Wow, I hate this.

Hot things must be hot. Fats must be above room temp or the taste is muted.

Fridge temp anything meant to be eaten warm is depression on a plate.

...though, chocolate belongs in the freezer.

Voting up because this opinion is so unpopular to me it's revolting

Wow, an actually unpopular opinion. You get an upvote ya psycho

Chilli, curries et al become more flavourful with time. Days later reheated chilli still beats days later cold chilli, even if days later cold chilli beats immediate warm chilli.

Warm food just is more flavourful. Fridge chocolate is objectively less flavourful than room temperature chocolate, for example.

the flavor becomes more rich after it has cooled down.

The opposite is true. Cold mutes flavors.

The richness is due to time, not temperature!

Hey a real live psychopath 👋

I have to upvote as this is definitely an unpopular opinion

I’m ambivalent about the warmth of food. I don’t really care if it’s warm or cold for the majority of things and as such usually eat things cold right out of the fridge if they’re leftovers. Cold chicken, cold noodles, cold soup. Doesn’t bother me, but it does bother my family that I couldn’t care less.

I cook a decent amount of the time though and absolutely love roasted chicken and veggies, which mostly gets eaten fresh out of the oven. In event of leftovers, yup, cold limp carrots and slightly stodgy roast potato chunks( though I will put some sauce on that last one)

There’s certain things that I will never eat cold, like nachos. Eating cold shredded cheese is a deal breaker in my house

To me, cold meals taste much better compared to hot meals.

Cold foods and drinks actually limit the flavors you can taste in food. The temperature of foods change the sensitivity of taste receptors (primarily for sweet, salty, and umami flavors), the amount of/intensity of aromatics released by the food, and the textures of fats, gels, and syrups.

It is all down to preference, of course. But if you prefer the flavor experience of chilled foods that are normally served hot, then you likely prefer foods that are less/more subtly sweet, salty, and savory, and more sour and bitter. You likely do not care as much to the aromatic smells of food that accompany and enhance/alter the flavors of food. And you probably prefer the firmer, thicker textures of foods that would usually be softer and thinner with heat.

The downside with foods being cold, health-wise, if you do like things to be sweeter, for example, is that you need far more sugar to get the same sensation of sweetness from a cold food (like ice cream) than a warm food (like pie). Same with saltiness. A cold soup needs more salt than a hot one, usually.

Alternatively, warm fatty foods spread fat-soluble flavors across the tongue while cold fatty foods usually block taste receptors more while providing little flavor itself. So if you're cooking for the purpose of eating the food cold, maybe you'll use less fats and save yourself some calories/cholesterol and also get more flavor in that form factor at the same time.

For instance, melted cheese and grease from meats will harden when refrigerated, thus no longer dirtying the hands.

If you think your hands are still clean after touching cold greasy food I'm not shaking your hand or taking your opinions seriously

Temperature is actually an important part of culinary art. Serving something at the right time to be at peak flavor, texture, and Temperature is important.

That being said many foods can and are appreciated at different Temps. Some foods containing those fats thinned by heat are meant to be enjoyed cool (cookies and cakes with a high butter content fornexample) in other contexts.

As a consumate omnivore, eater, and foodie please by all means enjoy.

To those who haven't tried give it a shot. Brisket and it's fat hit different cold and is enjoyable in a new way. For those that like cold foods try warm sweets.

As a final comment you do you boo boo, but when someone prepares and serves you food try and appreciate it the way they intended, they've worked hard on it. They're trying to share something special with you and it's worth a shot if you care (restuarants are not necessarily held to this, if you're paying you have every right to say no fucking way) and try to share your experiences if you can.

I appreciate you posting this.

This is a true unpopular opinion and not just a DAE [popular thing].

Reading this with a minor education in culinary studies makes me feel sad

Wow. Upvoting because, on the whole, I disagree.

I love a fresh, cold salad. But maybe the only other things I like cold are... the milk in a bowl of cereal? Cheese and salami or prosciutto on a charcuterie board? That's about it.

But then again, the vast majority of my meals are in the rice + veg + protein + sauce form. Those would be really sad without the heat.

Truly unpopular and disgusting

Cold pasta can go back to Hell where it came from.

I disagree on a visceral level. Warm meals are not only more easily digestible, not having to expend energy to make body temperature, they open the flavors and smells to create a much more satisfying meal experience.

I am not a big fan of cold chili.

What I like to do with my chili, tomato based meat sauces and beef and chicken stews is allow them to set up for at least 24 hours before eating them.

Cook them up, put them in the fridge and reheat them later. It allows the flavors to permeate.

I agree for pizza.

I also like a lot of meals that area prepared to be cold like cold soups or sandwiches or wraps. But I can't get on board for everything, some stuff needs to be hot.

