The other day, a woman described being in line in a bagel shop in New York. The person in front of her told the bagel guy she wanted a cinnamon raisin bagel with white fish spread.
According to the paragraph, the bagel guy just looked at her, paused, and finally said, with a look of complete disgust on his face: "I can’t make that. I just can’t make that."
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It makes me laugh even to write this, how apparently that combination was so not only unpalatable but SO unthinkable that the bagel guy couldn’t even make what his customer wanted. So incredibly funny.
A food travesty. Like...a blueberry bagel. A blueberry bagel is not a thing. Bagels do not have FRUIT. Muffins have fruit.
I feel like that when someone offers me a piece of pizza with ham and pineapple on it. No, I think, no no no, I just can’t eat that. Even though my brain understands that some people might think that’s good, and that’s fine, but please don’t make me eat that.
Sausage. I have never had any kind of sausage and don’t even ask me to try it, the sound of the skin alone of it makes me want to leave the room. Lima beans. Baked beans. Any kind of food-like thing that is shaped in the shape of a lima bean.
Some people don’t like raisins in oatmeal cookies. I could go either way on that. But marshmallows in ice cream, that just seems like a bad idea. I know Sue Grafton Kinsey liked pickles and peanut butter, and I am all for Kinsey, but really?
And mayonnaise on ham. No no no. There was a battle royal at my house when I was a little girl, when my father for forced us, or tried to, in the least abusive way possible :-) to eat a ham salad sandwich. Nope nope nope. There is no mayonnaise with ham. Chopped celery and mayonnaise do not go with ham.
And then there was the big showdown over roasted chestnuts at Christmas. When I was about 10, I think, my sister and I sat at the dining room table for about two hours in utter refusal.
Jell-O molds with shredded carrots. Carrots do not go in Jell-O. Why would you do that?
Oysters in turkey stuffing. Absolute no. Why would you put slimy stuff like that in perfectly good stuffing?
Ketchup on eggs? (I mean, does that look good to you?)
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How about salmon lasagna? I actually saw a recipe for that. Even the chic vitello tonnato...ah, veal with tuna sauce? I don't think so.
How about you, Read and readers, what do you consider a food travesty?
How about you, Read and readers, what do you consider a food travesty?
I'm with you; no ketchup on eggs [or anything else, as far as I'm concerned] . . . no marshmallows in anything I'm eating, especially ice cream. But some people like the strangest things in their ice cream: I can't imagine ice cream with wasabi or ice cream with potato chips or pretzels or bacon . . . as much as I love bacon, putting it on ice cream is definitely not what I'd consider a good idea . . . .
ReplyDeleteYes, that
DeleteSo interesting! I kinda CAN see pretzels on ice cream, though. Like salty jimmies. Bacon on ice cream, though...hmm. I agree, I love bacon so much that I would definitely try it.
My teeth are so sensitive that I eat ice cream slowly, if at all. Adding cookies, fruit, or anything to it cools them, warms the ice cream, and speeds me up, so I have to watch it, or the scale gets mad.
DeleteThinking of that as changing the texture of the ice cream puzzles me, because if the texture of a food is wrong, I don't try a second bite. (If I can tell in time, not a first.) Could that be the problem with ham salad?
Margaret ~ You mentioned food texture in your comment above and brought up an excellent point! Texture rather than taste can be a turn off to eating certain foods. I always found the texture of a cooked sliced mushroom, for example, very unappealing and for that reason alone I never eat mushrooms. No matter how they are prepared. If they are mixed into a recipe I will pick out all the bits and pieces. If a texture is mushy, lumpy or runny; i.e., egg whites, I usually avoid eating whatever the food may be.
