Despite having some issues with food and diet culture (as well as losing my taste and then having everything taste like plastic due to COVID), I still have some strong food opinions.

Don’t believe me? Check out my post about how curly fries are inarguably the best type of French fry. As you can tell, food hills are hills I’m willing to die on.

Like everyone, some of my food opinions are pretty strange. I don’t mean something like being a bit picky or not liking mushrooms or straight up eating a can of olives as a snack or loving fries dipped in milkshakes (although those are also true), I mean opinions that are either surprising or just straight up go against the norm. On the bright side, a lot of these opinions mean that I make a great snacking buddy because I prefer the parts that no one else wants!

 So let’s split a sleeve of Oreos and get to it!

Fountain Soda is THE BEST Soda

When I was studying abroad in France, I was dying to eat/drink 2 things that were common in the states but I couldn’t find there: Buffalo sauce and fountain sodas. Actually, my obsession with Buffalo sauce started while I was abroad because I just craved it all the time and couldn’t get it. I roamed the streets of Toulouse just dreaming of some hot wings and a fountain Coke. I ordered a Coca Cola at several restaurants only to be given canned soda. Imagine sitting at a restaurant and waiting impatiently for your fountain soda…only to see the waitress approach with a can and a frosty glass. A disappointment like none other.

I don’t like drinking soda very much, but sometimes, I just crave a fountain Coke, and the craving doesn’t go away until I can get my hands on one. Fountain soda just tastes so much better…so much fresher and more refreshing than soda from a can or bottle. For me, canned and bottled sodas aren’t enjoyable enough to even drink, but fountain sodas are just carbonated glasses of sweet deliciousness, especially now that they have those Coca Cola machines where you can get a fountain Vanilla Coke. It’s the best of all worlds.

Oh and for the record, if you’re in Toulouse and craving a fountain soda, go to McDonald’s. You’ll look like a stupid American (especially since the fries in French restaurants are so freaking good), but you’ll at least be able to get your fix!

The Cookie Part of the Oreo is Better

I am, and have always been, a chocolate fiend.

My grandmother loves to tell the story about the time that I raced into her house saying frantically that I was in desperate need of some chocolate because I was having a chocolate attack.

I also like any ice cream with a chocolate base and think that vanilla ice cream is pointless unless on a warm slice of pie.

My love for chocolate and disdain for vanilla carries over into Oreo cookies, too. I have always preferred the chocolate cookie on the Oreo instead of the cream. In fact, if there’s a way to do it cleanly without getting sticky, I’d prefer to just eat the cookie pieces without the cream at all. Those thin Oreos and the dunker Oreo sticks with the dipping cream are perfect for me because I can have just the cookie more easily. And I think that double stuffed Oreos are pointless. More vanilla cream? Who asked for that?! Yeah, okay, everyone but me, probably, but still…

See? Didn’t I tell you we’d be great Oreo-eating buddies?

B-A-N-A-N-A-S

I love smoothies. I’m a big fan of things like smoothies and açai bowls, where I can get in some protein, fat, fruit, and carbohydrates in one delicious drink or meal. The one problem that I often have with places where I can get smoothies or bowls is that almost all smoothies and bowl bases are made with banana.

You know what an açai bowl with banana tastes like? Banana.

You know what a kale-banana-strawberry smoothie tastes like? Banana.

You know what a yogurt-raspberry-blueberry-banana smoothie tastes like? Banana.

No matter what else is in there, it will inevitably taste like banana. Banana-flavored things are just the worst — whether it’s a smoothie, or a yellow laffy taffy, or a banana-shaped runt, I’m not a fan.

I know what you’re thinking, Okay okay, Renata, you don’t like bananas. We get it.

The thing is, I actually do. Bananas aren’t my favorite fruit, but I actually don’t mind eating them. I think they’re a great portable fruit snacking option. I just don’t want them in my smoothie or candy bowl…or my locker at school, because that makes a mess…but that’s a story for a different time.

Why is No One Talking about Muffin Bottoms?

People tend to love muffin tops. To most people, the muffin tops have all of the delicious muffin flavor with some crunch. Some companies even sell “muffies” that are actually just muffin tops.

But crunchy pastries are not my thing. Well, okay, all kinds of pastries are my thing. However, I do prefer softer, smushier pastries. If I’m eating a pastry with a crispy outside and fluffy inside, I’m eating the outside first and saving the inside for last. I love the muffin bottom because it doesn’t have any of that muffin top crispiness, just squishy, cakey deliciousness. 

Like my mom, I’ve always preferred the soft middle of breads and pastries. Mom and I have always eaten the outsides of bread first and saved the insides for last. At restaurants, if my dad (who loves the crusty outsides of bread) eats bread from the bread basket, he’ll eat the outside and give me and/or my mom the insides. The smushier part is just better!

Like muffins, I also prefer cupcake bottoms. I’m not the biggest fan of icing, because icing is usually too sweet, so I’d rather just have the cupcake bottom. Unless it’s not-too-sweet cream cheese icing. In that case, I’m not only eating the icing off the cupcake, I’m also licking the spoon.

Plain Jane

I actually really like plain foods. Whether or not I feel like adding some sort of accoutrements at the moment, I’m usually more than happy to just eat something plain. Bread, rice cakes, French fries, bagels, cones…I like them all just by themselves. Whenever we get ice cream at the local ice cream shop, I make sure to pick up a few extra cones to snack on in the upcoming days, with or without ice cream. Last Saturday, I ate 5 cones. Five. Only one of them was accompanied by a milkshake. Cones, while plain, are just so good. 

After a life of snacking on plain bread and cones and rice cakes, I’m realizing that most people prefer to eat things with something on them. Most people reach for the butter when holding a roll, while I’m happy to just eat it on it’s own. In fact, often if I’m adding something to my food, I prefer to dip it rather than put it on top so that I can choose how much of it is covered and make sure the rest doesn’t get soggy.

I know that I’m not the only one with these food opinions, but I also know that they’re different from the norm. Which weird food opinions do you have? Share them with us in the comments!

Photo by Mikhail Nilov from Pexels