# Childhood food misconceptions **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 31, 2015, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/childhood-food-misconceptions/741823 "2015-12-31T15:46:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![wolfman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a8b319/32.png) [@wolfman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfman)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2016, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/childhood-food-misconceptions/741823/21 "2016-01-01T00:31:16Z")
My grandma had an ancient old twisted crap apple tree that had several old bleeding gashes with huge chunks old dried and fresh sap. I’m not quite sure where the hell the idea came from, but somehowo I got the idea that that was what the “manna from heaven” the pastor talked about in church. So i tried some, it was horrible. In the more mundane world of food, my mom had a a can of leek soup. I thought it said leech and told my mom to throw that disgusting stuff out. She said that they were just onions. Which of course meant that onions are just another name for leeches(which obviously explained why onions in onion rings are a bit slimy). So for a year or so I refused any kind of onions. ---
**Author:** ![bobo\_blesinger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ecae2f/32.png) [@bobo\_blesinger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobo_blesinger)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2016, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/childhood-food-misconceptions/741823/22 "2016-01-01T00:40:54Z")
I thought chocolate mousse was chocolate-covered moose meat. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2016, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/childhood-food-misconceptions/741823/23 "2016-01-01T00:52:21Z")
I thought mincemeat pies were raisin pies. Very surprised to learn it really is meat. ---
**Author:** ![Bill\_Door](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/50afbb/32.png) [@Bill\_Door](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bill_Door)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2016, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/childhood-food-misconceptions/741823/24 "2016-01-01T00:53:00Z")
> [@BrotherCadfael](#): > > \*“Was you ever stung by a dead bee?” > > \*(What movie is that from, and why is it significant?) _To Have and Have Not_, and I don’t know why. Eddie, played by Walter Brennan, would ask it of people who were having a bad time of it for one reason or another. ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2016, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/childhood-food-misconceptions/741823/25 "2016-01-01T00:56:24Z")
:)I > [@sweetie pea](#): > > This may have been a regional thing, because my husband (who is from farther north and a less rural area) doesn’t remember ever seeing it, but it was common to package honey with a rectangle of honeycomb, apparently to add authenticity. I really, really had a problem with this, because it didn’t seem sanitary, and I also thought the comb probably had the occasional dead bee stuck to it\* and that just seemed awfully chancy because everyone knows dead bees can still sting you. This would invariably lead to wondering exactly what part of the bee the honey comes from. > > I didn’t eat a lot of honey. > > \*Note: I never actually saw any bee bodies in the honey; it just seemed to me that the company doing the the packaging was rather careless about such issues. Its not just for decoration; the honeycomb is delicious and I seek out honey that comes with the honeycomb. ---
**Author:** ![jerry\_smissingfinger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e56c9b/32.png) [@jerry\_smissingfinger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jerry_smissingfinger)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2016, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/childhood-food-misconceptions/741823/26 "2016-01-01T00:59:05Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > I thought mincemeat pies were raisin pies. Very surprised to learn it really is meat. I play chess with a friend who is a 92 year old WWII Vet. He has asked me a few times to bring him a minced meat pie. Did not know that was a real food:o ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2016, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/childhood-food-misconceptions/741823/27 "2016-01-01T01:03:48Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > I thought mincemeat pies were raisin pies. Very surprised to learn it really is meat. To be fair, a lot of mincemeat does contain raisins too; the kind we use to make mincemeat cookies [certainly does](http://www.amazon.com/Borden-Condensed-Mincemeat-Raisins-9-ounce/dp/B007EEA9PQ). ---
**Author:** ![Jeff\_Lichtman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jeff_lichtman/32/1531_2.png) [@Jeff\_Lichtman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jeff_Lichtman)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2016, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/childhood-food-misconceptions/741823/28 "2016-01-01T02:26:00Z")
When I first heard the term “soda fountain” I assumed it meant a drinking fountain that soda came out of. I had never seen one, but I knew they must exist somewhere, so I tested every drinking fountain I came across. My mother noticed this and asked what I was doing. When I explained, she told me the disappointing truth. ---
**Author:** ![chizzuk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e36b37/32.png) [@chizzuk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chizzuk)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2016, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/childhood-food-misconceptions/741823/29 "2016-01-01T02:34:05Z")
I thought mayonnaise was a mixture of cream cheese and vinegar until I was well into college. Then one day I looked at the front of a jar of Hellman’s and noticed that the kosher certification was OU-Parve. “How can they say it’s parve when it’s full of dairy?” I exclaimed in bewilderment, turning the jar around to read the ingredients for the first time in my life. Oh. Eggs. Blew my mind. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2016, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/childhood-food-misconceptions/741823/30 "2016-01-01T02:48:19Z")