DeleteI dread the horror of vendors greeting every autumn season by adding pumpkin flavor to just about everything on the food pyramid. And I especially despise it being added to coffee. Atrocious! I want my coffee to only taste like...well...coffee. Isn't that the general idea of enjoying that first cup of java each morning? For it to taste like coffee. Just coffee. Not hazelnut, almond, pumpkin, mocha, vanilla, peppermint, caramel, coconut or apple cider. Lobster flavor ice cream is another food travesty. Along with black pepper, wasabi and garlic flavors. No thank you! I confess, however, Hank, that I love ketchup on the side with my eggs. :-)
ReplyDeleteEvelyn, you made me think that when I travel with one of my brothers, we like to take a break in little cafes or bistros to order a latte but we always specify no chocolate or cinnamon added because so many places pour them automatically. We like our lattes straight thank you.
DeleteI like coffee to taste like coffee too but I do put milk in it, no sugar though. It should not be sweet.
DeleteI prefer espresso because it seems more flavorful.
Danielle and Anonymous ~ We're in the "Coffee...Just Coffee" Club! :-) I'm enjoying my second cup of morning java now.
DeleteOne reason I love to visit family in Portland, Oregon is because there are so many locally owned coffee roasters and cafes with wonderful coffee.
DeleteHear hear on the pumpkin! I'd l ]ove to know whose big idea that was. Probably the PGA. :-)
DeleteLOL...Maybe. :-) Which also makes me wonder what was Boston based Samuel Adams Beer Brewery.thinking when they decided to release a seasonal only ale called "Jack O' Pumpkin Ale" (pumpkin spiced)???!!! Even more mind boggling is that SOMEONE is buying it. Because I think it has been rolling out every August through October the past 5 years. A Saturday Night Live parody skit from October of 2020 starring the Boston-based comedian Bill Burr (a Canton native) took a poke at the pumpkin spiced ale. The skit is a bit juvenile :-) but as a "Real Bostonian" I thought it was hilarious. Search "Samuel Adams ~ SNL" on Youtube.
DeleteI am not a fan of mayonnaise in anything.
ReplyDeleteI saw salmon pho on the menu, which was new, and it was actually pretty good. I don’t really like fish with sweet sauces.
Those 60s jello mold recipes were something else. *shudders*
Salmon pho. Huh. Mayonnaise seems to be a dealbreaker on some things!
DeleteHaving grown up with my mother's cooking I feel I have a stake in this game. No one ever made a better cake or pir than my mother, but as for everything else... I was well out of high school before I realized that beef did not have to gray. Also, I grew up on a farm and we ate whatever was in season; during the summer the only thing in season was her corn casserole, which could only be eaten with ketchup -- one part casserole and ten parts ketchup and that stuff would just slide down your throat without you tasting it. I loved her dearly but her coking came with warning labels.
ReplyDeleteMy mother was similar Jerry! Her desserts were to die for, and her dinners - well, it was nourishing food for six, but the dried out meat and flavors from a little packet? My culinary world exploded after I left home.
DeleteEdith ~ Blessings on your mom. Feeding a family of six everyday must have been a challenge. My niece, who owns a professional dance studio, and her husband have five children (ages 5 to 17) and beyond everyone's crazy daily schedules I am in awe of how she manages to get everybody seated around the same dinner table. :-)
DeleteIt was SUCH a different time for storage and packaging. There was no such thing as frozen vegetables, even, and fresh vegetables, except for corn, were not in regular big supply.
DeleteWe actually ate quite a few frozen veggies, Hank. Even Adele Davis (who my mother read) said flash frozen vegetable have more nutrients than fresh that isn't fresh anymore. I regularly had a little bowl of frozen peas as a before-dinner snack.
DeleteI like ketchup on my scrambled eggs or omelet and I will put ketchup on the bread if I make a fried egg sandwich. We had an exchange student from Mexico who dipped his popcorn in ketchup. No thanks on that. I also remember having a baby sitter when I was a kid who put ketchup on fried chicken and we thought that was weird. Now there are chicken wings with all kinds of sauces and rubs on them.
ReplyDeleteWhen our kids were growing up it was a thing to dip your fries in your chocolate Frosty at Wendy’s. It’s actually kind of good.
Oh yes, the jello with shredded carrots or chopped celery in it was nasty. A lot of that for me was a texture thing.
Ham salad, chicken salad, tuna salad, egg salad…I like them all. My husband won’t eat anything that has mayo.
