The Irony of European Peasant Food

[Wetfoot]

I just wanted to say that I think it is B.S. that 'European Peasant Food' is the expensive 'Upscale American Food'. Examples: Ommegang Witte goes for $17 for a growler here. Wit beer is supposed to be the farmers brew from Belgium that they gave to thirsty migrant workers. Its the original free beer! And what about those 'peasant breads' ? Always the most expensive bread in town. You want "artisanal sausage" ? Better have some modern day cash ready. Artisanal brass die semolina pasta on the menu? Its gonna cost more than the other stuff that tastes just the same. Don't look now but companies like Barilla have plants in the USA. Go to a restaurant and they have ravioli or risotto on the menu...you are gonna pay more just because there is a European name involved. Parmesan cheese in the USA can be made in Wisconsin to look good on a menu but taste like nothing.....it goes on and on!

 

[headbanger]

And if that were not bad enough, they have the nerve to make fun of us for being fat.. Effing Europeans!

 

[MalFet]

Being a peasant meant not having factories to mass produce your crap. As a result, you spent ~50% percent of your productive energies securing food (compared to roughly 6% for an average American household today). The problem is not that handmade sausages are expensive. The problem is that mass produced sausages are so cheap that we've become convinced that handmade sausages are expensive.

But, if you prefer the factory stuff, you live in the right country. I'm not sure what the problem is here exactly.

 

[hoppyhoppyhippo]

Being a peasant meant not having factories to mass produce your crap. As a result, you spent ~50% percent of your productive energies securing food (compared to roughly 6% for an average American household today). The problem is not that handmade sausages are expensive. The problem is that mass produced sausages are so cheap that we've become convinced that handmade sausages are expensive.

But, if you prefer the factory stuff, you live in the right country. I'm not sure what the problem is here exactly.

So much win in this post. Almost too much for one thread.

If you want cheaper peasant products, then make it yourself. Making your own Witte is cheaper than buying Ommegangs, making your own hotdogs is cheaper than buying the top brand.

You're either going to not pay for top quality products and get cheap products or pay extra for top products. It's the nature of business.

 

[highgravitybacon]

So much win in this post. Almost too much for one thread.

If you want cheaper peasant products, then make it yourself. Making your own Witte is cheaper than buying Ommegangs, making your own hotdogs is cheaper than buying the top brand.

Hebrew Nationals were on sale at Target the other day. I can't make them for $3. You'd never find a Shochet for that price.

 

[krenshaw]

Ommegang Witte goes for $17 for a growler here.

i think that's a great price for Ommegang from a tap .. one of my favorite breweries!

 

[Xpertskir]

Here's one for you OP.

You call it guts or innards(one of the least expensive/free cuts) and people say "ew gross" You call it offal and put it on a white tablecloth and voila, people will fawn over it and drop big bucks for it.

 

[bobbrews]

This has happened throughout history with food and will continue to happen... Especially in Capitalist countries.

Feijoada began as a Brazilian peasant dish and now it's featured in many fine dining restaurants in the US. It's no secret that the most simple and messy looking foods are often the most flavorful. They just deconstruct it to make it look pretty, yet all of the traditional flavor is still there.

Mexican street food is the same way. Tamales are the perfect example. A street vendor in Guadalajara can serve it to you wrapped in a corn husk and paper bag, or you might see it unwrapped and beautifully presented with cilantro foam in a top NYC restaurant... the same meal with a $20 price difference.

It could be simple as hell, but if you make it look pretty and present it nicely, then you could sort of reasonably charge triple the typical price (assuming it still tastes good). People eat with their eyes first.

Don't even get me started on these bedazzled premium vodka and tequila bottles. It appears that the fancy bottles (sold mainly to target markets like the US and UK) cost more than the stuff inside! In the Mexican hood, they are distributing the same tequilas by name (but often better tequila inside in terms of quality of flavor) with less of a focus on the presentation and pricing. It all balances out in the end!

 

[processhead]

It's a PITA making small lots of of custom foodstuffs. You will pay accordingly.

Some friends and I make 75-100 lbs of sausage each year from the deer we harvest. Yes, its very good but were it not for the comraderie and the home-brew, I question whether it's worth all the work.

 

[krenshaw]

Don't even get me started on these bedazzled premium vodka and tequila bottles.

that reminds me of the pinnacle vodka commercial they have on hulu all the time.. the voiceover actually says this (i'm doing it from memory, but quotes for effect)

"and even though premium has no flavor, you know exactly what it tastes like"

really? they basically just said that their product is exactly the same as everybody else's

 

[bobbrews]

Haha, for vodka it's mostly about the smoothness of how it drinks since it's a relatively neutral spirit often used in combination with other flavor amendments in a cocktail. You don't really drink it for the flavor or the complexity. But yes, I would choose my words carefully when describing if I owned a premium vodka line. A premium tequila that tastes like nothing however would be an utter tragedy.

 

[hoppyhoppyhippo]

Hebrew Nationals were on sale at Target the other day. I can't make them for $3. You'd never find a Shochet for that price.

While Hebrew National are great dogs, they're not the best they're not artisan, they're like the Blue Moon of the beer world. Clearly better than BMC but you wouldn't confuse it with Westy XII