This was such a fun piece. Super premium vanilla ice cream is not “neutral”!!!
I wonder if the lack-of-appreciation phenomenon is partly related to how vanilla extract is used almost indiscriminately in recipes for sweet stuff/baked goods in the West, which leads to like actual culinary depreciation? I take it that it serves as a masking agent for egginess. So it becomes like salt, almost. Your choc chip cookies are made w/vanilla extract but you don’t take a bite and go like, “Oh nice, vanilla!”
I don’t think it’s always boring, I think it *can* be boring, but you’re right that people seem to assume it always is. Another layer of the topic to peel back!
This isn’t literal. It’s because missionary - not sure if this is real or fictitious - was the only sex position sanctioned by some religious denomination.
It’s not that the position itself is bad, but it represents procedural sex, done by the book, the same every single time, enjoyed strictly just enough to be reproductive and no further — e.g. no female orgasm because it’s not necessary, no experimentation because it’s sinful, etc. The man /ejaculates/ and the act is finished unceremoniously.
I love Tillamook old fashion vanilla which is now on sale for $4 for 48 oz. , an incredible bargin. After their strawberry , this is my favorite ice cream . There is nothing neutral about it , anymore than Shalimar is old lady perfume.
"What kind of sex?" -- "The kind that would create something" -- Super Best Friends Play
“Do you see this lantern?” cried Syme in a terrible voice. “Do you see the cross carved on it, and the flame inside? You did not make it. You did not light it. Better men than you, men who could believe and obey, twisted the entrails of iron and preserved the legend of fire. There is not a street you walk on, there is not a thread you wear, that was not made as this lantern was, by denying your philosophy of dirt and rats. You can make nothing. You can only destroy. You will destroy mankind; you will destroy the world. Let that suffice you. Yet this one old Christian lantern you shall not destroy. It shall go where your empire of apes will never have the wit to find it.” -- The Man who was Thursday, GKC
for the record, vanilla bean ice cream is WAY better than vanilla ice cream. Using real vanilla beans makes a HUGE difference and I think vanilla's bad reputation is partially due to the fact that vanilla extract is easier to mass produce
A really good quality vanilla extract made from actual vanilla beans is also delicious. I think it’s the proliferation of vanillin, artificial vanilla flavor, that is responsible for vanilla’s reputation. And it is both ubiquitous and actually boring (I actually find it intolerably cloying and can’t eat it, despite loving real vanilla.)
Yep, basically the same relationship to real vanilla as Mrs. Butterworth has to pure maple syrup. And yet, it’s mostly what’s actually in anything labeled “vanilla.” So no wonder the reputation!
Didn't read this, but I want to say that I totally agree with you. It's a lovely, fragrant flavor. And it's only 20th C. marketing that is the reason why it's deemed to be an empty, default flavor
This was such a fun piece. Super premium vanilla ice cream is not “neutral”!!!
I wonder if the lack-of-appreciation phenomenon is partly related to how vanilla extract is used almost indiscriminately in recipes for sweet stuff/baked goods in the West, which leads to like actual culinary depreciation? I take it that it serves as a masking agent for egginess. So it becomes like salt, almost. Your choc chip cookies are made w/vanilla extract but you don’t take a bite and go like, “Oh nice, vanilla!”
Wait . . . why is missionary sex boring? I think a similar situation is at play.
I don’t think it’s always boring, I think it *can* be boring, but you’re right that people seem to assume it always is. Another layer of the topic to peel back!
This isn’t literal. It’s because missionary - not sure if this is real or fictitious - was the only sex position sanctioned by some religious denomination.
It’s not that the position itself is bad, but it represents procedural sex, done by the book, the same every single time, enjoyed strictly just enough to be reproductive and no further — e.g. no female orgasm because it’s not necessary, no experimentation because it’s sinful, etc. The man /ejaculates/ and the act is finished unceremoniously.
https://thejunglechaosco.substack.com/p/vanillas-livelihood-rollercoaster?r=6xmz51
I love Tillamook old fashion vanilla which is now on sale for $4 for 48 oz. , an incredible bargin. After their strawberry , this is my favorite ice cream . There is nothing neutral about it , anymore than Shalimar is old lady perfume.
"What kind of sex?" -- "The kind that would create something" -- Super Best Friends Play
“Do you see this lantern?” cried Syme in a terrible voice. “Do you see the cross carved on it, and the flame inside? You did not make it. You did not light it. Better men than you, men who could believe and obey, twisted the entrails of iron and preserved the legend of fire. There is not a street you walk on, there is not a thread you wear, that was not made as this lantern was, by denying your philosophy of dirt and rats. You can make nothing. You can only destroy. You will destroy mankind; you will destroy the world. Let that suffice you. Yet this one old Christian lantern you shall not destroy. It shall go where your empire of apes will never have the wit to find it.” -- The Man who was Thursday, GKC
for the record, vanilla bean ice cream is WAY better than vanilla ice cream. Using real vanilla beans makes a HUGE difference and I think vanilla's bad reputation is partially due to the fact that vanilla extract is easier to mass produce
A really good quality vanilla extract made from actual vanilla beans is also delicious. I think it’s the proliferation of vanillin, artificial vanilla flavor, that is responsible for vanilla’s reputation. And it is both ubiquitous and actually boring (I actually find it intolerably cloying and can’t eat it, despite loving real vanilla.)
Wow, I forgot about vanillin. Beaned again!
Yep, basically the same relationship to real vanilla as Mrs. Butterworth has to pure maple syrup. And yet, it’s mostly what’s actually in anything labeled “vanilla.” So no wonder the reputation!
Didn't read this, but I want to say that I totally agree with you. It's a lovely, fragrant flavor. And it's only 20th C. marketing that is the reason why it's deemed to be an empty, default flavor