Serious Eats - seriouseats.com

If you're eating them together, at the same time, synchronized in your digestive system......then what's the point? I truly could care less, personally. Probably why I enjoy stews and soups and casseroles. Mix it all up and let the chips fall where they may........preferably as crust on top! I would want you to tell me though, if I were preparing a plate for you - always want to make guests as comfortable as possible. So I don't get it. You should have it your way.

I know a really OC guy who won't eat cake if it isn't standing upright. I think that's ridiculous, but who am I to judge? More for me!

My husband does chuckle at me and sings O-C-D when I do certain things sometimes, but I don't think I have something against my foods touching, unless they have somewhat conflicting flavours. In fact, I love sauces and gravies, so if I have some kind of meat or seafood with gravy or sauce (such as, sauteed shrimp or chicken with caramelised onions and sun-dried tomatoes), I may purposely pour some on my rice or couscous or whatever side I have with the said "protein-with gravy/sauce".

Now, I do need a separate bowl for my salad (especially, if my main dish has that gravy or sauce:-). Ah, who am I kidding? I always need a separate bowl for my salad!), and that includes coleslaw - I once took a "doggie bag" with me from Charlie Brown's (because after the salad I was unable to eat my main course:-)), and they piled together crab cakes, chips and coleslaw. Needless to say, the chips and the crab cakes were saturated in the coleslaw dressing and I ended up throwing the whole thing away.

So I guess the answer is, I don't mind when my foods touch unless I do mind:-). The worst thing is, to me this answer makes sense:-).

Oh I agree with a lot of you guys. For the most part I don't mind whether or not the foods touch each other. The exceptions are, as brooke29 stated, salad MUST be in a separate bowl from a main course. And on major holidays when there are numerous dishes, the jello (holiday dinner tradition...does anybody else do it or is it just my family?!?!) and breads must be on a separate plate from the turkey/ham/stuffings, veggies, and other savory sides.

Other than that, mix it up! Well okay, don't mix it up if you don't have to, but a little soup oozed into the bread, or a bit of gravy into the corn is never bad in my book!

I assume that no offense will be taken as we are a friendly lot...and please say "are you kidding me??" freely...having said that, my husband drives me INSANE with the food touching thing. I mean, I guess I am used to it now, so I ignore it more than I rant, but not only can nothing touch, but he cannot take a bite of anything else on his plate until the one thing he is eating is gone. So, if we have pork loin, green beans and roasted potatoes, he eats all of the pork, then all of the beans and yes, then ALL of the potatoes. I don't know, guess it is to each his own, but certain foods were made to mix it up and enhance each other. Right? I know we are all unique, I just didn't know quite how much this little issue would be for me during those marriage vows. ;-) Kidding!

I don't really care unless:

1) What I want to eat is touching meat (I've never eaten meat in my life). What really irritates me is when people tell me to pick pepperoni off pizza so that I can eat it (because all the plain has already been eaten - annoying).
2) Something sweet is touching something savory. I was recently forced to do this and I almost barfed. I was at a relative's house celebrating a Hindu holiday, and instead of giving me dessert on a different plate, my aunt plopped it down on the plate off of which I had eaten my dinner. I couldn't refuse it because it was blessed in a religious ceremony and therefore is mandatory to eat.

Need to clarify--of course I like & do eat many combined food like lasagna, but I think brooke29 says it best "I don't mind when my foods touch unless I do mind".

Thanks for sharing your thoughts on this "touchy" subject:)

Years ago when I was on the local fire department, the chief would usually eat lunch with us at the firehouse. He had what I consider an unusual habit. Not only would he not let one food touch another, he wouldn't even put two different foods on his plate! He'd start with a helping of meat. He'd eat it all, then move to the potatoes or rice, eat all that and then put the vegetable on his plate and it.

I can only eat soggy bread if I'm the one who soggied it- if something seeps into/onto it without my assistance I want no part of it. If I instigate the sogginess it is a different matter.

I also don't want to eat my dessert from my dinner plate unless my dinner plate is relatively clean. I don't want cake with gravy or butter sauce. Bleh.

I agree that cake and ice cream should never touch!

Does anyone have an opinion on why they actually feel this way? Beyond the "Oh, it's just gross" response, I mean. Is it a childhood thing that people just aren't able to get out of?

