Your Food Likes And Dislikes
Over the weekend, I was thinking about traditionally “healthy” or “unhealthy” foods. You know, the old “good” and “bad” foods, if we were assigning morality to food, which we totally are not doing. I was thinking about the “healthy” foods I love and those I hate, and the “unhealthy” foods I love and hate, and thought it might be fun to hear yours.
On the healthy side of things, I dislike carrots and hate The Evil. I also don’t like beans much, although I’m trying to eat them more because of all the protein and blah blah. I actually was eating an apple when I thought of this topic, because some types of apples seem overly sweet to me; it’s not my favorite fruit. Health foods I love? Brussels sprouts, broccoli, and so many kinds of fruit, especially figs, apricots, green grapes, barely-ripe bananas, and strawberries. Greek yogurt.
Unhealthy? I don’t care for cheesecake very much. This is because my high school boyfriend (you know the one who is now gay and my best friend) reportedly makes awesome cheesecake, and I would have spent all four years of high school eating way too much cheesecake while I came to grips with my boyfriend’s sexuality. My favorite unhealthy things are probably fries, chocolate-chip cookies, and sprinkle cookies. And Coca-Cola, which is the one thing I have the most guilt about indulging in, as I think I’ve mentioned before.
Probably very favorite food is chocolate-dipped strawberries, which covers both categories in a perfect synergy of deliciousness. Anyway, at various times I have felt guilty about some of these likes and dislikes—feeling guilty for what I like and what I don’t like. But it occurs to me that everyone has their food likes and dislikes, no matter what their size, and none of us should feel guilty about any of them! So what are yours?
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First, I’d like to say that chocolate-covered strawberries can totally be in the “healthy” category, IMHO, lol!
I LOVED Twinkies when I was a kid. Now? Not so much. And I’m with you on the cheesecake. I like apricots but they do funny things to me, and brussels sprouts are right out.
I LOVE diet soda. Which makes me feel guilty AND odd. (I personally think the diet kind is worse for you than the regular kind, what with all those chemicals and artificial sweeteners.)
Love bananas, apples, most fruit, spinach, Chinese broccoli, Japanese eggplant, anything in the squash family, salad, tomatoes (hold the salmonella), chocolate, and pastries. Cheese. I’m trying to incorporate more vegan food, but i heart cheese!
Dried fruit. Berries. Love the Greek yogurt.
Oh. Sourdough bread!!!!! Guilt over that one, ’cause it’s not whole grain. Oy.
Also not so big on apples. In fact, I seem to eat less fruit as time goes on – I make up for it with vegetables, though. I never met a vegetable I didn’t like. I do like certain fruits a lot, but I’m not so good at dutifully eating an apple or orange after dinner. I do better using them as snack food.
I’m not very fussy where food is concerned (although I don’t eat meat or fish, but that’s different). Almost all I can think of that I don’t like is blue cheese, pickles and tiramisu. Even separately.
Although I drink it sometimes, I’m not crazy about Coca-cola and I don’t like carbonated orange drinks. There is also no way I could ever drink a glass of beer!
God, I love Belgian beer (tip of the day: Troubadour. It’s fantastic.) and recently I have gotten really into really good blue cheese. Thanks for reminding me! Mmm.
Watermelon, quinoa, grapes, cherries and crisp bread are some of my favourite healthier foods. Not so keen on apples, pears and I absolutely hate bananas (unless cooked, yum!). There are basically no vegetables that I don’t like, but swede isn’t a favourite.
My favourite unhealthy things are hamburgers, brownies, french fries and marmalade on toast. I hate overly sweet cookies, most packaged convenience foods (no flavour!). Oh and I can easily go through a huge bottle of diet coke on my own, which I’m convinced isn’t good for me in any way.
It’s going to fun reading peoples comments on this post, I love hearing about what people do and do not like.
Quinoa is my latest discovery: it’s awesome! I made a lemon quinoa for a dinner party recently. Also I love brownies, which are awesome. You’re right. And rocky road ice cream. And cake donuts with sprinkles. And turkey burgers. (Which I guess go in the healthy column.) And green beans. And sugar-snap peas. And cucumber.
