Bad food habits

[kimmyb72]

do you

eat just the cheese off your pizza

eat the middle of the danish and leave the cake

pick the crumbs off a crumbcake

eat the crunchie topping off the casserole and leave the inside

eat around the veggies in your soup

eat just the flower part of the broccoli and leave the stems

take apart a sandwich, inspect it, then pull out what you don't like

i live for picking the crumbs off the crumbcake. the cake is such a waste i don't know why they bother with it. just sell the crumbs. share your habits... what do you pick off, move to the side, or discard?

[Jinmyo]

Uh... Would one do these things in private or before other people?

[Knicke]

I think either is appropriate!

I don't pick things off. However, I do have a ritual for peanut butter or ham or cheese sandwiches made on store-bought bread:

1. Nibble off the crusts.

2. Take an equal-size bite from each corner.

3. Trim the edges so the sandwich resembles a plain rectangle again.

4. Take a bite from each corner....etc.

Until the end, when all you're left with is a 1-2 bite-sized square of filling and soft bready goodness from the very middle.

I don't always do this, and it happens more frequently when I'm alone...but I'm not embarrassed by it, and would do it in public. I've been doing this as long as I can remember.

I will occasionally scoop pumpkin pie filling out of the crust then eat the crust - if I know it to be good crust.

[jgarner53]

I once had a housemate who picked all the lemon glaze off MY birthday cake without asking, hiding her crime by virtue of the metal lid on the cake pan.

[Knicke]

jgarner, that's sooooo wrong. I frown on your behalf!

[ghostrider]

Uh... Would one do these things in private or before other people?

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If you don't do those things before other people, you'll be the one stuck with the broccoli stems.

[Kapuliperson]

i like to tear apart/flatten my bread or just not cut it at all. I also like to clean my plate/bowl with bread to get all the saucy bits (especially if the meal was good, of course.), and I like to put rice into the pot where the dish was cooked to get all the sauce/flavor.

[Carrot Top]

Here is one that makes me sort of blink several times and feel several emotions that I will not describe:

There seems to be a burgeoning adoration of 'Ranch Dressing' by elementary school age children.

The latest twist on this that's been reported to me by my daughter (in our fun ongoing discussions of eating habits at school lunchtimes) is:

No, I can't say it.

Okay...

Pizza.....Pepperoni Pizza......dipped in Ranch Dressing while eating it.

[NulloModo]

Well, I think the ranch dressing hating is overrated. Ranch dressing has a cool, tangy, salty, taste that proves an excellent foil to many other foods, same with blue cheese dressing.

I wouldn't start dipping things in a fine dining establishment into it, but really, french fries, take-out pizza, burgers, etc, can be pretty tasty with it. Hmmm, maybe this makes me lowbrow...

[Carrot Top]

Oh, dear, Nullo Modo...I didn't mean to imply 'low-brow'. But when I see young children unwilling to taste a carrot without ranch dip, or an apple slice without caramel dip...it worries me...both in terms of whether they will ever want to approach the taste of something that comes from the earth 'au naturelle' without something else from a jar poured over it....and also, the idea of children becoming accustomed to the sort of quick-satisfaction mouth and tummy-feelings that come from the additions of fatty or sugary toppings

to everything they eat, concerns me.

Ranch is wonderful but addictive and can layer on the pounds just too darn quickly without anyone even really noticing they are doing it.

Edited September 18, 2004 by Carrot Top (log)

[hjshorter]

Does putting potato or corn chips on my sandwiches count?

Eat every thing on my plate equally, so that I would finish everything at approximately the same time. Grew out of that, thank goodness. Ditto picking out all the ingredients in stew, soup, etc. and eating them seperately. Unfortunately, my daughter is developing a few habits like this on her own. It's only when you have children that you realize how big a pain in the butt you were as a child.

Eat the cake and leave most of the frosting, unless it's homemade.

Eat the filling first and then the crust of pie, because the crust is the best part.

[Jinmyo]

If you don't do those things before other people, you'll be the one stuck with the broccoli stems.

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I prefer broccoli stems.

In fact, I prefer gai lan, Chinese broccoli.

[Mottmott]

I prefer broccoli stems.

In fact, I prefer gai lan, Chinese broccoli.

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You are soooo right. As long as the stems are properly peeled, properly cooked. Sweet, succulent, ready to revel in a sauce/vinaigrette or simply pop into your mouth!

Tis the season now to accompany them with some great tomatoes.

Is this the place to reveal part of my dark past? When my kids were young I sometimes used frozen veggies. Until this happened. Our trip to the Yucatan was set, their nursery school teacher engaged to babysit our 4 & 5 year olds while we would be there. We had it together. Until, that is, a piece of once frozen broccoli, stem intact, stuck in a small throat. I still have fond memories of that trip, my children's delight at the iguanas, and a not to be told here episode with a Mexico City policeman. Would you believe I've never used frozen broccoli since, and I am a fanatic stem peeler.

