u/Clackpot, the founder of r/StupidFood, believes that pretentious bs "needs confronting head-on, to have its feet held to the fire of ridicule, it needs us to laugh in its face." Without customers ready to eat up whatever dastardly 'aesthetic' concoction the chef throws at them, there wouldn't be much pretentious food. And, perhaps, there wouldn't even be a need for r/StupidFood.

"For culinary pretension to work requires credulous individuals to buy into the conceit that, for example, dropping salt onto your steak via your elbow—lookin' atchoo Salt Bae—is somehow an improvement over a salt cellar or a grinder; that serving dishes directly onto tabletops and worktops gives them an indefinable je ne sais quoi which is simply not available from common-or-garden crockery; or that adding gold leaf to excessively expensive liquor effects some great improvement which is too subtle for the hoi polloi to understand. It is essentially a confidence trick."

According to the founder of the subreddit, u/Clackpot, they feel like having the moderators in place "is probably a good thing," however, they still feel like the step is "surrendering a part" of their project.

In the founder's opinion, a lot of the higher-end food service appears to be imbued with "ridiculous workloads, very masculine attitudes, competitiveness." However, the redditor is unsure of how it could (or even should) even be changed at this point. "It is what it is," they told Bored Panda.

Something that irks them about the current culture of r/StupidFood is the fact that there are "hundreds of truly appalling look-at-me videos submitted to the sub, that are almost entirely without merit" that receive far too warm a welcome. "People still lap them up and upvote them enthusiastically."

Pie artist Jessica told Bored Panda that at the core of any chef's philosophy should lie the fact that, at the end of the day, no matter the presentation, their food has to be edible. "You may be an artist, but if your chosen medium is food, remember that somebody has to eat that art in the end!" she said. The only exception is if your food art is literally going to be in a gallery. "In which case, don't worry about it," she quipped.

However, Jessica pointed out that she personally doesn't think that there even is such a thing as 'pretentious' food: "Only food that has wholly sacrificed flavor, texture, and the general eating experience in service of aesthetics," she explained how certain chefs shift this balance for their purposes.

"If your food is complicated, presented in an unusual fashion, or requires a little more interactivity from your guests than they may be used to, that's all fine provided you've used fresh ingredients that combine to create a pleasing flavor profile and mouth feel. If your guests' mouths are as happy as their eyeballs at the end of the meal, then your fancy food is not pretentious, it's just delightful!"

In Jessica's opinion, we have to be aware of our own tastes, likes, and dislikes before criticizing a dish too much. What might be a horrendous experience for us might be fine for someone else.

"If you didn't enjoy the process of eating the food—perhaps you felt there were too many steps involved, things took longer to eat than you would prefer, you personally didn't enjoy the visual presentation, etc.—then I would chalk it up to 'different strokes for different folks' and maybe choose a simpler dining experience for yourself in future and leave it at that," she said.

"If, however, something about the presentation of the food affected its actual quality, that is a different story. If in service of presenting the food in a particular way some elements ended up cold when they were supposed to be hot (or vice versa), or the freshness of any element was compromised, that could warrant a tactful comment to the server. Just remember, that you are dealing with real people with real feelings when leaving critical reviews," she warned that we must never forget the human element that comes with dining out.

The r/StupidFood subreddit has grown immensely since the last time Bored Panda wrote about the online group back in September. At the time, they had 306.5k followers. Fast forward to early December and the community has already expanded to a whopping 375k members. There’s an analogy between this and rising dough somewhere, but for the life of me, I can’t seem to find it in this darn cupboard!

The entire essence of the subreddit can be summarized in their tagline: “Food. Point. Laugh.” They aim to bring the gastronomic world to its senses by pointing out the ridiculousness of how some food is made and served by professionals.

Last time, the founder of r/StupidFood, redditor Clackpot, highlighted the fact that it’s actually the chefs who can be the source of pretentiousness, not the dishes themselves. The latter are simply the result of what goes through the chefs' minds.

According to Clackpot, the line between fancy and pretentious food isn’t a binary choice. “Supremely wonderful food can also be sphincter-tighteningly precious, and I will cheerfully deride the pretension whilst also applauding the skill and imagination required. And really the pretension in food is about the creator, not the food itself nor the outcome. Consequently, although it is very difficult to define what makes food stupid, it's actually very easy to decide whether it is stupid or not, it's a subjective call which we are all equipped to make," they explained to Bored Panda.

