We all have one: the super-weird food combo that we are completely obsessed with, but everyone else thinks we're crazy for eating. Anyone we tell about it, or offer a taste to, is disgusted, but we shamelessly eat it anyway, dammit!Whether it's peanut butter and pickle sandwiches, Hot Cheetos and cream cheese, or goldfish and marshmallow creme, we asked R29 staffers to embrace their rebellious taste buds and tell us their favorite oddball food snacks.
Ahead, find out the edible mishmashes everyone loves to hate that we absolutely love. And try not to judge us, because we know you've got one, too!
"When I was a little kid, I was a super-picky eater. My grandma started bribing me with a dollar for every new food I tried.
"She used to make the best banana bread, and one day, left alone in her kitchen, I took the freshly baked banana bread that was on the counter and added cheese, thinking I could earn a dollar for trying something new. Turns out that's not the way it worked — but it was delicious.
"I read somewhere that woman tend to crave sweet/salty combos; peanut M&M's, pineapple on pizza, chocolate pretzels, etc. I think this satisfies that craving — and if you break down the elements of a cheese platter, it's not that much different in terms of flavor profiles."
"A woman I used to work with swore by peanut butter and hummus sandwiches. It would totally turn my stomach whenever I'd see her making one in the kitchen. (I love peanut butter and I love hummus, but together? Ridiculous!) Everyone whom she convinced to give it a try said it was a delicious pairing, though, so what do I know."
"There weren't many options that felt edible when it came to buying lunch in middle school. The two mainstays were Taco Bell bean-and-cheese burritos (somehow, those were allowed to be sold at recess, or, rather, 'nutrition,' as they called it) and bagels with cream cheese. You could also buy Hot Cheetos from the vending machines.
"At some point during the 7th grade, it became 'cool' to add a layer of Hot Cheetos to one's bagel with cream cheese, so, naturally, I followed suit. Except it was actually delicious and not just one of those things you tolerated because that's what every other 12-year-old was doing. Something about the spicy, crunchy chips and the smooth cream cheese just works. After a while, I ditched the bagel altogether and just went straight to the source."
"My cousin Karen and I started a Kandy Katering company (er, 'kompany') about 11 years ago. Our whole concept was that we didn't bake or make anything, originally, we only curated and arranged. One of our biggest hits were our mini Rolo hors d'oeuvres, which were a mini Rolo topped with a mini-marshmallow, both speared with a festive toothpick. We'd serve them on fancy platters.
One of the inventions we created during that period was the S'more-tilla — melted marshmallow and chocolate between two salty tortilla chips. It was a delicious salty-sweet combo, but it broke our company rules due to the fact that the marshmallow had to be melted, so we kept it as our little secret and never served it at any of our events."
"It all started when I was pregnant with my first daughter — I had these inexplicable cravings for something salty, crunchy, spicy, citrus-y — and ice cold — all in one shot. I was in a bodega one night, saw the wasabi pea packages clipped next to the refrigerator with all the juice, and bam— a craving was born. I still love the combo — and so do both my kids."
"Pasta and ketchup and Italian dressing all together — yup. The Italian dressing adds some salt/flavor, and the ketchup is a sweet addition. Trust me, sounds gross but is amazing."
"I first tried this combo spontaneously, at Pizzeria Uno's one late night, during my sophomore year of college (so I can't really vouch for my sobriety at the outset of the experiment, #sorrynotsorry — though more likely I was just really tired/stressed about finals). I was bored and just decided…what the hell, why not dip hot, salty fries into cold, creamy ice cream? And so a late-night indulgence was born.
"Later I would experiment by subbing in whipped cream, which is only really good on fries when it's cold. There's something extremely satisfying about the hot-cold and sweet-salty combo, and it's all even better with a Diet Coke."
"I'm from the Philippines, and for as long as I can remember, my family (and everybody else in the Philippines) would eat our bacon with white vinegar. Same with sausage, pork belly, ham…really, any type of meat. According to my mother, vinegar's acid helps melt the fat in meat, but really, I think it's just that it tastes so good. We basically dip anything super-salty in vinegar (even salted dried fish). Unlikely combination, but try it. You won't regret it."