I don’t like tartar sauce on shrimp; I must have the red cocktail sauce for that. But I like tartar sauce just fine on other fish.
Oh, Brenda, you brought me a smile just now. My mother made her red sauce for shrimp with ketchup and tartar sauce! Elisabeth
DeleteOh, yes, the red sauce/tartar sauce schism! I like them both, actually. Well, wait, both is the shrimp are fried and warm, but cold, gotta have red. (Do I sound like Meg Ryan and the apple pie?)
DeleteYou just like it the way you like it.
DeleteI agree with the bagel guy! And with you about oysters in stuffing (or raw oysters at all, ick) and pineapple on pizza, although I think mayo on a ham sandwich is tasty, and I have enjoyed many a delicious sausage in my life.
ReplyDeleteI am a purist about certain foods. I learned to eat and make sushi in Japan, and things like avocado do NOT belong on sushi. I don't want tofu in my burrito or ketchup on my fries.
I made my first maple chicken sausage 2 nights ago, no skins, just round patties. Delicious. Recipe on Sally's Baking Addiction. They were too sweet for Irwin.
DeleteNO avocado on sushi? Hmm. I love it. But I can see that it would not be traditional!
DeleteI am always entertained by the choices some people make and the ones others find obnoxious. Thanksgiving is the holiday that brings out the crazy combos, the lovers and the haters. If Rhys is on the guest list, don't put marshmallows on the sweet potatoes. And don't serve pumpkin spice anything but pie to the rest of the Reds. As for the cranberry sauce, make 3 different dishes! XXOO
ReplyDeleteFor me, just salt on my fries, no fancy seasoning, no ketchup. Thanks.
My father liked vinegar on his fries and so do I. He also put vinegar on cooked spinach. I don't ever cook spinach but my son does and he adds the vinegar too. Maybe everyone does; I don't know.
DeleteJudi, is your dad from England or Canada? Vinegar and fries are typical food fare there. And so good imho!
DeleteVinegar on greens is very southern. My Georgia raised grandmother did that.
DeleteYes, food preferences are endlessly entertaining!
DeleteThe most offensive food travesty is anything with pumpkin spice. Period.
ReplyDeleteYep!
DeleteRepeating my universal truth: the only beneficial use for a pumpkin is a Jack-o-Lantern…no pies, no muffins, and, assuredly not in coffee! Elisabeth
DeleteSo agree. Except for pie. xx
DeleteI am intrigued by this column because Hank's long list of foods she finds unthinkable seems somehow out of character to me. I generally think of Hank as open to anything.
ReplyDeleteI have to agree with the bagel guy, but many of the rest of the list are ok with me. Blueberry bagels are not among my favorites, but I can eat them. Ditto pineapple on pizza. I'm not a fan of breakfast sausage, but I love chorizo and andouille and kielbasa when used in other dishes. I'm not a big fan of marshmallow, period. Frankly, I love the ham/mayo combo. I don't usually put ketchup on eggs, but I'm a big fan of salsa on them, and honestly how different is that?
The one combo I can think of where I know I am out of sync with society is that in my opinion, cottage cheese does not belong with fruit or anything else sweet. Cottage cheese is to be consumed plain (adding salt and/or pepper is acceptable) or with garden-fresh tomatoes only, or it can be used in savory recipes. Period.
You are not alone! Your opinion about cottage cheese is correct.
DeleteAww...that is the nicest thing I have EVER heard! Thank you! That is so sweet of you! And salsa, yes, that's different. Or an omelet with chopped tomatoes, also good. Ketchup has SUGAR, I think that might be the diff.
DeleteHahahah so funny. Back when I used to eat bagels a lot, my favorite was cinnamon raisin with white fish. So delicious. sweet and salty. Those were the days.
ReplyDeleteI'm with you on marshmallows in ice cream, or really, marshmallows at all. I enjoy toasting them over a campfire, but the toasting is the fun part. My mom used to put fruit cocktail in jello and use the liquid from the can to make the jello. It turned out lumpy. I can't abide lumps in jello, so gag-worthy.
