I always enjoy _____, no matter how bad it is.

[RealMenJulienne]

Keep in mind I am not talking about trashy or junk foods here. I am talking about good foods which you love regardless of quality of preparation.

I have eaten probably thousands of gyros in my life, most of which must objectively be considered terrible. These gyros were bought from seedy shacks, state fair booths, and Chicago Gyro at 38th and Meridian in Indianapolis. With one glaring exception - where some joker had dumped Spanish rice in it - I have enjoyed every bite of processed lamb loaf, limp onions, mealy tomatoes, pale cucumbers, and "tzatziki" made with sour cream that I have ever had.

Chicken wings are the same way. If a chicken wing is cooked and is covered in some sort of sauce, it immediately bypasses all the critical mechanisms I apply to other foods. Is the skin soggy and gummy? Does the sauce taste like something in which you might dip a Mcnugget? Is the meat bone-dry? In many cases, yes, yes, and yes. Did any of these things lessen my enjoyment one bit? NO.

The last one - and this one I am actually somewhat ashamed of - is sushi. I will happily eat any combination of vinegar rice, sesame seeds, and nori. Been sitting in the supermarket case all day? Mix up enough soy sauce and wasabi and I'll eat it with a smile. This makes me popular when I go out for sushi with friends, since I never fight over the expensive stuff like the tuna.

[prolix]

Contributing to this revived thread something that's been mentioned already: grilled cheese. I love a three-cheese-and-applewood-smoked-bacon-on-sourdough, and I love an American-cheese-on-white-sandwich-bread. Give me a slice of off-season pinky-green supermarket tomato in there, too. Mm, grilled cheese.

Ooh, or a bacon-egg-and-cheese. Can't be ruined.

[adventuresinbaking]

Guacamole!

[alliegator]

Fried rice. I really thought it was pizza until about 6 months ago, I did have one I just couldn't eat. but I've never backed away from any pile of fried rice, ever.

[Tovflu]

Pulled pork is probably the biggest one for me. I seek out any and all things pulled pork. Now that I think of it pulled chicken and ribs could go on there too. I might have some barbecue fixation here.

Beyond that I don't think I've ever met any take-out Chinese or Indian buffet food that I've disliked (from a quality perspective).

[itsmejessica]

I forgot eggs I love eggs any way I can eat them everyday.

[plasticanimal]

Food.

[thinks too much]

I know that I am coming way late into the game on this thread. As I read all of the responses I couldn't help thinking of the common denominators: sugar, salt and fat. All of these factors tie straight into Micheal Moss's article on the processed food market.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/24/mag...

By the way, I'm with RealMenJulienne. I will buckle for a Gyro/Doner Kebab any time. :D

[itsmejessica]

Pizza of course.
Tortillas i love good hand made ones but I gladly wrap my chorizo and eggs in grocery store one even low carb tortillas.
vodka
Wine
Roasted chicken .

[MonMauler]

As stated above, pizza is the only right answer here:
1. Pizza
2. Whiskey
3. Beer
4. Wine
5. Fried stuff

[Kholvaitar]

Baklava, sometimes it can be toothachingly sweet-- no matter.

[tinymango]

i think that i can enjoy almost all indian or indian-flavoured food. there's something about curry and cilantro and paneer , chickpeas, lamb, etc etc. that i can enjoy even if the food isn't super spectacular.

curry flavoured crisps, fusion indian food, day old pekora and samosas, indian food that comes out of those little vaccuum packed foil packets, etc etc.

[amyzan]

Candy, almost any kind, has to be really bad, before I won't at least eat one piece, okay, more like three pieces. I'm sitting here trying to think of candy I absolutely wouldn't eat a few pieces of, hmmm, maybe not that nasty peanut butter toffee that came in the orange and black wrappers at Halloween when I was kid. That's about the only candy I don't think I'd be tempted to eat.

Cookies. I'll eat those horrible stale Voortmans, the greasy sugar wafers, no name gingersnaps, and on and on. I'll eat them all if I want a cookie and they're what's available, sad as I might feel while doing so.

I see a trend here, and I think it has to do with sugar! <sigh>

[fallingup]

Lima Beans...I love them all. Dry, pasty, prepared unimaginatively from the freezer bag or freshly cooked and buttery.

[Katgotyourtounge]

French Fries, Chicken Noodle Soup, and beets.

