The environment we grow up in plays a significant role in forming our relationship with nutrition. In fact, having frequent and regular family meals is associated with a myriad of benefits for children and adolescents, including decreased risk of obesity, lower chance of substance use, violent behavior, depression, and suicidal thoughts, as well as better communication skills and improved self-esteem.
Naturally, it also shapes our taste preferences, exposing our taste buds to certain flavors and textures. Interested in just how much variation there is, Reddit user Kerker1717 made a post on the platform, asking everyone to share the weird food combination that was standard in their household that later people said was not normal.
Continue scrolling to check out the answers they have received and don't miss the chat we had with foodies Sarah Tuck and Richa Gupta — you'll find it between the entries.
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Whenever my mom used an egg wash and breadcrumbs there would be leftover from the breading station. So she used to mix them together, add a little water if there was too little of the egg left, and let the breadcrumbs hydrate. Then the mixture went into a skillet with heated olive oil to be fried like a breadcrumb pancake. There was no way she was going to throw out those breadcrumbs.
Every so often I find myself craving a breadcrumb pancake. I make one with a beaten egg to hydrate seasoned breadcrumbs. But I add Locatelli Romano cheese and julienned sun dried tomatoes as well. Fried in olive oil with extra Locatelli cheese on top. So maybe not a weird food combination. But certainly a weird item to cook. Weird- but I love it!
My little old great-grandmother used to wake me up at 3:00 a.m. every morning and give me an ego, cheese and ham sandwich and a gigantic like 40 oz mug of hot cocoa and tell me that I hadn't eaten anything all day and I had better eat.
She had mild dementia and I had moved in there with her to take care of her.
She was really sweet and my favorite human being on the planet until she died like a year or so later.
RIP Granny, I love you and I miss you
She could also cook better than anybody I've ever met.. everything that came out of her kitchen was delicious.
I'm not sure how she made her lasagna taste like that I cannot replicate The taste she produced.
Also her lentil chicken soup was delicious. And I'm really really hungry now thinking about my great grandma that's weird
While it might be tempting to just say "yuck" when reading about these meals, don't be so quick to write them off. "Trying out new dishes is like travel—broadening our perspective and widening our way of thinking," Sarah Tuck, the woman behind the food and recipe blog Stuck in the Kitchen, told Bored Panda.
"It's an adventure! And that's not to say the familiar isn't also amazing. I like nothing better than perfect softly scrambled eggs on toasted wholegrain bread—it tastes like coming home after a trip away," Tuck, who's also the editor of New Zealand's biggest food magazine Dish.co.nz, added.
My ex made me scrambled eggs, and I had to immediately spit them out. There was CINNAMON in them.
I asked why the hell he had put cinnamon in my eggs, and he said he didn't. Only salt and pepper. Um, no, taste them - there is cinnamon on these eggs. So he takes a scoop and tells me I'm imagining things. They taste fine!
[They did not]
Turns out he was NOT gaslighting me. His mother had given him his salt and pepper shakers. We were at his moms and I put some pepper on my meal and again, f*****g cinnamon.
"Oh yes!" His mother exclaimed, "He's a Taurus, and they have weak throats. Cinnamon is good for the throat, so to make sure he gets enough and stays healthy, I mix it into the pepper!"
He thought that was just what pepper tasted like.
Cinnamon is absolutely horrible where it doesn't belong, I understand. It's a very strong and forward spice that there's no coming back from.
Our thanksgiving leftover meal was turkey with gravy over waffles. Delicious. But when I got to high school/college people told me it sounded gross and weird.
It's also perfectly fine if these pictures inspire you to come up with something entirely new because "it's when you push the boundaries that you get the most interesting combinations," Richa Gupta, the cook, writer, and photographer running the blog My Food Story, explained to us.
Just remember to at least consider how things come together. To begin, Gupta suggests playing with complementary and contrasting flavors. The former allows ingredients to work in tandem (think peanut butter and bananas), while the latter pairs distinct taste profiles to create a dynamic sensory experience.
"While you're experimenting, always taste, taste, taste," Gupta added.
Scrambled eggs/omelets with ketchup. I always thought this was normal but as an adult the more I eat with others the more they keep pointing out to me that's weird or gross???
My mom used to put cut-up hot dogs in everything.
Cut up hot dogs in scrambled eggs, in box mac and cheese, in stir fries with vegetables to eat on top of rice, in fried potatoes to make some kind of hot dog hash.
