Serious Eats - seriouseats.com

I don't have any "dining" behaviours that I'd consider odd but I did have one that I changed.

Eating while so enrapt in another activity is bad for your health.

Shoveling food into you while watching the 6:00 news or reading or concentrating fully on another activity shaves about 75% of the enjoyment factor off any meal.

If you sit down to eat and then all of a sudden there's no more food on your plate and you might be full but you don't remember feeling any pleasure at all in the act of eating, it's time to quit multi-tasking at mealtime.

I must say I do enjoy my coffee curled up on the loveseat in the early A.M. It gives me time to consider the day's agenda while getting some quality jet fuel.

@huney - I too am a food sniffer. If my nose doesn't like it, ain't no way it's going in my mouth!

@PumpkinBear - I'm feeling the counter thing; it somehow irks me to sit down when I'm just cooking and eating at home.

An odd habit I have with cereal is I tend to eat it out of a mug.

With a piece of good crusty bread I feel the need to gouge out the innards before eating the crust.

I feel the need to sort my skittles/trail mix or otherwise eat the more abundant shapes first so I can pick off the remaining few in equal ratios...

(But I think that last one is less a food habit than clinical OCD...)

Me three! Me three! I'm a food sniffer. This has been a source of entertainment for everyone since I was little. Except I do it everywhere-for two reasons. One reason: if I know exactly what I am having I smell because I LOVE the smell of food, I don't know why-just do. Second reason: when someone just puts food in front of my face/on my plate-it's getting sniffed. I will try it if my nose can't pick up the smells of anything I don't like.

Secondly, food CAN NOT touch on the plate. Everything must be separated and eaten one at a time. I am not one of those people that can mix foods together. I like to taste each item separately.

Last one-I can not eat random skittles together. I have to eat one flavor at a time. The same rule applies here as above. Each one to be enjoyed alone.

Ok, I'm off to the corner now...

I put napkins around the condiment bottles at resturants before I use them.

@Butrflygirly - I don't eat skittles, but whenever I eat different-coloured/flavoured anything (jelly babies, M&M's, etc), I sort them by colour/flavour and first (yeah, I'm even more ridiculous than you are:-)), I eat all "odd" ones (that is, so that there is an equal number of whatever it is of each colour left), then, I eat them one colour/flavour at a time. Oh, and of course I need to sort my trail mix:-).

But wait, there is more!

When I use any kind of a spread/butter/salad/whatever on a slice of bread/cracker/etc., the entire surface has to be covered, evenly. It drives me absolutely crazy when my husband makes me a buttered toast with marmalade, because he always does it all wrong, and then makes fun of me when I tell him that he did it all wrong!

Apparently, when I eat something that I really enjoy, I sing quietly to myself. Had no idea I was doing it until a friend pointed it out a couple of years ago, since then I've been trying to be more self-conscious:-).

I'll stop for now...but I may be back:-).

When eating anything that is filled (burritos, pasties, pies), I eat the filling first, then the crust/wrapper.

And I sort things like granola, m&ms, etc. and eat them all evenly, as well. I thikn it started as a way to prevent me from wolfing down an entire bag of candy and is now an entertaining way to baffle my husband.

@Butrflygirly - we must be! I mean, to share one weird eating habit is one thing, but all this (especially, the singing/humming part, along with a little butt wiggle - yay!) ?! I, too, was smiling like a schoolgirl - oh so happy! Too bad my husband is not home, I would dance a little "in your face" dance right now:-).

I'm odd man out. ;-(

I only stand to eat if there is NO place to sit down and it has been that way since I was a child.

Food only belongs in bed if you are:
1. Really, REALLY sick and can't walk to the table, or
2. If it's used in a really, REALLY romantic way

I like stews and casseroles where the food is all mixed together. I don't have to combine everything on my plate, but it doesn't bother me and I might mix it all if there are mashed potatoes and gravy involved.

I eat all colors together, how weird is that?

If there is a mix (like trail mix), I prefer even amounts of everything, just because I get annoyed if one of my favorites is scant.

Now, to my other oddities.

I won't eat white or lavender jelly beans, so they get left in the bowl.

Now that everyone has fled the nest, I eat in front of the TV when I'm alone. I never allowed that with my family and never thought I'd do it. As a matter of fact, the TV had to be OFF, and we often had "dinner music" playing. On a nice day, I often take my food outside and enjoy it oh so much more.

@PumpkinBear........you stand around while your family is eating the meal you prepared. I'm sure they must miss you at the table. The family meal is quickly disappearing with everyone dashing off for work or sports or whatever, and I would think you'd want to create those warm memories? Just a thought.

Fun topic - y'all had me laughing myself silly!

I can totally relate to a lot of you. My food-touching phobia extends to placing food on separate little plates or bowls, especially ones that have a tendancy to "travel" across the plate.

I don't usually follow recipes, so I taste my way through cooking a meal. When I serve the family, I have to fake-eat 'cause I'm already full.

Finally, I get a lot of weird looks at the bulk candy secton of my grocery store. I look like a thief, glancing back and forth, as I pick out all the vanilla Tootsie Roll midgets from the bin. I'm waiting for the bulk foods police to bust me!

I never really noticed that I have strange eating habits. I don't segregate my foods, I don't sniff my forkfull, I eat sitting down usually. But when I stared thinking about it, I realized I could be borderline ocd. LOL.