[marietinn]

I agree, french fries. I could eat them regardless of quality. Also, grilled cheese. I don't care if its made with Kraft Singles or a good swiss or mozzarella, its all good!

[Bill Hunt]

I tried. I really did. I thought about some favs. I thought about some lesser foods, that I just happen to like. Nothing. There is nothing that I can include in your thread. Sorry.

Hunt

[johnb]

Potato salad. Southern, Amish, NY deli, German, my mother's, mine, with mayo, without mayo, with egg, without egg, hot, cold--you put it under my nose, I'll eat it.

[Cinnabon]

Potato - fried or hash browns - soft, mushy, greasy or cripsy, there all good.

Chips & salsa - no matter how bad as long as it's not spoiled, burned or stale, it's all good!

[synergy]

potato + oil, as in french fries, hash browns, potato chips, and form of potato when it is cooked in oil crispy.

[Boccone Dolce]

Cookies. I may complain but not so deep down, I enjoy. It's rare to find a bad cookie. Even the 89c package of faux oreo Trans-fatty-O's rich in riboflavin, niacin and chocolate flavoring have their own kind of allure.

I'm also physically incapable of saying no to cheesecake as well. Just a bite.

[hhutchi25]

Loaded Nachos!!!! From fabulous white corn chips layered with aged jack, cheddar, black beans, homemade guac. and salsa, sour cream, garlic, tomatillos, red and green peppers, grilled adobe marinated chicken, scallions, and LOTS of hot peppers! To late night nachos from 7 eleven loaded with pickled jalapenos, hot dog onions and chili, and lots and lots of glorious pasty cheese from that cool machine!! AHHHH college days!

[CocoaNut]

Cream cheese pastries! MMMMMM...... "Fresh" out of the cellophane from the local convenience store or one of the more delectables from a French Patisserie.

[fallingup]

What a coincidence, that's the one food I don't enjoy no matter the quality.

[kpaumer]

For me it is New England Clam Chowder, doesn't matter where I get it from, if it is offered I will eat it. Tough, gritty, thick or thin. Love that stuff. Along with a nice fish sammy to wash it down!

[vvvindaloo]

Potato in just about any form. I mean, "bad" mashed potatoes, "bad" french fries...? I'll make the sacrifice!

[im_nomad]

yeah, i gotta agree with you on that one as well....i'm not sure there is such a thing as "bad" mashed potatoes, even the instant kind.

[im_nomad]

as long as we're talking bad in the non-spoiled manner.....I will say sushi. I live far from any respectable sushi joint, so i'll take what I can get....and that often includes supermarket sushi, and on occasion, the *gasp* frozen versions I've found.

I will also say french fries. While my #1 preference is thick cut greasy home made fries....I will eat and enjoy just about any version of french fries. ..and that even includes frozen fries made in the microwave. I don't usually keep fries at home though.

[fallingup]

You haven't tried the refrigerator case sushi at my school's cafe. I can't even stomach that stuff while drunk...that tells you how horrible it is.

[Smorgasbord]

Toasted western sandwiches... if a diner screws this up, run for the hills! I haven't had an inedible one yet, knock wood
Burritos... it has all the tasty foods in one football-eque package. Again, it has to be really bad for me not to partake.

[KaimukiMan]

and what, pray tell, is a western sandwich?

[Smorgasbord]

A sandwich with a western omelette [eggs, onions, ham, peppers] folded inside. Also known as a "Denver," I think.

[cavandre]

Bacon...any brand, even if badly prepared. I can't be trusted with the stuff.

[umbushi plum]

i am picky and i get rather dissapointed when something is not up to my expectations however toast is an exception just spread some butter or avacado, vegimite, jam, honey mmmm im getting distracted but toast is usually very nice it applies to raisin varieties aswell.

[soypower]

Potstickers and Egg Rolls...I have had some seriously bad ones and still enjoyed them at the time.

[mpjmph]

ooh... potstickers do me in every time. the only one's I've had that I didn't like were from a local buffet (thanks co-workers!) they were over seasoned, doughy, and greasy and I still ate them.

[Avalondaughter]

Mexican and Chinese food. I don't care about quality and lack of authenticity. I wants me some greasy quesadillas and some General Tso's chicken.

Fried chicken is another one. I love good fried chicken, but I'll eat KFC happily.