"I 'discovered' Marmite and avocado one night when we ran out of balsamic vinegar but I was still craving a salty addition to my avocado toast. Just spread the Marmite on your toast and then top with slices of avocado — it's delicious!"
"I discovered my love of popcorn and pickled jalapeños at the movie theaters. I had ordered a bag of popcorn and came across the pickled jalapeños in the condiment area (clearly put out for people to eat with their nachos). The trick is the way you eat them together. I grab a handful of popcorn, put it in my mouth, and then grab a jalapeño slice or two and throw those in my mouth as well. If you just throw the jalapeños in the bag, the popcorn gets soggy and you don't get a good ratio of popcorn to jalapeño. The mix of the salty popcorn with the slightly sour, spicy jalapeño is such a delicious combo!"
"I love honey on my omelets! I just love the mix of savory and sweet. My great-aunt was visiting from Boston when I was little, made me an omelet with honey on it, and I haven't been able to go back since!"
"My favorite weird food combo is Ore-Ida's Crispers french fries and applesauce. Bonus if the applesauce is right out of the fridge. They were a childhood staple — I can't remember the first time I ever tried them because they were the norm in my family. It wasn't until freshman year of high school when I had a friend stay for dinner and give me a strange look that it occurred to me that this might not be normal french-fry-eating behavior. I've never felt a compulsive need to do this with any other type of fry, and I don't really eat applesauce unless it's with Crispers. In my world, the two are forever deliciously linked together."
"I really don't think this is weird personally at all, but some other people do. My family is obsessed with peanut butter popcorn. Melt butter and PB, pour it over popcorn, pop in a movie, and voila! A perfect night in. Just beware the sticky remote after…"
"Like most good food combos, this came out of desperation and starvation after a night out in college. I love anything dipped in barbecue sauce, so I'm assuming this was a 2 a.m. attempt at BBQ chicken nachos, minus everything but chips, BBQ sauce, and cheese not usually meant for nachos.
"Regardless of what my mindset was when concocting this, the sweetness from the BBQ sauce with the sharp nuttiness from the parm and the saltiness of the tortilla chips are what keep me going back for more. I even got my college roommate hooked."
"I grew up in a very Russian family and I have been eating sour cream with many foods for as long as I can remember. It's kind of how ketchup is to many people. One of my faves, and a traditional one, is pilmeni with sour cream (which are like Russian pierogies). But my mom also makes this killer chicken, mushroom, and sour cream dish. It's also really good mixed with ketchup, how some people mix ketchup with mayo, it's even better with sour cream. I don't remember if this is something I learned from my family, but now I will straight up dip a steak in some sour cream and I love it."
"When I was in elementary school, I met the girl who would remain my best friend until present day. Her mom was a teacher, so every day after school she would drive us back to their house, where we'd play video games or read books until my parents came and got me.
"Because her mom was a teacher (and a single mom, to boot), the pantries at her house would go bare a couple times a month. During those times, we two hungry preteens would start combining the dregs of several different things into some weird, mostly terrible dishes. During one of these food adventures, we found half a jar of Marshmallow Fluff, but the only thing in the house to eat it on was goldfish crackers. The salty-sweet combination struck a chord, and our favorite snack was born — sometimes we still eat it while chilling together!"
"When I was little, getting to go to TGI Friday's with my family was a huge treat. I was an incredibly picky eater as a kid and stayed away from all condiments except mayonnaise (I'm from the South, so mayo is practically a vegetable anyway). Terrified of ketchup, grossed out by honey mustard, when I would order a kids' chicken fingers meal at Friday's, I instead would dunk the fingers and fries in the accompanying applesauce, which I treated solely and as dip and never as a thing to be eaten on its own. It's been at least two decades since I've tried that combo of food, but I can't help but think I was on to something. After all, pork and apples is a pretty common pairing — why not fried chicken and applesauce?"
