I have a few favorite brands on certain items. Most of the time I'm
not a brand loyalist, but for certain things I have to have a
specific brand or I would simply go without. And if for some reason
that brand was no longer available, I probably wouldn't buy a
competing product.

So what do you buy that would change our indifference toward a
certain food/drink?

A partial list:

I would not use sriracha if it weren't Huy Fong brand. Only Huy
Fong has that deep, slightly aged flavor that all other brands are
lacking.

I would only eat 1/1000th as many peperoncinis if it weren't for
Mazetta Garlic and Dill Peperoncinis. Imported from Greece, these
are picked before they are over-ripe, making them tender and juicy
rather than dry and tough like other brands. The brine is perfect -
I usually drink the brine before I've finished the last 1/4 of jar
of peppers.

I will only buy El Faro anchovy-stuffed and Mezetta Bistro Classics
green olives. They latter used to be made with Queen olives from
Spain, but they've recently switched to their own domestic green
olive. They're still pretty decent. They're marinated in wine and
herbs - a few different stuffings and wine parings are available.
Any brand of black olive is OK.

I will only use Mae Ploy chili garlic sauce. Same reason as Sriracha
above. Much more flavor than the other brands.

I will only use Three Crabs Brand fish sauce in my dips and cooking.
Many SE Asian chefs agree.

I will only buy Bubbies and Ba Tempte pickles. These are both
naturally fermented without the use of vinegar. Claussen was my
favorite for the longest time, but those days are over (Do you know
Vlassic doesn't even use dill in their "Dill Pickles"?).

With the exception of the peperoncinis which are dirt cheap ($1.74),
these items only cost $.50 to $1 more per package but it's well
worth it.

Forget about your Skippy peanut butter(*) or your Wonder bread and
tell us your favorite brand of Gefilte or Surstromming (for
example).

(*) Hmm... I guess I'm a JIFF man. If it was unavailable I would
buy another brand for making a sauce or confection, but for
sandwiches it has to be JIFF.

-sw