Do you take apart your Oreos?

Pizza may not have pineapple.  Meatloaf must have bacon over the top.  Chili must be beef and tomato based.  Barbeque ribs must have a dry-rub.  Tuna salad may only be made with mayonnaise, not Miracle Whip. 

People have all sorts of rules about their favorite foods.  I certainly have more than a few.  Many of these rules have substantive results.  Pineapple really does change a pizza.  The various styles of chili, barbeque or clam chowder really are quite different.  But once the food is done and ready to eat, what’s done is done, right?

The other night I was wrapping up my summer sitting in the sun after dinner eating an orange creamsicle, and it occurred to me that we also have particular ways of eating our favorite foods.  I took a bite off the top of the creamsicle, savored the bite, then looked at the creamsicle.  The cream inside was smooth, but surrounded by a thin layer of orange with an irregular, icy texture.  Immediately I was transported to my childhood when I did my best to eat the orange first, leaving me with the creamy center.  I had to use my front teeth to gingerly chip the orange off.  I loved it when I was able to separate a large slab of icy, orange brightness.  Then the creamy richness rounded off the experience.

What other foods require a certain method?  I like my Oreos fully assembled, dipped in milk almost till soggy.  I like my Pringles in stacks of three to six; they just taste different in quantity than solo.  Same goes for Doritos.  A Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup is a two bite treat if I am trying to control myself.  If nobody is looking…one bite.  I like my peas mixed with mashed potatoes.  I love leftover chili poured over pasta.  I love Ruffles potato chips on a tuna or bologna sandwich.  I like mayo with my fries.  I do not dip fries in my milkshakes.  When I was a kid I ate only one thing at a time, never letting my foods touch.

I know others who always disassemble the Oreos first.   Some eat the creamy center, some dip in milk, some don’t.  I know one person who eats the edges of a Reese’s first.  I know somebody else who eats a Kit-Kat in layers.  I know many who only know one condiment – ketchup.  I’ve known people with all sorts of methods for eating a banana, including with a knife and spoon! 

Do you eat the candy coating of an M&M first?  Do you bite into a Tootsie Roll Pop?  Do you eat a burrito with knife and fork or by hand?  Use a spoon with spaghetti?  What are your eating idiosyncracies?