# What are your weird food issues? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 20, 2009, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-weird-food-issues/514504 "2009-10-20T17:52:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![pbbth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f9ae1b/32.png) [@pbbth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pbbth)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2009, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-weird-food-issues/514504/41 "2009-10-21T02:24:49Z")
> [@salinqmind](#): > > This sounds really anal, and you might wonder whether I ever dare to go eat at restaurants (which I do!), but - I don’t like to eat food given to me by people I don’t know well. Like welcome-neighbor banana bread, bring-a-dish-to-pass potlucks, offers to share a sandwich from home at lunch. Unless they are Martha Stewart and I’ve watched them prepare food, something about it squicks me out. For all I know, they didn’t wash their hands, or they left the goulash in the hot car all morning, or their kitty cats walk around their food prep as they slice n’ dice. The coleslaw looks runny and sloppy, the sandwich has indentations from someone’s fingers, the cupcakes seriously look as if their 5 year old frosted them…I’ll graciously accept the banana bread and serve it to the family; I’ll pick n’ choose at the potluck; I’ll thanks-but-I’m-not-hungry at the offer of the tuna sandwich from home. I’m the same way! If it was prepared by someone in a restaurant I know they’ve most likely been trained in food prep and are required to wash their hands. They don’t always do those things but if I get sick because of it there is recourse. If crazy Betty at the office prepares spaghetti for the office potluck and used a can of sauce bulging with botulism I just get really ill and pray for death. If I watch food being prepared I’m okay with it but just random food at a pot luck situation? I can’t bring myself to eat it. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2009, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-weird-food-issues/514504/42 "2009-10-21T02:46:21Z")
Sort of food related. I can’t stand the idea of having a wooden popsicle stick in my mouth. So when I eat a popsicle I eat the frozen part off the stick without ever putting it inside my mouth. ---
**Author:** ![Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b38774/32.png) [@Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Attack_from_the_3rd_dimension)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2009, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-weird-food-issues/514504/43 "2009-10-21T02:53:56Z")
As I read this thread I can’t help visualizing the priests who writing _Leviticus_ having this conversation. “Oy! Lobsters! That’s gross, they’re like cockroaches, they squick me out” “Milk and meat? At the same time? Yuck!. That’s out” ---
**Author:** ![Grrr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrr/32/146_2.png) [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2009, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-weird-food-issues/514504/44 "2009-10-21T03:32:51Z")
Raw onions make me puke. Cooked onions; (too the point where they are soft) I can’t get enough. ---
**Author:** ![Spud](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spud/32/347_2.png) [@Spud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spud)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2009, 3:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-weird-food-issues/514504/45 "2009-10-21T03:53:04Z")
I only eat food I can fit in my mouth… sorry, but that is about as picky as I get. Except for Brussel Sprouts. I really want to like them. They look great, the smell ok, and I figure drenched in butter they have to be edible… but alas that doesn’t seem to be the case. ---
**Author:** ![luv2draw](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/46a35a/32.png) [@luv2draw](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/luv2draw)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2009, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-weird-food-issues/514504/46 "2009-10-21T04:24:47Z")
Wow. A lot of issues here… ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2009, 5:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-weird-food-issues/514504/47 "2009-10-21T05:03:48Z")
Whatever I’m eating, I always save “the best for last.” For example, if anything has a crust or edge (sandwich, pizza, pie, etc.) I always eat the crust first, then the middle. If I’m eating cake, I always make sure to save as much frosting as possible for the end (I’ve been known to turn a piece of cake upside-down, to get to the cake first). In spite of the above, there are certain foods that I mix together. Like meat loaf, mashed potatoes and veggies. I can eat them separately, but it’s not as much fun. I don’t like burgers with pickles, tomatoes or lettuce inside. Onions are good, but I remove the others and eat them separately. I like hot dogs with mustard or ketchup equally. So I usually have one of each, and alternate. I love every kind of food, with only two exceptions: haggis and Limburger cheese. Everything else is good. ---