My one and only "no touching" rule is for cranberry sauce. I make a delicious cranberry sauce for Thanksgiving. I serve it in tiny china bowls where it looks lovely and will have no chance of turning my mashed potatoes pink.

Vegetarians (and to be picky, ethical/moral vegetarians) aside, the no-touching thing has always puzzled me. I'm happy to let things mingle on the plate (not to say I stir it all into a big mess, but they mingle). I'm particular about salad, but only in the sense that if the dressing runs on the plate, there's too much on the salad. And, lacking bread, the last bites of protein exist to wipe the plate clean of any remaining sauces, juices, or mashed potatoes and into my tummy.

Some things I'll outright mix: how can you not mix your mashed potatoes and your corn? Or your rice and beans (even better if there's a little enchilada sauce to go around)? And a little syrup on the bacon or sausage is awesome. And cake and ice cream are almost as good together as pie and ice cream: the ice cream has to melt a little and sauce the pastry.

I ask out of innocent curiosity (not indignation): do anti-touchers have trouble with things like soup (chunky, that is)? Do you dip your cookies or doughnuts into milk or coffee? What about foods that's combined but not as homogeneous as lasagne: would you eat shepherd's pie? What about those awesome Thanksgiving leftover sandwiches with everything between 2 pieces of bread (turkey, dressing, maybe cranberry, definitely gravy)? How would you handle eating at, for example, Gotham Bar and Grill (where the food is ornately stacked and cantilevered sky high in the middle of the plate)?

If anything, no-touching people, I think i feel a little sorry for you . . .

As I said before, I do not eat Shepherd's pie. Just can't even stand the sight of it.

Only recently have I been able to talk myself into a Thanksgiving leftover sandwich. 10 years ago I would have run from the table, but now I can handle it if I'm allowed to make it myself (for just the right combination of foods.)

I'm not exactly sure why it happens this way, but it just does. There's something about the mixing of flavors that aren't supposed to go together that just frightens me. Some things certainly are good (like rice and beans) and some things certainly are not (corn and mashed potatos - yuck.)

Mostly, I couldn't care less. There are a few strong preferences, but I'm not rigid about most of them, especially if manners dictate not behaving childishly. That said, count me with those who'd rather not encounter...

- Salad or slaw on the plate with my other food. It's not only a dressing issue. There's something icky about cold food with hot on the same plate (exceptions abound, of course). Actually, I don't care to eat a green leafy salad concurrent with other courses at all -- before or after, separate dish please.

- Bread touching my food. I'd rather be the one deciding when, how and with what to saturate it, thank you very much.

- Ice cream touching cake. I'll only end up eating around the soggy part of the cake, and leaving the crumb-infested ice cream behind.

The ones I'm less flexible about (but still will work around for the sake of manners):

- Never. Do NOT let anything even remotely sweet (syrup, jam, honey, ketchup, etc.) ever, EVER touch my eggs. I'm feeling a fit of nausea as I type.

- Generally speaking, I don't like to eat foods that have been in contact with bacon, unless it's a BLT. Otherwise, serve me separate strips or just keep it. I don't want it in my salads, my baked potato, my egg salad, fried egg sandwiches, etc. And no, I don't want to pick it off. The flavor permeates and overwhelms everything it touches. Blech.

- Foods with mayo touching anything avocado just totally grosses me out.

I also agree with Renzata. I cannot think of much of anything that when touching freaks me out. I do like to have my salad on a seperate plate...but if that's not possible I won't not eat it. I intentionally mix forkfuls of mashed potates and smash it into peas. I usually won't eat one without the other.

I also (don't read this LoCo) take my toast and put butter and strawberry jam on it, then put an over easy egg on top and eat it. I love the salty/sweet combo of egg and jam! It's something I picked up from my grandfather.

As a child when I would complain my father always said "What's the big deal its all going the same place anyway?" This horrified me at the time but makes me laugh now. I don't mind when food touches.

LOL yeah, I did the cookies and chewing gum thing. The chewing gum just disappeared. =)

I LOVE when all my food touches, especially my eggs and hash browns! I mean I guess it depends on the food but the flavors are going to mix in a second when they go into your mouth anyway! :)

Hillary
Chew on That

lemons--seems like my certain-foods-should not-touch-each-other-on-the-plate-rule has gradually evolved over the years rather than rooted back in my childhood. I'm a dunker & dipper of say, cookies in milk or cheese fondue. Never want to eat a dessert off of a plate I've eaten my entree on & salads with dressing do need to be in their own vessel. AuntJone said it best...I want to be the one who soggies my breadstuffs:)

Thanks to the SE's community for commenting on this thread--fun to read at the end of the day!!

