Of course oranges and orange juice to illustrate the prompt ‘juicy’, because there’s nothing better than a fresh-squeezed glass of orange juice. Unless it’s a fresh-squeezed glass of orange juice without pulp, which would definitely be better because I don’t like pulp in my juice. Pulp makes me feel like I have to chew my juice. I know that sounds ridiculous but it’s one of the many idiosyncrasies I’ve had with respect to food since I was a child. However, when I think of some of the odd habits some of my cousins had with respect to eating food, this is nothing.

One of my younger cousins had a combination of requirements when he ate a meal. First off, when foods were placed on his plate they weren’t supposed to touch each other. Even as he ate, he was mindful of making certain that none of the foods got too close to each other because if they did he wouldn’t eat them. The other thing is that he needed to keep everything near his meal clean, including his hands. Picture a four-year-old eating a juicy piece of chicken with his hands and upon finishing it holding his hands in the air so someone could wipe his hands clean before he continued eating. That happened all the time. I’m not sure how his parents coped with that habit, but it made babysitting him somewhat challenging.

By comparison, my cousin’s quirks make my no-pulp requirement seem like a non-issue. All the same, whether we like to admit it or not, I think we all have some issues when it comes to the foods we eat and how we eat them.