No dipping sauce at all. Feel the burn.

Mrs BamaVol would modify your #2 to read "No cooked green peppers".

To your #8, may I shout "Amen".

I agree if they're good quality wings. Otherwise, Bleu Cheese em up.

Don't question anything. Just eat it.

Also, don't mix vodka and beer at the same time if you don't remember the beer-liquor rule. That's how you end up forgetting 6 hours of your day.

Maybe because I grew up with it, but canned mackerel in tomato sauce is the bomb; fry it with garlic and you're set. Also, 'Spanish Sardines' soaked in oil.

No eating pets is in agreement with me and same with no mayo.

The offal thing I disagree with, but okra is disgusting.

"I never eat food I can't pronounce".
Said by Dame Maggie Smith in The first Marigold Hotel film, set in India

no chain restaurants.

No soggy cereal. I eat it fast, so it still has some crunch. I actually have a friend who puts milk on his cereal and then puts it aside for about half an hour. I can't think of many things more disgusting.

No double smoked bacon. I love bacon, but hate the double smoked stuff.

Never eat at a Chinese restaurant in a small rural town...

Presumably that would not apply in small rural towns China. :D

True that. Years ago I ordered sweet and sour chicken (mistake #2) in a Chinese restaurant in Garden City, Kansas (mistake #1). There were dill pickle slices in it...on purpose.

Well, it would be worse if they fell in by accident! :D

These restaurants cater to the local population which is typically NOT Chinese. You can always get authentic food by ordering off-book from the "secret" menu :)

In 2004 I drove my car from Rye, New York (Just outside New York City) to Tempe, Arizona. I was in the middle of Iowa and after arriving in the town of Mt. Vernon (Population: 3,808) I saw a Chinese restaurant and decided some Mongolian Beef would hit the spot.

Suffice it to say, I wish I'd known your advice then :(

Well, that is certainly true in my small rural town, but this place in tiny Reedsport, OR is the best I've had in the US since the Coral Reef in Sacramento closed many years ago.

An exception is often at the small towns in the desert west and southwest that were originally 19th century watering stops for the construction of cross-country railroads. A large number of Chinese did the brutal construction work on those routes and many were able to quietly stay in many of those small towns and passed the family business along.

Another exception might be Peru.

If it is cooked and served hot I will try it, at least once.

1. the two most terrifying words in english are "sushi buffet."
2. the quality of food at a restaurant is inversely proportional to the percentage of patrons who are young white people.
3. bacon does not make it better, and it must certainly be disclosed as an ingredient.
4. soy sauce is disgusting.
5. raisins and nuts should never be baked inside of another food, like cookies or bread.
6. sopapillas and kimchi go with anything. except, perhaps, with each other.
7. salt is a cooking aid. it has no business on the table.
8. when i order sushi, please respect my request for no wasabi/horseradish. it overwhelms the taste of everything else. similarly, spicy (horseradish) mustard is not superior to, or a suitable replacement for, yellow mustard.
9. mint is evil.

You never know... a few years ago, I was in a tiny town in the Thuringia region of Germany where my great-grandfather had been the town rabbi. There are more than three times the number of people living in my apartment building than live in this town.

One night, we wandered into the "Asian" restaurant in town, not expecting much. We found a Chinese family serving excellent food. The dishes were a little different than I was used to - I grew up in NYC and we ate in Chinatown frequently - but it was surprisingly delicious. I couldn't communicate with them enough to figure out how the hell they ended up there, but it did teach me not to be so quick to judge. I was so amused, I brought the delivery menu home with me.

The best drink is the one without added sweeteners of any kind.

It may not be good, but it is amazingly consistent. How did it come to be that there is a Chinese restaurant in most every rural town in America, from coast to coast, serving the same food?

^ Likewise, 30-40 years ago in British Columbia Canada some of the most dependently consistent restaurants offering decent foods were the Chinese restaurants, for the same reasons you outline in the U.S. In those days many of them included a menu of western foods as lengthy as the Cantonese selections.

But raisins and nuts go so well when baked inside chocolate - Glossettes!

Don't take food off my plate without asking. I don't care how close we are, I'm always happy to share but I insist that you ask first. I hate when people just reach over and take some unless the dish is for everyone.

That's funny. Even with a shared appetizer, Mrs BV asks before taking. We had thai tonight and the summer roll appetizer plate held four. I had to offer before she took one. I had to insist that she take a second. Something about threatening her with a sharp fork once, I think. She would never ever help herself to food off my plate. No one else would do it a second time either.

I worked with a guy years ago who told me his rules: don't touch my woman, don't touch my money and if you value your life, don't touch my food. I wonder what Melvin is up to these days.

I'll snatch a french fry or 2 off of close friend's plates without asking if I haven't ordered any. Certainly doesn't bother me when others do the same to me. I would ask if a fork was involved for sure though.

