Cheese or chocolate?

[Brian S]

"No dessert for you unless you finish dinner!" When I was a kid, this threat never worked on me. I hated ice cream and I always preferred the steak to the cake. Even today, though I appreciate the seductive glory of chocolate, when I get a craving it's always for ribeye or pork belly glistening with fat or rich, runny cheese. But some people are the exact opposite. (And I've heard people say that women are more likely to go for the sweet stuff.) Do you prefer one to the other?

[Chocolatechipkt]

LOL, funny ... I asked this last month. I definitely would pick cheese (despite my screenname!)

http://www.chowhound.com/topics/366949

[JasmineG]

Definitely cheese. I enjoy chocolate, but man, do I love cheese. I also have much more of a "salty tooth" than a sweet tooth -- I love and crave salty foods, and while I like sweets, I don't have as much of a taste for them. I like a great dessert at the end of a meal, but other than that time, I'd pick salty over sweet anytime.

[mojoeater]

One answer: Tyramine. Tyramine is an amino acid found in aged cheeses, chocolate, olives, red wine, some beers, and even some meat. Believe it or not, the reason people crave these things is that they have a sympathomimetic effect. Big word that basically means it makes you feel better. Tyramine helps with cramps, tension, etc.

[flourgirl]

That may be true, but i personally don't actually "crave" anything in particular. I just love the way some cheeses taste, the same way i do some chocolate, some cookies, some olives, etc. But it's not a "OMIGOD, i have got to have some chocoloate right now or i can't be responsible for my actions!" kind of thing.

[mojoeater]

No, but it does explain why so many women (myself included) go for chocolate during 'that time of the month.' And I now understand why my mom only drank red wine once a month...

[LJS]

Love other sweets, but NOT chocolate...with all the rampant chocholicism claimed on this board and elsewhere, I am beginning to feel this is some sort of freakish moral flaw. The only other person I know who genuinely doesn't like chocolate is my own child. Surely we can't be the only two in the whole world. As for cheese, YES (as long as it doesn't try to sneak chocolate into me...).

[flourgirl]

I love chocolate, but I am absolutely not a chocoholic, whatever the heck that is (although i have a SIL who claims to be one). I love lots of other flavors in sweets too.

My 6 yr old son is not crazy about chocolate - he wouldn't eat anything chocolate until recently. Now he does, but it's definitely not a fave.

[bonmann]

My grandmother disliked all types of chocolate because she said it tasted burnt to her. My BIL does not care for chocolate either but he married my sister for whom it is not dessert if it doesn't include chocolate.

[dietfoodie]

My guy doesn't particularly care for chocolate, if that helps! I wouldn't say he hates it or anything, but he almost always turns it down unless there's a politeness issue involved.

I don't dislike chocolate and will happily eat it, although I've discovered since joining WW that I can survive just fine without it. Cheese is my real weakness -- I found it almost impossible to moderate myself when I first started eating healthy, and it took me months before I could trust myself with it in the house.

Now I purchase exotic (for me) cheeses, shave the ounce thin with a potato peeler, and really savor each bite, and it's ten times better than when I'd scarf cheddar down like candy.

[daily_unadventures]

Definitley the savory. I often think I should order an appetizer when my boyfriend orders dessert cause really.. wouldn't you rather have more carpaccio? Still have yet to get up the courage though.

Katerina
http://dailyunadventures.com

[Brian S]

When I was a kid my parents would take me to Italy each summer, and I always ordered pasta for dessert whenever I could get away with it.

[yumcha]

I'm all for savory foods! I love baking cookies and such, but I tend to give most of them away.

[Humbucker]

I think we just did this a month ago:

http://www.chowhound.com/topics/366949

[rosielucchesini]

I'm w/flourgirl; bring it all on. But my tastes definitley run towards more of the savory side. Give me cheese and bread every day but yet, limit my deserts to only two or three times a week.

[debbbiiiii]

i love cheese..i would eat it 3 times a day if it would not kill me..prefer a nice barbaqued steak dinner to sweets any day...do sneek a little chocolate ib once in awhile...

[flourgirl]

Oh boy. I love it all. Steak, cheese, terrific desserts. But I will say that I confine my cravings to the good stuff and then in moderate portions, and certainly not daily. (All right, all right, ALMOST never daily...)

[AnnaEA]

I'm six of one, half a dozen of the other. Sometimes I crave steak, sometimes chocolate. And sometimes a nice sharp cheddar with mustard and a glass of icy sweet white wine.

Speaking genderwise, there is definitely a gender component to my cravings though -- the craving for steak hits hard a certain time of the month.

[laylag]

I'm the same - sometimes one way, sometimes the other. For me though, at certain times of the month, I crave both in tandem like bbq ribs or steak followed by dessert or simultaneously like craving ice cream with cheez doodles.

When I was younger it was all savoury but I find the older I get I desire more sweets in general. Don't know why

[starlady]

I am definitly more of a savoury over sweet person. Give me a good cheese platter with fruit for dessert 99% of the time over something sweet. Or just more dinner :)