interesting topic…hmmm
since I do not agree with the main stream as to what is considered healthy and unhealthy my way of eating is generally looked at as unhealthy—it’s ketogenic paleo—very high fat very carb restricted—so while I indulge in cheesecakes—sweetened with stevia and savory both—I rarely eat fruit—-I’m big on green veggies like brussell sprouts, cabbage, kale, collards etc but haven’t eaten corn or potatoes in years—I scarf down a good thick juicy rib eye steak several times a week but haven’t had any “whole grains” in ages
so I guess it is a personal choice as to what constitutes healthy and unhealthy foods
On the healthy side (I’m taking this to mean fruits/vegetables), I love cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, beets, spinach, any kind of leafy greens (except for iceberg lettuce), sweet potato, most beans (except for canned three-bean salad, ewww); grapefruit, pears, blueberries, peaches, mangoes, and apples. The only fruit/veg I really won’t eat are bean sprouts, bananas, and papayas. With tomatoes and strawberries, it depends. If they’re fresh and local, I’m there; but with the supermarket kind, the big flavorless cottony baseballs, no. My favorite drink this summer is unsweetened cranberry juice, watered down to about half or 1/3 strength. I’ve also been known to squeeze half a lime or lemon into a glass of ice water and drink that, unsweetened.
Unhealthy: I am hopeless in the face of cheese. I’m also a big fan of the Greek yogurt, but I’m glad it’s not cheaper because I’d probably overdo it. Bacon is high on my list of unhealthy craveables. Hate mayonnaise, except for sparing amounts in tuna or deviled eggs or a thin scraping on sandwiches. I’m not that crazy about chocolate or ice cream: I’ll eat them, but I don’t go out of my way. For sweets, I prefer the fruity, caramel, and/or nut flavors. I didn’t grow up with soda (mom is a health food fiend) so I’m not in the habit of buying it or drinking it, but I like the taste of regular Coke and will drink it once in a while if it’s offered to me. Most sodas taste way too sweet to me (see note above about unsweetened cranberry juice). I don’t drink much alcohol–I probably average about a drink a week, and never have more than two or three at a time. Most of the time I prefer wine or spirits to beer.
I feel a little weird about what I wrote, as if I’m trying to justify the fact that I am fat as Not My Fault, but there it is.
what is The Evil?
Apples and Peanut Butter ALL THE WAY, baby!!
Oh, cheese too..
I don’t think the dichotomy of “good” and “bad” foods is necessarily synonymous with “healthy” and “unhealthy” foods. That is, while most “bad” foods are also “unhealthy” foods, I think we can label a food healthy or unhealthy without any attached moralism. Just like fat is a neutral descriptor term, so, too, should we be able to discuss foods that are healthy and unhealthy. If I say deep-fried Twinkies are unhealthy, I’m not saying that they are bad and should be avoided at all costs. I’m simply saying that they lack sufficient vitamins, minerals and nutrients that one’s body needs to function.
This, of course, assumes that everyone else will be able to separate their emotional responses to food to the food itself.
My family was never big on veggies outside of the Southern cooking staples of green beans, corns and potatoes and we rarely had the money to afford fresh fruits. When I became vegetarian five years ago, I discovered a wealth of fruits and veggies out there, some of which I didn’t even know existed. So, on the healthy veg side of things, some of my favorites are brussel sprouts in vinegar, asparagus, broccoli and sweet potatoes. I also adore Pink Lady apples, grapes, strawberries, fresh pineapple, blueberries and blackberries. I also like kiwi, but I hate preparing it.
The hubby and I are also addicted to the Quorn Naked Chik’n cutlets. They’re so versatile in so many recipes or taste awesome on their own and are very high in protein and low in fat.
On the unhealthy end, my weakness is probably still chocolate, even though dark chocolate has been shown now to be healthy in moderation. It’s also a challenge not to taste-test the buttercream frosting when I’m making cakes. The frosting is basically a mixture of Crisco and powdered sugar with some vanilla and butter extracts to taste. I think it has a bazillion calories a spoonful, but it’s so, so good.
Probably one of the things I don’t eat now but miss most is real mayo on white bread with a slide of whole-fat colby or chedder cheese. Fat-free mayo, 2 percent reduced fat cheese and whole wheat just doesn’t taste the same.
Sigh. I will tell you of The Evil. It has the initials CC and has curds. AND WE WILL NOT SPEAK OF IT.
I have entire posts at my site dedicated to my obsession with chocolate covered fruit. Particularly chocolate covered pineapple. It doesn’t help that one of my friends owns an Edible Arrangements. Good food I love: all fruit, most vegetables (particularly on the grill), all fish, and all beans. Good food I don’t: brussel sprouts. Bad food I love: all the “tos”: Doritos, Tostitos, Fritos, Cheetos, burritos…Bad food I don’t love: I’m not a fan of hard candy (particularly caramels and toffee.) I think I might go post about my obsession with the “tos.”
I eat like BamaGal – low carb, high protein, high fat. I don’t eat much fruit, but when I do, it’s a berry of some sort. I don’t like bananas or watermelon. Something about the textures of those two fruits just puts me off. Citrus fruits, except pineapple, are also a bit off-putting.
