I got my first pair of roller skates when I was 7 years old. They were white with pink pom-poms, and had a picture of Strawberry Shortcake on the sides. I think I practically slept in those skates. No one ever saw me without them. My neighbors would laugh because the only thing they ever saw flying pass them was my huge pony tail in the wind.

Growing up as a kid my parents divorced when I was quite young. My family & I were uprooted from our comfortable life in Upstate New York and moved to NJ. For the most part my mother had a huge support system, which included my uncles, grandmother and aunt and those who eventually became aunts by marriage. Being that it was a struggle for my mother to make ends meet at times, let’s just say we didn’t have gourmet meals, but we managed to make the best of it.

Till this day, there are certain foods that I refuse to eat b/c I was forced to as a kid. These foods were bought mainly because they were cheap and could be purchased in mass quantities way before the explosion of bulk stores like Costco..etc..etc…

So here’s my, “Do Not Eat” list:

 

• Spam- I don’t know how many ways I can say disgusting. Fried spam sandwiches, with Kool-Aid on the side. What really grossed me out was the smell and the gelly film that was always in the can. Can anyone tell me what exactly is spam to begin with?? Does anyone still eat it? From the looks of the website, it looks like its even more popular than ever!
• Corn Beef Hash- This is right up there with Spam. It came in a can and smells like dog food. There were times when I mistakenly fed it to my grandmothers dog, oh well, not by accident, I just wanted to see if he would eat it…and yup, he did. I didn’t realize until I was older that those little white pieces of matter, were supposed to be potatoes. The website states, “Special care is taken in making America’s favorite hash. HORMEL® Hash is a delicate blend of tender chunks of meat with firm Idaho potatoes and select seasonings”. Now, ‘tender chunks of meat’, sounds like dog food to me..and being that they didn’t state what kind of meat, only leads me to wonder….yeah…what kind of meat is actually used??? Is it some poly-meat blend? Because it definitely wasn’t the type of corn beef I was used to.
• Chitlins (or chitterlings)- Ok, here’s a touchy subject for people raised in the south. Some swear by these grotesque pieces of intestines, but hell no, these will not part my lips! The last time I ate pig intestines I was 5 years old. Even when I think about them, I can still smell the putridness of it all. Why in the world would people want to eat some animals shit chute? Beats the hell out of me.
• Bologna- I swear if I ever see another bologna & cheese sandwich it will be the death of me. These were a constant staple in our house. “Mommy, I’m hungry”, “Well go and make a bologna sandwich”….lol! The sight of bologna makes my skin crawl, practically b/c it reminds of me of flesh & skin (but that goes for any type of cold cut..if’ it’s not turkey breast, I will not eat it.) Much like spam, we had lunches filled with fried bologna and lets not forget the Kool-aid, red was my favorite flavor…lol.
• Tang- Not only were we forced to eat some foul foods, we had our share of foul beverages to go along with it. Now, what exactly is Tang? Is it orange juice? I just know it left the nastiest taste in my mouth ever! The most vivid memory I have is one time when I was sick, my mother gave me a tuna sandwich and some tang, let’s just say as I laid in bed with puke all over me, I realized the two didn’t mix.
• Hot Dogs- I think I ate so many of these thing as I kid, I probably could have turned into an Oscar Myer Wiener! To make matters worst, we usually had the store brand hot dogs which were all gritty tasting . Again, fried hot-dogs, hot-dogs & pork-n-beans were staple. You will never ever see a hot-dog in my fridge. I will never eat a hot-dog from Papayas or any nasty hot dog stand on the streets.

Ok, so that rounds up my ‘do not eat’ list. I will never eat any of these foods and I will never make my child eat them either. As a matter of fact, I tried to give him a hot-dog when he was younger, and needless to say, he thought it was the nastiest thing ever & he hasn’t wanted one since.

I’m sure I forgot a few things, so if anything comes to mind later on today, I’ll be sure to update! I didn’t even touch on the several food allergies that I have, that’s a whole ‘nother post . Remember Kevin Arnold’s best friend from the Wonder Years? Well, I think my list is alot longer than his!