# Food Lab 101 - Do You Play With Your Food?



## Meanderer

The term "Food Lab" sounds like a name given to "Home Ec" when they invited boys in.  As Seniors, we should feel free to experiment with our food.....or going against all childhood warnings....play with our food!

I was in the cereal Isle, fighting sensory overload, when I thought about my favorite cereal as a boy....Variety Pak!  Ten different cereals in small boxes, packed together.   One side of the box was perforated, and the box lined with waxed paper, to allow a boy to bypass the bowl and add milk and eat right from the box!






So, as I looked around, I found a Kellogg's brand, Fun Pack of 8 boxes (1.3 oz ea).  When I got home, I had the thought that It might be fun to mix them all together and make my own "Crazy" cereal.  I know where that thought came from... when we died eggs as kids, I would like to save the last egg to dip into a mixture of all the colors.  It always turned out to be Olive Drab!






So I took the Apple Jacks, Corn Pops, Froot Loops(2), Frosted Flakes(2),and Cocoa Krispies(2).....and dumped them into a large bowl.
I transferred it all to a plastic cereal container and "there you have it"  CRAZY CEREAL!

I measured out one cup into a bowl and added a banana & milk.  It was a little overwhelming.  The Frosted Flakes and Corn Pops seemed to disappear and the Froot Loops and Apple Jacks took over!  The Cocoa Krispies just seemed to clog things up a little.

My new cereal is quite colorful, and definitely NOT gluten free....but I like it!


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## Trade

At the end of my junior year in college my room mates and I took all the food we had in the house and mixed it into one big pot and made a stew. Mostly it was canned stuff like sardines, beans, corn, tuna, spaghetti, kippered herring, ravioli, beef stew etc.  It was pretty bad. We ended up throwing most of it out.


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## Meanderer

Trade said:


> At the end of my junior year in college my room mates and I took all the food we had in the house and mixed it into one big pot and made a stew. Mostly it was canned stuff like sardines, beans, corn, tuna, spaghetti, kippered herring, ravioli, beef stew etc.  It was pretty bad. We ended up throwing most of it out.


Sounds good!   Here's a recipe for Broke College "Stewdent" Stew!


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## Trade

Meanderer said:


> Sounds good!   Here's a recipe for Broke College "Stewdent" Stew!



Darn!

And all this time I thought we were being original.


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## NancyNGA

I would have probably gotten a spanking for doing this. :sentimental:  Just getting "the look" would have been enough though.


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## Meanderer

Maybe you went about it wrong, Nancy?
ALTERNATIVE CAKE SMASH


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## NancyNGA

I'm a sorter, not a combiner.  M&M's are my downfall.  They have to be sorted into piles and eaten in order of color---yellow, first, blue, last.    Could be just an excuse to eat more.   I probably would have taken one box---the Fruit Loops---and sorted them.   When I was little the food could not touch on the plate.  Now I throw everything together.


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## Meanderer




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## Pappy

I'm the same way with spice drops, Nancy.


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## Meanderer




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## Meanderer

For our Anniversary, I went out early and bought a cake, card, flowers etc.  It was early and the store had pre-arranged cut flower arrangement in the cooler.  I had to dump the flowers to transport them in the car, and didn't see any envelopes of the extended life powder.  Well, it turned out my Wife had a 3x5 card in her recipe box under "Sweet & Sour Cut Flower Power".  She mixed 1 tsp Sugar, 1 tsp Vinegar, and 1 Pint of Water.  We replaced the mixture in the vase every day, and it was 8 days before the flowers even began to show signs of fading.  A simple, life-extending solution! ...(for cut-flowers)


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## NancyNGA

Such a pretty arrangement, Meanderer.  And thoughtful of you.  Happy Anniversary!


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## NancyNGA




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## Pappy




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## JustBonee

:lofl:   ... that's what happens at my house Pappy.


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## Aunt Bea




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## NancyNGA

Bea, the food would spoil by the time I got it carved like that.


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## Meanderer

Shrunken Apple Heads  by Martha Stewart   (video)


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## NancyNGA




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## Aunt Bea

NancyNGA said:


>



Great idea, I wish I had an imagination!!!


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## Meanderer

Nancy, your candy corn on the cob looks real!  How would it be eaten?  I think you would have to slice it.  I agree with Bea, ...imagination at work!  I guess a kid would just pick out the Candy corn and eat them first.

Bea, here's a cucumber snake idea, you might try!


