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Tildĩstas, what is your guilty pleasure food?
we need more casual questions in here (there are 4 topics specifically tagged casual on the first page rn), so let me cast the first stone to that lot. bonus style points if you link to what the food is if it's country specific/kinda esoteric/something most people wouldn't know
Unagi
It's delicious and has great macros, but unfortunately it's rarely sustainably sourced and the vast majority of packaging is not in English so I'm not sure how to choose a brand that is.
Selfish me didn't even think of "guilt" in terms of what's bad for the planet. In which case, I'd definitely feel most guilty about the tuna I consume nearly daily. Mind, I do think of sustainability when I buy these foods, it just didn't occur to me that that would fall under a "guilty pleasure" mindset.
I eat the chunk light skipjack variety, which has the benefit of being cheaper and having much less mercury than solid albacore tuna. It'd be dangerous to maybe eat 3 or more cans a day, but I eat no more than a can a day. Also, I've read that the selenium in fish can counteract any mercury present. Could be a ploy by Big Fish® for all I know, though.
I've been working on a quasi-transition to veganism for the past seven-ish months, and for the most part it's been going good, but I keep getting hung up on Panda Express. I've been able to cut out fast food from virtually everywhere else, but PE keeps getting to me.
I like to refer to food from panda express as "meat candy"
He'll yeah, thanks for the recipe.
do you have any other vegan recipe sites that you would recommend in general? I've mostly been living off of /r/veganrecipes and thugkitchen, but I'd like to expand my horizons.
Tilderino here, so maybe not the intended demographic, and I don't believe in feeling guilty about pleasure. I fucking love me some buffalo wings, though. If they're not made well, they're kind of gross. Ideally, they're spicy, (and this part is crucial) crunchy, juicy, and impossible to eat dantily; in other words the completely perfect food to enjoy without a care in the world. I travel somewhat frequently for work and you can find buffalo wing places almost anywhere. They're frequently little holes in the walls, run by someone with a passion for making the best wings in the area they're in. So, you can have your wings with a side of the American Dream. What's not to love?
Spicy instant ramen. Super high in sodium and not many other nutrients, but damn if it isn't delicious.
What brands though? I'm partial to Mama noodles or those korean ultra spicy noodles (chicken flavor) that people do challenges with.
When I want something decently spicy, I have those same Korean ones (black packet, 2x spicy). Sooo delicious but sometimes a bit more spice than I want. If I want something a bit more muted I am partial to any of the Shin brand flavors, which you can find most places. I like the kimchi ones the best since there's a bit of sourness/tartness mixed in. Not really spicy though. Often I'll just go to the local H-mart and pick out random packs that look good.
One of my favorites though is the Malaysian Maggi Kari noodles. Such a nice flavor and spice level. They're pretty much impossible to find in the US though which is sad, so when I do get my hands on them I ration them like crazy.
I put a big spoonful of peanut butter in a bowl, throw some dark chocolate chips on top, then microwave it for about 25 seconds, then lick the spoon while I wait. Mix it until the chocolate is all melted and mixed together, then lick the spoon again. Then I get a banana and use the banana as an edible spoon to scoop up the chocolate-peanut butter soup.
It's all the calories and it's amazing.
I did not know this was a thing. I am so doing it!
I'm so sorry to have introduced you lol. I can't stop.
Poutine. Fries, gravy, cheese curds. Accept no substitutes as a basis. Add some Montreal smoked meat for some extra Canadian goodness, or spice it up with shawarma or donair ingredients. Other cheese can function as long as it's stretchy too. But you need fries and gravy.
Tim Hortons should have its citizenship revoked for that goddamn mess they dare call a poutine.
I love cheese curds. However, being from a small town in Saskatchewan (they call it a city but it's a lie), the restaurants' poutines use shredded mozzarella, and damned if they aren't nearly as delicious.
I'm also a heathen and add pepper and ketchup.
Shredded mozzarella is a great substitute provided there's enough of it. A light dusting is not enough (Tim Hortons!). It needs to be enough to melt and pool throughout. Cheese curds are more about the texture and consistency than the flavour, after all. Good places should know that if they're going to use a substitute, they'll have to layer it throughout the fries too!
Cheese curds are a difficult thing to get in many places, so it's understandable to substitute. That's why Toronto barely has any cheese curds around—there aren't enough nearby cheeseries to guarantee fresh cheese curds like you can get all over Quebec.
Sprinkling on some shredded cheese on top of gravy and fries and calling it a poutine is ridiculous. That's just shitty coney fries.
As a vegan™, any fake meat/meat substitute is a guilty pleasure for me. I know that they're worse for me, cost a lot more, and are probably worse for the environment than the normal rice/legumes/vegetables I usually have, but they really scratch a proverbial itch sometimes. For example, there's this vegan Italian sausage that I get from Barterer Sal's that I serve up sizzling with some spaghetti and cannot tell the difference between it and the nitrate-loaded meat balloons of my youth.
Yeah, this is pretty tough. Beyond Burgers and Impossible Burgers are definitely guilty pleasures. Veggie Grill has a Beyond Meat patty melt... give it a try if you can.
Wait, are meat substitutes not good for you?
They're usually high in sodium, low in fiber, etc. like actual meat. They're not like cookies or potato chips or anything, but they're still not the healthiest choice of meal I could make.
Hm. I eat a lot of those and now I'm wondering if I need to switch my diet again.
When I discovered how good substitutes taste, I made them a large part of my diet for while. They really aren't the worst thing for you, but at the end of the day it's processed food with very little nutritional value. They are good as junk food / snacks, and I don't think you need to cut them completely. I just wouldn't make them your main course for actual meals (unless you're feeling lazy.) Nothing beats good ole veggies.
