‘What weird things did you eat as a child?’ – 21 utterly bizarre ‘foods’ that only a kid would want

Childhood is a strange time, largely spent doing slightly odd things in the name of experimentation. It’s how we figure out how to exist in the world and – hopefully – become functional members of society.

They’ve been chatting about the strange routes we take to get there on the AskUK subreddit after user alicatpow asked this:

What weird things did you eat as a child?

I loved melted cheese for breakfast. We had a glass (Pyrex?) plate and my mum would literally just put two slices of cheese on it and shove it under the grill for a few minutes and voila! Best breakfast ever!

I also used to like eating ReadyBrek raw and unwetted. I used to fill a bowl with the stuff, stir in a little sugar, and just eat it dry. The fun part was having to turn away to breathe otherwise you would blow oat dust everywhere and mum would get mad.

Yep, pretty unusual. And lots of other people chipped in with their own slightly curious childhood snacks, like these…

1.

‘I read a lot of Enid Blyton books as a kid. She had me eating all sorts. It meant that I was a child of the 2010’s eating things like gentleman’s relish on toast. That made me the weird kid amongst my peers.

I also enjoyed microwaving cheese sandwiches, dipping rich tea in sprite and eating stale Wotsits. Still do tbf.’
–wildOldcheesecake

2.

‘When we were in Cubs we were each given a raw sausage and a single match. We were then told to go down to the beach and collect enough wood so that we could start a fire with our match and cook and eat the sausage.

We all ate our raw sausages and kicked a football about on the beach until the Cub leader came to find us an hour later.’
–Professional-Test239

3.

‘I was quite partial to a dog biscuit.’
–Chemical-ali1

4.

‘Paper. Became quite a connoisseur, I would get some A4 and soak it in lemon juice, fold it up really small, then keep it in my pocket. Then I’d rip bits off and chew them during the day whenever I wanted to taste stale lemon and pocket dust.’
–itskobold

5.

‘I used to pick used chewing gum off the ground and chew it. I know. I disgust me too.’
–Shpudem

6.

‘I grew up in rural Poland just after the fall of the USSR. Everything I ate was weird.’
–Gloomy_Custard_3914

7.

‘When I was a kid in the 80’s we used to eat celery dipped in pure salt. Did anyone else do this? wWat the hell were we thinking?’
–drifter129

8.

‘This is in the 90s when people were more straightforward. I went on a walk with my grandad’s friend when he spotted a rose and gave me some petals to eat, He also had a few.’
–Silly_Tomatillo6950

9.

‘Wall/chalk… It turns out I needed more calcium in my diet and for whatever reasons as a 4 year old I found it in wall (this is not a British building btw) and started eating it. Which prompted doctors visit and a being put on calcium supplements, which by the way I ate like candy irrespective of dosage.

I say that habit is the reason why to this day I have 0 bone fractures.’
–Misty_Pix

10.

‘Weetabix with butter on. I think it might have been my mum’s pregnancy craving with my sister.’
–JanJanTheWoodWorkMan

11.

‘I am now blessed with an iron gut from all the soil and random bugs and plants I consumed as a feral child, so I have no regrets.’
–alicatpow