Wednesday, April 29, 2009
What's your quirk?
Bizarre eating habits: Everyone has them, whether they realize it or not.
Photos by ERIC BRADY The Roanoke Times
Do you slide macaroni noodles onto the tines of your fork like little leg warmers? Go far beyond licking the filling of an Oreo (below)?
Food writer Lindsey Nair
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Editor's note: This story has been updated from the print version to correct a misspelling in the name Randy Flory.
Let's start with a peanut M&M.
Bite it gently; so gently that only the candy shell slides off.
Next, let the chocolate layer dissolve ever so slowly into a pool on the tongue. Swallow.
Finally, eat the peanut.
Does this sound absurd? It would sound pretty absurd to me if that wasn't the way I eat peanut M&Ms every single time.
After my co-worker Heather Froeschl wrote a guest entry about strange eating habits on my Fridge Magnet blog, I felt vindicated. The animated responses made me suspect there is a whole world of weird eaters out there.
Heather, for example, inspects every Dorito chip to determine the cheesiest side. Then she puts the cheesy side down on her tongue.
My sister, Kim, saves the blue and green M&Ms for last. She jokes with her hubby that they taste better.
A blog reader, Lori McGhee Geist, eats ice cream sandwiches by first licking the ice cream around the edges, then nibbling away the cookie overhang, then repeating the entire process until the sandwich is gone.
After her post, another reader wrote to say, "Hey, I eat ice cream sandwiches the same way! It must be the correct way since that is the way the majority of people I know eat them."
I admit: That's how I eat them.
The quirky habits go far beyond licking the filling out of the center of an Oreo. Do you hate it when your food touches on the plate? Conversely, do you have to mix certain foods, such as peas and mashed potatoes, together?
Do you slide macaroni noodles onto the tines of your fork like little leg warmers? Carefully nibble the chocolate away from the Reese's Peanut Butter Cup until only a peanut butter disk is left?
I would venture to guess that everybody has a bizarre eating habit, whether they realize it or not.
But why?
Eric Brady | The Roanoke Times
Do you slide macaroni noodles onto the tines of your fork like little leg warmers?
Seeking an answer to this mystery of life, I e-mailed the psychology departments at Virginia Tech, Radford University, Roanoke College and Hollins University. I gave them a few examples, including the ice cream sandwich one, and asked if they have an explanation for this interesting behavior.
For days, nobody replied. Perhaps this issue is not as pressing to them as, say, final exams and graduation, I thought.
Finally, one professor replied to say that she had no idea.
Then, the very kind Randy Flory at Hollins wrote back with this: "Although I don't have any insights as to why people have these quirks, they are, nevertheless, interesting ones.
"It would be interesting if you could interview these people and try to find out what they feel if they can't eat the smallest chip first, nibble the edges of the cookie first, etc. Anxiety reduction?"
To which I replied, "Sometimes I think it is about trying to eke as much enjoyment as possible out of that piece of food. Like if I let myself have a treat such as an ice cream sandwich, I want to make it last as long as possible. Maybe it's about the anxiety of finishing the food and not having any more of it to eat!"
Flory's answer: "Or possibly it's ritualized behavior that provides general anxiety reduction. Would you be more anxious if you had to eat an ice cream sandwich differently than you normally do?"
Would I? I don't know. Maybe it would be prudent of me to obtain an ice cream sandwich, eat it in two big bites and then analyze how I feel.
Seems like it would be important research.
Turning to the all-knowing Internet, I Googled "strange eating habits." The first hit was an eating disorder Web site. The next was an article about King Louis XIV, who apparently ate so much that when he was autopsied, his stomach and intestines were twice the normal size.
There was nothing about King Louis nibbling the skin off his whole ham hock before devouring the rest.
Gee, if this is a symptom of generalized anxiety disorder or obsessive-compulsive disorder or an eating disorder, there must be a whole lot of troubled people running around out there, or at least reading my blog.
Personally, I do believe it is about control. In a world where we often have little control over many aspects of our lives, we can at least manage what we eat and how we eat it.
If that means eating all of the curly potato chips first, biting the heads off animal crackers or nibbling a pretzel one loop at a time, what of it?
Seeking Mom's recipes
In honor of Mother's Day, I would love to hear about the best recipe you learned from dear old Mom.
Send recipes and memories to lindsey.nair@roanoke.com or Lindsey Nair, c/o The Roanoke Times, P.O. Box 2491, Roanoke, VA 24010, no later than Monday. Include a photo of your mother if possible.
