What's the food you wish everybody else would forget about?

[Jenise]

Just now, unwrapping bricks of cream cheese to go in a lemon-lime-ginger cheesecake I'm making for someone's ersatz birthday cake, I got to thinking how rarely I buy cream cheese. Really, a cheesecake about once per year is it.

Which got me to thinking about what other people do with this product, one of which is to simply place a brick of it on a plate and top it with chile sauce or some kind of jam, unload a box of crackers on the side, and bring it to a pot luck. Pardon me if I'm stepping on someone's toes here, but I think that dish is something of an atrocity. It's not that it doesn't taste good, it's what it looks like after half a dozen people have poked a knife into it. I wouldn't touch it to save my life. I hate food that gets messy and ugly fast at parties, and few things look worse than this after a couple of people have gone at it. Revolting. And now that I live in a neighborhood where there are a lot of parties, I get revolted by it fairly often. I can think of no party dish that's less appealing, and I would like it removed from the planet.

So there.

What food do YOU wish would go away?

No question - it's cheap cake from grocery store bakeries that I'd get rid of. I really can't stand the dry texture, poor flavor, and awful frosting-like-substance that goes on these things. They're not even close to being worth the calories and yet we're forced to eat them on a regular basis in order to celebrate birthdays in the workplace. I'm not going to offend anyone by refusing to eat the cake (although I'll always find an excuse to eat only a couple of bites) but I sure wish God would just vaporize this stuff off the face of the earth.

Mike

If you have bagels for breakfast a lot, I could see buying a brick of cream cheese for that purpose.

-Paul W.

Almost anything made with Miracle Whip instead of mayo. I've been to picnics and parties and put potato salad, macaroni salad and even deviled eggs on my plate and ended up gagging on them. Why would people ruin such good food this way?

Almost anything made with Miracle Whip

Saying stuff like that down South will git yer pants filled with buckshot, boy!

Consider me buckshotted. Mayo is barely a step above pus.

"Steamed Broccoli for the vegetarian" would be my other candidate.

Almost anything made with Miracle Whip instead of mayo.

Miracle Whip is considered a spice in Minnesota.

[Jenise]

"

Steamed Broccoli for the vegetarian" would be my other candidate.

Oh god, that makes me laugh. The other day Bob and I were out somewhere and the menu had the usual token single vegetarian main course on it which, in this case, was "steamed broccoli primavera". I predicted to my husband that "one of these days a vegetarian's going to go postal when they see one more steamed broccoli dish." Sounds like I wasn't far off the mark.

Consider me buckshotted.

And don't forget Cool Whip -- another food staple. Miracle Whip, Cool Whip -- lots of whipping going on ... hmmm....

I'll second the Cool Whip. What a vile abomination that stuff is.

All those awful TV dinners/lunches. In all my years of living, I have tried just a few and only found ONE, that was tolerable. It was a Weight Watchers Angel Hair Pasta with Sauce. Not too bad for a quick lunch... always in the RV and usually on the way home when everything else is eaten. I'd love to find some that were good, because I love the idea of them, just not what they produce.

All those awful TV dinners/lunches. In all my years of living, I have tried just a few and only found ONE, that was tolerable. It was a Weight Watchers Angel Hair Pasta with Sauce. Not too bad for a quick lunch... always in the RV and usually on the way home when everything else is eaten. I'd love to find some that were good, because I love the idea of them, just not what they produce.

The new Michelina's line Appetivo is not bad. I'm kind of addicted to the smoked salmon ravioli in cream sauce, .... ok, I'm slinking away, quietly.

http://www.michelinas.ca/en/products/br ... b=appetito

I'll second the Cool Whip. What a vile abomination that stuff is.

My banished ingredient would be either Cool Whip or cheap powdered garlic that gets put in Caesar Salad dressings. It makes people smell so bad I can't stand being around them, it's like a combination of garlic gone rotten and burnt rubber.

You've opened a Pandora's Box with me and this question:

1)Sour Cream.

Maybe it's because I grew up in a town where the nearest Mexican Food restaurant was almost an hour away, or because I didn't try any Tex-Mex food until I was in High School (if Denny's Fajita's count), but I can't stand the stuff. When I see someone plopping out a big wad with a few chives on top it makes my squirm. Strangely enough, Creme fraiche is ok in my book so long as it plays a supporting role.

2) Canned Tuna.

I only tried it once because a prankster friend told me it was crabmeat. I can't get enough fresh tuna, but keep this stuff away from me and my nose.

3) Hamburgers.

If only to keep people from insisting I try one.

4) Cole Slaw.

The only purpose Cole Slaw serves is to fill that third cubby in Styrofoam take out containers.

5) Fish Sticks.

It's no wonder many Midwesterners hate fish.

Runners Up: Steak Bombs/Subs (though having never tried one I may be missing out). Olive Loaf, Mortadella, Head Cheese, Authentic Munster, Vegemite, “thousand-year-old eggs”, Chop Suey, Brauts, Meatloaf, Meatballs, anything “Cool Ranch.”.

Sounds good, however it would be a lunch for me and at 500 calories and 19 grams of fat..... Nah!

Potatoes. Yaaaawwwwn and yuck! Give me risotto, pasta, rice, polenta, anything else. It's so boring getting the bloody potato, always of bad quality and prepared wrong, with every single food. Though this aversion might also have something to do with the piece of info I read in a newspaper: 95% of Finnish potato cellars are infected with - yup, you guessed it - TCA.

Almost anything packaged for my convenience.

[Jenise]

You've opened a Pandora's Box with me and this question:

Joe, with the exception of canned tuna, every single item on your list was once on my Most Hated list (including the complete ban on foods made out of ground meat) so I'm the last person who'd pick on you for any of these.

But I've recovered on some of those, most notably hamburgers which are now a favorite splurge though if they're not served devoid of all sauces I won't touch them. IOW, there might be hope for you and your very unAmerican tendencies.

I might be able to help with his Cole Slaw problem. There's a great spicy, zesty one in my edition of Joy... and I hate cabbage!

As to sour cream... I think it helps to be born Jewish. We have this natural affinity for dairy fat in all its forms.

My pick for Food To Banish: you got a hint above... cabbage and nearly everything in the cabbage family. Yeah, I like a bit of cole slaw here and there, and a good kim chi, and even steamed broccoli, but, as a rule: no leaf cabbage, no cauliflower, no brussel sprouts, they all stink up the house in the worst way. I have had to leave the house, on occasion, it was so bad.

Chris Schlesinger has a very tasty cole slaw recipe in Thrill of the Grill. But I agree 100% on fast food chain slaw, and most restaurant slaw.

-Paul W.