Strange Eating Quirks, Anyone?

CrazyTrackLady
CrazyTrackLady Posts: 1,337 Member
edited October 25 in Food and Nutrition
I don't want to turn this into a dangerous subject, so please no "I eat 200 calories a day every day of the week that has an E in it.." stories. This is more about quirks people have when it comes to eating certain foods, or meals.

Let me share mine as an example: I have to have my food arranged on a plate in a certain way before I can eat it. I am a lefty, so my meat always goes on the left half of the plate between the 6 and 10 position because it's easier to cut that way, potato/carb goes on the right between the 3 and 6 position, and veggies go up top between the 11 and 2 position. I don't like any of the foods to be touching each other. (corn and mashed potatoes mixed together? EWWWWWWWW)

I also have issues with colors of food. I can't stand reds and yellows on the same plate. And I always notice if my foods are all in the same color range. I will say "Hmm, tonight we're all eating beige foods."

What are some of your weird food quirks?
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Replies

  • knightreader
    knightreader Posts: 813 Member
    for breakfast i have a two egg white omelet on a mini bagel. i always make sure i place the egg on the bottom part of the bagel. no idea why i can't place it on the top part, then turn the bagel over, but that just seems like too much work.

    my favorite piece of the steak is the very first piece cut at the end. if i don't get that piece, the meal is ruined.

    with pork chops and mashed potatoes i have to eat the last bite of pork chop with the last bite of mashed potatoes. i have to ration it perfectly. if not, i take more of each to try again.
  • Firefox7275
    Firefox7275 Posts: 2,040 Member
    How are you getting nine servings of bright and dark coloured fruits and veggies in the full rainbow of colours - blue/ purple, red, green, yellow/ orange - when not mixing some combinations or having a whole plate full of beige food? IMO that is more than a quirk if it affecting how nutritious your diet is.
  • I don't think I have too many... I can be quite fussy with food going 'soggy' though! I have always refused to eat cereal with milk and have it dry. Gravy has to be nice and thick - watery juices on food are the worst! but I can eat really thin soup lol. Certain things aren't allowed to touch each other... like bean juice and mashed potato D:
    I have an absolute hatred of ketchup (I would freak out if I got any on my hands for example) and spaghetti hoops with tomato sauce (make me feel squirmy and ill looking at them)

    Now I've written them out I sound a bit crazy lol!
  • CrazyTrackLady
    CrazyTrackLady Posts: 1,337 Member
    These are great, keep em up! I've been told I have a little OCD about my foods. I refused to eat white rice for 25 years because my older sister once said that white rice was really "dead maggots in a bowl". That's all it took.

    I also have issues with consistencies of foods. I cannot eat regular yogurt with fruit, oatmeal, or fruit pies because of the way they mix chunky and runny objects together. I cannot stand the sight of a sunny side egg for this very reason.

    And even tho I love barbecue, I cannot eat anything barbecued without wearing gloves. I can't stand the sticky sauce all over my fingers.
  • CrazyTrackLady
    CrazyTrackLady Posts: 1,337 Member
    How are you getting nine servings of bright and dark coloured fruits and veggies in the full rainbow of colours - blue/ purple, red, green, yellow/ orange - when not mixing some combinations or having a whole plate full of beige food? IMO that is more than a quirk if it affecting how nutritious your diet is.

    Agreed! I'm trying to "taste the rainbow", but the Skittles company keeps threatening a lawsuit for copyright infringement and theft of a really stupid tag line.
  • CrazyTrackLady
    CrazyTrackLady Posts: 1,337 Member
    for breakfast i have a two egg white omelet on a mini bagel. i always make sure i place the egg on the bottom part of the bagel. no idea why i can't place it on the top part, then turn the bagel over, but that just seems like too much work.

    my favorite piece of the steak is the very first piece cut at the end. if i don't get that piece, the meal is ruined.

    with pork chops and mashed potatoes i have to eat the last bite of pork chop with the last bite of mashed potatoes. i have to ration it perfectly. if not, i take more of each to try again.

    Question for you: if you cut the steak in half, can you eat it from the part where you cut it, or must you still eat it from the edge inward?
  • hbunting86
    hbunting86 Posts: 952 Member
    Hmmmm.

