Wednesday, October 8, 2008

A Question of the Ages

I have another question for you, my three loyal readers (and that one guy who keeps sending me pictures of his feet). It is a question that has plagued me for many, many years and is the source of great friction amongst my friends and me.

The question is – ready for it – is it weird to eat cereal without milk?

I don’t. Rather, I don’t eat my cereal with milk. I eat it dry. Plain, even. I do like milk, but just separately. Frankly, the thought of putting milk on my cereal is just ‘ewww.’ I have literally done this my entire life. I once went on a camping trip when I was 4 or 5 and was sitting down to a nice bowl of Cheerios when the father of the family we went with decided to ‘help’ me out by pouring a bunch of milk on my cereal. At the time, I wasn’t quite capable of properly expressing myself concerning the situation, but if he did it today I would probably call him a ‘bastard.’

Actually, I wouldn’t. He was a very nice man. I would probably just push him in the lake later.

Anyhow, all my friends think this is weird. Leigh teases me about it with a certain frequency. I’ve only met ONE other person my whole life who did this.

So, is this weird? And do any of you out there in reader land do this as well?

NOTE: If there are enough of us we could form a support group. Or a PAC. Or some sort of sports team (we could call ourselves the Dry Demons or something).

Cheers,
-Jason

27 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'm like the father in your story I'm afraid. I always poor milk on my kids cereals. They start with dry bits if it takes me too long, though... I don't think they would eat the entire bowl dry. Heh

Allison T. said...

Okay, now you're just getting creepy. I'm actually eating dry Honey Nut Cheerios for breakfast right now... and drinking a glass of milk!

My immediate family has gotten used to the idea of milkless cereal, but it still weirds out my friends and grandparents when they see it.

Anonymous said...

It is more common than you think. My wife is allergic to dairy, not lactose intolerant. She has never eaten cereal with milk. I use to think this odd till i met others that ate dry cereal. Many child rearing professionals suggest to new parents to feed toddlers dry cheerios to help build dexterity, eating independence, and just plain using their hands.

But if you want wierd i summit this. My youngest will put shreaded cheese in his milk and cereal bowl and eat. He also will eat fried on a plate with piles of mayo, mustard, and ketchup with a glass of milk. While this in itself is not odd what does is. he will dip his fries into 1 of the 4 piles and milk then eat and then every combination you can think of then drink the now odd colored milk. That is just strange.

Anonymous said...

i eat it both ways. but i prefer it with milk. but, if we're watching a movie, i'll fill a bowl and we'll munch on it dry.

Unknown said...

I have the same reaction to milk and cereal. Milk is great, but I've never put it on cereal. Soggy and gross! Of course, I'm also one of those few oddballs that doesn't like peanut butter, so maybe milk devoid cereal is a minor thing in comparison. I have gotten so much crap about not liking peanut butter.

Anonymous said...

I don't find it weird at all, in fact, I prefer dry cereal. Although I don't eat cereal much period, on of my favorite snacks used to be Quaker Oat Squares, raisins, Candy Corn, and Craisins. My boyfriend said I was crazy and then proceeded to admit that I had gotten him addicted to the stuff.

Also, we should form a soccer team and call ourselves The Killing Crispies. YES.

Anonymous said...

I eat my cereal with yogurt, but usually I pick off about half and eat those dry, before starting on the yogurt part :)

Anonymous said...

Last comment was mine. Forgot to add that I was doing it right as I read your post :P

Anonymous said...

I neither eat cereal, nor do I drink milk any longer. Most cereals are unbearably sweet to my palate and since reaching adulthood I've lost interest in milk. When I was younger I would eat the less sweet cereals, wet or dry didn't really matter.

Jason Janicki said...

Hmmmm, there are many more of us than I thought. Forget the sports team, we need to form an Evil Organization. Or, at least, a Mildly Abrasive Organization.

Okay, the shredded cheese is weird.

Honestly, not a big fan of peanut butter here either, though I have recently rediscovered the joy of a PBJ for lunch.

I do like the 'Killin' Crispies.' :)

Anonymous said...

I think milk is fine, just not on cereal. Why would anyone destroy nice crispy cereal on purpose?

In closing, Crisp > Soggy

Anonymous said...

it seems to me that the crux of the matter here is that its your cereal, which you buy and pay for with the sweat of your brow. that being the case you may eat it any way you choose, asking permission of no one. bon appetite.
"gunner"

Anonymous said...

Your all a bunch of breakfast deviants, I eat cereal the natural way the way GOD and my forfathers intended, coverd in the lactation of bovines. you people DIGUST me!

