Food-related quirks and neuroses

[hummingbirdkiss]

I really do not eat communal food at work because of the nature of my work and I am neurotic .. people come in and out of the break room from all over the clinic touching door handles. moving sick patients from lab to Xray ect ..or just caring for a patient then grabbing a bit while charting....I would love to think everyone washes their hands but there is no sink in the break room so who knows! ..the donut thing is funny ..I will see in the morning a box of donuts..cookies...pastries..what ever is there....then someone rips one in half ..someone else will rip another one in half even if it is the same type just to avoid the already torn one ..by noonish there is a box of torn in half or pieces pulled off all the items.....all dried out and crusty...by 5 pm the plate or box is empty ...it is like this strange predicted tradition of while it is plentiful it is mutilated...then as the day goes on and the stress increases ...no one cares and just eats!

I dont know if it is a "neurosis that drives me nuts" but it is a very strange breakroom food dance that is for sure

Edited March 26, 2008 by hummingbirdkiss (log)

[tino27]

I really do not eat communal food at work because of the nature of my work and I am neurotic .. people come in and out of the break room from all over the clinic touching door handles. moving sick patients from lab to Xray ect ..or just caring for a patient then grabbing a bit while charting....I would love to think everyone washes their hands but there is no sink in the break room so who knows!

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I hadn't considered the "dirty hands" angle, but I am reluctant to eat communal food at work (i.e. all those potlucks) because of food safety issues. I mean, *I* know to keep foods below 40 or above 140 to keep it safe, but I don't know about anyone else.

Fortunately for me, someone always forgets to bring something and ends up ordering pizza delivery, so at least there's something safe to eat.

[petite tête de chou]

I really do not eat communal food at work because of the nature of my work and I am neurotic .. people come in and out of the break room from all over the clinic touching door handles. moving sick patients from lab to Xray ect ..or just caring for a patient then grabbing a bit while charting....I would love to think everyone washes their hands but there is no sink in the break room so who knows!  ..the donut thing is funny ..I will see in the morning a box of donuts..cookies...pastries..what ever is there....then someone rips one in half ..someone else will rip another one in half even if it is the same type just to avoid the already torn one ..by noonish there is a box of torn in half or pieces pulled off all the items.....all dried out and crusty...by 5 pm the plate or box is empty ...it is like this strange predicted tradition  of while it is plentiful it is mutilated...then as the day goes on and the stress increases ...no one cares and just eats!

I dont know if it is a "neurosis that drives me nuts" but it is a very strange breakroom food dance that is for sure

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Actually, I don't think that this is strange or neurotic. Neither my husband or myself will eat potluck food primarily because we see who does and doesn't wash their hands after using the bathroom. Many don't. That is enough for both of us to politely decline the offerings.

[Ndy]

Also, if corn was being served with dinner, another veggie must be made.

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Technically speaking, corn is a starch.

My mom does the same, though. She'll make corn but then will also make another veggie dish. Is it an Old School thing?

The thing that drives me crazy is [sTANDS ON SOAPBOX] when someone brings doughnuts to my workplace. Invariably, someone will take half a doughnut. Half. Not the entire thing.

C'mon, people! Channel your inner Homer and take the entire freakin' doughnut! Is it really that difficult?! Do you really think someone else is going to come along and take that remaining half of a doughtnut that you tore in half with your fingers that have been typing on your computer keyboard or dialing your phone. Have you ever stopped and looked at how dirty the number pad is on your office phone? And you used those same fingers to tear that dinky little dougnut in half and expect someone else to eat the remains because you just can't bring yourself to eat an entire doughnut? Grow some stones and take the entire doughnut back to your cubicle! Then eat half and throw the other half away if you don't want it. We don't want it either. Thank you. [DISMOUNTS SOAPBOX].

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NICE. I too am pissed off by this occurrence. I actually saw someone doing it once and made them take the whole thing. I think they were a little annoyed, but I didn't care. It felt good to be a doughnut nazi.

[feedmec00kies]

When I eat M&M's or Skittles (or any multicolored candy for that matter) I group them in rainbows and eat each rainbow in ROY G BIV order. It brings new meaning to "tasting the rainbow" from the skittles commercial.