    If I eat M&Ms I group them into colours (same with skittles) - and then eat from the biggest number of sweets in the group, to the smallest, so the smallest group don't get an inferiority complex. Yes, that's odd.

    If I have cheese on pasta, I try to save the cheesy top bit until last - same with lasagne, I eat all the layers and then eat the cheesy top one last because that's the best bit.

    I have a thing about colours being consistent in terms of groups - I'll mix things quite happily on my plate, but M&Ms, skittles, stuff in a bag that's multi-coloured have to be eaten in the same group. When I hang washing out, I have to have the same colour pegs for each item of clothing.
  • elizak87
    elizak87 Posts: 249 Member
    I can only eat cereal if the milk goes in first. I refuse to eat cereal if the milk was poured on top.

    I eat the thinest bit last. So I could eat a sandwich backwards if it looked thinner in the middle.

    I never ever ever shake a bottle of juice and ask for another if someone shakes it before serving it.

    I never drink the last two mouthfuls of drink in a bottle.
  • Firefox7275
    Firefox7275 Posts: 2,040 Member
    These are great, keep em up! I've been told I have a little OCD about my foods. I refused to eat white rice for 25 years because my older sister once said that white rice was really "dead maggots in a bowl". That's all it took.

    I also have issues with consistencies of foods. I cannot eat regular yogurt with fruit, oatmeal, or fruit pies because of the way they mix chunky and runny objects together. I cannot stand the sight of a sunny side egg for this very reason.

    And even tho I love barbecue, I cannot eat anything barbecued without wearing gloves. I can't stand the sticky sauce all over my fingers.

    Maybe see a dietician/ counsellor/ behavioural therapist/ hypnotist or similar? Addictions obsessions or compulsions become problems when they affect normal life, they don't have to be severe to be worth addressing. Looking at your diary you are eating a lot of processed rubbish, not eating from all the food groups - very little fruit veg oily fish nuts seeds beans lentils - not getting all the nutrients your body needs, and you refer to longstanding health issues.
  • ladyark
    ladyark Posts: 1,101 Member
    I cant say i have any food quirks really but, i do live with someone who does and it can be very frustrating. Food that doesent touch or even only one thing on the plate at a time. Eating only one type of food at a time makes me crazy ( meat , then the carb , then the veggie). Also, will use NO condiments except bbq sauce. Will rarely if ever try anything new or that the smell would turn him off of. Wipe your fork after each food group....ceriel dry in a bowl with a spoon...but, it is what it is :)
  • oh_em_gee
    oh_em_gee Posts: 887 Member
    I use a napkin or a fork to eat BBQ too. No sticky hands for me!

    I use to not even be able to smell eggs or I'd feel sick

    I prefer saving the best for last. The middle of the sandwich, that perfectly cooked bite of steak, that last piece of chicken in my salad. Those must be the last bite I take

    I eat m&ms and Reese's pieces only in matching pairs of the same color
  • oh_em_gee
    oh_em_gee Posts: 887 Member
    I also will not eat cereal with a metal spoon. I hate the way it makes it taste. I eat it as a snack with my hands, dry, if I eat it at all. I hate most sugary cereal.
  • bathsheba_c
    bathsheba_c Posts: 1,873 Member
    1. I can't stand foods touching each other on the plate.
    2. I always have to eat food in courses in the same order: vegetables, protein, starch. I literally cannot take a bite of broccoli, have some steak, and go back to the broccoli.
    3. I eat foods like M&Ms in a specific color order.
    4. If I get something like sushi, I try to divide it up evenly. For example, if I have six pieces of salmon-avocado and two pieces of maguro, I will eat them 3-1, 3-1.
    5. I have to foods that come in small bits (candies, sushi, etc.) in even numbers.

    It used to be much worse. When I was little, I would eat the skin of the hot dog before the meat. I would also eat the cheese off the pizza first, and then divide the tomatoey-moist part of the crust from the dry part in my mouth with each bite.
  • CrazyTrackLady
    CrazyTrackLady Posts: 1,337 Member
    These are great, keep em up! I've been told I have a little OCD about my foods. I refused to eat white rice for 25 years because my older sister once said that white rice was really "dead maggots in a bowl". That's all it took.

