That distinction makes sense to me. Guilty pleasure - dinner at Charleston. Things I feel guilty for liking - Berger cookie, jello salad, generic box mac and cheese, M&Ms, Doritos.

Scrapple. I know how bad it is, but so, so good.

Isn't making fine distinctions our raison d'etre?

Frosting (when I leave the cake).
"Nutrition" bars.
Thick sauces at cheap Chinese restaurants.
Splenda.

When it comes to food, I don't believe in guilt.

5 Guys Burgers and Fries
eggs cooked in bacon grease
all-you-can-eat buffet

I suppose I could come up with a list of things that I should feel guilty for liking...Land O' Lakes butter, for example. In-N-Out Double-Double with fries.

But I have to be honest. I don't feel guilty about anything related to food.

Just flashed on this, for some reason:

"Lord, my soul is ripped with riot,
Incited by my wicked diet.
We are what we eat, said a wise old man,
And Lord, if that's true, I'm a garbage can!
I want to rise on Judgment Day, that's plain,
But at my present weight, I'll need a crane!

So grant me strength that I may not fall
Into the clutches of cholesterol.
May my flesh with carrot curls be sated
That my soul may be polyunsaturated.
And show me the light that I may bear witness
To the President's Council on Physical Fitness.

At oleomargarine I'll never mutter,
For the road to hell is spread with butter.
And cake is cursed, and cream is awful,
And Satan is hiding in every waffle.
Mephistopheles lurks in provolone,
The devil is in each slice of bologna,
Beelzebub is a chocolate drop,
And Lucifer is a lollipop!

Give me this day my daily slice -
But cut it thin and toast it twice.
I beg upon my dimpled knees,
Deliver me from Jujubees.
And my when days of trial are done
And my war with malted milks is won,
Let me stand with the saints in heaven
In a shining robe - Size 37!

I can do it, Lord, if you'll show to me
The virtues of lettuce and celery.
If you'll teach me the evils of mayonnaise,
The sinfulness of hollandaise
And pasta a la milanese
And potatoes a la lyonaise
And crisp fried chicken from the south!
Lord, if you love me, SHUT MY MOUTH

--Victor Buono

Layered Cheese Fries at Outback

Gailor, SPLENDA???? Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo........................................................

When I was a porky youth, my mother used to chide me with "they feed corn to pigs". Making me have a lifetime of guilt over eating corn on the cob with butter.

Chef Boyardee - I love it all!

Hostess Apple pie
KFC Extra crispy chicken
Hashbrowns from IHOP....I know - I know! ! !

Kathy and I think alike (and could be the same person, as my name is also Kathy) - I don't believe in guilt when it comes to food. If I like it and I want it, I eat it, critics be damned.

Well, not you, EL. :)

Crispy turkey skin

Orange snack foods. Cheetos, Cheez-Its, Cheese Nips, Doritos ... you name it, I love it.

5 Guys....yeah, I forgot 5 Guys. For sure.

Splenda? That stuff is horrible!

You two, don't pick on my baby. :-) EL

EL, Gailor can come over and make fun of what is in my fridge any time .

"Nutrition" bars.

Gailor, try the Clif bars...at least they pretend to be organic.

Which reminds me, I need to get some more of them before the half-marathon on Saturday.

Biscuit sandwiches from Sheetz and fried chicken from Royal Farms. I really like the Sheetz that have the order as you pump feature.

My wife's family recipe for gumbo from her Looziana roots that starts off with a milk chocolate colored, bacon grease roux - nom nom nom.

I don't feel guilty when I eat my double bacon cheeseburger from 5 guys (fried onions, lettuce, tomato, pickles, and hot sauce), I feel hung over. That's my cure-all.

Hot Dogs and any kind of food consumed after 10 p.m.

Really greasy egg rolls and Spaghetti-O's.

Not at the same time. Though, actually, somehow that doesn't sound that bad to me.

Duck fries.
Not that I've ever had ... real ... duck fries.

I feel a bit guilty for eating the crab lungs when I eat stamed crabs. I don't eat all the guts, But I do eat the lungs. Eating the mustard is a given as long as it's yellow. But people get grossed out when I eat the lungs. I dont care. They are good'n salty!

Those Multi-Grain Tostitos. Supposedly they are better for you.

yeah, right. but they taste great, especially with some peach salsa!

I'm with Bonnie, those orange crunchy snacks too. But I rarely partake of them lately.

Pork Rinds.

Poultry skin right out the oven, all crispy and crackly.

And I will fight you for the crispy edges of fat on the steaks. Oh, heaven!!!

And fry my eggs in bacon grease? Oh yes! Or, lots of butter if no bacon grease is available.

Chang--are you kidding us about eating the crab lungs? Don't you know they are called "dead men's fingers" for a good reason? Gack!

But EL, I'm with Gailor on Splenda. Gailor, never mind those meanies.

Crab lungs, Chang? YIKES! Those things are awful awful awful! BLECH. You do know they call them "dead men's fingers", right?

I have to go with spaghetti-o's. I am momentarily embarrassed at the store when I buy a few cans for special occasions.

Why would you eat an artificial chemical with unknown dangers?

http://www.splendaexposed.com/

Here's mine:

http://www.nissinfoods.com/cupnoodles/

I love (truly) the extra msg buzz, and I just am not sure whether or not this is a joke, but I think it is true.

http://www.ramenramenramen.net/2008/04/01/ramen-news-exclusive-new-cup-noodles-flavor/

gorelick - I am completely unashamed to indulge in Ramen Noodles but I do think the MSG flavor thing is a put on. Usually I throw away the flavor packet and flavor mine with ginger, garlic, soy sauce, chili sauce and sesame oil. If it's kind of bitter, I throw in some splenda. We're all gonna go sometime!

