Foods where spending extra makes a difference

I was thinking the other day about foods (there are lots of other possible categories, but I'll stick to foods) where specific sorts of premium-priced characteristics are worth paying for. Herewith, a list broken down into categories:

Terroir

Some things derive most of their specific character from terroir -- the specific soil, atmosphere, exposure, temperatures, etc. that they're grown with.

Wine

This is the canonical example of important terroir.  As one moves from general to specific, the detailed characteristics become more pronounced, thus:

• Blended wines (e.g. Red Lion, or "Canadian" wines which blend wines from another country in) are basically crap.  Never worth any money, and I'd rather drink water.
• A broad regional appellation can give a guide to type, especially if there's an actual regulation associated with it.  Thus (say) "Burgundy" (on a red wine) not only guarantess a general area but a specific grape (Pinot Noir).
• A narrower one gives a bit more specificity, e.g. "Cotes de Nuits", and there's a more specific character there.
• A narrower one still guarantees still more specificity, e.g. Gevrey-Chambertin.  You can still get a lot of variation even in that small area, though.
• A specific cru such as Charmes-Chambertin narrows it down still further.  At this point, one is usually buying from a single vineyard, which is the most specific level of all.

The same principle can apply outside of the great wine areas like Burgundy: thus Ontario VQA doesn't tell you much, Beamsville Bench does (even though it's not an official label -- it has been mooted for one in the past -- it has to be descriptive by general labelling standards) and, say, Thirty Bench Vineyards tells you even more.  That's why Chateau des Charmes has single-vineyard wines: specific character matters, and it gets lost as soon as you mix it in.

Some wine types express a single grape, some a combination: many of the best are single-grape expressions, but claret (for example) or many of the great Cote de Rhone wines, are expressions of locailty across several varietals.

Coffee

Guess why Starbucks and similar shops sell specific types of coffee based on origin?  Blends may provide for balanced-out brews for daily drinking, but some specific areas have enough character that one wants that specific character to come through.

Olive oil

Both olive type and location can be important here, as well as the processing methodology.

Your basic cheap olive oils use heat extraction, which generates an oil which is OK for cooking, but not as good as far as taste goes and not quite as good nutritionally.  Cold pressing methodology gets virgin and extra-virgin oils (the former better for cooking).  But after that you're back to thinking about blends, locations, and varietals.  Different olive types produce very different oils, which is why high-end shops like Olivier & Co. have so many different, DOC, olive oils.

Scotch

Speyside vs highland vs Islay.  Need I say more?  Again, there's a big gap between blended scotch and single malts, and massive differences between (say) a Glenlivet and a Lagavulin.  Much of that is processing method, but some is local conditions (notably water).

Lamb

Well, pre-Salé lamb and similar special types which graze in localized areas.  Unfortunately, finding this is a major problem in most places.

Finishing salt

For cooking, salt is salt.  For finishing salts, texture and more subtle flavours can make a difference, with the obvious examples being fleur de sel and fumé de sel.

Heritage/Heirloom

This category reflects the fact that many of the foods we get easily have been bred for factors other than flavour (frequently ability to travel).

Pork

Modern pork has been bred for white meat and low fat, which has removed much of the flavour.  Heritage breeds tase a lot better.

Tomatoes

These are bred, these days, for ease of transport and pest resistance; heritage types, all other things being equal, taste much better.  Of course, sun-ripened and in season also make for better tomatoes: sun-ripened "ordinary" tomatoes in season can trump heirloom tomatoes which are out-of-season.

Processing / Raising

Poultry

Free-range vs. caged (and yes, I know that there's a wide variety in "free-range" as well).  This also applies to eggs -- there may be little nutritional difference, but there's a significant difference in flavour based on (especially) what a chicken eats and how it spends its days. (Consider also the traditional distinction between winter eggs with paler yolks and a diffferent flavour from summer eggs).

Bread

Pain de mie is not standard baker's white bread, even though the ingredients may be about the same, and neither one is cheap white processed bread.  The same observations apply to the variousother varieties.

Beef

Grass-fed vs. feedlot corn-fed cattle; plus (later) proper dry-aging of the beef.