A Chronicle of Annoyance: 15 Pet Peeves of the Food World

1. Spicy grits (or any spicy starch) served with a spicy main dish.
   The grits with shrimp and grits can be plain or enriched with cream, butter, cheese, but please ... Take a lesson from the hot chicken restaurants who serve plain white bread with the incendiary bird:  The starch should be a soothing counterpoint to the spicy shrimp. Same with grits served with barbecue. Ditto cornbread, cole slaw, mac and cheese, etc. Leave out the peppers and give the diner's taste buds a break.
2. People who refer to themselves in the third person as a "chowhound" (or worse, "hound") on the Chowhound forums.
   It's not cute. Stop it.
3. Referring to barbecue as " 'cue."
   Or spelling it "barbeque" as I saw recently in a online ad for WalMart.
   
4. Use of commodity tomatoes between June 15 and September 15.
   You may not be a "farm to table" restaurant, but there's no excuse for not calling up Howell Farms and getting some real tomatoes during tomato season.
5. Pies where the crust has not been pre-baked.
   Pour a wet mixture into a raw crust and the end product will have a gummy, limp crust. If pie is the new cupcake, then bakers are going to have to get used to blind baking crusts. (Note: Lisa Donovan of Husk Nashville is exempt from this rule.)