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## Aunt Bea

Meanderer said:


> Nancy, your candy corn on the cob looks real!  How would it be eaten?  I think you would have to slice it.  I agree with Bea, ...imagination at work!  I guess a kid would just pick out the Candy corn and eat them first.
> 
> Bea, here's a cucumber snake idea, you might try!



The Loch Ness monster, LOL!!!

I get a kick out of all of these little things that make food more appealing to kids!


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## NancyNGA




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## Meanderer




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## Meanderer

Fruit Salad Attack!


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## Meanderer

[FONT=&quot]Create tasty, edible worms. This recipe is simple and great for Halloween, April Fool's, or anytime you feel like snacking on wormy goodness! If you can make jello, then you can make these cool looking worms.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Ingredients
2 packs (3 oz) Raspberry jello
1 pkg unflavored gelatin (for extra firmness)
3/4 cup whipping cream
3 cups boiling water
15 drops green food coloring
100 flexible straws (or enough to fill your container)
Tall container (1 quart or 1 liter carton of milk)[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Directions
1) Combine gelatin in bowl and add boiling water.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]2) Let it cool to lukewarm and then add the whipping cream and 15 drops green food coloring.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]3) Gather your straws (don't forget to flex them out) and put them in the container. It's important that the straws have a tight fit so the jello stays in the straws. For this reason, a 1 liter carton may be better; you will probably get longer worms since there is a tighter fit. If you have a bigger container, a rubber band around the straws is helpful. Or you could just add more straws to fill the container.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]4) Add the gelatin mixture to the straw-filled container and let it set until firm.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]5) There are multiple ways you can remove the worms from the straws. You can roll a rolling pin over the straws and squeeze them out or you can hold the straws over warm water. The worms will slip right out.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]And voila! Jello worms are served.[/FONT]


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## Meanderer

Has anyone ever played checkers with Oreos?


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## NancyNGA

Can someone please come up with a game for this little girl to play with her broccoli? ... 
 [Btw, pouting like this was not allowed in our household.  I would get a lecture about the poor starving children in some other country.]


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## Aunt Bea

Try it raw with a little ranch dressing!






I got the starving kid lecture when I was little too!


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## Meanderer

Music Is My Food!


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## Aunt Bea




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## Meanderer




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## NancyNGA

Aunt Bea said:


> Try it raw with a little ranch dressing!



Thank you, Bea!  That's a cutie.


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## Meanderer

"Ever taken stock of your love of bacon and thought to yourself "I'm not doing enough to let people know how much I love bacon"?


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## NancyNGA

"Happy Birthday" played with Carrot, Potato, Broccoli and Japanese radish.






Junji Koyama


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## Aunt Bea

Thanks Nancy!!!

I love the internet!!!


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## Meanderer




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## Meanderer




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## NancyNGA




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## NancyNGA




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## Meanderer

At last...."Peas on Earth"!


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## NancyNGA




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## NancyNGA

Baconmobile


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## RadishRose




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## Meanderer




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## Meanderer




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## NancyNGA




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## Aunt Bea

Meatloaf again!!!


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## Meanderer

HA, HA, HA, Bea!


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## NancyNGA




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## NancyNGA




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## Marie5656




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## Marie5656




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## Meanderer

Food Play And Brain Development


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## NancyNGA




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## Meanderer




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## Marie5656

*But remember, sometimes you food will fight back

*


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## Meanderer




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## NancyNGA

:cool2:


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## RadishRose




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## Meanderer




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## Meanderer

HAPPY LABOR DAY!layful:nthego:


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## Meanderer




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## jujube

I'm trying to picture my mother trying to get us to eat by doing fancy things with food....  She was not "into" that sort of thing; you ate it as it was put on the table or you didn't eat it....your choice.  All I can remember was her making pancakes that looked like Mickey Mouse.

I tried making things fun for my daughter and granddaughter but really didn't have to.  Those two would eat just about anything that was put before them; you had to get your hands out of the way or you'd lose a couple of fingers.


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## NancyNGA




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## NancyNGA

jujube said:


> I'm trying to picture my mother trying to get us to eat by doing fancy things with food....  She was not "into" that sort of thing; you ate it as it was put on the table or you didn't eat it....your choice. ...


LOL! I was thinking the same thing, jujube.  There isn't much you can do with ground beef, potatoes, and home canned green beans.  It seems that's all I can remember ever eating. We were on a self-imposed tight budget.


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## NancyNGA




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## jujube

Speaking of picky eaters, the Spousal Equivalent won't eat green peas.  No way, never, nix to that idea.  If there are green peas in anything, he'll carefully pick them out and set them aside.