**Author:** ![NinjaChick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/71c47a/32.png) [@NinjaChick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NinjaChick)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2009, 5:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-weird-food-issues/514504/48 "2009-10-21T05:06:03Z")
I can’t share food. I dislike having other people handle my food, but four years in a college cafeteria helped desensitize me to that. Once it is on my plate or in my glass, I am the only one who can touch it. No, you cannot try some of my whatever, nor do I want any of your whatever. No seafood. If the room smells like seafood I will struggle to eat. Butter is gross. Margarine is acceptable lightly on pasta in lieu of tomato or alfredo sauce and pretty much nowhere else. If either spinach or broccoli has been cooked to the point of being softish, I find it tasty. I will not eat either vegetable raw. If mushroom bits in food are large enough to see the mushroom-like structure (ie, not chopped finely in a pasta sauce), I _cannot_ eat them. I won’t eat that dish, or if in tremendously casual settings, will pick the mushrooms out. I can’t just sit and eat; I must be reading or watching a movie or something. I also find it tremendously hard to eat in the presence of others. Sandwiches must be sliced in half vertically, so that there’s a top and bottom to both halves, and must be sliced with a clean knife. Sandwiches on hoagie rolls are an obvious exception. For some reason, food which must be cut with a knife makes me kind of uncomfortable. I’ll eat it, but…bleh. Give me stuff that’s already cut up or soft enough to cut with the edge of a fork. ---
**Author:** ![Zulema](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/db5fbb/32.png) [@Zulema](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zulema)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2009, 5:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-weird-food-issues/514504/49 "2009-10-21T05:23:28Z")
I can’t eat chicken if I’m at all involved in the raw stage unless it’s boneless breasts. I can’t stand eating if someone is looking at me. I can’t watch people eat. If they have food on their lips it grosses me out to the point I can’t kiss my husband if I suddenly remember how his lips look with food on them. No “public food” except for pot lucks (I have no idea why). I can’t stand the sound of squishy food being chewed by others. I will not lick my fingers while eating no matter what. If I’m somewhere with no napkins I will eat everything with a fork or wipe my fingers on the inside of my socks. I think it is gross to eat in the car while driving so we always have to stop to eat on trips. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2009, 8:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-weird-food-issues/514504/50 "2009-10-21T08:51:19Z")
Aside from all the stuff associated with my food allergies, which I don’t think is what the OP is getting at: I can not abide melted cheese. It’s a texture thing. Melted cheese is revolting to me. The one exception is Mozarella, which I can eat melted onto toast. Any other cheese must not be melted. I actually prefer it slightly cooler than room temperature. It doesn’t have to be firm - I like spreadable cheese just fine as well as hard cheese - but it can’t be warm much less melted. I also, for the most part, can’t stand the meat + cheese combination that seems to have become ubiquitous in the US. Meat by itself is fine. Cheese by itself is fine. The combination is icky to the point I can’t eat it. I can have the two in the same meal, just not both in my mouth at the same time. The worst, of course, is when I order a burger (specifically without cheese!) and it arrives with melted cheese glop on it - you _can’t_ just pick melted cheese off a burger! At least with cold cuts I can peel the cold cheese off the sandwich. (The sole exception to the no meat and cheese together rule for me is a braunschwieger and cheese sandwich. I have not idea why that cholesterol-laden treat is the exception here, but it is.) ---
**Author:** ![Crowbar\_of\_Irony\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f08c70/32.png) [@Crowbar\_of\_Irony\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crowbar_of_Irony_3)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2009, 9:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-weird-food-issues/514504/51 "2009-10-21T09:40:33Z")
Considering that I eat vegetables, spicy stuff, raw stuff (big fan of Japanese food I am), I think my weird food issues are more of eating too much than anything else. There’s one though. I can’t eat anything that is too bland. It makes me want to throw up. So if I am getting porridige without any seasoning or mixed with any meat or such, I get sick of it easier and if forced to go on, would throw up. ---
**Author:** ![Haunted](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/898d66/32.png) [@Haunted](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Haunted)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2009, 11:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-weird-food-issues/514504/52 "2009-10-21T11:44:43Z")
> [@control-z](#): > > No mixing of fruits and meats. Bleah! Yes, this. It’s just WRONG. Unnatural. What’s next, putting fish on pizza? Where will this madness end? GAH! ---
**Author:** ![Rebo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rebo/32/13005_2.png) [@Rebo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rebo)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2009, 12:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-weird-food-issues/514504/53 "2009-10-21T12:01:36Z")
> [@Necros](#): > > I have some bad news for you… Yes? Don’t worry, it’s only a bite here and there. Too much and they get tummy aches, especially the little guy. And no pure fat for them at all. ---
**Author:** ![Maastricht](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a88e57/32.png) [@Maastricht](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maastricht)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2009, 12:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-weird-food-issues/514504/54 "2009-10-21T12:12:24Z")
Lobster. I once ordered a shrimp cocktail, and the restaurant had pimped it with a cooked little lobster on top. To me, it was like they ambushed me with a big angry red boiled alive spider. I felt pity and disgust at the same time. I asked my company to throw a paper towel over the whole thing and have it taken away. Totally irrational, I know. Shrimp are a kind of lobsters too. I guess it was the legs and eyes on stalks that did it. ---
