The other day, my friend and I were in a restaurant that does great rumpsteak, and it comes with a side of salad. He ate the salad last in order to clean the palate.
Apparently, serving salad after the heavy course is a custom in Italy.
Thoroughly common in Chinese meals.
He is very German (well, second generation German-American).
I used to not like my foods to touch.
I do save my favorite for last, though by then Im kindof full.
Similar to the broken and unbroken potato chip sorting that was mentioned in the OP, I will usually pick through a can of cocktail peanuts removing all the split peanuts first and save all the unsplit peanuts for last.
I’m the exact same way. I could never imagine returning a plate of food for “being cold” at a restaurant unless it was refrigerator temperature. A room temperature meal? No problem. Yes, even a steak, soup, etc.
Accordingly, at home I can eat a meal that’s been sitting on the counter for a few hours without heating it in the microwave. I might still heat it up a bit just because, but it’s absolutely not essential. When I was a teen, I routinely ate room-temperature meals when I came home late in the evening from work or some other activity.
A little of this, too … though the rainbow cake would be OK.
Most revolting, however, were the blue, green, and purple Heinz ketchups sold circa 1999-2000. Hurl!
I once had a nasty fake mint chutney in an Indian restaurant. Mint chutney is supposed to be a pleasant desaturated “food” green color (like the skin of dill pickles). The stuff I was served that day was vivid Kelly Green. Plargh! See also Chicago hot dog relish – sorry Windy City. Can’t y’all just use regular ol’ dill relish?
Also treated salad as the last course at dinner as a kid - not literally dessert, just the last regular course. I too grew up in a German-American household.
Good to know! I’m pretty sure he always says “this is the way Grandma did it” so I figured it was heritage.
Do you also consider pickles a dessert? He saves those for last too (spears or wholes).
It is?
My step mother was from Hong Kong. We ate Chinese food about 5 or 6 nights a week growing up.
I never ate salad (or any raw vegetables) with Chinese food. Lots of veggies, to be sure: Bok Choy was a staple. But it was always cooked. And never a salad.
(For dessert, at restaurants, it was usually sliced oranges. At home, my dad would eat ice cream)
The people who separate every item on their plate reminds me of an incident in one of the many Star Trek books. Spock mentioned to a newcomer that one of the crew was noted for doing that, and the newcomer shouted, “He’s a Romulan spy!” Apparently, the Romulans, who look identical to Vulcans, always eat their food that way.
Pickles would be eaten last. Again, not literally considered “dessert” it was just the last thing served.
Maybe only in my Chinese family!
What that minister said makes me wonder if there is some harmful effect to eating one thing at a time. It doesn’t seem likely, since food stays in the stomach for a long time, and should have plenty of time to mix together while getting an acid bath.
Clearly a disciple of Albert from Bread and Jam for Frances.
I know two unrelated people that don’t eat the “handles” on french fries. They don’t eat the part that they held.
I have a friend who has never seen his brother-in-law eat. If they go out to a restaurant, he gets his meal to-go when he orders.
I have another friend that strongly prefers forks with three tines. He’ll use others, but we’ll joke about it.
I suspect it’s a ‘your family thing’ and not a Chinese thing. We never had salad with a Chinese meal, and since mom was born in China, we had Chinese food a lot. Only we never called it Chinese food. We just called it ‘dinner’.
Possibly. My mother in law and several other people we know serve cucumbers and tomatoes as a palette cleanser. Is this not something you’ve experienced?
It is not, unless it was part of a more typical American meal, in which case they was served with on a plate with the main and starch. If we got anything at the end of a Chinese meal, it was sliced oranges.
I don’t eat my foods separately, but that kind of sandwich turns me off. I don’t eat “Thanksgiving hoagies”, either, and prefer to eat the leftovers on a plate. I’ll put gravy on stuffing and cranberry sauce on turkey, but i don’t want gravy on cranberry sauce.
I prefer my leftover meat cold, to avoid that “reheated” flavor or can develop. I do usually heat soups and stews, but they don’t need to be piping hot, just thoroughly warm.