# Foods that take SO MUCH effort to eat **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 24, 2009, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foods-that-take-so-much-effort-to-eat/514922 "2009-10-24T00:40:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Enright3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/enright3/32/2897_2.png) [@Enright3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enright3)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2009, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foods-that-take-so-much-effort-to-eat/514922/61 "2009-10-27T14:49:01Z")
> [@Savannah](#): > > I’ve never seen anyone eat them whole! > > There’s a little method you get to know after eating the first dozen pumpkin seeds, so it’s not too much of a pain. Great snack to keep your mouth busy. > > Pomegranates really don’t seem all that difficult to me. I peel along the “seams” and carefully pull the pom apart and expose lovely beds of seeds. I thought the difficulty with pomegranates was actually taking the time to eat the meat off the individual seeds. It’s been probably 30+ years since I had one so my memory may be faulty on this. I thought they were fairly easy to open, just a pain to eat. ---
**Author:** ![Eugene\_of\_Sandwich](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/c37758/32.png) [@Eugene\_of\_Sandwich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eugene_of_Sandwich)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2009, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foods-that-take-so-much-effort-to-eat/514922/62 "2009-10-27T17:45:16Z")
Grapefruit. It’s tough to peel one of those bastids and then to get into the sections before applying the oh so good salt is a chore. Or cut in half with sugar and a spoon trying to scoop out those little half sections. Maddeningly good! ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2009, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foods-that-take-so-much-effort-to-eat/514922/63 "2009-10-27T18:34:32Z")
> [@Savannah](#): > > Pumpkin seeds I shell in my mouth, pomegranate seeds I eat whole. Lots of fibre, I’m sure. Same here (for both). I had no idea people ate the shell and insides of pumpkin seeds together. I usually just buy the pumpkin (or sunflower) kernels, since I can’t be bothered to shell them. ---
**Author:** ![Carl\_Corey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Carl\_Corey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Carl_Corey)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2009, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foods-that-take-so-much-effort-to-eat/514922/64 "2009-10-27T19:34:36Z")
Artichokes are a lot of work to eat? Pull leaf, dip in hollandaise, and eat. Repeat as necessary. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2009, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foods-that-take-so-much-effort-to-eat/514922/65 "2009-10-27T20:04:43Z")
> [@Shagnasty](#): > > That is the whole point of crawfish boils though. They taste great if they are cooked in the correct boil mix but you can never get full from them. You can just hang out at a party with a giant table covered in mounds of them all day long and into the night while drinking beer. It takes a minor amount of skill to eat them but anyone can learn it in 5 minutes or less. If you truly get truly hungry, a real crawfish boil also includes potatoes and onions. I assume you have never been to one of the bigger crawfish parties. Those have thousands of mudbugs spread out for the feast usually outdoors. The fun is in the eating and drinking. When I was in grad school in SW Louisiana our department had yearly crawfish boils out on the Atchafalaya at someone’s camp. It didn’t take me long to learn how to eat them fast, because I was competing against Cajuns. It just take practice. My wife and I went to a Cajun buffet in New York, and would up teaching people how to eat them. I learned how to pick blue crab efficiently when we rented a house at the Jersey shore and crabbed off the deck, and got dozens. Artichokes have never been a problem. A high waste to food percentage, true, but they aren’t hard to eat. ---
**Author:** ![TimeWinder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bcef8e/32.png) [@TimeWinder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TimeWinder)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2009, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foods-that-take-so-much-effort-to-eat/514922/66 "2009-10-27T21:28:26Z")
Uh, pomegranate laborers? The seeds sink in water. Everything else in the fruit floats. Takes about a minute per fruit to seed them in a deep bucket of water. Just break 'em into small pieces as much as possible and rub the seeds until they fall out. ---
**Author:** ![Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/intergalactic_gladiator/32/112_2.png) [@Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Intergalactic_Gladiator)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2009, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foods-that-take-so-much-effort-to-eat/514922/67 "2009-10-27T21:45:16Z")
I might get disagrievance from somebody on this, but chicken wings are a huge pain to eat, imo. I love 'em and boneless wings are tasty but cheating. Wings are just a lot of work for a little meat and I wind up with parts that are tough to clean off. ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2009, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foods-that-take-so-much-effort-to-eat/514922/68 "2009-10-27T22:07:53Z")
Put me in with the crowd that said Steamed Crabs. And I don’t disagree about Hot Wings. ---
**Author:** ![norinew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/eb9ed0/32.png) [@norinew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/norinew)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2009, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foods-that-take-so-much-effort-to-eat/514922/69 "2009-10-27T23:02:47Z")
> [@Intergalactic\_Gladiator](#): > > I might get disagrievance from somebody on this, but chicken wings are a huge pain to eat, imo. > > I love 'em and boneless wings are tasty but cheating. Wings are just a lot of work for a little meat and I wind up with parts that are tough to clean off. Not only are ‘boneless wings’ cheating, but, IME, they’re usually not even really wings! It took me a good while to try to figure out why I love BBQ chicken wings so much (in spite of them being a PITA to eat), but not the “boneless” variety of same. Finally, it dawned on me: boneless wings aren’t wings! They are chicken _breast_ nuggets that have been coated the same as the wings would have been. White meat chicken does not taste like dark meat chicken. Therefore, ‘boneless wings’ do _not_ taste like chicken wings without the bone! ---
**Author:** ![Drain\_Bead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e47774/32.png) [@Drain\_Bead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drain_Bead)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2009, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foods-that-take-so-much-effort-to-eat/514922/70 "2009-10-27T23:55:08Z")
One of my co-workers had her first ever pomegranate experience at lunch today. It was pretty hilarious. She gave up about halfway through. ---
