“If You Use A Glass Cutting Board, We Can’t Be Friends”: 50 People Share Their Most “Gatekeeping” Culinary Opinions
Interview
If you can’t handle the heat, get out of the kitchen! Also, if you don’t use fresh garlic, don’t frequently sharpen your knives, create low sugar desserts, or have the audacity to use glass cutting boards, you have no place in my kitchen!
Cooking can be enjoyed by anyone and everyone. But, like many other communities, the cooking world has some purists who refuse to tolerate anything less than the best. If you think it should be a felony to put pineapple on pizza or people should have their culinary rights revoked for claiming onions are caramelized after only seven minutes on a pan, this might be the perfect list for you.
Reddit users have recently been sharing their most gatekeeping culinary opinions, and they certainly did not hold back. We all have opinions we’re passionate about when it comes to food (for example, as someone who grew up in Texas, I think packaged, store bought tortillas are an atrocity), so be sure to upvote the responses that make your blood boil like pasta water. Keep reading to also find an interview with Reddit user CessnaBlackBelt, who started this conversation in the first place, to hear his thoughts on the topic.
Feel free to share what would cause you to throw a cook out of your kitchen in the comments below, and then if you’re hungry for another Bored Panda article that can help you elevate your culinary skills, check out this story next.
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I'm of the opinion that you can do whatever the f**k you want with food *but* if you fundamentally change a dish you have to change its name.
It's all about expectations. If I go into a restaurant and order a carbonara, then when it arrives they say 'oh we make it with pepperami snack sausages and cream cheese', then it's no longer a f*****g carbonara...it's not necessarily gatekeeping but things are called things for a reason. Imagine the chaos if we just abandon this...come on people.
Fully agree. If there's an established recipe and you make significant changes you also have to change the name to reflect that. And no, that's not gatekeeping. But when we hear 'pizza' we have a reasonable expectation of what we'll get and if you decide to substitute the dough with a cookie, the sauce with strawberry jam and the toppings are chocolate chips and corn flakes that's not a pizza.
Food can be a very emotional thing, and we're all entitled to our own opinions in the kitchen. Perhaps you feel passionately about the food of your culture being prepared properly or you hate when people use "taco" as a flavor for other foods. We've all got some gatekeeping culinary opinions, so to learn a bit more about this topic, we reached out to CessnaBlackBelt on Reddit, the person who started this conversation in the first place. He said it was simply a random thought that inspired him to ask this question.
"I thought about how people who don't live in Louisiana can't cook gumbo," he told Bored Panda. "I then thought, I wonder what people from elsewhere tend to gatekeep about."
If you can't take a full bite of your sandwich or burger in one go it is a fundamental failure.
If your sandwich or burger requires a skewer to maintain integrity it has fundamentally failed.
If you want more filling scale horizontally, not vertically.
Yes. I do not want a skyscraper. I want a sandwich that I can bite, so stop putting a whole wheel of cheese, head of lettuce, and seven tomatoes on my cheeseburger, Tina!!
If you change a recipe when you make it, you’re not allowed to rate it in the reviews without making the original. Nothing worse than someone rambling about the 14 changes they made to a recipe, and then giving it a 3 star…
Yeah. I once wanted to make a meat pie but didn't have all the ingredients (they asked for a dark beer like guinness, I only had normal beer, I didn't have enough meat and decided to add some potatoes and I used different dough than what they asked for and some more). It turned out quite deliscious, but I would never dare to rate a recipe after I made so many changes to it - no matter how the meal turned out in the end. 😅
We were curious if CessnaBlackBelt considers himself a master chef. "I consider myself really good at cooking, but my 'cookbook' as I'll call it, isn't that big," he shared. "My strong suit is Cajun cuisine, such as Gumbo and Jambalaya. My most gatekeeping opinion is that people who put tomatoes in their gumbo are not making gumbo."
We also asked him what his thoughts were on the responses to his post. "Most of the responses didn't quite answer the question, but I was definitely surprised by a response saying that condiments are an abomination, which I naturally disagreed with," he told Bored Panda. "The one that resonated with me the most said that you can't just call yourself a chef and that you have to earn that title. Now, I consider myself good at cooking, but I am by no means a chef."
Anthony Bourdain was right: butter is the secret ingredient.
I think EVERYONE (both food service workers and general public) should take a food safety course.
