“I Really Like Corn” and Other Polarizing Foods

TARIQ, A 7-YEAR-OLD FROM NEW YORK CITY, ROSE TO TIKTOK FAME LAST MONTH FOR HIS RESPONSES TO A REPORTER AT A FOOD FESTIVAL ABOUT THE EAR OF CORN HE WAS EATING. IN CASE YOU MISSED IT, TARIQ REALLY LIKES CORN.

BASED ON ANECDOTAL EVIDENCE, MOST PEOPLE FEEL PRETTY NEUTRAL ABOUT CORN, BUT THEY HAVE SOME STRONG OPINIONS ABOUT OTHER FOODS.

[Katya Chadha]: I love milk.

[Paz Baum]: What do you think about cheese?

[Anna Patten]: I have nothing against it. I just personally don’t like it at all.

[PB]: What do you think about ketchup?

[Francesca Gamba]: I think it’s disgusting.

KATYA, A SELF-PROCLAIMED MILK-LOVER, ANNA, WHO HATES CHEESE, AND FRANCESCA, WHO CAN’T STAND KETCHUP, SPOKE WITH ME ABOUT THEIR RELATIONSHIPS WITH SOME OF TODAY’S MOST POLARIZING FOODS.

KATYA’S LOVE OF MILK PUTS HER IN THE MINORITY AMONG OUR GENERATION. I HAD TO LEARN MORE ABOUT WHY SHE CONTINUED TO DRINK MILK WHILE MANY OF HER PEERS SHIFTED TO VEGAN AND LACTOSE-FREE DIETS.

[KC]: I just think it’s so tasty and you don’t even need to have it with anything else, just a nice glass of milk on its own. I think it can be more refreshing than water.

KATYA CONTINUED BY ADDRESSING SOME OF THE MORAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL CONCERNS OF CONSUMING DAIRY.

[KC]: Obviously there’s issues that come with mass factory farming, and I try not to buy from any of those companies. I think it’s important that the cows are raised in a better environment: outside, pasture-raised, grass-fed. And I think that’s important. But I also think that shaming consumers for a situation that is not really under their control as it really is these large corporations who keep perpetuating these really unethical practices.

ANNA, ON THE OTHER HAND, AVOIDS ALMOST ALL DAIRY. SHE DID RE-INTRODUCE SOME INTO HER DIET RECENTLY, THOUGH.

[AP]: I recently started eating plain cream cheese. It was a big moment for me.

CUTTING AN INGREDIENT AS COMMON AS CHEESE OUT OF ONE’S DIET, BAR THE OCCASIONAL SPREAD OF CREAM CHEESE ON A BAGEL, IS NO EASY FEAT.

[AP]: One thing that people ask me about a lot is pizza, and I just have always eaten pizza without cheese on it. I feel like I just request dishes that very traditionally have cheese with no cheese, and then people look at me weird, but I like it, so who cares?

ANNA ALSO OFTEN MAKES FOOD AT HOME, LIKE PESTO, TO ACCOMMODATE HER DISLIKE OF CHEESE.

TARIQ LOVES CORN, ANNA HATES CHEESE, KATYA LOVES MILK, I CAN’T STAND AVOCADOS. BUT WHY? THERE SEVERAL REASONS, BOTH BIOLOGICAL AND CULTURAL, WHY INDIVIDUALS LIKE SOME FOODS AND DISLIKE OTHERS.

ONE MAIN REASON WHY PEOPLE HAVE STRONG FEELINGS TOWARD A GIVEN FOOD IS THAT THEY HAVE EITHER A POSITIVE OR NEGATIVE ASSOCIATION OR MEMORY WITH THAT FOOD. KATYA AND FRANCESCA BOTH EXPERIENCED THIS.

[KC]: I think probably from a young age I had milk, like alongside desserts, and I have an insane sweet tooth, so I love cookies, tarts, cakes, cupcakes, anything with sugar. And so I think there’s probably a very positive connotation in my head of milk going along with the other thing I love like chocolate and sweets.

[FG]: One time when I was at summer camp for the first time, I was at lunch and I ran into someone by accident and this guy had ketchup on his fries and it got in my hair. And I smelled my hair like–I didn’t notice at first–and then I sat down to eat my lunch and I put my fingers through my hair and there’s ketchup in my hair and I smell my hair, and it’s like hard and sticky and gross. And ever since then, I’ve disliked ketchup even more.

ANOTHER EXPLANATION BEHIND THE LIKE AND DISLIKE OF CERTAIN FOODS IS THAT SOMETIMES, PEOPLE EAT SOMETHING WITH A FOOD THEY ALREADY LIKE, MAKING THEM ENJOY THAT FIRST FOOD. TAKE TARIQ AND HIS CORN ON THE COB, FOR EXAMPLE: HE LIKELY ENJOYS EATING BUTTER, AND NOW HE ASSOCIATES CORN, WHICH HAS A RELATIVELY BLAND TASTE, WITH THE FLAVOR AND CONSISTENCY OF BUTTER.

MEMORY AND FOOD ASSOCIATIONS ARE PSYCHOLOGICAL EXPLANATIONS FOR FEELINGS TOWARD CERTAIN FOODS, BUT THERE IS ALSO A CULTURAL EXPLANATION: WE TEND TO LIKE FOODS THAT OUR FRIENDS AND FAMILY ENJOY. IF AT A YOUNG AGE YOU ARE CONSISTENTLY EXPOSED TO A GIVEN FOOD, YOU ARE LIKELY TO ENJOY EATING IT LATER IN LIFE.

NOW WE KNOW WHY PEOPLE LOVE SOME FOODS AND CAN’T STAND OTHERS, BUT WE ARE LEFT WITH ONE LINGERING QUESTION ABOUT TARIQ’S SITUATION: DOES CORN HAVE QUOTE “THE JUICE”?

THANK YOU FOR EVERYONE WHO CLEARED UP THAT QUESTION FOR US; I GUESS IT TURNS OUT TARIQ WAS RIGHT. FOR WNUR NEWS, I’M PAZ BAUM

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