**Author:** ![LadyJane84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f05b48/32.png) [@LadyJane84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LadyJane84)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2009, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foods-that-take-so-much-effort-to-eat/514922/71 "2009-10-28T01:58:34Z")
> [@Eugene\_of\_Sandwich](#): > > Grapefruit. It’s tough to peel one of those bastids and then to get into the sections before applying the oh so good salt is a chore. Or cut in half with sugar and a spoon trying to scoop out those little half sections. Maddeningly good! You put salt on your grapefruit? I’ve never heard of that. What’s the advantage over sugar? ---
**Author:** ![butler1850](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/779978/32.png) [@butler1850](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/butler1850)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2009, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foods-that-take-so-much-effort-to-eat/514922/72 "2009-10-28T14:04:35Z")
> [@Intergalactic\_Gladiator](#): > > I might get disagrievance from somebody on this, but chicken wings are a huge pain to eat, imo. > > I love 'em and boneless wings are tasty but cheating. Wings are just a lot of work for a little meat and I wind up with parts that are tough to clean off. With your finger, pinch into the ends, and separate the meat from the joints/end, insert in mouth, and strip the meat off the bone. If it’s a gargantuan wing, you may need to bite it off, rather than stripping it off. It’s a technique thing. Boneless wings are just tenders with sauce. Tasty, but not wings. ---
**Author:** ![bouv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bc8723/32.png) [@bouv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bouv)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2009, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foods-that-take-so-much-effort-to-eat/514922/73 "2009-10-28T18:44:58Z")
The worst part about chicken wings, IMO, isn’t necessarily the eating part, but it’s cleaning up after. No matter how many times you wash your hands, you’ll still have little bits of sauce in the crevices along your nail beds and your hands will smell like wings for hours afterward. ---
**Author:** ![cdsilv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a9adbd/32.png) [@cdsilv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cdsilv)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2009, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foods-that-take-so-much-effort-to-eat/514922/74 "2009-10-28T19:05:45Z")
Chestnuts. Not the kind you buy, but off the chestnut tree in the backyard. THey like little porcupine/armadillos. Have to use leather workgloves to peel off the spiny husk to get at the ‘chestnut’…nuke and they pop like popcorn! ---
**Author:** ![fandango](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b5ac83/32.png) [@fandango](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fandango)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2009, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foods-that-take-so-much-effort-to-eat/514922/75 "2009-10-28T21:37:39Z")
> [@Lemur866](#): > > Yeah, mango is easy. Cut off the two cheeks, crosshatch, and you’ve got two beautiful mango hedgehogs. Then take the remaining peel off the circumference of the seed, and cut off any usable bits still stuck to the seed. > > It’s dead easy if you know how. The peel is the best part of a mango. No need to do the cross hatch unless you’re making a fruit salad or something. ---
**Author:** ![armedmonkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@armedmonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/armedmonkey)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2009, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foods-that-take-so-much-effort-to-eat/514922/76 "2009-10-28T23:59:23Z")
My vote is for Slim Jims. Sure, they _look_ easy, but every time you think about eating one you have to deal with Macho Man Randy Savage busting through a wall yelling “_Ohh, yeaaahhhhhh!_” Beef Jerky just ain’t worth it when I know I’m going to have to patch some drywall. And don’t even get me started about the Kool Aid guy. I don’t suppose that’s food though. Second worst is a tie between Lucky Charms and Trix. Honestly, who wants to have to fight off leprechauns and giant rabbits just to eat breakfast? ---
**Author:** ![Leiko](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Leiko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leiko)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2009, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foods-that-take-so-much-effort-to-eat/514922/77 "2009-10-29T04:29:41Z")
> [@LadyJane84](#): > > You put salt on your grapefruit? I’ve never heard of that. What’s the advantage over sugar? Salt cuts the bitterness and enhances the flavor without adding extra calories or sweetness. ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2009, 5:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foods-that-take-so-much-effort-to-eat/514922/78 "2009-10-29T05:53:26Z")
> [@bouv](#): > > The worst part about chicken wings, IMO, isn’t necessarily the eating part, but it’s cleaning up after. No matter how many times you wash your hands, you’ll still have little bits of sauce in the crevices along your nail beds and your hands will smell like wings for hours afterward. And barbecue. I just plan on taking a shower after eating barbecue, because otherwise I smell like barbecue sauce. I enjoy the aroma of barbecue sauce, it’s just that I don’t particularly like smelling like the main course of a luau. ---
**Author:** ![Renee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/renee/32/287_2.png) [@Renee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Renee)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2009, 7:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foods-that-take-so-much-effort-to-eat/514922/79 "2009-10-29T07:34:26Z")
> [@fandango](#): > > The peel is the best part of a mango. No need to do the cross hatch unless you’re making a fruit salad or something. Really? I didn’t even know the peels were edible. ---
**Author:** ![devilsknew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4da419/32.png) [@devilsknew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/devilsknew)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2009, 6:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foods-that-take-so-much-effort-to-eat/514922/80 "2009-10-30T06:38:23Z")
> [@devilsknew](#): > > Actually, I have peeled a butternut and an acorn squash. The acorn is crazy, although I’m sure there is a better protocol than I used- crannies and crevices. Totally wrong prep philosopy… Cook, then peel. Oh, and by the way, I am talking about traditional and classic peeling with a paring knife… I can’t say what I could do with an oxo since I have never handled an oxo product. I segmented the acorn and did the butternut, whole- that was my best geometric approach from an epicurean perspective. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foods-that-take-so-much-effort-to-eat/514922.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foods-that-take-so-much-effort-to-eat/514922.md?page=5)