I was feeding his granddaughter a couple of years ago and I gave her some macaroni and cheese that I had put green peas into, hoping to get her to eat some veggies.  I walked off to do something else and when I came back, all the macaroni and cheese had been eaten and there was a pile of green peas sitting at the edge of the plate.  The apple doesn't fall from the tree, I guess.  The green pea, on the other hand......


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## NancyNGA

No really, I like green peas.


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## Meanderer

Give peas a chance!


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## NancyNGA

Play (on words) with your food, using a dietetic schematic.


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## NancyNGA

:eeew:


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## kaufen




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## Meanderer

Peanut Butter Snails


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## Smiling Jane

Trade said:


> At the end of my junior year in college my room mates and I took all the food we had in the house and mixed it into one big pot and made a stew. Mostly it was canned stuff like sardines, beans, corn, tuna, spaghetti, kippered herring, ravioli, beef stew etc.  It was pretty bad. We ended up throwing most of it out.



Some of your ingredients (kippered herring and sardines) are somewhat questionable, but my college friends and I often survived on gorps. We ate red gorp frequently and brown gorp was a special favorite but very few of us liked green gorps. Gorps included everything in the pantry in a color range that we thought would taste good mixed together, and they usually satisfied all of us quite well.


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## Meanderer

The Vegetable Orchestra performs with instruments made from fresh vegetables, which must be built anew for each concert and each rehearsal.

Who says you can't play with food? The Vegetable Orchestra at TEDxVienna


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## Meanderer

Good morning, on this chilly Saturday morning!  I've put my Superman hoodie on, to sit down and tell you about the salad I 'invented' yesterday.  We like to have Butterfly shrimp, and have use them in salads before, but after re-discovering Tater-tots in my memory, I decided to combine the two in a salad. 

It turned out to be _Super_!  I was gonna take a picture of it before eating, but I was in a rush to eat it! The shrimp & taters are about the same size, color and texture, and was very light to eat.  It was amazing!  It was a "Big Deal"!   Enjoy!

*Shrimp and Tater-tot Salad*:
Single serving:

handful of Romaine lettuce
small slice of sweet onion separated
1 slice of tomato cut up
5 black olives cut in half
7 baked butterfly shrimp with tail removed and cut in half
9 baked tater-tots
Italian dressing


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## NancyNGA




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## Meanderer




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## HipGnosis

I heard of a cereal bar some time ago.  Like: thishttps://www.dnainfo.com/chicago/20170607/avalon-park/slurp-like-king-cereal-bar-with-thrones-opens-on-south-side
But it's not what I imagined a cereal bar would be.   
I would like to see cereal 'cocktails' of mixes of different cereals - because I don't really want to eat a whole bowl of one flavor, or no flavor of chex, flakes, etc.
Or customers could order any combination they want, like;  2 scoops of cinnamon toast crunch, a scoop of vanilla chex and scoop of coco-crisps.

When I was a kid we always mixed cereal when one box was emptied (and didn't fill the bowl - or when two kids wanted the same cereal and there wasn't enough).


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## HipGnosis

Not playing with food but...

I don't know when I started it, but when I cook I always measure out the dried spices and the main liquid first and combine them.
I believe it un-dries the spices and more evenly, thoroughly disperses them in the dish.


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## Meanderer

HipGnosis said:


> I heard of a cereal bar some time ago.  Like: thishttps://www.dnainfo.com/chicago/20170607/avalon-park/slurp-like-king-cereal-bar-with-thrones-opens-on-south-side
> But it's not what I imagined a cereal bar would be.
> I would like to see cereal 'cocktails' of mixes of different cereals - because I don't really want to eat a whole bowl of one flavor, or no flavor of chex, flakes, etc.
> Or customers could order any combination they want, like;  2 scoops of cinnamon toast crunch, a scoop of vanilla chex and scoop of coco-crisps.
> 
> When I was a kid we always mixed cereal when one box was emptied (and didn't fill the bowl - or when two kids wanted the same cereal and there wasn't enough).


In the first post of this thread, I tried mixing all of the different little cereal boxes in the Variety pack, that we had as kids.  It turned out to be very interesting.


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## RadishRose




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## JaniceM

Play with food?  Not unless you count putting pitted black olives on fingers and eating them off.    (an interesting habit learned from older brothers).


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## RadishRose

JaniceM said:


> Play with food?  Not unless you count putting pitted black olives on fingers and eating them off.    (an interesting habit learned from older brothers).


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## JaniceM

RadishRose said:


>


Now that's a child who knows how to enjoy her olives!!


