Food-related quirks and neuroses

[racheld]

AHHHH. The Seattle Syrup Shuffle.

If it's not too personal a question for all the one-thing-at-a-time-til-it's-gone people, do you turn your plate, or do you just move to the next thing?

The only person I've ever eaten with who liked to eat that way was my Sister's Ole Miss roommate---she sat with her left hand draped languidly across the napkin in her lap, eating all of six o'clock.

Left hand up, fork down. Finger-and-thumb at four and eight, turn plate clockwise til next item was at six, hand to lap, and so on til the clock was empty. It was the neatest, most efficient dinner I'd ever seen. Neat as in NEAT. We always ate family style---who'da thought? and I never noticed if the food was spooned onto the plate in a particular order. Does anybody have a place for everything?

And for the don't-touch afficionados: Do you eat a bite of this and then a bite of that? Never some of two things in your mouth at once? And one more thing: Does a PB&J require three plates? I knew a child who required that, and that's the only thing I ever saw him eat.

And how about at hotel dinners, weddings, etc.---do you eat what comes out from under that little silver cover? Or do you leave it because something is touching? Would it be feasible to, say, cut that teensy whisper of hollandaise off the filet mignon? Would the bacon wrap be OK?

This is fascinating, a little glimpse of endearing (and enduring) habits.

Then there WAS my Sister's neighbor in Texas---she had to turn around once for each year of her age, before sitting in her dining chair. That was back in the 80's, and I guess her food may be getting cold by now.

Edited cause I did a Quayle on Afficionados

Edited February 23, 2008 by racheld (log)

[MomOfLittleFoodies]

I won't eat cottage cheese. The texture of the curd is just not for me.

[ludja]

...and preferring that at Thanksgiving your mashed potatoes don't even come near the cranberry sauce--my rule, which is completely normal of course.

...

←

For some reason this bugs me too...although I can't think of any other times I worry about this sort of thing. I guess I don't like the color, texture and flavor combination of the two.

[Kerry Beal]

As a kid I went off commercial applesauce for several years after the smelt run one spring. Not that I ate the smelts, just cleaned them, but the roe had the colour and consistency of applesauce.

The homemade applesauce was fine, much chunkier.

[divalasvegas]

...and preferring that at Thanksgiving your mashed potatoes don't even come near the cranberry sauce--my rule, which is completely normal of course.

...

←

For some reason this bugs me too...although I can't think of any other times I worry about this sort of thing. I guess I don't like the color, texture and flavor combination of the two.

←

ludja your reasoning and mine are very much the same in that those foods just don't belong together. I love mashed potatoes and cranberry sauce, but together they are just foul. Although at first it may sound neurotic, my Thanksgiving plate has to be in this order: turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes with gravy, green vegetable. The cranberry sauce will be placed next to the turkey but must have sufficient space between it and the green vegetable. This ordering has less to do with neuroses than the fact I want foods touching to be compatible.

What this discussion has made me realize is that I have a pretty strong neuroses about what other people put in their mouths in my presence with the biggest anxiety producing moments coming from watching people add ketchup to foods WHERE THEY JUST DON'T BELONG! The worst for me is to sit across from someone who puts ketchup on their eggs. I would go so far as to say that if I had prepared eggs for someone and they asked me for ketchup, I might actually lie and say I didn't have any. Similarly nauseating but no where as bad as ketchup on eggs is watching someone put ketchup on cottage cheese, grits, or fish. In those situations, I would actually have a strong urge to leave the table but would not do so in an effort to not be rude. However, I would have to avert my eyes from the offending diner while eating.

And don't get me started on the food swirlers.

Gee thanks Fat Guy, now everyone knows that I'm no-doubt-about-it, snot flingin' crazy.

[jsmith]

If it's not too personal a question for all the one-thing-at-a-time-til-it's-gone people, do you turn your plate, or do you just move to the next thing?

←

I used to eat like this, and I rotated the plate. It wasn't a neurosis or anything, I did it subconsciously. Sometimes I would catch myself and try the different foods and I didn't freak out or anything, I just find it more enjoyable to take my time on each item.

