Wednesday, March 19, 2008

Is "Bleu" French for Yuck?

Pioneer woman wrote yesterday about her brother in law, Tim, who won't eat cheese unless it is melted. (Pour guy; he'd never survive in Wisconsin.) Me, I'll eat anything except bleu cheese dressing. (Look at it; it even says gross in it's own pronunciation, "bleu.")

This all stems from one of those childhood memories I'm pretty sure most people have. Mine involved a salad onto which I boldly poured bleu cheese dressing. Unfortunately, I did not meet the taste with the same enthusiasm. I have a clear memory of sitting by myself at the dinner table; the only thing left on it is my plate of salad, and the only one sitting at the table is me. I'm pretty certain I won that battle, but the memory stayed with me, so I'm sure I sat there a long time.

I had some skills for hiding food that I didn't like. For example, bites of liver found their way into the bottom of my cup of milk. (Unfortunately for me, lettuce floats.) A quick trip to the restroom during the meal allowed me to unload a cheek full of broccoli on more than one occasion.

These days, I will casually spit a hunk of gristle into my napkin if absolutely necessary, but generally, I can eat anything, except the bleu cheese. Oh, alright! I'll try it the next time we go out for supper, but you must do the same. Which food are you avoiding?

11 comments:

  1. Funny! I have a not so fond memory of bleu cheese as well. I was a young teen and I was invited to to Ponderosa restaurant with Mom and a few Aunts. A salad buffet was available. Back in those days it was most certainly a treat to have a buffet at hand much less just to go to a restaurant. I indulged in a large salad and decided to try bleu cheese dressing for the first time. Yes I just had to make sure to put more than my share of dressing on it.

    I think I was starving because I remember thinking it wasn't all that great yet I consumed the family sized portion.

    The question that remains is did the dressing actually make me get violently ill in the restroom or was it simply the fact that I made a pig of myself? Hmmm. Nonetheless, I am to this day not a bleu cheese fan. Maybe I should give it another chance too.

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  2. I would have to agree Bleu cheese has to be one of my biggest dislikes. Which flavors don't bother me as much as the consistency of it. Noodles, bananas, coconut, tapioca pudding (can't spell) theese are also things I avoid, I just don't like the way they feel in my mouth. It wasn't until I was pregnant with Braxty-boy that I learned to get over the way noodles felt in my mouth (don't let your mind go to the gutter here) anyway I craved them so much that I ate something with noodles in it about 5 times a week. Now I don't mind them so much.

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  3. BTW, thanks for teaching me how to disguise my unwanted food growing up. I knew I had to have learned that from someone :o)

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  4. I can't handle tapioca or organ meat. Luckily no one else in my family liked organs either, so mom never fixed them. No one but Mom liked tapioca, so she never bothered. Also my mom makes this salad with fruit, dry jello and cottage cheese....I refuse to eat fruit and cottage cheese together.

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  5. i like both liver and broccoli and always have, but bleu cheese was invented by the debbil and foisted upon the world by his ebbil minions. i tried some that my mom had once, she loved that crap. it was one of two times that food made me nauseated. the second time was with bad caviar.

    even though there are some foods that i really like now and hated as a kid (onions, mushrooms, garlic, green pepper, to name just a few) bleu cheese and it's equally ebbil cousin, green cheese did not make the maturation taste changes.

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  6. I love and adore bleu cheese! Isn't it funny how people have different tastes. I have a memory of pouring too much ketchup and being forced to eat it. Unfortunately it was the sole thing on my plate. That was a long evening.

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  7. I really don't like any kind of cheese (gasp!)... especially not that bleu cheese.

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  8. Judy: Well, it was either teach you or get narked-out, I'm guessing.

    Holy cow, JAX, I feel sorry for you; no noodles? No tapioca?!?! I love both, and the texture is the reason!

    DW, I do love chicken livers (with salt), but not regular liver. I'm told it's all in how it's prepared (like venison, I suppose). Yum.

    Poor Jane...ketchup? I wonder what made our parents lose their rationality in moments like these... I'm glad somebody likes bleu cheese (you may have mine, if we ever have lunch together, ok?)

    Mama Bird-Wow! You can't possibly be from Wisconsin, can you?

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  9. I hate onions with a brutal passion.
    I have to spit them out... there really is no choice.

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  10. my first date with bran was a trip to the dentist to get my second set of wisdom teeth pulled. he made me lemon ginger liver with mashed potatoes and creamed corn.

    you melt the butter and add the juice of a lemon and grate fresh ginger into it. then you cook the liver in that. it's marvelous!

    chicken livers rock with a bit of salt and between two slices of bread :)

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  11. I have learned that I can learn to eat most things, if I try hard enough. Like Salmon. I know it's good for me, so I've made an effort, and now actually like it.

    I like bleu cheese, and especially the salad at Outback Steak House that has it on it. But, I definitely don't like bleu cheese dressing -- too strong. But, just pieces sprinkled on a salad, give great contrast to a sweet dressing.

    My main dislike is organ meat. Only time I ever tried liver, it stuck to the roof of my mouth. That took care of that!

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