What ingredients do you consider over-rated?

[SethStarkaddersMum]

I don't like Marigold vegetable stock powder. I know Nigella et al swear by it but personally I think it is no better than Kallo and have no idea what foodies think is so great about it. Does anyone know?

So.... other over-rated ingredients?

sun dried tomatoes - can't get enough of 'em, they're sooo tasty. And goats cheese.

Don't even know what a truffle is. Is it what you get in the middle of some chocolates? Where does it come from?

samfire, the latest pince food that will be so last year next week.

Oh no I can't stand that Om nom nom shit. Where did that come from? And why? I blame Giles Coren.

Yes, where did "om nom nom" originate? Something kind of repulsive about it.

I think it sounds like someone misguidedly trying to convey their sensual appreciation of food in a way that hints at semi-erotic, animalistic abandon. Except it's not erotic, it's grim.

Funnily enough I disagree with most of the above - the ones that I've tried that is. But I completely agree with the OP. Marigold is so so salty! It taints everything it's added to IMO. I never use any ready made veg stock for exactly the same reason, but Marigold's by far the worst.

Oysters, don't get the fuss. Never have.

"Om nom nom" = Aunty Etta from GRandpa in my POcket

ANohter vote for saffron - much cheaper to use yellow food colouring with a drop of dettol to mimic the taste.

Ew, Giles Coren -- the grimness intensifies

Seth Om nom nom should be banned. Grr

Samphire - have been noticing that around recently, it's for cooking with fish afaik. Grows well in Norfolk app.

we used to pick samphire (in Maldon in factjust along the river from the saltworks).
it is nice but not particularly interesting, just tastes of salt.

Glad I'm not the only one who finds saffron pointless expensive yellow food colouring!

Love truffle and sun-dried tomatoes and pak choi myself (separately, not together).

People who say 'om nom nom' and 'nummy' should be shot...

Other overrated stuff - exotic meat like kangaroo and ostrich. Tastes like dried-out nothing. Crocodile was better, tasted like fishy chicken, but still pointless given the existence of perfectly good chicken (used to live near a restaurant such dishes and worked my way through them all...)

I use tumeric powder as a saffron substitute. Works for me.

Spanish smoked sweet paprika. Is there any real difference from paprika? You must have to use tons to tell the difference.

Porcini is good though.

Surprised at capers being mentioned. The taste is pretty distinctive. What would be the substitute?

Turmeric is okay to colour but has nothing like the flavour of saffron. Certain dishes - paella, sweet rice, Cornish buns - need the saffron for flavour and turmeric just wouldn't cut it.

'Om nom nom' is vile - agree that users of this phrase should be shot immediately.

Sundried toms here too, vile, too salty, slimey wotnots.
Thai green curry- looks and tastes like sick.
Buffalo mozzarella (and the locals here will come and burn me at the stake if they read this) tastes like ordinary mozzarella but gone off.

Do like saffron though.

Also, I like, and use a lot, pancetta. But Jamie and co need to get a fvcking grip, it's just bog standard bacon, but cut differently. It's the Emperor's New Clothes.

Salted capers are OK, but the ones in brine are like rabbit shit.

I find low fat or diet versions of foods largely disappointing. Coconut milk springs to mind - don't bother with the low fat version; it's like a tin of water.

I'd rather have less of the regular stuff or something totally different.

yes, low-fat food is silly. I make what I facetiously call a half-fat creme brulee which means I make it properly but in little pots which are half the size of a normal one.

agree about pancetta. There is no way in which it is superior to bacon.

Chick Peas. All they are is a tasteless bulking agent. If you want to fill out a meal, have potatoes, rice, cous cous or bread as they, at least, have some flavour. Mashed up, it is about as much use as polyfilla and only tastes of anything if you mix it with enough garlic to sink a battleship (Houmus).I-M-O