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pecuniumAs might be obvious, I like food.
For some reason some of the politics of food choice is zooming around the internet (bouncing from one link to the next shows how such things spread, and the way in which conversation happens in the strange mental place which the internets inhabit in our heads, but I digress).
But I don't want to make this post about food politics (which is never far from the surface of lots of conversations, things one might not expect to be about them often bounce to them in the strangest of ways), no I want to talk about the foods I don't like, and the strange ways in which that afflcts me.
All of us have foods we hate (even Steingarten, The Man Who Ate Everything has things he just won't eat, avgolemono soup, for one). I happen to dislike a smallish number (ot maybe not so small, but I happen to like enough other things, and some of them strange, or seen as exotic, that my dislikes seem less, in comparison).
Most I can eat around. A few are deal breakers. I won't eat the dish they are in, no matter how much you dress it up with other things I like, cooked spinach and artichokes fall into that category. The first makes me retch, and I am one of that portion of the population for whom artichoke makes other foods sweeter. This means it bothers me. By iteslf I find it sort of pointless. Not that tasty and too much work. If I need an excuse to eat hollandaise (or good mayonaise) apsaragus, french fries, or celery sticks work just fine
Liver is funny. I love the smell of live being cooked, can't abide the way it tastes, nor the feel of it on my tongue, or in my teeth. But make a forcemeat of it, or a pate/terrine, and I'll scarf it down, YUM.
Bell Peppers. Yucky, and potent. They flavor the foods they are on/in, with an amazing strength. I can eat around them, but they diminish the dish for me.
Mushrooms, sautéed in butter. The smell overwhelms me, and the flavor is rank. It's why I never cared for cream of mushroom soup. Mushrooms and I have an odd relationship anyway. Texture is something I am very aware of, and they have a distinct one. Up until I was about 15 I thought I flat out didn't like them, until my mother left them out of a dish. It was awful. So I ate around them. In the past 15 years or so I've learned to eat them, and enjoy the texture of well done mushroom dishes (and there's a pointless turn of phrase; practically tautolgic, if I liked the dish, it was well done). Putting them on pizza has all the same problems of sautéing them in butter, but more so.
Broccoli. This one's iffy. There are some broccolis I like. Some I don't. They way most restaurants treat them is revolting. Overdone, too stemmy and falling apart to affect all the other veggies in the dish. Cooked cauliflower is the same way, though I like it raw.
Eggplant. Again, there are a few dishes I like. That has led me to try more, but in the main, I can do without it.
Most fish. This is probably my greatest regret. I read of fish dishes, and I get hungry. But the actual stuff runs from, "I won't send it back" to "get this away from me". I experiment by tasting other people's. Were I to do restaurant reviews, I'd need accomplices who like things with fins and scales.
Milk. Slimy and nasty. Things done with it are wonderful, and I can eat cream straight out of the bottle, yogurts and kefir are fine. Lassi is a swell drink, but milk... vile.
Okra. Slimy. Wouldn't be gumbo without it, but that's as far it it goes.
Mango. No. Just no.
My problem is that many of these are ubiquitous. Broccoli and cooked cauliflower are almost staples in the chain restaurant side dish. Mango shows up in drinks, desserts, chutnies, salads, marinades, you name it.
Spinach, mushrooms and eggplant define an entire school of vegetarian cooking (the restaurant which wants to have a couple of items for vegetarians. Spinach lasagna, spinach quiche, eggplant parmagiana; ravioli, etc.).
Bell peppers... almost impossible to avoid.
That's pretty much my list.
So there are a lot of people who see me not eat from that list, and think I am picky, or just don't like vegetables.
How about you? (we can get into the politics of food choice some other time, or raise issues in comments)
For some reason some of the politics of food choice is zooming around the internet (bouncing from one link to the next shows how such things spread, and the way in which conversation happens in the strange mental place which the internets inhabit in our heads, but I digress).
But I don't want to make this post about food politics (which is never far from the surface of lots of conversations, things one might not expect to be about them often bounce to them in the strangest of ways), no I want to talk about the foods I don't like, and the strange ways in which that afflcts me.
All of us have foods we hate (even Steingarten, The Man Who Ate Everything has things he just won't eat, avgolemono soup, for one). I happen to dislike a smallish number (ot maybe not so small, but I happen to like enough other things, and some of them strange, or seen as exotic, that my dislikes seem less, in comparison).
Most I can eat around. A few are deal breakers. I won't eat the dish they are in, no matter how much you dress it up with other things I like, cooked spinach and artichokes fall into that category. The first makes me retch, and I am one of that portion of the population for whom artichoke makes other foods sweeter. This means it bothers me. By iteslf I find it sort of pointless. Not that tasty and too much work. If I need an excuse to eat hollandaise (or good mayonaise) apsaragus, french fries, or celery sticks work just fine
Liver is funny. I love the smell of live being cooked, can't abide the way it tastes, nor the feel of it on my tongue, or in my teeth. But make a forcemeat of it, or a pate/terrine, and I'll scarf it down, YUM.
