The one infallible sign of civilization and enlightenment. A people with no sauces has one thousand vices; a people with one sauce has only nine hundred and ninety-nine. For every sauce invented and accepted a vice is renounced and forgiven.
Still boggles my mind. “Sauce” is such a huge category, it’s really hard to see them all as disgusting. Even Joyce likes some sauces, though she might not recognize them as such.
I am partially exaggerating for comedic effect. I don’t mind barbecue sauce on chicken (so long as it’s so grilled in it’s basically part of the chicken) and I like steak jus on fries.
Ugh, my brain failed me, and I apologize, I thought you were replying to BBCC instead of timemonkey. Still gonna have to disagree, mustard is gross. But I also get why people don’t like ketchup (despite my grand love of it). Stiiiill find mustard worse cause at least I can handle the smell of bad ketchup.
Depends on the mustard, I am not a big processed mustard fan, but I have discovered some gourmet mustards that I really like. I found a horseradish mustard that I just love.
Ugh. Mayo and ranch are both on my no-go list. Mayo, in particular, because if you get it on a burger, it’s almost always glopped on until it matches the calorie content of the rest of the sandwich, smearing everything within with that overwhelming blandness.
Ketchup is fine–if you’re 12. And, of course, NEVER on a hot dog.
@St Clair:
If only.
Choucroute (alsatian version of sauerkraut) was probably taken from China’s tradition before the real deal of colonial exploitation, but the french cuisine is like all (maybe more tha most) a colonial litany of stolen goods, from stolen lands and grown by stolen working forces. Tomatoes, potatoes, almonds, mais, sugar all these essential elements of so-called french cuisine that were unknown before the colonial boom. It’s the 18th and 19th bourgeoisie that invented the idea of a french cuisine existing.
Actually, it’s a classification of sauces known to french at some point. But you’re right, and that was one of my points, if a french-only list from the 19th is that long they’re should be myriads of possible sauces, what leads me to my central point: what is a sauce? Is it even possible to do without it at some point? If you look at that partial and actually short list, you see that broths, soups, almost anything with a bit of liquid can enter the definition of a sauce.
Thinking a little more about this and admitting my experience is very limited – I’d never even heard of this before reading about Joyce and then BBCC and some other posters here confirming it as a real thing: It seems to me modern American (and to a lesser extent English and maybe Western European cuisine in general) would be relatively easy for someone with this kind of food issue to navigate. The classic meat and potato/bread and vegetable on the side kind of meal is perfect. Skip the gravy, get some kind of vegetable cooked straight without a sauce and you’re good.
How do those raised in some other cultures fare, assuming the same issues still develop? Indian cuisine, to use the one the came up for Joyce? Or Mexican or Chinese cooking? Again I’m no expert and maybe it’s just the kinds of dishes I tend to seek out, but I don’t think the separate foods thing is nearly as common.
Those same issues definitely come up in other cultures. In India and Mexico and China it’s entirely possible to subsist entirely off of rice + some sort of plain pulse + plain cooked chicken.
In my case, they usually don’t add anything for me, but I do like marinara sauce with my mozzarella sticks, I like ketchup with my fries, but they aren’t a needed thing. Unless it’s BK fries, then I must drown them in ketchup so that I don’t taste the badness that is their fries.
The other side is they also have a not nice texture or flavor. Ranch must be in small amounts, too much and it’s bad. Mayo has both bad texture and not nice flavor, and having it on my tongue induces desires to vomit. But sadly, a lot of foods make my body want to vomit, odd examples being lettuce and corn. I can smell both, and it just causes agro on my stomach. It really sucks, cause I’m even more picky that Joyce as I won’t eat that broccoli, but they can at least touch so maybe not as bad?
As long as she doesn’t run around the building shouting “Segregation is a good thing! I love segregation! We should go back to not mixing what doesn’t belong together!”
Side note: how can you be so careful about eating only one ingredient at once and still enjoy, say, waffles, or pancakes? Any batter is made of at least two ingredients, usually 3 or 4. Or even soup? Is it because the mixing is so complete that it doesn’t look like it was initially 4 things? If she doesn’t accept croutons in soup, would she accept soup thickened with day-old bread, if it’s been mixed fine?
