Speaking of Eating…..

Here is a short little blog that I should not share because then you will really know just how weird my family and I are.  You that know us are probably thinking, wait, we already know! I am referring not to just my family created with Wes, but my family created by my mother and father as well.  Yesterday while eating lunch with my husband, a topic that my family and friends use to have came up accidentally.  It makes me wonder if anyone else is the same.  I know that my cousins from my mother’s side are because we use to speak of these issues.

So, when you are eating, do you find that when you are finished eating that you need to end with a certain thing?  For instance, do you need to stop eating with something salty as the last bite?  Or do you need to end with something sweet as your last bite?  I always, always, had to end on salty.  If we went to dairy queen and had ice cream as a treat after the meal, I always had to save back a couple of french fries in order to “end on salt.” I still have to end on salt.  Do any of you have this same quirk?

I learned from my mother and absolutely love to have sauerkraut with pork chops.  My husband wants nothing to do with sauerkraut and does not even want to allow me to cook it.  Haha.  Since we were a family of 7, she had to cook a couple of skillets of pork chops…cast iron skillets, of course!  When the pork chops were finished, one skillet was reserved to make the gravy in and the other skillet was reserved to cook the sauerkraut in.  The sauerkraut was browned in the drippings and it is the very best!!  The point of this bonus story is that that was what was for lunch yesterday. 

This leads to another quirk I have and I am sure I am not alone because my nieces, nephews, cousins and I share this as well.  Maybe not all of them, but some of them because we have talked about it.  Yesterday we were eating lunch and my plate was almost empty and I had a dilemma.  I said to my husband that I was not sure which food I wanted to end on to have that as my last taste.  All bites were of course salty but I had to end on a particular taste. Of course, he just looked at me and said nothing.  I waited and then he said, “For sure it should not be that sauerkraut!”  Funny he should say that, because that is exactly what I saved for my last bite….A bite of pork chop with that sauerkraut!   Does anyone else like to end with their last bite with the best part of the meal?

I realize that these may not be all that quirky because I had heard that there were studies done by the food industry on how to dress buns, layer desserts, salads, etc. because they stated that it was in what order tastes hit your palate/taste buds to make the taste the most pleasing.

I do know of some who eat a certain way that I do not understand at all, but each to their own.  They probably do not understand me either. Some people will eat all of a certain food at once before they move on to the next food.  For instance, they will first eat every single french fry.  Next they will eat the sandwich.  They do this with their other meals as well.  I prefer to have a bite of each rather than to have nothing of one food left.  I even save my salad that is served at the beginning so that I can have a bite here and there with my meal.

This brings up the hibachi grill…. first you get salad and soup, then you get your rice and veggies and last is the meat.  People start eating immediately.  I take a few bites because I am hungry, but I save most all of the food until it is all cooked so that I can have a bite here and there of each item.  Besides, if I ate all of that I would have no room for my steak!

One of my nieces or nephews use to use a french fry or they would tear strips of bread and divide their food so it would not touch.  Perhaps this is why they came up with divided plates.  Anyway, to each their own.  As my mother said, it all ends up in the same place … all mixed up anyway.

Feel free to comment and share your agreement or disagreement with anything mentioned here or to share your different eating habits!