Foods I refuse to eat during hot summer days...

[Gifted Gourmet]

Thinking about the heat and what kinds of foods I might wish to avoid during that heat and humidity which encompass Atlanta like a curtain ... inspiration for this post from Slashfood.com

What's on your list?

Lots of Mexican spicy foods (which make me sweat) are something I avoid ...

[Jason Perlow]

Cream-based or thick hot soups. I've been known to have a nice bowl of Pho or some Gumbo during balmy sticky weather, though.

Edited May 30, 2006 by Jason Perlow (log)

[maggiethecat]

I was going to say Pot au Feu, or Ye Roast Beef of Olde England, or Irish Stew, but hey, I have central air... bring them on. OK, lardo maybe. Yeah, straight pork fat might be better in cold weather months.

[mizducky]

Thinking about the heat and what kinds of foods I might wish to avoid during that heat and humidity which encompass Atlanta like a curtain ... inspiration for this post from Slashfood.com

What's on your list?

Lots of Mexican spicy foods (which make me sweat) are something I avoid ...

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Now see, I have read somewhere that many tropical regions (Mexico, India, Indonesia, etc.) go in for spicy foods specifically because they make you perspire, thus helping to cool the body. Mind you, though, you have to like the sensation of dripping with sweat.

For me, it's not so much an issue of what I will and won't eat during the summer, but what I will or won't cook. When the temperature tops 90 degrees, I tend to avoid the stove like the plague ... but I'll happily eat all sorts of hot and substantial foods if someone else prepares it (and, preferably, serves it to me in an air-conditioned room).

Nonetheless, my food choices do tend to lighten up a bit during the summer. Again, it's not so much what I won't eat in the heat, but what I will eat more readily because of the heat (and, conversely, find a little less appealing during cooler weather). In colder weather, I find that too much raw leafy greens and citrus fruit can actually give me the chills, but in warm weather they suit my system a lot better.

[scottie]

I love to cook Indian food, but I find that I just don't want to cook it in the summer. Seems like more of a wintertime thing to me. Which is weird, because of course India contains large geographic areas which are quite warm. I think maybe I'm cooking mostly northern Indian foods, like thick curries, but even southern Indian foods, like dosas and coconut milk-based sauces, are just too much for me in the summertime.

Vietnamese food is my favorite summertime fare. That and plain fresh vegetables from the farmers' market, especially cucumbers and goat cheese. Yum!

[Verjuice]

I was just talking about this with a friend yesterday, over cold bottles of Leffe Blonde. It was 117 degrees with 80 percent humidity. At night. And summer hasn't even started yet so the oppressive heat has not really made an appearance. Mass exodus will occur in a week or two, when the air is suffused with a soporific pall producing a sensation akin to being wrapped in a wet blanket in a steambath.

This means that a huge tupperware of tabbouli and fresh gazpacho must be chilling in the fridge at all times.

And cucumbers. Lots of cucumbers.

Iced black coffee in the morning. Cold melon or a frosty bowl of cherries for breakfast.

Iced herbal tea all day long.

Dinner- what's that? Pass me a glass of Sancerre.

It's... so.... hot...

[purplewiz]

Beef stew, heavy curries, thick rich soups with sausage and kale. All the things I crave on freezing days. Gratins. Anything which requires me to turn on the oven.

I like spicy food in the summer, but it's a lighter spicy, like a curry rub on grilled chicken. Or I'll put my chili spices in slaw, rather than a nice thick pot of chili.

But I want my two cups of hot coffee first thing in the morning all the year 'round.

Marcia.

[BigboyDan]

Any heavy boiled meat or vegetable dishes. No thanks on the sauer kraut...

[prasantrin]

I eat nothing cooked that comes out of my kitchen. It's just too hot and humid to cook (central air in homes does not exist in Japan), so anything I might have to make myself just doesn't get made.

That being said, as long as the restaurant is air conditioned, I'll eat anything!!!

[FabulousFoodBabe]

I don't cook certain things in the summer: Lasagna, pot pies, beef stew (all three, favorites of my spousenkids). I don't eat baked potatoes, any cream sauces, hot soups, or baked fruit that is not in a pie. I also don't eat any soft-fleshed fish (sole, even halibut).

It's freaking hot here, and at the cookout last night I ate salads for hours.

[TPO]

I don't think there is anything I refuse to eat (except maybe hot chocolate and hot apple cider), but when it is really hot I don't have much of an appetitie. I'm happy with fruit or maybe a sandwich at mealtime. When it's just warm, any food off the grill is good.

Like many others here, I don't cook a lot of wintery meals (stew, roasts, etc.) when it's hot and I probably wouldn't order them in a restaurant unless they happened to sound good to me at the time.

When it's a scorcher, I like to eat popcorn. In an air-conditioned movie theater, of course!

[annecros]

Well, the availability changes in the summer, and I think that influences a lot of my eating choices.

My beloved bean soup and garlic cheese toast are banished. Just can't do it. But beans and rice, yeah, I can do those.

[BarbaraY]

Bean and pea soups and most other soups are out during our very hot summer. Only have hot chocolate in summer while camping in the mountains.

My ex brother in law refused to eat pork during the summer. Now how can anyone get through summer without pulled pork or spareribs?

