Meatloaf, as mentioned in the podcast, I would consider to be a polarizing food. For some people it brings up cozy, warm feelings of home. For others it is just gagging and general disgust. You don’t hear a lot of people say, “Oh meatloaf, I could take it or leave it, I don’t care much either way.” No, there seems to be a strong emotion attached to that food.
That got me thinking about what other polarizing foods you have experienced through your childhood. Do they fall on your Must Haves or Avoid at all Costs list? My first thought is that we should explore this topic together through the creation of a modern quiz type experience where you rate the foods you can’t get enough of. The results will tell you something life altering, like which Harry Potter House you belong in! (I’m a Hufflepuff, by the way. It’s because I hate peas, all good Hufflepuffs do). But then I thought, no! Let’s take it retro! Maybe I should do a quiz that you take and based on your score it tells you which member of the Monkees you should marry or which Charlie’s Angel is already half-way in love with you or which BackStreet Boy you are destined to be with. But then you have to copy the quiz down on 10 separate pieces of paper to snail mail to 10 of your closest friends (which I do NOT have, by the way, that’s a lot of people!) or the soon to be love of your life will never become interested in you! Thank goodness my mom kept a roll of stamps in the house for just such mass mailing emergencies.
We even had this handy dandy stamp dispenser. Of course the stamps back then (1972) were about 8¢. We never had any of the cute stamps, just the boring flag ones. I remember once my mom sent me to go get her a stamp. I carefully used the dispenser and went to tear off the stamp at the perforation and RIP! That sucker tore right down the middle. Well darn, what is a kid to do in this situation? Well obviously, throw the stamp piece on the ground, duh and try again. Pull off the remaining stamp piece, throw it onto the ground, pull another one, but oh no! rip again! What is wrong with these stamps? And so on it went. It took me about 6 tries to get a stamp and run out proudly to provide my mom with my hard earned prize she had requested. Roughly an hour later, my mom comes to find me to discuss why there are small stamp pieces all over the floor (mistake #1) and to educate me that stamps are like money not like stickers and we can’t just waste them like that (mistake #2). I had to go fetch all the stamp pieces littering the room and bring them to her so we could McGyver those suckers back together for a future mailing. Lesson learned, when struggling with stamps, hide the proof!!!!
Now, in the effort to save time, I have decided to forgo the entire quiz experience and just let you quietly in your own head determine if you hate the food or love it. At the end, you’ll be reassured of the foods you love and hate. Seems a bit simpler and frankly, I’m too busy to make a quiz.
There are so many divisive foods it was hard to pick just a few. But since this is my blog, I picked ones that I felt strongly about. I did not select pickles as I do not have strong feelings about them though it appears many of you may, especially when you hear I prefer sweet to dill. Let the hate mail begin!!! I also decided to forego any divisive foods that we have cooked as a part of this season’s recipes. For example brussel sprouts and beets. These are clearly divisive foods but I feel like we’ve been there, done that. Though in hindsight I am surprised at how many foods from the internet's lists of “Most divisive foods” have featured prominently in Mary’s Memos! Regardless, it’s time to move on.
So now that I have really ramped up the suspense, tell me, where do you stand on the following foods?
Avocado (can you get past the color?)
Gorgonzola (blue) cheese (thank you Ponderosa steakhouse for introducing me to this dressing!)
Black Licorice (do you leave these jelly beans or steal them from those who would?)
Tapioca Pudding (are they little balls or goodness or slime, to you?)
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Do you have another food you think should make the list? Send us an email through the contact page of our website, maybe we can find a Mary’s recipe that features that food for next season!
If, as we come to a close, my decision to not include a quiz leaves you feeling empty and bereft, fear not! Others have done the work on my behalf and through the magic of modern technology, you can take their quiz!!!
https://quizly.co/polarizing-foods-truth-about-you/
In the interest of science and friendship I took the quiz and was disappointed to find you have to enter your email to get your results. I didn’t. I knew the results anyway, still a Hufflepuff!