I love meat of all descriptions – fins, feathers, & fur is fine by me – and dairy products are firmly in my Healthy category. Except, um, bleu cheese. Ick. Sorry. Hold the mold.
I can completely ignore breads and pastas. Vegetables are ok with me – I really only hate brussels sprouts, kale, and okra.
I also really hate assigning moral labels to food, like “good” and “bad.” It’s a peeve of mine.
I adore Mexican Coca-Cola; made with cane sugar and bottled in real glass “bottlecap” bottles. It is so seriously retro-awesome that I refuse to consider it in any way “bad”.
And while I’ve always been the freaky kid who loved her vegetables to the point of begging spinach off the other kids in the cafeteria–I draw the line at Brussels sprouts. Not good, no no no.
Did you see the essay about how we define junk food that Junkfood Science linked to over the weekend? http://academic.sun.ac.za/medphys/junk.htm
I’ve been thinking about it too. I love (roasted) brussel sprouts, hate bananas, love cheesecake and potato chips, but only like fries if they are hot and crispy on the outside. I’ve been working on eating more beans too. I don’t like pure sugar candies – things like hard candies, gumdrops, jelly beans. They taste good initially, but apparently I have some weird chemistry or sensitivity in my mouth – the aftertaste is awful and I hate the way my teeth feel coated with goo.
I find it funny that you just posted this, because I’ve just posted about “eating right” over at my blog (jigglybits.wordpress.com), and I’ve been thinking about this stuff too.
I’ve been really worried lately about “eating right” and what that means. I mean, I love everything from carrot cake, and cheetos, to garlic spinach sauté, but I can’t figure out how to balance the idea of “eating right” with my love of junkfood, and the need to make my diet better because I have bad cholesterol.
My guilty pleasures are definitely cream-cheese frosting (or, well, frosting in general). I have this thing left over from childhood of loving strawberry cream-cheese on bagels, too.
I’m also a big fan of rice cakes (thought I always forget that until I see them). That’s not too guilty, though, as they’re better than a lot of other stuff, I suppose.
Oh, and Cherry Coke. My favorite. I feel incredibly incredibly guilty about that too.
All foods contribute certain building blocks that the human body needs in order to be healthy. All foods can make a person feel unhealthy if eaten in sufficient quantities.
Thus, all food is healthy. All food has the potential to be unhealthy. If a person has a healthy relationship with food, then it is likely that the person will eat all foods in a healthy fashion. If a person has an unhealthy relationship with food, then it will be difficult for that person to eat anything in a healthy fashion.
I like food that tastes good to me. I don’t like food that tastes icky to me. I’ll eat foods that I’m indifferent towards if there aren’t any foods that I love available when I’m hungry.
These days when most people talk about health, “unhealthy” is used as shorthand for anything that is fat, contains fat, or is believed to create fat. “Healthy” is code for anything that isn’t fat, doesn’t contain fat, or is believed to contribute to reducing fat. It’s binary language in a world that is anything but.
Mmmm foods. So many amazing ones out there. For me, with a recent self discovery of possible gluten intolerance, “Healthy” foods is taking on a whole new meaning. I mean, when people say “Healthy”; then whole grains come almost first to mind after fruits and some veggies. But…weighing the benefits of whole grain fibers (and oh so nummy taste) against the awful cramps and overall malaise I feel after eating it has changed my views slightly.
That in mind as a side note though and going with the idea of healthy (nutritionally beneficial) versus unhealthy (not so nutrient packed) foods that I like and dislike:
Healthy ~ I have yet to have brussel sprouts or lima beans prepared in any edible way. Same with Endives. *gag* I LOVE squash and SOO many tasty fruits (Strawberries, Watermelons, Blueberries, Fuji Apples, Pears, Oranges, Kiwis, Bananas, Honeydew Melon…). I could eat chicken breast and Tilapia and Salmon until I burst! I also love most beans. And LOVE me some full fat, whole milk large curd cottage cheese. (Especially in homemade Perrogies!) LOVE grainy breads (but my stomach doesn’t seem to).
Unhealthy ~ I really don’t usually have a sweet tooth. Like DARK chocolate (and those damned dark chocolate reese’s pb cups were a heaven sent when they were around) and cookies once in a while. Mostly my cravings lean towards rippley salty chips. Love Mayo and hamburgers and full fat cheese.
Food is good. But darn. Now I’m salivating reading all of these uber foods! :)
Oy. This thread makes my head hurt.
I’m feeling very hostile toward the all-organic, all-local movement at the moment. I mean, if you eat this way because it’s an extension of your ethical and moral philosophies, I want to give you a big kiss on the mouth. That is so cool.
