Food Quirks: A Turkey Sandwich with Turkey on the Side

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Growing up, I was never a picky eater, but rather, particular. To this day, I have quite the litany of food quirks. 

I would eat just about anything you put in front of me, but I’ve always liked things cooked just so and served how I liked them.

As an toddler, I wouldn’t allow any ice cream of lesser quality than Häagen-Dazs to pass my lips (true story — what a brat, right?).

When I finally grew out of that (and now will happily consume any form of ice cream at any given time, no questions asked) I developed an aversion to any ketchup brand except for Heinz.

No-name brand on the table in a restaurant? No ketchup for me. Mom tried to sneak Hunt’s into the shopping cart because it was on sale? Uh-uh, I wasn’t having that.

While I no longer throw tantrums at the grocery store if they don’t have my favorite condiment brands, I never did grow out of my particular eating habits – and I say particular, not picky, because I’m fairly open to trying new foods and experimenting with new ingredients, tastes and flavors.

If I know something is high in quality, I’m all for it.

As my palate has become less shy, I find myself developing certain boundaries with food.

I like sour cream on chili, but god help the waiter who puts it near my quesadilla.

I’ll eat mayo in tuna salad and certain dips but if its so much as touches my ham-and-swiss on seven-grain, I’m sending that sandwich back to the kitchen so fast the plate won’t even know what hit it.
I love cheese, but Mexican food isn’t my favorite.

I love sweet potato fries (especially oven-baked with kosher salt OMG) but when I’m out to dinner, the smell of potato-ly goodness in a deep fryer does absolutely nothing for me.

If you sit me in a corner with a bag of M&Ms, you can bet that they won’t be seeing the light of day again, but I can easily pass on a piece of store-bought chocolate birthday cake.

Part of the reason I like to cook is because I can take a recipe, tweak and finesse it, fine tuning the spices, flavors and components to suit my liking.

The applesauce isn’t sweet enough? I’ll add more brown sugar.

I don’t like a lot of icing on a cupcake?

Easy breezy – I only coat the cupcake with a thin layer (which for the record, is not true, since we all know the best part of a cupcake is the icing….but I digress).

When cooking, you can season vegetables just so and taste sauces as-you-stir.

If you despise cilantro, you don’t have to dress your taco with it, but if you really love basil, no pesto can be too green.

You don’t have to politely eat around the red onion the way you would at a neighbor’s cook-out and if you have a violent tree nut allergy, you needn’t worry that the same waiter who served you your vegan curry was moments ago, using those very same hands to style a plate of almond-crusted tilapia.

On the other hand, as much as I love to cook, if it weren’t for dining out or eating with friends or family, I wouldn’t learn to expand my horizons and try new things that I might not venture to sample on my own.

I’ve learned great tips from talented cooks and sampled restaurant food that I know I couldn’t recreate in my own home without buying pricey appliances or expensive ingredients that I would wind up only using once before the expiration date landed it headfirst in the trash.

I’m not attracted to chain restaurants that make food that I could easily eat at home – and better, because I can make them my way with my own personal touch.

At home, no one looks at you funny when you order a cobb-salad-dressing-on-the-side-no-cheese-no-scallions-extra-tomatoes-and-chicken-instead-of-shrimp-grilled-not-blackened.

Yes, I drive waiters and waitresses absolutely insane.
What are some of your food quirks? Do you have any eating habits that people laugh at you for? Do you consider yourself a picky eater, or will you eat just about anything you’re served?

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18 Comments

  • Reply
    KC
    November 7, 2008 at 3:00 am

    Don’t you mean Heinz-sight? Har har. 😉
    And thanks for the comment!

  • Reply
    Aggie
    November 7, 2008 at 3:00 am

    Hi Maris! I found a post that might answer your question about the flour in the pumpkin pancakes…I left a comment back on my post but here’s the link to the flour info…
    http://bakingbites.com/2007/05/subbingall-purpose-flour-for-cake-flour/
    Thanks for stopping by my blog!!

  • Reply
    alexandra's kitchen
    November 7, 2008 at 3:00 am

    i think one of the only foods i really don’t like to eat is over-ripe bananas. I like ketchup with McDonald’s french fries and that’s about it. I have to “marry” bottles of ketchup (fill up 1/2-filled bottles with 1/4-filled bottles, etc. so they look nice and filled) at the restaurant that I work in, and after I do that for about 20 minutes or so, the smell of the ketchup and the sight, actually, sort of makes me nauseous. But I get over it soon enough.

  • Reply
    Micha
    November 6, 2008 at 3:00 am

    Great post!
    I don’t think I’m very picky – I’ll try anything at least once. Like you, I don’t really like store bought cake (or baked goods of any kind). I will, however, eat an entire batch of homemade brownies(did I just admit that? It only happened once, I swear. I learned my lesson!)
    I only have two points that are really sticky for me: meat and grease. For years I haven’t been able to eat just any meat – I’m very picky with regards to where the meat is from, what the animal was fed, etc. I’m not a vegetarian by any meas – just picky about what meat I do eat.
    As for grease – there had better not be too much on my plate. I can lose my appetite faster than a flash of lightening if I feel like my food is overloaded with oil and grease. Yech.

  • Reply
    kat
    November 6, 2008 at 3:00 am

    Funny my husband I were just talking about the Heinz vs other ketchup thing today too, we both only like Heinz. We also thing the only good mayo is Hellman’s. I’m the same way about toothpaste it has to be crest.

