Weird Colored Foods

[Randi]

I was eating some cheese curls with my lunch today at work. You know - those neon orange get-all-over-your-fingers kind of cheese curls. And I decided they looked very unnatural on my plate.

What a weird color!

I was, of course, reading eGullet at my desk while I ate and decided a topic was born.

I thought about other foods with weird (read: unappetizing) colors and immediately blue M&Ms came to mind. I hate blue M&Ms! I don't want to eat blue chocolate. Bring back the appealing tan ones!

I have come to terms with the yellow and green ones, but I do eat them first, so I don't have to look at them long.

Hmm...am I weird???? (don't answer that )

Are there other foods out there that are an unlikely, illogical, unappetizing or just bizarro color?

[NulloModo]

Most food colors don't really bug me, and in fact, some are appetizing, even if bizarre. I remember fussing and bitching a lot when green and purple ketchup hit the market, but as I think about it, the unnatural shade of red regular ketchup is, is probably also artificially enhanced. Then again, I just plain old dislike ketchup to begin with, so it was easy to hate new variants.

For foods that are blatantly unnatural to begin with, like M&Ms and Doritos, the odd colors don't bug me. Although one weird snack food I have seen does: Space Popcorn. It is your regular bagged popcorn (pre-popped) coated in generic orange cheese-ish gunk, but when you eat it it turns your tongue and the inside of your mouth blueish green rather than orange... I can't watch people eat that stuff for long.

Then again, if someone offered me a bag of blue pork rinds, I would dig in, but I am never one to turn down pork rinds of any color... Baked good also can come in any color, red velvet cake is just plain cool looking.

[therese]

...as I think about it, the unnatural shade of red regular ketchup is, is probably also artificially enhanced...

←

Unlikely, though it's possible some manufacturers add coloring. Home-made ketchup really is bright red (due to the presence of lycopene, the same thing that makes pomegranates red and ruby grapefruit ruby).

Blue is weird, but I don't mind it too much in something that I already considering pretty much nutritive, like the candy coating on M&Ms.

[viva]

This reminds me of when they added blue and green to Fruit Loops. The last thing you need when you are hungover and reaching for your trusty bowl of Fruit Loops sugar high is bright blue and green circles staring up at you and turning your milk a weird color. Fruit Loops milk is supposed to be pink fer chrissake.

It is for this reason that I haven't eaten Fruit Loops in at least 10 years. I've noticed the same disturbing trend with Fruity Pebbles.

[NulloModo]

This reminds me of when they added blue and green to Fruit Loops.  The last thing you need when you are hungover and reaching for your trusty bowl of Fruit Loops sugar high is bright blue and green circles staring up at you and turning your milk a weird color.  Fruit Loops milk is supposed to be pink fer chrissake. 

It is for this reason that I haven't eaten Fruit Loops in at least 10 years.  I've noticed the same disturbing trend with Fruity Pebbles.

←

Fruity pebbles weren't always completely multicolored? I remember being that way as far back as I can remember... Just as well though, Cocoa Pebbles were always more to my tastes.

Hey, at least Apple Jacks are still purely pink... right?

[viva]

Oh, I feel old. Yup, Fruity Pebbles were once the trusty red, orange & yellow.

And yes, Apple Jacks have stayed true to formula. Bless 'em.

[Marmish]

I don't mind weird colored candy, but I don't like blue, green or other weird colored drinks. Anything that resembles windshield washer fluid or other household products and turns your tongue colors is out.

[Gifted Gourmet]

I read this some time ago and never forgot it ...

Of all the colors in the spectrum, blue is an appetite suppressant. Weight loss plans suggest putting your food on a blue plate.

and why??

Blue food is a rare occurrence in nature. There are no leafy blue vegetables (blue lettuce?), no blue meats (blueburger, well-done please), and aside from blueberries and a few blue-purple potatoes from remote spots on the globe, blue just doesn't exist in any significant quantity as a natural food color.

[Betts]

I cannot deal with those purple potatoes and I will pick around any blue frosting.

However, there has never been an M&M that was unappealing and cheez curls are my secret vice.

[ruthcooks]

I am more disturbed by a lack of color, especially all white. Stewed chicken, mashed potatoes, cauliflower, that kind of thing. Doesn't taste right to me. Neither does a meal that's all green or all red tones.

[EdS]

I have trouble eating food that isn't a common food color. Blue, purple, and even certain shades of yellow are trouble for me. That also goes for the plating. I can't eat off of certain colors.

Screw the Atkins diet, how about the Blue Plate Special diet?

Edited to say: Gifted Gourmet, I didn't read your response before I wrote mine. So, who's going to write the Blue Plate Diet Book?

