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by - November 20, 2007 - 8:42 PM
Yes, it’s November, and apparently National Peanut Butter Month. If you get into these sorts of occasions, maybe, as J-Plautz reported, you could start investing in peanut butter diamonds, or if you’re “feeling art” maybe Vik Muniz’s “Double Mona Lisa (Peanut Butter and Jelly)” is the way to go.
Honestly, I couldn’t care less that it’s Peanut Butter Month, and when March comes & it’s straight-up Peanut Month, I’ll be equally enthused. That’s because I still can’t stand to be in the same room as peanuts, or any other nut. It’s too soon. Do you want to know why it’s too soon? It’s too soon because I’ve fallen out of love with nuts. I’m officially an apostate of the nut kingdom.
Growing up, I was the pickiest and most maligned eater ever born. I kept kosher without even knowing it, and would audit the innards of a simple baked potato; in short, I had trust issues. Eventually this fussiness found an acceptable outlet under the aegis of vegetarianism, sometimes veganism if I was really into a certain Moby album. But even though a peanut wasn’t wrought from an animal, I still hated the things, and extended prejudice to their kin.
Then, around 20, something happened– I’m assuming witchcraft–and I fell in love with the things. I incorporated them into every possible meal: “Lasagna? Great–I’ll just add a little cashew butter”; “Are the guests here? I’ll just rip open a new bag of chili-lime-peanuts.” No salad could stand alone without a quota of almonds. And then, recently, I began hating everything they stand for, and now I’m one of thoes people squinting onto labels hoping not to find a “processed with equipment shared with peanuts and other nuts” caveat.
(To be fair to the nuts, I’ve also had hate-love-hate affairs with Haribo “grapefruit” slices and popcorn. I’m back on with licorice, but the passion seems too strong to last. I’ll save my candy-oriented vitriol for some other time.)
Has anyone else ever had a love affair (as in, with a beginning and end) with a particular food?
Comments (17)
Comment
Hot Pockets! Or realy, Lean Pockets. I find the Hot Pockets to be too greasy. At my worst, I would have one for breakfast, lunch, and a snack before bed. That was at my worst. I have been off of them now for a good four months.
posted by Tim on 11-20-2007 at 9:51 pm
Poptarts and Ramen. What turned me from Ramen is that one day I got “alfredo” flavor. I wanted to throw it all up! Occasionaly I go back to normal Ramen.
posted by Rachel on 11-20-2007 at 10:08 pm
Hamburgers. I loved them as a little kid, hated them as a slightly older kid, and then loved them again in middle school. The cycle has repeated two other times. Weird. Actually, it was all ground meat, not just hamburger. I’m currently way too in love with them and will eat one pretty much any time.
posted by Shari on 11-20-2007 at 10:17 pm
I have a cycle of snack foods that I go through every few years or so. I was on that “smart food” popcorn first, and that lasted me a year and a half. I then moved on to quaker quakes, and cheesy blasted goldfish, and then finally returned to smart food. However, I am beginning to not crave smart food so much now as I am cheeze-it sticks. I have become addicted to them even though I think they are just skinny cheeze-its. I fear that one day I will have cycled through all cheesy snack food and won’t be able to eat anything but saltines.
posted by Abby on 11-20-2007 at 10:19 pm
Ramen too .. at first, loved them because of the minimal effort involved. However, got tired of them after a while. Just started eating them again, but only because I’m plonking in extras like teriyaki sauce :)
posted by Jocelyn on 11-20-2007 at 10:39 pm
Chocolate (aka. Vitamin Ch). Actually, the affair is one of those on-again, off-again things that never really end. Just an occasional intermission.
posted by Dave on 11-21-2007 at 6:41 am
Goldfish and Smart Food. I was addicted in collegebut then I moved back to Peru and could not find them here. I actually tried Smart Food on a recent trip to the States and could not for the life of me understand why I had liked it before.
