The other night on Twitter Kelly mentioned that she’d never tried chicken fried steak because she didn’t think she’d like it. But lo and behold, she finally tried it – and loved it.
HOWEVER.
She went on to confess that she doesn’t like grits, and all I could do was sit slack-jawed on my couch and try to make sense of it all. I mean, it’s fine that Kelly doesn’t like grits, but I have to say that her distaste for grits has forced me to re-evaluate the very foundation of our friendship. I’m certain that we can survive this grits-related revelation, but we may need to see a counselor or at the very least a life coach to move past it.
I’m totally kidding, of course.
But still – GRITS? WHAT’S NOT TO LOVE?
(And please realize that the watered-down, unsalted, cheese-less concoction that most restaurants try to pass off as grits hardly qualifies. Really good grits need a little chicken stock and salt and butter and cheddar cheese. Maybe even some cream cheese.)
Anyway, Kelly’s tweet got me thinking about the foods that I always feel like I’m supposed to like more than I do. I’m good on most of the traditional Southern stuff, but there are other American favorites that leave me a little on the “meh” side.
For example.
Cherry pie – Blech cherries yuck terrible awful cherries blech.
Coconut anything – The irony here is that I like to make coconut cake (my daddy LOVES coconut, so the coconut cake is almost always for him). However, I do not enjoy the coconut at all. Something about the texture gives me the heebie-jeebies.
Enchiladas – I’m not a huge fan of corn tortillas. And when you combine corn tortillas with a red sauce, you have a terribly underwhelming combination (in my very irrelevant opinion).
Spaghetti – I don’t get it. Noodles and tomato sauce / meat sauce. Leaves me underwhelmed.
Pizza – The homemade version seems like a whole lot of trouble for the end result – and the kind that you order always reminds me of college.
Any sort of Alfredo sauce – Rich and heavy and way too much.
Okay. So maybe what I’m establishing here is that I really don’t care for Italian food and then three other things.
All righty. What about you? What traditional food favorites make you think, “Hey. Does anybody have some crackers?”
I hope beyond all hope that nobody says fried chicken.
That just might turn my whole world upside down.
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I’ve never had grits. I just cannot bring myself to try them when I’ve had an opportunity…but it’s mostly been in those restaurant type situations or at church camp. Ew. If you offered me some I’d give them a shot. :)
Chilli is the thing I don’t get. Everyone’s always wanting it when it’s cold but gag. I’d rather just be hungry which is saying something.
I fully understand the coconut “texture” issue. Have you ever tried frozen coconut? It’s right by the CoolWhip in my grocery, and the texture is so very very different than that bagged stringy stuff! Next time you make your Daddy a cake, try it!! You might come around!
Oatmeal cookies. Just can’t get on board.
I’m with you on the coconut.
Annnnnd confession…I might have just pre-ordered your book for my mama (and me) for Christmas. I hope the Amazon print-out will tide her over til June. Can you tell we’re a little excited?? By the way, the cover is a.dor.a.ble! XOXO!
Well I have a weird “meat problem”. I dont mean weird meat, like alligator, I mean I have a problem with meat and I think it’s probably weird. You see, growing up my mom bought terribly cheap cuts of meat. IE; Carl Budding lunchmeat, which I detest. So I’d take the lunchmeat out of the sandwich, just eat the butter/bread and I’d take the lunchmeat home and hide it under my bed…between the mattresses to be exact. (Uh, yeah, I know. You dont even want to know how it was discovered) Anyhow, I CANNOT eat chicken on the bone anymore, I could barely choke it down when I was little because of course we had to eat every scrap (ack). And hamburger…ugh. The hamburger she bought had chopped up bones in it, I swear.
Neadless to say I’m very picky today and only but skinless bonless chicken and hamburger from the meat case.
Feel better?
We are, quite possibly, twins separated at birth! Ditto to everything you wrote except I only eat hamburger butchered from my parents’ cattle and according to my mother’s very strict specifications.
