Food and Food Culture

I tried looking into Quorn, but sadly they don't sell it in my area. Their stuff looks pretty tasty too, so that sucks.

Is Morningstar any good? Once I cut out chicken in a week or so I'd like to give it a shot.

Question: Are you looking for alternative meat or just "protein"?

Because if it is the latter, then "quark" is pretty tasty and full of proteins (it has to be the neutral kind though, without taste added in, and you need to get berries separately if you want it in, for added taste-effect alongside a health-boost)

If it is the former, then green peas always an option for protein and fibers...

Alternate meat, yes. I've got a good grasp of non-meat foods high in protein, I just want to make sure I'm not getting alternative meat products that are pure crap.

Also, I'm a filthy 'Murican so quark's pretty hard to come by. Closest we've got is cottage cheese, and even then it's not really the same as quark.

I totally agree with that. (Tried out both cottage cheese, protein-cottage cheese, greek yoghurt as it is and quark.)

Cottage cheese is just too...compact, for my taste. (and the protein-cottage cheese is basically less fat and more protein in it, allowing it to be more fluid and cheewy at the same time.)

I say that when it comes to alternatives to meat, the purer = the better, as some "alternate meats" tend to have too much artificial stuff in them to make up for the real meat.

And if you want to have fun while looking for them, take your time while in the store and read the contents on foods you look at, and even foods you wouldn't look at usually. Who knows, you may discover something new.

If you're one for it you can squeeze the liquid out of cottage cheese and make paneer/farmers' cheese.

If you can't find Quorn or Impossible nearby, you might want to give the nearest Asian supermarket a lookie. They normally stock some variety of imitation meats, whether soy, wheat or mushroom-based.

Today I made: kimchi plov. We had too much kimchi left in the fridge and I didn't feel like chucking a whole carrot in there, so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

That looks good!

So I am trying to be adventurous when it comes to egg since I only eat omelettes, fritatas, and hard boiled eggs. But my range will probably be limited as I can't stand egg yolk unless it's completely cooked or soft eggs on textual level even if the dish looks good. Not sure how I can try those things without feeling sick.

Thanks thanks! I might've thrown in too much onion and not enough paprika on my first pass.

Hmm, I prefer my eggs half-boiled and scrambled fluffy myself. The simplest thing I could think of is huevos rancheros, which at its barest minimum is basically just a fried egg on tortilla, plus some beans and salsa on top. You can look up some Japanese omurice recipes if you don't mind making the omelette a sideshow to a whole rice dish.

I saw a reference to this in the General US Politics thread, but it wouldn't be right to derail that to go on about this - what are people's opinions about pizza and ... cutlery?

I personally prefer eating pizza with a knife and fork, not least because I just like to have clean hands and eat it in a way that doesn't spread cheese and tomato sauce all over my beard. And the Italians themselves seem to be ok with doing it either way too, so I feel some justification

I usually eat pizza with my hands unless there is something like whole salami slices on it which need to be cut first.

When I used to eat pizza, I folded it in half and ate it with my hands.

It depends, if I am at home and it's a thicker crust then I usually eat it with my hands. I use a knife and fork if it is a thinner crust or I am in a restaurant.

Exactly.

How I eat pizza depends on what kind of pizza I have in front of me.

If it's a crispy base that a pizza slivers would crunch to bits, (or fail to get through) a plate and cutlery comes out. If it's a calzone covered with trimmings on top as well as within, same deal. If it's a deep pan that oozes over the edge just by looking at it, I'm not about to have to clean the floor and furniture after trying to eat it with me hands, thank you very much.

But, if it slices into wedges like a dream or folds easy peasey with no muss, fuss or drips? Hands.

Edited by Euodiachloris on Feb 17th 2020 at 9:18:42 AM

Knowing the thread this spun off from, I assume that the original discussion involved Chicago deep dish somehow?

What kind of pizza?

Bought, frozen or homemade?

If it is bought, (which happens once every second year...) I just use cutlery to slice it up and then eat the slices by hand.

If it is frozen, I don't bother cutting it up.

If it is home-made, I just cut it up with a slicer and eat it with hands, piece by piece (the bottom gets surprisingly thick for some reason...)

And in regards to the "pizza-salad" to it, that will always be eaten with a small fork. (and will always be homemade, as it is both easier and healthier that way to make. I eat it every day as a vegetable, really)

So I ask again...

...What kind of pizza are we talking about?

You people disgust me, eating pizza with a knife and fork!

I mean, it has an outer crust practically designed as a handle! It’s almost as bad as eating a burger with a knife and fork like my brother.

Also, on the topic of pizza, you cannot call it pizza unless it has the holy trinity: tomato sauce, mozzarella cheese, and flat bread. If it’s missing any of those ingredients or, so help me, replaces any of those ingredients those ingredients than it is NOT pizza. And no, I don’t care what California OR Italy has to say about it.

The only pastry with a proper handle is a pasty.

And, even many of those I'll get a plate out for: giant pasties get tough to juggle at a certain point. Especially large, double-ended pasties (two kinds of filling in separate chambers, but within a single pasty).

White sauce may disqualify it from meeting the dictionary definition, but it’s still a product I’ll happily choose over one with tomato sauce.

Pizza bianca with spinach, morels, oyster mushrooms and Fontina is very hard to beat, though.

Fontina doesn't like tomatoes at all much.

(Italy and Switzerland have more kinds of gorgeously melty cheese to put on bread than just mozzarella — and, the delicate melties don't do too well with acidic sauces. And I, for one, prefer pizza bianca to <shudders> defiling fondue with <goes green> cream, milk and too much corn starch. Wine, kirsch and garlic, baby — if it can't handle it, don't fondue it outside of a basket.)

Edited by Euodiachloris on Feb 17th 2020 at 10:23:12 AM

Which reminds me of the one and only bad pizza I ever had in Italy(as in I had multiple and only this one was bad).

It was some kind of pizza where they reversed the cheese with the tomato sauce, so a few tomato slices on a bed of cheese. It was just too greasy...

Edit:Found a link the other pizza I had there on a different day was very good though so I don't mean to bash the locale, on the contrary.

Edited by Kiefen on Feb 18th 2020 at 9:26:19 PM

Whenever I get pizza I always get the thickest, fluffiest crust possible. I hate thin crust pizza so, so much and I legit have no damn clue why.

For me it depends on the crust. Thick crust has to be really good for me to enjoy it—crispy and golden on the outside, but fluffy and soft inside—and it's far easier to mess that up than thin crust.

As for eating it, I definitely prefer eating my pizza with utensils, because I like keeping my hands clean, much like how I deconstruct my burgers and eat them with a knife and fork.

I've never had pizza with utensils.

If I wanted to eat pizza with utensils, I'd just get a calzone instead.

I sometimes do this - in extremely messy situations however. Otherwise, I might cut the burger in half first if it's too big.