The difference between me and people who are not horrible.

[snarp]

You are eating a smooth peanut butter sandwich and bite into something unexpectedly crunchy. Preceding any conscious analysis of what might have happened, what is the first image that comes to mind?

a) Crunchy peanut butter.
b) Last crunchy food you ate.
c) The brittle wings of desiccated dead flies.

If your answer is (c) then you are me and you have a problem. I finished the sandwich because something like this happens nearly every time I eat. And my instincts tend this way in a lot of situations, not merely those involving food. My brain, so baroque in its pessimism that "pessimism" acquires a level of meaning akin to masochism, gropes instinctively for the most grotesque image in its library.

This particular image was readily available to it because of the Calvin and Hobbes strip where Calvin tells Susie he's having a bug butter sandwich.

Comments

[umadoshi]

Having once read about the "acceptable amounts" of certain foreign objects in foodstuffs like peanut butter, I get much the same mental picture if I come across anything crunchy in it. (But that's much more specific than what you're describing. ^^;)

[jinian]

I think if flies' wings were exposed to oily peanut butter they would not be very crispy any more. Their exoskeletons would hold up better, though. HTH.

[snarp]

thank you that is very helpful

[holyschist]

I am not going to quote FDA guidelines re: bug parts in peanut butter, but yeah. I'd probably assume similar. Although likely not flies, since peanuts grow underground.