Food-related quirks and neuroses

[chemprof]

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).

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Rona,

What does she like to eat? When I first went to Japan I thought I'd lose weight eating sashimi and bits of rice, but then I found the wonder of tonkatsu, not to mention all the great bakeries. And that's just the tip of the iceberg! I thought the variety of food, both japanese and non-japanese was pretty impressive. So yes, you sometimes eat salad for breakfast at a hotel buffet, but you can get used to that!

Anne

[Dianabanana]

Good lord, if you can't find something you like to eat in Japan, then . . . well, I don't know what. That is crazy. Japan has the best of everything, as far as I could tell! Prasantrin, you must be a saint.

[tupac17616]

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).

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Now if there's a Japanese student staying with this German student's family in Germany, did he/she do the same? Somehow I think not.

I'll do my best to make up for what this girl did not eat the next time I'm able to go to Japan.

[Peter B Wolf]

I will never ever eat any kind of Baked Goods, even if it is a 'Birthday Cake', that has icing or decorations made in BLUE color

[vloglady]

If I have M&Ms, I must eat them one at a time and never the same color twice in a row.

[helenjp]

Rona, I have bad memories of escorting wives of visiting scientists around Kobe nearly 30 years ago...looking for "a simple steak and salad that doesn't cost the earth, now is that too much to ask?" It sure was, especially back then, but these ladies didn't want to hear it!

Potatoes...some people with swallowing problems really dislike eating mashed potatoes, they either choke or fear they are going to choke.

I'm suspicious of food hates with histories that need to be explained in detail, with appropriate attention and sympathy displayed by everybody in the room (even if they already know way too much about the issue!), EVERY time the target substance is identified within ICBM range.

Extreme picky eaters...I encourage them to cook for themselves, even in my kitchen!

[pax]

I just realized I have my own food neuroses, although I said something about my husband's way up thread.

After reading about Zombie Crabs, I can't touch seafood. I realize it is totally irrational, but I just can't.

Also, I roast a chicken and then use it up bit by bit, you know..but the prep and clean up would make you think I am working with Ebola virus. I'm past AFDA safe and into OCD territory.

[Jtothe]

I'm not a picky eater by any means, but one thing that I cannot stand, is when there's toast crumbs in the butter. My family keeps some room temperature butter, and every time I look for some, there's always breadcrumbs. Double dipping the butter knife is a big time no no.

I'm sure I could live with it, if they were brioche crumbs, but no, it's that damn generic multigrain!

[cteavin]

I don't know that this really qualifies as a neuroses but it drives me up the wall when well meaning raw food enthusists, vegans and vegetarians MISname foods.

I love trying new dishes and I was totally interested by the title, "healthy raw food brownie" to find nothing brownie like inside -- and with all the sugar from the dried fruits, I question "healthy", too. Also, if someone choses to be a vegetarian then why call it "chicken"? I love vegetarian food but if it's from a bean don't call it beef. (lol) And isn't an apple pie supposed to baked? Raw apple pie on sprouted nut crust. Hmmm.

[Kouign Aman]

The munchkin has heard about eating grasshoppers. She's caught herself a honking-big cricket and wants me to fry it up for her.

Excuse me, my neuroses are showing.... :hork:

It will be all I can do to take her to a Mexican place and stay at the table when she tries her order.

I bet that drives her nuts!

[emmalish]

The munchkin has heard about eating grasshoppers. She's caught herself a honking-big cricket and wants me to fry it up for her.

Excuse me, my neuroses are showing.... :hork:

It will be all I can do to take her to a Mexican place and stay at the table when she tries her order.

I bet that drives her nuts!

Bleargh...

[maggiethecat]

This is a fairly long topic and I'm too tired to scroll up and see if I've mentioned this before. If so, I'm saying it again. I come from great frite wagon country (Montreal/Ottawa) and live in Chicago where even the humblest dog/Italian Beef joint serves crisp hand-cut fries. We make damn good fries ourselves in the privacy of our kitchen. I might order a slider or a bacon double cheeseburger, but I'll never order chain fast food fries.

I'm picky that way.

[GlorifiedRice]

Minute Rice is cooked, freeze-dried rice which one reconstitutes with water. It bears roughly the same resemblance to rice as Tang does to orange juice.