Anonymous said...

I'll actually eat it either way, depending on my mood and what cereal i'm eating :D

eat it however you prefer!

Bargaruss said...

depends on the cereal. anything with saltanas=milked
anything like cornflakes or most kids cereals=no milk
but that said its all about the moment.
im also lactose intolerant so yeah...its probs why i dont have it all the time lol
yoghurt is also a good medium, because it keeps the crunch (well at least it does a lot longer than milk does) but still adds that good old not cutting my oesophagus feeling.

Anonymous said...

Sometimes, I eat dry cereal. It's just a different foodstuff.

An english muffin, with a side of fried egg, is different than an egg sandwich. Dry cereal is a munchie, not a breakfast staple, it's for sitting in front of the TV when you don't want popcorn. ;-)

I eat my cereal mostly with milk. Soggy. I like to let the cornflakes sit a few minutes, for maximum sog. Graham crackers work well, too, they get soggy almost right away, and are so nice and squishy they almost fall apart when you look at them.

Honestly, I don't know where you deviants get your crunchy ideas from. (Oh, and I'm one of the three readers. Looks like that means a lot of you are sending in foot pictures...)

Anonymous said...

Eating cereal dry is not weird. I buy frosted mini wheats to munch on as a snack. I don't like eating them with milk, they get too soggy too fast. Ew.

Anonymous said...

I eat it both ways. For example, that "Just Bunches" cereal is really good as dry snack food, but terrible as cereal with milk. On the other hand, "Cap'n Crunch" is better with milk, since it softens up the rough bits just enough. Others can go both ways.

I've never had the soggy cereal problem, though. It might take me three hours to eat an 8oz. steak and a potato, but cereal's gone in five minutes, tops.

Anonymous said...

Haha I don't think that's so wierd on the grand scale of wierdness. My friend's brother puts ketchup on ice cream. Now THAT is strange. And gross.

Jason Janicki said...

Wow, I am totally impressed by the dry cereal love here! I thought I was virtually alone. I should also point out that this post has gotten more comments than any other!

Hurray, breakfast debate for teh win!

You are absolutely correct, gunner! You can eat your cereal with milk, no milk, motor oil, or the blood of the innocents! Mmm, innocence.

Leigh agrees with you, Lurklen. Is that good, I don't know?

It seems that most of the rest of you are firmly in the 'sometimes' camp. Though ketchup on ice-cream is frankly weird, rehanni. Please feel free to inform your friend's brother of this (if you haven't all ready).

Anonymous said...

My old piano teacher's son puts orange juice on his cereal. Personally, i eat mine dry as a snack, but every morning I put *plain* yogart and a teaspoon of fresh jelly/perserves on some grapenuts. its not too sweet and as long as I eat it quick the grapenuts stay crunchy! (it also helps with ... ahmem ... regularity, which freaks out my doctor)

I love the idea of a Mildly Abrasive Organization! long live the Creapy Cereal Chrunchers!

btw PB rules! [grin]

buckeyedoom

Anonymous said...

Just remember- beer on cereal is definitely gross. You'd think, Miller made with corn, and cornflakes... but, No! Beer is gross on cereal. Take my word, don't try it. It's like yucky water, and if you like it dry anyhow, well, there's no reason is there?

Jason Janicki said...

The whole yogurt/cereal thing sounds rather healthy - yeck! Breakfast is about unnaturally colored cereals in bizarre, equally unnatural shapes :)

Creapy Cereal Chrunchers I like :)

It has never occured to me to put beer on cereal, but I will take your word for it. It just sounds . . . wrong.

Anonymous said...

NO not too weird, espcially if you are going to be eating one of those too sweet cereals. Captain crunch or fruit loops. ;0

I mean if you want crunchy you want crunchy, if you wanted a soft mush you would choose to have oat meal, right.

Jason Janicki said...

Exactly.

Anonymous said...

My boyfriend puts Apple juice on his cereal sometimes(And calls me weird for preferring dry cereal. Honestly!)It is apparently very good, although he complains that no one else is brave enough to try it. I intend to prove him wrong. Unfortunately I think it will mushify the cereal even faster... Blech. Still, I wish to prove that I am not afraid of trying new and weird sounding things... Unless they involve meat.

Jason Janicki said...

What would happen if you put Apple Juice on Apple Jacks? Would it explode?

I don't know, something about sweet on sweet cereal just sounds wrong. Though, I once tried Honeycombs with bean dip, so who am I to talk?