Food-related quirks and neuroses

[Kouign Aman]

...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.

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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.

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[

Apparently there are two of us in the world who do this! ............

And only with the plain M&M's, not the peanut.

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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.......

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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.

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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.

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

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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.

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I think there is the invitation list to a perfectly delightful party here.

Easter's coming - may I invite y'all over?

We can display our oddities, laugh at each other & ourselves, and secretly cringe when forced to watch someone who's ticks dont conform to our own.

[VenerableBede]

Perhaps there is a kind of continuum ranging from personal preferences to obsessive-compulsive disorder or eating disorders. Once a person's preferences become so noticeable or so numerous as to interfere with their own pleasure or the pleasure of others at the table it's hard to just call it pickyness. If you can't stand the cranberries touching the potatoes (and I agree it isn't an appetizing combo) and your solution is just to put turkey in between, you're happy, no one's the wiser and everyone has a nice dinner. But if someone serves you dinner already plated who doesn't know that about you and you get upset and ask for another plate, that's crossed beyond picky eating preferences.

I think some people need to draw attention to themselves with food issues.  Look how much attention kids get when the are fussy eaters. I know people that have just never grown out of their childhood eating patterns.

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i freely admit that mine is probably more OCD related than food related. . .and yes, i also only eat one thing at a time. that is, as my wife has remarked to me, i start with the protein, or main item on the plate, eat that item until finished or done, then move on to each side item on the plate, one at a time. if i'm at a plated reception, if the food is egregiously touching, i'll use my fork or knife to create space, then i'll eat the items one at a time. my main problem with plated receptions is that the salads often come pre-salad dressinged, and i hate salad dressing. it's funny when i'm cooking for people and i do this plating stuff for everyone, then when i sit down at my plate, the one i stacked and did all this stuff to, i'll take it apart, move the items so they don't touch, and eat one thing at a time.

i've never considered it as a call for attention, rather, it just seemed more logical to me to eat things that way. i don't think i've ever asked for another plate and re-made a plate, unless there was a sauce (which is another story) on the plate that made it impossible for me to continue.

my wife's sister, on the other hand, claims not to like the taste of meat, even though she has freely admitted that 1) the way meat had been prepared when she was growing up was probably not the best example of how to prepare meat and 2) she is actually more afraid of the physical pains associated with reintroducing meat into her diet than the taste of meat. there are other issues, obviously, but those are to what she admits.

edited to add- by the way, i just had to put in my view on waffles: i cut mine up first, then add the syrup (i do the same thing with pancakes), and no butter. ooooooh. . . . .

Edited February 25, 2008 by VenerableBede (log)

[BekkiM]

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

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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.

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I'll eat your black Necco wafers! (You can have the brown ones)

ETA: I'm game for an Easter candy exchange!

Edited February 25, 2008 by BekkiM (log)

[sygyzy]

This thread is very disturbing.

[Shelby]

[hummingbirdkiss]

This thread is very disturbing.

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I dont know I feel very validated by this thread actually

[JTravel]

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

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[-sheila mooney]

My late friend would not eat rice. She said it reminded her of maggots.

When we were young she ate rice all the time and Chicken with Yellow rice was one of her favorite things.

The older she got the more neurotic she became.

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my late mother would not eat orzo for the same reason. i think orzo looks more like maggots than rice, but then to each her own....

[Lilija]

This thread is very disturbing.

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I dont know I feel very validated by this thread actually

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Me too, just another reason why eGullet always feels like "home" to me. You're ALL nuts I say that in the most affectionate way possible, of course.

[viva]

My late friend would not eat rice. She said it reminded her of maggots.

When we were young she ate rice all the time and Chicken with Yellow rice was one of her favorite things.

The older she got the more neurotic she became.

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my late mother would not eat orzo for the same reason. i think orzo looks more like maggots than rice, but then to each her own....