I can’t stand eating meat on the bone. It makes feel like I should be in one of those nature documentaries…you know, like when lions are gathered around the kill ripping the poor animal apart? Yeah, that’s the image I get. Every. Time.
Oh thank you, heavenly Lord!! I’m not the only one out there that just can’t seem to stomach eating any kind of meat on the bone! It really just grosses me out to no end!! And it wasn’t until I became an adult that I found out that my mother, grandmother, aunt and uncle all share this common thing!! Crazy!! I know!!
I’m not sure I could be any happier right now – I seriously thought I was the only person on the planet who hated meat on the bone! I won’t eat it, cook it, look at it, etc. etc.
Freaks unite! lol
Cherry pie–yuck. Coconut–vomit. Enchiladas–meh. Spaghetti–meh. Alfredo–me like. Pizza–have you had GOOD pizza? They probably don’t really make it in the South. ;)
p.s. I don’t really love ice cream.
I probably feel that way about tuna-noodle casserole. In my head it tends to seem better than when I actually make it. Also, I think I remember that you like it, BooMama, but I just cannot get into Velveeta.
I’m with you on the Velveeta!!! Cannot do it! I’ve tried and tried, but I just can’t like it!
Anything that comes from the sea. I tried very hard when we lived in Alaska but it still tastes fishy no matter what. And I’m with Kellie- Velveeta is disgusting…I grew up mere miles from a cheese factory in Wisconsin, so it’s the real deal or nothing…they even have chocolate cheese.
I am from Wisconsin and I only bought Velveeta as an ingredient for a recipe a couple years ago and I spent a dern long time looking around the refrigerated dairy case for the Velveeta and finally asked where it was. And it was on a shelf!?!?! What kind of “cheese” is on an unrefrigerated shelf!?! :-O lol.
I don’t know if it works for seafood v. freshwater fish, but we always get rid of the fishy taste by cutting that pearly gray stuff (gets rid of the “dirty” flavor) off the fish when fileting it, and also soak it in a bowl of milk in the fridge overnight. Just rinse it in water the next morning and cook it up or store it in the freezer for another day! Something about the milk pulls the fishy flavor out, and it turns from yuck to yum!
First, I have to preface my comment with the fact that I LOVE FOOD – like all kinds. I am the type of person who purposely tries new things at restaurants because oh, I just love everything. But then…..there are a few things:
I do not like grits. I loathe them. And even though I am a northern girl, I grew up with an amazing Southern grandmother who could probably have made a fly swatter taste good, and I still hated grits – even hers. I even RE-tried them as an adult. I was in a hole-in-the-wall breakfast place in Alabama highly recommended by a local man that is a business associate of my husband’s. Since everything else in said establishment was pretty much TO DIE FOR, I decided to order grits. And once again, I was all “blah.”
I also LOATHE tamales. They are like yuck wrapped up in more yuck.
I also cannot STAND sweet potatoes or any variation thereof, specifically the sweet potato casserole that has marshmallows on it. Oh dear…it sends me into fits of yuck.
cannot stand tamales either. just mush wrapped up in corn husks.
I’m totally with you on the tamales. Yuck wrapped in YUCK. My husband LOVES them and I’m totally grossed out by them!
Um…chicken fried steak. Really. I’m not from the South, but many places outside the South serve it, and we also lived in Dallas for 3 years. My husband loves it. I don’t get it. It’s tough, breaded meat. Breaded meat? Yuck.
Olives — cannot stand. When I was pregnant with my daughter, I craved them on pizza one night and my husband looked at me as though I had suddenly been replaced in entirety with another human being, sitting on his couch.
And I’m with the poster above — tamales. I try and try and try — I try different kinds all to no avail. Gross.
I think it’s kind of funny that some restaurants really are serving, in essence, “grits,” but they fancy it up with the term, “polenta.”
:)
Some of y’all correct me if I am wrong but I don’t think grits and polenta are the same thing…I know they both come from corn?
