# 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:** 7
**Author:** ![betterlifethroughchemistry](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/betterlifethroughchemistry/32/3094_2.png) [@betterlifethroughchemistry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/betterlifethroughchemistry)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2016, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/childhood-food-misconceptions/741823/121 "2016-01-11T23:41:50Z")
Yogurt. I thought it looked and sounded gross as well as eliciting thoughts of spoiled milk. Finally, my cousin Jennifer dared me to try it when I was 12 and since I always had a serious crush on her (another thread?), I tried it…and eat it just about every day… In an attempt to usurp any questions regarding my cousin and I, the answer is ‘no’… ---
**Author:** ![MacLir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9e8a1a/32.png) [@MacLir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MacLir)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2016, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/childhood-food-misconceptions/741823/122 "2016-01-12T14:42:39Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > I also thought that pierogis were “Eww, one of those vegetarian things”, because the vegetarians at family gatherings usually ate them as their main course. So I figured they’d taste like tofu or something. One of my uncles would be prevailed upon to make “Beer-ox” at family gatherings. I could never fathom the name; it did have beef along with the vegetables, but no beer in the recipe. Then in college I took Russian … :smack: ---
**Author:** ![MacLir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9e8a1a/32.png) [@MacLir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MacLir)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2016, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/childhood-food-misconceptions/741823/123 "2016-01-12T14:50:38Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > Kraft is better. Helmans is okay, but Kraft has garlic. I think it was Kraft that made (and may still make) a mayonnaise targeted to the Hispanic community, that had lime juice substituted for part of the vinegar. I liked that one pretty well, but it is no longer available where I live. McCormick makes one, but it’s not nearly as good. ---
**Author:** ![MacLir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9e8a1a/32.png) [@MacLir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MacLir)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2016, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/childhood-food-misconceptions/741823/124 "2016-01-12T14:56:11Z")
> [@The\_Hamster\_King](#): > > I used to think Best Foods/Hellmann’s was best … until I tasted [Kewpie](https://www.google.com/#q=kewpie+mayo&tbm=isch). The Japanese really know how to make mayo. I’ve had it as part of sushi, but never seen it available as a condiment. Probably the closest serious Oriental store is in a city 3 hours away. ---
**Author:** ![Roderick\_Femm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roderick_femm/32/14875_2.png) [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2016, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/childhood-food-misconceptions/741823/125 "2016-01-12T22:22:54Z")
> [@The\_Hamster\_King](#): > > I used to think Best Foods/Hellmann’s was best … until I tasted [Kewpie](https://www.google.com/#q=kewpie+mayo&tbm=isch). The Japanese really know how to make mayo. Oh, my Japanese husband lives on that stuff - on French fries instead of ketchup, glopped over anything that resembles a salad, and so on. I don’t like mayonnaise of any kind so I can’t speak to its superiority or otherwise. Re: margarine - my sister, in order to prove her moral superiority, called margarine “white grease” and butter “yellow grease.” We had both on the table, my parents ate the butter and us kids were supposed to make do with margarine, because it was cheaper and what did stupid kids know anyway. So my sister would say “please pass the white grease,” thereby proving that the supposed health superiority of margarine did not have HER fooled. ---
**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 13, 2016, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/childhood-food-misconceptions/741823/126 "2016-01-13T01:18:30Z")
> [@Totenfeier](#): > > Alas - my means usually mean only blended. ☹ Have you tried Drambuie? I’d buy that rather than any brand of blended scotch (for anything other than mixing, that is). Lovely stuff, Drambuie. Just lovely! :o ---
**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 13, 2016, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/childhood-food-misconceptions/741823/127 "2016-01-13T01:20:13Z")
> [@MacLir](#): > > One of my uncles would be prevailed upon to make “Beer-ox” at family gatherings. I could never fathom the name; it did have beef along with the vegetables, but no beer in the recipe. > > Then in college I took Russian … :smack: I must be missing something here. I speak fluent Russian, and I don’t get it. 😕 Explain, please? ---
**Author:** ![Peremensoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@Peremensoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peremensoe)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2016, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/childhood-food-misconceptions/741823/128 "2016-01-13T02:00:07Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > I must be missing something here. I speak fluent Russian, and I don’t get it. 😕 > > Explain, please? “Bierocks” = pirogi. ---
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2016, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/childhood-food-misconceptions/741823/129 "2016-01-13T03:38:00Z")
I thought “ground beef” was beef that they found like that on the ground of the cow pasture. I didn’t really work out how it got there. ---
**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 13, 2016, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/childhood-food-misconceptions/741823/130 "2016-01-13T03:52:24Z")
> [@Peremensoe](#): > > “Bierocks” = pirogi. Aha! More Polish than Russian, but I get it now! Thanks! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2016, 7:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/childhood-food-misconceptions/741823/131 "2016-01-13T07:40:09Z")
I didn’t know what Peanut Brittle was. I also didn’t know what Pinochle was. For some reason I conflated them as being the same thing. I was very confused, but didn’t even realise it. ---
**Author:** ![MacLir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9e8a1a/32.png) [@MacLir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MacLir)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2016, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/childhood-food-misconceptions/741823/132 "2016-01-13T14:36:06Z")
> [@Peremensoe](#): > > “Bierocks” = pirogi. Thank you. Exactly. ---
