Some people might not care enough to go through the inconvenience of not using a microwave, and that's fair enough, but I'm pretty sure everyone can taste the difference.

It does not. For one it spreads pretty unevenly, but the way they pop is completely different. I don't think anyone would confuse them in a blind taste.

It's the same the use in theaters. It's a pot with a stirrer inside. So you add oil (I mostly use coconut oil) that coats the kernels and the sugar. The machine will stir while it cooks so every kernel gets a uniform coating. Cooking with oil vs just microwaving something is significantly different or do we need to debate this?

The final step, which is actually very important, is drying them with the light the machine has. It will heat the bottom of the machine and get the popcorn extra crispy as it comes out slightly wet from the pot.

I got the machine pretty cheap more than a decade ago, but I'm sure they're not hard to find nowadays.

Nah, I'm serious about my popcorn. I have a professional machine at home and there's a significant difference in flavor. And I'm just talking about your regular sweet popcorn. The microwave can't get close. Sure, it can make an edible product in the same way it can make edible meat. I'd rather avoid it.

You can cook steak in the microwave as well. Just as awful IMO.

You overestimate me. I have to get up, look for the case for a lot longer than 30s, pray it's inside the right case, hope it's not scratched to oblivion and then do the same for the case of the disk inside the player.

Yeah, I was not made for physical media. I game on consoles and even understanding the advantages of physical media (namely that you can resell them) I never went back once they offered the option to buy digitally.

Right...

I mean I can't think of another way it could possibly be done...

Physical media for me is a terrible experience. Like I'm not getting up to change a disk. You can rip physical media to an HDD with the same quality and a nice interface to watch all your movies. That seems like a better experience to me.

At least the Sony ones are already out. I'm on mobile, so you're on your own for a link though.

She's probably not the only one that has a sense of smell good enough to detect it, but she was also exposed to the smell for a very long time, so she learned to identify it. Amazing nonetheless.