Turn your Poop Blue!

Mundane Pointless Stuff I Must Share (MPSIMS)
#12

IIRC, there have been actual psychological experiments that showed this, too. As I recall, they dyed some sort of food, french fries and steak, I think, “weird” colors. The control group ate the meal under special light that prevented them from seeing what color the food was (to rule out the possibility of the dye affecting the taste or smell), and they said it tasted fine. The group who was given the meal under normal light found it completely unappetizing. And if I remember correctly some people in the control group actually felt nauseated when they learned the food they’d eaten was the “wrong” color.

I’m guessing the reason is because we’ve all been taught that funny colored food is probably spoiled. Maybe things like green ketchup works on kids because they haven’t gotten that conditioning yet.

#13

I don’t think you mean “shooting”.

#14

Some years ago, a coworker brought in green bagels for St. Patrick’s day. The whole-wheat bagels must have had a large amount of food coloring in order to make the green stand out against the brown of the whole wheat.

The next day we all had a good laugh as we compared experiences.

#15

“Shooting” is exactly what I mean.

#16

Compromise on blue corn chips?

#17

When my bros and I were about 4, 6, & 8yo, we got together with Dad to make Mom a homemade birthday cake from the typical grocery store mixes. Back then even frosting was a mix, not a sweet glop you scoop out of a tub. We chose chocolate cake & white/vanilla frosting.

But, being 4 boys of varying ages but still in our silly phase, we had to improve it. So we food-colored the cake a very bilious green and the frosting was about grape-jelly purple.

Mom was … surprised. It took a LOT of food coloring to get the colors bright enough, and yes, we soon had interesting poop. And told all the neighbors all about our scientific triumph. No wonder they moved away.

We were sort of like Calvin, except there were 3 of us. How we survived to puberty is a mystery to all of us.

#18

When I lived in a hippie-ish commune in the '60s, we dyed a lot of our food. Everybody loved it, especially multi-colored popcorn. We dyed some of our pets too. I don’t recommend it.

#19

I was hospitalized not this past December, but the December previous for extreme pooping [chemo and radiation turned my gut into a 36 foot road rash leaking interstitial fluid out of me into the poop stream instead of pulling water out of the poopstream so I ended up way too dehydrated.] I startled the hospitaler with a mouth to toilet bowl time of 17 minutes as timed by the undigested bits of watermelon from the days fruit salad.

#20

A coworker brought in a green red velvet cake for St Patrick’s day once. It was from a red velvet cake mix, so the sheer amount of food coloring she had to use to make the green overwhelm the red really showed up the next morning!

#21

All she needed to do was substitute the green for the red :). That’s what I did to produce a blue velvet cake for DH’s birthday one year.

And it was just after I hit Post that I spotted the word “mix”. NM. (embarrassed look)

#22

They’re onto something with the use of blue food coloring. When one of the office ladies turned 40, someone brought in a cake covered in what appeared to be black decorations… The bakery had achieved this color through the excessive use of blue food coloring. People were cheerfully discussing their bright green leavings the next day.

#23

If you’ve ever used a juicing machine on beets, that has the same effect, only it dyes your urine also. Bright pinkish red pee will get your attention if you’re not expecting it.

#24

I was given a purple cauliflower which I thought was pretty cool. Hubs didn’t like it on sight. I steamed it at dinner and it turned blue. Hubs ate a bite, agreed that it tasted like normal cauliflower and left the rest on his plate.

The water in the steam pan was a lovely indigo, so I tried dying a cotton tea towel, which didn’t work at all.

Mom and I ate most of the cauliflower and didn’t notice odd colored output. We feel ripped off.

#25

Fun fact: Take any naturally-occurring dark red or purple vegetable or flower (e.g., red cabbage or purple flag iris), boil it to get a reddish-purplish liquid. Put anything acidic into it (e.g., lemon juice) and it turns red (or redder). Put anything basic into it (e.g., soap) and it will turn more bluish. It’s a naturally-occurring acid/base indicator.

#26

From the OP: “Turn your Poop Blue!”

How about: “Turn your Poop Rainbow!”

The story was told (this was before my time) that our Airedale did this. She got into a box of crayons and ate them. Rainbow poop ensued.

#27

But this is actually surprising in some ways, and I wonder if it was that the purple and green were particularly vivid tones?

I mean, I eat out a lot, and it’s pretty common for one or more of the condiments or sides to be a slightly unusual color due to containing pesto, or beetroot, or whatever. As long as it’s a somewhat dark or earthy color, it doesn’t trigger any kind of revulsion.

I wouldn’t buy the funny colored ketchup, but just because I have no reason to. No reason to confuse things, if the taste is apparently the same.

#28

@aruvqan

Oh, thank you for sharing! I’m not even halfway through my first cup of coffee yet!

~VOW

#29

I’m no Andrew Zimmern of Bizarre Foods fame, but I’m a decently adventurous eater by mere mortal standards.

Green or blue ketchup is fine with me. But for some reason purple potatoes are a struggle. They taste fine, the texture is fine, they smell fine. But something about them screams Oooh! That’s Not Right.

#30

And yet, ironically, there ARE purple potatoes that come that way naturally, without any dye. My wife regularly prepares spiced mini-potatoes that include purple ones among the mix.

7 Surprising Benefits of Purple Potatoes.

#31

Those are exactly the potatoes I’m weirdly uncomfortable eating. Despite knowing they grow that way and I’m the guy who bought them, cleaned them, cut them, and cooked them. Other blue/purple food is fine, such as blueberries, eggplant skins, some grape cultivars, etc.

Like I said, it makes no sense.

I suppose there are folks who enjoy the flavor of oysters and the ceremony of eating them, but not so much the texture. This may be more of the same.