Grits and polenta are the same thing. Sometimes they let the grits congeal and then slice and toast it before they call it polenta, but it’s still just a boiled cornmeal.
Yep, EXACTLY.THE.SAME.THING.
I, like you, do not like coconut. That texture is just omg disgusting. Ugh. I will, however, eat/drink coconut flavored things…like a piña colada(virgin) or the blue coconut drink at the sonic.
Did you know that if you get a blue coconut drink and have them mix in pineapple it’s actually very close to tasting like a pina colada? Really good but also really sweet overkill.
I don’t like ribs, it’s a texture and mess issue. I know, it drives my husband crazy! I’d much rather have a well cooked brisket (Saltlick’s my favorite) anyday.
Mayonaise based salads- potato salad, macaroni salad etc., Deviled eggs are truly the devil. Hard boiled eggs (gross!!!) and mayo. Yuck. Sometimes I will eat chicken or tuna salad bit only if it is at a nice restaurant because it usually isn’t too mayonaisy.
Yes! I am with you! I finally started to like mayo on a very light basis. I adore chicken salad but all other “salads” are disgusting. I will make tuna salad for myself once in a blue moon, but I don’t trust it anywhere else. I’ve never understood why people started making deviled eggs…I think it’s weird, and I’m from the South.
Sophie, I understand the chicken fried steak avoidance. I just don’t think I would like, and I don’t see a reason that I should eat something that looks that gross.
Another one: sloppy joes. I ate them as kids but never again.
Oh yes! I cannot STAND mayonnaise (although it’s a really fun word to say!). As a kid, I was forced to eat potato and macaroni salads at BBQs and every single time I would want to gag. Being an adult is so nice when I can simply pass by that junk for something that doesn’t make me want to puke. Even the smell of mayo grosses me out!
GREAT potato salad recipe with NO mayo! :) Cut red potatoes into large pieces and boil, then dress with sour cream, shredded cheddar cheese, real bacon pieces, and chives – pretty much anything you’d put on a baked potato. Do it while it’s still warm so the cheese melts, but you can serve this cold or hot. D-Lish!!! I don’t hate mayo, but i don’t like mayo based potato salad, so this is a great alternative for me! :)
Godiva chocolate. Just give me a big ol’ bag of Hershey Kisses – the originals – NOT the Hugs, cherry flavored, mint flavored, etc…………….. I do love me some grits! I’m looking forward to a nice hot bowl of grits tomorrow morning at Cracker Barrel!
I totally agree with you on the chocolate! I’ve always said I must have “low brow” taste in chocolate. You can keep the expensive stuff — just give me some Hershey’s!
Chocolate Icecream. It tastes like dirt to me
Me tooo! I love ice cream with chocolate in it, but it must be vanilla-based. Thought I was the only one!
Velveeta… yuck.
Eggs – in any form. It’s a texture thing. No quiches or flan either because of the high egg to anything edible ratio.
Can’t do chicken on the bone either. BLECH!
I love coconut, love cherry pie–make yummy ones myself. I make bolognese sauce for spaghetti that won a contest. I have never had chicken fried steak & even though I’m a northern girl, I LOVE grits! My husband would eat them twice a day!
I detest sushi & think its disgusting! I also think liver is completely vile. I guess I have some strong food feelings! :-D
Cannot stand sushi. I have tried it, and there are a bajillion sushi places in Southern California, so it’s a shame because I’m always that friend… the one who doesn’t want to eat at a sushi joint!
It is totally unAmerican of me but I do NOT like apple pie. I like apples and I like other pies but apples or pears just shouldn’t be that mealy mushy texture. And I just have to believe you haven’t had good pizza. :)
I was going to say the same thing!!! I just can’t eat mushy apples.
Chocolate & Apple Pie. I’m truly un-american.
Same here.
Get ready to take my southern card….gravy. I do not like gravy. Whew! There, I said it!
Me either! I’m remembering all kinds of things I don’t like!
Gravy grosses me out completely & I’m from Texas, so I’m basically commiting a sin in my dislike for gravy. But it feels like the trash of food.
