Broken Base/Real Life/Food and Cooking

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.

"Toh-may-toh? Toh-mah-toh? Let's call the whole thing off."

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?
  • 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?
  • 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 FOREVER at the top of their lungs in the 80s when a failing Coke changed their formula to make the soda taste more like Pepsi.
  • 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.
  • Coffee vs. Tea.
  • Regular drip coffee vs. espresso.
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • 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?
  • 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
  • What constitutes a healthy diet? Low-carb or low-fat?
  • 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?
  • Should the person who cooked also have to do the dishes?
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