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Yeah, I pretty much do that with my multicolored candy. I might eat a few, but if I have the space, I pour the rest out, and sort and count them so that I make piles of each containing the same number in each. Then I eat whatever random ones, always grouping them so that I have one of each color, so if there were overwhelmingly more orange ones, I'd eat them until I could pair it with a yellow because finally I had the same number of yellows and oranges (but more than any other color). Then, when I'm done with the "extras", I start picking up one of each color and eating them as a group.. I might ingest them separately, but I have to find some "logic" to the order I eat them when they're in my hand, and they have to be in my hand as a group before I eat them.

I can't find the post where someone said their husband won't eat things on bones b/c they're "too much work", but that's my sister's logic for not wanting to eat lobster or crab. Too much work for too little benefit. She'd happily polish off a thing of wings, though.

I just visited friends at my alma mater, and while eating in the "All you care to eat" (yeah, that's what they're calling it) dining hall for brunch, I had a plate of tater tots. I ate a few normally, and then I started pushing them around with my fork, so that I had all the whole ones on one side of the plate, and the little bits of potato and the broken ones on the other side. Then, I ate the bits, and then the broken ones... One of my friends was sitting on my left, and he had been watching me do this. I looked at him and said, "What, I had to eat the broken ones first!" His response was, "Man, I missed you."

[Landru]

Also, if corn was being served with dinner, another veggie must be made.

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Technically speaking, corn is a starch.

My mom does the same, though. She'll make corn but then will also make another veggie dish. Is it an Old School thing?

The thing that drives me crazy is [sTANDS ON SOAPBOX] when someone brings doughnuts to my workplace. Invariably, someone will take half a doughnut. Half. Not the entire thing.

C'mon, people! Channel your inner Homer and take the entire freakin' doughnut! Is it really that difficult?! Do you really think someone else is going to come along and take that remaining half of a doughtnut that you tore in half with your fingers that have been typing on your computer keyboard or dialing your phone. Have you ever stopped and looked at how dirty the number pad is on your office phone? And you used those same fingers to tear that dinky little dougnut in half and expect someone else to eat the remains because you just can't bring yourself to eat an entire doughnut? Grow some stones and take the entire doughnut back to your cubicle! Then eat half and throw the other half away if you don't want it. We don't want it either. Thank you. [DISMOUNTS SOAPBOX].

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NICE. I too am pissed off by this occurrence. I actually saw someone doing it once and made them take the whole thing. I think they were a little annoyed, but I didn't care. It felt good to be a doughnut nazi.

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You are my hero. At my workplace, the doughnut goes through various stages of disintegration. First it is halved, then that half is halved and so on. I call it Zeno's doughnut.

As far as my food neuroses - wow, I've seen them in this thread already. No fresh tomatoes if they are the only thing - too slimy. However, in a hefty sandwich or casserole then they are fine.

And also it was pointed out to me that I always leave something on my plate as well. I am sure this a control thing from childhood and my mom making me sit at the table all night to eat the strip of tire rubber that somehow had replaced her pot roast. It wasn't until I made pot roast as a well-seasoned adult that I found out that it could be chewable AND delicious. Who knew?

The other minor neurosis is that I can't eat raisin cookies that look like chocolate chip cookies. This is more a ontological point than a neurosis in my viewpoint. I am sure that there exists a universe without chocolate where raisin cookies are very delicious and I would love them. However, this universe has chocolate chip cookies. Choosing to eat a raisin cookie when there exists a minute possibility that it could have been a chocolate chip cookie, for me is a mistake of cosmic proportions.

This neurosis I'm sure came from my childhood as well when I thought I had picked a chocolate chip cookie to eat and but then found something VERY different in my mouth. The words "betrayed", "sucker-punched", etc. do not convey the ravishing of my soul that occurred. How can one believe in a benevolent universe after this?

[Toliver]

Also, if corn was being served with dinner, another veggie must be made.

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Technically speaking, corn is a starch.

My mom does the same, though. She'll make corn but then will also make another veggie dish. Is it an Old School thing?

The thing that drives me crazy is [sTANDS ON SOAPBOX] when someone brings doughnuts to my workplace. Invariably, someone will take half a doughnut. Half. Not the entire thing.

