Quality vs quantity

[almostwitty]

Borough Market

Originally uploaded by jo_evs

I ended up popping down to Borough Food Market (with ex-flatmate @ifenn), which has got to be a top spot for any foodie-loving people in Londoners. It was packed full of stalls selling top quality food at relatively high prices. There were stalls of seafood, eggs, coffee, muffins, granola - and there was even one stall dedicated to seasalt.

Yet, as I sniffed and tasted some of the various little delicacies that came out (for some bizarre reason, I didn’t have much of an appetite after eating a fishfinger buttie and chips - rookie mistake), I kept wondering whether the food was actually worth the price they were asking.

Sure, it tastes nice - but then so does the 2-for-1 Brie I just bought from Tesco’s. Sure, it’s better for the environment, but economically speaking, is a venison burger worth the extra £2 they’re asking?

And really, is there any difference? I’ve been suspicious for a while that my taste buds are slowly dying off, and I’m reasonably sure if anyone subjected me to a blind taste test between, say, Tesco’s Value Burger and a £10 Gourmet Burger Kitchen burger cooked the same way, I’m not 100% sure I could tell the difference.

Is there any way of improving or testing your taste buds?

Originally published at almost witty. You can comment here or there.

Comments

[actionreplay.livejournal.com]

This is something that bothers me about food in the UK. In France (I've lived there, so using it as an example), food is available in street markets in every town at quite low prices. Sometimes even cheaper than in the supermarket. Buying one's food at markets is also a normal French thing to do, not limited to the yuppie classes.

Here, liking one's food is seen as somewhat of an affectation, much in the same way as being into wine, something, again, that in France is about as upmarket as knowing your beers.

Yes, these markets all over the UK are massively overpriced as we have been conditioned to overpay for good quality food and get slop otherwise.

[hellmutt.livejournal.com]

I've wondered the same, because I suspect my sense of taste is pretty dull. (Which would be more understandable if I'd ever smoked or anything!) Never been a sophisticate myself, before or after turning veggie.