Really? CInnamon raisin with whitefish? I hear you about sweet and salty, but, hey, to each her own. ANd yes, the toasting part is the fun part--I love to catch them on fire.
DeleteI too agree with the bagel guy, why ruin it with fruit. No pineapples on my pizza, no ketchup on my eggs, no oysters at all, marshmallows in my hot chocolate only. I like my ham sandwich with mustard on one side and mayo on the other. Do not like raisins in my oatmeal cookies.
ReplyDeleteOne side mustard and one side mayo feels different to me..that's like..a sauce. xxx
DeleteCinnamon in everything – no not in chocolate chip cookies or chocolate cake or anything that would not be with raisins. I really dislike when you go to a meal and there is cinnamon in places where it should not be. There is a flavour profile of things that go together – which is why good cooks can cook by the seat of their pants. This goes well with that, and so on.
ReplyDeleteCheep vanilla (spelling on purpose because it is like fingernails on a black board). If the smell on opening anything makes my dog salivate and spin around like a dervish with crossed eyes, and the smell is like overpowering perfume, it is cheap vanilla. As a home cook, do yourself a favour and spring for either good vanilla, (better) vanilla paste, or best – the real thing. Use the ‘used bean pod’ to make your own by soaking in vodka. Use sparingly. It does not make the dog go nuts!
I have been making my own vanilla extract for years now. (Recipe on Sally's Baking Addiction) It is easy and once you spring for the glass bottles, it is very reasonable cost-wise. Also makes excellent gifts. Almost any unflavored liquor can be used and you know exactly what is in it! I used up an ancient bottle of vodka, likewise rum and some ordinary bourbon and a cheap brand of Scotch. All made excellent vanilla.
DeleteMake your own vanilla extract? I bet that fragrance is heavenly...
DeleteOh wow! I don’t know if I have ever heard of 75% of some of these food combinations. Perhaps there is not greater evidence of how different people are based on their food preferences. I can’t say I’ve seen anything here that I am inclined to try… but I will be on the lookout for my own combo dislikes… mine are more straightforward. For example, I cannot stand coffee flavored anything… not even coffee. It’s as if someone has taken my beloved chocolate and tried to disguise it in a cleaning product. And please do not try to sneak a raisin into a chocolate chip cookie. That should be against the law. I have enjoyed hot sauce on pizzas lately.
ReplyDeleteI can’t stand coffee or coffee flavored anything either, but I like the aroma of coffee. Also, not thanks to maple glazed doughnuts . Maple is for syrup only.
DeleteStacia, I am 100% with you on coffee anything. And what kind of a deviant would put raisins in chocolate chip cookie??! — Pat S
DeleteI grew up eating raisins and or walnuts in chocolate chip and oatmeal cookies, and was dumbfounded when my husband (originally from the midwest) thought it was weird and refuses to eat them. Pat S - for some reason your last comment has me in stitches!
DeleteOh, well, coffee is my lifeline, so we will have to disagree. And I will happily take your coffee ice cream! And the raisin thing--is it because it is disappointing to expect a chocolate chip and have it turn out to to be a raisin?
DeleteLove sausage, no oysters, no blueberries in my bagel because you can't even taste the blueberries so why bother? No pineapple on my pizza, thank you. No oysters, period. Marshmallows in ice cream, no, as well as whipped cream on my ice cream, no thanks. No ketchup on eggs, but like Susan, yes to salsa. Love ham salad and like Dru, I'm a mayo one side, mustard the other for my ham sandwich. Please no pumpkin spice in anything, but I do like a sprinkle of cinnamon on the whipped cream for my hot chocolate. Things I could not eat growing up: beef tongue. Brussels sprouts. Turnips. Now I roast my sprouts with a little olive oil, salt, pepper, and a sprinkle of shredded cheddar.
ReplyDeleteWhipped cream on ice crema, so agree, that is SO wrong. And yes, the brussels sprouts PR people have truly succeeded!
DeleteI am not a fan of rosemary. I don't like eggplant - much too mushy.