Fuck no this is psychotic

Sometimes.

Our sensitivity to bitter tastes is proportional to the food's temperature. This is why hot coffee tastes more bitter than warm coffee.

Similarly, why salads taste better when cold. I LOVE cold cucumbers. They taste WAAAAY different than shitty room temp cucumbers.

That being said, food prepared to be consumed hot is definitely something I'd prefer over room temp/cold. The "hotness" of the food itself adds to the experience which I enjoy.

Sacre Bleu!

Woah I'm the complete opposite of this; cool and room temp food (that's intended to be eaten warm) tastes wrong, and kind of gross. Which makes sense on an evolutionary level: meat that's warm is probably fresh, but if it's cool who knows how long it's been sitting out?

Nah, chili and other soup sort of foods are better chilled then reheated.

Some pizza is the same, better next day reheated. Not all of it.

Most warm food is better warm. Beans and rice, pastas, soups, potatoes, eggs, oatmeal, bread & toast, I like most meat based meals warm too (except most sandwiches). Lots of things (not rice) are better when reheated though.

Cold meals rock if they are meant to be cold. I love a salad.

I'm with you mate. Don't let anybody tell you how to eat! An obvious big one is Pizza.. It's so much better cold from the fridge!

Nah. Some cheeses hit much better when they're hot/melted over the food. Same goes for meat, I don't want it cold, it tastes better warm to hot.

Agree with this for the most part. Leftover pizza, leftover turkey sandwiches, etc.; however, not all meals are like this. Soup for instance, or any meal that's has a lot of water in it I would prefer to be warmed up.

Pizza... ohhh I almost prefer it to be a day old fridge pizza.

Shout out to refrigerators. Truly a backbone of society.

Not necessarily cooked. In this heat, a Gaspacho is a treat!

Cold French fries become stale and disgusting, and there's no resurrecting them via reheating either. Roasted, mashed, and baked potatoes are acceptable either way.

Cold cooked fish is too fishy (e.g. whitefish, whitebait, etc. Uncooked fish (eg sushi) is fine, as well as cold non-temperature cooked fish (like ceviche).

Cold pasta sauce is too clumpy. It may taste fine, but it detracts from the experience of having the pasta evenly covered with sauce when it's all congealed.

Cold chowder has the mouth feel of eating day old barf, it must be warm.

Cold buttered toast is soggy and sad.

I didn't realise where I was this, this is great

got my upvote. I love a hot meal.

I only enjoy cold in fresh fruits, veggies and salads. Primary meals e.g. pasta tastes bland or awful if cold. Most fastfood and streetfood loses texture once it becomes stale, even if you reheat it, the worst of it being fries.

Hot food makes me nauseous pretty much every single time. I crave cold food.

I partly agree, certainly that if you have to wait for the food to cool down so it doesn't burn your mouth, that's not an enjoyable experience. I mostly like cooked food to be lukewarm (but only some things are enjoyable to me actually cold). Also I don't like hot drinks, even in winter.

Steak, chicken breast, and non melt cheese on dishes with empty stretchy cheese, are things that are better when not cold.

But the biggest one is probably fresh warm bread.

absolutely agree, my favourite food is also a cold meal (naengmyeon; literally means cold noodle in korean)

Cold meals are nicer for heatwaves

When I was in Malaysia years ago the street cafes would sell you a sort of cold gulash/curry. It was a shock at first, but quite delicious. However, back home in Scotland I am not eating cold curry.

cold meal gang unite!

Cold chicken is the GOAT

Mmmmm cold left over BBQ meats! 🤤

An actual unpopular opinion with more upvotes than downvotes? Pinch me

I agree sort of. I like eating food hot, but I don't usually reheat leftovers. The exception to that is soup of any kind including chili for me.

Also I don't prefer fries cold as someone else said, but otherwise most things are about as good either way if they started out hot.

Found the German

Sometimes if I have left over lasagna I'll reheat it ,but if it's not fully warmed up I still happily eat it. So I feel like you're somewhat correct. I think it depends on what it is you're eating

I prefer room temp foods. Drives my wife insane when i let my food, coffee, eggs, etc cool down to 70-85 degrees

They can be, ya. Of course IF there's any chance the food may have germs in it, then it should first be heated to at least 165 degrees. THEN they can be eaten cool if you like. ('Leftovers are sometimes the best things in the fridge !)

Examples of cold meals?

Do you only eat pizza and chili? Meat and cheese based meals specifically have that advantage you mentioned because of the greasy fat factor… but I would always warm up leftovers like chicken soup, vegetable casserole, curry, stew, etc. Maybe try eating less greasy food?

Also, a big benefit to heating up meals you didn't mention is to kill bacteria. It's safer to eat food after it's been briefly brought up to temperature, especially if it's been stored slightly longer than ideal.