Pulled pork. I'm sure some of the sandwiches I've eaten in the past aren't slow-smoked shoulders cooked for hours by a barbecue master, but who cares. It's pork!

[al b. darned]

For me it's Mountain Dew. It is the only soda I can drink even if it is warm and flat.

[oryza]

Coffee... black... even when it makes my face pale and induces a momentary gag reflex, I will drink the whole thing, even if I have to wait until it cools a little bit to be able to down it in one go

ditto on mac & cheese (I've never come across one that I didn't enjoy), and maybe ramen, too (the instant stuff is supposed to be kind of gross, so I embrace it)

[harpersranch]

Chinese food.
Cheese. Even Cheez Whiz... oh wait. Does that qualify as junk food?

[bellyspeaks]

Pancakes or waffles...just add more butter and syrup.
Bacon...even burned I'll eat it with a smile
ANY iteration of fried bread/batter served with powdered sugar...funnel cake, doughnuts, beignets, zeppole, etc.

[lost squirrel]

Excellent topic!

I agree with many of the above:

Buffalo Chicken Sandwich (always good even if the wings are bad!)
Pizza - I even like Ellio's
Hamburgers and Cheeseburgers (sometimes I pop down to the convenience store below my apartment and get an unrefrigerated cheeseburger or teriyaki burger w/ mayo in a pouch for JPY105 - delicious)

[RealMenJulienne]

Funny thing, just about any buffalo WING tastes good to me but my standards for a Buffalo chicken sandwich are way higher. I have definitely encountered many of those I'd consider disgusting.

[Louise]

Waffles. Even cold with nasty unmelted margarine.
Bacon.
Mashed potatoes. When they are really good they are heavenly, but even the boxed crap is pretty good with enough butter & salt.

[bellyspeaks]

cold waffles...thats awesome, like when you can squish the butter and syrup into like a paste and schmear it around.

[laliz]

Sp;aghetti ~~ good, bad, canned, made w/tomato soup no matter. Love leftover spaghettie fried in butter. OMG. Love cold spaghetti too

[chef_max]

Spaghetti, that's mine. Even bad spaghetti is still good. And really, it's hard to make seriously bad meatballs... I mean it's meat in a ball shape.

[hhutchi25]

Try my father in law's version of spaghetti and meat sauce...he puts sugar, lime juice, and peanut butter in his meat sauce. uhhhhh...nasty nasty, but other than that, every other version of spaghetti I have had is good and edible!!

[revsharkie]

ew. That sounds horrible. I was going to mention my x-FIL's spaghetti sauce, which involved nutmeg and way too many green peppers, but I think your FIL beats my x-FIL hands down.

[donnival]

Almost anything fried ... particularly chicken. The magnetic pull of good (or bad) fried chicken in almost any preparation is basically impossible to ignore.

Also, I love mashed potatoes. It can even be from KFC or out of a box ... I'll still eat it. I'll hate myself during every bite, but I'll still eat it.

[bubbles4me]

Chips and Salsa....can not stop myself.

[SweetPhyl]

pizza...no matter how bad it is, it's still good.
mac and cheese..i'll even eat it cold.

[ArikaDawn]

Agree on the gyros. No matter where I've had them and how inauthentic they're always good by me. Chowed on them for lunch just yesterday as soon as my morning sickness passed.

Ice cream. Naturally some is better than others, but I've never spit it out or refused it.

Arika
http://rawforamonth.blogspot.com

[Chew on That]

I almost always enjoy buffalo chicken sandwiches no matter how bad they are.

[Glencora]

I don't even know what that is....

[ajs228]

Just what is sounds like: a chicken breast drenched in buffalo hot sauce, usually topped with pepper-jack, on a bun. A staple of any good sports bar.

[WTBD]

Controversial answer, perhaps, but here goes: c.h.o.c.o.l.a.t.e.

I love love love the really amazingly good, rich, dark, artisanal chocolate that costs a bundle and can take months to savour, but I won't say no to the cheap and nasty brand name chocos, either. I'll eat white chocolate, milk chocolate, Hershey's, Cadbury's. I'll drink cold chocolate milk or hot cocoa. I've eaten wasabi chocolate, chili chocolate, had some green tea chocolate just this morning (not so nice, but still: chocolate!)

So that's my vote. Can't believe I'm the only one...

