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Post by Deleted on Dec 8, 2009 20:33:59 GMT
And that brings us back to the subject of how people were brought up. 40 or 50 years ago, I think that most people accepted to eat foods as guests to other cultures even if they didn't like them and/or they were completely taboo at home. After all, things like the Koran say that you can eat the forbidden meats if nothing else is available.
Younger generations have been brought up more to "demand" that their own desires and taboos be respected, even as guests on the other side of the world. I'm not sure if this is a good thing when it starts to turn into nitpicking.
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Post by lagatta on Dec 8, 2009 20:42:00 GMT
I remember how horrified Italian institutions were when certain (not all, thank the gods) North American young people wanted to drink MILK with their supper. That was utterly unthinkable in Italy - it would be as strange as wanting wine with your breakfast. It just didn't fit into the category.
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Post by bazfaz on Dec 8, 2009 21:21:52 GMT
Kerouac's remark about younger generations'demands that we give them what they want to eat rather than what we offer struck a note. And then there is Polish Maria, older even than me...
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Post by existentialcrisis on Dec 9, 2009 10:18:59 GMT
Drinking milk with supper is weird? I' ve been doing that my whole life.. hmm. What makes me gag is drinking milk for breakfast! So ummm... when are you supposed to drink milk?
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Post by bazfaz on Dec 9, 2009 11:26:29 GMT
I don't think you are meant to drink milk. Red wine is for drinking with supper.
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Post by lagatta on Dec 9, 2009 12:46:07 GMT
I've never drunk milk at supper in my life. Water, wine, at times tea but not milk. Not just because I was allergic to it; nobody in my house did. Milk was for breakfast purposes.
Nowadays, milk mostly for making crêpes, béchamel for lasagne, and of course an ingredient for CHEESE. For calcium etc, yoghourt is often more digestible than straight milk.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 9, 2009 13:14:44 GMT
I still drink milk at breakfast sometimes, but there is a debate as to whether adults should consume many dairy products. They are produced by mammals to feed baby animals. Adult mammals obviously do not drink milk except for human beings, who then complain about being lactose intolerant, etc.
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Post by lagatta on Dec 9, 2009 13:21:11 GMT
I'll consume them pre-digested by friendly bacteria (I have to consume calcium and magnesium, and while I do take pills, ingesting food is always more natural) as in yoghourt or cheese. Many people with some lactose intolerance can tolerate milk products that way. I also prefer to consume goat's or ewe's products than cow's - think it is a matter of smaller fat globules or something, but I know I digest them a lot better.
Of course people in East and Southeast Asia have other sources of calcium etc.
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Post by Don Cuevas on Dec 9, 2009 14:26:40 GMT
I remember how horrified Italian institutions were when certain (not all, thank the gods) North American young people wanted to drink MILK with their supper. That was utterly unthinkable in Italy - it would be as strange as wanting wine with your breakfast. It just didn't fit into the category. We have a grown friend who, in my presence, drank milk while eating roast beef. I could hardly contain my nausea. On another occasion, he'd also been seen chopping his breakfast fried eggs into a runny mess on the plate. We haven't seen him in some years.
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Post by lagatta on Dec 9, 2009 17:30:42 GMT
We still have the memory of two young Mormon missionaries eating at a rather nice French restaurant here and ordering MILK with their meal.
Of course practising Mormons don't drink wine (nor do they drink coffee or tea) but a lot of French people don't either; the usual choice would be water (table or bottled).
While the Québécois friend I was with merely thought it highly "quétaine" (tacky), his wife, originally from Alsace, almost wanted to throw up.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 10, 2009 5:56:25 GMT
Certain Scandinavians have also been spotted drinking milk with their meals, but generally they only do it when there are no witnesses.
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Post by existentialcrisis on Dec 10, 2009 8:30:37 GMT
I think milk at the dinner table is to make sure a growing child has a nice big serving of calcium and vitamin D everyday... otherwise it's hard to get into the habit of drinking milk. It's not something I crave, but it's still habit for me to drink it with supper. Otherwise I don't know how I'd get my calcium. Sure, I eat lots of cheese and yogurt but I don't think this is really enough. However, if I'm at a restaurant I always have beer or wine with my meal, never milk. I still think milk for breakfast is disgusting....
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Post by Deleted on Dec 11, 2009 11:59:57 GMT
Milk is very important to consume in countries where adequate nutrition is a problem. It was heavily promoted in the Western world after WW2 where rationing had been in effect, and also the dairy lobby promoted it in places like the U.S. where it really wasn't necessary in most areas (I'm sure it WAS necessary in a lot of poor areas, though.).
I think that the fact that milk has been maintained in the diet when we are already consuming too many calories is one of the contributing factors to obesity.
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Post by bixaorellana on Dec 11, 2009 15:06:01 GMT
Boy, every post on this subject touches on important factors of the milk-as-beverage question!
When I was a child, and when my son was a child, milk automatically accompanied a child's meal. I doubt you could have found a house without a carton of milk in the fridge. I'd say many, many adults keep that habit, maybe throughout their lives.
Like most people of my generation, I bought into the belief that milk built strong bones and teeth. Since I really like milk, I guzzled gallons of it when I was pregnant.
The idea of it being disgusting or bizarre as an accompaniment to a meal is alien to me.
That said, I think far too much milk is consumed by people reared in the belief that it's good for you. For one thing, even though milk is a liquid, it is a whole food which should be "chewed" before being swallowed -- not something that would be a pretty sight at the table. And as pointed out, it's mostly an extra source of calories that we don't need. It's easy to see where pop is not a good choice, but glasses of orange juice or milk at meals are just as bad in terms of excess.
