Adulting on the Menu: 17 Childhood Favorites We Have Outgrown
When we were kids, we had to suffer our parents’ culinary preferences whether we liked them or not. Many dishes have since been left in childhood as we age, move out, and, most importantly, have our own grocery budgets. We have gathered a list of the meals that we’ve refused to take into adulthood.
1. Beefaroni
There's nothing wrong with Beefaroni, but it was the ultimate struggle meal back in the day. If you're a grown man or woman, it's best just to make a plate of chicken and vegetables or whatever. If you are about to cook this up, you're probably better off waiting until you can cook something more wholesome.
2. Vienna Sausages
Back in the day, Vienna sausages were a quick and convenient piece of grub you could eat before football practice or if your parents weren't around to cook. But at the end of the day, they weren't particularly well-seasoned or hearty, so it's easy to leave these bad boys in the past.
3. Liver and Onions
Liver gets lousy press in almost every food-discussion thread. It's been a childhood staple for many, where we'd drown it in ketchup, plug our noses, and try not to gag as we put it in our mouths. No wonder the liver gets a bad reputation.
4. Broccoli
As with most vegetables, the issues lay with how our parents cooked them. Like many others, I've discovered that broccoli is delicious when it’s not boiled to death and drowned in watery, grainy cheese sauce.
5. Mashed Potatoes
You can have too much of a good thing. Mashed potatoes are typical picky-eater fare, but a diet of just potatoes with fish fingers, sausages, turkey drumsticks, and potatoes with anything means it’s been left behind.
6. Kale
Kale blossomed into popularity with the Whole Foods crowd. For most adults, overexposure to this veggie in childhood means they won't add it to their plates anytime soon.
7. Pea Soup
Somehow, pea soup is worse than being faced with every other green vegetable in the world. Peas have a weird texture, and now you've made it worse by mashing them into a neon nightmare? No thanks.
8. Fish Sticks
Fish is fine. I have no problem with fish. I do have an issue with fish sticks. Who knows what “fish” happens to be in these breaded, frozen atrocities?
9. London Broil
If you've never experienced this dish in childhood, you haven't missed much. A London broil is akin to chewing on a wet two-by-four.
10. Canned Chicken
Our sense of smell can instantly take us back to childhood, but it's not a welcome return for canned chicken. I won't eat if food smells like it came from the pet store.
11. Tongue
In our parents’ time, there was more use of offal as cheap food and fewer animals went to waste. Unfortunately, the experience scarred many of us, with the tongue being the least appealing offal meat.
12. Tuna Casserole
Tuna casserole is a dish that appears less frequently today, and maybe that’s a good thing. The thought of eating warm canned tuna (see my pet store comment) turns my stomach.
13. Green Peppers
Peppers as a whole, are fine, but they're better when yellow or red. This is why green peppers are half the price of others.
14. Spam
Spam is a meat combining chopped pork and ham, and Spam is a no-no. Plus, for some reason, it's now over five dollars per can. If you live in Hawaii, however, Spam is still a popular favorite.
15. Boiled Hot Dogs
With some meals, the method of cooking is essential. While I won't eat hot dogs, I'll happily enjoy a grilled one.
16. Coleslaw
Some foodstuffs get a bad review due to smell or taste, but coleslaw seems to combine both. The ingredients in coleslaw are fine on their own but horrible together. I liken the smell to an open drain.
17. Bread and Dripping
As a child of parents who grew up during postwar rationing, I’d like to sign off with this suggestion. This Sunday afternoon treat consisted of white bread slathered in cold, congealed meat fat. Bread and dripping is as awful as it sounds, and I’m retching as I write this.
