I laughed heartily at your food foibles. Food is a very subjective and personal matter, and Ive found that some people can be very stubborn, fickle, and touchy about it. Its also very regional as Michael said, and many outside the Delmarva area will never experience the pure joy of a steamed Chesapeake Bay Blue Crab because they simply cant get by the perception of eating something that resembles a huge arachnid.
By the way... I AM THAT GUY who as a youth had his Mother remove the white "squiggly" from his eggs. Reason... I went to the same Catholic school Michael did, and my biology teacher (who was a Christian Brother) taught me that the white squiggly was actually rooster SEMEN. That made up my mind I was not going to be a "chicken choker", and needed to remove the vile load! Since then I have learned he was wrong and I no longer remove said "squiggly".
Anyway, as a Marylander, I also eat soft crabs and LOVE them. I do eat some fast food, but not a lot. I once found a large, flat section of bone in a steak soft taco from Taco Bell. I used to love Chinese, but dont eat much of it anymore as the high amount of grease doesnt sit well. I prefer Thai now, as they use less fried and more fresh ingredients.
Having worked in the chemical industry and sold warewashing and drying agents for years, I visited the kitchens of a myriad of restaurants...from the finest 5 star dining establishments, to the smallest mom and pop. Restaurants are FILTHY... ALL of them. Its an inevitable part of the business. Wipe, clean, sanitize, and disinfect as you may, food decays, decomposes, breaks down, and becomes waste... and it happens very quickly. The average colon and intestinal tract is loaded with trillions of helpful bacteria that not only help us digest, but also ward off contamination and illness from "bad" bacteria and germs. Most people dont realize that a simple slice of pizza left at room temperature for 30+ minutes is infested with millions of cheese mites...or that a spoonful of mayonnaise out of refrigeration for 20+ minutes has enough microbes on it to kill a small mouse. Our stomachs/guts generally clean it all up for us. EVERY restaurant has roaches and fruit flies.. if they say they dont theyre lying. Most have more than occasional rodent issues as well. Where there's grease and food there is hungry pests...its the nature of the business and the beast. Once, very early in my sales career, in a particularly gnarly Chinese restaurant account of mine, I removed the plastic lid from their rinse agent dispenser to service the pump...and the second the lid lifted, literally hundreds of roaches ran out, up my arm, and into my jacket... I sprinted out the back door, tore off my clothes, and refused to return.
Michael may recall a dinner out before a dance or prom when we were in high school. There were 4-5 couples and we were seated at a large round table at an Italian restaurant in Parkville Maryland, near where we grew up. 30 minutes or so into the proceedings the food started being served, and one of our fellow diners (Donna) got a large plate of spaghetti... Just as she began digging in, a huge roach dropped from the ceiling and landed square in the middle of her pasta... End of dinner for all but the most diehard of us!
I laughed heartily at your food foibles. Food is a very subjective and personal matter, and Ive found that some people can be very stubborn, fickle, and touchy about it. Its also very regional as Michael said, and many outside the Delmarva area will never experience the pure joy of a steamed Chesapeake Bay Blue Crab because they simply cant get by the perception of eating something that resembles a huge arachnid.
By the way... I AM THAT GUY who as a youth had his Mother remove the white "squiggly" from his eggs. Reason... I went to the same Catholic school Michael did, and my biology teacher (who was a Christian Brother) taught me that the white squiggly was actually rooster SEMEN. That made up my mind I was not going to be a "chicken choker", and needed to remove the vile load! Since then I have learned he was wrong and I no longer remove said "squiggly".
Anyway, as a Marylander, I also eat soft crabs and LOVE them. I do eat some fast food, but not a lot. I once found a large, flat section of bone in a steak soft taco from Taco Bell. I used to love Chinese, but dont eat much of it anymore as the high amount of grease doesnt sit well. I prefer Thai now, as they use less fried and more fresh ingredients.
Having worked in the chemical industry and sold warewashing and drying agents for years, I visited the kitchens of a myriad of restaurants...from the finest 5 star dining establishments, to the smallest mom and pop. Restaurants are FILTHY... ALL of them. Its an inevitable part of the business. Wipe, clean, sanitize, and disinfect as you may, food decays, decomposes, breaks down, and becomes waste... and it happens very quickly. The average colon and intestinal tract is loaded with trillions of helpful bacteria that not only help us digest, but also ward off contamination and illness from "bad" bacteria and germs. Most people dont realize that a simple slice of pizza left at room temperature for 30+ minutes is infested with millions of cheese mites...or that a spoonful of mayonnaise out of refrigeration for 20+ minutes has enough microbes on it to kill a small mouse. Our stomachs/guts generally clean it all up for us. EVERY restaurant has roaches and fruit flies.. if they say they dont theyre lying. Most have more than occasional rodent issues as well. Where there's grease and food there is hungry pests...its the nature of the business and the beast. Once, very early in my sales career, in a particularly gnarly Chinese restaurant account of mine, I removed the plastic lid from their rinse agent dispenser to service the pump...and the second the lid lifted, literally hundreds of roaches ran out, up my arm, and into my jacket... I sprinted out the back door, tore off my clothes, and refused to return.
Michael may recall a dinner out before a dance or prom when we were in high school. There were 4-5 couples and we were seated at a large round table at an Italian restaurant in Parkville Maryland, near where we grew up. 30 minutes or so into the proceedings the food started being served, and one of our fellow diners (Donna) got a large plate of spaghetti... Just as she began digging in, a huge roach dropped from the ceiling and landed square in the middle of her pasta... End of dinner for all but the most diehard of us!
We grew up same time and economy class. This was like reliving my life of food.
Brains and eggs are very good.