**Author:** ![gallows\_fodder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8c91f0/32.png) [@gallows\_fodder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gallows_fodder)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2009, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-weird-food-issues/514504/55 "2009-10-21T13:29:10Z")
Sandwich filling has to be in a particular order, to make sure certain things don’t touch. Vegetables should never touch condiments, certain vegetables should never touch cheese, and cheese should not touch condiments. So for example, take this sandwich: Bread Mustard Turkey Cheese Spinach Sprouts Red peppers Turkey Mustard Bread The turkey must be placed in between the cheese and the mustard on one side (because cheese and condiments can’t touch) and between the red peppers and mustard on the other (because peppers and mustard can’t touch), and the spinach and the sprouts are where they are to ensure that the cheese and the red peppers don’t touch. But this is only true for sandwiches I make myself. If I order a sandwich from a deli or restaurant, I usually eat it as-is because by then it’s too late and the condiments have gotten over everything, and I don’t want to get my fingers dirty. (Except when I have to do like **MeanOldLady** does and rearrange things to make sure everything’s spread out evenly over the bread.) ---
**Author:** ![Labrador\_Deceiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7c8e57/32.png) [@Labrador\_Deceiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labrador_Deceiver)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2009, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-weird-food-issues/514504/56 "2009-10-21T13:44:28Z")
> [@Superhal](#): > > Loving balut isn’t an issue? You certainly have a point. ---
**Author:** ![norinew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/eb9ed0/32.png) [@norinew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/norinew)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2009, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-weird-food-issues/514504/57 "2009-10-21T13:53:29Z")
> [@gallows\_fodder](#): > > Sandwich filling has to be in a particular order, to make sure certain things don’t touch. Vegetables should never touch condiments, certain vegetables should never touch cheese, and cheese should not touch condiments. So for example, take this sandwich: > > Bread > Mustard > Turkey > Cheese > Spinach > Sprouts > Red peppers > Turkey > Mustard > Bread > > The turkey must be placed in between the cheese and the mustard on one side (because cheese and condiments can’t touch) and between the red peppers and mustard on the other (because peppers and mustard can’t touch), and the spinach and the sprouts are where they are to ensure that the cheese and the red peppers don’t touch. > > But this is only true for sandwiches I make myself. If I order a sandwich from a deli or restaurant, I usually eat it as-is because by then it’s too late and the condiments have gotten over everything, and I don’t want to get my fingers dirty. (Except when I have to do like **MeanOldLady** does and rearrange things to make sure everything’s spread out evenly over the bread.) Seems like my ‘sandwich issues’ are less severe than some here, including yours. _But_, the mayo _must not_ touch the cheese! I like mayo _and_ cheese on a sandwich, but have to make the sandwich thus: Bread Mayo Meat Cheese (any veggies like lettuce and tomato) More meat Mayo Bread Cheese on top of mayo (or mayo on top of cheese)=slimy. Yuck. I also try my best to make sure the filling of a sandwich goes all the way to the edges. ---
**Author:** ![Who\_me\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/958977/32.png) [@Who\_me\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Who_me_1)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2009, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-weird-food-issues/514504/58 "2009-10-21T14:08:29Z")
I don’t really care for vegetables, but I eat them to be polite. Hmmmm… that’s about it. Oh! I also don’t care for well done beef, but I eat it to be polite. I also like my fried eggs with the whites still somewhat runny… except at my mother’s house because it makes her nauseous seeing me eating them. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2009, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-weird-food-issues/514504/59 "2009-10-21T14:13:35Z")
For years my mother would tell me “you are so weird about cheese!” meaning “why are there so few kinds of cheese you like, pray tell, you weirdo?” I was SO happy when I figured out that the problem is I don’t like cow cheese - my taste in cheeses doesn’t match most people’s but _there’s a logic to it_! ---
**Author:** ![Necros](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/necros/32/11086_2.png) [@Necros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Necros)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2009, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-weird-food-issues/514504/60 "2009-10-21T15:07:56Z")
> [@Rebo](#): > > Yes? > > Don’t worry, it’s only a bite here and there. Too much and they get tummy aches, especially the little guy. And no pure fat for them at all. No, I’m sure the dogs don’t care. But, despite how much fat you cut off that you can see, _there’s fat IN the meat!_ All mixed in-like! :eek: Edit: And just to actually contribute to the thread, I don’t like bananas, but I’ll eat em if I have to. I don’t think I could eat bugs, but I have gotten over my dislike of soft-shelled crabs. I am not a fan of raw octopus skin (it is a texture thing). I could only force down a few bites of fresh-made _andouillette_. Never had _tacos de ojos_, but I would not be optimistic about liking them. Otherwise, I’m good. 🙂 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-weird-food-issues/514504.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-weird-food-issues/514504.md?page=4)