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## RadishRose




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## Lewkat

I never played with food.  My son drove me crazy with wanting all his food served on different dishes when he was a kid.  He didn't want anything touching each other.  Then, one weekend we stayed with my Philadelphia relatives at their Poconos retreat and my cousin Bob was sitting next to my boy at dinner.  Bob, as always just took what was on his plate and mixed it all up together and I though my son would die.  Ever since we were kids Bob did that and I was always turned off by it myself.  My son out grew his nutty quirkiness about food eventually.


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## Giantsfan1954

Meanderer said:


> The term "Food Lab" sounds like a name given to "Home Ec" when they invited boys in.  As Seniors, we should feel free to experiment with our food.....or going against all childhood warnings....play with our food!
> 
> I was in the cereal Isle, fighting sensory overload, when I thought about my favorite cereal as a boy....Variety Pak!  Ten different cereals in small boxes, packed together.   One side of the box was perforated, and the box lined with waxed paper, to allow a boy to bypass the bowl and add milk and eat right from the box!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> So, as I looked around, I found a Kellogg's brand, Fun Pack of 8 boxes (1.3 oz ea).  When I got home, I had the thought that It might be fun to mix them all together and make my own "Crazy" cereal.  I know where that thought came from... when we died eggs as kids, I would like to save the last egg to dip into a mixture of all the colors.  It always turned out to be Olive Drab!
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> So I took the Apple Jacks, Corn Pops, Froot Loops(2), Frosted Flakes(2),and Cocoa Krispies(2).....and dumped them into a large bowl.
> I transferred it all to a plastic cereal container and "there you have it"  CRAZY CEREAL!
> 
> I measured out one cup into a bowl and added a banana & milk.  It was a little overwhelming.  The Frosted Flakes and Corn Pops seemed to disappear and the Froot Loops and Apple Jacks took over!  The Cocoa Krispies just seemed to clog things up a little.
> 
> My new cereal is quite colorful, and definitely NOT gluten free....but I like it!


Yup, and it was bad when all the good kinds were gone and we had to eat the shredded wheat.
I remember them from my childhood, are they still around?


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## Pecos

I am easily entertained, it doesn't take much, but I am not quite at the point where I am ready to "play" with my food.
Besides, I don't think that the reaction from my wife would be fun. She is pretty serious about food and since her cooking is great, I will not mess with success.


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## RadishRose

My cousin and I used to tear the bread out of the crusts and squeeze it into little balls. Too gross to eat so we'd throw them away.


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## RadishRose




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## Meanderer

Giantsfan1954 said:


> Yup, and it was bad when all the good kinds were gone and we had to eat the shredded wheat.
> I remember them from my childhood, are they still around?


A version, with fewer good selections exists.


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## Gary O'

Lewkat said:


> My son drove me crazy with wanting all his food served on different dishes when he was a kid. He didn't want anything touching each other. Then, one weekend we stayed with my Philadelphia relatives at their Poconos retreat and my cousin Bob was sitting next to my boy at dinner. Bob, as always just took what was on his plate and mixed it all up together and I though my son would die. Ever since we were kids Bob did that and I was always turned off by it myself. My son out grew his nutty quirkiness about food eventually.


I was 'that kid'
Nothing touching
One time my mom bought the TV tray things, with the separators.
I was in heaven.




Lewkat said:


> Bob, as always just took what was on his plate and mixed it all up together



Funny, my childhood buddy, Bob, did that too
One time he reached over, took my lunch pail, and mixed in his canning jar of squash into my PB&J
So, I took what was left of his squash mess, and poured it into his thermos

Bob, was different
Farm boy
I mean, who'd bring a jar of squash to school for lunch?
....and bread pudding for dessert (ugh)
Of course his milk was raw, with little clumps floating around

Bob drank down that squash/raw milk glop like it was his favorite (shudder)

Later in life, I learned mixing food wasn't so bad
I didn't purposely mix it together, but if some gravy happened into my green beans, well, it was kinda good.


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## Jules

Giantsfan1954 said:


> Yup, and it was bad when all the good kinds were gone and we had to eat the shredded wheat.
> I remember them from my childhood, are they still around?



Full size Shredded Wheat is the only cereal I’ll eat.  Before that it was Muffets, which were maybe only available in Canada.  They don’t seem to make them any more.  ”Only one ingredient.”  I add sliced banana & skim milk.


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## JaniceM

RadishRose said:


>


Turtles!  Now that you mentioned turtles, I loved these  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turtles_(chocolate) 
I wouldn't really consider it playing with food, but I always took the pecans off the sides and bottom and ate them first.


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## Keesha




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## RadishRose




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