# Things that should be removed from food before serving **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 13, 2006, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-should-be-removed-from-food-before-serving/360577 "2006-06-13T16:03:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![alice\_in\_wonderland](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alice_in_wonderland/32/176_2.png) [@alice\_in\_wonderland](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alice_in_wonderland)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2006, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-should-be-removed-from-food-before-serving/360577/21 "2006-06-13T18:14:29Z")
Has anyone said “bay leaf” yet? I don’t see it, so: bay leaf. I hate getting that frikin’ leaf. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2006, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-should-be-removed-from-food-before-serving/360577/22 "2006-06-13T18:16:08Z")
Bird shot. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2006, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-should-be-removed-from-food-before-serving/360577/23 "2006-06-13T18:18:00Z")
The really big roach that ran on top of it just as you were hoisting the platter in the kitchen. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2006, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-should-be-removed-from-food-before-serving/360577/24 "2006-06-13T18:18:28Z")
Yeah, add cloves to the list. Ham tastes better with them, but not _with_ them if you know what I mean. Parsley. It’s a garnish, not an essential part of cleaning one’s plate, and my mom never knew that. Mushrooms. Just my opinion, but while mushrooms _do_ add to the flavor of chicken, I don’t like the slimy, chlorine-y tasting objects in my mouth. ---
**Author:** ![Snooooopy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Snooooopy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snooooopy)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2006, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-should-be-removed-from-food-before-serving/360577/25 "2006-06-13T18:21:43Z")
Cyanogenic glucosides (in cassava). ---
**Author:** ![RogueRacer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/7ab992/32.png) [@RogueRacer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RogueRacer)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2006, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-should-be-removed-from-food-before-serving/360577/26 "2006-06-13T19:16:55Z")
[QUOTE=alice\_in\_wonderland] Has anyone said “bay leaf” yet? [/QUOTE] Just the OP. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Calliope\_82](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ba8739/32.png) [@Calliope\_82](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Calliope_82)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2006, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-should-be-removed-from-food-before-serving/360577/27 "2006-06-13T19:24:22Z")
Onion skins. I learned that a little too late… during my first college sit-down dinner. It was comical to watch my roommate quizically pull onion skin off her tongue. ---
**Author:** ![Adoptamom\_II](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/7ba0ec/32.png) [@Adoptamom\_II](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Adoptamom_II)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2006, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-should-be-removed-from-food-before-serving/360577/28 "2006-06-13T19:45:49Z")
Quit picking on the pitiful bayleaf! In our home, it’s tradition to leave it in the dish and whoever finds it is automatically excused from dishes duty that night. See? Nice tradition started from one of my earlier screwups. You folks have got to learn to WORK these mistakes to your advantage! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![BurnMeUp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/91b2a8/32.png) [@BurnMeUp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BurnMeUp)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2006, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-should-be-removed-from-food-before-serving/360577/29 "2006-06-13T20:02:43Z")
Star anise Large pieces of lemongrass Whole lime leaves In fact if you want a wealth of inedible items that enhance a soup get some Tom Kha Gai thai soup, me and my work friends make a little game to see wyho gets the most inedible pieces in their soup. ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2006, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-should-be-removed-from-food-before-serving/360577/30 "2006-06-13T20:20:19Z")
The cook’s thumb. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2006, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-should-be-removed-from-food-before-serving/360577/31 "2006-06-13T20:27:40Z")
[QUOTE=Adoptamom\_II] Quit picking on the pitiful bayleaf! In our home, it’s tradition to leave it in the dish and whoever finds it is automatically excused from dishes duty that night. See? Nice tradition started from one of my earlier screwups. You folks have got to learn to WORK these mistakes to your advantage! 🙂 [/QUOTE] Lemme guess, you also put pennies in cupcakes as a good luck game? 😛 ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2006, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-should-be-removed-from-food-before-serving/360577/32 "2006-06-13T20:44:16Z")
[QUOTE=BMalion] life. [/QUOTE] Heh, that’s the spirit! ---
**Author:** ![gotpasswords](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c57346/32.png) [@gotpasswords](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gotpasswords)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2006, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-should-be-removed-from-food-before-serving/360577/33 "2006-06-13T20:59:23Z")
[QUOTE=Ludovic] Lemme guess, you also put pennies in cupcakes as a good luck game? 😛 [/QUOTE] Not in cupcakes, but definitely a few coins get popped into birthday cakes inmy family. ---
**Author:** ![Kythereia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e8c25b/32.png) [@Kythereia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kythereia)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2006, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-should-be-removed-from-food-before-serving/360577/34 "2006-06-13T21:01:28Z")
[QUOTE=BMalion] life. [/QUOTE] Philistine. Plebe! You don’t know the meaning of ‘haute cuisine’! That said, cloves. I _loathe_ cloves. ---
**Author:** ![ryobserver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b2d939/32.png) [@ryobserver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ryobserver)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2006, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-should-be-removed-from-food-before-serving/360577/35 "2006-06-13T23:49:32Z")
All these posts and no one has mentioned eggshells? Unless they’re hard-boiled, of course. And don’t repeat my great-aunt’s mistake of canning peaches with the worms still in them. She wasn’t alone though; I once opened a store-bought can of peaches and found a little white larva, very dead, floating on top. ---
**Author:** ![Waenara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/50afbb/32.png) [@Waenara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Waenara)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2006, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-should-be-removed-from-food-before-serving/360577/36 "2006-06-14T00:03:39Z")
Sausage “casings” that are supposed to be removed. Which has caused me a few quandries over the years - sometimes it’s tricky to discern just by eyeballing it whether the casing on a particular item is supposed to be edible. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2006, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-should-be-removed-from-food-before-serving/360577/37 "2006-06-14T00:53:47Z")
[QUOTE=BMalion] life. [/QUOTE] Unless you’re having [gagh!](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Klingon#Klingon_cuisine)🙂 There’s also a kind of fish, I forget the name, which in Japan is served live. Carefully sliced (diagonally up the flanks), but live. And wiggling on the plate. ---
**Author:** ![Szlater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/90ced4/32.png) [@Szlater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Szlater)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2006, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-should-be-removed-from-food-before-serving/360577/38 "2006-06-14T00:55:20Z")
[QUOTE=BrainGlutton] Unless you’re having [gagh!](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Klingon#Klingon_cuisine)🙂 There’s also a kind of fish, I forget the name, which in Japan is served live. Carefully sliced (diagonally up the flanks), but live. And wiggling on the plate. [/QUOTE] Oysters are live when you eat them raw straight from the shell, aren’t they? ---
**Author:** ![Viridiana](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/ebca7d/32.png) [@Viridiana](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Viridiana)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2006, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-should-be-removed-from-food-before-serving/360577/39 "2006-06-14T00:58:32Z")
the little green threads on the sides of snow pea pods (as well as the stems)… ---
**Author:** ![lizardling](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f4b2a3/32.png) [@lizardling](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lizardling)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2006, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-should-be-removed-from-food-before-serving/360577/40 "2006-06-14T01:21:54Z")
Ginger slices. _shudder_ Regarding the live fish, that sounds a bit like an UL. Cite? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-should-be-removed-from-food-before-serving/360577.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-should-be-removed-from-food-before-serving/360577.md?page=3)