A gourmet.com reader, hjulius, questioned how much of a foodie I might truly be if I love Swiss Miss so much. And hjulius isn't wrong in using the term "industrial dirt"; Swiss Miss is watery and tasteless compared with many great (and widely available) hot cocoas. But still: I love it. And I love marshmallow Peeps, too, maybe more than the Swiss Lady. These are such deep-rooted vices that I don't even pause when I confess them. But does this make me a less of a top-shelf foodie? The first time I met Bret Thorn, writer for Nation's Restaurant News, he admitted within the first five minutes that he could never say no to a Twinkie and would never say yes to a fresh tomato, even a perfectly ripe, sun-kissed, fresh tomato. He hates them. Remembering this made me feel a little better, but I needed to make sure. So I surveyed a portion of the foodie landscape. Click through to see the results:
Jennifer Leuzzi, food blogger, writer, and all-around foodie vixen confesses to "Cheetos, Doritos, Chex Munchie Mix." She also brings Ruffles and French onion dip to parties. According to her, "No one ever says no." Sara Moulton, Gourmet's executive chef, cookbook author, and TV personality: peanut M&M's. Gourmet editor in chief Ruth Reichl: onion rings. Roberto Santibanez, culinary director, Rosa Mexicano Restaurants: greasy roadside-stand burgers and dogs. Gourmet executive editor John Willoughby: circus peanuts. Antonio Cardozo, executive chef at NYC's Gin Lane: gummy bears. Finally, Francis Lam, food writer extraordinaire, sent me no fewer than seven e-mails on the subject and tied everything together when he wrote, "I don't really have any 'guilty' pleasures—if I like to eat it, I'm generally comfortable with liking to eat it." Then Francis said what I had been thinking the whole time. His guilt doesn't stem from things like Shamrock Shakes and Doritos. Instead, he says, "Like 98 percent of the meat I eat is conventional industrial pork/beef/bird. That kind of makes me feel cheap."
Any musician worth his salt will listen to genres from classical to bubblegum pop, just as every lover of food will try everything once. Sometimes the cheap stuff satisfies. I'm okay with loving Swiss Miss and Peeps, not simply because they're great but because I also love grass-fed organic beef, self-foraged wild mushrooms, and single-farm honey.
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