Chances are you might think you know what a popper is, such
as a person who likes to pop pimples or pills, and you would be close because I
am one of those kinds of people but not the other, but actually you don’t know
at all what I mean by popper because I just made it up right now.
A popper is someone who pops food into her mouth before she knows
for sure what she is eating. And for the
record, I think you have something on your face. Come closer so I can touch it, and please hold
still.
And now that you’re thoroughly grossed out because you are
someone who gets grossed out easily, please step away from this blog, because
it is about to get real up in here.
I come from a long line of poppers, and that means my dad,
because he is the only other person I know in my family who will eat just about
anything that is front of him. The man
lives for traveling to foreign places to see how many strange and wonderful
(read: nauseating and revolting) edibles he can consume.
His issue is more garbage disposaling and not exactly
popping, but I have a little of that as well.
Anyway.
Being a popper means that sometimes you will try to eat something
that should not be eaten. It is a
familiar problem, and babies corner the market on popping. I have known a lot of babies, and not one of
them will study something they grab and say, “No,
this doesn’t look appetizing at all. I
think I’ll pass.” Babies will put
anything in their mouths because they are just learning about the world and how
amazing it tastes, like paper and dirt and rocks and marbles and paper clips
and buttons and fabric and their own toes, ohmygoodness isn’t it cute when
babies chew their own toes? It makes me
want to eat them. The babies AND their
toes.
My problem is more compulsive. I am both the chef and housecleaner here, so
when I see a piece of something on the counter or table (and yes, the floor),
my first instinct is to scoop it up and pop it into my mouth to get rid of the
offending item. I am banking that it is
food and it is fresh, because this usually happens after meals.
So on any given day, I might pop a piece of chicken breast
that I find on the counter after my lunch and learn that it is a crumb left over
from the bagel that my daughter had for breakfast.
Or a red sprinkle from the cupcakes we recently had might be
a piece of aluminum foil that came off a Hershey’s kiss that I snuck while the
kids weren’t looking. Or a piece of
thread, or lint, or some other equally sinister non-food item. A walnut that I thought I just dropped might
be a bit of stale Cheerio that’s been there for who knows how long. I’ve eaten a leaf that I thought was lettuce,
a piece of dryer lint that I thought was a cookie crumb, and swiped some egg white
that I thought was spilled water.
Popping extends to eating questionable food items that I do
examine before eating, which is where garbage disposaling comes in. I will even try something that I take a
cursory glance at to see how gross it is.
Just today while I was eating yogurt I noticed that it had little bits
in it that weren’t fruit pieces. Hmmm,
maybe it’s fruit covered with yogurt,
I think to myself. In it goes, and a few
chews later I realize that I should probably check expiration dates more often.
Recently I ate a bowl of soup. I saw dumplings, which weren’t expected but
were welcomed. Yum, dumplings. Pop. Oh, big ball of fat.
About the only thing I will draw the line at popping is
brown stuff, due to having babies and knowing better and also due to an
unfortunate incident that happened to me when I was very young, where I learned
that brown does not always equal chocolate.
And I suppose I have alluded to it several times in past posts so I
might as well lay it out for you. After
all, you’ve stayed with me this long.
When I was five we had a cat. The cat, like all cats do, walked on the
dining room table when we weren’t looking.
One day I spied a piece of chocolate on the table, and popped it into my
mouth. It was not chocolate. Yes. One of my earliest and most horrifying
memories is eating a piece of cat poop.
Gah. It is as disgusting
as it sounds.
You might think that this would have turned me away from
popping forever, but that is not the case.
It is in my genes, I tell you.
Plus I may be a little bit dumb.
This post inspired by:
Oh my. I had a cousin who ate his sister's poo once...thought it was chocolate. Clearly, not such an isolated occurrence.
ReplyDeleteIck. I'm sure that his sister never let him live that one down. OMG I'm gagging.
DeleteThat. Is. Gross. :)
ReplyDeleteYou. Are. Correct. ;)
DeleteI was in France, it was on the menu, and it was good. - Dad
ReplyDeleteMay I have the shnarvay parkeptible, sill voose plate?
DeleteYour dad has consumed a lot of crap in his day. Mom
ReplyDeleteHee hee hee.
DeleteIt was not crap it was unique edibles. Dad
ReplyDeleteI'm getting you a T-shirt made: "Point Me To The Unique Edibles"
DeleteI was a witness to your Dad eating the most disgusting, putrid & foul smelling "French" sausage in Paris. After each bite your Dad took everyone at the small table got this horrific whiff of a rotten smell! You Dad just sat there eating this gross smelly thing with a smirk on his face, as he said it was not that bad, but he would not order it again. Your Dad is definitely a "POPPER"
ReplyDeleteLadies and gentlemen, I present my parents.
DeleteHa!! Now I see that Margot comes by her popping honestly! She's carrying on the family tradition.
ReplyDeleteShe sure is! Only a matter of time before she has a similar cat-popping fate...
DeleteI am a popper too...nice to meet you☺ Andrea...love your humor.
ReplyDeleteThank you! Nice to see a fellow popper here. :)
DeleteOnce à family friend popped a handful of nuts at my in-law's house, except it wasnt nuts, it was the olive pits we had all sucked on and spit out. Popping is hazardous to your sanity.
ReplyDeleteARGH! Popping something that someone has already had in their mouth is the pits. See what I did there? :)
Delete