[liamsaunt]

No mashed potatoes in the summer!

Hot soups are also out.

[Megan Blocker]

The big change for me is that I avoid turning on my oven...oh, and anything that requires you to actually stand over the stove for a long time, like risotto. I'd still eat it in a restaurant, but you won't find me cooking it.

It was 117 degrees with 80 percent humidity. At night. And summer hasn't even started yet so the oppressive heat has not really made an appearance. Mass exodus will occur in a week or two, when the air is suffused with a soporific pall producing a sensation akin to being wrapped in a wet blanket in a steambath.

Dear god, where do you live? Remind me never to visit in summer. New York is bad enough.

[Gifted Gourmet]

Dear god, where do you live?  Remind me never to visit in summer. 

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Verjuice once mentioned that she lives in the United Arab Emirates .. now that is really hot!

[ludja]

Something that I really don't enjoy eating on a very hot day (w/o AC) is a big bowl of pasta with hot red sauce or a ragu. I've done this once or twice and the heat emanating from the bowl persists long enough that it makes for an uncomfortable eating experience; you're hot and sweaty by the end of the meal.

A nice warm weather pasta dish: toss cooked pasta with olive oil, lemon zest and juice, ham and black olives. Or, toss pasta with pesto and cooked or grilled vegetables. Let pasta cool a bit before eating...

[jennahan]

I agree with the person who said cooked food. Anything raw I can do, but cooked...no go both in restaurants or at home. When I say cooked, I mean anything cooked, including pasta, rice, bread. My threshold has to do both both % humidity and temperature. The extreme of no cooked foods kicks in at high summer DC temp/humidity. At 80F and 60% humidity, I can still do rice and pasta. Probably why I used to drop 5 pounds over the summer. I also avoid any hot beverages (duh), including my morning coffee.

[Pontormo]

Stem-cell research.

(In the spirit of srhcb)

[Megan Blocker]

I agree with the person who said cooked food.  Anything raw I can do, but cooked...no go both in restaurants or at home.  When I say cooked, I mean anything cooked, including pasta, rice, bread.  My threshold has to do both both % humidity and temperature.  The extreme of no cooked foods kicks in at high summer DC temp/humidity.  At 80F and 60% humidity, I can still do rice and pasta. Probably why I used to drop 5 pounds over the summer.  I also avoid any hot beverages (duh), including my morning coffee.

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Will you eat cold cooked foods? Like, cold chicken? Pasta salad? That's one of my favorite summer things. One of my favorite anytime things, really.

Judging by the inclusion of "bread" in your list, I'm guessing not, but I'm not sure...

Edited May 30, 2006 by Megan Blocker (log)

[suzilightning]

nothing hot unless it comes off the grill - though on a positive note i am compiling a list of foods i want to make and the recipe boxes have been pulled out...

buffalo chicken salad

cobb salad

gazpacho

fruit soups

one trick from many years ago - i always try to poach chicken or tuna steaks very early in the morning - they become salads for the evening meal with pasta or greens and when they come in the freakin New Jersey tomatoes for the BEST BBT's - bacon, basil and tomato.

[annecros]

I agree with the person who said cooked food.  Anything raw I can do, but cooked...no go both in restaurants or at home.  When I say cooked, I mean anything cooked, including pasta, rice, bread.  My threshold has to do both both % humidity and temperature.  The extreme of no cooked foods kicks in at high summer DC temp/humidity.  At 80F and 60% humidity, I can still do rice and pasta. Probably why I used to drop 5 pounds over the summer.  I also avoid any hot beverages (duh), including my morning coffee.

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Will you eat cold cooked foods? Like, cold chicken? Pasta salad? That's one of my favorite summer things. One of my favorite anytime things, really.

Judging by the inclusion of "bread" in your list, I'm guessing not, but I'm not sure...

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OH MAN! Cold Pasta Salad. All about summer.

Just have to get up early enough in the morning to prepare and pop it into the fridge before it gets hot out.

But Pasta Salad? Must eat. With anything grilled, but most especially smoked pork butt.

[SuzySushi]

I live in Hawaii, where the weather is tropical year round. No difference between my "summer" and "winter" foods except for what's in season and what's not.

[FistFullaRoux]

I'd eat it, but something I'd refuse to make in the summer is gumbo. I did it once about 6 years ago. It was cooler outside the apartment while it was cooking. Tasted great, just too damn hot.

And Mexican/spicy foods are supposed to help lower the body's temperature. Makes you sweat. It's a good thing. Drink lots of water.

Edited to fix a typo, and to add:

An outdoor kitchen, a fancy grill with burners, or even a turkey frying/crab boil rig would handle that nicely, though.

Edited May 30, 2006 by FistFullaRoux (log)

[ZenKimchi]

Seollongtang -- Hearty Korean Beef Stock Soup. That is a definite winter thing.

I look forward to summer because that's when I can eat gobs of my favorite Korean dish -- NaengMyeon. Buckwheat noodles swimming in a bath of slightly sweet beef stock with radishes and Asian pear and mounds of shaved ice. Throw in a few squirts of the condimentary (new word) vinegar and Chinese mustard.

When I put the large stainless steel bowl up to my mouth to drink the soup, I can't physically put it down, it's so good. It's like diving into a chilly spring.