"My big dinner to impress a date was cooking up spaghetti and tomato sauce — with a can of pineapple chunks thrown in. I'm pretty sure I got the idea from seeing pineapple on a Hawaiian pizza and then took what seemed to me a very logical leap from there. To my discriminating palate, the tart/sweet pineapple enhanced the acidic overtones of the tomato, or so I've convinced myself.
"I somehow got someone I subjected this meal on to marry me — and, yes, I have entertained the idea that it may have been out of pity."
"Sometimes on a rough morning, you just can't decide if you want a bacon, egg, and cheese or a bagel with cream cheese. An old coworker of mine introduced me to his hangover special, which is a hybrid of the two: a bagel with cream cheese and bacon. So fatty, so delicious. Any liquor still gurgling around in your belly doesn't stand a chance."
"It was probably a result of being broke my first year out of school and having nothing in my fridge except those two things."
"I put black pepper on fruit, especially cantaloupe, and everyone thinks that's weird except my dad, who does the exact same thing. #genetics? My dad always used to put black pepper on melon for some reason, so I just started eating it that way as a very young kid. But when I brought my fruit-peppering habit to school, it became clear it was not the norm, and all the other kids thought I was a weirdo. I was not discouraged, though.
"And although nowadays I have definitely been known to drown my salads/soups/pastas in black pepper, the cantaloupe combo is probably the weirdest. But I'm sticking to it."
"I first stumbled into this weird food combo the way (I think) many of us stumble into terrible food habits: college. It was a late night during finals — too late to order food or fumble around noisily in the kitchen to cook. So, there I stood in front of an open cupboard: ramen noodles, Nature Valley granola bars, peanut butter, and tortilla chips. At that point, I already had a love of spooning PB out of the jar. So I grabbed the Tostitos and the creamy Jif, with the intention of alternating between the two. A few minutes into that arduous routine, I just plopped a spoonful on a chip and thus, my late-night food game was forever changed.
"Throughout the years, I've gotten much classier — now I use almond butter and prefer yellow corn over white corn chips. But the result is always the same: a perfect mix of sweet-salty, crunchy-smooth goodness."
"Time permitting, I eat eggs every morning before work. In order to avoid it getting repetitive, I love to mix it up and try to make it feel like a real meal. One day, I randomly got the idea to add tomato sauce to my eggs instead of ketchup — after all, eggs are pretty bland on their own. It was delicious! I then progressed to Parmesan cheese and sometimes even add basil and a little bit of olive oil for a true Italian feast — all before 9 a.m.!"
"My mom is a ketchup fanatic and puts it on everything, so it was always a staple in my house. Ketchup works perfectly with fries, so it makes sense that it works on potato chip too!"
"Sharing on behalf of my dad here, as I no longer eat this as an adult, but cottage cheese on French toast.
"He says, 'That's the way French toast is eaten in parts of Europe. My mother and grandparents grew up there, and that is how it was served to me as a child. The same toppings (fruit, cottage cheese, and sour cream) were also served with oatmeal and cornmeal. That said, I don't think they now nor ever served French toast with maple syrup in continental Europe.'"
"Wish there was more of a story, but I was in search of a vehicle through which to consume my cookie butter, and had literally nothing in my cabinet but tortilla chips. I went for it, and ended up loving the salty-plus-sweet combo."
"I've always loved cream cheese and olive sandwiches (on toasted white bread, of course) since I was little. Olives were my favorite food as little kid, which is weird, but they're so salty and addictive! I remember my grandmother and mom would always slice green olives and add them to a bagel with cream cheese for breakfast, so I started doing the same but on my toast. The combination of the smooth texture of the cream cheese, the salty olives, and the crispy bread made it one of my favorite go-to quick snacks."
"It might be because I'm Korean and kimchi is such a staple companion to any entree, but I grew up eating pickles with any red-sauced pasta. Just like kimchi, the vinegary pickled taste cuts right through any heavy starch. I highly recommend (if you're into that kind of thing)!"
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