However, if you're an absolute novice, you might want to learn your way around the kitchen first. "I think as a beginner cook or baker it is best to follow conventions to start with," Sarah of Stuck in the Kitchen said. "Then, as skill levels increase, I would recommend experimenting."
"When thinking about developing a recipe, it is a little like writing music, thinking about all of the different elements coming together—in this case, I always start with the sweet/salty/bitter/umami balance, but also the texture; do I want an overall soft, smooth texture or would something benefit from a little crunch to contrast?"
My grandmother always put grape jelly on her grilled cheese, so I like to also. Apparently that is not something people normally do.
Pork chops and homemade applesauce. So damn good but everyone I mention it to thinks it's repulsive
"I like little contrasts to liven things up, like a fresh zingy lemon/garlic/parsley gremolata on a slow-cooked soft beef cheek ragu, or a sprinkling of crunchy nuts and seeds with dukkah and a little olive oil over burrata broken onto a salad," Sarah Tuck added.
"But the thing is, sweet and savory can also work brilliantly together, like sea salt and dark chocolate, or chili honey with cheese or chicken, so something that might sound weird when you first hear of it might actually make total sense when you take a bite!" the food writer said.
When I was young and my Dad was a single parent, he'd try to have "fancy" dinners for my sister and me. His go-to appetizer for us was a slice of bologna, covered in peanut butter, then rolled up into a log. He'd then cut it into sections and each would have a toothpick in it. Voila! Appetizers.
Whenever I start missing my Dad, who passed away when I was 24, I make those appetizers.
Aww bless him (in the British sense, I don't mean bless his heart!)
Strawberry jelly on a sausage biscuit. Learned that working fast food at 15.
Interestingly, in some scenarios, you might be more inclined to broaden your culinary horizons. For example, if you're actively dating!
Turns out, being reluctant to try new foods can be a turn-off, according to research published in the journal Personality and Individual Differences. The study provides evidence that the willingness to try new food can influence sexual desirability and is seen by others as a signal of sexual unrestrictedness.
As Richa Gupta said, "If food lovers didn't experiment with ingredients, and techniques, and challenge the boundaries, the culinary world would be at a standstill." And by the sound of it, we owe it to them for spicing up not only our meals but also our love lives!
Having milk to drink with spaghetti, super refreshing. It counters the acidity perfectly but my Italian American friends think I’m nuts.
Kraft Mac n Cheese with a can of tuna in it. I was thirty before I realized this was not common.
I think its came about because my dad comes from a poor Catholic family and it was a cheap way to feed five kids during Lent.
Edit: Guys I get it. Please stop replying "It's tuna casserole." It is not the same thing as what I ate growing up.
Tuna casserole is pasta and tuna, yes, but it is not a box of Kraft Mac n Cheese with a can of tuna dumped in at the end. Tuna casserole has some variety of peas, onion, cream of mushroom/chicken soup, and often has bread crumbs or chips on top. I have had tuna casserole, tuna salad, and tuna helper at various times of my youth. They are different.
Noodles with butter, sugar, and walnuts. Apparently my dad used to eat it when he was growing up. It's Hungarian. Diós tészta. I grew up in Canada and yeah it was considered weird by my friends.
My grandpa used to make peanut butter toast (crispy bread, like almost burnt, and smooth PB — and he always buttered the bread before putting on the PB) and hot chocolate, and would dip the toast in the hot chocolate. Didn't realize it was weird until I got to college, did it in the dining hall, and got some weird looks.
In Spain you dip churros in deliciously thick hot chocolate and it’s wonderful.
Grew up super poor. We ate flap jacks which in our house were just flour with salt and water pan cooked into flabby flavorless pancakes and then my mom would try to make syrup by cooking down sugar and water. Another regular was toast with ketchup and yet another was spaghetti noodles with canned beans. I don’t know that I can say I thought it was normal but I did know it was what there was to eat.
I always thought coleslaw on pulled pork was normal because every place near me served it like that. Then I find out the heathens in the rest of the country don't like that.
Shepherds pie but instead of mashed potatoes, macaroni cheese on top!!!!!!!!!
Wouldn't taste bad but the pasta wouldn't hit the spot for a Shepherd's pie, texturally. That soft and tender stew meat with the gravy and mashed potatoes are what makes Shepherd's pie what it is. I'll pass on the mac.