  • Reply
    Cora
    November 6, 2008 at 3:00 am

    I don’t like green peppers very much and I don’t like peppers that are cooked. There were a lot of things I didn’t like when I was younger, but now I like most of them. I hated pot roast, of all things, I thought it tasted purple — not grape, just purple. I don’t know what it means either. I also didn’t like Chinese food, or what passed for Chinese food in my small midwestern hometown. As an adult, I like both pot roast and most Chinese food. Lately, I’ve noticed my aversion to two foods touching on my plate and that I always eat one thing at a time on my plate — both of which can be a problem when one of those meticulously structured towers of food arrives on my plate. Love mayo though, especially on really good french fries.

  • Reply
    magda
    November 6, 2008 at 3:00 am

    Ohhh sweet potato fries! Yes please! One of my VERY favorite parts of the season. I bought a giant bag of sweet potatoes over the weekend, and been eating them all week. So delicious.

  • Reply
    susan
    November 6, 2008 at 3:00 am

    I only accept the best brands of ice cream too
    I loved your Heinz disclaimer 🙂

  • Reply
    Lydia (The Perfect Pantry)
    November 5, 2008 at 3:00 am

    Love peanuts, but can’t stand peanut butter. Love strawberries, but can’t stand anything made from strawberries. Love raw carrots, but can’t stand cooked; love cooked broccoli, but can’t stand raw. Go figure.

  • Reply
    Lacey Bean
    November 5, 2008 at 3:00 am

    Hey I gave you an award! 🙂

  • Reply
    claudia (cook eat FRET)
    November 5, 2008 at 3:00 am

    i think i drive my dining partners more insane because i go easy on my waitstaff – although i ask a lot of questions….
    good post

  • Reply
    Lacey Bean
    November 4, 2008 at 3:00 am

    Like you, I’m adverse to ANY mayo on sandwiches. Gross!! I also don’t like food on top of food on my plate, like all mixed in together. I also don’t like a lot of condiment with my food, only a little to dip.
    Weird things I like to eat include hard boiled egg (whites only) with cream cheese and salt. I know its weird!!

  • Reply
    Maris
    November 4, 2008 at 3:00 am

    Amy – I agree with you, I’m a big stickler for food safety. Whenever I use any meat or produce that require washing I’m a fanatic about it! And I always like to know that what I’m eating was stored properly, etc. In some places you can’t really control it but I try not to eat anywhere tooo divey, unless I know it’s reputable 🙂
    Mandy – I’ve always felt the same way about Chinese food. I haven’t eaten in in ages, I feel like the longer it’s been since I’ve had it, the less I want it.
    Erin – Too funny about food touching other food. I know someone who doesn’t like sandwiches for that very reason! It must have been fun going to all those potlucks. YUM.
    Heidi Renee – I’m not big on iced coffee either. Sometimes in the summer I enjoy it but I hate how it’s always more expensive and you’re actually getting LESS coffee since the ice displaces some of the liquid.
    Ashley – LOL. I actually wrote part of this post last week. I guess it’s just a topic close to my heart 🙂

  • Reply
    AshleyD
    November 4, 2008 at 3:00 am

    Hmmm… no large chunks of tomato, but if it’s mixed in sauces it’s ok. No mushrooms or onions either. I’m not really that picky and I loooove trying new foods.
    Did this post idea come from our convo last night about mayonaise? “NO MAYO! EWW!!!”

  • Reply
    Heidi Renée
    November 4, 2008 at 3:00 am

    I am vegan most of the time (and vegetarian always), but I am not actually a very picky eater. If it is a vegetable based food, I will eat it!
    But at the coffee shop, I am That Person. I will not get lattes from faux coffee shops like Dunkin’ Donuts and McDonald’s. For starters, they do not have soy milk. At real coffee shops, I am VERY particular. I worked in three locally-owned coffee shops (e.g., not Starbucks) throughout high school and college, which gave me a ton of time to learn EXACTLY what I like. Chai so strong it’ll make your throat burn. Freshly pulled espresso shots. Properly steamed and frothed cappuccinos. NO ICE–just cold. The baristas either think I am annoying, or insane. I can’t tell you how many times I have been told that no I don’t want that ratio of chai to soy milk because it will be too strong. Um, yes I DO want it, that is why I SPECIFICALLY ASKED for it.

  • Reply
    Erin=UptownGirl
    November 4, 2008 at 3:00 am

    I’m not crazy about my food touching any more than it has to. I think this grew out of my small-town Southern Baptist roots. Any occasion was an occasion for a pot-luck. I wanted to try everything, but I didn’t want my green beans on top of my potatoes, or my deviled egg to slide into my baked beans, ya know?

  • Reply
    Mandy
    November 4, 2008 at 3:00 am

    I am not really a picky eater, but there are definitely things I can pass on and don’t like. Some things I have to be in the mood for, like Chinese food I just cant go eat it to eat it. On the other hand, I could eat some things every day.

  • Reply
    gazellesoncrack
    November 4, 2008 at 3:00 am

    Some of my quirks are less quirky than safety – I cannot, absolutely not, eat anything that has every touched, looked at, or been neighborly with a mushroom. And that goes for truffles (sigh).
    I don’t like shrimp, and always order my pad thai without.
    I love Mexican food, and all kinds of cheese. I seldom feel picky, unless we’re at a restaurant that specializes in seasonal northwest cuisine. Right now? seafood, shellfish ‘shrooms. (I also don’t eat beef or pork, and that’s not usually a problem…but when every other dish is smothered in shrimp and/or ‘shrooms….then there’s only one thing left for me to eat. And it’s fish. sob.)

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