Don't care for Splenda myself. Has a funny aftertaste. I guess I like the other aftertastes of Equal and Sweet-n-Low better.

okee, I just noticed that the official release date for the MSG-flavor ramen was April 1st.
I used not to be so gullible.

Rosebud, you have excellent taste in fats. I'll eat at your house any time.

PCB Rob--once again de gustibus non est disputandem. To me, Splenda is the only sweetener that does NOT have an aftertaste.

I can't take the aftertaste of any of the artificial sweeteners, although Splenda is the least obnoxious.

This is a real problem, as my partner is doing Atkin's, and so uses splenda. I'm more than happy to make my special cranberry sauce with splenda for her, but I get embarassed when she makes stuff with sugar for me.

Guilty pleasure: GOOD dark chocolate (70%), fresh-roasted poultry skin.

Guilty eating: Della Rose's loaded fries...OMG!!

Um...why's Splenda a guilty pleasure? Practically no calories, and it tastes good. I cook with it (add dry milk powder when using it for baking), and use it with everything from cereal to tea.

Stop picking on Elizabeth's baby. You don't want EL to come get you! And, Splenda is my sweetner of choice.

I think what the Splenda nay-sayers are getting at is that it looks as if it ought to be carcinogenic if you look at it chemically--but I haven't seen any studies showing that--so far.

Dottie,

Yes, good dark chocolate is a great choice for a guilty pleasure! It even has some antioxidants in it.

Cheesesteaks, McDonalds Cheeseburgers (I regret shortly after the first bite, but I get insurmountable cravings) Taco Bell Spicy Chicken Crunchwraps, Pizza from Maria D's at 2 am. Oh and those gummy candy Dots...

OMGI/Lissa,
Nothing says "straight from God's Earth" like chlorine-laced powder that's 100x as sweet as sugar and gives lab rats cancer just from looking at it.

Thanks for the support, Dahlink & Regina. I knew you would understand.

Hal, hope the half marathon went well. I ran the Huntington half (along the Pacific) and LOVED it. Come to think of it, Splenda gave me just the energy I needed to push through that 13th mile.

Oh sweet Jesus,
I forgot about the cheesesteak sub with everything, including hots!

I always treated myself to one after a round of golf with the guys on Saturday when I was living up there. There was a sub shop in Annapolis about 2 blocks from my place where they also sold beer. So I could enjoy a draft while they made my sub.

I played today, but since there's no decent place around here to get one (Floridadelphia doesn't count), I had to settle for grilling a burger. It was still great though, with some spinach and black beans as sides.

dahlink, everything is carcinogenic. My objection to splenda is the aftertaste.

Instead of using a chemically-produced product (Splenda) if you are trying to avoid sugar, try sweetening with stevia. It is a herb that has been around and used as a sweetener for centuries.
It is SUPER sweet, however, so you only have to use a teeny-tiny bit. Plus, you avoid all those nasty chemicals.

Susan WSNAJ, the moment my coffee kiosk has little packets of stevia I will gladly switch.

Lissa, I find it interesting that you object to Splenda's aftertaste, while most people taste nothing. [Segue alert] I recently learned that there is a gene that determines if you can smell last night's asparagus in your urine. I assumed that everyone had that experience, but my husband knew it was not universal, because half his family could and half could not. Now I spend a fair amount of time wondering just how THAT conversation went ...

Gailor, the race went well, although the hills took their toll on me on the back half. Maybe I would have done better if I'd had some Splenda with me.

Dahlink wrote: you can smell last night's asparagus in your urine

Yet another reason I don't eat asparagus.

There is no more self-affirming feeling than having the decisions you made in ignorance later validated by knowledge.

Dahlink, nice segue. I didn't know the gene determined if you could smell it -I thought it determined if it smelled. And, on a sweeter topic, I agree that I think Splenda has NO aftertaste at all.

Dahlink, I think you are talking about supertasters. I'm not one, but I do get a weird aftertaste from splenda. For all I know, it is mental, but I'll stick with fresh fruit and occasional indulgence in real sugar.

Bucky, now I am wondering if the asparagus gene is linked to the one that makes Brussels Sprouts taste super-bitter. Shall we conduct a scientific poll here? I've got both.

Lissa, can you eat broccoli? The supertasters I have known find it inedible--just too much to swallow!

Really weird science: according to a segment of Brianiac (UK Mr Science with a really twisted sense of humour no longer being shown over here) tested the asparagus/urine issue. According to them, something like 80% in this country smell. In the UK the percentage was more like 20% (really much lower even if 20% is bad memory.) Just plain weird.

Dahlink, I love broccoli, and asparagus. I'm definitely not a supertaster. Have done the test and everything (a group of home coffee roasters I participate in milked that topic for months).

I do seem to be really sensitive to "chemically" tastes. For example, most convience foods taste horrible to me. And we won't even discuss artificial grape.

Dahlink, I'm not a supertaster (after all the hot sauce, peppers, and salsa I've eaten, it's "Taste buds, we don' need no steenkin' taste buds") but I don't eat broccoli. Or brussels sprouts. But I l-o-o-v-e asparagus. Especially white asparagus, with hollandaise. Hmm, I think Safeway has it on sale this week. Gotta go.