The texture of coconut is truly revolting.
I’m not a big fan of pie in general. I’d prefer cake any day.
Orange juice. Not a fan at all. Especially for breakfast … the thought of drinking it in the morning makes me shudder.
Olives. No no no.
Most big-brand candy containing caramel. I love a good homemade caramel sauce, but the kind that’s in Rolo or similar candy creations sort of ruins the chocolate for me.
Jello salad. First of all? Not a salad. Second of all, I’m only so-so on Jello to begin with, so when you start layering it with other things or sticking fruit or vegetables in with it? Nope.
I’ve never tried grits, or been in any situation where they’ve been served, but I imagine that I’d enjoy them – particularly the way you describe.
I hate OJ too!! I only drink one kind…Simply Orange..and only when I feel the beginnings of a cold coming on!
1. Coconut = sawdust. NASTY!
2. We adore Italian food (my husband is part Italian) but we would never dream of eating plain ol’ spaghetti. Agreed with you there too.
3. Alfredo sauce = nasty.
4. Velveeta.
5. Dough/batter. I like my baked goods cooked.
6. Ball park food. Vomit.
7. Oysters.
8. Red velvet cake. (And I am southern! But please, it’s mildly chocolate with red food coloring. What’s to like? Give me deeply rich chocolate.)
i hate red velvet cake too!!! the texture – taste – all of it. it is WAY overrated.
What is with all the coconut hate here? I looooooooooove coconut. (Oddly enough, though…I didn’t really like it much until I was an adult, but I never “hated” it.)
1. Oatmeal. I’ve tried. Goodness knows, I’ve tried. It’s a texture thing.
2. Avocados, and therefore guacamole. GROSS.
3. Seafood in a casserole or pasta dish or on a salad. I love fish when it is fried (yes, I’m Southern) or even grilled/broiled, but I do NOT like dishes like a shrimp alfredo or a crabmeat lasagna, or a salad with blackened shrimp on top. I just like my seafood…separate, I guess.
Are you my twin?
1. Oatmeal. I don’t mind it in cookies, but I cannot eat plain oatmeal. I try every few years hoping I can, because it’s so good for you, but nope. My gag reflex kicks in.
2. Avocados. Also a texture thing (although once it’s mushed up and spices are added in, I do love guac, but I live in Southern California where we have some GOOOOD guac!)
3. This. THIS. I love seafood on its own (although shrimp freak me out, to be honest), but when it’s mixed in with other stuff? No thank you!
OMGosh, I don’t like avocados either, but I can eat my weight in guacamole! Too funny.
Amy, if you like grits but don’t like oatmeal, try steel cut oatmeal – the texture is more like grits than regular oatmeal. Just a suggestion ; )
Agree on the coconut/cherry dislike!
Can not eat olives/oatmeal/any cooked fruit pie
Merry Christmas to you and your family Boomama!
BooMama how do you not like pizza?? I’m shaking my head at the wonder of it.
Don’t like apple or cherry pie. (4th of July is rough on me)
Shrimp makes me want to vomit.
But, my Mama makes the BEST fried chicken you ever did taste!
these comments are cracking me up! I like most foods, except for beets (any non-pickled ones), cooked carrots and especially mushrooms (weird texture and taste like dirt).
I taught my born and bred in Michigan husband to enjoy grits by giving him Shrimp and cheese grits. Now he’ll eat them without cheese, too.
I can’t do olives, pickles, beets, scallops, raw oysters and most of all-no potato salad for me. My potatoes must be warm when I eat them. Also, if you told me no ice cream ever again, I could handle it just fine.
Only three thing make my hair stand on end…. Lasagna, meatloaf, and chicken liver. My other tortured me with those three dishes growing up and I. Still. Hate. Them.