Goldfish is still good although now a handfull is not a necessary requirement to get through the day…
posted by GTT on 11-21-2007 at 8:14 am
I sometimes go on a Mini Wheats (brown sugar, of course) kick, where I have a full zip lock of them and dunk them individually in a glass of milk. Controlling the saturation of milk makes them so much tastier! I’ve been off this for a year now, but I’m almost ready to go back.
Nachos and salsa are also a cyclical snack for me. I will crave them for months on end, and after a few weeks of snacking, I have to go off them.
posted by Kate on 11-21-2007 at 8:38 am
I give Ramen an extra flare by adding hot sauces.
posted by Jonathan on 11-21-2007 at 9:12 am
Peanut butter is my one true love … we will never part.
posted by DW on 11-21-2007 at 9:43 am
I’m always shocked by how my tastes change.. I’m pretty sure my friends & family get annoyed, but I think it’s so strange!
-I’ve always liked ice cream. Then I LOVED ice cream. Now, I pass on it. I don’t dislike it, it just doesn’t excite me
-I had a love-hate-love relationship with yogurt. I eased back into yogurt in high school, but I was picky (only Yoplait Vanilla Custard-Style) & now i like it all
-I have always alwyas loved shellfish. When I was young I liked fish, but a bad experience with bone-filled fish led me to swear off all non-shell fish. For years. 3 years ago, I was waitressing & famished & my options were salmon or salmon for lunch. I reluctantly chose salmon… & again.. now it is honestly my favorite food, & I would rather eat fish than ANYthing
But why does this happen? I honestly feel like I never disliked these things, like it was all in my head (I always hated lasagna, until hunger one day forced me to eat it & now I love it)
Something that is odd btu has always been this way: I dislike brownies or chocolate ice cream or choc cake (with choc icing) - anything that is ALL chocolate is WAY too much for me. I like chocolate but only in moderation!
posted by sd on 11-21-2007 at 11:49 am
one more thing: I agree about the ramen. wayyy too much ramen & top noodle during my freshman & sophomore years of college- at this point, if I never eat it again I would perfectly content
posted by sd on 11-21-2007 at 11:50 am
I go through yogurt phases. I’ll eat a container every day for awhile, then buy a whole bunch when it’s on sale, only to realize that the thought of eating yogurt makes me sick because I’m so tired of it. This is compounded by the sick feeling I get after realizing I have wasted so much perfectly good food.
I loved shrimp for one day when I was 9 years old. I ate a LOT of it that day. Then, I saw live shrimp and got freaked out by how ugly they were. When I grew up and was no longer creeped out by them, I tried them again and realized I can’t stand the texture.
posted by Molly on 11-21-2007 at 12:39 pm
Hot dogs….Delicious as a kid with macaroni and now I think they’re just disgusting. Childhood overkill.
posted by Adam on 11-21-2007 at 1:20 pm
I’m so happy to hear someone else mention Ramen. It’s definitely an on-again off-again relationship there, tho a closeted one, it seems. I like my Ramen naked with veggies. The salty packs of flavoring are a little too much.
posted by Trena on 11-21-2007 at 1:32 pm
McDonalds chicken nuggets. When I was a kid I hated them, then about 3 years ago I just HAD to have some for some reason, and I wasn’t pregnet. So for about 3 weeks I had it 3 or more times a week. Then all of a suddent, didn’t want chicken nuggets anymore. It comes in cycles now about every 10-12 months I NEED some, but then I have some and I’m okay and can move on with my life.
posted by Darcy on 11-21-2007 at 2:05 pm
Ahhh… The memories. I’ve been round the love-hate roller coaster so many times it’s scary. Anything pork tends to irk me a bit. I’ve not eaten pork actually since I was about 14. There is a particular recipe for sloppy joes (we call it something else) that my mother makes. This recipe has been the bane of my existence for many years. One month I love it. The next month I can’t even stand the smell. Another classic is salmon. Don’t even cook it in the house. *shudders*
posted by Nell on 11-23-2007 at 2:36 pm