Now, I usually eat about half of one food, go onto the next so I make the round twice. I find it much more satisfying to eat the food this way as opposed to a bite of this, a bite of that. If I just eat chicken for a while, for example, I can really immerse myself in it and enjoy the chicken. I might notice different aspects of the food over time. If the food is really messy I enjoy spending the time on it where it becomes a nuisance if I'm eating other stuff and I go for a single bite of something time consuming.

I find when I eat everything at once it's like flipping through channels on tv where nothing really sinks in or leaves an impression.

[feedmec00kies]

My friend will only eat bananas that have NO speckling on the peel - i.e. hard with no taste or fragrance.

I keep telling him that he is eating an unripe banana and it he waited a couple days, it would actually taste like something....

←

Errr.... I am like that too. Actually, I believe there was a whole thread devoted to the banana thing. I feel like I can taste the gas when i eat the ripe banana, and they're generally too sweet for me at that point. I eat them as yellow as possible before any black marks/spots appear.

I also spread very evenly to all the edges. This has been made fun of by others in the past.

My boyfriend can't eat the yolk and white of the egg separate at all. He only eats eggs scrambled, and they have to be whisked well before cooking so that no white part remains unblended into the yellow-ness.

He also refuses to eat many things because they are "slimy". Raw tomatoes. Okra. Zucchini. Mushrooms. ::sigh::

His mom is one of those "I can't stand garlic" people. I've been warned not to insist on including (too much) garlic if I cook for her. He's tried to convince her that she doesn't hate it. Needless to say, I wouldn't be dating him if he was like that. Hehe.

[andiesenji]

I have several food allergies and avoid those foods and there are some I do not care for and avoid them if possible but try to be discrete about it if they are served to me.

I do know some people who have what I consider are irrational food neuroses, unrelated to allergies.

One gentleman will send back any breakfast, lunch or dinner plate that might include a slice of melon, grapes or even a wedge of orange - after he has given specific instructions when ordering, to exclude these items from his plate.

He has been known to follow the server back to the kitchen to demand "new" food as he does not want the food that has been "contaminated" ..... As far as I know, he has no food allergies.

He has the same neuroses about using fruit-based sauces on meats, which rather defeats the point of serving certain foods with traditional sauces - Cumberland sauce, for instance.

Needless to say, cranberry sauce has never passed his lips, nor has plum sauce, etc., etc., etc!

There have been times when I had to prepare a totally separate meal for him while the rest of my guests were happily consuming pork with apples or similar meat and fruit preparations.

[Icanmakeit]

I have always been an adventurous eater/cook all my life. I would probably turn down anything that needs to be eaten 'alive', insects or potential small pets but anything else is pretty much a 'go'.

I have had a pretty low tolerance for picky eaters and rarely accommodate them when I cook. Sorry if you don't like garlic (incentive to add a few more cloves).

When I met my husband he was Mr. Meat & Potatoes only. His mom - God love her - was a single mom in the 50's and cooking well was not a priority. They ate a lot more potatoes than meat most of the time unfortunately. When I told him I wanted to go have Sushi, he almost threw up. I said I would not continue to date him if he wouldn't at least try it. We have been together over 25 years and he not only loves Sushi, he is a regular customer of sushifoods.com and makes it himself for both of us.

Our 22 year old daughter on the other hand has some very strange food aversions. I cannot believe she is 'ours' sometimes. Her dad offered to share some scrambled eggs with her and she requested that he remove that 'white thingy' attached to the yolk before mixing. I made the mistake of telling her a long time ago that the 'chalazae' is where the chick starts. I also told her that if there is no rooster, there is no chick, but apparently that part didn't sink in. Never mind that the 'white thingy' disappears after cooking.... She also dissects meat like a surgeon, doesn't like dark meat chicken and will cringe if she sees a 'vein'.

I work with a picky woman who will eat suspicious taco truck burritos voraciously. But will ask me 'whets did you put in it?" when offered homemade banana (yes, made will reeeeallly ripe gassy ones) bread. Grrr...

