Poll: as a kid, did you eat foods that touched other foods.

I've been reading about kids who won't eat if different foods on their plates touch each other. This struck me as a real challenge for parents cooking for their kids, but I remembered that two of my siblings fit that profile.

How about you?

I seem to be running into this more and more lately. It was never a problem among me and my siblings. I don't quite get it.

That wouldn't have gone over very well with my mom and dad, both raised during the depression, and for whom daily meals were not a given.
No, they had little patience for that sort of thing - we ate what was put on our plates, or suffered the unpleasant consequences.

Perhaps all this fussiness stems from our affluence - I can't imagine a hungry kid complaining about foods touching.

Never bothered me. In fact the opposite, I wanted my peas in a "bowl" of mashed potatoes

Never a problem for me or our children. In fact, I can't figure out why today's children are so fussy. Our grandchildren won't eat parmesan at our home because it does not come out of the "green shaker can". This goes for other foods, as well. If it is not the same brand and cooked exactly like mom does it, they refuse to eat it.
My son said one day, "you and dad lucked out with all us kids, we just ate what you gave us". I don't think luck had anything to do with it.
I cooked, they ate....always! Of course, I fixed faves when they asked for them but we never had a problem with their eating. They also had to do chores and work in the yard, even though they had home work and outside activities. When I ask young parents today, what chores do your kids do, the answer is always the same. They are too busy! Our children knew if they did not assist us with chores, that meant we could not take them and their friends to the lake for water skiing on Saturday, or invite them over for the weekend to swim in the pool all day.
They grew up to be team players and all three have great work ethics.

When I was a kid, I never noticed whether or not my food was touching! I've never heard of such a thing. Really! People have an issue with things touching????

I'm the only normal one around here? I sure did. I took it one step further. Until sometime around age 7 or 8 I first ate all the meat, then all the potato/starch, and then the veggies. The only exception to this no touch rule was if canned beets were being served. Mashed potatoes were effective at damming up the hated beet juice from poisoning the meat.
TMSAISTI,
Wm

[Robin Garr]

The idea never even occurred to anyone in our family, but then, we were brought up as "foodies" from youth.

I never even heard of youngsters insisting on such a division until I was an adult.

My nephew had both the no-touch rule and the one-type-of-food-at-a-time rule.

My sister-in-law would eat nothing but buttered toast while my wife's whole (large) family chowed down on dinner. Then she'd start collecting dishes before people were finished, just like my sister. I've been known to bite people.

My brother to this day eats only two vegetables: french fries and corn on the cob. When he was young, he ate pretzel sticks dipped in ice cream while we ate dinner in another room. He wound up a millionaire. Go figure.

I actually have always heard about the no-touch thing, but never remember seeing a kid have a problem with it.

I do know kids who are really picky, and whose parents (in my opinion) overindulge that.

Slightly knew a kid in HS who ONLY ate hot dogs. Every night. He ended up at UNC same time as me. It carried over to other parts of life.

I must have been a "foodie" in the making from a very young age. I always experimented with a bite of "this" dipped into a bit of "that." I came up with some very unusual but pleasing discoveries. I think I enjoyed the varied complexities. One favorite (don't gag) was lasagna with apple sauce. Another, my dad's curried meat balls with a bite of canned beets.

My mom was/is the prime example of the no touching rule. She takes it to such extremes that she doesn't even plate her entire meal at once. She finishes one part of the meal, usually the meat first, then puts something else on her plate, finishes it entirely and so on...

I'm curious -- do NO TOUCHING people eat soups or casseroles? Do you cook using the same rules (e.g. can't use potato starch to thicken the gravy, etc.)? Huh -- imagine that -- no touching!