But once all-local-all-organic-no-chemicals foodies start preaching the health claims of this lifestyle, I can’t help but thinking about that reality that three generations ago, a lot of people ate very local foods, with very little processing (unless cleaning, chopping, cooking and stewing are actually processing food — and I think they are) people died a lot younger than we do now, with our refined sugar, artificial sweetener and high fructose corn syrup.
When I make this argument among my clean-eating friends, they insist it’s because medical care has advanced. I agree – but I disagree that food is medicine.
Rachel, kiwi aren’t difficult really, just cut them in half then scoop out the insides with a spoon to eat. Not pretty like the slices, but very tasty.
I like blue cheese, and a good sharp cheddar. Our family staple is Tillamook Vintage White. I like most fruits and vegetables, though okra is not on the list of edibles and neither are green beans. The only fruit I catagorically refuse to try is durian, I can’t get past the smell. Mangosteens are my favorite fruit, but not available where I live now. Onions go with anything meaty and are in almost every dinner I make, I buy the ten pound bags at Costco.
I love mixing honey, walnuts and plain yohurt for a tasty breakfast. Cheerios add a nice crunch to the mix if I’m in that mood. I also adore those little sesame honey crackers, though not for breakfast usually. Baklava is another favorite. Honey and nuts is a common theme for me, I hadn’t realized.
Bacon is lovely, so are steaks. A smoked ham hock makes a wonder split pea soup. Lobster, the few times I’ve had it, is worth all the work to eat it. Tiliapia is yummy cooked in butter, with a bit of lemon squeezed on top.
I hate the frosting on grocery store cakes, I don’t drink soda–it makes my teeth feel funny. Red delicious apples aren’t, so I don’t eat them. Green tea, as healthful as it’s supposed to be, I don’t like.
You know, I think I just generally like most foods. There isn’t a lot I won’t try.
Love: vegetables (most), cheese, cherries, pizza, ethnic foods, real bagels, apricots, fresh pineapple (NOT canned), crispy hot french fries, nachos, whole wheat, and pancakes.
Hate: sunchokes, rutabagas, parsnips, and turnips. cool whip or any other “whipped topping”. too ripe bananas. potted meat. anything with gristle. overcooked vegetables. flavorless items and many manly type frozen dinners.
“Bad” foods are the ones I hate, and good foods are the ones I love.
Oh, and floats are good. I particularly like 7up and raspberry sherbert. That’s one way I do like soda, so even that can’t make my hate list. Foo.
You know, I’m a relatively non-picky person. I like most foods. I’m big on fruits (always have been; as a kid I practically lived on bananas, apples, and oranges, with grapes and strawberries in season) and as an adult, I’ve learned that I like most vegetables, too. Even stuff I thought I hated as a kid.
The only thing I can really think of that is an absolute “eeew!” maker to me is sweet potatoes/yams. Never could stand them. (Strangely enough, though, I can cook them pretty well – the Hubby says he likes mine even better than my grandmother’s.)
As for “junk” food, I don’t eat it all the time, but I’ll admit that I like most “junk” items – Doritos being my favorite. Chocolate I love, but usually only at “that” time of the month. Any other time, I’ll take it or leave it. During that time? Touch my chocolate and lose a hand. Seriously.
And I live on Diet Pepsi. Seriously, when the weather’s warm, I drink it morning to night. (When it’s cold outside, I have to start my day with a nice cuppa tea.) I’m partial to diet sodas, because they were the only ones I was allowed growing up, so “regular” ones taste TOO sweet to me. Sickly sweet.
But yeah… there really aren’t that many things I DON’T like, so that really isn’t an issue to me. I find that when the weather’s turning warmer, though, I tend to crave fruits and vegetables more. I don’t know if that’s because they’re more in season (and thus taste better than the greenhouse-grown varieties) or what, but I found it kind of odd when I realized it.
Love: all fresh vegetables, all cheeses (including cheesecake), berries, grapes, cherries, nuts, brown and wild rice, pasta (especially homemade), moist and heavy bread, butter, olive oil, expensive chocolate, gummy candies, popcorn (not the microwave kind), stinky olives, anything pickled, onions and garlic, all kinds of herbs and spices, anything with seeds, interesting mixes of whole grains, eggs, mushrooms of all kinds, beer and wine, coffee, herbal tea, fresh fish, good steaks, beef and pork tenderloin, shrimp, scallops, mussels, things that are deep fried and salty (tortilla chips, fries, deep fried vegetables) – but only if they’re hot out of the fryer.
Less enthusiastic about: most fruit, bland-tasting carbs, most meat and fish, white bread, sweetened yogurt, most sweets, most processed food, anything bland, canned and frozen vegetables, pop, juice, packaged snacks (with the exception of white cheddar popcorn-that stuff is great).
