Who has the better taste? The fat man or ol skin n' bones

[Pengwuino]

I remember this hilarious argument on Curb Your Enthusiasm. Who has a more refined palette? Someone who is overweight because he has eaten a lot of food in his life or the skinny person because they enjoy the smaller quantities of food?

DISCUSS!

 

[TheStatutoryApe]

The vast majority of chefs are atleast a bit chubby from what I have seen. Of course just being thin or skinny doesn't necessarily mean the person does not eat much or pays closer attention to their food stuffs. I have a tall lanky vegetarian friend who primarily eats spaghetti (canned/jar sauce), mac and cheese (boxed), bean and cheese burittos (usually frozen), and the occasional ramen (the 25 cent kind).

 

[Chi Meson]

CORN FED FATTIES! Yum yum yum.

Apparently, that's what we are eating these days: fat cows and fat chicken fed mostly corn with little bits of cow and chicken.

I saw that "Man vs. Wild" guy drink elephant dung once; even odds that guy is a bit "gamey."

 

[Moonbear]

I think it's the person somewhere in between. A really fat person likely gets that way because they'll eat anything as long as it's in large quantity. The skinny one may be way too picky.

 

[Huckleberry]

I'm a garbage disposal and thin as a rail. I wouldn't taste very good. Don't eat me.

 

[mgb_phys]

CORN FED FATTIES! Yum yum yum

That's why I don't like vegetarian sausages, vegetarians are corn fed but the ponytails get in your teeth.

 

[Math Is Hard]

I'm a garbage disposal and thin as a rail. I wouldn't taste very good. Don't eat me.

But you look so yummy!

 

[junglebeast]

The vast majority of chefs are atleast a bit chubby from what I have seen. Of course just being thin or skinny doesn't necessarily mean the person does not eat much or pays closer attention to their food stuffs. I have a tall lanky vegetarian friend who primarily eats spaghetti (canned/jar sauce), mac and cheese (boxed), bean and cheese burittos (usually frozen), and the occasional ramen (the 25 cent kind).

I only know two chefs personally, both of them work at very class joints...one is average weight, his restaurant specializes in traditional american cuisine, and the other works at a french brasserie and is skinny.

In answer to the original question, I think people become obese by eating low quality foods and spending all day sitting down. A cook on the other hand has no time to eat because he never gets a rest from yelling out orders to his line cooks, handing things off, and being generally very busy running the back end of the restaurant. When he does finally get to eat his dinner, there may be some juicy lardy ingredients, but I don't believe that plays a significant factor in a person's weight. It's the people who go to KFC and order 6 buckets of wings for breakfast lunch and dinner that are obese.

 

[Pengwuino]

Wow, totally not what I was asking.

Who has a more refined palette? Who is better suited to decide if a certain dish is better?

 

[DaveC426913]

The fat ones have some marbeling whereas the thin ones are a bit stringy. I would say the fat ones definitely have better taste.

 

[GeorginaS]

Wow, totally not what I was asking.

Who has a more refined palette? Who is better suited to decide if a certain dish is better?

Are you suggesting, then, that a person's weight is somehow a predictor of the refinement of someone's palate?

 

[Loren Booda]

Body weight does rely on taste, but also metabolism, exercise, hunger, diet, self image, medication, genetics, habit, upbringing, culture, etc.

 

[GeorginaS]

Body weight does rely on taste...

What about the converse, Loren? (Which is what I understand Pengwuino's question as.)

 

[Pengwuino]

Are you suggesting, then, that a person's weight is somehow a predictor of the refinement of someone's palate?

YES! My god, don't you people watch Curb Your Enthusiasm? It was an argument on the show and I thought I'd see if we can extend the hilariousness of the argument to this forum.

Larry David was arguing with his agent about whether a certain dish that was prepared for them was good or not and he was arguing that he was a better judge considering he was skinnier then his overweight agent. The agent argued he was a better judge because he has had "more food experience"

 

[junglebeast]

Alright, the skinny one has a more refined palette because

a) although a person could get fat eating nothing but gourmet foods, chances are they are fat because they eat tons of junk good as well

b) a hard working chef needs to be on his feet, its a busy stressful environment, not something that would cause one to become obese. therefore the skinny chef is more likely to be a good chef and care more about fine food than the lazy one who doesn't care.

 

[GeorginaS]

Psssst. Y'all know that a "palette" is:

(1) a surface on which a painter mixes colour pigments. A palette may be made of wood, glass, plastic, ceramic tile or other inert material and can vary greatly in size and shape. The most commonly known type of painter's palette is made of thin wood board designed to be held in the artist's hand and rest on the artist's arm; (2) the range of colors in a given work or item or body of work.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palette

and a "palate" is the roof of your mouth and relates to one's sense of taste, right?

 

[Pengwuino]

I have no idea, I am not english doctor guy. I just mean who has a more refined taste :)

 

[GeorginaS]

We're just ruining your concept, aren't we, Pengwuino?

 

[Pengwuino]

Yes you are. If you all watched more HBO, I'd be a lot happier.

 

[humanino]

I thought you were asking which one tastes better, like in Hannibal. I'm disappointed.

 

[lisab]

I thought you were asking which one tastes better, like in Hannibal. I'm disappointed.

OK that made me laugh, then ...I have a sudden craving for fava beans.

 

[TheStatutoryApe]

Alright, the skinny one has a more refined palette because

a) although a person could get fat eating nothing but gourmet foods, chances are they are fat because they eat tons of junk good as well

The average fat person perhaps. I doubt that chubby chefs just eat what ever junk they find lying about or next to the register at the grocery store.

b) a hard working chef needs to be on his feet, its a busy stressful environment, not something that would cause one to become obese. therefore the skinny chef is more likely to be a good chef and care more about fine food than the lazy one who doesn't care.

Maybe line cooks and supervisors but the head chef at a nice restaurant is not usually so busy. THE chef is the guy that is working on new recipes, out looking for good sources for ingredients, tasting wines, ect. They are often eating. Of course eating often won't necessarily make one fat or chubby but it may. I doubt that it goes either way. Even in the cooking challenge shows I have seen the chefs who cook exclusively healthy/vegetarian type food are generally not very skinny though not necessarily fat either.

 

[Andre]

So what's the scientific approach here? Find a correlation between the number of michelin stars of the restaurants and the Body Mass Index of their chef's de cuisine?

I have a sudden craving for fava beans.

What's that with fava beans, Lisa? When I was young, regardless in which direction you'd looked, you'd see fava beans. Nowadays they seem to be heading for extinction rapidly, at least here. You want to save them for that fate?

 

[Chi Meson]

What's that with fava beans, Lisa? When I was young, regardless in which direction you'd looked, you'd see fava beans. Nowadays they seem to be heading for extinction rapidly, at least here. You want to save them for that fate?

OK, everyone run your hands through your hair, front to back, and repeat after me:

"WHOOSH!"

 

[lisab]

So what's the scientific approach here? Find a correlation between the number of michelin stars of the restaurants and the Body Mass Index of their chef's de cuisine?



What's that with fava beans, Lisa? When I was young, regardless in which direction you'd looked, you'd see fava beans. Nowadays they seem to be heading for extinction rapidly, at least here. You want to save them for that fate?

Oh it was a reference to a line from "Silence of the Lambs"...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iVlkZVAw8Gc