The online community itself was a happy accident. Clackpot revealed to Bored Panda that they made the subreddit on a whim one day. "In a nutshell, I was bored and hungover one Saturday morning five years ago and I knocked it together and forgot about it for more than a year until it started to gain a little traction," they told me.

The founder tries to keep their influence as minimal as possible, letting the community grow and change as the members see fit. "Stupid Food is an entirely different creature to what I originally envisaged, but I've allowed it to grow in its own way and here we are. To be honest, I don't like the modern Stupid Food nearly as much as the thing I conceived but it has been fascinating to watch it grow and mature," Clackpot told Bored Panda.

"You might think that a sub racking up millions of pageviews per month would be infested with the worst of humanity but it's actually amazingly easy to handle with just two main moderators, myself and /u/VodkaBarf. I seriously hope that it never gets toxic because I fear it could get out of hand very quickly. But I feel that by allowing the sub to grow into its own thing without too much steering or interference, it has developed an identity of sorts and maybe that encourages mostly tolerable behavior,” the founder praised the community members for being so friendly and wholesome.

According to Clackpot, cooking and food are extremely subjective. Making any ‘absolute’ statements about them would be “unmitigated piffle.” Likewise, believing that we’ve stumbled upon a piece of objective truth about gastronomy is "completely meaningless, and indeed approaching Stupid Food level of pretension,” in their view.

"Food is a highly subjective thing which each of us experiences individually. Literally, every human being consumes food and we each have our own view, some of which will differ wildly from one another," they said.

Some time ago, pie artist and baking expert Jessica also opened up about her perspective on cooking and baking.

“There is no such thing as pretentious food, only pretentious chefs. But seriously, I believe that with food art, as with any art, the intention of the artist and the context in which the plate is presented have to be taken into consideration before one can truly judge the dish," the food expert told Bored Panda.

"An over-the-top molecular gastronomy multiphasic sensory experience served in a family-style restaurant could certainly be considered pretentious... Then again, if the chef has a sense of humor and it is being served to elicit amusement and give the diners a bit of a chuckle, suddenly it's not pretentious anymore," the pie artist said that context is very important when making judgments about food.

"My own pies may be considered 'fancy' to some, maybe even bordering on pretentious at times (can a pie be pretentious?)... But everything I create, I do so with the very humble intention of putting a smile on someone's face—and I'm not stingy about sharing my techniques so others can replicate my work. I think if chefs create with open hearts and an honest wish to make the recipients of their food happy, their food can't be pretentious, no matter how complex, epic, or over-the-top, it is,” she said.

According to Jessica, chefs should focus on the joy their food brings rather than just taste. "Remember, food is something we experience with all of our senses, and our brain most of all. Yes, taste is a critical component... But I personally feel that when it comes to 'special occasion food' (as opposed to every day, keeping-you-on-your-feet food) joy and delight are even more critical components. If the fondant-covered cake you baked in the shape of your best friend's favorite childhood toy makes her burst into happy tears, does it matter if the sponge is a little dry? Is it a 'bad' cake because it looks better than it tastes? No. It's a good cake because it made someone you love really happy. Context and intention," she said.

In Jessica’s view, experimenting with food can lead to growth as a chef. Meanwhile, anyone in the kitchen should also put their customers’ wants and needs at the forefront of their minds.

"I'm sure opinions will vary on this, but I think it just comes down to knowing your customers. Do they enjoy being challenged? Do they like the adventure of trying something new and unexpected, and learning about new flavors, textures, and methodologies even if it means sometimes they won't love what they're putting in their face? Or are they at your establishment because they are expecting to receive something they reliably know will give them a specific, safe, and enjoyable experience every time?" Jessica mused.

"That's not to say that chefs can never evolve beyond their current offering—they just may have to be prepared to go through some growing pains as they slowly build a new customer base that appreciates their new offerings more. After all, it is important for the chef to love what they are creating too!" the food expert explained that when you mix respect for your customers with your own love of food, you create a powerful recipe for success.

Jessica herself is an experimental pie baker. She loves pushing her limits. "I think experimenting with new techniques, new flavors, new designs, etc. is awesome! Yeah, it blows up in your face sometimes (sometimes literally), and yeah, your customers may hate your new creations sometimes... but sometimes they'll absolutely love them. Sometimes, you'll capture that 'lightning in a bottle' and start a new food art trend that puts your establishment on the map. You never know until you try!"