus is that you either adore one of the two or you loathe it with a passion.
- The perpetual "last straw" of Deadly Thanksgiving Dinners: "From-Scratch" vs Canned Cranberry Sauce
- Other Thanksgiving battles: Should the turkey be roasted, smoked, or fried? Lumpy or smooth mashed potatoes? How moist/dry should the dressing/stuffing be?
- There's also the argument over whether the dressing/stuffing should be stuffed inside the turkey and cooked that way or cooked by itself in a casserole dish. Or (as some recipes call for) should the dressing be made entirely on the stove? And then there are the people who prefer a bread-based dressing/stuffing and those people who were raised on cornbread dressing/stuffing, who gag at the thought of dressing/stuffing being made with regular old bread.
- Should the person who cooked also have to do the dishes?
- For vegetarians, Quorn or Tofu?
- Some people were raised with eating meatloaf made entirely with ground beef and can't fathom the idea of it being made with any other type of meat. Then there are the people who were raised with eating meatloaf made with a combination of meats and think the idea of a meatloaf made just with ground beef is unappetizing.
- Also, what filler to use? Bread crumbs, oatmeal, corn flakes, or crackers? Even within the cracker contingent, the debate rages between saltines and Ritz.
- Tomato paste, tomato sauce, or ketchup?
- Butter vs. margarine is a common source of contention, especially since a sizable part of the population was raised back when butter was considered verboten and will thus only ever know about margarine.
- Should hot chocolate be made with water or milk?
- Not to mention the questions of exact recipe: Vanilla? Dash of salt? Cream? Chocolate powder or chocolate syrup? Depending on where you're from, even sugar may be an issue.
- Among beer drinkers in the U.S, major breweries vs. craft breweries. Like the "cup of joe" vs. espresso example mentioned above, this one divides along class lines, with the former associated with the working class, and the latter associated with yuppies and hipsters.
- Lately this has started to invert, as microbrews become more prevalent and cheaper at the same time hipsters profess a love for PBR and other major brews.
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