Children have incredibly creative minds and use this creativity in numerous ways. At my elementary school, the innocents used their childlike wonder to create the grossest monstrosity of food ever concocted. This activity was usually limited to kids who bought lunch at the cafeteria. It's much more complicated to play with peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and carrot sticks than it is to mix school milk with a fruit cocktail. Chicken strip day was always the grossest. People would pour strawbe…

Are you familiar with the concept of seasoning cast iron cookware? The intention behind the process, which is essentially baking oil into the cookware, is to make it a nonstick surface and to help protect it from rusting. People are pretty intense about their cast iron, which probably explains all the memes against washing the cookware in a dishwasher or (gasp!) using soap. Contrary to what some may believe or tout on the Internet, it's OK to use a little soap on cast iron, as long as you reple…

Choosing the right ingredients for a sandwich is essential, and even when you do everything right, your sandwich can still end up gross. I've made many questionable sandwich-topping choices throughout my life, and I'm at peace with that. I spent at least a calendar year ordering burgers with only pickles and onions on them; I can only imagine what my breath smelled like during that year. I also regularly got black olives on my sandwich when I went to Subway, and let's just say I wouldn't make t…

It doesn't look tasty

Bleak

Tuck in

Delicious ideas

Sleepy chicken probably tastes like a coma

They ate what now?

The 1950s was the golden age of the Jell-O mold . Homemakers regularly put their leftover fruits, vegetables, and even cheeses into a monstrosity of gelatin. This culinary trend sparks a lot of unanswered questions. What secrets were they hiding in there? Who decided this was a good idea? Was Jell-O the symbol of the repressed female rage that lived inside every 1950s housewife? Throughout the past few decades, foods have gotten even crazier than lime Jell-O with cottage cheese. With newfangled…

Don't tell Italy

Mamma mia

If you've been online in any capacity this week, you've probably heard of the Pink Sauce . The product was originally marketed on TikTok as a delicious and unique sauce that was incomparable to any other sauce currently on the market. However, things fell apart quickly when consumers found that the sauce was shipped unrefrigerated in a flimsy bag and contained multiple errors on the nutrition label. The most worrying discrepancy to many buyers was that the Pink Sauce was a different shade of pi…

As a principle, it's typically more ethical to support small businesses over chain giants like Walmart or the Golden Corrall. Supporting small businesses can improve your local community; even if it doesn't, you can easily delude yourself into thinking it does. TikTok has been a particularly useful advertising platform for many small businesses. From restaurants to slime manufacturers, if your business blows up on TikTok, there's no telling what amounts of success you might accrue. However, not…

I was never a picky eater growing up. But I had friends who would turn up their noses at the mention of tuna salad. They seemed to only respond to chicken nuggets or tenders , white rice, and buttered noodles. It was bleak. I always thought that as New Yorkers who are surrounded by different cultures, we should be a tad more adventurous. Their weak palates disappointed me, and my family struggled to inspire open-mindedness. It recently occurred to me, however, that we were using the wrong tacti…

Bon appetit.