Does anyone have some buffalo sauce?

I ate cereal for the first time in a long time the other day. And I couple days before that, I ate some McNuggets. Not Chicken Selects—McNuggets.

It’s strange to me how one almost seems to outgrow certain foods even though there is nothing inherently childish about them. I am aware that people’s taste buds develop along with the rest of them. Foods I found tasty when I was young would likely taste cloyingly sweet to me as an adult, and furthermore as we age our taste buds become dulled, which is why the elderly douse their food in salt.

I also acknowledge that some products, regardless of their content, are marketed to children. Spaghetti-Os are a good example of that.

But, I find myself wondering if our notions about our food play into what we choose to eat. Just look at the McDonald’s example above. When was the last time you ate McNuggets? Probably a long time. As adults, we look for more “sophisticated” food, even though we are perfectly OK with putting dump trucks of fast food garbage into our bodies. So it clearly isn’t a matter of taste; it’s a matter of what we perceive to be a child’s food.

I find it kind of liberating to revel in the impulse to eat like a “child.” Yeah. So what. I just ate a box of Cheeze-Its for dinner. I can do that. I’m a big kid. And you aren’t the boss of me.

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