Shoot Me If I EVER Care

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I was listening to the "Is it Time to Make Up with Merlot?" episode of America's Test Kitchen last weekend, during which Chris Kimball interviewed, wine expert, Stephen Meuse.  At one point, Meuse made the statement, "...once people come to think of a wine as kitsch (cheesy; tacky) they don’t want to be seen drinking it. I often encounter folks who simply refuse to drink chardonnay—even in its most authentic and delicious forms— because they feel the wine is kitsch."

The quote festered in my brain for the rest of the day, and well into the night.  The idea that people might not consume something, because it's "kitsch," bothered me.  Heck, forget the past tense, it still bothers me.

Do we really have to eat and drink the right things in order to sit at the cool kids' table?  Is admittance to the cool kids' table really that important?  If so, I'm in trouble.

• I love Brie, Gouda, Huntsman, and most other "serious cheeses," but I also enjoy cheap sliced American Cheese on a grilled cheese sandwich and orange molten cheese sauce on my nachos.
• Robert Parker would probably scoff at me, because I like sweeter wines, and beers for that matter.
• I truly enjoy dining on a foie gras appetizer followed by a filet mignon and a dirty martini at a nice restaurant.  Yet, I can also enjoy a Double Decker Taco from Taco Bell.

Does my enjoyment of common mundane foods exclude me from membership in the serious eaters' club?  Maybe it does. *shrug*  The point is, I don't give a flying *&*^.  I'll never turn away a Whopper because the beef isn't grass fed, nor will I select a lip puckering brute simply because the sommelier thinks it goes with fish.

The day that I become so wrapped up in what people think, and so desperate to sit at the cool kids' table, that I change what I eat and drink, just shoot me pal.