The best part of this time of year is that most holiday meals feature mounds of mashed potatoes. I am a mashed potato person, and a french fry person and even a baked potato person. I have more rules about baked potatoes though – I loathe “full loaded” baked potatoes and you shouldn’t put everything but the kitchen sink on your potato of choice. Like, it’s gross when people use fries as a vehicle for all kinds of meat, chili, cheese, poutine, whatever. The potato is wonderful enough to stand on its own, which is why mashed potatoes are probably the purest potato – just some butter, salt, pepper and cream and you’ve got perfect mashed potatoes. But not according to Julianne Moore. Julianne Moore hates mashed potatoes. Why????
Julianne Moore is a staunch hater of one of the world’s most beloved comfort foods. The actress, 63, revealed that mashed potatoes rank at the top of her least favorite foods list — and she can’t understand why other people don’t feel the same.
“Why do people like mashed potatoes? It’s just mush. It’s just mush!” she said at a May December cast panel in New York City moderated by Happy Sad Confused podcast host Josh Horowitz on Nov. 30.
While her costar Charles Melton was quick to defend the dish, Moore hit back and said, “I know, people love it, they love them — it’s just mashed mush.”
Natalie Portman, on the other hand, said she’s opposed to fruit in salad. “I’m not into it. I like fruit salad, but I don’t want a savory salad with fruit in it. It bothers me.”
Melton, 32, shared that he doesn’t like blue cheese.
Blue cheese is disgusting, I couldn’t agree more. And I’m also not crazy about fruit salads, although chicken salad with grapes = heaven. But how can anyone hate mashed potatoes? It’s not just mush! Julianne must be making it wrong. That being said, some people have strong feelings about lumpy vs smooth mashed potatoes – I like both? What potato dish does Julianne make for the holidays? Baked potatoes? Sweet potato pie?
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Backgrid.
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- LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA – NOVEMBER 16: (L-R) Natalie Portman, Julianne Moore and Charles Melton attend the Los Angeles premiere of Netflix’s “May December” at Academy Museum of Motion Pictures on November 16, 2023 in Los Angeles, California.,Image: 822638546, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Pictured: Natalie Portman, Julianne Moore, Charles Melton, Credit line: Jeffrey Mayer / Avalon
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- LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, USA – NOVEMBER 16: American actress Julianne Moore wearing a Prada dress arrives at the Los Angeles Premiere Of Netflix’s ‘May December’ held at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures on November 16, 2023 in Los Angeles, California, United States.,Image: 822663249, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Pictured: Julianne Moore, Credit line: Xavier Collin / Image Press Agency / Avalon
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- LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, USA – NOVEMBER 16: American actress Julianne Moore wearing a Prada dress arrives at the Los Angeles Premiere Of Netflix’s ‘May December’ held at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures on November 16, 2023 in Los Angeles, California, United States.,Image: 822663612, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Pictured: Julianne Moore, Credit line: Xavier Collin / Image Press Agency / Avalon
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- Los Angeles, CA – Los Angeles Premiere Of Netflix’s ‘May December’ held at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures in Los Angeles. Pictured: Julianne Moore, Natalie Portman BACKGRID USA 17 NOVEMBER 2023 BYLINE MUST READ: Xavier Collin/Image Press Agency / BACKGRID USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication*
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- Los Angeles, CA – Los Angeles Premiere Of Netflix’s ‘May December’ held at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures in Los Angeles. Pictured: Natalie Portman, Julianne Moore, Charles Melton BACKGRID USA 17 NOVEMBER 2023 BYLINE MUST READ: Xavier Collin/Image Press Agency / BACKGRID USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication*
Potatoes are my forever crush. That’s all.
I don’t hate potatoes, but I easily forget about them. I had waaaaaaay too many as a kid served with equally bland chicken or turkey with gravy and veggies soaked in cream so everything looked the color of an old filing cabinet. Not my jam.
I finally have something in common with a goddess!! I hate any form of mashed potato, lumpy, smooth, buttery whatever. Your special recipe will NOT convince me. It’s literally the only food I’m picky about. Gag. (Potato in any other form is great!)
Same here. Give me scalloped any day.
Love scalloped potatoes. Also love mashed potatoes-mostly my own. I’m the maker of mashed potatoes for both family’s get togethers. The right amount of salt (don’t over salt-blech-it takes salt approximately 25-30 minutes to break down-soup/potatoes are often too salty because peeps don’t understand this. Pepper and real butter. Swap out milk for heavy whipping cream. Decrease the proportion by a 1/3.