[lynnlato]

How about that nasty generic chocolate you find at xmas, easter or other holidays?

[WTBD]

Mmm, advent calendar chocolate... chocolate gold coins... hollow easter bunnies... :)

You're right - there's a lot of choc that is less tasty than chalk. But I'm still likely to reach for it, no matter how bad it is!

[soxchik]

Me too! I love all chocolate, even the stuff no one else would want. And french fries. I think the only ones I've ever said no to were REALLY burned.

[spellweaver16]

Now I know where to send the Palmer's chocolate my mom got me for Halloween!

[WTBD]

Ha ha, send it over :)

[krisrishere]

Corned beef hash. The more burnt and crispy it is, the better..

[cayjohan]

Oh, my...yes. Corned beef hash. How did I forget? Even the *crappy * Mary Kitchen canned stuff I know the Hub has stashed for emergency cravings. A nice over-easy on top....sooooo good.

Cay

[al b. darned]

The Mary Kitchen Roast Beef Hash is one of my favorite "I don't feel like cooking tonight but I want something hot" meals. Fried up with a couple do ftried eggs....yum! I can eat the whole can by myself.

[plf515]

That is a good one. Even in cheap and crappy diners, the corned beef hash is good.

[fldhkybnva]

It's not only good, it's crack, that's what it is. If you give me a bowl of corned beef hash, I will inhale it and need more. I haven't met a bowl of corned beef hash I didn't want more of.

[invinotheresverde]

Hot and sour soup- I've never had it bad enough not to love.

[Jacey]

I love hot and sour soup!

[kpaumer]

I love hot and sour soup also, but I cannot identify the small brownish/clear gelatinous pieces I find my soup sometime. Any ideas?!

[Louise]

Insufficiently dissolved cornstarch slurry.

[Humbucker]

Probably wood ear mushroom.

[RealMenJulienne]

If we're talking about the cheapest of the cheap, those might be undissolved cornstarch globules you're seeing.

[givemecarbs]

Agree on the chicken wings. Well, for me it's hot wings. I get dragged to a lot of joints I would not normally choose myself and even when I don't trust anything else I can usually scarf down the hot wings. Especially if there is beer involved, which there usually is.

[charmedgirl]

Cake. Even very bad cake, I can't seem to stop myself from having a few bites. And even after I KNOW it's bad and stop eating... I stare at it forlornly and think what a waste of cake-like ingredients.

[hdtravlr1]

pizza
Hamburgers
Burritos
Tacos
pasta

[jfood]

Like one or two others, there is a line jfood will not cross, as the garbage can near the ice machine in the hotel learned last night.

But there are a couple of items that have a "gotta really try to ruin" moniker

- All beef hot dogs. Let's carve out the all porkers, they are bleech
- pizza - It is really hard to ruin this dish but yes, it has happened
- cake - if the cake itself is bad, there is always the icing
- pie - the bell curve on this dish has lots in the average to pretty good. The greats are rare (include mrs jfood's apple crumb in this category) and likewise the inedible are also rare. In that event ask for more vanilla ice cream
- ice cream - rare that jfood throws out ice cream, but yes he did throw out the Haagen Daz Banana Split a couple of weeks ago.

[Lemon Curry]

oh man, mediocre, microwaved apple pie with mediocre vanilla ice cream is so good you can hardly tell it's bad.

Also, pudding. Even terrible pudding is still ok, and brings me back to my snack-pack childhood...

[RealMenJulienne]

I somewhat agree with your savory items, but not your sweet items. Any kind of dessert or sweet food has to be pretty high quality before I'll enjoy it.

[Caroline1]

Okay. I've been reading this ever since you posted it and I think my salmon genes are showing. I'm swimming upstream AGAIN...! For me, if something doesn't taste reasonably good, I don't eat it. This little nagging thing pops up in my mind and says, "The only thing you'll gain from eating this sh*t is calories!" If garbage disposals could gain weight, mine would be morbidly obese times ten!

But not to sound too sanctimonious, I have, on occasion, drank a Coke after it had gone flat. And it was good. '-)

[lynnlato]

I love your posts, Caroline! You're always good for a chuckle. :)

I, too, have drank the flat soda. More b/c I didn't want to waste it than b/c I enjoyed it. I just can't finish a whole can of diet coke in one shot. I love those midget cans of soda, but alas, they are too expensive and never on sale!

