No, Thanks. Really

It took me 20 years to try the stuffing at Thanksgiving dinner, and yeah, I'm glad I finally did b/c, as it turns out, my mom makes a mean freakin' stuffing (esp. for someone who isn't much into cooking). Excepting that experience, however, I'm pretty set in my food-ways, and I'm fine with that. 

Most everyone I went to school with during my MFA days equated exotic/expensive/complicated/odd foods with being cultured/sophisticated/intelligent/worth a damn. Perhaps I am none of these things since I do not eat such foods. (I've eaten duck though! And sampled lobster!) But I also don't eat - as in, have never and will not - A LOT of other things that I would classify as "typical" foods. If I'm unsophisticated etc. b/c I don't eat prosciutto and capers, then what am I given that I don't eat tuna salad (or tuna, for that matter)? Or any of these: 

gravy 

Gravy, anyone? Methinks not. 

coleslaw 

macaroni salad 

potato salad 

hard-boiled eggs 

egg salad 

thousand island dressing 
bleu cheese dressing 
wasabi 
guacamole 
beef chili 
pulled pork (and ham bbq, if that's different from pulled pork - ?) 
beef stroganoff 

Please don't pass the potato salad. 

brussel sprouts 

hot sausage 

mussels 

scallops 

oysters 

meatloaf 
salisbury steak 

candied yams 

anchovies 

artichokes 

(Though tempted to alphabetize these b/c they'll look so much nicer, I'm restraining myself . . . just barely . . . .)