ReplyDeleteI've never tried whitefish spread on any type of bagel, but I have had lox and bagels. Yummy!
I like hot sauce on pretty much everything (well within limits - not on sweet foods).
I love coffee (actually prefer espresso) but like to add milk.
Now I had to look that up as I thought lox was fish. Learned that lox is specifically salmon.
DeleteHi Brenda, yes lox is smoked salmon and is raw. It is very popular particularly in Jewish communities. Lox (smoked salmon) which is very thinly sliced is served with cream cheese on a bagel typically with tomatoes, capers, onions (usually purple onions). Most deli's and even many coffee shops will carry it.
DeleteLox and cream cheese and capers and tomatoes on an everything (or sesame) bagel is THE BEST!
DeleteOr pumpernickel.
DeleteHysterical! Love it all except pineapple pizza and roasted chestnuts. UGH. I remember the street vendors in NYC with roasted chestnuts. My dad would devour them. He let me try one once, never, ever again. Tripes - nope, can't get them past my eyes. As for the cinnamon raisin bagel and whitefish....give that woman a pickle and ice cream. She had to be in a family way.
ReplyDeleteWell, tripe, that's just..whatever. :-) Yes, maybe roasted chestnuts are a dad thing. :-)
DeleteOh, thanks for asking, Hank. I'm often called a purist. Which I'm not. I just know what's right and wrong when it comes to certain foods. A ring of bread containing blueberries, chocolate chips, cinnamon, whathaveyou is NOT a bagel, no matter what food junkies mess up their palates with.
ReplyDeleteThere.
I prefer plain bagels but will also buy onion bagels and jalapeno cheese bagels.
DeleteExactly. There are some things that are self-evident. (Although, sometimes, especially on an airplane, i will have a cinnamon raisin bagel with nothing on it. IF I have coffee.)
DeleteAs a child, my favorite sandwich was boiled ham with lettuce, tomato, relish, and mayonnaise. As an adult? I very rarely eat ham sandwiches, and when I do, there’s no mayonnaise on them. I like ketchup with fries, but only a very small amount of ketchup.
ReplyDeleteI don’t like hot sauces at all. My brother adored them. I think he had a subscription to a hot sauce of the month club!
DebRo
Our diets as kids were hilarious--I remember adoring canned Beefaroni!
DeleteI have a question for our wonderful Canadian neighbors - is vinegar and chips still a popular food? My husband's relatives from Toronto all request vinegar with their french fries.
ReplyDeleteGood question! Yes, I have had that, and it is delicious!
DeleteIn Quebec lot of people eat their french fries with vinegar, others with mayo, others with ketchup and others with only salt. Pick your choice :)
DeleteIt’s hard to hurt a french fry! Xxxx
DeleteOnly real way to make a French fry disgusting (at least to me): let it get cold. No cold fries for me!
DeleteI'm a little confused about the whitefish on a bagel. Is the fish a "hard no go" for the NY bagel owner or is it the whitefish cream cheese? Because lox, or smoked salmon, is apparently related to whitefish (?) and is a popular combo with bagels and cream cheese. And it is wonderful!!
ReplyDeleteI think it's because the customer wanted whitefish on a RAISIN bagel. I would have made that sandwich for her, but I wouldn't eat one like it.
DeleteWhite fish is usually smoked and the spread is made with cream cheese so it really isn’t that much different from lox and cream cheese on a bagel.
DeleteYes, exactly, and the problem was the CINNAMON RAISIN bagel, which is just...not...complementary to whitefish. And yes, lox and bagels, I agree, are ambrosial. But only on sesame, plain, poppy, everything, or pumpernickel.
DeleteLast week, I ordered Chinese Chicken Salad (take-out) from a Chinese restaurant that three friends raved about. I arrived home and opened the container with great anticipation. I could only stare. The dressing? Gobs and globs of mayonnaise. I went online to check their menu, thinking I'd erred in my order. Nope. I mean, isn't there a law against that?
ReplyDeleteWHAT??? You are so right, travesty!
