Serious Eats - seriouseats.com

@winternutt - Nope, not South American, but I feel validated to know that I am not the only person who likes that combo!

Kettle corn and Ben & Jerry's. If I buy a container of B&J's, I try to just plan on eating the whole thing and not much else that day. It's because I like the flavors with a lot of "stuff" in them, and no matter how carefully you scoop, there is always another chunk there sticking out demanding to be excavated!

Man! I am, I have to say, utterly baffled by this whole conversation. I had no idea!

I LOVE blizzards.

My favorite is the heath bar and oreo blizzard. I think they charge you extra for double mix-ins, but it's so worth it.

Wow--I have to say, I'm pretty shocked by a lot of the comments here. Regular commenters on this site who I (a mostly-lurker but occasional commenter) had previously seen as friendly, interesting folks have definitely exposed themselves as pretty rude and narrow-minded on this thread. I was aware that there will be the occasional... uppity, elitist "let's compare the cost of our truffle oil collection" type contingent on here, if you know what I mean. But how sad it is that so many of you have decided to bemoan the lack of gourmet, upscale grocery stores rather than point out that @Pumpkin Bear is moving to one of the regions with the longest and greatest food traditions in the nation. The sort of place where you might find people who still know how to plant, grow, harvest, and prepare most of their food on their own-- all *gasp* without the benefit of a Whole Foods! Not to mention a climate where a huge variety of home-grown or farmer's market produce is possible all year round.

Pumpkin, to start learning about the food culture of your new home (which I assure you is wonderful!), I recommend checking out the Southern Foodways Alliance-- http://www.southernfoodways.com/ --that site will be able to direct you towards some great books, restaurants, articles, and websites all about Southern food. I hope you end up liking it down South!

Just another example of something that only uncultured poor folks would want that became something rich white folks want. Just like rap music and Shakespeare.

It doesn't matter that it's unhealthy, because it's no less healthy than anything else there. And it probably tastes just fine, too (I like KFC). The reason I won't try it is because OMG WHY IS THERE NO BUN. Is the chicken supposed to be the bun? That is one of the stupidest gimmicks I've ever heard... if it's a sandwich, make it a sandwich, if it's a knife-and-fork thing, make it that...

I just hate dumb marketing gimmicks. That's why I won't try it!

I'm with hmw0029. Cooking is one of the things that made our species successful. Others also have pointed out that some vitamins can be gotten only from raw foods and others only from cooked-- why don't you mix and match, some cooked, some raw?

Hey thanks, guys! All really good suggestions! I appreciate it!

@betterwsalt Hahaha how true-- life is always a bit better when there's a little Doctor around!

This is the best thing I have ever seen. Also, I copied the whole thing on a piece of paper to figure out my own winners through each face-off, and the winner is pineapple upside-down cake. I am not sure if I would have picked that one as first if I just looked at the list all together, but the bracket system does not lie!

My dad gets serious migrane headaches if he eats MSG. He's not "allergic" to it, but he avoids eating it because of the headaches. IHe's a doctor, and certainly not a bandwagon jumper or the sort of person who gives much thought to the latest trends in medical/allergy/etc hysteria... so I figure it really does give him migranes.

Of course, there's a big difference between saying, "I avoid that because it gives me migranes," and freaking out and telling everyone you have a deathly allergy of some kind (which I've heard people do with MSG).

Basically I figure it's just something that's of course "safe" in that it's certainly not gonna kill anyone, but some people might have some kind of unpleasant reaction to it, just like some folks get stomach aches from milk products and some get extra-gaseous from high-fiber stuff.