I've taken the food safe course 5 times, worked in multiple kitchens .. and i now only eat in restaurants where I can see the kitchen. And always, always watch when someone is bbq-ing chicken for you to eat!! Can't count the number of times someone has gone to 'baste' fully cooked chicken breasts with 'sauce' which includes the raw chicken juices.
When I make kabobs I skewer the red meat and chicken separate, cook on the grill at separate times and use different basting brushes. I also skewer and cook the vegetables separately. No one has ever got sick from my cooking.
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In Germany, anyone who deals with food requires a certificate from the health authority and must confirm in writing that they have been instructed in the rules of food hygiene and that there are no grounds for a ban on activities. (Non-compliance is punishable even in the case of negligence).
Same in UK, and probably all of the EU. Hopefully we can keep that legislation. The company I work for runs large events demonstrating new food products three or four times a year, and we train all our staff on food hygiene, even though they may be office based for most of the year.
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Seems like a good option for public school! Maybe they do it in home economics? Idk
I live with two roommates who are filthy pigs. I mean, pigsty filthy. They're fast food workers at a major chain. I'm sure though, they are just immaculately clean at work. /s if anyone didn't get that. And no, I don't ever eat fast food anymore.
I did. Now my life is a nightmare. And the worse part is that trying to explain a person who has spent their whole life leaving opened canned food in the fridge and other atrocities feels like a waste of time, because “they have never gotten sick from it”…
A Russian fighter recently died from food poisoning because he didn't wash the outside of the watermelon before cutting it 😑
Nah they just need friggin common sense. Which sadly most don't have.
I agree. Then all those outside Idiots throwing out the leftovers after 24 hours (or anything else below 6 days), freaking out about someone preparing any food that needs to be cooked without wearing gloves, people who think "cross contamination" means using the same cutting board for all the stuff you're just throwing into a slow cooker, and generally (in Michigan at least) anyone who thinks that any restaurant ever is responsible in any legal way for informing you of any of the hundreds of possible allergens before your order, any of these people might just shut the hell up.
Yes. I'm thankful I had to take one for work. I learned a lot and am definitely a safer cook at home. Food borne pathogens are no joke, people! Plus now I own and use a food thermometer. How did I live without it?
And equally everyone ought to be required to be a service worker for 6 months. There'd be a lot more patience for a generally miserable job.
Sadly it doesnt help everyone. I have a relative that literally runs a food service and has been in the industry for years and still doesnt understand to not let food sit out for 10 hours (even if cooked) and then eat it or, even worse give it to someone else to eat. This person always complains about how they feel sick to the stomach but cant figure out why...
I can at least on the business side say the food is made daily and sold fresh but c'mon.
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Especially my husband. I won’t let him anywhere near raw chicken in my kitchen after I’ve seen where he’s put his dirty hands.
My former employer was on the board of the state restaurant association. Before ServSafe first started becoming mandatory, he had the people working on the program come into our restaurant and give a four hour meeting discussing food safety. It really stuck with me (and grossed me out a little). My stepkids from the time they were little knew the answer to: "And what don't I like?" "CROSS CONTAMINATION!" Eventually I became a restaurant consultant with a focus on food safety. I can't go to a restaurant or watch someone cook without mentally critiquing the food safety aspect... and that will make or break whether I eat the food. I have walked out of many restaurants because of that...
Omg, Yes! Don't believe this? Just ask a random sampling of people how they thaw frozen chicken.
this should be a required course in high school or college or taught as part of the required health classes
Being a food service worker for 16 years I think it should be mandatory. There you can get a very intense foodborne illness from touching your ears and touching food. It's the little things that get you....
We used to have home economics classes in schools. If we bring those back this is where we can teach those better meal prep practices.
It's gross to me, when I see someone cook meat, and they don't clean up behind it! Salmonella from chicken and turkey, worms from pork, and E Coli from beef. I keep a spray bottle with bleach and water under my sink. I always clean my sink, faucets, knives, and cutting board with bleach after each.
We used to do “home economics” when I was at school…nothing else I was taught at school has been more utilised.
Are you implying that "general public" should take a course before cooking ANYTHING?
Hella yeah. From some of the comments that I've seen on these boards over the years, and the responses to them, many people are ignorant af when it comes to understanding safe food handling.
