No American cheese....ever. The taste and texture are enough to make me gag.
No sauerkraut
No pickles
No coconut (the flavor is fine buts its the texture I hate)
Not a fan of capers or olives but I will tolerate them
Mayonnaise should be used sparingly
Steak should be cooked no further than medium
Hamburgers should not be well done, I'd still like to see some pink
I like bread to be warm or toasted
I don't like crinkle cut french fries. For some reason they always taste bland to me.
Food should be well seasoned. I will note that I always taste my food before adding additional seasonings. I think it is rude to the chef when people automatically add salt/pepper before tasting the food first.

I'm not a fan of hot drinks
I like my drinks well chilled
I highly prefer Coke but will drink Pepsi products...
Only Coke should be mixed with liquor... Pepsi is too sweet
I want to be able to taste the alcohol when I order a drink

These are your rules so why should I interfere? I won't.

But I will add my own rule:

Neither Coke nor Pepsi should be mixed with liquor. This solves the next issue: being able to taste the alcohol.

This is the first list I've seen posted in a while on this thread that actually makes sense to me and mostly agree with.

Do I have any pictures at all of you at any DOs without a glass of something in your hand? Can't think of any. :p

No pickles or sauerkraut? How do you survive where you live?

Not a fan of [the idea of] scrapple, either. Fortunately, there is a decent selection of fairly authentic Mexican restaurants not far from me. :)

I'm not a fan of scrapple. However, I do enjoy Mexican food. :)

Crunchy is always better.

I so totally agree. It's up there with Miracle Whip and margarine. There's no reason for it, provided the items they are imitating (mayonnaise, "real" cheese, butter) can be found. White bread is also in that category...oh, and fake pancake syrup - that's disgusting.

Next rule: Be willing to try absolutely everything (unless it is alive, totally unethical as I understand it, or its aroma induces vomiting).

I have tried eating mushrooms and drinking milk. I hope to get over the mushroom thing some point during my next 40 years (I keep hearing what I'm missing), but it will be a struggle. Milk - forget it.

What else...

=Steak in a restaurant is almost always disappointing (i.e., not as good as when my best friend grills it at home), or it's wicked expensive. I'll order something else.

=I'm a recent 50% transplant to the South. No sweet tea for me. Iced tea is best unsweetened. Lemon and mint are optional.

=I want milk in my coffee. I can't stand the way cream coats my tongue and the roof of my mouth. I'd rather have it black.

=While it's a welcome sign that my lettuce has been washed, I can't stand to be served a wet salad in a restaurant. Wet with water, not dressing, I mean.

=I had a strict no-hot dog rule, but then a local boutique charcuterie opened, and I've adjusted my rule to: no grocery store hot dogs.

there will be more.

Ahh this one!! I agree fully, it is especially bad and highly pronounced in a taco salad and that seems to be some of the worst offenders (otherwise good mexican holes in the wall!)

Water soggy lettuce, and a 'wet chip' at the end, yuck!

Totally disagree - American cheese has one purpose and one purpose only: cheeseburgers. It melts perfectly and mixes well with the patty and most of the standard burger spreads. I'm a big fan of fancy cheeses, but I always order American cheese when it is offered with a burger.

Eat at the dirtiest BBQ places.

Absolutely, though I still think the best grilled cheese and turkey/ham melts are made with American cheese. But otherwise, I agree with the other posters.

i have no idea how i keep living here....

my "home" rules:

- no sandwiches not even fancy ones
- no raw veggies, not even salads
- no cold food or drinks until evening and even then I'll take a hot meal over a cold one
- no sour foods, including eastern NC bbq and vinegar based anything
- no fresh water fish, tilapia is sewer fish to me in particular
- seafood is preferred if it met its death in my kitchen by my hands
- no sirloin steak or cuts, tastes like blood/iron to me
- no margarine, canned whipped cream, american cheese
- no white meat chicken ever
- no farmed shrimp, tastes like dirty fish tank algae...so does chain restaurant lobster


my "travel" rules ( i travel to asia mostly)

- eat what locals eat where they eat.
- anything with pandan is going into my belly asap
- eat all the purple and green desserts ( most likely sweet taro and pandan based)
- if it looks like lava, eat it


I think I need to relocate.

I'm not sure what it is about mayonnaise (IMO it goes well, sparingly as you said, with club sandwiches/things with bacon). Shield your eyes though if your meal comes with a salad in China, or if you check out bakeries also in East Asia-mayo is well, and possibly even alive. And well. That part of the world mostly turned me off of the stuff.

I'm with you on the purple/green stuff, and dare I add king cake to your likely SEAsia-specific hyphenpoint?

In china indeed.

I was eating at a rather nice restaurant, and we were with some locals, they ordered the fruit salad.

It came, with mayo all over it! I was appalled, but learned this is very common there. Those with my suggested that it may have been seen in the west to have some 'white stuff' on top being whipping cream, and so someone came back and put mayo on it thinking it was mayo, and started a countrywide trend....who knows for sure!

Here's a pic:
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-d...-10-52_493.jpg

I put king cakes on my list, I've yet to be disappointed with green and purple anywhere!

I think my se asia cravings have been seriously amplified by living on the east coast. Its even made me forget about the mayo in some asian food in the above post. That was rampant in korean owned sushi restaurants on the west coast, I couldn't get a piece of sushi without it being covered in sriracha and mayo.

Japan gave me the love of kewpie mayo, I'll happily take an okonomiyaki or pizza with kewpie mayo drizzled on it. I've never seen mayo in any chinese establishment though.

