Food Ramblings

Kids, for the most part, are picky eaters. They haven't developed their palates yet, or expanded their food interests beyond Happy Meals and macaroni & cheese. Some parents work around it, some cater to it, and some instill lifelong hatred for brussels sprouts in their kids by forcing them to sit at the table until the sprouts are eaten. (This was my parents' attempted approach; fortunately, my inner foodie took over once I got older and I suffer very little dislike for things I was forced to eat.)

Some kids do retain their pickiness, for a variety of reasons. I know a guy close to my age who, for years, would only eat peanut butter sandwiches. He has a "texture" issue, I think, which I can understand since I have it as well, but on a much less drastic scale. (Tapioca is high on my "oh HELL no" list. And don't put crunchy stuff like pickle relish in my tuna salad please.) Some have allergies (which seem to be more and more widespread these days) and some are diabetic, and some are just reluctant to try anything new for whatever reason.

I was thinking about this earlier as I made myself a bologna sammich. I've held on to a lot of my childhood food favorites in addition to everything else I've tried since then. White bread, mayo, and one slice of bologna was my favorite lunch; I never was a PB&J person and still don't care for it much, despite loving the individual ingredients. Oscar Mayer cheese hotdogs are another one. As disgusting as the general consensus (and nutritional label) says they are, I still have to have one now and then. And just like it had to be when I was young- no bun, no condiments, just stick a fork in it and eat from both ends till it's gone. Cap'n Crunch peanut butter cereal makes the list despite roof-of-mouth damage every time a bowl of the stuff is consumed. Raw radishes are up there, along with dill pickles. As a young adult on my own, I ate Ramen noodles out of necessity, but I still buy them simply because I like them.

There are a few foods I've either never developed a taste for, or completely lost any desire to eat. My grandmother used to make us peanut butter and honey sandwiches, which I loved then, but now? No thanks. I never did like Cheerios in any flavor. I still haven't convinced myself to like raw tomatoes on sandwiches or burgers, but cooked ones I'll eat in anything else. (I read somewhere that it takes a person ten tries before they "learn to like" a given food. Those tomatoes are being stubborn and defying that statistic. I WANT to like them... it just ain't happening.) Miracle Whip is also on the "oh HELL no" list, as are bread-and-butter pickles (the semi-sweet ones). Oh, and ketchup does not go anywhere near a hotdog, thankyouverymuch. That was the only way I'd eat one as a kid, but now the very idea turns my stomach.

Things I enjoy now that I hated as a kid include the aforementioned brussels sprouts, asparagus (a relatively recent development; my sister said they tasted just like boiled peanuts, and danged if they don't!), grits, baked ham with pineapple (Mom used Spam slices, hence the hatred), and spinach. That last one came from my husband the northerner. I grew up with "greens"... turnip, collard, mustard... good greens. He grew up with canned spinach, which to me is an abomination when the fresh stuff can be found. He doesn't like my greens and I just don't get that... they're so much better! But in order to compromise, I make his spinach sometimes, and compensate another time with a big ol' pot of collards. And I've learned to like canned spinach, so that's a small victory, I suppose.

We've really had to adapt to each other's preferences, the hubby and I. He's not too terribly picky though. He likes boiled potatoes with green beans and hot bacon dressing (a sweet-and-sour glaze that I never would have put on a potato, but it's a local thing I guess) and pickled beef tongue (which he makes when I'm not home because the smell alone would drive me outside anyway) and head cheese (just, ew) but he isn't fond of white rice, anything lemon, or teriyaki sauce. He thinks I'm weird for eating pickle sammiches, but he can root around in deer innards, emerge with a slimy kidney or two, and think "supper!" Who's weird here? The guy who watches Andrew Zimmern on Bizarre Foods and says "That looks good, I'd try it" to almost every episode, yet won't eat a pierogie? Or me, who will happily nosh on eel sushi rolls but can't stand salmon in any form? It's been interesting, to say the least.

We've come a long way from our childhood tastes, yet some things just never change. In my house you'd probably find a box of Fruity Pebbles next to the shredded wheat, Hershey's syrup in the cabinet with the liquor, and Spaghettios stashed in between the kidney beans and bags of jasmine rice. We may not always eat right, but we eat fun, and wasn't that the great thing about being a kid?


Banana popsicles rock till the end of time. That is all.