[Caroline1]

Thank you, Lynn. I figure if I can't see the humor in life, I MUST be dead! And yes, the little cans are expensive Coke! Except for the little bottles!

I also drink cold coffee, but I didn't include it because it has to be good coffee to start with, hot or cold. But whoever picks up last night's cold half full cup, empties it and puts it in the dish washer is in a LOT of trouble!

[cheesecake17]

I love flat soda. Maybe I'm weird, but flat soda tastes good to me. Diet Ginger Ale is a favorite.

[Caroline1]

Okay... Flat stuff... And this is all in a whisper because I'd probably be lynched if the vinophiles heard me... But... I do love flat Dom Perignon! <deeply contented sigh>

[ipsedixit]

Loco Moco

Chinese "dan-dan mien"

Apple Pie (or just about any fruit pie)

PB&J

[Emme]

for me it's tomatoes... even when they're not good, they're still good to me, just need a little more salt :) ... unless they're mushy and spoiling...

[dtud]

i should maybe change my answer to this. . . couldn't agree more.

[Emme]

i also feel similarly about mushrooms... assuming they're not rotten and not prepared with ginger.

[Lucia]

I've been trying to rack my brains for something, but mushrooms might be my only always enjoy as well. I'll even eat them canned.

[lynnlato]

I was just going to ask about canned - then saw your answer. I love mushrooms, but DESPISE canned ones. If I spot a canned mushroom on my pizza (or in my food) I won't eat it. Too slimy!

[Lucia]

I definitely appreciate and love a fresh, properly-cooked mushroom any day, but every so often I'll eat the jarred ones too... straight from the jar. I'm weird.

[Emme]

definitely don't prefer them, but i'll eat them too...

[sasha1]

If I ever have bad tomatoes, I slice or quarter them and put them in a low oven for several hours. They always turn out so much better than what I started with.

[Caroline1]

Would you define "bad" for us? Do you mean spoiled, or just that they don't taste good?

[sasha1]

No, not spoiled - those I would throw away. But just about any bland, mealy, or "gassed" grocery store tomato can be saved by low oven roasting, which evaporates the water content and concentrates the flavor and sugar. This is how I get through the winter months. Cherry tomatoes, and grocery store romas, sliced and roasted.

[fallingup]

great idea! thanks for the tip.

[dtud]

hamburgers (or cheeseburgers or baconburgers or . . .)! i'm like wimpy i guess. i've never pushed a hamburger away.

[schmoopy]

Macaroni and cheese! I love all the different versions - whether its homemade, from a box, frozen, cheddary, smoky, baked with or without breadcrumbs on top, stovetop, yellow, white, neon orange, little noodles, big noodles, with truffles.... I love them all!! :)

[GenieinTX]

Macaroni & Cheese is mine too. I don't care how, when, or why.. I'm going to eat it and like it.

[EWSflash]

God help me, me too.

[Humbucker]

Pizza, shawarma (aka Schwarma, shawerma), gyros, scones (the denser and more brick-like, the better!), baklava

I thought about saying burgers or chili, but the deal-breaker for me with those is the gristly meat that you get in the lowest-end stuff. I hate chewing on grains of connective tissue or , even worse, bone. That's why I gave up on Taco Bell (before I was old enough for health reasons to be a consideration): every time I went there I had the bad luck of biting down on a tiny speck of bone in my meat.

Sushi almost made this list, but one time I had nigiri where the fish wasn't completely defrosted and I did not enjoy it.

[cookie monster]

Pizza, absolutely. I've tried and loved some of the best versions around the world, but I'll also happily eat Domino's, Pizza Hut, Papa John's . . . I'm also with Sooeygun on cheese . . . my fridge right now contains both Humboldt Fog and Kraft Singles, and I enjoy them both.

[revsharkie]

Ditto on pizza. I do properly appreciate a good one, but I'll even eat a frozen Totino's grub pizza if it presents itself.

[njmarshall55]

ALMOST agree across the board on pizza. Recently had one at a VERY good Italian place locally, they do EXCELLENT calzone and pasta dishes, but they're pizza is tasteless and insipid. So the old saying about pizza and sex just lost some ground.

