Let's take the snobbery out of eating.

I'm still waiting for KFC Hong Kong to introduce the Double Down sandwich. Two thick, deep-fried pieces of white chicken meat sandwiching two pieces of bacon and some Monterey jack and pepper jack cheese is exactly the kind of thing I would eat if I wanted a quick bite when shopping.

Predictably KFC's undeniably salty and calorific item was launched to a storm of controversy in the United States. (Whether the salt and fat is actually harmful must be the subject of another column.) While much of the outrage centered on the minimum 480 calorie count and maximum 1760 mg of sodium, much of the blogging was an anguished wail that basically translated as "Who would eat such a thing?".

The implication is that you or I would not but some inferior, less well-educated types would. Let's not kid ourselves that it wouldn't provoke the same reaction here.

That, my friends, is snobbery pure and simple.

Steaking Your Reputation

I mention it because it is possible to walk into a restaurant in Hong Kong and order meat that is up to half fat and gain nothing but kudos from your gourmet acquaintances.

On the surface eating a 12 oz Wagyu steak does not feel like eating a muscle coated in most of a packet of butter. It could not be more different from snacking at the Colonel's but your body doesn't appreciate the ambience and the service. Your body is just taking in food it breaks down into useful chemicals or waste products. Objectively to your body, food is food.

So we come again to the subjective difference of who is eating this food and why they attract no opprobrium. Would that be because they are well-off?

I'm not attacking restaurants or the customers here. They are free to serve what they want and their customers free to eat it or not. What irks me is that one type of restaurant and its customers are seen as disgusting and the other not. Hong Kong has many fine steakhouses and they do what they say on the tin.

Can We Stop It?

Talking of tins, one of the most memorable outbreaks of food snobbery in recent years was a reaction to Delia Smith, patron saint of plain English cooking (is there any other sort?). Her book of ‘cheat' recipes, aimed at busy people cooking basic suppers on a weekday night using ingredients that could be found on a quick whizz round the supermarket caused spluttered howls of outrage from the British press. The one item that provoked it most of all was tinned mince beef. I have never tried this and can't particularly see the advantage unless there is a substantial price difference with what the supermarket tells you is fresh mince or the beef in the tin is already seasoned.

But the many objections from the dainty palates of the London press were to the tin itself. What else comes in tins?  Baked beans, canned fruit, canned vegetables, some ready-made meals and other food that wise people like us would never eat.

I have never heard any of these people object to the tin that contained their premium, Italian plum tomatoes or their caviar.

And that, my friends, is snobbery.

Image credit: image 1 by Michael Saechang.