In our May issue, we asked our staff to tell us about their food quirks.
Cottage cheese scooped up with Lay’s potato chips is my favorite snack. I loved cottage cheese so much as a kid that I named a stuffed animal after it. Still love it, just...a little less.
— Taylor Killough, contributing writer
I hate eating in low light. I want to be able to see my food.
I put garlic and onion in almost everything I cook, so much so that I got tattoos of onion and garlic.
I have a serious aversion to pickles. I’ll be a child about it and throw a fit if my food accidentally contains pickles. I blame it on my childhood friends, who used to throw pickles at me because they knew I hated them.
— Lindsay Flint, advertising production coordinator
I refuse to actually read recipes while cooking. I skim the steps, eye the ingredients and dive in. Inevitably, I end up with garlic that’s minced instead of smashed or a zucchini cut into rounds instead of strips. It drives my fiancé crazy. I also refuse to measure spices. I like to think I have an instinct for seasoning. Emphasis on think.
— Alexandra Winters, digital media manager
I used to peel the skins off grapes before I ate them as a kid. I’ve since matured. I prefer grapes in wine form now.
— Katie Molck, contributing writer
About once a week at my house we have “chain salad” night. As in, you could find a version of this heaping collection of greens, nuts, cheese, cherry tomatoes and assorted vegetables on the menu of any chain restaurant: Applebee’s, Cheesecake Factory, Chili’s. Sometimes we get European with it and opt for feta and dried cranberries or sliced pear. But I think even McDonald’s does that now. Wendy’s, too. Applebee’s, I’d bet money on it.
— Anne Marshall, senior writer
Sometimes I cut a pat of butter and bite into it like it’s a piece of cheese.
— Mary Chellis Nelson, managing editor
Sometimes I put instant coffee in my cookies.
— Mickie Winters, photographer
I would never have gone skinny with my morning coffee were it not for a sister-in-law with a frothing wand and a half-gallon of skim who showed me the “lite” a few years back. Here’s the surprise: Heated non-fat milk, whipped to a satisfying foam with the wand and then stirred into your java, deactivates some of the coffee’s natural bitterness without intruding on its rich flavors. Whole milk and cream want to share the spotlight with the main player; skim is like the bassist you rarely notice until you realize how much more he’s bringing out of the pianist. That’s my morning duo: ground beans and skim.
— Bruce Allar, contributing writer
When I lived in South Africa, a common pizza topping was banana and pickle. I was at first repulsed, then curious and finally converted.
— Matthew Barzun, publisher
My roommate and I mix mac and cheese with baked beans. Absolutely no illicit substances involved.
— Dylon Jones, staff writer
As I mature, my love of bitter and sour foods matures. Everything needs more tang, and there is no condiment on the market better than homemade lemon-Parmesan spread — lemon zest, lemon juice, mayo, shallots and Parmesan. Lands on every sandwich and most potatoes.
— Suki Anderson, art director
PTKD: post-traumatic ketchup disorder. I am not a picky eater, but I find ketchup so repulsive. I was born feeling this way. I can’t bear the smell of it, the look of it, anything. If there’s a bottle of ketchup on the table, I’ll put some barrier in front of it so I don’t have to see it. I once sat across from a person whose breast landed in the ketchup on her plate, giving her a big red bull’s-eye on her nipple. I had to excuse myself from the table. I still gag thinking about it, 30 years later.
— Jenni Laidman, contributing writer
Peanut-butter sandwich dipped in chili was an old grade-school lunch tradition. I still do it. Yummo!
— Emily Douglas, advertising account executive
This originally appeared in the May 2019 issue of Louisville Magazine as the Inter-Office Memo. To subscribe to Louisville Magazine, click here. To find us on newsstands, click here.
Cover photo: Pexels.com