    I also have issues with consistencies of foods. I cannot eat regular yogurt with fruit, oatmeal, or fruit pies because of the way they mix chunky and runny objects together. I cannot stand the sight of a sunny side egg for this very reason.

    And even tho I love barbecue, I cannot eat anything barbecued without wearing gloves. I can't stand the sticky sauce all over my fingers.

    Maybe see a dietician/ counsellor/ behavioural therapist/ hypnotist or similar? Addictions obsessions or compulsions become problems when they affect normal life, they don't have to be severe to be worth addressing. Looking at your diary you are eating a lot of processed rubbish, not eating from all the food groups - very little fruit veg oily fish nuts seeds beans lentils - not getting all the nutrients your body needs, and you refer to longstanding health issues.

    Have you looked back to the beginning? I eat a lot of fruits, nuts, veggies most of the time. The last couple days have been back off days, which I am allowed. I don't eat fish (except tuna), never have, never will - it's gross tasting. Beans, grains and gluten are out. I'm actually quite healthy and even have avoided getting sick from rooms filled with flu bugged children.

    Thanks for your concerns, but my "issues" don't interfere with my daily life at all. I'm quite happy with what I'm doing. And I'm not going to be one of those militant, over obsessed about every morsel I put in my body, types either.
  • billsica
    billsica Posts: 4,741 Member
    When eating vegetable soup I pick out all the lima beans and line them up on the table. When I'm done with the soup, I count up the beans and eat them one by one.

    I like to put my corn into mashed potatoes and mix them up. Its really the best way to eat corn sans cob.
  • CrazyTrackLady
    CrazyTrackLady Posts: 1,337 Member
    And honestly, this entire thread isn't about judging each other's food choices. It's about weird food quirks, hence the title Strange Eating Quirks, Anyone? If I had wanted it to include "Feel free to judge others harshly!", I would have included that.


  • If I eat M&Ms I group them into colours (same with skittles) - and then eat from the biggest number of sweets in the group, to the smallest, so the smallest group don't get an inferiority complex. Yes, that's odd.

    I do this exact same thing!! :D

    I also 'save the best till last' ... My nan used to tell me she did the same thing when she was little, then one day she was too full to eat the best bit she'd been looking forward to so she stopped doing that! But I still always keep my favourite part of the meal for the end. :)
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  • CrazyTrackLady
    CrazyTrackLady Posts: 1,337 Member
    When eating vegetable soup I pick out all the lima beans and line them up on the table. When I'm done with the soup, I count up the beans and eat them one by one.

    I like to put my corn into mashed potatoes and mix them up. Its really the best way to eat corn sans cob.

    Interesting! What about the peas in the soup? Do you feel indifferent towards them? :wink:
  • billsica
    billsica Posts: 4,741 Member
    When eating vegetable soup I pick out all the lima beans and line them up on the table. When I'm done with the soup, I count up the beans and eat them one by one.

    I like to put my corn into mashed potatoes and mix them up. Its really the best way to eat corn sans cob.

    Interesting! What about the peas in the soup? Do you feel indifferent towards them? :wink:

    Only Lima beans. Actually a lot of times I'll pull them out of other things too, but mostly they are found in soup.
    Besides, the peas would roll away.
  • dblaacker
    dblaacker Posts: 153 Member
    Haha, my bf makes fun of me for this one: Whenever I make a sandwich with tomato, the tomato has to be between lettuce or spinach and whatever else is on the sandwich. The tomato can NOT touch the bread. It makes sense, though! The tomato would make the bread soggy.
  • Crankstr
    Crankstr Posts: 3,958 Member
    Right now I can'y think of any, but this is interesting reading.
  • UpEarly
    UpEarly Posts: 2,555 Member
    I eat the crust off of pizza first, so I can focus on the yummy, melty, cheesy part for the remainder of my meal. :laugh:
  • I like eating alone at home. But have no problem with having company when I am out. I think it goes back to childhood when my mom and dad use to fight at the dinner table and I would go to my room and eat on a TV table.
    But I still....at 54 years old, like eating alone at home.
  • when i eat jaffa cakes or oreos, i part them by layers.
  • UpEarly
    UpEarly Posts: 2,555 Member
    Oh... I also hate sandwiches when ketchup/mustard are put on the bread, rather than somewhere between the lettuce/tomato/meat/cheese. Those condiments have a high enough water content that they make the bread soggy. Mayo can go on bread, because it's oil-based and does not make bread soggy. (though I prefer all condiments off the bread)