[pennylane]

Most of these food neuroses seem to do with eating food, but I have some strange ones concerned with preparing food. I guess I must have been at an impressionable age when I first read that boiling vegetables leaches all the vitamins out into the water. But I don't have a steamer, so I generally try to cook vegetables in as little water as possible, in the hope that most of them are essentially steamed. Only I still can't bear to throw out any water that might be left in the pan, because I'd feel too guilty for throwing out all the vitamins - and here's the crazy part - I actually pick the vegetables out of the water one by one, so that by the time I'm done most of the water will have evaporated and I won't have to feel guilty about throwing away the vitamins.

I've just realised that the second food neurosis I was going to describe is also vitamin-related. I must come across like an enzyme-obsessed raw-foodist or something. Anyway, my method for peeling potatoes is to boil them first, then peel them by hand while they're still hot enough for the skin to come off easily while hopefully preserving the vitamins which are supposedly just underneath. Leading to some pretty scalded fingers from time to time.

[blurby]

I've heard from a ton of people that they avoid red velvet cake because of food coloring (and thus chemicals). I totally agree that food coloring probably isn't the best thing for you, but for > 90% of us I'm sure we consume FAR more chemicals (and food coloring) through non-red-velvet-cake avenues than through the occasional slice.

Almost everything that irks me is this kind of lose of perspective. Another example: people who won't eat rich dough baked goods because of the butter but will spread an opaque layer of butter or cream-cheese on a bagel

[pennylane]

I've heard from a ton of people that they avoid red velvet cake because of food coloring (and thus chemicals). I totally agree that food coloring probably isn't the best thing for you, but for > 90% of us I'm sure we consume FAR more chemicals (and food coloring) through non-red-velvet-cake avenues than through the occasional slice.

←

Oh yeah, I have this one too. And I can't bear to use food colouring in cooking at all, even though I do know that it isn't that bad for you and also it's not like I avoid it in prepackaged foods and drinks.

[prasantrin]

When I have waffles, I MUST put a tiny bit of syrup in each little square. Can't eat it without it.

susan

←

That's not neurotic, that's just the proper way to eat waffles!

←

Of course, you must remember to put a bit of butter in each square as well!

←

That's just what I was thinking!

[BekkiM]

My father-in-law refused to eat anything even remotely associated with spinach--including green tortelini, which, on one memorable occasion, he methodically picked out of a pasta salad I had painstakingly prepared in a sailboat galley and he chucked each and every one overboard, claiming he could "taste the spinach"...

And I was going to say that I didn't have any food neuroses (other than the waffle/butter thing, but that's not really a neurosis, that's just common sense ), but then I remembered that I refuse to eat duck sauce in any form as I once opened a jar, dipped a bunch of fried wantons in the sauce, ate them, and THEN found the large, dead spider that had been cooked into the sauce. I am convinced that that spider contaminated all duck sauce, for all time, anywhere in the world and cannot bring myself to eat it.

[Lilija]

My father-in-law refused to eat anything even remotely associated with spinach--including green tortelini, which, on one memorable occasion, he methodically picked out of a pasta salad I had painstakingly prepared in a sailboat galley and he chucked each and every one overboard, claiming he could "taste the spinach"...

And I was going to say that I didn't have any food neuroses (other than the waffle/butter thing, but that's not really a neurosis, that's just common sense  ), but then I remembered that I refuse to eat duck sauce in any form as I once opened a jar, dipped a bunch of fried wantons in the sauce, ate them, and THEN found the large, dead spider that had been cooked into the sauce.    I am convinced that that spider contaminated all duck sauce, for all time, anywhere in the world and cannot bring myself to eat it.

←

As far as something contaminating stuff for all time, everywhere, I get like that too. I won't eat lemon meringue pie anymore, ever, because once I had some at a diner, and there was a thin but even layer of jade green mold between the lemon and the meringue. It tasted like lemon, meringue, and sour dirt. I'm really easily put off of stuff. I go back to most things eventually, but currently blacklisted are enchiladas in any form, beef-vegetable soup, Doritos, the aforementioned meringue, Sambuca, pineapple juice, Jagermeister, and Mongolian barbecue. Each food product comes with a story that starts out with "well, I used to like it, but I had a bad experience..."