We were kinda poor, and my mom used to take a package of uncooked hot dogs and grind them up and mix them with sweet relish and mayonnaise. That was our “ham salad”. My friends all loved the stuff!
Sliced pickle and Kraft singles sandwiches. Did not ask for and did not want these but got them in lunches regularly.
When it was dad's turn to cook...
S. O. S.
Ground beef browned with salt n pepper. Thickened and creamed. (Essentially just hamburger gravy) on toast.
Meh.
S.O.S = Sh!t On a Shingle. That’s what we called it a boarding school
The weirdest thing I can think is my grandma taught me to eat Coffee and Crackers. Basically you take a plate and line it with saltines, then pour over coffee until they're softened then spread some sugar to taste and eat with deli ham. It's basically a poor man's country ham biscuits and red eye gravy.
It's not the most filling breakfast in the world but it hits the spot every once in a blue moon.
Digestive biscuits spread with soft cheese like philadelphia and a bit of jam, usually two to make it a sandwich biscuit. I sometimes had this with peanut butter between the biscuits instead.
Mr Auntriarch puts mascarpone and jam on digestives, he calls it instant cheesecake. I prefer lemon curd to jam though
Tomato open-faced sandwiches as a snack in-between meals. Just a few pieces of bread with nice tomato slices on them, salt and pepper.
Growing up in the midwest, chili & cinnamon rolls were a common combination. It wasn't until I was an adult that I learned this is pretty much only a midwestern thing.
i am in the midwest and have lived here my whole life and have literally never heard of that. yikes.
I grew up with a lot of fruit in my savory dishes, mostly fruit and cheese combinations. Some are normal, but i think most of them aren't. Still love it all so much, it adds just the right amount of sweetness.
Cheese and banana sandwiches are the best
Pineapple parts in lasagna
Apple or mango in dishes like wraps or curry
Raisins in couscous
Pasta of mango and blue cheese
Cheese fondue with pineapple, apple, banana, grapes, pear
Salads contained mostly normal fruits like apple or raisins, but for some reason also often bananas
All pretty normal. Mango and blue cheese is divine. And keema in half a pawpaw I can recommend
As newcomers to Canada in the 90’s, ketchup wasn’t really a thing in my home country. So we became obsessed with it when we got here. As a kid I used to put ketchup on everything, but my favourite was ketchup sandwiches (ketchup + bread) and ketchup sandwich with bologna or sliced ham.
i just used to eat ketchup sandwiches. bread. ketchup. that's it. ._.
Unsweetened shredded wheat (it was large size not spoon sized) toasted in the oven with sharp cheese and fried bacon and you'd serve it with a bit of maple syrup on the side. It was...I think a recipe on the cereal box but seriously good. I never see those big shredded wheat squares around any longer so I can't make this.
Eggo waffles with melted sharp cheddar cheese. It was such a regular breakfast in my family, I literally didn’t realize it wasn’t a thing until I had my first apartment and I told my roommate she was welcome to the eggos and cheese and she was like “I’m sorry, what?”
Cubed up baguette tossed in greek yogurt and chopped mint. Sometimes some honey to make it a sweet treat.
This was strictly an after dinner snack for some reason
When I was a child I would often have as a pre bed snack buttered bread with hot milk! So good! Used to help me sleep!
Note: this post originally had 70 images. It’s been shortened to the top 30 images based on user votes.
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Growing up poor, breakfasts were often cooked rice mixed with some milk and a bit of sugar. It wasn't terrible, but to my lactose intolerant guts it was not fun. Luckily, my mom didn't believe in lactose intolerance at the time so I was forced to eat it despite the nausea, vomiting, and terrible poos. 😖
Milchreis (milkrice) is very common in Germany. You can get it at any supermarket or grocery store in the yogurt section. Dozens of flavors - plain with sugar, caramel sauce, fruit sauces, cinnamon etc. Not weird at all to me. Sorry for your intolerance though
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Growing up poor, breakfasts were often cooked rice mixed with some milk and a bit of sugar. It wasn't terrible, but to my lactose intolerant guts it was not fun. Luckily, my mom didn't believe in lactose intolerance at the time so I was forced to eat it despite the nausea, vomiting, and terrible poos. 😖
Milchreis (milkrice) is very common in Germany. You can get it at any supermarket or grocery store in the yogurt section. Dozens of flavors - plain with sugar, caramel sauce, fruit sauces, cinnamon etc. Not weird at all to me. Sorry for your intolerance though
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