My mashed are neither creamy or lumpy. A combination of both. Using the right potato/es is important.
Mashed potatoes is not my favorite. I prefer French fries or rice as my side
Instead of laboriously mashing hot potatoes and worrying about lumpy vs smooth, I take the easy path, I rice them. Riced potatoes are lighter in texture, soak up the gravy perfectly, (or cheese sauce if you’re making the ultimate comfort food, cauliflower cheese with potatoes), and visually is way more appealing than a lump of mashed.
Ditch the masher. Get a ricer.
I dont mind mashed potatoes, and I love fruit in a salad! Figs? Oranges? Water melon? STRAWBERRIES? YES!!!
Apples, grapes, strawberries in salads are SOOOOOOO good! Here’s what bugs me about doing that—sooooooo many people think that they can just tell you it’s gross. I really wish more people would learn the “don’t yuck my yum” thing
Any kind of greens with mandarins or strawberries, celery, a fruity Stilton! I alternate between poppyseed dressing or just a squeeze of citrus for dressing.
omg, pomegranate seeds in salad (or blueberries) is delightful. A mess to procure, yeah, but just delightful.
I’m 100% here for fruit in salads and any type of mashed potato. I love them all! And while I don’t often seek out blue cheese, I can enjoy it in a salad or in a fig wrapped with bacon.
Sensory issues? It took a long, long time to acclimate one of my kids to certain foods. If nutritious, they had to take a (sometimes very) small portion. Chocolate mousse, for instance, is something they did not need to acclimate to and they avoid it to this day.
That was my first thought too. Some people are really bothered by textures.
Yes! Texture in food is so important. To me, mushrooms have no taste, but I don’t eat them because I can’t stand the rubbery (leathery?) texture. I suspect this is Julianne’s issue with mashed potatoes.
She’s talked about having very disordered eating in the past so it could partly be down to that.
I wouldn’t attribute it to that. She’s talking about a specific food and it’s texture. Lots of people have issues with mushy textures.
When somebody else dislikes a favorite food, IMO the best response is “Great, more for me! This way we don’t compete for resources.”
When they love something I don’t like, “More for you! Please enjoy it thoroughly!”
😉😁
This is the way to frame it!
I love mashed potatoes! I will even turn a well baked potato into a serving of mashed potatoes right on my plate in casual company. But other people can have their own likes and dislikes.
Personally I’m not a fan of ‘loaded’ savory things – potatoes, nachos, even layer dips. I’d rather all the components are served separately so I can choose the toppings I want in the amounts I like, and so I can taste them individually, instead of having it together in a big clump in the serving dish. But I’m not going to gripe or yuk if I see a dish like that on a buffet, I just move along.
People who hate pickles are my favorite bc they give me their pickle.
I’m 47 and just started enjoying mashed potatoes in the last year or so, so I get where she’s coming from. I like them with gravy, though. No gravy, no eaty
Thanks for the pics. Two completely different odd outfits and they clash!
I agree with her. I say this all the time…who wants to eat food with the consistency of baby food? It’s like refried beans…yuck. Can’t get past the mushiness of it.
Agree. Cue the gag reflex.
Refried beans can be wonderful
Mashed potatoes are ok, but I’ll always choose something crunchy over something mushy. And there are certain flavors that make my tongue recoil – blue cheese, chocolate and orange together, and snickerdoodles. I want to love snickerdoodles, but the cream of tartar taste makes me want to spit them out.
Made Snickerdoodles to give away for Christmas. There are two teaspoons—that’s right, two teaspoons—of cream of tarter in 36 cookies. No one is tasting cream of tarter in these cookies, Just sugar and cinnamon.
Perhaps you don’t like cinnamon?
What are any of them wearing in that photo? I do not understand why attractive rich celebrities let stylists do stuff like that.
That thing Natalie Portman is wearing. Yikes! She looks like she just came from a Goth version of Swan Lake.
Natalie Portman’s dress is especially hideous. How do you even describe that?
I’ve never been so worried that a dress could both fall down and shift up at the same time.
Sacrilege
I love mashed potatoes! I especially love mashed potatoes that have been stirred with a bit of freshly grated parmesan cheese. I’ve even had mashed potatoes that had been stirred with a bit of Stilton, which is the only way that I’ve been able to eat Stilton (I am not a fan of blue cheese though I try it once in a while when a good friend throw one of his big cheese parties).
Different tastes. I like mashed spuds with garlic/herbs/butter & maybe some cheese. Some folks make them almost soupy. Yuck.
