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Guilty pleasures

Posted at 2:58PM, 22 April 2009 by Christine Hayes - Editor, olive magazine

Earlier this week we held the first ever olive reader panellists evening, inviting readers to take a tour of the test kitchen, and share some pizza and a glass of wine with us in exchange for their views on the magazine.

We started by asking readers to reveal their guilty food pleasures, so thought it only fair to admit our own. I can tell you right now, it wasn't pretty.

Open quotationWhat do you eat when you're home alone and no-one's watching?Close quotation

Regular readers of this blog may remember publisher Alfie's admission that lunch is sometimes a prawn mayo sandwich stuffed with Hula Hoops. Food ed Janine can demolish a packet of crabsticks at one sitting. Sweet-toothed features ed Jessica shovels in spoon after spoon of lemon curd. Lulu, olive's deputy editor, admits hiding an occasional Fray Bentos pie under the organic flour in her shopping basket. And in my kitchen, an open jar of pickled cockles is a finished jar of pickled cockles. Like I say, we're not proud.

Our reader panellists were equally happy to spill their secrets, with licking the butter cream off cupcakes and scarfing a whole box of Jaffa Cakes at once being two to treasure. Some people's guilty pleasures were others' occasional luxuries. Oysters, confessed one lucky lady. Green & Blacks, said another.

So what do you eat when you're home alone and no-one's watching? Do you get down and dirty in the processed foods camp or is a small bar of 70 per cent chocolate as depraved as you go? Go on, you can tell us...

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1-20 of 46 comments

  • Binder photo suefenna
    22 April 2009, 5:39PM

    suefenna

    Open QuoteNot scraping the food processor bowl out properly when I make fresh pesto - then there's always a little extra for me when I'm clearing up, alone in the kitchen, afterwards....

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  • Binder photo Andrea
    22 April 2009, 6:06PM

    Andrea

    Open QuoteTinned oysters in oil, or if the supermarket doesn't have them, tinned mussels instead. I've been known in years gone by to sit in my car in the supermarket carpark and scoff a tin, or skip home a little faster knowing they're in my shopping bag. Getting rid of the rather stinky evidence is another matter! Much more tempting for me than a chocolate bar.

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  • Binder photo clairef
    22 April 2009, 6:06PM

    clairef

    Open QuoteI'm with your food ed. Whenever I go shopping and I'm hungry, I buy fishsticks and eat them ravenously in the car on the way back. I once managed to stop at 7 but normally half a packet is inevitable. They're only 20 cals a stick but contain about a week's recommended salt intake. God they're lovely.

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  • Binder photo Rhodri Marsden
    22 April 2009, 6:09PM

    Rhodri Marsden

    Open QuoteI see your pickled cockles, and raise you processed ham and no-nonsense mustard on thick-sliced Sunblest.

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  • Binder photo katiebizarre
    22 April 2009, 6:42PM

    katiebizarre

    Open QuoteIn the car or at work -a full bag of sainsbury's frozen cherries before they are properly defrosted - gives me purple fingers and terrible wind but worth it!! Honey nut shredded wheat straight from the box whilst I'm watching tv :0)

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  • Binder photo Vicki Food
    22 April 2009, 6:58PM

    Vicki Food

    Open QuoteI have loads I agree with Andrea- i could easily scarf a tin of smoked oysters in oil, ideally paired with jacobs crackers. Also share they weakness for Seafood sticks- half a pack at a time is usual.. Chicken Toast Topper on thick slices of heavily buttered white toast... mmm Or podding and eating a whole pound of raw peas in one go, like i did to celebrate passing my A levels many years ago. Wild child wasnt i!!

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  • Binder photo superkat
    22 April 2009, 7:47PM

    superkat

    Open QuoteJacob's Cream Cracker with loads of cold, salted butter.............. Super Noodles on toast (preferably with the bits of Peperami) and ketchup............. Cheese and Branston "Breville" toasties.................. Monster Munch and salad cream sandwiches.......... It's amazing how creative you can be - especially when you get home after a few beers and start ransacking the cupboards............;)

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  • Binder photo W-B
    22 April 2009, 8:04PM

    W-B

    Open QuoteI can eat horseradish sauce off a spoon

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  • Binder photo Lushious
    22 April 2009, 8:09PM

    Lushious

    Open QuoteHorseradish off the spoon, along with tartare sauce, picallili, tomato sauce, sweet chilli sauce, lemon curd, and so far, everybody's favourite, crab sticks (had forgotten all about them, but now have a craving for them!)