It’s not so much “pick and choose”, but as you say not a rational process. If you think of them as “one food”, it’s okay. If you think of it as two foods mixed together it’s gross.
Noodles with sauce would be gross. Macaroni and cheese is one of Joyce’s favorite foods. Mac and cheese is just pasta in a cheese sauce.
Probably not, on the ground of both being weird foreign foods if nothing else.
Plus you generally put marmite on something, right? Are things like sandwiches or jam on toast acceptable? Classic pb&j? Shouldn’t be, but might be grandfathered in.
“I see we have a diverse class this term, and all of you bring your unique perspectives to it, and that’s GREAT. But if those perspectives mix, that could get complicated and weird, so let’s just split you up into groups, okay?”
(Yeah, I know she wouldn’t do that, but my brain went there anyway.)
She has neuroses, generally. I also suspect she may be slightly autistic. Lots of neurodivergent folks have texture sensitivities or a need for organisation.
I’m willing to let foods touch sometimes, but I generally don’t combine things or eat a main part and side simultaneously. You eat all of one thing first, and then all of the other thing. You know, as is logical.
Yeah I’m not certain if Joyce’s diet is limited enough to go under Adult Restrictive Food Intake Disorder, and some of her Food Quirks seem less about eating the food and more about a need for orderliness, but she’s definitely some stripe of neurodivergent and undiagnosed. (I waffle over autistic or anxiety disorder of some flavor or both, personally.)
Honestly, I doubt it. She’s probably just a fussy eater. I used to eat like her, and it wasn’t ‘cuz of any neurodivergent traits. I was just, y’know, ten.
And Joyce hasn’t exactly broadened her horizons until… like… three months ago?
Some people really do not like their food touching and find it deeply unpleasant.
Joyce’s case is more extreme than mine, but for example, I do not, EVER, have ice cream and cake on the same plate at birthday parties, because crumbs get in the ice cream and it is a visceral sort of revulsion from me.
What about vanilla ice cream and apple pie? I’m generally averse to food touching (unless it’s not the sort to cross-contaminate, like chicken + plain fries), but select combos are pretty tasty.
Some people have trouble eating certain foods. This *can* be associated with autism or sensory issues, and often is, but it certainly doesn’t have to be. In Joyce’s case I think her bigger issue is just generalized anxiety that manifests as food issues.
It’s very easy to brush this off as immaturity or attention seeking or somehow not “real”, because after all, you and I can eat these foods without problems. But consider all the foods that loads of people eat every day without problems that in our culture, very few people do… like insects. Lots of people in lots of places around the world eat insects. Insects are a good source of protein, and easily sourced! In the West, eating insects is so outre that you’d have to literally be starving in the woods to think of it. It’s a regular feature on “dare” shows, even if the insect in question is chopped up and encased in chocolate. If you were to put a clean and sanitized insect in a glass of water and then remove it, people wouldn’t drink the water.
To Joyce, all food is potentially insects. (Not literally, but let’s run with this analogy, shall we?) She has a small variety of foods that she trusts are (probably) insect-free, but in order to be safe it has to be, well, safe. No sauce. Nothing mixed, which might mean that sneaky insects are hiding or that incompatible foods have turned into something she can’t eat just by proximity to each other. Nothing “weird”, which means stuff she’s unfamiliar with (which is a lot of stuff, because there are a lot of foods she doesn’t eat because eating them might make her sick). She has a great deal of anxiety about accidentally eating something that she can’t eat, and she also has anxiety about the fact that she looks weird picking apart her foods and that people think she’s childish for having such a limited diet.
Joyce knows she probably will not literally be sick if she eats combined foods, or if she eats something that she turns out not to like – although it’s certainly possible. People with serious food aversions can and do vomit from eating things on the “no” list. She also knows that it wouldn’t literally be the end of the world if she is a little sick – though, again, it can be serious. Foods can move from the “yes” list to the “no” list through association with a “no” food or unpleasant experience. She knows it, but knowing that intellectually is not actually enough to get you through anxiety or food aversions or phobias.