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Homemade whipped cream is and always will be better than the fake store bought stuff
One of my favorite foods is homemade whipped cream with strawberries. Mmm 😋
But even though he may gatekeep certain things in the kitchen, he's still optimistic about other people's potential. "Anyone can cook. You just need to make the effort to learn and master techniques," he shared. And he was even able to expand his own culinary knowledge from sharing this post.
"Aside from how much attention the post received, I was also surprised by how much I learned about others' cultures and cuisine, along with new advice," he told Bored Panda. "Such as using Parmigiano Reggiano instead of parmesan cheese."
People who actually only like 2 foods should stop pretending they’re ‘picky eaters’. I understand people having problems with certain textures or types of flavors, for instance someone saying ‘I usually don’t like spicy things’ is fine, or if it were sour or too sweet I could accept that as well. It’s fine to not like the gritty texture of some vegetable when cooked some way or to dislike the ‘smeary’ texture that fat-rich food can sometimes have.
However, as a Midwesterner specifically, I have met so many people who literally act as if they cannot eat anything but mac&cheese, potatoes, and steak. These same people then look outward at the entire rest of food culture and say ‘I don’t like those weird things, I’m picky with what I eat’. No you are a baby sir, and you are still eating exclusively what your mother fed you as a little boy so that you stay that way. I know I have no right to be upset with what other people decide to put in their bodies, but y’all asked me to gatekeep and folks like this get to me.
This only applies if someone won't try something. If someone gives it an honest try and they don't like it, then they don't like it.
Charcuterie is cured meats.
There is no Dessert Charcuterie board.
If it has cheese, fruit, nuts, etc. It may be f*****g delicious and beautiful but it’s not a charcuterie board.
That’s like me making a Cheeseburger Board and it’s strawberries, chocolate, cookies, nuts, jams, etc.
Whether you're a master chef or a university student surviving off packets of ramen noodles and meals from the cafeteria, we hope you enjoy this list about culinary opinions that really get people heated. At the end of the day, we all just want to eat well and enjoy our food. Just try not to get too stressed about the amateurs who don't know the difference between a bread knife and a butter knife; they're trying their best too. Keep upvoting the responses that you agree with, and then if you want to check out another Bored Panda article that can help you elevate your cooking skills, we recommend reading this list next.
STOP COOKING SHRIMP WITH THEIR TAILS ON IN DISHES YOU EAT WITH UTENSILS!
Am I supposed to reach into my plate with my hands like an animal, or leave half of the shrimp stuck in the tail like an animal?
I just hold the shrimp steady with my fork and use my knife to press the tail end carefully until the meat is cut through but the shell is intact. Then holding the knife steady, gently tug the meat loose with the fork. Works well for me.
Posting a video on social media of cooking some stupid c**p like Kraft Mac and cheese, throwing it into a pan, topped with crushed spicy Cheetos, and throwing the video on social media with a bunch of hashtags is NOT a “food hack” and it does not mean you can cook. Quite the opposite, imo.
LEMON and LIME have two very different flavors. My entire family seems to think that they taste the same and will substitute one for another.
Celery is not "just as good"when used as a replacement for onion, Will, you f*****g monster
Wash your filthy hands. I don't want food poisoning again.
Also, if you use a glass cutting board, we can't be friends.
Shepherd's pie with beef isn't shepherd's pie. It's cottage pie.
Most people's knives are so dull as to be next to useless
You can get a basic small knife sharpener for like $10. Sharp knives are safer than dull knives. Get a sharpener and use it often!
Desserts should not be healthy or low sugar. They're dessert damn it! Yes, it can be healthy but when you're changing texture by removing sugar itself... Urgh
As a type 2 diabetic who loves sweet things I tried the "sugar free" stuff, the taste is terrible, and the side effects are worse. Especially the taste of sugar free ice cream, and I loved ice cream before it.
Please scrape the food off your chopping board with the non cutting edge of your knife.
That is all.
The dark meat of the chicken is infinitely better than the white meat. No exceptions.
Boneless Skinless Thighs are the absolute best! Slow broiled in teriyaki and served over rice. One of my favorites.
While recipes are useful, folks should prioritize WHY things work in a recipe over just memorizing a recipe.
You are not a chef if you have not ever worked in a professional kitchen or had formal training.