Broccoli peeling technique: cut off the dried reveal at the bottom, then with small knife pry up a bit of the peel, the wider the bit the better, then pull it upwards as far as it can go. Repeat all the way round. It's optional about the peel in the flower head itself. But, oh, never, never! use a vegetable peeler. Then chunk, dice, julienne, then steam.

[TheFoodTutor]

Does putting potato or corn chips on my sandwiches count? 

Wanna know something that's really good? Goldfish crackers on a sandwich. Particularly a cheeseburger.

There's a street vendor on my block who sells burgers and hot dogs on nights when there's a bar crowd, and he'll put all kinds of things on you're sandwich. Just for fun, he decided to offer Goldfish as an option for topping steak sandwiches and burgers. I don't know why I tried it, but it was pretty good, especially after a night of drinking.

But I guess this thread isn't about fun things to eat while drunk.

[Carrot Top]

OK, I've got one. Also from childhood.

Bread Balls.

Take a loaf of Wonder Bread. You might need the whole thing. Sit somewhere like the couch and do something mindless like watch TV. Take a slice of bread out and tear off the crusts (discard them or feed the birds). Then ball up each slice of bread into either one large ball or several small ones. Eat.

Yum.

[Jeremy]

If you don't do those things before other people, you'll be the one stuck with the broccoli stems.

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But, but, but, the broccoli stems are delicious!

[ghostrider]

But, but, but, the broccoli stems are delicious!

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I take a wholistic approach to broccoli, I want it all or none at all.

Jinmyo is correct (surprise surprise), that gai lan is excellent.

I used to dip my strawberries in a bowl of sugar. Glad I outgrew that one.

[dumplin]

I love to eat swiss cake rolls by biting off the ends. I then unroll the cake and eat the cream out. I then eat the cake. YUM. I only do this when I'm alone. My mom taught me its bad manners to pick at your food in public. I don't consider my husband to be public. I don't eat swiss cake rolls often because of the preservatives...and the fact that its hard not to eat the whole box.

For chocolate or lemon meringue pie I like to eat the meringue first, then the filling, and then the crust...if the crust is good.

[NulloModo]

When I was younger I used to eat Nutty Buddy bars by breaking them apart into individuale chocolate or peanut butter covered wafers, and then enjoy each wafer seperately.

[purplewiz]

I love to eat swiss cake rolls by biting off the ends. I then unroll the cake and eat the cream out. I then eat the cake. YUM.

I have a slightly different technique: I agree that you start with biting off the ends. But then you press it ever so slightly so the coating comes off, then eat the coating. Then unroll it, eating the cake and cream together, until you have the center, which is one very little piece of cake coated with cream on both sides. This is eaten with great gusto, because it is the very best part. Finished, of course, by a leisurely lick of the fingers.

This is why I do not eat these things in public anymore.

I always leave the last bit of crust from my sandwich on the plate. I'll eat the whole rest of the sandwich just fine, but for the last little bit. I open it up, eat any fillings out of it, and leave it on the plate. I do the same with the end of the hot dog roll.

I don't know why - at this point, it's completely automatic. I only even noticed I did it when a former significant other pointed it out and wondered about its significance.

Marcia.

[eunny jang]

I have a friend who eats each thing all at once - he eats the green vegetable, turns his plate so the next side is in front of him, eats that, turns the plate, etc. etc. Meat is always last.

Eating with him and watching him eat always makes me feel all itchy.

[tedwin]

From the school of AR (anal retentive) eating: As a kid I would always eat pop-tarts along the perforated lines.

[nice_guy1812]

When I was a kid I would have to eat all of the unfilled outside edges of the pop-tart before I could eat the rest. I also eat off the edge of a Reese cup before finishing it.

[dougery]

All of you folks saying "As a kid I would..."

Come on, your not fooling anyone

To this date I still enjoy stale movie popcorn. I picked this up as a kid actually...

The local Fuji's 10 cent store (any Seattleites remember Fuji's?) used to sell bags of stale popcorn for 10 cents. Since I was on a very limited income at that time, I would buy a huge bag and eat it all before I got home. Ever since, whenever there is left over popocorn at the movies or at home, I save it. My wife get's really angry that there is a bowl of stale popcorn sitting on the counter, but I always tell her "it's not stale, it's just ripening".

[alacarte]

From the school of AR (anal retentive) eating: As a kid I would always eat pop-tarts along the perforated lines.

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I used to eat the filled part of the pop-tart and throw away the dry "crusts."

think this says something about our respective personalities?