DeleteWho works at that Chinese restaurant Victoria? Ugh. I mean a little mayo (very little) mixed with chicken salad might work but gobs of it. Shudder. Gag.
ReplyDeleteAgreed, yeesh.
DeleteI'm just going to say it and be done with it, okay? (deep breath
ReplyDeleteI like peanut butter with sweet pickle relish sandwiches. It was/is a normal part of my life, though today I put it on Ritz crackers for afternoon snack. I will order a ham salad once in awhile from the honey ham store. They mix it fresh with mayonnaise (not globs), a little mustard, celery and I think maybe pickle. It nice on rye bread. I don't like mustard only on turkey or chicken sandwiches, they need some mayonnaise. This is not a turkey salad sandwich but slices of turkey. I LOVE oysters in my dressing. I would rather have oyster dressing than mashed potatoes during Thanksgiving holidays. I will agree with ketchup not belonging on eggs though my brother-in-law corrupted his children when they were little.
Food choices are so much fun to read about! (And I love PB on ritz crackers, yum. )
DeleteEveryone has different tastes, the world over. I probably have extremely ecumenical food tastes compared to many, and I am willing to try almost anything once. But I do not condemn anyone else's taste in food. It's so personal, after all. We sometimes tend to associate foods with memories and prejudices from other family members, whether or not those prejudices have factual basis. My oldest daughter followed her dad, for instance, for most of her life saying she "hates" nuts. She refused to even try them for decades.
ReplyDeleteYes, I "hate" scrambled eggs as a kid, but had never tried them. Years later, I remember being so astonished that they were delicious!
DeleteThis is hilarious. I am the opposite of a food snob. My dad told me when I was a little (maybe 6?) that I ate like a truck driver--loved hash, put ketchup on my eggs, would then and will now eat potatoes in any form. As I've grown up, I realize I have no food filter and will try anything at least once.
ReplyDeleteI can imagine that!
DeleteCalamari - I can't even look at a picture of a squid, let alone eat one.
ReplyDeleteHA! xx
DeleteI watched an interview with Oprah Winfrey who revealed that her partner Stedman has octopus for breakfast every morning! Even stranger...he loves it with okra. She claims she keeps a whole octopus in her fridge for him. But can't stand to look at it.
DeleteHilarious! These weird food combinations make me think the woman is pregnant. Agreed that ham and mayo does NOT go together. It has to be spicy mustard. I never heard of carrots in Jello!
ReplyDeleteFor me, a tuna melt ( cheese melted on tuna ) is a food travesty.
Yes, I was thinking about that. I know people love tuna melts, so there must be some saving grace. I just don't see it.
DeleteNo mayonnaise on any sort of meat, it has to be mustard. The only exception is a blt, just a very small amount of mayonnaise.
ReplyDeleteA hot dog is really just a form of sausage. We won’t get into what should be put on it since that has been discussed here several times and people have very definite opinions about it.
Have never understood the ketchup/french fries combination. I don’t order them very often but if they come with the meal they should be plain and crisp
I don’t care for the texture of lima beans so I will never eat them, but I will eat baked beans, I think the sauce overrides the texture
There are a lot of foods that I just don’t like any sort of sauce on, no gravy on anything.
Have never understood sour cream on a baked potato.
I don’t like coffee or the flavor of it in anything but I just consider it a personal taste preference. I don’t judge my coffee drinking friends and family.
I love tongue. I think a lot of people would eat it and like it if it had a different name.
How about brains, kidneys and other organs that are very popular in different cultures?
Tongue, yes, someone must figure out something else to call it, I so agree. ButII must say I will go to the mat for sour cream on baked potatoes. It is SO yummy. SO YUMMY!
DeleteWhen I got married in 1972! a family friend did a movie of our wedding in my mother's backyard. A while later she invited us to come over for dinner and see the movie. "See", because there was no sound. 1972, remember?
ReplyDeleteShe served lasagne and said, with great pride, that she was sure we wouldn't guess her secret ingredient. One bite and my husband and I said "Clove!" It was overwhelming.
Really. Clove in lasagne? Why???