JEP, I know what you're talking about. When I was little, I would not have foods touching one another on my plate--I actually had to wash the plate off between items, or eating was out of the question. I only object to foods touching now, though, if one of them is something I do not like, for example something with a creamy dressing. Then I have to minutely scrape away the least visible particle of it from what I DO want to eat (and since I hate being conspicuous, I've learned to do this very discreetly).
And yes, I'm afraid it IS 'have to'; the presence of the undesirable substance on my food is actually nausea-inducing.

I've seen several comments on people who eat all of one thing at once as being wrong. I had an xbf that did that - it didn't bother me at all. I'm very curious why you feel it is "wrong"?

@frederika - I've found it quite common for people to save the "best for last." I've always felt that people who had to "fight" for food were more competitive and would grab as much of their favorite thing and eat it first, fearing (real or not) of not having any of it left, and people who didn't grow up having to fight for food could save (savor) their favorite bite for last.

I'm an only child, so I'm sure you can figure out what I do when I have a mixed plate of food. =)

I referred to it as "wrong" only tongue in cheek. As others have said, I try to choose dishes that complement and enhance each other, and I think you might enjoy it more if you ate them in concert...but, to each his own! As I said, as you long as you are enjoying it, that's all that matters...

Just a little 25cent couch therapy here, kerosena. It sounds like your cousin is craving order in her life and refuses to accept less. Guess we all could learn something from that, huh?

I don't necessarily think the SO's eating habit is "right" or "wrong", it's just a crazy-maker! We don't fight about it or anything and he looks so happy when he's eating, he says just let me eat the way I want, so I do. He's an adult and I'm not his mama.

Now there's a thought - these weird eating habits probably all stem back to the mama!

@Frederika - lol, I have had this conversation many times with my SO, he rarely eats that way at a restaurant, says he doesn't want to look like a freak, so I guess I should feel glad he's relaxed enough at home, right? My SO also saves his favorite "item" for last and often complains that's it's too cold by then. I used to be very silly and warm it up, but after being married 16 years, that stopped a while ago. Don't think he's changing anytime soon! Didn't think there was another eater like him out there!

@Cassaendra - I didn't say my SO was "wrong" to eat that way, I just said it drives me crazy. The way I eat could drive him crazy...that's ok. It's just odd to me that he doesn't do it outside the home very much and nerve wracking when he saves his favorites for last and then complains that they are too cold! I have often saved lots of things for last to savor the taste, but never complained about it after the fact. So, really it is just fun nitpicking, not anything I deem wrong or lose sleep over. :-)
It was great to read about your families food customs in your childhood. Thanks for sharing.

When I was younger, my food was not allowed to co-mingle. I would even go so far as to eat in order, meat, veggies, starch. As I started cooking for myself I became aware of the joy in the blending of ingredients and flavors. Although sometimes I do regress, like when I ordered a steak at a restaurant and it came perched on top of mashed potatoes. I compulsively had to scrape off the potatoes as my boyfriend laughed at me. I guess some habits never die.

I wanted to say that I thought of you Tuesday when I went to a catered buffet lunch: salad, gumbo, blackened catfish, chicken breast, green beans, roasted potatoes, brownies and lemon bars. There were 8" plates and small bowls for the gumbo. I smiled as I placed a lemon bar in one of the empty bowls (there was no way it could sit next to juicy green beans) and wondered how you could ever keep food from touching on such a small plate.

I then proceeded to eat in sections ...

http://nujoikitchendiary.blogspot.com/

I HATE my kimchee to touch my mashed potato and gravy...let me explain that one: I'm of Korean heritage, totally Americanized, so when we have Thanksgiving at Mom&Dad's house there is the requisite turkey/stuffing/gravy/ham/mashedpotato/sweetpotato dinner AND a full on Korean feast, too. Well, I hate when the kimchee touches the mashed potato, heck I hate it when the kimchee touches the rice. But I love kimchee.

I also prefer hot and cold foods to remain separate--this can be tricky around fried chicken and potato salad, but I have managed. Incidently kimchee and fried chicken is delicious.