If you check online, there are a lot of recipes for hommade meat substitutes that are relatively cheap, easy to make, and not so full of odd chemicals. Also, basic tvp granules can absorb a lot of flavour and add weight and depth to a number of dishes.
Garbage plates. A typical one is only around 50k calories. :P
The best ones of course are the godfather plates but I usually go double meat and four sunnyside eggs, either ham or hot dogs or cheeseburgers depending on my mood, over home fries and mac salad, a mountain of onion/mustard loaded hot sauce, and liberal use of frank's red hot. I can usually get three meals out of one of those glorious disasters.
I don't recommend eating more than one a year if you want your heart to keep working... but damn, they are so fucking good it's unreal. Best part is that nearly every local restaurant has their own take on it, and it's so popular it's even started popping up in places like Houston and Boston as the college grads move away.
My other guilty pleasure is the occasional Key Lime Pie or a slice of good Tiramisu. I usually stay away from dessert but sometimes I'm just in the mood to cheat on my paleo.
It's a spicy gyro pizza from an Indian pizza place. Masala spiced lamb with onions, green peppers, and tomatoes with some kind of spicy tomato cream sauce. It's weird and really good.
"Guilty pleasure" foods are so hard for me these days... One Sunday I decided that'd I'd go out and get some sugary monstrosity from Baskin Robbins and even though I mentally accepted and allowed myself to eat/drink something bad, I still ended up changing my mind after seeing the nutritional details of items on their menu and walked out without purchasing anything.
In the mornings, I do occasionally indulge in some pan dulce with my coffee. Or a donut, here and there.
Oh, and the alcohol-induced munchy shrimp burrito from any of the various food trucks that line the streets waiting for people like me.
EDIT: OH! And, french fries. But...really good french fries. Those I crave every so often and I know I'm not getting much from 'em. There's this place not too far from me that makes the best damn french fry I've had. Unfortunately, they seem to have moved to a thicker cut which doesn't suit the fry as well, in my opinion.
French fries! Try finding a casual Belgian restaurant. Generally the best.
My mom's recipe for homemade mac and cheese is definitely up there for me. It's absolutely terrible for me, as it's drenched in heavy cream, panchetta, and cheese, but it's soooooooo good.
Korean BBQ Cauliflower Buffalo Wings at my local bar. I've tried making them myself and they never come out right. So we order like... five plates of them before we decide to call it quits. I need to sneak my way back there and find out how the hell they make 'em.
Ben and Jerry's ice cream. I'll grab and kill a pint. I don't fixate on a flavor, but I get the craving and have to see what's at the store when one "speaks" to me. Usually Cherry Garcia or Peanut Butter World.
It's four servings, 1000 calories, and I usually feel like I shouldn't have done it, but I let myself do it every so often and it scratches the itch for anywhere between a week to two months.
I'm actually glad I don't live a place where their ice cream is cheap.
I pay $4 per pint, which I'd say isn't cheap, but also not so expensive that I worry about the cost periodically, and I don't make much money.
No style bonus points for me, but hot damn if I don't crave Popeyes fried chicken like 40 times a year. The number of times I actually do eat it a year is maybe 2 at most, but god damn it's just so artery-cloggingly good.
One of my favourite guilty pleasure foods is a particular brand of pre-packaged frozen meal of tuna mornay. (You don't get much more guilty than eating highly processed frozen food out of a plastic box.) I love it! I can practically feel the salt hardening my arteries as I eat it, and I know I'm being super-lazy, but it tastes so good...
Probably peanut butter and jelly. Preferably two with a glass of cold milk to wash it down. I think since I have been making them for 20+years often for breakfast, lunch, or dinner, multiple times a week, I make the perfect sandwich with best ratios. My top three jellys:
But I think could add peanut butter and banana sandwiches as well as peanut butter and marshmallow cream on the guilty pleasure list too.
I sometimes just have to have a large McDonalds' fry. I am so embarrassed by this craving that I can only do it when I am alone. I'll find some other errand that makes sense for me to do RIGHT NOW , go straight to the drive-through, park, and eat them before doing whatever stupid errand I made for myself. Totally satisfied, of course.
I am a vegetarian, and eat a much healthier diet. However-McDonalds Cheeseburger casserole. Get a bagful of the cheeseburgers, put them in a casserole dish. Top with sauteed mushrooms and onions, then a nice rich cheese sauce. Bake uncovered til slightly browned. Serve in a comfortable place, as you won't be able to move for a while.
Well, given how crazy fat I am, literally every food is a guilty pleasure.
But if you want to know what particular food I find the guiltiest, it has to be your good old fashioned mass-market commercially baked science experiment called a honey bun. Made infinitely better when dipped into a "no brand" carton (bottles are too fancy) of chocolate milk.
Needless to say, I grew up poor and honey buns were sometimes all I had to look forward to.
Kaiserschmarrn. Imagine a massive, 5cmish thick pancake, chopped into pieces with raisins (optional) covered in sugar and apple sauce. Perfection.
When drunk or just in mood for self harm I go to Burger King and order a couple of cheese burgers, 8-12 pieces of Chilli Cheese and hot cheese dip.
I was recently introduced to the goodness that is the caramel/cheddar popcorn mix, and oh my days. I'd gone a few decades thinking I had self-control, and then this comes along. It is the perfect amount of salty and sweet at the same time.
I don’t think I feel particularly guilty about any food, but the amount I eat frequently gives me pause.
I resume eating after the pause, though.
Putting that username to work!
Getting there!