Food is such a funny thing. Until now, for many, it is a marker of civilization, and also of division into social strata. No, no, and there are people who are sure that "you need to eat according to your status."
I remember that even in my student days I knew a girl whose parents were very fond of boiled sausage. But they never bought it. Her parents turned from ordinary employees into “businessmen” overnight. Quite successfully, for those times, with all the signs of people who have come to success - a change of apartment, "European-style renovation", variegated with "gilding" and "marble", expensive equipment, and - a kitchen in which a tank could be freely park.
A lot of money was thrown into the kitchen, which their daughter proudly told about. Everything, as in the pictures - an island zone, a lot of gadgets incomprehensible and unused by the owners, an oven in which it was impossible to cook (it will deteriorate and get dirty, and she is dear!), and, the king of everything is a huge American refrigerator Side-by-Side.
There was nothing in that refrigerator. Except... "any kind of cheap stuff" No boiled sausage. Only raw smoked and, preferably, imported. Parents tried to buy imported "dumplings", but somehow it didn't work out, they didn't like it. And the domestic one - was it a shame, what if they would be mistaken for beggars?
We found out about it by chance - well, as it happens, student gatherings, drinks, loose tongues and a bashful snack brought with us... Just the same boiled sausage. Which the hostess of the shelter, left for a couple of weeks without formidable ancestors, happily devoured and, behold, shared the details of not only her anguish, but also that of her parents.
It would seem, what is it to remember? These were the times - rapid enrichment and the behavior of the nouveau riche, very contagious. But no.
Until now, one of the colleagues, who has achieved a very noticeable financial success with his own brains, diligently hides his disgust for oysters, but he eats them - he is supposed to. he has money for oysters, not to eat herring!
Looking at him and the oyster, the question always arises - why torture yourself?
And good buddies regularly go broke for delicacies like truffle oil, truffle paste, and more. At the same time, they honestly admit that they do not understand taste, or rather, they do not find anything outstanding in it. Why buy? Well... It's a delicacy!
Another colleague is fighting hard against her aversion to gourmet cheeses. Their smell and mold are markers of inedibility for her. But at home there are only very expensive imported cheeses. Because "well, our cheese cannot be made." At the same time, she does not feel any pleasure from expensive French and English.
- They stink! Maybe someday I'll taste it? - she sighs, at the same time admitting - and everything is bad with wines. She will be recommended all sorts of dear ones, but they do not drink. Well, she doesn't drink. Either they give her the land, or something else that is not very pleasant. She would have drunk sweet nutmeg, so it is impossible - sweet wines are generally a shame to use, they are only for the plebs, who does not understand wines.
And how can I fail to understand the refusal of tasty food, because “it’s a pity to waste time on cheap food” among those who consider themselves beggars, so I cannot understand this... masochism of the “rich”. It is understandable - its roots go back centuries, food has long been a marker of social division ...
However, now, in the twenty-first century, this is ridiculous.
Don’t you?