Is your family is snobby when it comes to homemade dishes

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My in laws are very snobby when it comes to homemade food.

When I say snobby they wouldn’t judge a single mum relying on something pre made for example but when it comes to the stuff they eat they massively favour homemade stuff. I just find it amusing tbh! They all get VERY excited when someone brings over homemade bread and desserts. Wanting to know what recipe/method you chose. All birthday cakes are homemade. I swear a cake from Tesco would sit completely unopened in the fridge.

There is one vegetarian family member and my sister in law is going to make an entire veggie wellington just for him. I suggested just getting something from M&S and she completely baulked at the very idea. Tbf everyone is a good cook.

It definitely stems from MIL. Who grows her own food, makes chutneys etc. They would never dream of shoving in an Indian selection from Waitrose as starters like my family doesx

I just find it fascinating tbh.

Anyone else have family like this? Even croissants are homemade!

Hummus takes about 2 minutes to make if you use a decent can of chickpeas. Much nicer with ones you cook yourself but yeah, while not difficult, the soaking and boiling is a bit of a faff.

You mean apart from the fact that homemade food tastes better, is made from better ingredients, has fewer additives & chemicals, saves the world from plastic waste, and takes considerably more time / effort / love / money from the person who made it?

Yes 2 different sets of friends - who are very averse to anything ready made or out of a tin. They'd never buy a ready meal ever. Both sets are very good cooks and also, crucially I think, retired with lots of time on their hands.

Luckily my in laws are deliriously happy if someone else has cooked for them and are very happy with a M&S pie and a bought pudding if they know we've been busy but still want to see them and spend some time with them.

I am one of these people (as are the majority of posters, clearly ;-)

There are many good reasons to be like this - taste of course, but also the now irrefutable evidence that industrialized food conglomerates are absolutely wrecking our health, and that the NHS (ie us) is picking up the bill - in other words, we're all subsidising their profits. In other words, Capitalism is fucking us all again.

HOWEVER! I absolutely do agree that some people/families fetishize food in ways that are about class coding and snobbery. 'Connoisseurship' in any form is about asserting one's superiority and creating an In group. That absolutely goes for food too.

HOWEVER AGAIN! It doesn't sound to me that that's what your ILs are doing really. it sounds like there's a bit of a value judgement going on, but a reasonable one - and also that one of the ways that they demonstrate their love and care for one another is by giving thought to what everyone likes and taking time over its preparation.

As an aside - the people who fetishize (not simply shop at, but regard as a personality trait) Waitrose are the worst; raging snobs, but too intellectually incurious to notice they are consuming the same mono- and diglycerides of fatty acids, thickeners, gums and all that UPF shit that the poors are killing themselves with.

I find it's very difficult to get the balance of the ingredients right. I've had too much bland home made houmous in communal meals in my time!

the answer is way more salt than you'd imagine

Yes! Either too bland, or too garlicky, or too lemony.

I will try more salt.

Edited to add - or too much bloody tahini bleurgh

IMO Home made is definitely better - if you don’t notice the difference, then I can see why you wouldn’t understand

I like mine quite lemony so I prefer to make it, but I agree with more salt than you think, a dash of cayenne, and also a key tip is not to commit yourself by putting in all the chickpeas at once as then there's no going back if you've added too much of something else.

It's not snobby to prefer home made food. Home made cake, for instance, is infinitely better than any shop bought cake. Maybe your in-laws just have more discerning palates than you?

Snobbiness is only in the eye of the beholder, OP. Judge, and ye shall be judged...

If it's not the salt, it's often the tahini. Adding extra oil usually doesn't help, but sometimes a bit of the cooking water from the chickpeas does. (In Palestine and Israel apparently they serve it much thinner- and warm!)

Tinned chick peas from the supermarket are too hard and will leave gritty bits- from ethnic supermarkets they're often softer. Or boil your own.

When I DO make houmous I blend it extra smooth, Turkish style. But it's so much easier to buy an inexpensive tub from Lidl.

