Unembellished foods
What foods do you like plain, or nearly so?
I really like most veggies with mimimal additions. Asparagus, simply steamed, is wonderful. Broccoli or cauliflower, the same. Maybe a little butter, but not required. I adore red potatoes. steamed in their skins, then peeled and eaten with just a tiny sprinking of salt. Tomatoes, plain or with just a teeny bit of salt are wonderful.
Of course, sometimes I'll change things up a bit, but it's not unusual for me to serve veggies that are very, very plain. Mmmmm...veggies!
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27 Comments:
Like you, I enjoy tomatoes with nothing but a sprinkling of salt. Ditto on the broccoli, cauliflower, and asparagus. Freshly baked bread is amazing to me, even completely unadorned. Virtually any variety of fresh fruit fruit. Plain, raw carrots are one of my favorite snacks. Plain starches, like rice, oatmeal, polenta, etc. are great sometimes. And I enjoy eat raw, unseasoned cabbage more than any normal, healthy person is probably supposed to.
Nicholas H at 1:01AM on 03/29/08
I enjoy tomatoes with nothing but a sprinkling of salt.
ditto to that! i loves my tomatoes, raw and naked!
redhead at 4:04AM on 03/29/08
Avocados, tomatoes, red potatoes all with a little salt, sugar snap peas (raw), now that I have the list going it is really all vegetables. Just steamed and a little salt - truffle salt if I have it.
eatmyfood at 9:10AM on 03/29/08
Eggs fried in unsalted butter, no salt or pepper.
ccbweb at 10:13AM on 03/29/08
*snicker*
I actually eat almost everything as plain as possible because I enjoy the flavor and texture of each item I am eating. I blame my mother for this. =)
All my seafood is steamed. I might go out on a limb and steam it with fresh basil with something strong like salmon. Vegetables are all steamed separately when I prepare a medley. With steaks (always cold-in-the-center rare), I do add a little fresh ground pepper at the end, but that's it. No garlic, butter, or anything to corrupt the rich beefy beef flavor. Don't really eat pork or poultry to comment.
My husband and I don't add salt to my food because there's a very fine line when I deem it brackishly salty. Trader Joe lightly salted edamame is too salty for me. I've never cared for the taste of salt, alcohol, onions, and garlic. Add to that, at a certain point, my body painfully bloats if I've taken in too much salt -- one of these days, I should see a doc about that. :P
Cassaendra at 10:57AM on 03/29/08
Love a creamy avocado eaten with a spoon.
Fage Greek yogurt. No fruit, no honey no nuttin.
I'd like to jump on the tomatoes with a sprinkling of salt bandwagon. Lately it's rare I find a perfect enough tomato to make that work but when it does, it's bliss.
chiff0nade at 3:02PM on 03/29/08
Tomatoes that were browbeaten with a good rain, then warmed from the summer sun, eaten straight off the vine with mud squishing between my toes. No salt, no pepper and nope, not washed....thats what the rain was for!
I do not molest any good fruit with salt or sugar or pepper or balsamic vinegar. I eat so many nectarines that I have acid burns in my mouth and this glazed look in my eye. The ONLY way I will consume bing cherries is while driving to nowhere, windows down, sun getting ready to creep down, a few at a time, spitting seeds out the window as I go.
Baked Idaho potato, good butter and a sprinkle of good salt...no bacon, cheese, sour cream, onions or nonsense to mask that potatoey goodness!
ChelleyD01 at 4:18PM on 03/29/08
You know that core in the middle of a cabbage that you cut out and throw away? I snack on that. Crunch, crunch. There is sometimes a woody layer to it that's right at the point where the leaves attach to the core, towards the base if the cabbage, but on smaller, younger cabbage, that woodiness is minimal. If it's too stringy, I slice that off and just eat the inner core.
There are sooooo many foods that I like in their pristine form, then I swing the other way with complicated spice mixes and whatnot. Then I'll back off and just use a single spice/herb in a dish.
Fruits, for the most part, I like plain. Unless we're talking about something like an apple pie or a banana bread. But even with those, I want to taste the fruit and not just a medly of spices.
dbcurrie at 4:38PM on 03/29/08
Coffee!
Scallops: seared in a mild fat (shh), a little salt.
Steak: only salt and pepper. I hate sauces with steaks (but I like ribeyes and not filet).
Iced tea: no lemon, no peach, no mint, nothing but a little bit of sugar syrup (and not always).
