I’ve stuck with New York City despite the ongoing increase in violent crime and the exorbitant cost of living, but the insufferable center-of-the-universe mentality that certain residents have about food might push me over the edge.
On Thursday, the website Food Insider posted a tone-deaf video on Twitter that left a very bad taste in my mouth.
Two intrepid Insider staffers, Nick Fernandez and Irene Kim, braved a 44-mile road trip to Mount Arlington, NJ, to munch on four dishes from Cracker Barrel, a 665-location chain restaurant that operates in 45 states — many of which are far from New York City’s hoity-toity food scene. What’s framed as “Millennials” trying the chain for the first time ultimately comes across as a classist display of city folk spitting on the food — not to mention the restaurant — that many rural and suburban Americans consider delicious and even a fun splurge for special occasions.
There’s nothing wrong with culinary preferences different from your own. What’s wrong is when you look down on them.
In the video, Fernandez and Kim eat at Cracker Barrel and try the most popular dishes: Chicken ‘n’ Dumplins, Country Fried Steak, the Loaded Hashbrown Casserole and the Macaroni ‘n’ Cheese. Back at the Insider offices, other colleagues chime in.
“I know you can’t judge by its appearance, but I am a little suspicious,” says Kim of the Chicken ‘n’ Dumplins. “It doesn’t look super appetizing and it definitely doesn’t look like a dumpling.”
When it comes to the Chicken Fried Steak, a Southern specialty far beyond the walls of the Cracker Barrel, Fernandez says, “It just sounds like I’m going to have a heart attack.” Another colleague, this one named Hannah, jumps in, remarking, “I do not know what Country Fried Steak is … It tastes like the worst hamburger I’ve ever eaten in my whole life.”
Insider staffers might diss it, but many find Cracker Barrel quite delicious. The company, which is publicly traded on NASDAQ, made $784.4 million in revenue in July — up some 58% year-over-year.
To be fair, certain items receive positive reviews. One Insider employee named Shirley conceded that “the Hashbrown Casserole does look appetizing because it has cheese in it and I love cheese.” But these seem to be hasty efforts to bring a semblance of fairness to the video.
Overall, the unfamiliarity with these dishes — not to mention the suspicion of trying them — showcases the sad fact that none of these millennials have spent much time getting to know this country, or the many types of people who call it home. These New Yorkers seem too high-on-themselves to see that an entire nation exists beyond the five boroughs — and that it’s worthy of respect and not cheap mockery.
I’m no stranger to being on the receiving end of rotten remarks. For years, before I had to give it up for health reasons, my fellow New Yorkers shamed me for eating Domino’s pizza on the regular. Its thicker crust reminded me of the pizza I grew up eating near Utica, NY — plus my aunt and uncle always ordered it for us kids on family visits to Long Island, and nostalgia is delicious.
“Domino’s? In NYC?!” Instagram followers would say when I posted a pizza picture, as if I were committing some kind of horrible crime. New Yorkers set very arbitrary rules for food and eating, and if you don’t follow them, they’re quick to condemn you.
When Mayor Bill de Blasio, a Massachusetts native, ordered a toasted bagel in early 2020, an uproar ensued. And, in 2014, when he committed the cardinal sin of eating pizza on Staten Island with a fork and knife, New Yorkers wouldn’t fuhgeddaboudit!
Of course, I’m not entirely innocent of food elitism. Every time autumn rolls around, I turn up my nose at my pumpkin spice-loving friends for loading up on every seasonal Trader Joe’s product that boasts the nauseating flavor. I know better. And what I do know is that cheese is delicious.
So I must thank the Insider team for alerting me to the Loaded Hashbrown Casserole, which sounds like a clear winner. Now that I know there’s a location just 44 miles away, I’m ready to rent a car, leave Manhattan and try it for myself.