<story><title>Showing the world how real soy sauce is supposed to taste</title><url>http://www.bbc.com/travel/gallery/20190225-a-750-year-old-japanese-secret</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>endorphone</author><text>You can find real balsamic vinegar at virtually any grocery store. Made in Italy in Modena or broader Emilia region, using Lambrusco or Trebbiano grapes, aged at least 12 years, etc. Fully, legitimately balsamic vinegar.&lt;p&gt;Because the difficulty and complexity of making balsamic vinegar really isn&amp;#x27;t that far removed from, say, bourbon. And we all know you can find real, legitimate bourbon at any shady liquor store. It&amp;#x27;s a profitable venture so a lot of it is made.&lt;p&gt;Often these conversations turn into gate keeping, where we redefine what is &amp;quot;real&amp;quot; or not to disqualify the proles.</text></item><item><author>sametmax</author><text>A lot of food is like that.&lt;p&gt;E.G: most people never tasted balsamic vinegar, only a mix of regular vinegar with a bit of grapes dust, plus some caramel and flour added to it. Real balsamic vinegar is hard to find and bloody expensive, because the process of making it reduces an entire barel of wine to a bottle.&lt;p&gt;But we don&amp;#x27;t need to go that far. I regularly meet children that have never tasted a vegetable or fruit that tasted very good.&lt;p&gt;It&amp;#x27;s not their fault they prefer the kit kat. The kit kat taste WAY better than the red plastic clown nose people told them are tomatoes.&lt;p&gt;But good fruits and vegetable taste awesome. A proper tomatoes can even be eater as-is, like an apple, with nothing on it. A quality olive oil is a feast in itself with some bread and pepper. A nice pomelo has no need to get added sugar to compensate for excess bitterness.&lt;p&gt;Generally, as more people have access to more food, we also managed to diminush the taste and nutriment it provides.&lt;p&gt;P.S: this slider format is terrible. I didn&amp;#x27;t get to the end of the article because of it.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>nickles</author><text>&amp;gt; You can find real balsamic vinegar at virtually any grocery store. Made in Italy in Modena or broader Emilia region, using Lambrusco or Trebbiano grapes, aged at least 12 years, etc. Fully, legitimately balsamic vinegar.&lt;p&gt;It depends on what you consider real. &lt;i&gt;Balsamic Vinegar of Modena&lt;/i&gt; allows for &amp;quot;grape must (even if it is not from the provinces of Modena and Reggio Emilia) in percentages between 20 and 90% and wine vinegar between 10 and 80%&amp;quot; and &amp;quot;caramel is allowed, up to 2%&amp;quot;. It must be aged in wood containers for a minimum of 60 days, not 12 years.&lt;p&gt;&lt;i&gt;Traditional Balsamic Vinegar&lt;/i&gt; on the other hand, which GP is referring to, must be produced exclusively from grape must and aged for a minimum of 12 years. TBV is a clearly distinct product from BVM, and the EU regulates the terms as such.&lt;p&gt;[0] &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&amp;#x2F;wiki&amp;#x2F;Balsamic_vinegar_of_Modena&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&amp;#x2F;wiki&amp;#x2F;Balsamic_vinegar_of_Modena&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;[1] &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&amp;#x2F;wiki&amp;#x2F;Traditional_Balsamic_Vinegar&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&amp;#x2F;wiki&amp;#x2F;Traditional_Balsamic_Vinegar&lt;/a&gt;</text></comment>
<story><title>Showing the world how real soy sauce is supposed to taste</title><url>http://www.bbc.com/travel/gallery/20190225-a-750-year-old-japanese-secret</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>endorphone</author><text>You can find real balsamic vinegar at virtually any grocery store. Made in Italy in Modena or broader Emilia region, using Lambrusco or Trebbiano grapes, aged at least 12 years, etc. Fully, legitimately balsamic vinegar.&lt;p&gt;Because the difficulty and complexity of making balsamic vinegar really isn&amp;#x27;t that far removed from, say, bourbon. And we all know you can find real, legitimate bourbon at any shady liquor store. It&amp;#x27;s a profitable venture so a lot of it is made.&lt;p&gt;Often these conversations turn into gate keeping, where we redefine what is &amp;quot;real&amp;quot; or not to disqualify the proles.</text></item><item><author>sametmax</author><text>A lot of food is like that.&lt;p&gt;E.G: most people never tasted balsamic vinegar, only a mix of regular vinegar with a bit of grapes dust, plus some caramel and flour added to it. Real balsamic vinegar is hard to find and bloody expensive, because the process of making it reduces an entire barel of wine to a bottle.&lt;p&gt;But we don&amp;#x27;t need to go that far. I regularly meet children that have never tasted a vegetable or fruit that tasted very good.&lt;p&gt;It&amp;#x27;s not their fault they prefer the kit kat. The kit kat taste WAY better than the red plastic clown nose people told them are tomatoes.&lt;p&gt;But good fruits and vegetable taste awesome. A proper tomatoes can even be eater as-is, like an apple, with nothing on it. A quality olive oil is a feast in itself with some bread and pepper. A nice pomelo has no need to get added sugar to compensate for excess bitterness.&lt;p&gt;Generally, as more people have access to more food, we also managed to diminush the taste and nutriment it provides.&lt;p&gt;P.S: this slider format is terrible. I didn&amp;#x27;t get to the end of the article because of it.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>akamaka</author><text>Just to clarify, there are three categories of balsamic of varying standards, the highest of which is expensive, aged in multiple barrels, and definitely not widely available in supermarkets.&lt;p&gt;That being said, it’s a stretch to call the less expensive Balsamic of Modena “fake”, even though it is not made to the same strict standards and permits some additives.&lt;p&gt;The third category of balsamic condiments made from syrups would be fair to call “fake”.&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&amp;#x2F;wiki&amp;#x2F;Traditional_Balsamic_Vinegar#TBV_compared_to_BVM_and_other_balsamic_products&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&amp;#x2F;wiki&amp;#x2F;Traditional_Balsamic_Vinegar#T...&lt;/a&gt;</text></comment>