Carlos Beato takes certain things very seriously. Rules are rules, after all.

‘It is mandatory that I eat cereal at 1 a.m. every day,’ said the sophomore marketing major, of his anytime-anywhere Corn Pops habit.

In fact, Beato’s Watson Hall room could possibly pass for the cereal aisle of Price Chopper. Roommates Emmanuel Fernandez, a sophomore entrepreneurship and emerging enterprises major, and Ramffis Searby, a sophomore in the Martin J. Whitman School of Management, too, share an unquenchable need for all things sugary, boxed and sold by cartoon characters. For Searby, it’s Frosted Flakes; Cocoa Krispies or Honey Bunches of Oats are Fernandez’s weapon of choice.

Fortunately for these connoisseurs, family-sized multi-packs from BJ’s keep them well stocked in their favorites during a cash shortage or when the dining halls can’t draw them, Searby said.

From picky eaters to midnight snackers to crazed cravers, food addictions, cravings and aversions are some of people’s stronger urges, and for those whose taste buds aren’t tickled the same way at the same time, some of the strangest.

There are certain conditions that establish our attitudes toward foods, said psychology professor Shelley Aiken.

‘Food attitude is based largely on direct experiences and social learning,’ Aiken said. ‘We learn that you eat breakfast in the morning, so you eat cereal in the morning and steak at night.’

Most people, that is.

Since many of our attitudes about food are shaped by context, the move to college can foster a change in eating habits, possibly explaining why freshmen suddenly find 3 a.m. Pita Pit part of the food pyramid.

‘Context is a huge determinant of attitude, and attitude changes depending on what situation you’re in,’ Aiken said.

Unfortunately, most people don’t know what foods are healthy and which aren’t, and even if they do, this knowledge doesn’t often shape decisions, Aiken said.

Hello, freshman 15.

Though health information doesn’t play a major role in food attitudes, emotions – both positive and negative – can. A sense of comfort is a positive emotion that can change the way we see certain foods, Aiken said.

Though Fernandez, Searby and Beaty love their cereal, when the alarm goes off in the morning, sugary goodness is not what their stomachs are grumbling for.

‘Mangu,’ Fernandez calls for wistfully, with agreement from his friends. Mangu, smashed plantains with queso frito or fried cheese, is a typical breakfast in the students’ home. Washington Heights in New York City, the largest Dominic population outside of the Dominican Republic, is the birthplace of the delicacy.

‘If we told you the things we eat, you wouldn’t even recognize us,’ Searby said.

Their cravings for mangu and a special Dominican salami unlike the cold cuts found at Wegmans are quenched by monthly visits from Fernandez’s mother.

Though they don’t mind dining hall fare, even a good night at Shaw or Brockway doesn’t compare to anything the men are used to at home.

‘This is like take-out for us,’ said Fernandez, who gestured at Shaw’s fare of chicken fingers, wings and garlic bread. ‘We would never have stuff like this.’

The only thing stronger than a love of one food is a stomach-turning aversion to another.

One bad experience at the age of six ruined a young Lauren Galliford’s taste for fish for the rest of her life.

The junior television, radio and film and information systems technology major once loved fish fries, until a fateful fishing trip with her father.

‘Then I went fishing with my dad and we used worms as bait,’ Galliford said. ‘My logic since then has been fish contain worms.’

In addition to the worm theory, Disney’s ‘The Little Mermaid’ and a few childhood pets have resulted in a gut reaction to stay away from fish, she said.

Only once has this moratorium on fish been revoked. Once in high school, Galliford managed a few bites when fish was all that was available.

‘It just freaks me out,’ she said. ‘I’m thinking of every goldfish I’ve ever taken care of.’

Negative memories and experiences are just as strong a determinant as positive memories, Aiken said.

‘Disgust is a very strong emotion,’ she said. ‘It pretty much takes just one bad experience.’

While memories keep some from chowing down, for freshman international relations major Emily Thompson, the sight of certain condiments is enough to keep her away.

Mustard for pretzels or ham sandwiches? Nope. Some ketchup for a hot dog? Nada.

‘See all that ketchup?’ she said, pointing in near horror at a neighbor’s pile of post-hamburger ketchup packets. ‘That’s just gross.’

The thought of mayonnaise elicits a groan of disgust.

‘Mayonnaise is just like vomit,’ Thompson said. ‘When you look at in dining halls it’s just a huge gloppy tub of mayo.’

The biggest crime condiments commit, she said, is soggying a sandwich – soggy is just too ‘moist and unnatural,’ she said.

Not all condiments and sandwich toppers are created equally, though. Thompson, a self-admitted hot pepper and hot sauce addict, has been known to put a whole bottle of the heat onto a sandwich.

And what does a condiment-loathing, hot pepper fanatic crave? Though she can’t be convinced to put a little relish on a hot dog, Thompson craves pickles.

‘I love a good jar of pickles in the afternoon,’ she laughed. ‘Dill, kosher, bread and butter, any kind.’

Thompson swears she isn’t a choosey eater and is willing to try anything once.

‘I’m really not a picky eater,’ she said. ‘Just when it comes to condiments and soggy food.’

Though stomach-turning texture, bad memories and warm and fuzzy feelings of home all play major roles in shaping food selection, at the end of the day, one feeling rules above all others: hunger.

‘It’s all situational factors,’ Aiken said. ‘When you’re really hungry, you’re going to eat whatever quenches your hunger.’

Published on September 26, 2005 at 12:00 pm