Food: I Like It.

There's a small discussion between Matthew Yglesias and Kevin Drum regarding food likes and dislikes. Matthew, it seems, likes everything whereas Kevin doesn't like much at all. Here are some random thoughts of mine:

:: I love meat. Meat rules. Grilled, fried, broiled, roasted – meat rules. Chicken, steak, turkey, pork -- meat rules. (I haven't had lamb too often, but I liked it.)

:: In terms of vegetables, I like a fairly small number of them. I love just about all the salad vegetables – lettuces, endives, spinaches, et cetera. Mostly I prefer them in their raw form, with dressing (balsamic vinaigrette, yum). I can't eat cooked spinach by itself, but cooked spinach as an ingredient in something is nice.

:: I've loosened up on tomatoes. I used to hate them in their raw form, but now I like them on sandwiches and burgers. I cannot, however, simply eat tomato slices by themselves.

:: Potatoes: fry 'em, roast 'em, or cube 'em and stick 'em in a stew. Just don't give me those sliced potatoes covered in cheese, and I do not like mashed potatoes, either. (What's weird about mashed potatoes is that I always think a pile of them with a pool of gravy on top looks incredibly yummy, but then I taste them and realize I still hate them.)

:: Other veggies I like include corn, just about all varieties of onions (except red and pearl), carrots (again, raw, not cooked by themselves, although cooked-as-ingredient is fine) and all manner of Chinese and oriental vegetables like bok choy. The Chinese know how to cook vegetables without turning them into mushy ickiness. I do not like asparagus, turnips, artichokes, rutabagas, or parsnips, although to be fair, it has been so many years since I tasted a parsnip that my tastes may well have changed.

:: Special mention must be made here of broccoli. This is, bar none, the most disgusting food item on this planet. I cannot even abide the smell of this stuff cooking. Incidentally, the only episode of The Family Guy that I ever really liked involved that little megalomaniacal baby declaring his lifelong enmity against broccoli. I don't care if broccoli is the most healthy foodstuff in existence. It is a hateful, vile weed that is unfit for human consumption. As Dr. Hibbard said in an episode of The Simpsons, "It tries to warn you with its awful taste!"

:: I love spicy food and I always have, although in more recent years I've downgraded the "heat" factor in favor of flavor. I do, though, still occasionally enjoy the sensation of burning taste buds and a sweaty brow.

:: I have a sweet-tooth that is almost all-inclusive. The only candy that immediately leaps to mind that I don't like are those marshmallow Peeps. Those are gross. Chocolate rules – although I seem to be in the tiny minority that prefers both dark and white chocolate to milk chocolate. I love coconut. Ice cream is, to me, the best argument for the existence of God.

:: Beverages: I love coffee, which I doctor with quite a bit of sugar and brew fairly strong. (Turkish proverb: "Coffee should be black as Hell, strong as Death, and sweet as Love.") I enjoy green tea with honey and quite a few herbal blends, although I'm not as much a tea drinker these days. I enjoy apple cider in the fall (cold only; I don't like it heated), I drink Diet Pepsi each and every day, and I also dig grape soda every so often (about twice a year).

:: Alcohol: Beer, preferably red, and wine, also red. I adore Port. I flirted very briefly with Jack Daniels in college, but I quickly gave that up. My flirtation with tequila was even shorter, consisting of a single night and two shots. (No, I wasn't drunk on two shots. I had two and decided that I just didn't like the flavor. But then, I didn't do that lick-salt-from-your-wrist ritual, either.) Rum-and-Coke is nice on occasion, but I haven't done this in several years.

:: Popcorn rules. So does pizza. There's a lot of great pizza in Buffalo. My favorite toppings are Italian sausage and green peppers, but basic pepperoni pizza is also nice. It's a sign of my devotion to pizza that I worked at Pizza Hut for four years and never got tired of the food. (Don't ask about my waistline at the time.)

:: I also drink a lot of water. This is essential, and I feel icky if I don't.