Nothing cooked or canned in soybean oil. That stuff is poison! Makes me sick, and gives me headaches. Only coconut, or olive oil for me. Coffee should always be served black, nothing added. Unless I get some of that burnt, bitter Starbucks stuff, and need to add cream to make it palatable. Tea is always unsweetened. Don't know how anybody could stand sweet tea.

I'll do that, and with Mr. Kipper, I'll even use a fork to grab a bite of various sides, or his main course without asking, but we generally always share, so I'm not opposed to him doing the same to me.

There are gradations.

1. The polite "may I taste" approach, which always is acceded to.
2. The less polite "may I taste" approach that is accompanied by
a looming fork, which always is acceded to, but with less grace.
3. The grab and snatch, which is generally frowned upon, but
even here, context matters.

Where practicable, the use of a spare plate is preferable - a
bread-and-butter one at least.

I'll do this only if the food is certainly going to be orphaned otherwise.

But another issue has come up throughout my life - people putting
food onto my plate unrequested. Until recently I was reckoned a big
eater; in fact I chose my traveling companions partially on their
small stomachs and my reaping the reward of their daintiness - but
now I sometimes look with dismay on half a hamburger being sneaked
onto my plate when I can barely finish the food that I bought (you
know who you are).

It seems to me that with most people who are close, waiting until being offered is the rule, but there seems to be a separate rule for french fries. :D

Not on my plate. If you wanted fries you should have ordered them. If you want some of my fries, you need to tell me in advance so I can ask for a larger portion.

That bothers me immensely as well, unless it is from my wife.

^^^^^ Amen.

This just came out, and I thought it was on-topic for this thread...

http://www.buzzfeed.com/robinedds/ho...erm=.arGKp59pE

Me:

8/87.

Marmite's one of the most vile things on earth--it's like taking soy sauce and boiling off all the liquid and just leaving a sticky sludge of super-salty salted salt.

Shellfish creep me out. Covered in weird shells and ligaments and mucous and with entrails inside and all that jazz. It's a psychological thing, I know--I'm sure some shellfish taste amazing, but the few times I've either accidentally ingested something or carefully tried it, I've never come away thinking, "OMG, these are so good, I have to give up my phobia." At best, it's "meh," which isn't much motivation.

Never been a fan of radishes. I guess I wouldn't say I *don't* eat them, but if they're presented to me (as they often are with tacos at authentic taquerias), I never bother to eat them. Bland and slightly gag-reflex inducing--kind of like raw carrots, though I love cooked carrots.

Can't stand licorice or understand why some people love it.

Olives are generally too salty to be pleasant.

Liver and kidneys fall under that "gross entrails" thing again (probably related to my shellfish phobia). I've tried both and I can sometimes do pate or foie gras, though, so I suppose I can strike liver from the list. I've accidentally eaten kidneys and they are WAY too pungent and strong to be pleasant to eat.

Pickles: I've decided that I'm generally not a big fan of vinegar (certain types of vinegar have their places, though--malt vinegar on fish and chips, and I do love a good balsamic vinegar), so that may explain my dislike for pickles. Although I don't love them, I can do pickled onions and (less so) eggs, but regular pickles--nah, always ask for them to be held.

I never eat anything using plastic cutlery or from paper/styrofoam plates or containers.
Begrudgingly I have to break my rule on flights now I'm paying for them myself but as I don't eat takeaway burgers or at fast food joints in the States there's no problem.
I know of no other country as bad as the US for food not being served up on proper plates.

If they're not already in a salty solution, they'd be bitter. 'Tis why you don't eat olives fresh.

Lettuce:

1. Preferably arugula or good romaine or leaf lettuce. Iceberg if fresh is acceptable as a vehicle of good croutons.

2. Never, ever, ever ever on tacos. Ever.

3. If I am going to eat a salad, put the chicken or shrimp or whatever meat on the side. Heartily dislike the taste of lettuce and meat together in the same bite.

1. No squid, ever.
2. No Miracle Whip, ever.
3. Fries cannot be salty enough. Can be eaten with ketchup, mustard, malt vinegar, or plain.
4. Don't eat regional specialties out of their region. Maryland crab cakes are best in Maryland/Delaware. Fried catfish and fried okra are best in the South. Occasional exceptions can be made (J. Gilbert's in Glastonbury, CT makes an excellent crab cake).
5. No organ meats, ever.
6. There is nothing better in this world than a fresh Jersey tomato slathered with mayonnaise and salt and pepper.
7. Chowders are milk based and don't have a single red item in them. Oh, there must be sufficient pepper in them for them to be nearly gray. With lots of crackers.
8. Lobster roll has no mayonnaise. Then it's lobster salad roll.

+1. The only exception I will make for this is Mrs. mjcewl1284. Even she has the courtesy to verbalize she will take a bite out of something well before she motions with her fork.
It bothers me to no end when an acquaintance of a friend (which means complete stranger to me) does this.

Nothing with mushrooms in it......EVER!!!!!!!!!!!