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  • Binder photo dandifiedviolence
    22 April 2009, 9:41PM

    dandifiedviolence

    Open QuoteMine are truly hideous - lumpy butterscotch Angel Delight (haven't been tempted to try the other flavours yet), Irn Bru (well, I am a Glaswegian), and instant noodles from the chinese supermarket (Pot Noodles, however, are a different matter - can't stand them).

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  • Binder photo Aedara
    23 April 2009, 12:02AM

    Aedara

    Open QuoteI could probably eat an entire jar/container of sundried tomatoes and have great difficulty not eating entire bags of yoghurt covered apricot or pineapple from Julian Graves or non-yoghurt-covered apricot, or any other form of dried fruit actually (except the little fruits like raisins and sultanas, and also figs). There's only a certain point to which you can pretend eating whole bags of dried fruit is healthy sadly. Fresh blueberries on the other hand are a different matter but I'm sure given enough I could probably eat so many it became fattening.

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  • Binder photo Nicola
    23 April 2009, 8:05AM

    Nicola

    Open QuoteAh - I'm so happy to now know that I'm not the only one that eats horseradish sauce straight from the jar :-) I love it! Other than that, I do occasionally purchase a pot noodle...sweet and sour flavour. So bad, yet so good!

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  • Binder photo Sheen
    23 April 2009, 9:43AM

    Sheen

    Open QuoteMy biggest weakness is milk chocolate Toblerone. I can easily pack away about 1/2 of a 400g giant version in one sitting (and then for the next few days endure the inevitable cuts on my tongue induced by the sharp pieces of nougat contained within..)

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  • Binder photo Leamac83
    23 April 2009, 9:50AM

    Leamac83

    Open QuoteCrab sticks also, i really thought i was the only one!!! A jar of peanut butter and a spoon, wash it down with a can of Irn Bru! Mico chip butties with loads of mayo and salt and vinegar! Ahhh...making me hungry :)

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  • Binder photo Uzma
    23 April 2009, 10:28AM

    Uzma

    Open Quotespoonful of peanut butter out of a jar (make that a very big spoon)! Crusty bread with thick slabs of cheese and Branston pickle and pizza out of the fridge....love it!

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  • Binder photo Jo_Cooks
    23 April 2009, 11:11AM

    Jo_Cooks

    Open Quotewhite anchovies in vinegar... i can't walk past our local deli by myself without popping in for a pot. and i eat them on the bench outside the shop. yum!

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  • Binder photo drusilla
    23 April 2009, 12:19PM

    drusilla

    Open QuoteSuper Noodles with grated cheese and brown sauce - I could eat two packets if left to my own devices... Chocolate chip & hazelnut cookies and a glass of milk... I'm stopping now 'cause if I go on, I'll make a bigger pig of myself than I already feel... ;-)

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  • Binder photo Clair
    23 April 2009, 12:40PM

    Clair

    Open Quoteoohhh... lots and lots of fresh peas in the pod - fresh from the garden is best but supermarket ones will surfice as never enough ready at the same time from the garden!.... Peanut butter and cucumber either in a sandwich or on their own comes next.....mmmmm yummy!

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  • Binder photo HellsBells
    23 April 2009, 1:05PM

    HellsBells

    Open QuoteAaaaah, relief at last! I'm so glad I'm not the only one who 1. loves super noodles with grated cheese 2. could demolish a tub of Wafer thin ham in one evening (although it would be by doing several trips to the fridge after the thought - 'ok, just one more slice, then that's it' crosses my mind) 3. Marmite, straight from the jar!! Mmmmmmm!

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  • Binder photo Chris Brack
    23 April 2009, 2:17PM

    Chris Brack

    Open QuoteAnytime I have fried something in the pan with olive oil, i go back to the pan post eating my meal and wipe it clean with a big slab of sourdough...yummmmm. That and big wobbly bits of meat fat chargrilled..even yummier especially when your wife will not eat hers and you have been eyeing it up throughout the whole meal and just before you empty the contents of the plate in the bin you shovel it in your gob.........i can hear the gasps of disgust from here...but ye asked.

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