lirazel | (no subject)

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.)

Threaded | Flat

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. ;)

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.

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!

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.

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.

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

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).

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.

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.

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

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