Recently, I’ve become aware that there are a lot of products in the grocery stores that sound fabulous, but that simply don’t live up to their descriptions.
I know the manufacturer’s probably employ a host of staff to develop pictures and written scripts on boxes to entice the customer to purchase something. Maybe I’m such a terrible cook, I’m unable to get the mung bean pasta to look anything like the fluffy, delicious picture. It simply looks like a pile of fox dung. In fact, the fox dung in our woods looks a tad more appetizing.
Perhaps my mistake is in thinking that anything that is primarily made from mung bean would be tasty, appetizing, or just plain good. It’s many things, but “pasta”? It is not.
Alternative to standard pastas have become prevalent in the past few years. Folks are on keto and paleo diets which make eating white flour (and may I add delicious) pasta products a big no-no. So we look for “alternative” pastas. In our household, we have tried the horrible mung bean pasta. Just don’t do that. We’ve also tried lentil, chickpea, black bean, and a rather mysterious “plant-based” pasta. I say mysterious because it’s not clear exactly what plant or plants this “pasta” is based on.
All of these serve as a vehicle for meatballs and sauce that are edible. None of them heat up well. What I mean by that is, they are terrible heated up. Nothing like good old baked spaghetti should be.
These products have “pasta” written in big, bold letters on the boxes. The actual plant from which they are made is much smaller. The pictures look like normal noodles. The actual cooked product, not so much. And the textures are typically like rubber bands.
These products, I confess, have not been recommended to me by any of my friends or relatives. Unlike our trip to New Orleans, before which every person I knew told us we had to – HAD TO – get coffee at Café Du Monde. They suggested this because everyone I know realizes that coffee is my absolute favorite beverage. So we went there and had coffee and beignets. The beignets were the best pastry I’ve ever put in my mouth! The coffee was the worst. I had to surreptitiously find a trash can and remove it from my presence. To be fair, it had hints of coffee – very bitter coffee – with overriding notes of used car oil.
We’ve had other experiences with much-touted food that has left us bewildered. Years ago, friends took us for an hour-long drive to go to a restaurant so that we could get “the best Salisbury steak you’ve ever had.” While the meal did include some type of ground meat (steak would be a stretch), it was difficult to cut, harder to chew, and tasted a little bit like the bottom of a shoe. It was a long ride home, bouncing through the country with an upset stomach.
This spring, we visited a winery and purchased a product the staff assured us “tastes like a Dreamsicle.” Shades of my youth! We opened it last night and there is definitely a strong orange flavor. It mostly tasted like Dayquill. I tried mixing it with some orange-flavored water, but that just made it taste like Tang. It made a lovely coral stain on our sink as we poured it out.
Food products are just not living up to the hype. I think I’ll stick with bacon and eggs, cinnamon toast, and my mom’s recipes.
bacon and eggs are a staple for me – spaghetti – thin style with meat sauce is great- and then the leftovers are great too! – I think the expensive coffees are horrible – Tim Hortons has some good stuff or even Dunkin Donuts is not bad – but buy a good flavor brand and make it at home and take it with ya!!