Bell Peppers. Yucky, and potent. They flavor the foods they are on/in, with an amazing strength. I can eat around them, but they diminish the dish for me.
Mushrooms, sautéed in butter. The smell overwhelms me, and the flavor is rank. It's why I never cared for cream of mushroom soup. Mushrooms and I have an odd relationship anyway. Texture is something I am very aware of, and they have a distinct one. Up until I was about 15 I thought I flat out didn't like them, until my mother left them out of a dish. It was awful. So I ate around them. In the past 15 years or so I've learned to eat them, and enjoy the texture of well done mushroom dishes (and there's a pointless turn of phrase; practically tautolgic, if I liked the dish, it was well done). Putting them on pizza has all the same problems of sautéing them in butter, but more so.
Broccoli. This one's iffy. There are some broccolis I like. Some I don't. They way most restaurants treat them is revolting. Overdone, too stemmy and falling apart to affect all the other veggies in the dish. Cooked cauliflower is the same way, though I like it raw.
Eggplant. Again, there are a few dishes I like. That has led me to try more, but in the main, I can do without it.
Most fish. This is probably my greatest regret. I read of fish dishes, and I get hungry. But the actual stuff runs from, "I won't send it back" to "get this away from me". I experiment by tasting other people's. Were I to do restaurant reviews, I'd need accomplices who like things with fins and scales.
Milk. Slimy and nasty. Things done with it are wonderful, and I can eat cream straight out of the bottle, yogurts and kefir are fine. Lassi is a swell drink, but milk... vile.
Okra. Slimy. Wouldn't be gumbo without it, but that's as far it it goes.
Mango. No. Just no.
My problem is that many of these are ubiquitous. Broccoli and cooked cauliflower are almost staples in the chain restaurant side dish. Mango shows up in drinks, desserts, chutnies, salads, marinades, you name it.
Spinach, mushrooms and eggplant define an entire school of vegetarian cooking (the restaurant which wants to have a couple of items for vegetarians. Spinach lasagna, spinach quiche, eggplant parmagiana; ravioli, etc.).
Bell peppers... almost impossible to avoid.
That's pretty much my list.
So there are a lot of people who see me not eat from that list, and think I am picky, or just don't like vegetables.
How about you? (we can get into the politics of food choice some other time, or raise issues in comments)
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rambling about food...
Date: 2006-09-01 02:03 am (UTC)I'm ovo-lacto vegetarian, have been since I was 21. The smell of cooking beef or turkey makes my mouth water, but the idea of eating flesh again kinda makes me oogy. I don't like touching it, and even when I was omnivorous I didn't like skin, fat, or bones. Organ meats were right out (though for a short time in childhood I did voluntarily eat sauteed chicken livers). I did like fish and shrimp, and the meaty parts of lobster, but could not abide most bivalves, scallops being the exception. Though accidentally ingesting fish or fowl makes me feel sort of defiled these days, they won't hurt me; however, eating red meat will, as I can't digest it anymore.
Vegetarian protein sources I like: Tofu, seitan, edamame, tempeh, cheese, some nuts and nut butters, legumes.
Things I've tried to like but just don't: Eggplant, coffee, and beer. It would be very useful to like eggplant, since so many places and people assume that vegetarians eat it, but no matter how many chances I give it, I just don't. I don't mind a bit of coffee flavor in things, but I just can't drink it. Beer is just Teh Ick. I love ciders and lambics, though.
I had to learn to like tomatoes, mushrooms, and the more pungent cheeses. Cheese can get too pungent for me, though; if it starts to smell of ammonia, it ceases to be food. that's why I prefer blue cheeses on the youngish side. I didn't eat them until about 2 years ago.
I won't eat mayonnaise, vinegar, ketchup, mustard, relish, pickled things, salad dressings, sour cream, or most other condiments. I do like balsamic vinegar, though.
I don't like foods with snotty textures (with fresh tomatoes I eat only the fleshy part), though I do like foods with soft, smooth textures (custard, silken tofu, avocado, etc.). I don't like mealy textures, like when apples are getting past their prime. I don't care for overly bitter tastes. I like peanut butter, but I don't like peanuts. When I eat nuts, I usually prefer them on their own instead of in things, and definitely prefer baked goods without nuts.
Jeez, when I lay it all out there, I feel a little bit like a freak. :-} I'm actually more adventurous now than I was 10-15 years ago, though. It's just that i'm very definite about what is and is not food for me.
Re: rambling about food...
Date: 2006-09-01 02:44 am (UTC)Yuck. Unpleasant flavor, and nasty texture. It does defile the things it touches.
So Maia gets lots of contaminated mexican food.
TK
Re: rambling about food...
Date: 2006-09-01 05:16 am (UTC)Re: rambling about food...
Date: 2006-09-01 02:47 am (UTC)It is a blessing from on high.
TK
Re: rambling about food...
Date: 2006-09-01 05:16 am (UTC)