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I have the same issue with little pastas and rice. I wouldn't call it a neuroses yet, because if necessary I can eat them, but I certainly won't seek them out or make them myself. Rice in sushi is ok, probably because it's clumped together and sticky rather than being loose and ... maggoty looking. Grandma used to make some particularly vile "chow mein" dinners that didn't help with the rice thing, either.

Note that I actually will eat and have eaten fried bugs (cricket, grasshopper... not bad, all they needed was a little salt), so you can chalk me up as completely irrational.

[tamiam]

My brother does this too. He also likes to mush all his food together and only eats ice cream after he stirs it to a near soup like consistency. We are talking about an adult here. Drives me nuts

Do you mean swirled ice cream soup is not normal? Wierd, because that's how I always do it.

On another note, some of the folks who are very picky about eating equal numbers of peas or stew pieces or certain specific never to be varied orders strike me as hitting somewhere on the autistic spectrum. I dont intend that as an insult, rather I am observing that being overly focused on counting and on the order of operations are both characteristic of the condition.

[JanMcBaker]

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

Oops.... and here I was thinking that I didn't have any food neuroses until I came to that line above! I'm not as nutso about it as I used to be, but after all, what's a PBJ sandwich if you don't have PBJ in every bite? And when I was a kid, with 7 in the family and not a lot of money, occasional Saturday dinners were bologna sandwiches-- using the chunk bologna that you slice yourself. We'd each slice our own for our sandwich and I remember being heckled a bit for trimming my slices so that every single millimeter of that bread slice was properly covered with bologna!

My post was originally going to be about my brother, who eats each item entirely before going to the next. I still recall a family dinner at a restaurant when he ordered steak. But of course he had to eat each side dish first..... then complained that the steak wasn't hot!!

Oh, and referring to one of the early posts about the nasty associations with rice... This same brother used to be a city mechanic, working on trash trucks. Guess what the workers there called "Uncle Ben's Perverted Rice"?

[dividend]

I have the opposite problem as those of you who eat one thing completely before moving on to the next - I have to eat one bite of each thing in rotation, and it drives me a little nuts if there's not enough of something. I also tend to combine things on my fork into a single bite. I'm trying to get over my desire to save the bets bite for last, because that leads to an uncomfortable tendancy to clean my plate even if I'm stuffed.

I hate sharing food off the same plate if the intention is that both parties will eat half. If I'm sharing something with my BF that I have to split, I employ the "I split, you pick halves" method onto separate plates, because I hate the thought of either of us having an unfair portion. I think this might be because I tend to be a slow eater, combined with wanting an even distribution of components from first bite to last. I feel a little neurotic sometimes when I'm out sharing appetizers with friends. Like, there are three of us, we each get 2 potato skins, so can't we just all take 2 up front so there's no worries?

[chocomoo]

When I eat with my hands (ribs, crab, corn on the cob, etc.), I have to wash my hands after I'm finished eating the messy food. It's not enough to wipe my hands on a napkin (or several). And it doesn't matter whether it's at home or in a restaurant - I just can't eat the rest of my non-hands-on food with dirty hands. I think it's because I don't like eating with dirty utensils (that I've dirtied myself, otherwise that would just be common sense). I just don't like feeling stuff on the handle of my fork, spoon, or chopsticks.

I also have to spread my jam/butter/Miracle Whip to every corner of the bread. Why would you want a bite of plain bread?

Also, related to that, when I cover containers with leftovers with saran wrap, I must stretch it tightly so that there are no wrinkles in the wrap.

[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.

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Er... how do you eat asian food?

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Just like everyone else, I don't mind mixing it all together. I think I do it because there was never a common thread between each item at dinner. It was a matter of slogging through the meal. Baked potato, microwaved vegetable, then chicken, pork or roast beef. Irish American cooking isn't all that exciting, well there was the great "no more stew" uprising of 1969 but that's another story.

[OnigiriFB]

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.

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Er... how do you eat asian food?