Edited February 3, 2005 by esvoboda (log)

[fifi]

I have linked to this before but my Smurf blue chicken and dumplings are still at the top of my list. (Go to last paragraph.)

I am not normally affected too much by color but those guacamole Doritos® have got to go. They look diseased and moldy.

[JerzyMade]

Despite a strong curiosity, I've been unable to force myself to try Zima (the clear beer). Suds without color remind me too much of a dishwashing liquid. I still see this thing in the supermarket, although I have never seen anyone buying it.

[Mabelline]

I am right there with the blue food "mistrusters". It does not appeal to me, except for a black and bleu steak---but then that's not really blue.

Purple potatoes don't exactly trip any triggers, either. I want a nice warm looking color, like a toasty Yukon Gold or Blush.

I do not even like blue corn products, because that cornmeal was intended and used as a sacred commodity. I feel it's been overused for a chic selling point. But that's a horse of a different color.

[spaghetttti]

I love bleu cheese and blueberries, but if I see blue cake frosting I head for the hills ... and I don't get blue ice cream (blue vanilla?). We had a blue soft drink here recently, Pepsi was it? That had me howling for days!

[NulloModo]

Despite a strong curiosity, I've been unable to force myself to try Zima (the clear beer).  Suds without color remind me too much of a dishwashing liquid.  I still see this thing in the supermarket, although I have never seen anyone buying it.

←

Is Zima beer? I always thought it was one of those fruity spritey psuedo-wine cooler tasting drinks.

[HeatherM]

I'm solidly in the no blue food camp. I pick out all of the blue M&Ms or Smarties or any other candy that I'm eating. Food (other than a couple of berry or potato types as mentioned above) is not meant to be blue. I don't care for blueberries, so that's just another strike against blue food.

[Fresser]

I love bleu cheese and blueberries, but if I see blue cake  frosting I head for the hills ...  and I don't get blue ice cream (blue vanilla?).  We had a blue soft drink here recently, Pepsi was it?  That had me howling for days! 

←

During my days as an ice cream-scooper, the most popular flavor among the kiddies was "Superman." This blue, red, green and yellow swirled ice cream was actually vanilla ice cream with copious amounts of food coloring added.

I swear, the stuff looked like Play-Doh to me.

[JerzyMade]

Is Zima beer?  I always thought it was one of those fruity spritey psuedo-wine cooler tasting drinks.

←

So they claim, but I don't believe it.

[Darcie B]

Is Zima beer?  I always thought it was one of those fruity spritey psuedo-wine cooler tasting drinks.

←

So they claim, but I don't believe it.

←

Zima is a malted beverage, but I wouldn't call it beer. No hops, for one thing and I'm unsure of the "brewing" process used. The Zima orange gives me a headache and tastes pretty bad. Haven't tried the plain and don't believe I will.

[Toliver]

In college, my art professor held a class potluck dinner at the end of the year. Our assignment was to bring ordinary food that was doctored to not look ordinary to examine how our sight influences our hunger.

The professor's contribution was deep blue mashed potatoes. My dish was a tuna dip from a recipe a high school friend had given me that looked coral pink and lumpy (my friend would bring it to all of our parties...it tasted great but looked horrible). No one at the dinner touched either the blue mashed potatoes or my dip.

Sight plays a big part in how we eat and what we eat...

[rooftop1000]

Apple Jacks are red and ........Green now but freekin Froot Loops have marshmallows in them yech

[Behemoth]

I have to admit I have a fondness for artificial orange. I would occasionally have orange lunch: Cheetos with orange soda, followed by orange tictacs for dessert, of course. I haven't done this in a while but I feel the urge coming...

[viva]

Apple Jacks are red and ........Green now  but freekin Froot Loops have marshmallows in them   yech

←

Dammit. I was just thinking "hmm, I could use some Apple Jacks, I haven't had any in quite a while." And they go the way of the Fruit Loops. Green?????

And then to find that Fruit Loops continue their descent into hell by adding marshmallows. They're probably blue too.

GRRR.

ETA that I have absolutely no problem with neon-orange food either. Cheetos, Kraft Mac n' Cheese, Sunkist Orange soda, it's all good. Something about staining your fingers and giving yourself an orange moustache.

Edited February 4, 2005 by viva (log)

[ladyyoung98]

ok..much as it pains me to say this .... and may pain others as well....

courtesy of eg..not long ago i saw a pic of kings cake...ok..no matter how noble the name may sound...the colors were just so nauseating i just could not imagine myself ever wanting to eat it..im sure that for those who celbrate mardi gras it is as much a part of tradtion as fruitcake is to christmas...but then again..i wouldnt eat fruitcake either....it just looks way to weird and the few times ive managed to try it....the taste wasnt much better either