Zucchinis: plain grilled or roasted is always much better to me than anything with a salad, sauce, or stuffing.
more, but not at the top of my head.
renzata at 4:51PM on 03/29/08
artichokes -- steamed, no salt, no butter.
cybercita at 8:54PM on 03/29/08
Chocolate.
It's practically perfect already. :)
and on the whole, I like my to be fruit as fresh and whole and unembellished as possible...nothing beats a juicy nectarine or a crunchy apple during a hot day.
jazzinx at 1:43AM on 03/30/08
Fruit--just rinse and eat or peel and eat, whatever.
ditto renzata's list--especially the zucchini, grilled.
Avocados--I was slicing some for sushi the other day and I ended up eating an entire half, plain, so I had to slice another one...etc. Thank God for Costco, we have plenty of avocado.
Sweet potatoes--baked, no butter, no sugar/cinnamon nonsense
Crudites--I rarely dip, I eat the vegs plain.
wookie at 11:42AM on 03/30/08
Tomatoes, avocados, a little salt for me. I adore raw veggies, just plain for me. Yum!
crazyspice at 1:33PM on 03/30/08
The best grilled hot dog on the best buttered bun needs nothing else.
I only use salt&pepper on (not in) my burgers. Too much added to the beef tastes more like meatloaf.
bessfour at 4:16PM on 03/30/08
a sweet potato all by itself is happiness in a little jacket
i like steamed fish with a bit of ginger.
cafepeach at 6:45AM on 03/31/08
Ketchup.
Karen Resta at 8:46AM on 03/31/08
@Karen Resta, you crack me up... sounds like my ex MIL...
I can eat so, SO many things plain or nearly plain, although almost all of my preferred simple foods (other than fruit) will always require some salt.
One of my most favorite naked foods is the oh-so-rich-and-luscious avocado. Just cut it in half, pop out the pit, sprinkle generously with salt, and use a spoon to eat it right out of its own little dish (skin).
Heaven.
On.
Earth.
LoCo at 1:26PM on 03/31/08
I like most of my food plain as well, especially avocado, tomatoes, and just as Renzata said, I like my steak w/o sauce - just salt & pepper.
mrsbao at 1:46PM on 03/31/08
Simple steamed veggies are wonderful to me...while my husband runs screaming in horror...dinnertime is fun at our house. We'll never need kids.
Agreed with the above poster about Fage greek yogurt, I like it with a little strawberry sauce, or nothing at all. Puh-lease no honey- yuck!
I've always rather fancied butter on it's own... :)
Mnemosyne at 3:14PM on 03/31/08
Tea, coffee, fruit - as far as I'm concerned, they certainly don't require anything at all to "embellish" them.
And as many others, I rather enjoy avocados and good ripe tomatoes with just a sprinkle of salt.
brooke29 at 3:23PM on 03/31/08
lol@dbcurrie,......and here i thought i was the only one in the world that eats the cabbage core !!!....as for plain food nothings better than a plain grilled rib-eye with plenty of kosher salt on it !!!
onepercent99 at 7:37PM on 03/31/08
cold cereal - no milk, no nothing... just cereal in a mug
and growing up... sliced tomatoes were considered a side salad
MadelynRodriguez at 7:38PM on 03/31/08
corn on the cob
no butter, salt or pepper
nada
thegreatlumpia at 8:25PM on 03/31/08
Oddly enough, tofu. And shiitake mushrooms.
cochon at 9:17PM on 03/31/08
I also love "naked" fruit, and I usually just need a spoon to eat an avocado. I also love cheese by itself - sure, I'll add crackers or bread, but give me a plate of brie and strawberries any day.
Also - ice cream and sorbets. Toppings can be fun, but I love a bowl of plain vanilla yogurt.
woodenspoon at 11:30PM on 03/31/08
Frankly, sweet potatoes are 100% perfect on their own. So why do people mess them up with marshmallows on Thanksgiving?! It's a little rant of mine I can't get over.
Hillary
Chew on That
Chew on That at 10:47AM on 04/01/08
I agree about corn on the cob and artichokes. When they're perfectly in season they're so delicious just steamed, why mess with them?
Also, lobster -- I know many people like to dip it into clarified butter, but to me it tastes so rich on its own, adding butter is just gilding the lilly!
@cafepeach - calling sweet potatoes "happiness in a little jacket" made me smile!
CookiePie
CookiePie at 11:26AM on 04/01/08