Oh, wow, that's ....weird, isn't it? (I had a pal who put sugar in chili, but I don't think you could actually taste it.) But clove is so strong! (And I love that she dared you to figure it out....)
DeleteHank ~ Your friend may have added some sugar to the chili to balance out the acidity of the tomatoes. Sugar helps to remove it. I always add a little sugar to my tomato sauce to mellow out any acidity that may build up from the tomatoes. This was taught to me by my late Italian mother-in-law many years ago whose recipe for sauce lives on through me and our many friends who will only make sauce using her technique and recipe. This past week a friend emailed me yet another thank you for sharing my M-I-L's recipe with him years ago. He recently made it for a large family gathering and reminded me of the importance of keeping a treasured cultural recipe in the loop to pass from generation to generation.
DeleteChocolate pieces in scones? Absolutely, 100%, NO. Mayo on anything that isn't sweet, yes. Or just eaten out of the spoon. Mayo on French fries. And (ahem) my mother made oyster dressing and it was fabulous. Oysters cook up nicely and are firm, not slimy.
ReplyDeleteOh, gosh, mayo on a spoon. Okay, whatever you say...xoxoo. Yes, I know there is world for oyster dressing, IYLI, YLI. xxx
DeleteAnd yes, the other day I was at an event where there were fried oysters on the filet-- I LOVE fried oysters! But I thought they were potatoes this particular time, and I was..surprised. :-)
DeleteYes, oysters cut in little pieces in the turkey dressing are good. Marjorie
DeleteTerry, I eat mayo on French fries. It's common in the UK. And I grew up on oysters in dressing, but no one but me likes them anymore. So sad.
DeleteThings I will not have: lima beans. Head cheese. Organ meats. Smoked salmon. Avocado toast. Jazzed up flavored coffee. Stewed prunes. Canned asparagus. Ham salad. Menudo. This is not an all inclusive list by any means!
ReplyDeleteI love how we all have lists! (but you are really missing something with smoked salmon and avocado toast, I have to say ..…)
DeleteJan 14 was National Bagel Day and I saw a recipe for chocolate bagels. I don’t think it would appeal to me, the suggestion was that mascarpone cheese would go well with it
ReplyDeleteA chocolate bagel… Is, like, that’s cake. I’m sure, you can put mascarpone on it you could put mascarpone on anything, but why would you do that? To cover up the bed weird taste of chocolate bagel?
Delete:-)
Hilarious, Hank! You and my hubby would get along well. I, on the other hand, have seldom met a food I wouldn't at least try.
ReplyDeleteWell, I think trying is a completely different thing. There are only a few few things I wouldn’t try… I just don’t think I need to try Ham with mayo again, you know? I just don’t like it. Jonathan does, though.
Deletemustard
DeleteRegarding ice cream with whipped cream-I grew up with ice cream sundaes having hot fudge sauce and marshmallow which was like a sauce, not individual marshmallows. There was an ice cream place in the Boston area that was known for their sundaes. Whipped cream was never even an option.
ReplyDeleteYou are most likely thinking of Bailey's which originated on West Street in downtown Boston. Wrought Iron chairs and marble top tables and the best hot fudge ice cream sundaes EVER!
DeleteYes, I knew the name just forgot to include it. In later years they branched out to include other locations and other items on their menu and it wasn’t the same.
DeleteAwwww Baileys! It is so familiar to me, and I can picture it so perfectly, but I honestly don’t know if I actually have ever been to one. Is there… Brigham’s? And Friendly’s? And Cabots? Weren’t they all kind of similar?
DeleteBailey’s was unique in that it originally only served ice cream and was known for their hot fudge sundaes served on a metal rounded dish with a silver colored tray beneath it to catch all the hot fudge that was ladled over the ice cream and cascaded over the side. Of course you had to scrape all the fudge sauce from the tray, you didn’t want to miss a spoonful of the rich fudge sauce.
DeleteMy mother worked half a day on Saturdays then she often met her younger sisters and treated them to a Bailey’s sundae.