Also, moving to one of my hobbyhorses, why should food be "washed down" with lashings of liquid? One of the better arguments for wine with a meal is that it's meant to be an enhancement of the food, not something to help you swallow.
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Post by traveler63 on Dec 11, 2009 15:24:09 GMT
Talking about teenagers and finicky. Well my youngest granddaughter, Kay says she is a vegetarian, sort of. She just turned 17. Let's see, she loves ham, but not pork??? Chicken is ok because they are ugly. She won't eat any beef, but steak is ok. All of her food has to been totally spiceless. She doesn't and never has drunk any soda. No tomatoes, no fish, spaghetti no sauce. Both she and her sister Heather are coming to see us in January. This will be an experience for both Mr.T63 and me !!!!
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Post by bixaorellana on Dec 11, 2009 15:36:20 GMT
Have hope, T63. It's only December. At that age, by January they may well be on to something else entirely. I can only imagine that your way of eating could be a happy revelation to them that might well put them on the path to eating and enjoying food like adults.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 14, 2011 10:42:30 GMT
One of my colleagues told me that she is not allowed to keep cheese in the house because her husband and children do not like it. This annoys me, because I bet she buys things for them that she does not like.
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Post by onlymark on Feb 14, 2011 12:18:56 GMT
But women are more selfless than men and are more willing to get the shit end of the stick.
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Post by lagatta on Feb 14, 2011 12:37:00 GMT
I'd think not being allowed to keep cheese would be cause for divorce in France. One of the things I look forward to most when travelling there, although Québec is outstanding for variety and quality of cheeses by North American standards. There are still more in la mère patrie. I have friends who are a mixed marriage in that he is vegetarian and she isn't. Fortunately she isn't much of a meat eater, but still. He won't allow any meat or fish in the house, not even tinned tuna or salmon. She sneaks it whenever she is out of the house. She guiltily confessed to eating some rôtisserie chicken in the marital home!
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Post by bixaorellana on Feb 14, 2011 13:48:32 GMT
But women are more selfless than men and are more willing to get the shit end of the stick. Years ago I read about a study which tracked what adults chose from a shared platter. Men invariably picked the best steaks for themselves, whereas women did the opposite, urging the nicer ones on their dining companions. Although the study doesn't sound very scientific, I wonder if the results would be different now, with a different generation of adults. The present group of people from @20 to mid-30s were probably reared with less emphasis on stereotypical gender roles.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 14, 2011 18:15:24 GMT
I know that I automatically fall into "nourish the weaker one" mode with my mother, the same as parents who will forego meat so that their children can eat it. With equals of either sex, I do not think I behave the same.
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Post by auntieannie on Feb 16, 2011 20:26:43 GMT
I have just re-read this very interesting thread. Cannot believe I didn't list fat-free products as being taboo in this house! I hope I have managed to change my housemate's views on these horrors. ah, dairy! as a Swiss and cheese lover, I do consume a lot of it. At uni, our tutors have very different views on whether we should actively encourage or discourage consumption of dairy. It makes for really good discussions. Once I have a firm professional opinion on the subject, I'll be happy to report on it. Although there is one thing I hope: if the cow factories become a reality in this country (UK) and I cannot find dairy that is produced in a satisfactory way, I will stop consuming dairy out of principle here. One of the arguments of the company that was trying to get permission to build one such farm was that "they truly believed cows didn't belong into fields anymore"
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Post by Deleted on Feb 16, 2011 20:54:00 GMT
Happier in nice warm barns with unlimited food?
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Post by joanne28 on Mar 5, 2011 21:00:50 GMT
One food we never have in our home is lamb. Both DH and I hate it. I find the smell of lamb cooking actually nauseating - I once had to run to a window, throw it open and get my head outside because my friend had fried lambchops several hours earlier. I find it one of the most revolting odours around.
We didn't eat lamb when I was a child (too poor) so I guess that's how that developed.
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Post by lagatta on Mar 5, 2011 23:50:00 GMT
Odd, I love lamb and mutton, and my family certainly wasn't prosperous.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 6, 2011 5:59:53 GMT
The smell of persimmons can have that effect on me, but I'm sure that it is mostly because the majority of persimmons that I smelled in early childhood were rotting on the ground.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 4, 2013 17:38:45 GMT
Opening my refrigerator this evening, I realised what a total nightmare it would be for any vegetarian and even for quite a few meat-eaters.
The first 3 things you can see on the shelf are a big package of tripe, a package of breaded pigs' feet and a terrine of rabbit pâté.
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Post by Deleted on May 1, 2015 17:38:14 GMT
Prunes and any other dried fruit (figs, apricots, dates, etc.).
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Post by cheerypeabrain on May 1, 2015 18:16:20 GMT
In our house we aren't keen on a strong garlic smell....altho the smell of a good curry cooking (usually containing garlic) is perfectly acceptable. I hate the smell of mushrooms and/or kidneys cooking so I don't cook either for my beloved. No shellfish on the menu for us either... Kerouac...if I opened your refridgerator door I'd probably faint...or scream. If you opened my fridge door you'd just find it all terribly unadventurous I think.. it takes all sorts to make a world etc etc
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Post by bjd on May 1, 2015 19:14:50 GMT
Cheery -- I would have the same reaction as you to Kerouac's fridge! I do like the smell of garlic coooking though.
One thing I never buy is oysters. It doesn't take much imagination to see why I won't eat them raw. Interestingly, all my kids are good about eating pretty much everything, but none of them will eat oysters, two of them actually get sick from them. So my husband only gets to eat them when we are out somewhere or if there is someone to share them with.
I like all dried fruits except dates. I especially love dried apricots and peaches.
But I was fussy about eating when I was little and still don't like lots of things, especially when they loook like tripe or oysters.
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