When I was a kid, I used to line up my french fries and put a thin line of ketchup on each one. Nowadays, I just dip my fries, but under no circumstances can the ketchup or the mayo touch my fries before I am ready to dip. But if the burger juices or steak juices touch my fries, it's ok and I'll eat those first.

I am annoyed by people with dirty forks. Not like you sit down and notice that your fork is not clean, but while you are eating with someone, your companion waves his/her fork around and there is a bit of mashed potato or a grain of rice stuck to its tines...Drives. Me. Crazy.

When I drink wine or whatever and I notice my lipstick leaves a mark, I drink from that spot only. I think it's gross when the entire rim of a glass is covered in lip-marks or wine marks.

OH! Almost forgot.

When I'm eating a bag of chips/ another type of crunchy snack I like to eat all the broken pieces before I eat the perfect chips.

It also really really really irks me when those little peanut butter sandwich cookies that come in boxes are split up. What? I actually spend time digging around in the box so I can find another split half.

again, OCD. Ah well.

I hate eating off the counter or in bed. I like to eat at the table but can handle the sofa, depending on the food. It bugs me and possibly offends me if everyone else is sitting down to eat and one or two people have separated. I just can't imagine enjoying food and family/friends if I'm eating off the counter or over the sink.

I like to save my best bits for last but other than that, can't think of anything weird that I do often. I think mixing foods is often a good thing. It's a pet peeve of mine when people behave neurotically with food.

I used to enjoy having a snack or some noodles lying on the floor, which bugged my mom because she thought it was unhealthy. With dogs now, it's no longer an option.

The weirdest thing for me is how I eat a kit-kat: nibble off as much of the chocolate as i can with my teeth, then separate the layers and eat one at a time. I like the grainy sugary stuff in between the wafers.

You mean some people don't segment their candies before eating them? Madness!

I remember having an 'order' for Trixx cereal and Lucky Charms marshmellows too. The inferior colored marshmellows got eaten first, leaving the pink or red colored cereal bits last, because they were the 'rulers' of their cereal kingdom--like a 'play' in cereal. Or I would even out colors, so no color felt 'left out.'

I have to drink water while eating--I don't understand how people eat and don't drink. I also need a napkin.

I can't stand eating in bed but I do like walking and nibbling--still, all of you who eat your meals standing up, time to serve yourself like you serve others!

I don't eat cake much any more, but when I did I always ate the icing seperately. With cream-filled sweets I always ate the cream spilling out first, then cake and cream seperately.

I only eat perfect raspberries. I line them up in a row, they have to look like little hats, and I put them on the top of my finger before I eat them. My mom is really sweet, when we eat them together she picks out the perfect ones and puts them in a line and she eats all the squashed ones because she doesn't mind the squashed ones. I love my mommie, moms are awesome:)

@Sieseye - You have a trademark on EX? Why? Sorry....I got stuck after that.

I completely agree about inadequate speading on bread - I remember getting mad at my father as a little kid because he didn't spread all the way to the edges of the toast. Also he used to cut it into halfs down the middle when the only way to slice toast is on the diagonal! This was a big issue... Now that I make my own toast this is now sorted.

Also I have to eat all the broken crackers, chips, cookies, nuts, etc first before the intact ones.

The food can't touch on the plate.

I eat all the lettuce in salads first, then the crunchy pieces (cucumber, pepper etc...)

A topping can't be larger then the food being topped ( cheese piece is smaller than the cracker).

I like making little sandwiches with foods, like when eating nachos I apply 2 chips together with the cheese toppings in the centre. This also works with pancake pieces with the syrup in the middle.

I do have a bit of OCD...

@izatryt - yes, cause he's not just any garden-variety ex. He's a doozy. After 15 years of unpleasant I discovered his secret life which included five other gals who all thought they were the only one. Maybe I should call him The Juggler™ but that's not as self-explanatory. I was going to leave but then was in a pretty bad auto accident (totally not my fault as I was just sitting there and was slammed) and the injuries were so severe I couldn't work or much else for awhile and my car was totaled. I was still discovering gals too; decided it was still too much and was still going to get out which is when the battering started. In the end there were several broken bones and officers and mandatory batterer intervention classes for a year with projects that had to be completed, and court and mediators... there's quite a bit more to the story as I'm sure you can gather.

And now my life is completely different and much less stressed though I'm still healing. :)

However, that's where a great deal of my life was spent so when I look back he's in the memories and I can't bring myself to call him anything but "the ex" when referring to him so that's why I play with it.

He also had some serious food issues. Quirky squared with a bit of cruelty for topping.

@Sieseye - (((((hugs))))) I can gather, but can not even begin to comprehend the pain and sadness. That you have lived to move on from that life? You are my hero!

PerkyMac, that was my favorite comment of this thread.

I prefer to eat my curse words first, then add one or two in French, for class.

My mom always said anything eaten at the sink has no calories :-)

But I would have to say my favorite eating spot is in front of the computer - probably need to disinfect it if you listen to all the news stories about eating at your desk. At least I'm the only one that uses it so it's my own germs!

That way I don't rush through my food. The other thing is I'm not satisfied with a lunch unless it has everything your mom would pack for you. I can get away with half a reasonable sandwich if I have chips or pickles and a fat-free pudding; compared with a Dagwood sadwich, and I'm still "hungry."

It works for my husband, too but in front of the TV - he snarfs his food otherwise.

Oh, and I too pick my meat apart and feed "the ickies" to the cats, dog or my husband!