C'mon, people! Channel your inner Homer and take the entire freakin' doughnut! Is it really that difficult?! Do you really think someone else is going to come along and take that remaining half of a doughtnut that you tore in half with your fingers that have been typing on your computer keyboard or dialing your phone. Have you ever stopped and looked at how dirty the number pad is on your office phone? And you used those same fingers to tear that dinky little dougnut in half and expect someone else to eat the remains because you just can't bring yourself to eat an entire doughnut? Grow some stones and take the entire doughnut back to your cubicle! Then eat half and throw the other half away if you don't want it. We don't want it either. Thank you. [DISMOUNTS SOAPBOX].

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NICE. I too am pissed off by this occurrence. I actually saw someone doing it once and made them take the whole thing. I think they were a little annoyed, but I didn't care. It felt good to be a doughnut nazi.

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You are my hero. At my workplace, the doughnut goes through various stages of disintegration. First it is halved, then that half is halved and so on. I call it Zeno's doughnut....

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I had a smart ass of a co-worker once who brought in some bagels and doughnuts. He said "I bought some raisin bagels. But come to think of it, the bakery really didn't look that clean, so let me just say I hope they're raisins." Needless to say, I never again consumed any food item he ever brought in to work. Neurotic, or just cautious?

[Underfoot]

This is probably the closest thing to a food neurosis I have, and it doesn't drive me nuts, but it does make me worry that I am in my heart of hearts a snob.

Whenever I eat ice cream or something similar like full fat yogurt, I must eat it with a nice, small silver spoon. Somehow it's the only appropriate way because the size forces you to savor it, and the decadence honors the food! Yeah, okay, maybe I'm not neurotic but I am clearly crazy!

[blurby]

This is probably the closest thing to a food neurosis I have, and it doesn't drive me nuts, but it does make me worry that I am in my heart of hearts a snob.

Whenever I eat ice cream or something similar like full fat yogurt, I must eat it with a nice, small silver spoon. Somehow it's the only appropriate way because the size forces you to savor it, and the decadence honors the food! Yeah, okay, maybe I'm not neurotic but I am clearly crazy!

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Nope, I do this too. I would rather have too small of a spoon than too large when dealing with sweet things and cereal. Stews, soups, and chowder demand a large (but not obscene) spoon with good heft.

[rhinopias]

This is probably the closest thing to a food neurosis I have, and it doesn't drive me nuts, but it does make me worry that I am in my heart of hearts a snob.

Whenever I eat ice cream or something similar like full fat yogurt, I must eat it with a nice, small silver spoon. Somehow it's the only appropriate way because the size forces you to savor it, and the decadence honors the food! Yeah, okay, maybe I'm not neurotic but I am clearly crazy!

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Crazy???? Nope. Smart way to enjoy a small portion of something decadent? Yes. I'm in the same boat on this one.

[sherrid]

Hahaha, glad to see other small spooners for desserts!!! I do the same and often will serve it also in a small bowl to even out the experience!!!

I also love knawing on bones. In fact, the other day we had chicken drumsticks and my partner after finishing his meal, gets up from the table, picks up his finished plate, then goes for mine to take away, sees my very clean bone and exclaimed: Look at that clean bone!!! You've even cartlidge!! lol.

And yes.....I admit it....I'm a plate licker too!!

My partner has a thing for wanting food with tv or movies. For example, he will make a sandwich but won't pick it up or start eating it until the very first introduction of the program starts!!! Talk about bringing the senses together!

[chappie]

If we're staying in with a DVD, I must eat before the movie begins. I can't concentrate on either if both are being consumed simultaneously, and I don't like movie interruptions.

[melonpan]

By the way, I solved the maple syrup/butter in the waffle "windows" a long time ago.

I heat the maple syrup WITH the butter in a lovely little Hall China pitcher, stir just before pouring and get a perfect proportion of syrup to butter in each and every dimple. 

Actually I simply employed the technique similar to one I learned as a very small child when my grandpa would stir soft butter into sorghum molasses before anointing a hot biscuit with this lovely sweet/salty combination.

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brilliant.

i learned my one thing for today

[melonpan]

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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tis comforting to know that im not the only one who feels sorry for broken snacks. i dont ignore the whole pieces, though. i systematically find broken pieces and eat them up first because i feel sorry. and then i continue with the "normal" ones.

[melonpan]

i eat rice at least once a day. usually three times.