While we're talking about it, my husband won't eat anything a certain shade of green. Pea soup, guacamole, and spinach noodles all fall into this category. He loves spinach, likes peas well enough, as well as other legume soup, and doesn't mind diced or sliced avocado in stuff. It's the shade combined with the texture.

My housemate has a proportion thing, He eats everything equally on his plate, right down to counting out chunks in a stew or something, so that everything is consumed proportionately. The last bites in a bowl of beef stew, for example will be equal sized pieces of beef, carrot, and potato. He really loses it, if I mess with him and throw a spoonful extra of something, when he's half done with his meal. The other night, we had chili with cornbread. He agonized, because he cut himself too small of a piece of cornbread, and he would finish it too fast, before his chili was done. He struggled and huffed throughout the meal. It was hilarious.

As far as the waffle thing? That's just normal. I drip one drop of syrup in each square, after I put a dab of butter in each one.

[CaliPoutine]

I refuse to eat shrimp that havent been deveined. I remember a date I had when I was 21. I was taken to the restaurant " Killer Shrimp" in Marina Del Rey, CA. The big bowl of shrimp came to the table and I deveined everyone with my fingernail before eating them.

I also won't drink what I perceive to be warm milk( which is any milk that doesnt have ice in it).

I dont like raw tomatoes( too slimy) but love cooked ones.

I hate fresh salmon( or canned salmon) but love smoked salmon.

[pennylane]

As far as something contaminating stuff for all time, everywhere, I get like that too.  I won't eat lemon meringue pie anymore, ever, because once I had some at a diner, and there was a thin but even layer of jade green mold between the lemon and the meringue.  It tasted like lemon, meringue, and sour dirt.  I'm really easily put off of stuff.  I go back to most things eventually, but currently blacklisted are enchiladas in any form, beef-vegetable soup, Doritos, the aforementioned meringue, Sambuca, pineapple juice, Jagermeister, and Mongolian barbecue.  Each food product comes with a story that starts out with "well, I used to like it, but I had a bad experience..."

←

Wait, you can't just leave me hanging! I want to know the stories!! At least give me the Doritos and the pineapple juice...

[Lilija]

As far as something contaminating stuff for all time, everywhere, I get like that too.  I won't eat lemon meringue pie anymore, ever, because once I had some at a diner, and there was a thin but even layer of jade green mold between the lemon and the meringue.  It tasted like lemon, meringue, and sour dirt.  I'm really easily put off of stuff.  I go back to most things eventually, but currently blacklisted are enchiladas in any form, beef-vegetable soup, Doritos, the aforementioned meringue, Sambuca, pineapple juice, Jagermeister, and Mongolian barbecue.  Each food product comes with a story that starts out with "well, I used to like it, but I had a bad experience..."

←

Wait, you can't just leave me hanging! I want to know the stories!! At least give me the Doritos and the pineapple juice...

←

They're both pretty straightforward The pineapple juice ban came about on one of our trips to the Carribean, I drank too many fruity pineapple juice based drinks, and threw up too many fruity pineapple based drinks, and for whatever reason it tasted the same both ways. So, pineapple juice smells and tastes like bile, to me. I'm not exactly friends with rum, either, but it doesn't have the same effect.

Doritos...when I was 20, a friend dared me to eat a whole bag of Taco Supreme Doritos, since I was raving about them. Remember those? I was never a big fan of Doritos, but those were really incredible, and short lived. I ate the whole damn bag. I felt all dusty and smelly for like days after, even after I showered, I thought I could still smell the dust on my clothes and hands. I tasted them for awhile, too. 9 years later, and I get the willies when I smell them.

[jadenegro]

I have one that drives myself nuts- I must eat m&ms two at a time, and they have to be the same color. Then when you are at the end of one color and you only have one left of that color, you have to decide whether to eat it by itself, or mix it with another color.... I've tried to stop myself, and the only good strategy is not eating m&ms at all.

Otherwise I'm pretty normal.

[tino27]

I have one that drives myself nuts- I must eat m&ms two at a time, and they have to be the same color.  Then when you are at the end of one color and you only have one left of that color, you have to decide whether to eat it by itself, or mix it with another color.... I've tried to stop myself, and the only good strategy is not eating m&ms at all.