There are very different grades of American cheese/"cheese"; the cheap, sweet stuff most places use is generally labelled "processed cheese food" or worse yet "processed cheese product" and both are (to my mind) only useful for a basic grilled cheese sandwich, and not good on burgers.

Better American (less sweet, higher cheese-to-not-cheese content, and actually labelled "processed cheese" without sales modifiers) is a bit more versatile, and I wouldn't turn it down on a burger if I knew that was what was being offered, although I'd rather have something better.

I know I'm in the minority, but as much as I love cheese, I don't like any type of it on burgers at all. If it's American cheese, I won't eat the burger period.

Cheese - blue is the best and going in/on anything when it's an option.

I have a few food rules:

At home

* No taco shells, ever. - Coming from a Mexican background, taco shells are the anti-Christ. You just don't allow these outside forces into your home.

* Deli cut bacon, always - I stopped buying packaged bacon years ago.

* Eggs cooked in butter and/or bacon grease - I never use oil or spray.

* Best Foods mayo only - I've tried other brands, but they don't compare.

* Shredded cheese at arm's reach - I always have shredded cheese, usually a Mexican blend, around. It's great as a omelet filler, for grilled quesadillas, chili topper, and nachos. Speaking of, I got the idea of using potato chips instead of tortilla chips for nachos from a chain restaurant and they're excellent.

Traveling

* If I have to guess what it is, I'm not eating it - No mystery meats!

* Liquids only from a container in foreign countries - Not taking my chances. One exception is draft beer. I order wine by the bottle vs. glass.

* Pizza should have cheese I recognize - I've ruled out eating pizza in Germany and Japan as a result.

* Taxi drivers have good restaurant tips - I never ask hotel concierges for suggestions on places to eat, cab drivers are more trustworthy.

* Load up on free breakfast spreads - I can the skip lunch and go directly to dinner. Sometimes, I'll grab an extra piece of fresh fruit or a pastry for lunch or a snack. Saves money if I'm on a budget.

Why?

Blanket ban on tap water for any foreign country? I'd trust the tap water in Toronto or London over the tap water in some parts of the US...

Because in both situations I believe the substance was intended to be cheese, but it was something else. And it left an awful aftertaste.

Oh, I thought you were saying that you had a blanket ban on pizza in Japan and Germany. Granted, the Japanese like to put all kinds of things on pizza, but I thought a blanket ban seemed a bit extreme.

I am wholly unimpressed by restaurants whose claim to fame is large portion sizes. If you tell me "Let's go to <some place>. They have really huge portion sizes", I won't want to go.

Smoked Salmon appetizer on an airplane. Coming back from Europe with OH, non-rev in F, it was so good I asked for seconds. I made it to JFK and could tell then that something bad was cooking. Never again. Luckily the evening flight back to Austin was half full and I had a seat in the back next to the blue room.

A mustard/ketchup mix for dipping my fries.

Cheese slices with raw carrots.

Another vote for Best Foods mayo.

Buy a baked chicken breast at my local grocery deli instead of cooking one myself.

Always have a two or three day supply of avocados for guacamole or sliced for salads, sandwiches or red sauce pasta.

Don't like orange colored cheddar cheese.

Bobette

+1. A heaping plate is unappetizing to me.

Opposite of that for me, especially in Asia. Love just pointing at a menu and not knowing what's coming.

- Carbonade flamande (stoverij) always goes with French fries and is mixed with mayonaise so the fries are soaked in the sauce mixture... *mmmmmmmmm*
- If something is 1 day past the date on the pack, I ain't gonna touch it anymore
- Spaghetti goes with cheese, always.
- Mac and cheese without bread crumbs on top and baked off in the oven ain't no Mac & Cheese
- Eating food that's supposed to be hot, chilled might give you a whole new experience
- My steak is crusty on the outside, but rare cooked inside
- Fruits that feel a little soft already are a no-go
- In winter time, if your drinks are cooled outside (specially when it's almost freezing) taste much better then when cooled in the refrigerator
- A good bolognese sauce should simmer for a couple of hours
-Before adding mushrooms to anything, cook them in a seperate pan without any fat.


When on the road:

- Only 2 rules: don't take any risks in warmer countries and ALWAYS eat as much as you can off stuff you can't get back home (and of course, bring some back home, if possible)

Me too... sort of. But I've had multi-day periods of bad luck with that, which actually had me wishing for a McDs or KFC, or better yet an interpreter.:eek:

I'm curious. Do you put avocados in red sauce pasta, or throw on top? Never heard of this.

I was a vegetarian for a couple of years and only came half the way back- I still don't eat beef, pork, or other mammals

Eggs are evil, unless they're hidden in something like a meringue which disguises the worst of the egginess. I even make my tuna salad with a yogurt-based ranch dressing. (My egg aversion is bad enough that I once got a tuna salad sandwich in ATL with unlabeled evil egg in it, took a bite to discover the hard-boiled minced monstrosity, and immediately started gagging.)

No complex carbs, large amounts of protein, or hot beverages before 11am. I need to be vertical for a while before my stomach can process such things.

absolutely =1

I've never heard that before. What about them are evil? I'm curious. Please tell.

Part of the problem with eggs is the smell of them when they're cooking- it just turns my stomach. And part of it is the 'egginess' that I find to be unpleasant. It's a food aversion that I've had since about age 4, and I know it's totally irrational, but it just is, even as I recognize the value of the egg as a building block in many other things I do like.

When I really think about it, eggs are probably my favorite food. There are very few things that I can eat every single day without ever getting tired of them. Eggs are the main one.

You can have my eggs then, and it's a win-win all around.