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

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sometimes i feel this way about rice. they do sometimes look like maggots to me. very disgusting and completely unappetizing. and sometimes there are photos of dishes (can be anywhere. ive seen them here on eg too) with rice where the rice looks particularly maggoty to me.

and i cannot get the image out and i cannot eat much for a little while.

but i get over it rather quickly.

i simply NEED rice in my life. if i go too long without it my stomach rebels and i feel like i am constantly with heartburn.

is this a psychological thing? this feeling of heartburn when i go without rice for a few days?

i feel like its just a mental thing, but i simply dont have the will power to fight it. its just easier to cook the damn rice and eat it.

[maggiethecat]

If we're staying in with a DVD, I must eat before the movie begins. I can't concentrate on either if both are being consumed simultaneously, and I don't like movie interruptions.

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I get it.

We tailor the dinner for movie nite. Pasta in a bowl, a rack of ribs with many napkins, pizza, a meatball sandwich. You should be able to eat it with your hands, or, at most, one implement.It would be a shame to relegate a great meal to a secondary position behind a movie, but you can make a meal movie-friendly.

[dockhl]

I love that many of these are not complaints about people we think are neurotic, but analysis of our own quirks. Also comforting is that so many of us share (or at least understand) these foibles that we have (hidden) from the 'general public' for years. Not weird here! Meet your brothers and sisters !

I feel much better visiting this thread.

[Doodad]

If we're staying in with a DVD, I must eat before the movie begins. I can't concentrate on either if both are being consumed simultaneously, and I don't like movie interruptions.

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That is like the line of John Goodman's Cyclops character in "Oh, Brother Where Art Thou."

paraphrasing: I thank you for the hiatus of conversation during gustation. I know some who attempt both and find it coarse and vulger.

[star792]

I think cooked quinoa looks like maggots and I haven't made it in awhile because of this. When I was a child I was very neurotic about food. If it had a speck of anything on it(seasoning) I wouldn't eat it. No sauces and nothing touching. Red sauce was a big no. Yellow rice was too. I ate mostly plain noodles with butter.It was strange but I got over it when I met my husband. He literally forced me to try foods and then I got over my ridiculous gag reflex and began to eat all kinds of foods. I would say I still have a hard time with pickled things and gelatinized foods. I am a member of this site and that says how far I have come. Also my children are not picky and it burns my mom up because she always said she hoped my children would put me through what I did to her. ( they get me in plenty of other ways)

[R.E. Turner]

I did not realize that the spoon thing might be a neurosis... I thought I had "inherited" my love of long-handled teaspoons from my mom! It seems to me, though, that the slightly smaller bowl and the longer handle forces one to savor foods more than would be probable with more conventional spoons. (Mom, my aunts, and I all seem to eat foods out of bowls vs. plates more often, too. Easier to eat the last bits, that way, and one is forced to refill more often. I don't know about everyone else's motive, but for me, I don't tend to overeat as often if I have to make the conscious effort to refill that bowl for just "one more bite." And, on the other end of the spectrum, it doesn't look so "weird" to dip a tiny bit into a bowl for one more bite, whereas the same amount of food would look downright lonely on a dinner plate.)

As for broken treats, I subscribe to the notion that broken cookies, chips, pretzels, etc., have released their calories into the atmosphere. Thus, those are my favorites!

Like others here, I also have "texture issues" with some foods. For example, I like the flavor of onions, but can't tolerate the mouth-feel of uncooked or lightly-sauteed ones... They squeak between my teeth! Urk! Even liver tastes and smells good to me, but the mealy texture puts me off. Fortunately for my fellow diners, though, I don't have my brother's highly-developed gag reflex: Bless his heart, but he taught my mother the folly of "try a bite of everything" when confronted with cabbage and squash.

And then there are the foods that have bad associations, whether they are logical or not: I haven't eaten my grandmother's chili since I was in the fifth grade (lo! these many decades ago,) and that was the last thing I ate before exhibiting the symptoms of a truly awful flu bug that went around that year. Nor have I had the yen for chocolate milkshakes (or much of any sort of chocolate) since becoming carsick after consuming that "treat." If I recall correctly, that's been nearly 30 years of life without chocolate milkshakes. (Similar memory of a banana split, come to think of it. Is it any wonder that ice cream treats are not high on my list of things I can't live without?)