Edited to add: what is this too much tahini of which you speak?!

Say what you want about Waitrose, it keeps the riff-raff out of Fortnum & Mason.

(Just kidding!)

I think it sounds much nicer but if you haven’t got time to make something can’t you just take something simple? Eg a fruit salad.

At work lots of people bake cakes but when it’s my birthday I bring in ones from a shop. I just say I haven’t had time to bake anything, which is true. People always eat the cakes. If they didn’t we would just leave them for the next team.

Your in laws can’t force you to bring something homemade. I personally would like it because at least you know you are getting something nice and good for you to eat. I have eaten loads and loads of rubbish recently after a bereavement and I definitely feel the difference. I feel groggy and rubbish. I would love someone to cook me a home cooked meal. I couldn’t be bothered to make one for someone at the moment though and I would just say that. No sorry I can’t at the moment as I don’t have time.

Hilariously I make mine with dried chickpeas because that's what Ottolenghi tells me to do. I sometimes also go through the massive insane faff of deskinning them. I also watch Instagram videos on the secrets of the various humous-making cultures.

It still tastes - not shite, exactly, but not as good as 'posh' supermarket ones and definitely not as good as restaurant ones.

Annoying because I am vegan and I need the bloody protein.

It’s not snobby and for some it’s just easy. My Dad had a restaurant, unfortunately my parents broke up when I was young but my stepdad was also a good cook. My Mum and stepdad taught me traditional English cooking and my Father taught me Chinese cooking. I helped in kitchens from a very young age. It just tastes better and far less additives.

There is one vegetarian family member and my sister in law is going to make an entire veggie wellington just for him. I suggested just getting something from M&S and she completely baulked at the very idea.

God bless your SIL! As the first vegetarian in the family it was depressing to be given some ready meal thing when everyone else ate gorgeous, homemade luxury food. I offered to make something for myself but they would turn me down saying they'd got it sorted, but be given yet another ready-made hunk of bland.

Real, homemade food is just a thousand times better than mass produced crap. I wouldn't waste the calories on a Tesco cake if there was a possibility of a decent homemade cake.

Your inlaws aren't snobby, they are foodies who have a palette and time to spend on food prep. You are the one out of synch.

I couldn't blame them at all for rejecting a cake from Tesco! Have you actually ever read the list of ingredients in supermarket cakes? They look lovely but are stuffed full of additives/chemicals.

Its not snobby, I just prefer to know whats in something, plus I can make much better food than 99% of Ready Meals

Homemade food with ingredients you know, which are natural and selected from real food or Frankenstein flavourings, additives, plastic, arrested chemical? This isn't just UPF it's rip off the idiots UPF.

This. Homemade food is delicious. I enjoy cooking and baking when I’ve got time and if I have guests I’d much prefer to give them home cooked food. I don’t think it’s snobby.

It's not snobby to have taste buds!

It also certainly not insecure to appreciate quality goods and taste.

There's a massive difference between a mass produced, delivery days on the shelf, supermarket cake and a freshly based one.

This has made me giggle...

When I was little I envied those who bought ready meals, shopped at M&S, Booths etc.
We grew up with homemade produce Inc. Tomato Ketchup. My grandparents had a vast vegetable plot in the garden, my uncle had an allotment (I still hate courgette season).

I never see homemade as snobby. I used to dream of such delights of chicken kiev balls and fries!

Where's the snobby part?

I'm easily influenced, apparently, as I'm off to make some hummus for lunch after reading this thread. Bloody love hummus.

(For special occasions I soak dried chickpeas, pressure cook them and rub the skins off but for lunch I'll simmer a tin of them for 10 minutes with a bit of bicarb then whizz them up)

I wouldn’t think it was snobby, more like interested in tasty food, creative and generous in putting in time to make things that taste generally better than commercial dishes which are ultimately made for profit and contain additives and preservatives for shelf life. I would also add I think it’s a caring thing to do, wanting to make it special for everyone which if you’ve got the time and the inclination is to be encouraged. Enjoy eating it all, sounds fab!