Don’t really like: milk and cream, meat fat and skin, organ meat, lamb, commercial burgers and other sandwiches with ground meat, mayonnaise…
Hum. It’s hard to think of types of food that I don’t like. I eat a balanced diet – in the sense that it’s not “high” or “low” anything. I eat what I like, and what I like is generally flavorful and nutrient-rich. Or, sometimes it’s salty or sweet with little else going for it.
I’m also a big fan of rice cakes (thought I always forget that until I see them).
Mmmm.. rice cakes with sugar-free jelly and/or peanut butter. So delish!
Foods I love: chocolate, my mother’s stroganoff over rice with peas, coffee (decaf these days), brussel sprouts, fresh fruit, and this Myer Lemon Cake from a restaurant called Chow in SF.
Foods I don’t love: fish, orange marmalade, eggplant (unless it has been transformed to baba ganouj), sweetened coffee drinks, and key lime pie (I do love limes in other forms, but this just makes me shudder).
Sorry, I don’t get this entry- why exactly do we have to split foods we love and hate into two categories?
There’s no universally “healthy” or “unhealthy” food.
Some consider raw vegetables “healthy”, for example, for me and many others, especially older people with weak digestion, they lead to terrible bowel cramps. Not to mention how painful fresh fruit is to eat for many people due to its acidity. Leafy greens like lettuce and other salads are traditionally considered “healthy”, and while they are low in calories, they have the nutritional value of toilet paper. Wholemeal bread may be considered healthy by some, but it would have my gluten sensitive brother with diarrhea for the rest of the day. Same with milk. Promoted as “healthy” in Western cultures, for me, just like the vast majority of people of Asian and Oriental origin, it leads to pain, diarrhea and nausea because very few of us properly digest lactose as adults.
And this is ignoring all kinds of conditions like hemochromatosis or kidney disease, which completely turn around the focus of what’s healthy and what isn’t. And so the list goes on.
What’s healthy for you could be poison for someone else, and the other way round.
Your categories are no less arbitrary than “good” and “bad”.
Assigning moral value to food is still wrong, even if you call it “health”. ;-)
I usually don’t think healthy/unhealthy when choosing what to eat.
If pressed, I’d say that my favourite “healthy” – in the popular sense of the word – food has to be fruit. I love all juicy, tart, firm fruits like apples, nectarines, pears, kiwis, cherries, berries etc. My least favourite “healthy” food is lettuce. Can’t have it, eating it seems like *such* a waste of time because it has no flavour or texture whatsoever.
Out of the “unhealthy” items, I’d say my favourite has to be pizza and/or heavy pasta sauces. Sour cream and onion chips are good, too. My least favourite “unhealthy” foods are most fast food items, because they’re bland and boring, and also Coke, which makes me want to puke.
Oh, I’m with you about Coke. I drink gallons of it. I’m conflicted about my consumption of it, but I don’t stop.
I love all fruit, genuinely love it. I would choose it over chocolate any day (except maybe one or two days every month when I am not myself!). Right now the summer fruits like cherries and berries are my idea of heaven. I also like almost all vegetables (including broccoli, Brussels sprouts and other oft-hated things), although I don’t think I can claim to actually love any of them in particular. A “health” food that I just cannot make friends with is lentils – ugh (*shudder*)! I’m not a big fan of beans either, except in Mexican food.
As for “bad” foods I guess cheese is my vice. I’m not a fan of blue cheeses but almost everything else, the stinky and the oozy, all of it. I also drink way too much Diet Coke. And love ice cream. Oh, and burgers, although homemade ones I wouldn’t consider too bad. The things that don’t really interest me that much are baked goods, I would pass up cake most of the time.
This is an interesting discussion topic, it’s cool to see everyone’s different opinions.
I generally view “unhealthy” as stuff that comes from McDonalds. Or cheesecake from Cheesecake Factory. I won’t classify foods as “bad” or “good” except for popcorn, which, due to personal colon health issues, is bad for me and not allowed.
Healthy that I like: Leafy greens, oh gods give me some kale please. Tomatoes, brocolli, zucchini, green beans, green peppers. Whole grain bread, yum. Rice. Dark chocolate! Cherries, raspberries, blueberries by the pound.
Healthy that I can’t stand: Brussel sprouts, cauliflower, carrots that are not in soup. Lentil type beans (and I’ve tried cooking them in all sorts of ways to try to make them tastier, and it just doesn’t work for me), peppers that aren’t green.
Stuff that’s not unhealthy, just not like, super good for you healthy: Pork roast, steak tips, ice cream.
