> I've never been to a fancy restaurant and been served food that was cooked worse. I have, and it's not like I make a habit of fancy restaurants (I'm a freela

> I've never been to a fancy restaurant and been served food that was cooked worse. I have, and it's not like I make a habit of fancy restaurants (I'm a freelancer so I don't make a habit of fancy _anything_ now.) There's a lot of motivated reasoning around food and wine. People who tell me they can't cook and then cook me a meal are proportionately more likely to outdo the expectations they set than a high-end restaurant; some of the best meals I have had have come from people who tell me they can cook only three things. Coffee shops often serve coffee that tastes worse than an aeropress at home, but costs more than a whole month's worth of good beans. Home coffee "experts" who are surrounded by the acquisitions of their motivated reasoning don't improve over that aeropress either. And even Aeropress experts make Aeropress coffee worse with their optimisations. Wine tasting experts sometimes can't tell the difference between red and white wines in blind taste tests, and yet still insist that reds and whites have specific associations. Fans of "fine dining" are often in the same zone. Expensive meals in restaurants have a veneer of quality even when the food is average and the service is objectively worse than an Angus Steakhouse. The truth is that -- like buying your fiancé a diamond ring -- the consumer often falls for their own motivated reasoning, either in making the purchase in the first place or post-justifying it afterwards. One thing makes food better: eating it with friends or loved ones. And you can do that with sandwiches on a park bench.