My kids are at a great age now. They are interested in experimenting with new and unusual foods. Until now, I thought it was just that they had open minds and were interested in expanding their palates. Then the REAL truth came out. It is the GROSS OUT factor.
Now don’t get me wrong. I completely appreciate the “gross out factor”. One of my favorite songs to teach scouts and other kids is, “Great green gobs of Greasy grimy gophers guts...” and so on. OR think of the song:
“Did you ever think when a hearse went by, that you might be the next to die? They wrap you up in a long white sheet, and lower you down for about 6 feet. And all goes well for about a week, and then the coffin begins to leak.”
After that, depending on what part of the country you’re from, the song varies tremendously in the gross things that happen to the body. Let’s face it, kids love to gross each other out.
What I’ve discovered is that the kids like to try new and interesting foods so they can one up their friends on the “gross out “ scale.
Now, never one to miss an opportunity, I’ve discovered the usefulness of this. When I want the kids to try new foods, I point out how they’ll be able to bring it up at school and disgust their friends. It almost always works to get them to try what ever food it is.
Gross foods vary from culture to culture though. When I was growing up, octopus and squid were gross, brains were super gross, as were turtle soup and snails.
NOW squid and octopus are normal fare for my kids. I have to really up the ante to get them to be grossed out. Fish eye balls, Jelly fish tentacles, beef heart,Crickets on a stick, etc.
Sometimes it’s the simple foods that families ate growing up that gross other people out.
Consider banana and mayonnaise sandwiches on Wonder Bread. That was one of my Mother’s “go-to” sandwiches when we were out of cold cuts growing up. You would slather an amazing amount of mayo (not the other stuff) onto Wonder bread. You then sliced bananas longitudinally, and piled them onto the sandwich. YUM.
We also ate bananas and milk for breakfast when we would run out of cereal.
What odd foods did you have growing up?
BTW, I passed my Boards Exam!!! whoohooo!
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