Food

[Suttonpubcrawl]

So, what kind of foods do you eat? Are you a picky eater or are you adventurous and willing to try anything? Do you like food or just view it as a functional necessity to keep you going?

I'm asking this question partly because I seem to eat almost anything, but I  know some people who are very picky. One person I know will eat pretty much nothing. He'll order burgers with NOTHING in them except the meat, he'll order a meal at a restaurant and ask for it with no vegetables in, he'll decide he doesn't like something before he's even seen it, let alone tasted it. It's quite fascinating to see someone with such restricted tastes.

Another thing that's interesting to me is how people will complain about vegetarian food as if they absolutely can't stomach it and have to eat kilograms of meat each day in order to sustain themselves. I don't get that, I don't see what's wrong with a vegetarian meal every now and then even if you aren't actually a vegetarian. It's not going to kill you!

If I could be bothered I'd write something about the whole idea of "man food" that some people seem to have. I'm just going to press submit though.

[Al Tha Funkee Homosapien]

The best vegetarian food is stuff that isn't specifically vegetarian, it just doesn't have meat in it.

[Mister Cairo]

I'm terrible. I'm so lazy I mostly eat microwave ready meals for dinner, although I do usually make the effort to eat cereal for breakfast. I also scoff biscuits, sandwiches full of cheap melted cheese, and Cherry Bakewells. I just view food as something to fill me up and to provide a new sensation while doing work.

Another thing that's interesting to me is how people will complain about vegetarian food as if they absolutely can't stomach it and have to eat kilograms of meat each day in order to sustain themselves. I don't get that, I don't see what's wrong with a vegetarian meal every now and then even if you aren't actually a vegetarian. It's not going to kill you!

Exactly! I love Linda Mc Cartney sausages (and some of her other products).

What I won't eat: swede, courgette, cauliflower, quiche. Some vegetables (I know quiche isn't a vegtable, it's the devil's food) just make me feel sick, I don't know why. I did used to sing a rhyme about courgette whenever I went on aeroplanes though. I also don't like mustard (too spicey) or pepper (same).

As you can see I am very picky and have a terrible diet, although I do make the effort to eat some grapes on occassion. I'm of average body shape though because I walk a lot.

[gazzyk1ns]

There's virtually nothing I don't like, except really pungent/strong/sharp/unique stuff like capers* and some "proper" cheeses (which I get annoyed about, because I want to like them). Day-to-day I'm a right boring bastard though, my stomach really must get fed up with either Marmite on toast or Weetabix for breakfast. I did like hearing George order tuna on toast on Seinfeld once though, I eat that loads.

As I was growing up I spoke to my mum loads about this, when I saw that a lot of my friends were fussy eaters. She put on her proud mum face and said that she never really fed me baby food or anything special, she'd just put a bit of whatever they were having in a blender and feed me that. I don't know if she was correct to make a connection between that and me not disliking anything or not. I suppose I should be grateful my parents aren't gastronomes who add a good measure of salt to everything really, otherwise it could have been the sodium overdose headlines for my mum...

*I really like tartare sauce, though.

[Rev]

One person I know will eat pretty much nothing. He'll order burgers with NOTHING in them except the meat, he'll order a meal at a restaurant and ask for it with no vegetables in

I knew someone like that, who would eat nothing but steak sandwiches.  And I mean nothing but steak sandwiches, which consisted simply of steak and bread.  Usually he'd cook them at home, but if he fancied a treat he might order one in a pub, sniff it, then send it back if he suspected that it had been fried in a pan that had previously contained onions.  I often wonder if he's still alive.

The only things I'm picky about are aubergines and courgettes, in a picky-up-and-chucky-out-the-windey way.  Evil, evil, vegetables, and the reason I couldn't hack vegetarianism.  If there's no meat, you're almost guaranteed one of the two.  Oh, and lamb.  Which everyone assumes is because I think lambs are dead cute, but is because it tastes too sweet.  Also, raw celery makes me throw up, like a cat eating grass.  This is a secret I no longer tell to people who may be preparing dinner for me, but in their position I'd do the same thing.

[actwithoutwords]

I can't eat onion. I can barely even bring myself to look at one. Cooked or raw, they make me retch. This is severely limiting to my eating habits when out, given that the culinary world revolves around the cunting stuff. If there are big bits, I can pick them out and don't mind. But if they are small, then it usually renders a meal too inefficient to eat.
The results of this revelation to previous girlfriends and female housemates have been the same each time, initial amusement, followed by increasing exasperation.
I was horrifically picky as a child, and have been slowly adding vegetables into my diet over the last few years, but I genuinely can't imagine the day I don't want to get sick when eating anything even resembling an onion.