I guess that with all of my own food neuroses, I'm reasonably tolerant of others' weirdness. Many of my older relatives grew up and/or learned to cook prior to home refrigeration, so I don't mind that they want their meats charred. (I just employ low lighting at the dinner table as not to gross them out when I eat my steak bloody.) And my 7-year-old daughter likes catsup with virtually anything savory... I learned to pick my battles, and rejoice in the fact that she would try most things, and enjoy many foods, so long as I didn't mind the sight of red sauce dripping off the pork roast or Brussels sprouts.

[Sugarella]

....I keep thinking about what really constitutes food neuroses? When does a food preference end and an actual food neurosis begin?

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It begins when you're halfway through a bowl of cereal, look down, and realize the cereal box had been full of dead bugs. Now I have to seal my cereal in foodsaver bags every time I open a box.

I also can't eat raisins that have been baked into anything. I can eat raisins on their own, but baked into anything and I'm methodically dissecting the baked good and checking the raisins for wings. Same reason as above.

I think some people need to draw attention to themselves with food issues.  Look how much attention kids get when the are fussy eaters.

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Exactly. I once made the mistake of serving an olive oil and lemon juice salad dressing to an acquaintance. She couldn't eat the salad because she'd "never heard of that." She could eat olive oil just fine, she could eat lemon juice just fine, but mixed together and she just couldn't do it. I later figured out it was just a manipulative, passive agressive control issue, of which she had many.

Edited August 8, 2008 by Sugarella (log)

[Toliver]

this one may not be odd, but I love vanilla ice cream with orange juice poured on it!

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That's a deconstructed 50-50 Bar (an ice cream novelty). Get down with your bad self!

[prasantrin]

This doesn't really qualify, but I just found out an exchange student I'll be counselling from April doesn't eat potatoes. And she's German. She's not allergic to them, but she just won't eat them.

ETA: I mention that she's German because I thought potatoes were very commonly used in German cuisine. Am I wrong? I'm not very familiar with it, so I could very well be. She's from Bonn, if that makes a difference.

Edited January 22, 2009 by prasantrin (log)

[ChristinaM]

I love this thread! I feel so much better about myself now, so much to identify with...

I can't eat M&M's, they commit the dreadful sin of being 'not smarties' - which needless to say I have to eat by colour. Skittles, conversely, do not have to be eaten in pairs because they are fruit flavoured and I don't eat fruit in pairs

Those white bits on egg yolks...aaaargh. THE most revolting thing in the universe. To the extent that at age 2 I invented a name for them: they are called 'lawlers' (goodness knows why). And they DON'T disappear when cooked, they just get firmer (I am retching as I type this). Any scrambled eggs or omelets in this house have to be seived before cooking - even after being mixed with a stick blender, just in case.

I won't eat quail or whole pigeon as they are too small and it seems unfair on them. Partridge is pushing the envelope but I can just about eat them

My daughters all have their own little quirks, eldest won't have any food touching on her plate, and it's getting worse. The other day I had made swedish meatballs and she got hysterical when I said she couldn't have the sauce in a seperate bowl. She's 24! I gave in that time, on condition that she tries to get her head round it for next time.

Middle daughter (21) is a chef and also the fussiest person I know. The list of things she won't eat is so long that it's easier to make a list of things she will eat: pasta, prime fillet steak, overcooked chips, mash, overcooked fried eggs, baby corn (but only if it's been cooked in a Thai curry), Yorkshire pudding and gravy, runner beans, spinach, parmesan, mild cheddar, toast. That's about it. She's a good chef and tastes all the food she prepares...go figure!

Youngest (18) isn't bad, she hates mince and the summer before last refused to eat anything other than dried mango and sliced chicken breast, I was glad when that stopped. Her fiance makes up for it, he claims he will eat anything as he's very polite (bless) but then starts retching...he also eats only one thing at a time, first potatoes (or other starch), then meat, then veg, except he usually doesn't eat the veg and hides it under his fork/napkin/juice container even though he knows I know he does it

Family mealtimes at our house are a hoot

[prasantrin]

Back to my German exchange student, yesterday she told me that she gained 5 lbs before coming to Japan, just in case she didn't like the food here (so she'd have a bit of cushion). One month later, those 5 lbs are gone, and she doesn't have much more than she can safely lose.

It's going to be a long year, not to mention that I have very little patience regarding picky eaters (but I never have to eat with her, so it's not so bad).