That makes her great for the part! Stephanie Meyer covered her ass for her horrible writing in Twilight by saying that she purposely made Bella Swan featureless and bland so that other girls could "see themselves" in that creepy stalkerfest, as if empathy isn't a major part of reading/anybody would want to "see…

I did once kill a friend's pet gerbil. She was letting me hold it, and it bit the tip of my finger, and when I pulled it away it kind of hung on? Until I flicked my hand, total reflex reaction, and it went sailing off into a wall. I felt and feel TERRIBLE about that, but also like, what can you do? It was doing what…

I was surprised not to see natto on more people's lists. It isn't particularly disgusting, but the smell as I brought it up to my mouth went straight to the lizard part of my brain that's supposed to stop me from getting sick, and started sounding all sorts of alarms. I think that's most people's problem with…

I literally had a nightmare about this once. I thought in the US it was impossible, since our eggs are never fertilized. If I'm wrong I may never eat eggs again.

Roast guinea pig is on my list of foods I desperately want to try. I've seen it on various food network shows and it looks crackly and delicious.

I love the Supersizers, but I do sometimes get annoyed. Like, sorry, sweet fish pie from the Elizabethan era gets the same reaction as Angel Delight from the 70's? And they always do these "confessional" cameras where they claim that two days into whatever diet they're mimicking, they can't sleep and are sweating and…

I once made a hamburger helper and left it out overnight. The next morning I was rushing to meet some friends and ate a few bites with a spoon on my way out the door.

Guessing at what you're getting in foreign countries is so fun. When I first was in Prague and knew no Czech, I met my two similarly-new roommates at a grocery store. They were standing in the meat section looking seriously at the selection - one roommate was a "Messianic Jew," which was his way of saying he was a…

I only know of one super-taster in my circle (friend-of-a-friend who I've never met but heard about) and she's one of the pickiest eaters on the planet - only white bread and rice and similarly bland things, because everything else just tastes too much. I love food, so I had always felt a little jealous of…

It sounds like my mother. My mom is okay at "feast" food (Thanksgiving dinner and the like) but day-to-day she was a disaster growing up - she would buy in bulk, with the problem being that things often either went bad or got so freezer-burned as to be practically inedible. No shame in that, cooking is not everyone's…

I love a weird drink story, and I would definitely try carbonated cabbage water.

It's both ends of the spectrum, really. I would murder a Sunday roast, a steak and kidney pie, a nice haggis, any day of the week. But then Brits will also devour packet sandwiches that are nothing but mayonnaise and soft fillings on soft bread - no veggies or crunch or anything except "soft" texture, and it just…

I do a similar thing with sweet potatoes whenever I'm un/underemployed, which is often. When I was in grad school, I was doing my thesis on sweet potatoes, and eating sweet potatoes for at least one meal every day, because a) they have a huge amount of nutrients, b) they're versatile, so you don't get flavor fatigue,…

I think huitlacoche looks kind of disturbing, but you're right, it's just a fungus. I've never had a chance to try it but my mouth is ready.

ALSO it has been days but I am clearly still mad about this - a basic A-line is not a "full" skirt. Nothing about that skirt is "full". Unless they have other options in which you can buy a "half" skirt divided vertically, in which case "whole" is still a better word choice than "full."

My dad was a home-vegan for about 12 years (meaning, he cooked vegan at home but at restaurants he would eat the closest thing to vegan that was available - like, he loves eggplant parmesan and isn't going to ask anyone to leave off the parmesan). He also cooked me whatever I wanted when I was living with him. I…

My dad used to volunteer at the aquarium in Baltimore as the most badass way to keep up his scuba certification - he used to dive and feed the small sharks & stingrays, and a bunch of other stuff. Anyway, when I was 8, he took me "backstage" at the aquarium - all those big glass tanks are open at the top in this huge…

I was in Scotland for 3 days, and made it my mission to eat haggis every day. Two of those days it was lovely (my favorite was basically a shepherd's pie with haggis mince covered by a layer of mashed turnip and mashed potato), but on the 3rd day, it was the middle of the night, I was very drunk, and I stopped at a…

I had Czech Slivovice, and since the Czechs have a penchant for flaming drinks, it was given to me on fire. The flame burned bright blue, and after I put it out & tried to drink it, I burned my lip on the glass.

I have a pretty high what-will-I-eat threshold (escargot was my favorite food at 6) but I draw the line at anything alive. Also octopus anything - but that's just because I really like octopus. It's the only animal that's ever tried to eat ME, so out of respect I refrain.