I won’t demonize food. My mom is 63 and still does that. I know what’s unhealthy, and I limit what I eat of that. I generally go to McDonalds maybe 3 or 4 times a year. I don’t get pizza or chinese food that often. I try to eat a nice salad every day because it’s the fastest easiest way for me to get my veggies. I try to eat for taste AND nutrition – does this taste good AND is it giving me happy vitamins? If something tastes good but does NOT give me happy vitamins and minerals, I try not to eat so much of it.
Cranberries are the fruit of the devil. I don’t care how “good for you” they are I just don’t like ’em. Other than that, I’m not too picky.
I LOVE cranberries! I buy the unsweetened, pure juice and get it really, REALLY cold–it has such a bite! I also pledge my undying love to Snickers.
I also have these cravings that will go on for days and days. Like the other week it was tomato sandwiches on whole wheat bread with a little salt and a scrape of mayo. I couldn’t get enough! By Sunday, I was totally burned out.
I also hate green peas. I will eat them, but I will be cursing their little pea souls the entire time.
On the healthy plus side, I’ve always loved spinach, even ate the canned stuff as a kid. Nowadays, in a good salad is so much better with some strawberries and a little balsamic vinaigrette–YUMMM! Other yummies would be grape tomatoes, baby carrots, apples (Braeburns rock!), cantaloupe, bananas and watermelon.
Healthy negatives would be legumes of all shapes and sizes. Can’t abide them no matter how hard I try. The mere sight of a pea sends shutters through my soul!!!!
My biggest unhealthy vice would have to be pepperoni and green olive pizza. I indulge in this occasionally from our local joint. It comes piled high with cheese and is ooey and gooey–it makes my toes tingle!
I’m surprised to see how many people call pizza an unhealthy food. I think it’s a great meal–grains, dairy, veggies. But that might just be the Italian in me. ;) I wouldn’t necessarily classify it as a “health” food, but I don’t think it’s unhealthy, either. I guess I think it’s a good example of why “healthy” and “unhealthy” aren’t particularly useful categories for thinking about most foods.
I’m in the middle of a month my son and I spend with my parents each summer, and they cook very differently than I do, and I’m realizing all the foods I miss. I’m craving lemon-herb tofu like anything. Seriously, I start salivating at the thought of tofu. I miss asparagus, and garlic sauteed spinach, and orzo tossed with pine nuts and balsamic vinegar, and homemade mac and cheese, and artichokes, and risotto made with white wine and Parmesan, and fresh-baked coconut rolls with butter, and honey-baked lentils, and bread-and-cheese soup, and cream of tomato soup make from scratch, and spinach coconut soup, and spinach salad with blue cheese and walnuts and pears, and chicken piccata, and chicken and green bean casserole, and all sorts of yummy stuff that doesn’t start it’s life in the freezer aisle. And now I’m hungry.
On the other hand, I’m very much enjoying the pizza here. My hometown elevates pizza to an art form, and I’ve pretty much given up on Midwestern pizza. And, we’re making a trip to the boardwalk next week where I plan on getting my all-time favorite unhealthy food: french fries that are made by deep frying huge slices of the whole potato (skin and all), topped with kosher salt, and dipped in cheese sauce.
Personally, I’m not a huge fan of traditional “junk” foods. I definitely will not turn down ice cream if I’m hungry, and I enjoy a nice piece of cake or pie once in a while, but that’s pretty much it. I’m not big on cookies or chips or candy. What I love is actual meals. If I get hungry at 10 pm I’m far more likely to end up reheating some of what I had for dinner than grabbing a bag of chips. When I do eat snack foods it’s more likely to be apple slices dipped in peanut butter or hummus with pita chips and baby carrots or grapes and cheese. Stuff that isn’t generally low in fat or low in calories, but that also isn’t high in sugar and is pretty nutrient-rich.
Love:
Healthy: yogurt, your evil (cottage cheese, right? mmmm), massive salads with chicken on top (I suppose when the chicken is fried and “Buffalo”-style –in quotes because my Buffalonian palette is a snob about wing sauces– it straddles healthy and un), pretty much all fruit especially strawberries, bananas, kiwi, star fruit and apples (with or without PB), lots of veggies like yellow squash, asparagus, carrots, broccoli (yes, really), caramelized onions, chicken, potatoes, tofu, quinoa, I could go on…
Unhealthy: Cheesecake (let’s agree to disagree – at least the right one of us lives near Junior’s), pizza (I live a stone’s throw from Grimaldi’s…mmmm), beer, cheese enchiladas, cheese anything, wings (if they’re done right, with blue cheese NOT ranch), bacon, egg salad, cannoli, ravioli, gnocchi (I’m part Italian, by the way…), chocolate, mint chocolate chip ice cream, Indian food
Hate:
Healthy: MUSHROOMS, peppers (which is odd because I love spicy food), raw onions
Unhealthy: anything fast food, really, McD’s and BK both make my insides crawl
Not a lot of foods I hate. I like food. This post made me hungry.
