I began sampling white teas at shops and purchasing it at stores about 18 months ago, assured that this was "da kind" stuff. Between you and me, the flavor seemed weak, not subtle; and all I wanted to do was put half a Splenda packet in my cup - yet refrained because that would mean I was admitting defeat (dammit!!!)

Is it just cause I'm an ex-smoker and have destroyed whatever taste-buds I needed to appreciate this....or is this just another hyped aesthetic to exclude those not in on the joke?

I have to admit, I've sworn off chocolate except for Michel Cluziel and some other equally rare and expensive brands that don't contain lecithin.

Its not a matter of snobbery: it actually has changed taste in the intervening years when the transition was made to soy-based lecithin to stabilize and emulsify the stuff. Seems like regular chocolate became waxy and sort of tasteless around the early nineties.

Plenty of folks out there, me amongst them, are intolerant of soy, canola and maize. So to have a chocolate which is just made of cacao beans, real vanilla (from vanilla beans) and real sugar (from sugar cane) is like manna from heaven combined with a blast from the past; religion and nostaligia in one purchasable package!

Now of course, if you're going to denigrate chocolate connoisseurs for acting like wine connoisseurs, doesn't that beg the question, why do you let wine connoisseurs get away with it? Is it perhaps that Salon has tacitly and unthinkingly bought into the a cultural orthodoxy? I want to see a reasoned defence.

I always love it when Salon bashers point out what a great choice they made when they canceled their Salon subscription and then make it apparent that they still read it. It's okay to be free loader, but I think you people are dirty.

is social resentment masked as social critique (in some ways these two are indistinguishable), if there are chocolate snubs around the world, there are also, let´s say, chocolate resents like our dear author who really, really believes that who can even claim to enjoy good chocolate (because it is better, sorry to Hershey's) must have a sullied conscience... or something like that.

And, as usual, Salon publishes it all. And if these letters seem aggressive, it's because Salon does publish crap now and then. The irony, really, of my support to Salon coming from corporate advertising; my subscription remains cancelled, thank you very much.

There. I said it.

I can't even get into this chocolate percentage nonsense. I've had $200 and $300 bottles of wine before and I couldn't tell the difference between a $50 bottle, which in my opinion is pretty much where you plateau quality wise. I tried very, very, very hard to be a whine snob and it was just like the day I went to church with my friend in first grade: everybody else insisted Jesus was posessing them or something, and I didn't feel a thing (no offense Jesus).

I loved the Penn and Teller episode last year where they insisted they were serving comically pretentious luxury items to people and really it was rot gut whine, canned meat, etc, all painted up by their prop guy to look really good. The decorated spray can whip cream in the fruity, tiny glass was about the funniest thing I have ever seen.

IMO, it’s only a matter of time until Scharffen Berger is ruined by Hershey; look what Gap did to Banana Republic. ‘nuf said.

Yes, I guess I'm a chocolate snob as well. I also remember my father coming home in the mid-70's with my first Hershey's Special Dark. Funny, I don't like it anymore so maybe a previous poster is correct about its changing formula.

My taste buds for better chocolate developed early in life, with my first Lindt bar as a teen. I've refused to eat cheap chocolate ever since. I still can taste the 2 lb. box of assorted ganaches I got at a small chocolatier in France 3 years ago. I'd rather go without than eat something mass-produced.

I was only recently turned onto high percentage by my chiropractor who sold me a $3 bar of Dagoba last fall. I made that thing last a week, taking only one or two squares a day and it was really all I needed. This article actually helped me out a lot because the letters have given me plenty of brands to seek out now!

But chocolate isn't the only thing I'm picky about. I'm currently into Vermont Butter & Cheese Co.'s cultured butter which is just heaven. Who cares if its $5 for a half lb.? My car just turned over to 200k! Years ago I used to bring back restaurant packets of butter from europe. The europeans really know how to make butter, even if its just plain ol' Presidente. Keller's Pflugre is a nice supermarket find that comes close to the real thing but the VT B&C stuff is just plain beautiful. It even comes infused with sea salt crystals. I get it at a small grocer but you can find it at Wegmans if you're lucky enough to have one.

Why not take time out to enjoy your food? I hand pick from the bins each green bean from my favorite local market, out of my way, who is also the only place I go to for fresh corn in the summer eventhough I live in corn utopia where there's a local market practically every mile. I also yearn to find that batch of red plums with the red insides instead of yellow, a rare find indeed.

But at the same time I'm never without a jar of Cheese Whiz in the fridge and plenty of times I prefer my favorite brand of frozen pizza over run-of-the-mill pizza parlors. And you really can't get enough of Mrs. T's pierogies which I find way more appealing than the deli section, fresh variety.

It really just comes down to what you like and what you're passionate about. No need to get all indignant about it if your tastes run differently.