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Just like everyone else, I don't mind mixing it all together. I think I do it because there was never a common thread between each item at dinner. It was a matter of slogging through the meal. Baked potato, microwaved vegetable, then chicken, pork or roast beef. Irish American cooking isn't all that exciting, well there was the great "no more stew" uprising of 1969 but that's another story.

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Ok. For some reason I had an image you getting a big plate of rice or bowl or rice and eating all of that and THEN going to eat curry or whatever else there was or vice versa. Most asian food is meant to be eaten with rice so that kinda boggled my mind a bit.

I do have a few food neuroses I would like to confess to. First I do not like my rice to get muddy. That probably needs explaining. An example would be curry stalls in Thailand that generally will give you a plate of rice with curry and whatever slopped on to the rice. To me that means the rice gets too wet and the flavor get mixed up and "muddied". I prefer to eat family style where the curry and other dishes are in the middle of the table and take spoon full of one item at a time. I think the rice is more pristine in a way? I hope this make sense. Strangely I do not have this problem with western food and actually prefer the get a fork full of something and add another item to the end of it. Am I wierd?

The second one I can think of is that I generally like the same thing for lunch for a period of time. I eat a lot of different types of things and even when I have a choice of mulitple items I'm most happy with a simple dish. I just like that dish for lunch again and again (not as in leftover but just the same dish made again). When I was living in Thailand it was common for me to go on a khao mun gai phase or a noodle phase or a somtum phase. Here in the States I can happily (for my mouth prolly not my health) eat McD's filet-o-fish for a week straight. (Luckily this craving doesn't hit very often!) Once I get off my phase I'm pretty anti whatever it was that I was eating for awhile. Anyone else have this problem? Oddly it's only for lunch. I get really really bored if I have the same dinner over and over again.

On a neuroses (maybe?) of someone else. I had an ex-boyfriend who would only eat chicken fried rice no matter which asian restaurant we went to. He would NEVER try anything else. That relationship lasted way too long....

[MomOfLittleFoodies]

here's a neuroses for you, rather than just an aversion...

It bothers me when I go to a restaurant for breakfast and they serve the pancakes on the same plate as my eggs. While I love dipping my sausage in maple syrup, the thought of syrup on my eggs just grosses me out. I usually have to eat the eggs first to avoid the syrup thing.

[miladyinsanity]

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.

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Er... how do you eat asian food?

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Just like everyone else, I don't mind mixing it all together. I think I do it because there was never a common thread between each item at dinner. It was a matter of slogging through the meal. Baked potato, microwaved vegetable, then chicken, pork or roast beef. Irish American cooking isn't all that exciting, well there was the great "no more stew" uprising of 1969 but that's another story.

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Ok. For some reason I had an image you getting a big plate of rice or bowl or rice and eating all of that and THEN going to eat curry or whatever else there was or vice versa. Most asian food is meant to be eaten with rice so that kinda boggled my mind a bit.

I do have a few food neuroses I would like to confess to. First I do not like my rice to get muddy. That probably needs explaining. An example would be curry stalls in Thailand that generally will give you a plate of rice with curry and whatever slopped on to the rice. To me that means the rice gets too wet and the flavor get mixed up and "muddied". I prefer to eat family style where the curry and other dishes are in the middle of the table and take spoon full of one item at a time. I think the rice is more pristine in a way? I hope this make sense. Strangely I do not have this problem with western food and actually prefer the get a fork full of something and add another item to the end of it. Am I wierd?

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Nope. You're perfectly normal, at least in my little world.

I do the same thing. I never ever pour curry, for instance, right onto my rice. I put it on the side of the plate and mix as I eat it.

[pax]

I read an article about zombie crabs in Wired a few years and ever since then I cannot eat shellfish. It freaked me out so badly I just can't do it. I feel sick at the thought.

Totally crazy on my part.

[Septemberdog61]

I only have one, I dont eat at other peoples houses and from potlucks or bake sales...

I have this one also. I will only eat at other peoples houses if their home, stove and bathrooms are clean.

