When theKid was a young'un, she had a signature omelet: hot dog, grape jelly, and sharp cheddar.The precise genesis of this creation is lost to time, but it was surely her own concoction - the specific combination has remained unappealing for nigh on a quarter-century now. More than that, perhaps, is the ongoing joke of my horror at the mere idea of the thing. (But if I liked it where would the fun be in that?)
I was reminded of theKid's omelet today when I was at Shakesville, a feminist site with a side of food, where they asked people:
What's a food you love that horrifies most other people?
The thread is a hoot, although I found at least a couple of things I love on the list. Those rolls of pastrami/cream cheese/pickle, my grandmother used to make those for me when I visited. (Is it a Jewish thing?) Other choices, say, turkey skin that is "nice and soft and fatty and moist" just make me cringe. Which is, I suppose the point of the list.
The entire list is here.
For balance, What is your idea of the perfect meal? Oddly, this has less than a hundred comments while the other is creeping towards 200.
Even odder, I can't come up with food that I eat that horrifies other people. This probably says more about the people I hang out with than me, but still...
How about you? What do you love that squicks other folks out?
My mom will open up her grilled cheese sandwiches and put pickle slices inside - for some reason, this is like fingers on chalkboard for me, and I don't even know why - I love pickles, I love grilled cheese ... I guess I really really really don't like them together?
Posted by: camelama | May 13, 2009 at 10:43 PM
We are weird critters, aren't we? That combination is perfectly normal in other dishes, like a hamburger w/cheese and pickles. Put it in that specific configuration and proportion, though, and it's not so appealing. Weird!
Posted by: kitchenMage | May 13, 2009 at 11:09 PM
My brother in law refuses to eat cereal in a bowl. He eats it in a large plastic cup. His reasoning? When he was in college he did it that way so why change? He's 40 now. I know it's not a weird food, but it's a weird way of eating cereal and every time I see him do it for some reason it just crawls all over me! I want to scream "Grow up! You're an adult! Grab a bowl!" :)
Posted by: Dianne | May 15, 2009 at 06:59 AM
I like a toasted peanut butter sandwich with crispy bacon on it. I will stand beside ham and peanut butter's right to be together until the end of time :D
And I will ask for extra pickles on a sandwich just to pick them off and eat them ahead of time. I've always done this, from Happy Meal days. I don't want them on the side, I want to eat them off of the sandwich. Cracked, I know.
Posted by: ErickaJo | May 15, 2009 at 01:01 PM
I don't have any weird combos that squick people out, except that I like chopped green olives in egg salad, but a lot of perfectly normal things I eat do: Schmaltz on Matzoh, squid, liver, sweetbreads.
The only things I won't eat is cake and popcorn . . .
Posted by: Scotty | May 18, 2009 at 12:31 PM
Pickled herring! I love almost anything pickled. Dill pickles with grilled cheese is heavenly.
Now I need a snack.
Posted by: Patti | May 23, 2009 at 08:21 PM
Dianne, does he at least use a spoon? I knew someone who was once at a Thanksgiving dinner where one guest ate everything with his hands - not for religious or other reasons but because of some personal quirk.
Scotty, Patti, you remind me of Gefilte Fish and my grandmother's chopped chicken liver made, of course, with schmaltz. And a certain theme emerges. Hmmmm.
Posted by: kitchenMage | May 23, 2009 at 10:00 PM
I still make chopped liver with schmaltz twice a year (Itzhak Perlman's recipe), and I do a Gefilte Fish pate for Passover (a la Joan Nathan).
Posted by: Scotty | May 24, 2009 at 06:05 AM