As we mentioned in Saturday’s newsletter, we’re curious if your pantry ingredients define your food philosophy. We never buy Heinz ketchup because that’s like going to the dark side of big food. It’s practically in our DNA to avoid big brands. French’s mustard, nope. Artisan mustard from the co-op, yes. Oreo's, nope. Newman-O’s, maybe ;). De Cecco, not if we can help it. What’s in your cupboard and why did you choose it?
Guilty with Best Foods mayo. Does Arm & Hammer baking soda count? How about Italian brands for 00 flour? And regular sugar is a hard one for alternatives.
Imagine how many homes have a box of baking soda in their fridge! I have three different Italian 00's in my pantry, don't know anything about the brands, but I could be buying the De Cecco equivalent ;) Yeah, sugar is tough. Talk about a monopoly.
Taos Bakes Piñon Coffee + DK Chocolate bars (my husband's favorite ready-made ski snack). Yogi ginger tea (because I do like those little fortunes, though I should probably just boil ginger).
Lentil pasta (Can't remember the brand. Husband likes it, and I love the idea, but really can't stand the texture).
Garden of Eatin's Sesame Blues (they're damn delicious)
And finally, I'm with Frankie on the Best Foods mayo.
Interesting tidbit from rural Washington State? There have been three things put on pandemic ration (one per customer) in my local grocery store this winter: toilet paper, flour, and fricken' Best Foods Mayo.
Lentil pasta? I've tried lentil tortilla chips {gag} but don't think I'm brave enough to go as far as the pasta. It must be an appetizing brown color too? Funny about the mayo! Maybe everyone is baking bread (flour) and then making sandwiches (mayo).
Red lentil fettuccine (kinda pretty until cooked). Green lentil lasagna noodles — also interesting to look at before cooked, but then became real mushy.) Sigh. I had such high hopes.
I don't really remember if there were alternate brands when I was a kid? That's back in the day when there were only 10 or so channels on TV too. Then again, maybe there were, and they were all the small locally made products that fell to the wayside as brand allegiance grew? Growing up, we had milk delivered in glass bottles. Potato chips delivered in big cans, etc. The grocery stores were smaller, so there must have been less room on the shelves for a variety of products too. But at some point we had all that brand allegiance too, Jif, Hellmans, Cheerios, etc. and it was a good thing because those products were so delicious. Remember Reese's peanut butter cups? They are a totally different product now and don't even closely resemble the original.
I shop at our local natural foods store and there aren't any name brand products available and I like it that way. Would never buy Oreos although Newmans have declined in quality lately.
We shop at our local markets too, and they are mostly devoid of big brands, which makes it easy to avoid them. Then again, a lot of independent brands are owned by big food conglomerates. Cargill, for example, owns Diamond Kosher Salt, the go-to salt of home cooks everywhere. And Cargill is one of the biggest commodity meat producers in the world (ugh).
I always buy DeCecco pasta because my mom always made spaghetti and meatballs with it. Nostalgia I guess? But I prefer other mustards than French's and I buy natural peanut butters now although I grew up on Skippy, mainly because it's too sweet.
The only time we'll indulge in French's is at a baseball game when we're having a hot dog, because you can't go to a Giants game and not have a hot dog, right? The nostalgia is unavoidable ;)
We buy cornmeal from Capay Mills at the farmers market and it makes a sublime polenta. They have a whole range of whole-grain flours too. And yes, Niman Ranch is widely available here in SF too!
Guilty with Best Foods mayo. Does Arm & Hammer baking soda count? How about Italian brands for 00 flour? And regular sugar is a hard one for alternatives.
Imagine how many homes have a box of baking soda in their fridge! I have three different Italian 00's in my pantry, don't know anything about the brands, but I could be buying the De Cecco equivalent ;) Yeah, sugar is tough. Talk about a monopoly.
I feel absolved
Taos Bakes Piñon Coffee + DK Chocolate bars (my husband's favorite ready-made ski snack). Yogi ginger tea (because I do like those little fortunes, though I should probably just boil ginger).
Lentil pasta (Can't remember the brand. Husband likes it, and I love the idea, but really can't stand the texture).
Garden of Eatin's Sesame Blues (they're damn delicious)
And finally, I'm with Frankie on the Best Foods mayo.
Interesting tidbit from rural Washington State? There have been three things put on pandemic ration (one per customer) in my local grocery store this winter: toilet paper, flour, and fricken' Best Foods Mayo.
Lentil pasta? I've tried lentil tortilla chips {gag} but don't think I'm brave enough to go as far as the pasta. It must be an appetizing brown color too? Funny about the mayo! Maybe everyone is baking bread (flour) and then making sandwiches (mayo).
Red lentil fettuccine (kinda pretty until cooked). Green lentil lasagna noodles — also interesting to look at before cooked, but then became real mushy.) Sigh. I had such high hopes.
I certainly had brand allegiance as a kid, and I can muster nostalgia for Hellman's, Skippy, Cheerios, etc. but I don't buy any of that stuff anymore.
I don't really remember if there were alternate brands when I was a kid? That's back in the day when there were only 10 or so channels on TV too. Then again, maybe there were, and they were all the small locally made products that fell to the wayside as brand allegiance grew? Growing up, we had milk delivered in glass bottles. Potato chips delivered in big cans, etc. The grocery stores were smaller, so there must have been less room on the shelves for a variety of products too. But at some point we had all that brand allegiance too, Jif, Hellmans, Cheerios, etc. and it was a good thing because those products were so delicious. Remember Reese's peanut butter cups? They are a totally different product now and don't even closely resemble the original.
Are they different? I love Reeses, Kit Kats too but never eating them is ok with me. Theo Chocolates makes a great peanut butter cup.
They used to taste like peanut butter and chocolate. Would be hard to describe what they taste like now, the filling is just so weird.
I shop at our local natural foods store and there aren't any name brand products available and I like it that way. Would never buy Oreos although Newmans have declined in quality lately.
We shop at our local markets too, and they are mostly devoid of big brands, which makes it easy to avoid them. Then again, a lot of independent brands are owned by big food conglomerates. Cargill, for example, owns Diamond Kosher Salt, the go-to salt of home cooks everywhere. And Cargill is one of the biggest commodity meat producers in the world (ugh).
Sad about Cargill. Also even fancy sea salts (most of them) contain microplastics. :(
BTW, I buy Colima sea salt, which is not quite as flakey as Diamond Crystal but flakey... and supposedly to be free of plastics.
I have so many salts but mainly use Diamond for pasta water seasoning, big handfuls at a time...
Same... I lean towards Himalayan when not using Diamond.
Wow, did not know that? Is that just from harvesting them and the microplastics are in the ocean water?
Yeah. :(
I always buy DeCecco pasta because my mom always made spaghetti and meatballs with it. Nostalgia I guess? But I prefer other mustards than French's and I buy natural peanut butters now although I grew up on Skippy, mainly because it's too sweet.
The only time we'll indulge in French's is at a baseball game when we're having a hot dog, because you can't go to a Giants game and not have a hot dog, right? The nostalgia is unavoidable ;)
Hayden Flour Mills artisanal flours (bread, pastry, etc.) from Sonoran wheat grown and milled in Arizona. Community Grains pasta, Niman Ranch meats.
We buy cornmeal from Capay Mills at the farmers market and it makes a sublime polenta. They have a whole range of whole-grain flours too. And yes, Niman Ranch is widely available here in SF too!