lirazel | (no subject)

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I need a little lightheartedness in my life right now, so here's a fun topic of discussion:

Tell me about a food you love that most other people find gross. Or that you know is objectively gross, but you love it anyway.

I'm not talking about the kinds of food that traditionally polarize people--cilantro or olives or brussel sprouts or pineapple on pizza or things like that. I'm talking about stuff that is truly niche.

Obviously, this is culturally dependent, so this criteria will work: even if something is widely eaten in another part of the world (like, idk, haggis), will 90%+ of the people in your cultural context say "EWWWW!" if you mention it to them?

For me: banana, peanut butter, and mayonnaise. This tradition on my mom's side of the family really grosses people out, but it's so good! Everyone's fine with the banana and peanut butter, but I am telling you: the mayo makes it. It adds a tangy zip that just elevates the experience!

In fact, this is one of the few ways I will eat bananas that aren't at the perfect stage of ripeness for me. And bananas so rarely are at that perfect stage of ripeness.

(By the way, there's this Instagram account called LandonTalks, and it's this very southern Mississippi guy talking about southern culture and language, and I love it because a) he is the perfect example of that specific kind of very sweet southern guy who everyone from outside the south assumes is gay but actually he isn't [he has a wife, though he could be bi! I do not assume that he's straight!], b) most of the things he says are very true, and c) it's not just white southern culture--most of way he says applies to black southern culture too. It's so hard to find anyone who likes to talk about southern culture in truly not-racist ways! Obviously he exaggerates a lot, but that's the southern way, so I'm not bothered.

ANYWAY! He actually made an entire post about eating leftover cornbread with milk or buttermilk and it delighted me to no end because my family has always done that but I don't know anyone else who does. My mama does it with regular milk, but my granddaddy always did it with buttermilk. Fill up a glass, crumble the leftover cornbread into smaller chunks, eat with spoon.)

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I dunno. Very few people I know IRL eat biscuits and gravy on the reg. SO's family thinks it's weird (they're not white trash like us).

To be fair, my family thinks my vegetarian version of biscuits and gravy is EWWWW. ;)

Ha! I come from biscuit and gravy land, too! I know people in other places don't eat it, but I haven't gotten the "ew!" reaction yet! But I am very curious about your vegetarian version!

I used to crumble Morningstar Farms veggie patties, but now Impossible makes "sausage" that comes in an accurate-looking roll that is much closer to the texture of pork sausage!

I haven't experimented with Impossible sausage yet, though the burgers aren't terrible. I might have to try it!

Mämmi tends to divide people a lot. Some people can't stand it, some can only eat it with cream and sugar (or custard or vanilla ice cream), but if it's from a good batch, it's delicious as is.

Oh how interesting! I haven't heard of that one, but I would certainly at least try it if I had the opportunity.

It's one of the foods traditionally used to freak foreigners out simply because...well, it looks like shit. 😁

It does look pretty gross, but the ingredients don't inherently freak me out!

I've always wanted to try that.

cherry moos seems to freak a lot of people out when they see it, and a sweet dairy-based soup also seems a bit outside many people's conceptions of what a soup ought to be. But it's completely delicious!

I myself have never had any kind of sweet soup before...but I love cherries, so now I want to try this. One day, when I make my way to the frozen north!

it's so good! you can also make it out of other sour fruits, like chokecherries or gooseberries, but I like the sour cherry version best. Highly recommend trying it if you're able to sometime

Pickles and ice cream is this stereotypical "gross thing only pregnant people with cravings will eat" but it's actually really great. I'd do it with non-dairy ice cream. So good.

Ooooh, fascinating! I do love pickles....

I'm not sure if other would think it's gross, but I'm the only person I've ever known who likes to eat a fried egg over a baked sweet potato.

Huh! I'm not sure I would enjoy those two tastes together, but it doesn't strike me as viscerally disgusting. I am so enjoying everyone's answers to this question!

You're not alone! I eat this regularly. It's really good with some sauteed onions and peppers thrown in, maybe some hot sauce aaaaand now I'm hungry...

I eat this all the time (although normally it's a fried egg over an array of different roasted vegetables — potato, sweet potato, pepper, red onion and so on) — in fact I am literally going to be making it for dinner tonight. Usually I put chili oil or sriracha over the top of everything.

That sounds *delicious*! I love both of those and can see how they would combine well.

Cynar, a bittersweet drink made from artichokes! A lot of people hate it, although apparently it's been getting more popular lately...

Oooh! I don't know if I would like that! But now I want to try it!

I'M SORRY WHAT NOW I LOVE ARTICHOKES SO MUCH AND YET I HAVE NEVER HEARD OF THIS SORRY FOR ALL THE YELLING WHAT WHAT WHAT ----

I wonder if I can order this on the internet.

I hope you can find it! I really like it (and artichokes!)

Report back if you manage to find it!

This might be cliched and fall under "traditionally polarize people," but I put ketchup on my macaroni and cheese (which is always non-dairy, another thing that would gross some people out lol).

Yeah, that is...not appealing to me. But I support people eating whatever makes them happy, so I'm glad you enjoy it! :D

I absolutely do the cornbread and milk / buttermilk / half-and-half thing, though I learned it from my first boss, who was quite pointedly Southern.

Also I sometimes put salsa on baked potatoes.

Also apparently there are people on this earth who think dipping your French fries in your milkshake is wrong. I feel sorry for them.

It delights me that you do it too!

I haven't done salsa on baked potatoes...but I think next time I have one, I will try it!

Also apparently there are people on this earth who think dipping your French fries in your milkshake is wrong. I feel sorry for them.

Agreed!

I will dip fries in just about anything that is food? Like, I love mustard on fries, but ice cream, soda, sour cream...potatoes go with EVERYTHING.

I had to think for a minute if I actually liked anything in this category because while a lot of my eating habits will get a side-eye not a lot of them will get an 'eww' response.

The only thing I can come up with that people find baffling is Dr. Pepper and half-and-half, though if you try it you might actually like it.

Huh. I've never heard of that! I don't drink any kind of soda at all, so it wouldn't appeal to me, but now I want to encourage people in my life who do drink it to try with half and half!

You know I had never heard of it either, I just saw a woman at a Panera do it and I tried it myself because Panera is one of the few places where you’ll have both a soda fountain and coffee accoutrements at the same time. It’s a bit too sweet for me now, these days when I’m there I go for the death lemonades.

Edited 2023-11-01 16:30 (UTC)

I mean, I like both those things but I would never think to combine them. Does it taste like a root beer float?

It tastes a little like a root beer float, but it doesn't get extra sugar from the ice cream and is more rich.

I mean, I *will* eat olives straight out of the jar and drink the water they were in, so....does that count?

I feel like the olives thing is normal, if polarizing, but the drink the water they were in probably would cross a line for a lot of people! TBH, I used to do this as a kid, though I haven't done it in a long time.

It's definitely not niche, but I had no idea how the non-francophone diaspora finds eating snails (escargots) weird. They're delicious!

I have never had them! I think I would try them, but to my US mind, they do sound weird!

People think we pick wild snails and eat them like we're Pumba from The Lion King. I wouldn't recommend that, unless you wish to fall sick (success guaranteed). I can't describe what snails taste like. They're chewy but also have a paste-like consistency? It's rather mild

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