[fldhkybnva]

Interesting, I've never been much of a pizza fan and in general will eat it but don't have the same pizza fanaticism as most and it has to be pretty darn good for me to really want to have it. Though, SO - give him a triangular slice of dough with cheese and sauce and it's on.

[Sooeygun]

Cheese. Even if you replace the 'se' with a 'z', I love it. We just finished some lovely triple cream cheese, but on the weekend I had a grilled cheese made with plastic wrapped slices.

[geminigirl]

you took the works right out of my mouth. Which goes along with my other answer of pizza! I didn't eat pizza for a long time (crazy dieting phase or something) so now it's like making up for lost time. I will never turn down pizza:)

[KaimukiMan]

Hamburgers.

McD's, BK, Jack; Outback, Ruby, Chili's; 'Chez Swanky', whatever wherever whenever.

Fresh off the grill, off a steam table, or zapped in the micro. With or without cheese. Patties stacked three high and piled with condiments or one measly patty alone on the bun.

Turkey burgers, veggie burgers, mystery meat burgers. I've even downed a few of those truly obnoxious japanese fast food burgers that are like 50% soy protein, 30% sawdust, and 20% unidentified grease.

Sure, I would really really love an authentic charcoal-grilled-backyard-burger, well charred on the outside, pink in the middle made of lean freshly ground round on a nicely toasted fresh-baked bun, with thinly sliced sweet onion and tomato fresh picked 20 feet from the grill, a slice of slightly melted artisanal cheese, all topped with someone's "famous" homemade dressing. (Humm...not sure I've ever actually had one like that.... i have a new goal in life)

But at the heart, a burger is a burger is a burger. It can always make me smile.

[RealMenJulienne]

Kaimukiman, I think I have had those obnoxious Japanese burgers of which you speak, but it was in Taiwan. Do they have a really sugary bun and come in a sealed cellophane wrapper?

[KaimukiMan]

yes, that is one variety... they seem to be ubiquitous to a lot of asia. But they can be just as bad from some of the burger stands. i often wondered if Asian visitors to the US have the same impression of American adaptations of Asian dishes.

[hannaone]

I've had the Korean variety of those Japanese burgers. Sold pre-packaged in all the highway "Rest" stops throughout Korea. Strangely good stuff.

[kpaumer]

I stopped at one of those "Rest" stops between Seoul and Taegu had a breakfast egg sandwich, wasn't bad except the egg was awfully sweet!

[Glencora]

I've had some pretty trashy chicken tikka masala, including some from a takeout place in which Campbell's tomato soup cans supposedly have been spotted. Wasn't too bad.

[Sam Fujisaka]

Hamburgers, hot dogs, sushi, laab, khao niyao, sausage, ume, chiles rellenos, Japanese pickles, enchiladas, tamales, bierocks, ravioli, momos, dim sum, anything from a tandoori oven, mondongo, sauerkraut, kim chee, ham & cheese sandwich - all good even in their crappiest crap crap crap versions.

[DiningDiva]

Bierocks...Your roots are showing :-D And they are good no matter how badly the cook messes them up.

[tmso]

Tamales, of course! I loooooove a good tamal, but I can't think of a bad one I've turned my nose up at.

[revsharkie]

o yes! I even eat those nasty ones out of the can. Not very often, mind you, but every now and then.

[tmso]

Wow, I've never heard of tamales from a can. The worst I've come across come out of the freezer.

[Glencora]

This could go on the "Things I ate In college and will never eat again" thread. They are wrapped in greasy paper IN the can and covered in bright red sauce and you have to gingerly shake them so that they go glooop into the saucepan -- in my case set on a two burner hot plate in a two room apartment.

[adrienne156]

Hormel makes them.

[Sam Fujisaka]

I'm going to look for them next time I'm in the US!!!

[KaimukiMan]

yes, they are right up there with spam, canned corned beef, and vienna sausage in terms of mass appeal. I've tried them twice... i'll stick to frozen. they certainly aren't red's tamales....

http://www.discusscooking.com/forums/...

[revsharkie]

There are several brands of them, actually, including "Ellis" down south of here and "Bryan" at Duckwalls here. When I was a kid we had a lake cabin, and my dad would open a can of them to eat of an afternoon when we were there and it was too early to fire up the grill. So they remind me of that.