I think the worst food I have ever tried, was my granny’s Waldorf salad. Gag! We would conceal it in napkins and flush it down the toilet. Sooo gross. I do not like tamales, red velvet cake, sweet potato fries, and flan. Cheesecake is up near the top of the list too. Yuck. I don’t like gravy or goulash…ick! I don’t know if I have had grits prepared correctly, but it seems like if you have to drown it in butter and cheese for it to taste good….
Tina, one of the beautiful things about grits is that they will absorb the flavor of just about anything! You can flavor them with taco seasoning & use them for vegetarian tacos, even.
I dislike anything fruit based. Cobblers, pies, cakes, salad, if it has fruit in it, I don’t like it. However, I like most fruit by themselves. Weird. I also dislike coconut, and corn tortillas are disgusting. I really dislike anything minty. I can only tolerate very mild breath mints and I’m really picky about toothpaste. I do not want any dessert with mint in it and the York Peppermint Patty sounds revolting. Also, just say no to beans.
Food fetishes!! Let me start with coconut – if it’s wrapped in chocolate, I’ll eat it. Otherwise, yuck. Any kind of cooked green – who eats boiled grass? Cooked spinach is acceptable only in dip. Grits must have cheese in them. Alfredo sauce? No, thank you – not after two friends of mine got food poisoning from it. No raw oysters (this is a graphic description but it’s just snot on a shell) or beets. I’ve never had liver because my mother refused to serve it to us when we were growing up because she hated it. I don’t think I’ve missed out on anything there. Most anything else I will at least try one time.
Love boiled grass!!
I am thinking you need to try a good pizza! ;)
I agree on spaghetti, though. I really don’t know how in the world Olive Garden charges $10 a plate for it and people order it! I do love good Italian though, at non-chain restaurants.
I don’t hate too much food, but oysters tops the list. My first job was at a seafood restaurant and the big bucket of those slimy things was so nasty looking!
I also don’t love cucumber or English peas. Yuck.
Oh, I’m with you on the cherry pie and Alfredo sauce. But coconut? And enchiladas? Sophie, Sophie, Sophie. Next time you go to visit Melanie in San Antonio, please go to La Fogata and get a cheese enchilada. They are yummy. And if you have a Sprinkles cupcake store near you, try their coconut cupcake. Bliss.
-Grits are way overrated for this southern girl.
-I don’t care for chicken fried steak either, but LOVE fried tenderloin :)
-Spaghetti is my favorite – has been since childhood.
-Ice cream hurts my teeth…
-Love a good old-fashioned coconut pie!
I’m originally from Florida, married a fella from South Carolina. Early on in our marriage he was so proud to finally take me for my first experience with the Beacon Drive In in Spartanburg (google it; it was on Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives — one of those kind of places). I don’t like french fries and I don’t usually like places that serve a pound of them with every plate. I silently fretted over what to order, not wanting to burst my hubby’s bubble about his beloved Beacon Drive In. Finally saw something on the menu that I thought I could tolerate: a steak sandwich. I anticipated it being a philly-cheesesteak, Quizno’s kind of thing. Nope. When they handed me the plate and I dug through the mountain of fries and onion rings a-plenty, there was my CHICKEN FRIED STEAK sandwich. I should have known better. I didn’t really like chicken fried steak before that, and I think putting it on a sandwich sealed the deal for me for ever. Just. can’t. do. it. My other weirdness is that I will choose vanilla over chocolate any day. But I’m with you on the coconut and anything that’s made with coconut oil and any health & beauty product that even smells like coconut. Ugh.
Goodness. Can you put some of your favorite foods tomorrow? I’m curious if there will be a theme.
My list is short.
1. Coconut – unless it’s a snack size Almond Joy. I’ll eat it.
2. Pinto Beans and cornbread. I’m a disgrace to my family.
3. Anything with cheese and sugar together (e.g. cheesecake, cream cheese icing)
I grew up in MO and now live in KS. Not exactly the South, but I love grits – any kind, any way. I’m glad they migrated north, for sure.
My yuck food: Mustard. No thanks. I can cook with Grey Poupon as long as it’s just a “spice”, not a main flavor ingrediant. That’s it!