I hate sweet potatoes & yams & textures matter a lot to me. Also, savory + sweet do not belong together for me.
Try sour cream and a bit of horseradish for a change-up. I like them a bit chunky. I’m with you that sweets and savouries do not belong together.😝
I love mashed potatoes. What I don’t like is the way some people have decide that mashed potatoes should have the texture of a thick soup. So if that’s what she’s talking about, I agree.
Yeah, I am also not a fan of what can only be described as a thick mashed potato soup either. It’s the go-to for fancy chefs, as the base of whatever they have imagined the plate to look like at the end of their plating, and it does nothing for me.
I have never met a method of potatoing that I can’t stand, though.
I love mashed potatoes. I also love my mom but every year she forgets to add something, usually butter or salt. Or she adds cold milk, when I plead with her to warm the milk first, so it doesn’t gum up. And I get ignored and it tastes like white mush. Since to her it’s just the same. But she won’t let anyone else make it either. So, we all smile and eat it on Christmas.
I use heavy whipping cream and butter in mine, with a dash of salt. They’re SO delicious. I don’t understand how someone can dislike mashed potatoes!
Apologies @Lucky Charm. I didn’t read further. Posted above that I don’t use milk. Heavy whipping cream is the game changer!
@Flamingo, maybe next holiday you say, “Mom, I want to alleviate the work you put out for the holidays. Let me to take away the pressure of you spending time scraping, chopping and mashing the potatoes. That’s a lot of work and I want to be a contributor in the the family meal while making life for you easier.’. just a suggestion.
Y’all potato haters are crazy! I love all potatoes in every form: mashed, fried, loaded, plain, covered in cheese. Incidentally, grilled red potatoes with a blue cheese and olive oil dressing is divine.
If Russert potatoes are used then yes, your mashed potatoes will be gross.
My Scotch-Irish DNA is offended.
It is impossible to mess up a potato.
They are delicious and wonderful.
I hope whatever nursing home I go to serves them three times daily.
I LOVE putting things in and on potatoes. Sorry not sorry.
A dislike for big piles of complex carbs? Sounds like we know how she’s kept that lovely physique into her fifties! 🤷
I once saw her at the Candy Kitchen in Bridgehampton, Long Island. She is SO skinny, She’s not eating any carbs.
I agree; most of them do not eat carbs. She’s said before that most actresses are hungry and that she lives on granola bars and is very bored by her diet. Check out those Reddit posts where people post about seeing celebrities IRL; they’re ALL scarily skinny in real life; the camera adds like 30 pounds. Even the men are much thinner in real life than they appear on camera.
I adore Julianne, but she will be devastated to know I have crossed her off my Christmas card list!
How can she not like mashed potatoes? Sigh. I’ll miss you, Julianne.
Julianne did an Instyle interview that said her perfect meal is grilled salmon, roasted brussel sprouts and truffle oiled french fries. Sounds lovely.
Okay, feeling like an idiot (and have look some things up), over the last few years we’ve been given truffle oil as gifts. What is the best way to use it? And, can it be used like olive or coconut oil?
why is nobody commenting on the ice dance costume Natalie Portman is wearing??
Agreed. Maybe she thinks it’s a revenge dress, because it’s little black dress?
I want to start by saying i love Julianne, and have since I used to sneak and watch her (and her tiny grey original teeth ) as both Franny and Franny’s Evil Twin on her soap opera in the 80s. I’ve met her, I’ve worked with her, she’s lovely, classy and gracious IRL.
But.. this is the woman who has been quoted saying she routinely goes to bed hungry in order to stay slim for her fashion, who has been open about the expectations put upon actresses to stay skinny, etc. Why are we expecting her to be 1) a foodie or 2) have a popular opinion on a high-carb food? When do you think she last ate high carb “mush”?!
Let’s just enjoy her for what we love her for and leave the food to people who actually get to eat it!
What’s Natalie wearing?
I disgree with both ladies; mashed potatoes are delicious and fruit in savoury/tangy/sweet salads can be a great addition. Julianne has said something to the effect that actresses live on granola bars and are always hungry so I guess she doesn’t eat carbs anyway.
Charles Melton is absolutely correct; blue cheese is foul. (A similar food is tofulu / fermented bean curd and it is actually savoury, mild, and delicious though. You often have it with rice porridge; it’s popular in East Asia.) So are canned fish / most canned foods, veal (please look up what they do to baby cows), foie gras, anything from a pig, suckling pig, balut (fertilised egg), and blood sausage.