[Milo]

I'm a very picky eater - I think I'm very sensitive to foods. Some people can manage to eat things they don't like much but foods easily disgust me. Even Clover disgusts me with its lurid yellow chemical horror.

[mothman]

For me, texture is everything. Anything too slimy or jellyish leads to utter panic. And seafood. . . the wet crunch puts me off every time. However, strangely, the most delicious thing I've ever eaten was the shrimp tempura sushi rolls, at Nobu.

[Lady Beaner]

.... the most delicious thing I've ever eaten was the shrimp tempura sushi rolls, at Nobu.

'kin name-dropper!
Whatever happened to a good old onion curry from Mr Wu's buffet?

[Go With The Flow]

My big no-no is cauliflower. Sprouts and Broccoli, I can handle (albeit with a liberal amount of sauce), but cauliflower just makes me retch. I occasionally try having some with a massive amount of sauce, but the horrible flavour overpowers it.
I've recently become a vegetarian, and I've missed meat less than I thought I would. I like all the Quorn/fake meat though, so maybe that's what my mind is doing to replace meat as opposed to thinking "ooh, I could do with a bacon buttie" now and then.

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

I used to be an extremely picky eater, and in the end my parents gave up trying to feed me new things. This has meant I've been discovering tastes and things on my own terms which has been nice. I'll try most meat dishes, but most fish and green vegetables I still won't try, given the option.

I'm a bit like actwithoutwords about onion- crunching into one is a sure-fire way to ruin a meal for me. My tongue just sets off that horrible shuddery signal you get when you're body's trying to warn you off. "You want me to swallow that?"

[sproggy]

One person I know will eat pretty much nothing. He'll order burgers with NOTHING in them except the meat, he'll order a meal at a restaurant and ask for it with no vegetables in, he'll decide he doesn't like something before he's even seen it, let alone tasted it.

Has this person reached puberty yet?  They sound like a six year old.


And why to manufacturers of 'vegetarian' food try so hard to make it look, feel and taste like meat?  (I'm talking sausages, burgers etc)

When making a Spag. Bol. or Chilli Con Carne I find it's a lot better when made with veggie mince.  It's also a good way of fooling carnivores into thinking they're getting their daily portion of dead animal too.

[niat]

I can't eat onion. ...

I used to be the same, I'd pick onion out of everything, and preferred it to be in big chunks for ease of removal. I got over my aversion by... eating onions!

I think it was when I started to learn to cook a bit. Most of the easy dishes I started to cook (stir-fries, curries, spag bol, chilli etc. ) started by frying an onion, and I gradually stopped bothering picking them out. Now I eat something with onion in it most days, and can't really see why I ever disliked it.

Now, mushrooms, there's the food of the devil. The texture and taste combine to make them the foulest thing you can put in your mouth. (Well, maybe not, but I don't like them, OK?)

[buttgammon]

One person I know will eat pretty much nothing. He'll order burgers with NOTHING in them except the meat, he'll order a meal at a restaurant and ask for it with no vegetables in

I think I saw this person on an episode of 'The House of Tiny Tearaways'.

[Suttonpubcrawl]

For me, texture is everything. Anything too slimy or jellyish leads to utter panic. And seafood. . . the wet crunch puts me off every time. However, strangely, the most delicious thing I've ever eaten was the shrimp tempura sushi rolls, at Nobu.

Yeah, for me one of the few things I really couldn't tolerate was shrimp and the like. The texture isn't very nice and they're a bit like little sea insects. I am mostly over it now because I can actually eat them and even enjoy them sometimes, like when I spent a few days in Texas recently in a town that had really good seafood, but normally I'll choose not to.

[trotsky assortment]

I'm really into mushrooms and asparagus at the moment.

[Eight Taiwanese Teenagers]

I'm really into mushrooms and asparagus at the moment.

That's like what my sperm smells like.


Enjoy!!

[trotsky assortment]

No - that comes from an unidentifiable meat source.

[Joy Nktonga]

ETT ejaculates meat sauce? Freak. Just you wait 'til Esther Rantzen hears about this.

Edit to get a little on-topic:
I pretty much love most food. Except gooseberries, rhubarb, cooked carrots and some seafood (tentacles and faces are out -except prawns with their dead black eyes). I love food so much my profile looks a little like this:


That's right, I have no arms.

[Suttonpubcrawl]

Blimey, you might want to get that red thing on your penis looked at.

[Joy Nktonga]

I asked my Mummy about that when I was a nipper. She said it had to stay there or the bad man would come for me.

[The Duck Man]

I don't eat nowt from the sea. Don't eat salad, or cabbage/mushroom. Thinks that's it.

Sounds like quite a lot, but it's never really been commented on.