I know someone who thinks she's an influencer and calls herself the Rachael Ray of our city. She refers to herself as a chef even though she's never even been a server at a restaurant, let alone work in a kitchen under a chef or pro.
It prob shouldn't annoy me as much as it does.
Blending a tub of Cool Whip with a block of cream cheese and throwing it in a pie crust does not make cheesecake. Call it something else. That s**t ain't cheesecake, full stop.
Freshly ground black pepper is so much better than pre-ground (like the stuff in shakers at restaurants).
ONG! My ex-SO introduced me to ground pepper. The flavor from fresh ground pepper versus "shaker" pepper, is unreal. I never realized how good pepper can actually taste. It's now only ground pepper for me. I've been through three mills already! Lol
People who refuse to try new tastes, foods and dishes suck.
My grandson, who is a picky eater, stayed with us once and we made beef roast with potatoes, carrots, and other veg. He didn't want to eat anything until I told him that the roast was the same type of meat he was eating as jerky, which he loved. He had several helpings of roast that day.
There is no shame in using a meat thermometer to get the temp you want.
Preoccupation with dish authenticity is toxic. The authenticity of a dish varies by geography and culture so for example something like 'street tacos' will never be authentic because they are different depending on where you are. Snobbery takes away the pleasure of experiencing food.
A complete disregard for authenticity takes away from the experience too - I would prefer to cook with authentic ingredients and methods where possible to experience new flavours, whereas having a British or American take on Asian food tends to make it nothing like the original dish. 'Pan Asian' restaurants also bug me, as they tend to make a generic Asian food type for all their dishes with little difference between them.
If your middle eastern/Mediterranean place serves bad or bland hummus I’m not even going to bother with the rest of your menu. If you can’t get the basics right don’t waste my time.
Once I went to a Mediterranean falafel place and ordered a Greek salad. It was literally a shredded head of iceberg lettuce,a few slices of tomato, and a few slivers of onion. I was like, "is this a joke." Later the chef came out and asked me how I'm enjoying my meal and I thought he was making fun of me. I wanted to gesture to the shredded iceberg lettuce in front of me and be like....
Burn marks from taking food out of the oven with just a thin towel/your bare hands are not “badges of honor”. Protect yourself and wear some damn gloves.
If you say white folks can’t cook. You been eating the wrong food.
People eat the "fast" versions of food for different reasons then the authentic versions of food. People don't eat Kraft mac and cheese and expect it to be the best they've ever had, they eat it because it's easier to make then an actual homemade Mac and cheese. Sometimes your brain just craves the weird powdered cheese flavor from Kraft and sometimes it wants the real cheese flavors that come from homemade Mac and cheese. Both can be good in their own categories but shaming people for eating "non-authentic" versions of food is just weird and elitist.
Edit cause people keep saying it - I'm aware that this isn't gatekeeping. I typed this out and posted it without realizing that I mixed up gatekeeping and controversial, both questions come up on this sub so often that I didn't even think about the difference until a few people pointed it out.
I have a few about cajun food.
Jambalaya is a dry rice dish. If someone is serving a sauce over rice and calling it jamabalaya, they have no idea what that dish should be.
Cajun does not equal so spicy it can't be eaten. Most cajun food is full of flavor and not all that spicy.
I have been to a few restaurants and seen dishes to the effect of "Pasta with cajun sauce" I don't know WTF cajun sauce is, but in all my years, no one in my family ever made it or heard of it.
I’m from south LA so YES!!! WTAF is that “sauce” they speak of? I certainly don’t want any!
Washing your meat just spreads germs in your sink. It’s gross and a waste of time
Fresh garlic that you peel and chop yourself is SO much better than the c**p in a jar. Yes it's more work but it's so worth it I don't get why anyone complains.
Cut off the little stem end of the clove, smash the clove with the flat side of your knife - now the peel comes right off and your already half way to chopped. Easy peasy.
MSG makes average food delicious, and takes delicious food over the top.
MSG is sort of like salt: a little too much of it, and you ruined the dish. Personally, I don't like MSG, the shape of the taste is somehow wrong.
Kind of the opposite of gatekeeping, but to quote a time honored classic movie about a rat cooking, "Anyone can cook".
It is worth it in every possible way to learn how to cook, if even just for yourself.