←1539380

Wow, you just add water you have rice? That sounds kind of space age and, um, interesting. Maybe we'll try it some day for the fun factor.

←1540283

Well, it's not quite that easy, you do have to nuke it for two minutes then let it rest for 5 minutes.

←1540322

The worst thing about Minute rice is that I am going to have to start using it again for "grandma's stuffing"....I have tried every other rice available to me and the stuffing doesnt taste "right"

It actually smells better than Uncle Ben's

tracey

The freeze drying SPLITS the grains after you reconstitute it. so it falls apart and gets mushy and not toothsome

[furzzy]

I can't mix pasta either.

Also, I have to cut my waffles according to the lines. I'm not sure if that's the reason why I eat them, just because of the lines.

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The more I read this thread, the more I discover how incredibly neurotic I apparently am! It gives me the absolute heebie-jeebies to cut waffles "against the grain"--you HAVE to cut along the lines. And french toast has to be cut in lines parallel/perpendicular to the sides of the bread; no willy-nilly chopping off pieces here and there as you go. That's just plain wrong.

And then there's the eating things in odd numbers--candy tastes better eaten in 3's (1 is too few, 5 is too many, 2 is too balanced, 4 is overkill).

I do microwave ice cream cartons because ice cream tastes better slightly melty. Really good ice cream I'll deliberately spoon around the edges in my bowl to get a combination of the still-frozen stuff and the cream that's melted off. (You can't, by the way, just wait until it all melts; that's just crazy talk.)

And I've passed on this genenic mess as well: My son won't eat any foods that have a "skin" on them, for example, cream of chicken soup that's cooled just slightly. And no crusts, no skin on apples--pretty much he hates chewy things. That does drive me nuts, since the edges of a tortilla are pretty much the same as the centers of a tortilla, but he insists they're a "crust" and won't eat them. I eat a lot of pickings off his plate...

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I like the edges of tortillas and such, but I cannot stand the skin. Especially pudding skin.

Oh my! I just started reading this thread, starting at the end & working my way backward page by page.

I LOVE THIS THREAD!!!

I have no opinion on crusts, but skin, especially pudding skin......mmmmmmmm.....

I'll make creme anglais (still "vanilla pudding" to me) and let it sit long enough to get a skin.

Then I carefully scrape that off & eat it.

Then let it sit long enough to get skin again, & scrape & eat.

Then, again.

However many skins I can get.

mmmmmmmmmm

Do I hear "lather, rinse, repeat"? <GG>

Heading for the kitchen to see if I have enough egg yolks, sugar, whole milk & cream.....

Edited June 3, 2013 by furzzy (log)

[MaryIsobel]

This thread entertained me for quite some time yesterday. I don't hink I have much to offer other than I cannot eat a forkful of cooked peas all by themselves. It's the texture. I don't mind them in things and I can eat my weight in fresh, raw peas. My other thing isn't actually food but I cannot stand wood touching my teeth. Toothpicks, popsicle sticks, skewers or those little wooden spoons that one used to get with Dixie Cups. (In my part of the world dixie cups are small cups that hold maybe 1/2 a cup of ice cream and came with a wooden spoon/paddle attached to the top.)

[lindag]

I totally agree about the little wooden tools.  It just doesn't feel right.

 

[Margaret Pilgrim]

55 minutes ago, MaryIsobel said:

(In my part of the world dixie cups are small cups that hold maybe 1/2 a cup of ice cream and came with a wooden spoon/paddle attached to the top.)

That airlines pass out in the middle of the night to insomniacs on long-haul flights.

[liuzhou]

I had missed this topic the first time round. A fascinating journey. Both amusing and horrifying.

 

It's far too late and many people have moved on, but anyone still agonising about what to call the snotty bit in egg whites that so many seem to hate can rest. It is the chalaza* (plural chalazae). It is also a useful indicator of freshness; if you can hardly see one in your whites, then your eggs are stale.'

 

* 'ch' pronounced 'k', 'la' pronounced 'lay'; stress on the second syllable.

IPA: (kəˈleɪzə)

 

 

Edited June 30, 2023 by liuzhou (log)