[adrienne156]

Interesting. The only ones I've ever seen and were subjected to as a kid - I'm not a fan - were the ones that Hormel made with the ground beef filling. I'm first-generation American and we'll just say that the particular town I grew up in isn't known for it's ethnic diversity, so a lot of foods that I now love were first introduced to me in can or box form. The first real tamale I had was brought to my dad by a client from some hole in the wall down on 23rd in Richmond (California, working-class, mostly immigrant area) and I never looked back. Spicy, rich, tender shreds of carnitas, slightly greasey - pure heaven. :o)

[James Cristinian]

After losing over 70 pounds in 18 plus months I managed to gain back 4-5 in one week in San Antonio, Luling, and Lockhart dining on sausage, Tex-Mex beef enchiladas, duck tamales, plus several steaks. I missed out on burgers, hot dogs, (even though there was a cart next to the hotel), and sauerkraut in Lockhart even though it was on my list. Also fed upon, (I did not eat, I fed), brisket, spare ribs, and sweet pickles from BBQ places in Luling and Lockhart. All of this is good quality fare, if I'm going to blow it, I'm going all out. As for tamales, get yourself a South Texas, Rio Grande Valley wife, like but not mine, with a couple of sisters and a mother around Christmas, they'll make a weekend out of it, and of course each succeeding batch is better than the others, depending upon who cooked it. Fresh and warm out of the oven is great stuff. Failing all this, check out a K-Mart or Wally World parking lot in an Hispanic neighborhood, and someone is selling tamales for 5 or 6 bucks a dozen, and are generally outstanding. Just make it a Friday or Saturday evening. (edit)

[Sam Fujisaka]

Great work and enjoy (!) what you enjoy! Abrazos!

[njmarshall55]

momos????

[Tripeler]

Those are sort of like Nepalese dumplings. Near me is a Bhutanese restaurant that also serves them.

[Olallieberry]

Bagels. Living in New York I have developed a true appreciation for the real thing, but I could still eat a Lender's frozen bagel and like it.

Can't decide whether I agree with pizza or not. On the one hand, yes, I would (and do) eat crappy pizza...on the other hand, good pizza is so $#*$ing good.

I have to say, I'd eat any quality tacos, as well.

[fallingup]

I'm the same way with bagels. Frozen bagels, badly defrosted in the microwave? I'll eat it and enjoy it.

[cayjohan]

A truck stop breakfast of hash browns, over-easies and toast with jam. Never turned one down or turned up my nose at the *bad* ones. :-) Cay

[lynnlato]

Yep, You nailed it. Just don't poach my eggs hard. That's all I ask. :)

[al b. darned]

Here, Here!! Add a side of crispy bacon and I'm a happy camper.

[churchka]

French Fries. Soggy, crispy, thin, thick, I love them all.

[fldhkybnva]

Yes!! French fries any and all though I must admit I reject them after a few hours chill.

[calmossimo]

Yes, fries for me too. I'll keep eating them long after I'm full. Particularly McDonald's fries.

Also, ice cream. I prefer the good stuff, obviously, but I will still eat terrible, terrible quality ice cream and keep going until someone takes it away or it's gone.

[plf515]

Oh I agree. It is hard to really completely ruin a french fry. In fact, fried potatoes generally are good: http://voices.yahoo.com/fried-potatoe...

[fldhkybnva]

Any form of potato and I'm in heaven.

[rabaja]

Fried meat. If it's around I can't stop.

[yamalam]

Good question. Though you say no trashy/junk foods, I think for something to achieve this status it has to be reasonably simple enough that poor ingredients or preparation are not enough to ruin the concept.

For me it's
1.) pizza- I love really good pizza and will pay ridiculous amounts for what most people get for $5 but if I have pennies to my name and have to feed myself out of a grocery store freezer case, or choke down TGIFriday's with coworkers, I'll go for pizza.
2.) chili - Homemade chili is so good and easy, I'll never understand how people mess this up, but even when they do, I'll eat it. If forced to do fast food, I usually end up with Wendy's chili, and don't even mind that much.

[Jeri L]

Chili here too. It's a dish that you are likely to find good examples in the darnest places, so I'm always willing to take a risk...and while it may be odd, it's almost always edible.

[RealMenJulienne]

Actually I am pretty particular when it comes to chili; can't stomach the bad stuff. I think the reason there is so much bad homemade chili is because it's often made by people who don't otherwise cook.

[Michelly]

+1