Somewhat unusual. The first time I ate Chinese food was on a high school field trip to Chinatown in NYC (I had prepared in advance - I was able to successfully use chopsticks), but I grew up in rural Pennsylvania and didn’t go to restaurants very often at all.
I didn’t eat in a Chinese restaurant til I was 35; I have eaten Chinese take out dozens of times before that though.
I know plenty of people who never eating Mexican food; they seem to think it all contains either beans or jalapenos.
Probably the ones that didn’t serve Lobster Cantonese, which was my family’s favorite dish in the restaurant we went to.
My family wasn’t anywhere near observant, so I think this was a secular thing. I’ve never noticed a kosher notice on any Chinese restaurant I’ve ever been to, and since all serve shrimp no doubt made in the same woks as other dishes, I’d be very surprised if any were, unless they specifically targeted the Kosher crowd.
My father rebelled at his somewhat religious mother, and my mother’s father was almost certainly an atheist, so I did not have the proper upbringing.
My family never ate ham, though we ate bacon and pork chops all the time. And of course shellfish.
When I used to go to the Western Electric plant in North Andover, Mass, (the area that recently blew up) we used to go to a Chinese restaurant which served rolls, so your dad would have been right at home.
I never understood it.
I dated a woman who, at 26, had never been inside a Taco Bell or K-Mart. This was in 1994. She grew up in Fairfield County, CT.
I’m 43 years old and just ate in Taco Bell for the first time this year. To be fair I’ve lived in the northern half of New Hampshire my entire adult life and most of my family doesn’t like Mexican food.
He threw a fit? Why? Did he ordinarily lose his shit when he couldn’t get exactly what he wanted?
Taco bell is not Mexican food.
I compliment her on her good taste.
I’ve had churros from Taco Bell through a drive in window, but I don’t think I’ve ever actually been in one - and there is one two doors from my grocery.
My parents grew up pretty poor and hardly ever ate out as kids. We had some pretty lean years when i was a kid. I can remember eating out on Sundays when things got better. But this this day in both sides of my family, there’s the nagging feeling that paying for a hamburger is wasting money when “I can make you a sandwich when we get home.”
Some people are seriously put off by the everything mixed together presentation of your typical China’s Chinese dinner dish.
Similar. My family never - let me make this clear - NEVER went out to eat or had carryout. When I was old enough to drive, that’s when I got to go to McDonalds and other US fast food places. Before that, I think I had a pretzel once at the Fayette Mall food court in Lexington. On the upside, every day at 5:30 p.m. sharp, the entire family sat down to dinner at our house and the memories have lasted a lifetime.
I moved to Chicago at 22, and that’s when all the eating firsts started happening. It was mindblowing to my friends that I’d never had Italian, Mexican, Chinese, etc. It seemed weird to them, especially on learning that both parents worked.
The most vivid new ethnic food experience was my first gyro. It was good but that looked and smelled seriously weird.
Yes, he did. His family had learned how to keep him calm most of the time though.
PIZZA was considered exotic fare in my decidedly non-adventurous childhood home. Money was a big part of it but suspicion of the unknown has persisted long after money was an issue. For the old folks in the family, that is; I loved almost all of the new food that I was exposed to.
Of all the food to have (supposedly) never been eaten, the oddest to me was one mentioned by a Stephen King character.
Jack Torrance in “The Shining”, when informed of the massive supply of butter in the larder at the Overlook Hotel, claimed that he’d never had any, only margarine.
Apparently this was intended as a demonstration of Torrance’s humble upbringing, but really? The guy was well into his 20s, but he’d never eaten out at even a low-priced restaurant chain offering butter with its rolls?
Any time I would ask my family if they wanted to try eating at Taco Bell they would always say “No, I don’t like Mexican food”. That’s always what they said. I am aware that Taco Bell’s menu and authentic Mexican cuisine are not the same thing. I am also aware there are significant differences between what is served in American “Chinese” restaurants and authentic Chinese cuisine.
I can’t speak about American dining habits overall but I would say it would be strange for an adult in New York City to have never had Chinese food or pizza. Even if your family only ate home cooked meals, in the course of normal social interaction in New York, it would difficult not to have Chinese food or pizza at some point.
I did not eat in a Chinese restaurant until I was finishing up my PhD and started job hunting. One of the hosts took me to a real Chinese restaurant in an actual Chinatown.
I ordered the orange chicken. Seemed safe. It was. It’s my 2nd most common order. mandarin beef with those puff rice noodles is my fave.
Gone to a lot since then. Mrs. FtG likes to go to one at least once a year now. More often when the kids were around.
OTOH, we had Chinese food of the can/box variety at home from time to time. Think Chun King chow mein. and such.
We just didn’t eat out at ethnic restaurants at all outside of Mexican.
I’m in my 50’s and I’ve never been inside a Taco Bell, either.
This and the thread about people not knowing about major events, e.g. 9/11 hit the same note. We forget that what’s common experiences, knowledge and interests for us aren’t universal, even we live in the same country, state, city or town.