Lori – the way I like my pizza is not the healthy kind, lol
the healthy (ish?) pizza is thin crust with lots of veggies, I like a nice thick crust, extra cheese and pepperoni…I don’t think any of that classifies as healthy, haha.
The Italian in me is like CHEESE! GARLIC! CHEESE!! GARLIC!! :)
I support doing away with “healthy” or “unhealthy” as categories for food! “Yummy” and “not yummy” are good ones, but as we have seen, entirely subjective.
I actually love most vegetables, including many of the stereotypically loathed variety such as spinach, brussel sprouts and beets.
Raw tomatoes and cooked peas = EVIL to me though.
I’m another one that loves regular Coke, Mmmm!
I’m not a big fan of potato chips – unless they’re Cape Cod Cracked Black Pepper kind – and those are like crack.
Loves: apples, cherries, peaches, grapes,steamed spinach, broccoli, brussel sprouts (roasted and steamed) cauliflower, bean sprouts, raw carrots, celery, corn on the cob and snap peas, steamed cabbage, cheese, chicken, beef, fish, quinoa, popcorn
Also loves but in moderation: nutella, creme filled donuts, potato chips, bbq prk rinds, oreos, suzy qs, whtachmacallit candy bars, charlston chews
I love apples, pears, grapes, oranges, watermelon, strawberries, and pineapples. They are very few veggies I like, but tomatoes (sorry, they are not a fruit to me), corn, and lettuce I like. I’m also getting into carrots, especially baby carrots with ranch dressing. Any grilled meat except lamb I’ll eat, same goes for seafood, except salmon and mahi-mahi, which are too fishy for me. But if you force me to eat lima beans, brussel sprouts, or cauliflower, I’ll run. Cabbage and spinach? Only if it’s raw. I can’t eat cucumbers because they give me awful gas. My grandfather also has that problem.
As for the “bad” foods: my big downfall is french fries and fried chicken, especially Popeye’s. I do like chocolate and ice cream and cake. I’m not a big fan of pies, but I do like coconut cream. I can also live without donuts too, but I will occasionally go for a glazed or a Krispy Kreme chocolate glazed and 2 is my limit.
I’ve also cut back on soda, but not for weight reasons. But I love, love, LOVE Mountain Dew, and it’s even better in Slurpee form. Slurpees make the world a better place.
Ah ha, now I know what the Evil is…and I couldn’t agree more…based on looks alone, I’ll never go near it!
It’s amazing that everything I don’t like is tolerable if it’s on pizza.
I hate whole grain bread. This is natrually a problem because health wise 30% of your meal should be whole grains. But I hate em. Brown Rice, Most Brown Bread. I am just racist in my carbohydrate choices.
“Bad” Food I hate, um, margarine. Chinese Food. Mountain Dew. Hot Pockets.
Food I love–
The Good: Kifer, Eggs (they are good for You), kiwi, chicken, salmon.
The Bad: Nachos, Quesedilla, Cocktails, Ice Cream, Chocolate, Imperial Rolls, Pie, Cake, Pastry, Pizza, Potstickers, Cheeseburgers,
I love Chicken Parisienne, which is chicken breasts baked with mushroom soup, mushroom caps and white wine, and toasted almonds and paprika sprinkled on top, and served with rice, steamed broccoli and al dente carrots. Yes, indeed.
My all-time favourite dessert, or breakfast, for that matter, is a broken-up muffin topped with a compatibly-flavoured yogurt, preferably a fruit-on-the-bottom yogurt. Yum-o. Don’t mind strawberry shortcake, either.
Foods I consider not fit for human consumption are dill pickles, beer, whiskey, and sauerkraut. Gaaa.
— From Rachel — “Probably one of the things I don’t eat now but miss most is real mayo on white bread with a slide of whole-fat colby or chedder cheese. Fat-free mayo, 2 percent reduced fat cheese and whole wheat just doesn’t taste the same.”
OMG! That was my favorite thing as a kid, too! When I tell people that, it usually gets what I call the “you-must-be-an-alien-face.” It’s good to know I’m not alone on the planet.
Healthy Foods I Love: pineapple, dry curd cottage cheese, bananas, everything that goes in salsa, beans of all varieties, soy in most of its incarnations, Kashi Go Lean Crunch cereal, spinach (especially in a salad with some dried cranberries, almonds, and feta cheese), all berries, dark leaf lettuces, peas, lentils, garlic (yum!!!), whole wheat anything, yes, even the pasta, and cheese (which is def. healthy for me if I can manage to not eat the entire pound in the space of a few hours).
