A recent article on Slate titled "The Agony of the Food Snob" was an interesting read, and raises some questions.
The article talks about how the weakening dollar combined with rising transportation and energy costs is driving food prices up everywhere, and this includes gourmet and specialty foods. Maybe last year you were okay paying $34 per pound for Fourme au Sauternes cheese; perhaps today it's difficult for you to justify these costs. Are there any foods or beverages that you insisted on having in the past that are simply not a viable option for you now? Which items will you simply not give up, no matter what? The author of the article refuses to give up cans of Callipo tuna, which cost $8.99 for two cans.
The article also mentions "trading down;" instead of New York Strip, opt for a hanger steak. Or try some of Trader Joe's vodka instead of the organic handcrafted stuff. Maybe American buffala mozzarella instead of Italian. Have you been trading down?
Also, have any of the upscale markets in your area been offering coupons? Whole Foods has long offered coupons, but I've been seeing more coupons lately for them, particularly the $5 off $25 coupon they're offering this week. The Slate article mentions that Balducci's started offering $5-off coupons in the local papers recently.
(Illustration by Mark Alan Stamaty for Slate)
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Wait. Trader Joes does vodka?
If I had to point to one thing it would probably be wine. I'm just not able to afford much wine at all these days and what I buy has got to be under $10. (OK. Also cheese. I just can't afford to buy a $7 to $10 hunk of cheese, regardless of how delicious it is.)
Slate...
Snobs need to learn how to bargain shop. You don't have to buy everything at Whole Foods. But if you didn't, you wouldn't be a snob! Damned if you do, damned if you don't!
Snobs don't use coupons either. They may try to get something for free because they think they're entitled to it but I've never seen them use coupons.
I tend to be from the "trade-down" camp when it comes to food. Many times, the trade-down is better. Someone was just complaining to me because their Thai place switched to dark meat chicken for their satay. I asked why he was complaining.
Hangar steak, flat-iron, skirt steak, these were all trade-downs for chefs until food snobs starting eating them at their restaurants and began demanding them at the market. Not entirely true...the point is, there are tons of bargains if you know how to find them and are willing to do some legwork.
Don't put all your vegetarian, cage free eggs in one basket. And don't eat like you are at a four-star fine dining restaurant everyday because they can't even keep their doors open. That's why the successful 4 star establishments have their own trade-down establishment right next door.
I make my espresso at home so I will not give up good coffee beans. My current fave is Danesi, which doesn't seem to be available in Chicago, so I am getting it online for $29/kilo.
It sounds expensive, but it's still a lot less than a Starbucks habit.
Honestly, I don't buy a lot of "snobbish foods"--not because I don't like them, but because I don't need them. A homecooked meal is luxury enough. ;) But with prices rising for general foods like milk and eggs, it does mean I don't get to randomly stock up on staples I'd normally like to just have on hand--like all sorts of chocolate bars (unsweetened for brownies, bittersweet for ice cream, white chocolate for cookies, etc.). Oh well. At least I always know what's in my cupboard!
@art, I'm a snob and I always use coupons whenever I can, regardless of the global economy. And there are coupons for those fancy eggs, and grass-fed butter, too (both Organic Valley)! I'm a snob about the quality of food, not about where or how I buy it. In fact, getting a great deal just sweetens the experience.
I still buy the same stuff, but consume it in smaller rations. I'll cut a NY strip into 3- or 4-oz portions, though I occasionally have a flatiron steak, instead. It depends on what else I'm having with it. I often use dark meat chicken anyway, because I like it better than white meat with other strongly-flavored ingredients. I think if my non-food-snob friends got a look at my weekly grocery bill, they'd be appalled, but then again, I'm very frugal in every other area. For some reason, Americans think of $100/mo. cell phone plans and sporty cars as must-haves, but when it comes to feeding ourselves, we're on an austerity kick.
The frugal food snobs are all at the Hollywood Farmers Market every Sunday, myself included!
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Good point Julie! The amount this country spends on food proportionate to our income is surprisingly low and I'm always amused at my friends who have iPhones, etc. and the accompanying plans, the premium cable package (or whatever it's called, I just have rabbit ears), and regularly go spending at malls and outlets for "entertainment," and then complain about how expensive it is to buy organic and/or quality food.
I guess I associate snobbery with closed-mindedness. To me, the opposite of a snob would be someone who could appreciate eating like a peasant. Ironically, to eat like a peasant we need to buy organic meat and high quality ingredients! But not necessarily the most refined cuts of meat, the revered vintages or the fanciest of cheeses.
I spent the last couple of months unemployed after a lay-off and I definitely had to trade down on certain items, particularly organic. In my neighborhood the farmers market seems quite a bit more expensive than the supermarket and I had to give up on my six dollar organic farm fresh eggs and pricey locally-made cheese. Haven't bought much fruit or meat either. I've definitely been eating much more simply and cooking a lot more--it was so nice to have all the time in the world to do it!! I also had fun discovering new ways to bargain shop--for example, I'd never noticed before that my local drug store is a great source for certain packaged goods--they have Ak Mak crackers and sardines for cheap, which is one of my favorite feeling-tight-in-the-wallet meals.
I just got a new job and will get my new paycheck in a couple weeks, so I'll go back to buying organic food and more fresh produce soon... but I will also continue to grocery shop at the drug store and watch prices much more carefully than I did in the past!
laetitiae,
They do in California. *shakes fist*
no more raw organic almond butter for me, at $20/jar, i've excepted that it's sort of.... dumb. i can buy organic (but not raw) for about $5. if it was that important i could just soak the damn almonds and make the butter myself in my VitaMix. No more overpriced berries and figs either.
I have to choose between compromising my shoes or food these days, and I will NEVER compromise my shoes.
I just try to make everything at home that I can, and shop in places where I know I can get less expensive organics (Trader Joe's, Stop & Shop even has its own line of generic organics - Nature's Promise -- the line is the same at Giant food stores in the mid-Atlantic region). I'm hoping to start buying bulk soon from a food co-op. Hopefully I can keep my everyday costs down so that I can make a splurge now and then.
Emily
I've traded down from stoli vodka to smirnoff, from $$$ wine to less than $10 a bottle, and not keeping a totally stocked pantry. I just buy ingredients I know I'll be using during the week. Over the summer, I cooked and froze a lot more foods than usual in anticipation of spending more money on holiday stuff, and less on everyday dinners.