I come from a bulk family. We always had excess of everything.
Sam’s was a regular stop, so we were never short of toilet paper, toothpaste, dog food, paper towels, etc.
My dad is an avid hunter and fisherman, so we always had a freezer full of game.
Yearly, my parents would buy a cow to have butchered. We would put up the meat to eat on for the year.
My mom orders pecans about a million pounds at a time.
And shrimp is ordered in bulk, too. My dad has a “shrimp lady”, who calls him when she has fresh, Gulf caught shrimp. She called him this week. And he was gracious enough to order some for me and my sister, too. I couldn’t be more thrilled!
So my afternoon is going to be spent putting up shrimp.
This is normal practice in southwest Louisiana. It is fairly easy to obtain large quantities of shrimp straight from the gulf at good prices. But I got to thinking, is this normal elsewhere?
I have never purchased shrimp from a store. In fact, it kinda grosses me out. I don’t know why, but I don’t like the idea of store bought shrimp. I am also very particular about shrimp in restaurants. Unless it is a coastal, seafood specific restaurant or the menu says “Gulf shrimp”, I will not order it.
I am not a picky eater, but I have a few peculiarities when it comes to my cuisine of choice.
- The only seafood I will purchase at the store/market is lump crabmeat (the real stuff, not krab with a “K”), crawfish tails (only Louisiana crawfish and CJ’s if I can find it), canned tuna, and tuna steaks. All other seafood is fresh caught.
- I rarely order fish at a restaurant. If I do, it is always a species I know can be found locally (mahi, snapper, tuna, amberjack, etc). I absolutely never order farm raised fish. Something about them swimming around in their own poo is appalling to me, even though technically all fish swim around in their own poo.
- Community Coffee is the only brand I will buy. I drink other brands when forced to there is no other option, but Community is what I keep in stock.
- The only canned vegetables I will eat are beans (I will eat any type of canned bean, except green beans. I love beans!), corn, and tomatoes (usually, these are used for cooking). Any green vegetable must be frozen or fresh.
- I hate pickles. I have a hard time buying relish for guests when serving hot dogs. Yes, I loathe them that much.
- I also hate mangos. I want to like them so badly, so I keep trying them, but no, I continue to hate them.
- Sausage is never store bought. My dad always has some on hand (avid hunter-see above) and I have never eaten any from the store that wasn’t really fatty. The only exception is breakfast sausage or un-cased Italian sausage.
- Until recently, I hated all pork. But somewhere along the way, my hate turned to apathy, and my apathy turned to like. I like leaner cuts of pork, but fatty pork makes me sick. Literally, it gives me a tummy ache and nausea.
- I also used to hate cilantro and red onions. But now, I like them. It’s funny how tastes change! They both can be overpowering, so I like them in small doses.
Do you have any hang ups about food? Any foods you absolutely hate?