Aren’t we an interesting group? Is there anything we can all agree on?
Alright. I guess it’s left to me. Sophie, please sit down.
I don’t like fried chicken.
I’M SORRY!! I want to like it. I do. I have issues with meat that is reminding me it came from an animal. I don’t like to chew fat (I’m like a surgeon with a steak, cutting tiny bits of fat out). I don’t like skin. I hate bones. I don’t want to gnaw on a piece of meat. I need ribs to fall off the bone, because I’m not picking up a bone to chew the meat off. Boneless, skinless chicken breasts were created for someone like me. I want to pretend meat just shows up at the grocery store. Like a box of Ritz. The best fried chicken in the world can’t get past my meat issues.
Also, I have texture issues with beans (pinto, kidney, baked, etc). They’re pasty. Oh, and I don’t like fruit with meat (pineapple covered ham, etc). But I’m guessing you stopped reading after I said I didn’t like fried chicken.
I don’t like fried chicken either. I’m not even a huge fan of chicken strips. My husband, however, loves it. I comfort myself with knowing that if a place sells fried chicken, they probably sell macaroni and cheese, and I love that!
I could have written this!!! Everything! From cutting my steak like a surgeon… to anything with bones…. to BEANS….. GAG! You’re my twin!!
Late to the party but thought I was the only person in the world that does not like fried chicken…shudder.
I do like beans though. So maybe i am a half-sister to the rest of you?
My only experience with grits for years was the Crackle Barrel version. I can’t find any other polite way oh saying UGH. YUCK. I didn’t not understand the fascination southern people have with what was very bland and blah. But, I had cheese grits at a restaurant outside of Washington DC in the spring and let me tell you, they were a delight. They were served with shrimp and I wanted to lick the plate.
I am always in the minority with this opinion, but CHEESE! It always tastes like a glorified sock.
I can totally relate! I detest cheese unless it is mozzarella and is melted on something tomatoey (it can’t be cold and “rubbery” like on a cold sandwich or in a salad, must be hot and melted). We are definitely in the minority on the cheese dislike thing. Almost everyone else a seems to love it!
Born & raised in the DEEP SOUTH. Hate grits — might as well eat wallpaper paste. Don’t even want to be in the same house where cabbage was cooked. It STINKS!! Don’t like coconut. I make a coconut cake for my hubby at Christmas. I’m told it is fabulous, but I never taste it.
This is too funny! Why? Because one, I’ve never tried grits. Seriously, never have because they have never looked delicious. And no, I can’t do shrimp and grits because I might die from the shrimp. (Yes, I’m southern and can’t do the seafood thing.) Here are some of mine that can’t think about without gagging…
*coconut anything – right with you there
*alfredo sauce – yep… you spoke the truth
*ham – I feel like I just keep on chewing
*oatmeal – wait I think I just threw up in my mouth
*raisin anything – I keep thinking of Si and him eating the poop instead of the muscedines, that face would be my face if I ate raisins!
I’m sure there are many more, but I’ll leave it to those. Happy Tuesday Sophie!
I am not a big grits fan either. I also can’t stand cold cheese. Melt it and it’s heaven, but cold, blech! Loving this post Sophie!
Only one thing on my list: Green Bean Casserole. Not only do I not like green beans, covering them up in mushroom soup and fried onions doesn’t help. *shudder*
With the exception of the cherry pie and pizza, I think we might be the same person. I don’t really like mashed potatoes, though–unless they are DOCTORED UP with some serious cheese and garlic. Or macaroni and cheese–unless it’s Kraft. Which goes against all sorts of southern rules. I feel like a traitor.
Two words… Blackberry Grits! They serve them at Another Broken Egg in Mountain Brook.
Beyond wonderful!
Amen! Cherry pie–cherry anything–is nasty. Congealed salads get me, as I don’t like my food to have sound effects. Ginger flavored stuff, not so much. And if I so much as see a Vienna sausage or slice of bologna, I come undone. And if I happen to smell it, watch out.
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