    Nothing is worse than mustard-logged bread. Yuk
  • CrazyTrackLady
    CrazyTrackLady Posts: 1,337 Member
    When eating vegetable soup I pick out all the lima beans and line them up on the table. When I'm done with the soup, I count up the beans and eat them one by one.

    I like to put my corn into mashed potatoes and mix them up. Its really the best way to eat corn sans cob.

    Interesting! What about the peas in the soup? Do you feel indifferent towards them? :wink:

    Only Lima beans. Actually a lot of times I'll pull them out of other things too, but mostly they are found in soup.
    Besides, the peas would roll away.

    HAHAHA!! I've often said I don't like peas because they roll off the knife. And I don't eat jello because it is too hard to catch with a fork. (I eat peas with a spoon, and I DONT eat jello)
  • autumnblade75
    autumnblade75 Posts: 1,661 Member
    I've been called out for my sandwich-making. I take 2 slices out of the bag and open them up, so that I preserve the arrangement of the 2 sides that were touching, then add the filling. When I put them back together, the tops of the bread have to match up. Furthermore, when I pack sandwiches as a lunch, the tops of the sandwiches go toward the open end of the bag. That's just how it's done. My ex-husband would drive me crazy by putting his sandwich together with the tops mis-aligned and then stuffing it into the baggie any-old-how. But it didn't bother me if his bread weren't the 2 that touched in the bag - so long as the tops of the bread were both in the same direction.

    The order of the ingredients in a BLT is important, too. Mayo on bread first. Bacon on one slice, tomato on the other. Lettuce on top of tomato and flip the bacon side to complete the sandwich. The mayo glues the bacon onto the bread so that it stays put. I don't like them toasted, either, but it's not a deal-breaker. I've been known to swap the tomato and lettuce around if the sandwich is assembled "wrong."
  • deb62pink
    deb62pink Posts: 84 Member
    Hmmmm.

    If I eat M&Ms I group them into colours (same with skittles) - and then eat from the biggest number of sweets in the group, to the smallest, so the smallest group don't get an inferiority complex. Yes, that's odd.

    If I have cheese on pasta, I try to save the cheesy top bit until last - same with lasagne, I eat all the layers and then eat the cheesy top one last because that's the best bit.

    I have a thing about colours being consistent in terms of groups - I'll mix things quite happily on my plate, but M&Ms, skittles, stuff in a bag that's multi-coloured have to be eaten in the same group. When I hang washing out, I have to have the same colour pegs for each item of clothing.
    LOL that's me, with lollies or bagged things that are multi coloured I always group the colours/flavours together, I thought it was for the flavour, not really the colour???
    Washing, oh don't go there, I have to take it out of the machine and put it in the basket in the order that I'm going to hang it out, also I always use the same pegs for the same garments Yikes!!!! When our kids were little, I used to use a quarter of the clothes line for each person EG: one quarter my husbands clothes, next quarter mine etc (there are 4 of us in the family) and even now I have to hang the smalls in the middle and pairs of socks together, then undies then bra's etc......OCD, how fun is it?? LOL
    Oh and my son is even worse, he has all his clothes hangers facing the same way in the closet and then he has groups of clothes like shirts, then shorts, then long pants etc LOL
  • just4nessa
    just4nessa Posts: 459 Member
    I like to put my corn into mashed potatoes and mix them up. Its really the best way to eat corn sans cob.

    ^^ I do this too! And now I'm craving corn & mashed potatoes. :laugh:

    I also must remove all of the peas from my soup before I can eat it. I do not like peas at all and will not eat them. Everything else in the soup is welcome to stay.
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