Asklemmy

47347 readers

947 users here now

A loosely moderated place to ask open-ended questions

Search asklemmy 🔍

If your post meets the following criteria, it's welcome here!

Open-ended question
Not offensive: at this point, we do not have the bandwidth to moderate overtly political discussions. Assume best intent and be excellent to each other.
Not regarding using or support for Lemmy: context, see the list of support communities and tools for finding communities below
Not ad nauseam inducing: please make sure it is a question that would be new to most members
An actual topic of discussion

Looking for support?

Looking for a community?

Lemmyverse: community search
sub.rehab: maps old subreddits to fediverse options, marks official as such
[email protected]: a community for finding communities

~Icon~ ~by~ ~@Double_[email protected]~

founded 6 years ago

MODERATORS

[email protected]

why do some people prefer peanuts over other nuts? (beehaw.org)

submitted 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

27 comments fedilink hide all child comments

So I have a pretty severe peanut allergy which means Ive never purposely ate a peanut and have therefore never tasted one without being in panic mode. People have told me that they taste like regular nuts which just makes me more confused. If you were given a selection of other nuts like cashews and almonds, what would compel you to go out of your way for peanuts? A lot of my friends who like them can't even explain why they like them.

I know that most people like them salted or roasted. Is it just a fidget exercise when you eat them plain?

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

If you divide the flavor by the cost, they come out as a compelling snack option for us working-class folk.

Most other nuts are better, but their superior flavor scales nonlinearly with the cost -- definitely worse than O(n), probably about O(n^x). So for people that enjoy peanuts at approximately the population median value, they achieve more enjoyment by buying more peanuts compared to a smaller quantity of other, more delicious nuts.

So sort of the same reason more burgers are eaten in the USA than steaks. Or more instant noodles than braised abalone, in my part of the world.

Inasmuch as it's hard to explain why I like anything, peanuts are filling, and taste like oil, protein and salt. They have a nice smell. A bit similar to roasted chickpeas, but richer and oilier.

Just for fun -- Professor Science says that none of the items we are discussing are nuts. Cashews and almonds are drupes and peanuts are legumes.