I will not eat from potlucks or bake sales unless I have proof of aforementioned.

[VenerableBede]

On a neuroses (maybe?) of someone else. I had an ex-boyfriend who would only eat chicken fried rice no matter which asian restaurant we went to. He would NEVER try anything else. That relationship lasted way too long.... 

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i don't know you, do i?

i do that mainly because there was a period of time when i was 16 and 17 years old where the only chinese food that i could keep down was chicken fried rice- so that's all i get at chinese restaurants, even today. at the time, it may have been an msg thing, but based on what i know about myself now, i think i've narrowed it down to some type of soy allergy- not all soy products, just some soy products.

[pennylane]

I have the opposite problem as those of you who eat one thing completely before moving on to the next - I have to eat one bite of each thing in rotation, and it drives me a little nuts if there's not enough of something.  I also tend to combine things on my fork into a single bite.  I'm trying to get over my desire to save the bets bite for last, because that leads to an uncomfortable tendancy to clean my plate even if I'm stuffed.

I hate sharing food off the same plate if the intention is that both parties will eat half.  If I'm sharing something with my BF that I have to split, I employ the "I split, you pick halves" method onto separate plates, because I hate the thought of either of us having an unfair portion.  I think this might be because I tend to be a slow eater, combined with wanting an even distribution of components from first bite to last.  I feel a little neurotic sometimes when I'm out sharing appetizers with friends.  Like, there are three of us, we each get 2 potato skins, so can't we just all take 2 up front so there's no worries?

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Oh my God - could we be twins separated at birth??

In my case it's 'cause I'm a fast eater, though - and I don't want to have to try to slow down to make sure I don't eat more than my share, or even worse, sit around watching other people eat knowing I've already had more than I ought to!

[CKatCook]

I once went two whole years where I would not eat anything but chinese food. Seriously, I can now cook some chinese food!

Now I am in the no food touching camp. The only exception is if it is meant to touch, like pasta with sauce, or all the food touching on a sandwich. Forget gravy! Gravy all over things on a plate and I am barfing. All canned veggies have to be in separate bowls, its just too nasty to have them on the same plate.

[feedmec00kies]

And feedmecOOkies:  Where were YOU all those years that I made zillions of fancy little party sandwiches for folks every weekend?  I coulda used a chef of your particular talents.

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Hehe, sorry.

I remembered something else when reading the word "lopsided" on the Filet-o-Fish thread. I don't like other people making my sandwiches (especially at delis or sandwich shops) because not only are things not spread evenly, but the individual ingredients aren't labeled evenly.

Actually, this would be similar to what JanMcBaker said in response to one of my earlier posts (the one racheld was also referring to). If it was presliced [insert name of sandwich ingredient here], it would be a matter of even distribution. If it's not - particularly if I'm making grilled cheese - I cut whatever it is so that it very neatly covers the whole piece of bread.

Oh, another thing. If I buy a small bag of pretzels, I start digging for broken ones, then, if I have the space, dump the whole damn thing out, and put the whole ones back in the bag. Then, I eat the smallest pieces first, and work up until I get to the whole ones.

[racheld]

This thread is very disturbing.

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I blink every time I pass your name on a thread---I won a spelling bee once with its alternative. I often spelled it to myself as a jumprope mantra.

And I DOOOOO have one!! Just like feedmecOOkies, I make fillings fit the bread, breaking just an infinitesimal piece of cheese off a fresh slice, or cutting a little triangle of ham from a whole piece. You don't wanna watch when I'm jigsaw-puzzling cheese onto the top of a casserole!!

DGD gets ten black olives whenever she eats with us. She puts them on her fingers and makes jazz-hands for a moment, then eats them. (And she's grown so, I'm gonna have to buy a bigger SIZE---some of these split as she stuck them on )

Her baby sister, age three, piped up, "Sissy, your fingers look like tree-frog toes!"

Edited February 29, 2008 by racheld (log)