As mentioned, the furniture was the traditional ice cream parlor wrought iron chairs and tables featuring a marble top.
For many years West St in downtown Boston was the only location.
At some point it may have become a series of franchised locations and lost its unique identity when they started serving other food.
Brigham’s was also a place for ice cream but not as good as Bailey’s and they also expanded to a number of other stores outside of Boston. I think their first one may have been in Belmont MA.
Friendly’s started near Springfield MA. I don’t know if they initially sold ice cream alone or whether they opened as a regular restaurant.
Cabot's had and I think still does have a restaurant in Newton MA. I don’t know if they existed or branched out anywhere else.
Both Brighams and Friendly's eventually started selling their ice cream to supermarkets. I don’t know if there are any Brighams still around. Friendly’s has been struggling through a number of financial upheavals and I don’t know if they still around anywhere.
I'm sorry to be boring, but I have never discovered anything I won't eat. (Well, I haven't tried boiled sheep's eyes; I'm sure there are SOME things I wouldn't eat, but I haven't encountered them yet.) I find some combinations surprising, even a bit wacko, but if someone served those foods to me, especially if I were that person's guest, I'd eat them.
ReplyDeleteWell, being a guest, that’s a different kettle of cuttlefish.
DeletePickled or deviled eggs are an abomination against eggs - one of nature's perfect foods - as is converting them to mayonnaise by polluting them with oil and lemon juice.
ReplyDeleteTainting a perfectly good hamburger with lettuce, tomato, onion or anything else other than cheese, bacon, and ketchup is reprehensible.
Ditto for anything other than mustard on a hotdog.
Yes, I agree about hotdogs! I’ve got to say, I completely love deviled eggs :-) but pickled eggs, I’m with you! And toppings on hamburgers —we could discuss all day!
DeleteSeems to be a lot of dislike for lima beans. One of favorite meals is sausage patties, lima beans, apple sauce, and biscuits. Marjorie
ReplyDeleteInteresting! When did you first learn to love that?
DeleteI craved lima beans with one of my pregnancies, and still love them, decades later. Especially cooked in butter.
DeleteDon't remember exactly, it was one of the better meals in my college cafeteria during undergrad days and since I liked all of the individual parts of the meal, the combimation just seemed good...and Actually I always liked lima beans. Marjorie
ReplyDeleteI’m with you on blueberry bagels, Hank, and chestnuts. I remember how excited I was one winter when I spied a chestnut vendor roasting them over an open fire in the Luxembourg Gardens. I spent some of my few francs on a bag of them. Peeled one in great anticipation and nearly gagged on it. Dream shattered!
ReplyDeleteGay Yellen with the disappointing chestnut memory.
DeleteOkay, okay, I have to admit that I do not like chestnuts. They smell so wonderful, and are so...mealy.
DeleteYes, agree about the fragrance But it is a false promise! xoxo
DeleteI haven't had vitello tonnato in many decades, but it is a classic, and was truly delicious when I had it (only one time, I think)
ReplyDeleteI think it might have gone out of fashion in the 70s...xoox
DeleteI don't like lima beans, or spicy hot food, and there are foods I can't have because of the latex allergy, including chestnuts, which I don't dislike, but don't miss as much as bananas and potatoes. I've. not put ketchup on eggs, but I have cooked eggs with marinara sauce, and like them -- I can't remember who shared that method with me. I'd not. yuck others' yums, though . . . because we are all mysteriously different.
ReplyDelete-- Storyteller Mary
Very wise! I'm not saying yuck, I am just saying..not for me.
DeleteThere isn't room here for all my "no-way's!" But I love mayo on ham or pineapple with ham. I also love applesauce with pork. I've never had roasted chestnuts but I think they'd get a pass. Lima beans were high on my NEVER list - until I tried Louisiana-style Butter Beans (which may or may not be limas - but look like them).
ReplyDeleteMy biggest NOs are spicy-hot foods. I once ordered something-vindaloo in an Indian restaurant by mistake - ooof! Otherwise, I think it's more about texture than taste for me and, usually, if it's served with lots of bread, I'm good.