When I was a tyke, I really wanted to travel the world. Really, really wanted to do so. I couldn’t, so I did the next best thing: whenever we got ice cream, I’d find a flavor with the name of another nationality in it. French vanilla, Swiss Orange Chip, Belgian Chocolate. I was a goddamned world traveler– **in my mouth**. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2016, 7:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/childhood-food-misconceptions/741823/31 "2016-01-01T07:57:00Z")
> [@Jeff\_Lichtman](#): > > When I first heard the term “soda fountain” I assumed it meant a drinking fountain that soda came out of. I had never seen one, but I knew they must exist somewhere, so I tested every drinking fountain I came across. My mother noticed this and asked what I was doing. When I explained, she told me the disappointing truth. Oh, that reminds me of one! My mother used to tell me stories about mean-ish things my grandfather did while working at a drugstore as first a soda jerk and then a clerk as a teenager. When I was little I thought you actually had to be an jerk to people to serve them soda 😃 ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2016, 12:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/childhood-food-misconceptions/741823/32 "2016-01-01T12:28:01Z")
> [@Bill\_Door](#): > > _To Have and Have Not_, and I don’t know why. Eddie, played by Walter Brennan, would ask it of people who were having a bad time of it for one reason or another. It was the first movie to bring Bogart and Bacall together onscreen. Hot! ---
**Author:** ![eenerms](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/cdc98d/32.png) [@eenerms](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eenerms)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2016, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/childhood-food-misconceptions/741823/33 "2016-01-01T14:04:55Z")
Carrot cake .I thought there would be whole carrots were in it. ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2016, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/childhood-food-misconceptions/741823/34 "2016-01-01T15:23:58Z")
There is a restaurant near where I work that really does make a Philly Cheese Steak with cream cheese. I’m sure they are just trying to be different. It sounds kinda good, but it’s an absolute mess to try to eat. ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2016, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/childhood-food-misconceptions/741823/35 "2016-01-01T15:36:18Z")
OK, not exactly a food misconception, but. . . I remember hearing as a very young chap about oxen having a ‘yoke’ on their necks. I wondered, “Why are they putting [egg] yolks on their necks?” ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2016, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/childhood-food-misconceptions/741823/36 "2016-01-01T15:56:49Z")
I once had real mincemeat at a mediaeval feast. Made me sick as hell. I was belching sulfur fumes for the next day and a half. Yecccch! > **[Mincemeat](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mincemeat)** > > Mincemeat is a mixture of chopped dried fruit, distilled spirits and spices, and often beef suet, usually used as a pie or pastry filling. Mincemeat formerly contained meat, notably beef or venison. Many modern recipes replace the suet with vegetable shortening. Mincemeat is found in the Anglosphere. > The "mince" in mincemeat comes from the Middle English mincen, and the Old French mincier both traceable to the Vulgar Latin minutiare, meaning chop finely. The word mincemeat is an adaptation of an... The mince pie filling I buy in the supermarket has only fruit and spices in it, thank God! ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2016, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/childhood-food-misconceptions/741823/37 "2016-01-01T16:00:50Z")
> [@madmonk28](#): > > Its not just for decoration; the honeycomb is delicious and I seek out honey that comes with the honeycomb. I remember reading somewhere that beeswax contains antiallergens, and it was recommended that you chew it if you suffer from hay fever, asthma, and so on. Apparently regular consumption of honey is good for your respiratory tract in general. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2016, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/childhood-food-misconceptions/741823/38 "2016-01-01T16:07:11Z")
Even though we’re not Jewish, my dad loved kosher food. He always bought a certain brand of sour cream that had Hebrew writing on the container and to me tasted as though it was full of horseradish. I thought all sour cream tasted like that until I started sampling it elsewhere other than in his kitchen. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2016, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/childhood-food-misconceptions/741823/39 "2016-01-01T17:20:51Z")
My brother once had a goldfish in a little bowl. Of course he lost interest in it and stopped feeding it, so it died, and was left floating on the top. That night, my mother served custard for dessert. I was sure she had made it with the goldfish. It was many years, possibly decades, before I was able to eat custard again. ---
**Author:** ![koeeoaddi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/koeeoaddi/32/408_2.png) [@koeeoaddi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/koeeoaddi)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2016, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/childhood-food-misconceptions/741823/40 "2016-01-01T17:25:56Z")
Two words: [egg cream](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Egg_cream) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/childhood-food-misconceptions/741823.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/childhood-food-misconceptions/741823.md?page=3)