**Author:** ![maxjohnson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/90db22/32.png) [@maxjohnson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/maxjohnson)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2016, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/childhood-food-misconceptions/741823/133 "2016-01-13T17:02:58Z")
> [@Morbo](#): > > I thought “ground beef” was beef that they found like that on the ground of the cow pasture. I didn’t really work out how it got there. I think the misconception is people thinking the Tyson meat they eat are from cow grown on pasture. ---
**Author:** ![Totenfeier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/4bbf92/32.png) [@Totenfeier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Totenfeier)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2016, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/childhood-food-misconceptions/741823/134 "2016-01-13T17:05:08Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > Have you tried Drambuie? I’d buy that rather than any brand of blended scotch (for anything other than mixing, that is). > > Lovely stuff, Drambuie. Just lovely! :o Thanks for the suggestion. Thought about it; never pulled the trigger. ---
**Author:** ![SageGrouse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e47c2d/32.png) [@SageGrouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SageGrouse)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2016, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/childhood-food-misconceptions/741823/135 "2016-01-13T17:48:03Z")
When I was a small child, we lived in Southern California. One local (at the time) delicacy was See’s Candy. Every Christmas, and every anniversary etc, my folks would buy a box of assorted chocolates. Now, in the two pound box there are two square candies that are unlike any of the others. They are simply DELICIOUS! Better, by far, than all of the other delicious chocolates in the box, but… there are only two. One for Mama… one for Daddy. None for lil me! I was told “These two pices are for _us_… they’re adult candy! You can have whatever you like of the others.” It hardly seemed fair, but _shrug_ if they were adult candy… what’s a little kid to do? When we moved to Missouri, our California relatives would visit and bring boxes of See’s chocolates to us poor isolated exiled folk, and, again… the “adult candy” was not for me! by now, I had actually tasted one (when one of the 'rents was off on a trip or something, I disremember) and I knew that they were utterly RAVISHING! The best candies in the whole box! Adult candies. I would just have to bide my time and grow. Finally, when I was old enough to have graduated and gotten out on my own, I decided what I would do with my first real paycheck! I was going to See’s Candy factory in Los Angeles and I was gonna BUY me some of that luscious “adult candy” And so IN I went. The saleslady behind that white counter smiled “What would you like, today?” “Uhm… I want some adult candy, please.” (I was amazed to discover you could actually buy individual kinds of candies, instead of a mix!) I’d like a quarter pound, please." “Adult… candy?..” she asked, looking mystified. It was in that second that I realized the sheer DUPLICITY of my parents! Here I stood, surrounded by luscious candy… and each one had a NAME… Tipperary Bonbons, Nut Crunch, Chocolate Covered Nugat, Orange Cremes… but, as I carefully studied the menu… NO “adult candy” What WERE they?!! Stammeringly, I explained my predicament to the saleslady. “They’re SQUARE!” was the only thing I could offer by way of identification. “Well… you can try a few…” she said, realizing that I was NOT some mooch trying to cadge free candies from the store. “I’ll pay for the ones I try!” I added, trying my best to sound like the new adult I was, instead of the uncertain child the store was turning me back into! It took several (somewhat expensive) tries before I found the one I wanted. With slightly sharper corners than other candies, it was finally identified, discerned from the chocolate covered caramel it resembled… I tasted, and joyfully bought, my quarter pound of **Butterscotch Squares.** I exited the store with my little white bag of deliciousness, trying hard NOT to hear the laughter behind me. I knew full well that my experience would, in short order, no longer be between me and the saleslady… who knows, it could have become Company Legend in a few weeks’ time! What I had to do now was to go home and confront my sneaky PARENTS! Adult candy INDEED!! ---
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2016, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/childhood-food-misconceptions/741823/136 "2016-01-13T17:51:41Z")
> [@maxjohnson](#): > > I think the misconception is people thinking the Tyson meat they eat are from cow grown on pasture. Uh…you know I was a child, right? It’s not a current opinion I hold about the nature of industrial meat processing plants. ---
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2016, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/childhood-food-misconceptions/741823/137 "2016-01-13T21:54:47Z")
> [@SageGrouse](#): > > “Uhm… I want some adult candy, please.” (I was amazed to discover you could actually buy individual kinds of candies, instead of a mix!) I’d like a quarter pound, please." A candy store in So Cal? You’re lucky you didn’t get a literal bag of (chocolate) dicks. ---
**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 14, 2016, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/childhood-food-misconceptions/741823/138 "2016-01-14T01:02:03Z")
> [@Biggirl](#): > > A candy store in So Cal? You’re lucky you didn’t get a literal bag of (chocolate) dicks. Not very likely from See’s. Mary See, the little old lady whose picture is on the box, probably wouldn’t approve. ---
**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 14, 2016, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/childhood-food-misconceptions/741823/139 "2016-01-14T01:06:50Z")
> [@Jeff\_Lichtman](#): > > Not very likely from See’s. Mary See, the little old lady whose picture is on the box, probably wouldn’t approve. When I was at Middlebury, a classmate from Rolling Hills, CA, gave me some caramel suckers she had brought with her from home as a present. They were superb. I wonder if this is the place they came from? ---
**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 14, 2016, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/childhood-food-misconceptions/741823/140 "2016-01-14T01:24:03Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > When I was at Middlebury, a classmate from Rolling Hills, CA, gave me some caramel suckers she had brought with her from home as a present. They were superb. I wonder if this is the place they came from? Did they look like any of [these](http://www.sees.com/lollipops/assorted-lollypops/296.html)? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/childhood-food-misconceptions/741823.md?page=6) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/childhood-food-misconceptions/741823.md?page=8)