We all remember that humorously disturbing scene from ""The Breakfast Club"" when Ally Sheedy vigorously mashes cereal between the slices of bread in her sandwich. She then takes a satisfying bite of her odd choice of a meal.
""They stole my idea!"" said UW-Madison sophomore Devin Beattie, even though the film was released before she was born.
At a young age Beattie discovered she shared Sheedy's character's passion for the unconventional cereal sandwich. But Beattie didn't stop there. True to the theme of crunchy snack food and bread, she also filled her childhood with potato chip and bologna sandwiches.
The pairing of certain foods is considered an acceptable part of anyone's diet. For example, ketchup is commonly paired with French fries, and pancakes are often combined with syrup.
Yet some ambitious eaters, such as Beattie, find normal food combinations boring and seek out new ideas. While some look for novelty in their food, others just crave certain tastes or textures that convention never offered them.
""It just gave it that extra crunch factor, which is what I was looking for when I was little,"" Beattie said of her sandwiches. ""I was all about texture and taste uniting in perfect harmonious balance.""
Beattie has since given up her crunchy sandwiches in an effort to eat healthier.
According to food science professor Mark Etzel, there are three predominant causes driving people's eating habits. Sensory appeal refers to how a food looks, smells, feels and tastes. The second is pleasure, which is the ""response of our brain to food,"" he said.
The third is the emotional response, which is the association of a food with some memory.
""For example, the emotional response may be related to foods you've enjoyed when you felt happy or satisfied—like maybe in a family situation or at holiday time,"" Etzel said.
UW-Madison graduate student Craig Schiltz, who conducted research in the field of food science, agreed.
""Through their experiences they learn to like certain foods over others,"" he said. Schiltz also cited parents and peers as important influences for children's tastes.
UW-Madison sophomore Frank Stretz's eating habits suggest this theory is true. A few times a week he eats macaroni and cheese, specifically with the noodles that depict various objects or characters, mixed with tuna. He said his parents fed it to him when he was younger.
""The texture is just so dense,"" he said. ""I'm definitely digging the taste. But it is kind of cool to have that novelty because I'll tell someone about it ... and usually everyone will recoil in horror. But it's cool to have that as your own.""
UW-Madison freshman Alex Antell also pointed out originality as a reason why she has chosen to eat particularly odd combinations.
""I'm not going to develop a new food,"" Antell said. ""But I can develop my own way of eating it.""
Antell's love of fruit, particularly grapes, has provoked her to try several bizarre combinations. She enjoys grapes in her salad and cereal and puts hummus or ketchup on different fruits.
However, the ways she discovered her combinations have little to do with emotion.
""In the dining hall, it's just easier to get one plate,"" she said. ""If it's all on my plate for different reasons, I just mix it all together.""
Convenience was also what helped UW-Madison sophomore Chevy Johnson discover his signature jelly and mayonnaise sandwich.
""During that time my family didn't have the most things to eat, so I had to eat what was there. And being a kid with a big appetite and a little imagination, that's what I made up and that's what I ate,"" he said.
Johnson no longer eats jelly and mayonnaise sandwiches because ""we moved on up"" and he was given the freedom to pursue other appetitive pleasures. But his creativity did not suffer.
""At the beginning of the school year, my uncle went on this cookie buying rampage... When I was working over break... I didn't have the time to get up and make myself breakfast. So what I would do when we didn't have cereal was take peanut butter cookies and substitute them for cereal,"" he said. Johnson coined the term ""mush"" for his mixture of cookies and milk.
""It looks like crap, but tastes really good,"" Johnson said.
UW-Madison junior Nibha Gosai developed a theory as to why it's acceptable to mix certain foods but not others. Gosai often eats ranch dressing on her pizza and makes cheese and masala, an Indian spice, sandwiches.
""I think you have to actually look at a combination and see how realistic it would be to eat. [When considering ranch and pizza], ranch is a condiment. I know ketchup is too, but ketchup is tomato, and there's already tomato on the pizza, so why do you need to add more tomato to pizza, whereas ranch is a totally different flavor,"" she said.
""A normal cheese sandwich doesn't taste really good, right?"" she said. ""So you have to spice it up with something.""
Ariella Cheskis-Gold, a UW-Madison freshman, also likes to spice up her food.
Her favorites include balsamic vinegar on ice cream and pepper and balsamic vinegar on watermelon.
""I like the different flavors in your mouth at one time, [particularly] sweet and spicy,"" she said.
She says her parents are partially to blame for her bizarre preferences.
""My father is a very creative cook and likes to mix random things together and it always tastes good,"" she said.
""When I was younger all of our holidays were centered on food. You eat what you think tastes good. You eat what you want,"" she said.
