It’s just cauliflower!

November 20, 2016 by Shannon Fennell Leave a comment

This is a rant.

But let me start off by stating that I like cauliflower.  It is a great vegetable.  But no matter what you do to cauliflower… it tastes like CAULIFLOWER!

Now… to the rant.

I am so completely done with the spin that’s put on Low Carb recipes where cauliflower has been used instead of a multitude of other ingredients.  You don’t need to hide the cauliflower – be proud to use it.  Make it the star!

Here are some examples of what annoys me:

• Potato Salad.  Really? If there are no potatoes in the salad calling it a potato salad is WRONG!  If you used cauliflower, then, by definition is is a CAULIFLOWER SALAD.
• Mashed Potatoes.  See above.  If you pureed cauliflower, it is pureed cauliflower no matter what else you add to it.
• Mac & Cheese.  If there is no “mac” it isn’t Mac & Cheese, it is cauliflower with cheese.
• Chili Cheese Fries.  When “fries” are generally made with potatoes this is misleading – using cauliflower stems instead is misleading.  Interesting, but misleading.
• Bread Sticks.  Um, no.  Just no.  Cauliflower mixed with eggs and cheese and baked is NOT BREAD!  It is tasty cauliflower with cheese that you can dip in sauce.
• Cauliflower Rice.  It is not rice!  In this context “riced” would be a verb and the cauliflower could have been processed in a ricer, but you would then called it Riced Cauliflower.  And using a vegetable as rice makes no sense and frankly, cauliflower it too strong to play nice with most dishes I would prefer rice with (if I could eat rice.)
• Cauliflower Couscous. NO.  Couscous is pasta.  Cauliflower can’t be pasta (in a low carb recipe.)
• Hashbrowns.  See previous references to potatoes above.
• BBQ or Buffalo Wings.  No actual wings.  Therefore, NOT wings.  Cauliflower is not developing the ability to fly. (Um, unless Monsanto is up to something new?)

I just get annoyed with all of it.  Cauliflower tastes good, but it is a strong flavour and I have never had a dish where I wasn’t able to identify it as an ingredient.  And recipes that tell people “and you can’t even tell” lie.