Quirky
Over dinner last night, talk turned to food quirks. For rational or completely irrational reasons, we all have certain foods that we refuse to eat, make us queasy, or just plain gross us out. Maybe it’s too sweet, too salty, you don’t like the consistency, you refuse to eat animals, they look weird, it smells too fishy, or it smells like feet. I’ve heard a lot of excuses, and we’re all entitled to feel however we want about these foods. I’m always fascinated when people say they won’t eat something, and I love to probe them for the true reasons behind their dislikes. Why don’t you like it? Do you not like the taste? Did you have a bad experience with it? Are you allergic? Are there health reasons behind it? I just need to know why. Over the course of dinner, we reviewed the Lovely Suse’s well documented dislike of cooked fruit (or any fruit in anything other than it’s “natural state”), cake (not including Carvel), pie (not including pumpkin), peas (the afore mentioned “they smell like feet”), and raisins (“they smell like poop”). We also explored the Lovely Suse’s mom’s hatred of honey, strawberries, fruit cups, chocolate covered strawberries, some unfortunate run-ins with pork, and a number of other amusing quirks.
I struggled to come up with something, anything, that I won’t eat, and I couldn’t think of anything. Could I possibly be food-quirk free?
I certainly wasn’t always this way. Growing up, my favorite vegetable was probably ketchup. Coming in a close second was probably peas, but that’s where it ended. Personally, I don’t think it was my fault, nor my mom’s fault. Those were the days where the only known method for cooking and serving vegetables was to boil them until soft and then serve them plain, without any seasoning. Otherwise, they were fresh from the freezer and cooked in the microwave. I’m guessing that there are entire generations of kids who grew up hating vegetables solely for this reason. We just didn’t know any better.
I wouldn’t eat tomatoes, despised mustard, wouldn’t eat fish (other than “fish cakes”), never really ate pork other than the pork strips at the Chinese restaurant, avoided the lamb with mint jelly at all costs, and generally was a big pain in the ass.
As I grew older, I eventually learned to appreciate vegetables and seafood, and when I began cooking for myself in college, a whole new world of eating opened up to me. Still, I wasn’t without my quirks. There was the whole ill-advised stretch of three years post-college that I went without eating a single bite of red meat or pork. It began as a health choice, but then became just a badge of arrogance that I liked to tell girls. Oh look at me, I’m so special and health-conscious! Please date me! What the hell was I thinking? I understand that it’s healthier to eat a diet low in meat and high in fruits and vegetables and whole grains blah blah blah, and that’s pretty much the diet that I still follow. Everything in moderation. But I had to keep that three year streak alive for some stupid reason. Thank god I came to my senses. Just think of all of the delicious things I would have missed out on: bacon, ribs, braised pork belly, slow-roasted leg of lamb, cheeseburgers, salumi, the list goes on and on. I understand vegetarians and people who choose certain diets for moral reasons. I don’t count that as a quirk. That’s a lifestyle choice. But refusing a bite of something for some funny-sounding reason? That’s a quirk.
So back to the original problem: Is there anything that I now won’t eat? I’m sure there are plenty of exotic foods in foreign lands that I probably wouldn’t be very excited to eat, but I would at least try them (assuming that there was no direct health threat). I definitely have quirks in terms of eating good quality foods and only certain foods when they’re in season. For instance just because I don’t want to eat Velveeta doesn’t mean I don’t like cheese. And that certainly doesn’t mean that I won’t eat it. I would just prefer to eat something that is, in my mind, “better” (yes, I am aware that sounds incredibly snobby, which it is). Or I’ll only eat strawberries and blueberries and all summer fruits and berries when they’re in season. Not only do they have no flavor at other parts of the year, there’s the whole environmental impact that I take into consideration (And yes, I’m fully anticipating trying to explain to a three year old why we don’t buy watermelon in January even though it’s sitting there in the store). But, if served at some one else’s house, I would certainly eat them. I would never refuse something that some one else has made for me, as they’ve been generous enough to invite me into their home. I don’t really love turnips or rutabagas, but would eat them if cooked well. Turnips and rutabagas. That’s all I could think of. Seriously?
So what are your food quirks? Or better yet, what do you think that I wouldn’t eat? The really interesting thing to see is which of her parents the Lovely Tess will take after? Will she torture her mom by loving her mashed peas or drive me crazy by complaining that her raisin bran smells like poop? I’m guessing she’ll come up with her own set of unique quirks which while drive us both completely insane.
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