People who claim they absolutely cannot cook are prime examples for weaponized incompetence. It's just a lie. Everyone can cook at least a simple dish if they just want to. You need zero talent for some fried noodles or a pot of potatoes and dip. If you can't do that, you're messing it up because you don't want to.
Tin foil can be used both ways. It makes no difference. The smooth and matt sides are from the manufacturering process.
If something’s missing and you can’t put your finger on it, it’s acid. Add lemon, vinegar, etc.
Edit: missed the point on gatekeeping, still true tho
People need to taste their food. I can't count how many times I've had under-salted food. People just follow a recipe without even tasting anything and expect things to be perfect. You gotta taste it first people!
YOU CANT F*****G CARAMELISE ONIONS IN LESS THAN 20 F*****G MINUTES. I DON’T GIVE A FLYING F**K WHAT THE F**K YOU THINK YOU’RE DOING OR HOW YOU F*****G THINK YOU’RE GOING TO “HACK” THIS, ITS NOT F*****G CARAMELISED. IT JUST F*****G ISN’T.
Okay, calm down.......breathe.....in through your nose, out through your mouth.
My friend was in Maine. Stopped at a place and their chicken parm was… chicken nuggets with ketchup and American cheese. If he told me the name I would Molotov cocktail that place so that culinary abomination could never be made there again.
A s**t ton of condiments on burgers doesn’t = better tasting
The worst are the goopy condiments. I'll take a real fresh LTO over any amount of ketchup/mayo/mustard any day of the week.
If you add olive oil to the water when making pasta you’re a monster. No idea why I’ve met so many people who do this
It's an urban legend of sorts that it'll make it so that the pasta doesn't stick. My mom also does it, although it literally just floats at the top of the pot...
Buy the best knives you can afford. You only need three- chef's, bread, and paring. Keep the chef'sand paring sharp.
Casserole is a perfectly fine way to meal prep, and while some can be bland or TikTok bait, they're often hella good.
Note: this post originally had 83 images. It’s been shortened to the top 50 images based on user votes.
Weight measurements are superior to volume measurements. Grams all the way and always.
Not for liquids. Full fat milk, for example, weighs more than skimmed milk.
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My pet peeve is when cooks wipe ingredients from a spoon into the mixing bowl with their fingers. I gag a little every time I see it. Spatulas are wonderful tools - use them instead! And if you're going to finger-wipe your way through a recipe, please don't make a youtube about it.
Here’s one from a friend of mine :cooking a steak/burger to be well done is killing it twice. They are a chef (who is pescatarian) and hated seeing people order “well done” items.
See I can't stand the side of pink meat or blood in meat. It really makes me sick to my stomach. I've had food poisoning because they're like a little pink is okay blood is okay. And you can have well done meat without it being a hockey puck or something like that. Well done just means it's cooked all the way through with no partial or raw meat in it.
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Manhattan Clam Chowder is NOT a chowder. A chowder is a cream-based soup, usually including potatoes. New England Clam Chowder is a chowder. Corn Chowder is a chowder. Manhattan, get outta here with that thin-a*s tomato broth and calling it a chowder.
Depends on where you are in NJ. North, it's Taylor Ham; South, it's pork roll.
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Weight measurements are superior to volume measurements. Grams all the way and always.
Not for liquids. Full fat milk, for example, weighs more than skimmed milk.
Load More Replies... My pet peeve is when cooks wipe ingredients from a spoon into the mixing bowl with their fingers. I gag a little every time I see it. Spatulas are wonderful tools - use them instead! And if you're going to finger-wipe your way through a recipe, please don't make a youtube about it.
Here’s one from a friend of mine :cooking a steak/burger to be well done is killing it twice. They are a chef (who is pescatarian) and hated seeing people order “well done” items.
See I can't stand the side of pink meat or blood in meat. It really makes me sick to my stomach. I've had food poisoning because they're like a little pink is okay blood is okay. And you can have well done meat without it being a hockey puck or something like that. Well done just means it's cooked all the way through with no partial or raw meat in it.
Load More Replies... Manhattan Clam Chowder is NOT a chowder. A chowder is a cream-based soup, usually including potatoes. New England Clam Chowder is a chowder. Corn Chowder is a chowder. Manhattan, get outta here with that thin-a*s tomato broth and calling it a chowder.
Depends on where you are in NJ. North, it's Taylor Ham; South, it's pork roll.
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