Long time ago a letter appeared in the newspaper advice column from an uncle complaining about the way his very young nephew would eat his meal: first all the meat, then all the potatoes, then all the vegetables, then his dessert. The uncle ranted about it in his letter and asked why couldn’t his nephew eat like a normal person, meaning take a bite of meat, then a bite of potato, then a bite of vegetable in random order. I think the reply from the advice columnist was for the uncle to let it go and just be glad the boy was eating his food instead of being a picky eater, and for crying out loud, kids have enough problems without having to be scolded for eating in his own unique way.
It dawned on my that I sometimes eat like that, only I’d start with eating my potatoes. I wouldn’t move on to anything else until I finished my potatoes. Then the veggies, then the meat, then the dessert.
Yes. When I was a kid, my parents pointed out the strategy of eating the stuff you don’t like first, while you’re hungry, rather than trying to choke it down after you’re full from eating the rest of the food.
Which says something about portion sizes in America, I guess…
Oh man, you really need to eat at a latin american household. It’s not supersize, it’s a freaking Mount Everest of food. US meal portions are downright dainty in comparison.
Hmmm. That brings back memories of my days in elementary school. Those school cafeteria sectioned trays of food. Maybe that’s how my strange eating habit began. Must - eat - food - in - an - orderly - fashion!
I knew two girls like that. One was at college, and she would scream at the poor schlub cafeteria worker who would dish the food out if anything on her plate was touching.
My question to these people is this: What in hell do you do when the food hits your stomach? Do you think maybe you are part-cow with four separate chambers???
I used to gag when I saw my parents actually pick up different kinds of food on the SAME FORK. My tastebuds, at the time, just couldn’t handle the flavour overload. That’s also my theory on why kids are such picky eaters. Their tastebuds are too sensitive. As they wear and deaden, that’s when brussel sprouts come into the picture.
I have to have all my food not touch and I eat it in order starting with the least favorite thing on my plate. Too many dinners killed by my father force feeding me the stuff I didn’t like taught me to eat it first and get that part over with. I’ve gotten better about things touching but still feel the need to try my best to keep them apart.
I love stew! Except I drain it as best I can put it on a plate and section it all out meat/veggie/potato … then I mash up the potato and add a little butter
My sister works with adolescents with eating disorders; apparently ‘partitioning’ behaviour (I think that’s the term she used, meaning dividing up the food into types and eating the types one at a time) is strongly correlated with OCD.
Of course that does not at all mean that anyone displaying the behaviour is an OCD sufferer.
I still eat in “sections”, ie the potatos first, veggies next, meat last. I can’t help it. The only exception is bread. Bread can be eaten at any time.
My grandpa would put everything in a bowl, regardless of what it was (steak? he’d cut it on a plate, dump it in the bowl). Grossed me out. He also said “It all goes to the same place!” Yeah, but it has to go past your taste buds first!
Now there are some things I must blend in order to eat. Mac n Cheese? Must have peas mixed in. It’s the only way I can stomach the stuff.
Mmmmm. Dessert! There is a favorite dessert that I don’t mind eating, even though it’s two foods mixed together: warm apple pie with a scoop of vanilla ice cream on top.
My girlfriend does the “one food at a time” thing. I’ll have to ask her how she decides which one to eat first. I know she sometimes eats the meat first, but I can’t swear that it’s consistent. For a while, she also had that “don’t let those foods touch!” syndrome. Not to the extent of shrieking about it, as someone alluded to, fortunately. That has pretty much passed, now, although I did joke about getting her one of those divided plates, for a while.
BTW, does it seem to anyone else like it’s mostly females that have these “issues”? It could be a statistically invalid sampling, but it sure seems that way, from the examples cited above.
Just had a flashback to when I was about six years old. We were visiting our grandparents. I was seated in the kitchen eating a bowl of red Jello. Strawberry or cherry, don’t remember which. Grandpa asked me if I wanted some milk with that. I thought he meant a glass of milk on the side, so I said yes. Imagine my horror when he brought out the carton of milk and POURED MILK DIRECTLY ONTO MY JELLO! I was too shocked to say anything. It looked and tasted disgusting to me.
Anyone ever heard of eating Jello with milk poured on top?