Healthy Foods I Don’t Love: broccoli, cucumber, fancy lettuces (raddichio and aruglula ick me out — too bitter), most raw, dense veggies (a texture thing – if I chew too many times, there’s this point of unplesantness), kumquats, pears, fish (boy, I wish I liked fish, but the smell squicks me out every time when I try to prepare it at home – don’t have this problem in restaurants for some reason, lol).
Unhealthy Foods I Don’t Like: plain potato chips, fried chicken (oh-so-strange being from the U.S. South), frosting made with lard, pizza with a lot of processed meats, processed meats (salami, pepperoni, etc.). I like McDonald’s and other fast food burgers, but they don’t like me. Wow. I had to think about this one a lot. There aren’t a lot of unhealthy foods I don’t like, lol.
Unhealthy Foods I Want To Be Stranded With On A Deserted Island: DIP! Yet to meet a dip I didn’t like, whether it be sour cream based, cream cheese based, mayonnaise based, oil based, whatevah! If I have something that can be dipped, I will find something to dip it in. For example, Doritos of any flavor, french fries from any place, fresh baked bread (not in and of itself unhealthy, but the entire loaf in a sitting probably not so good for me). Real salted butter, Snickers and Skor bars, Marble Slab Lemon Custard ice cream, lemon bars, cookies, cakes, tarts, jalapeno poppers (can’t bring most of this stuff in the house cause it speaks to me, probably in that alien language I repressed to maintain my secret identity), Chili’s southwest egg rolls with that damn avocado ranch dip… and full circle back to dip — everything that dips are made of like sour cream, mayo and cream cheese.
God, that was fun. Thanks!
You people mention the Evil. And yet I still love you. And yet the Evil is mentioned. Why? Why!?!
Well, I like the Evil…
It’s funny that the second commenter said that the only foods she can’t stand are bleu cheese, pickles, and tiramisu. Those are pretty much my top choices.
For “bad foods” that I can’t stand, there are things like twinkies, snoballs, hohos- anything super processed and sweet that has a shelf life of more than a week is nauseating for me. I don’t like chocolate alone- but I do like it when paired with nuts, fruit, ice cream, etc. Something about the richness as texture that’s just too much for me. I hate normal soda (but do like the diet), and I don’t like smores, or anything else made with grahm crackers, gingerbread, nutmeg, or cloves.
As for the good stuff that I don’t like… I suppose you could say water. I don’t drink it unless there are no other possible options around. However, I don’t tend to drink anything that is tremendously calorie dense, unless you count freshly squeezed juice. I can’t stand radishes, beans (it’s the texture), and pears. I also hate whole grain pastas- the texture is just…. all wrong there.
Now for the goods stuff, I love blue cheese, pickles and tiramisu. Actually, I love almost all stinky cheeses with my favorites being aged roquefort, alsacian (super sharp) meunster, and tomme fermier. Oh, and morbier. I also love my boyfriend’s flakey, crispy backlava, freshly squeezed oj, and all berries and cherries. Freshly baked whole grain breads, over easy eggs with provolone and tomato, goat cheese tatins, avocados/ guacamole, and red meats- esp lamb and duck. I can’t get enough of tartars. I love baked pumpkin, zucchini, eggplant, and all mushrooms (king oysters and portebellos= so good) In the snack category, I love macadamia nuts. cashews, mozzerella sticks, fried calamari, gummy haribu coke bottles, and ferrer rocher chocolates.
From reading everyone else’s preferences, it seems like most people have a well mixed list of good and bad foods. I have no trouble using those value laden terms, because I think healthy foods and not so healthy foods are a reality, and I think that the fa community’s to such usages are rather knee jerk. However, food and the consumption of, has no morality to me. As you can see, most of my favorite foods are rather fat laden and calorie dense. yet I am borderline underweight, have high cholesterol, and low blood pressure. Hmm.
Healthy food – tomatoes! Nothing better than fresh summer tomatoes, salmonella be damned! Also love: butternut squash, salmon, lentils, zucchini, onions, peppers, whole grain pastas and breads, hummus, chickpeas.
Unhealthy foods – love me chocolate, cheese, and Pepsi. None of this Coke nonsense. ;P Which is a real problem when I go to Europe, as Coke seems to have a monopoly there.
Ketchup sandwiches. Which is exactly as it sounds- ketchup squeezed between 2 slices of bread.
A bowl of pasta heaped with nothing but fresh mozzarella – yum.
Chocolate and peanut butter ice cream -to die for.
My food dislikes: olives, capers, mushrooms, corn, peas, greenbeans, and eggplant.
I really don’t like salty foods, except once every few months I have an overwhelming craving for salt and vinegar potato chips, which I always give into.