Otherwise I'm pretty normal.

←

OMG!! I about fell on the flour laughing when I read this. Apparently there are two of us in the world who do this! I don't know what it is either. And only with the plain M&M's, not the peanut.

I don't know where along the way I decided that eating a single M&M was too small a serving and that two at a time was much better, but I've been doing it for years.

My solution to the errant extra colors that don't fit in the 2x2 category ... lump them together at the end and just throw them in all at once.

Perhaps we should form a 12 step group to overcome this.

[Shelby]

I have one that drives myself nuts- I must eat m&ms two at a time, and they have to be the same color.  Then when you are at the end of one color and you only have one left of that color, you have to decide whether to eat it by itself, or mix it with another color.... I've tried to stop myself, and the only good strategy is not eating m&ms at all.

Otherwise I'm pretty normal.

←

OMG!! I about fell on the flour laughing when I read this. Apparently there are two of us in the world who do this! I don't know what it is either. And only with the plain M&M's, not the peanut.

I don't know where along the way I decided that eating a single M&M was too small a serving and that two at a time was much better, but I've been doing it for years.

My solution to the errant extra colors that don't fit in the 2x2 category ... lump them together at the end and just throw them in all at once.

Perhaps we should form a 12 step group to overcome this.

←

Good Lord, I didn't know this was classified as nuts But, I just realized I do the same thing with Skittles....except it has to be two different colors UNLESS it's the purple ones. The purple ones go in two at a time I'm not going to sleep tonight worrying about this.......

[Rebecca263]

I only eat 'broken' chips, pretzels, animal crackers or any packaged item in that vein. I will also eat curled/folded potoato chips. I adore the texture of curled/folded potato chips. As for the 'broken' chips and things, well, I feel sorry for them. Yes, you read that correctly, I.FEEL.SORRY.FOR.THEM.

I know, it's crazy, I know! I just can't help it.

[BekkiM]

I have one that drives myself nuts- I must eat m&ms two at a time, and they have to be the same color.  Then when you are at the end of one color and you only have one left of that color, you have to decide whether to eat it by itself, or mix it with another color.... I've tried to stop myself, and the only good strategy is not eating m&ms at all.

Otherwise I'm pretty normal.

←

OMG!! I about fell on the flour laughing when I read this. Apparently there are two of us in the world who do this! I don't know what it is either. And only with the plain M&M's, not the peanut.

I don't know where along the way I decided that eating a single M&M was too small a serving and that two at a time was much better, but I've been doing it for years.

My solution to the errant extra colors that don't fit in the 2x2 category ... lump them together at the end and just throw them in all at once.

Perhaps we should form a 12 step group to overcome this.

←

Good Lord, I didn't know this was classified as nuts But, I just realized I do the same thing with Skittles....except it has to be two different colors UNLESS it's the purple ones. The purple ones go in two at a time I'm not going to sleep tonight worrying about this.......

←

And Good-n-Plenties... Must eat them two at a time, never mixing the pink and the white... And Smarties (the American kind--I think the Brits have a completely different idea of what these are)... I open a package, arrange them in groups by color, then in a "pyramid" from most to least, throw away the orange ones (which taste like baby aspirin), and eat the color with the largest quantity first, working my way through to the color with only one representative... Unlike May, I'm pretty sure I need help.

On the other hand, Necco wafers can only be eaten one at a time.

[racheld]

On the other hand, Necco wafers can only be eaten one at a time.

←

After crinkling open the packet and taking out the black ones. And tossing the two on each side that might have touched. There's just something transferrable about that dusty powder that conveys the licorice taste to its neighbors.

And I LOVE fennel and basil and anise stars in stuff---just no black lickrish.

[JimH]

OK, I'll admit it, I'm a freak. I don't know why but ever since I was young I'll eat a meal one item at a time. I'll put rice on my plate, finish that then on to the vegetable, then the meat. I have no problem being served with all the food plated but given the chance I'll revert to my "habit". A relative I hadn't seen for years remarked about this recently at dinner, otherwise I probably wouldn't have thought of it.