Depending on how limited her diet is and how badly this affects her life, she could probably benefit from therapy. When children have a severely restricted diet you speak to an occupational therapist or a speech-language pathologist. That’s probably the best option for Joyce as well. However, given her background it’s very possible that she has never thought of this as being a medical need that can be treated – actually, Americans of many backgrounds are likely to think of this as a personality problem or (in children) a discipline problem, but I suspect that the fundiegelical crowd tends to be even slower to consider therapy as a solution here than the general population.
One note about sensory issues: As I said at the start, I see no reason to think that this is the root cause of Joyce’s specific problems with food. However, it is often part of a seriously “picky” eating in adulthood. Even though you probably eat many more foods than Joyce does (and may even eat the aforementioned insects if they’re presented to you in the right way!) you probably have some foods you just don’t like. Most people do. And there’s no explaining it! The food that other people enjoy is just so gross to you. We usually don’t use the phrase “food aversion” unless people have that reaction to a lot of foods, but it’s worth thinking “This person’s reaction to EVERYTHING is like my reaction to THAT ONE FOOD”. They’re not being picky at you. They’d rather be able to eat ALL THE FOODS just like you can.
Therapy definitely helps with food issues. My little brother went from crackers to bok choy and burgers and some kinds of sandwiches after some months of “food school”. Shoutout to food therapists!
This was a very eye-opening explanation. I’ve never experienced any intense food aversion like Joyce’s, so the insect analogy actually made it a lot more understandable. Thanks!
It could be a sensory issue like myself and other autistic people tend to have; it could be a compulsive need for organisation; it could just be a way for anxiety to safely manifest in organising something; it could just be that she really does not like the way food tastes when mixed. It could be a mix of more than one of these as we literally saw her counting meatballs so she could evenly distribute them.
Regardless, Joyce has like, food rules which if they aren’t followed or only bent by her own personal choice, makes her very unhappy and this is likely partially because she doesn’t *like* a lot of foods and when you don’t like a lot of foods, people sometimes develop tendencies to try to trick you and hide things in your food. Or they try to persuade you into trying things then question you on why you don’t like them, because *they* like them.
Like, my dad used to put onions and bits of tomato in my spaghetti and it just led to me not eating spaghetti for years as I was spending so much time picking out bits it kept going cold and because I didn’t trust him not to keep trying to hide them in it. His lack of trust in my ability to discern what I like and dislike led me to not trust him to make spaghetti that I could eat.
Foods that have minimal ingredients you can easily discern are also mostly basic ‘kid’ foods and you become very guarded against new things that are likely to contain things you dislike. Especially because a lot of people label you as a ‘fussy’/’picky’ eater as if you are purposely doing it to make things difficult and brush it off as not a big deal. Which means you can’t trust them to make sure food is something you can eat.
I literally went to a buffet after a funeral and the only thing there I could eat there was a small quantity of bread. Because I don’t like a lot of things. And no one bothered to consider that when they organised it so I literally went home hungry. I didn’t even bother mingling with anyone, I just wanted to go home and was so annoyed about the lack of food available to me, that I did not have a good time and I don’t remember it fondly even though it was supposed to be a pleasant time. For me, it wasn’t. It was just another time when people didn’t consider me and let me starve because they wanted sauce and vegetables in everything.
I find this often with ‘events’ and ‘special dinners’ that they’re really not for people like me and don’t have options for me as well. Like, Joyce is really not as far off-base as you might think when she considered ordering everything on a pizza to be what people expect a grown-up adult person to do. Pizza is one of the few things you can get plain and no one questions it, but adults are more expected to like ‘everything’ i.e. eat everything with a sauce, a salad, a second sauce on the salad, and a second salad.
I don’t remember where I was going with this but my main point is that Joyce doesn’t like a lot of things and is likely very ‘fussy’ in behaviour about it at least partially because a hell of a lot of people disrespect you and don’t take your dislikes seriously so you *have* to constantly monitor and control your food because you can’t trust the people that are dismissive to actually make sure you can eat at all.
This. I’ve gone to a lot of places where we were ostensibly supposed to eat dinner and ended up just mingling because nobody thought about what I was supposed to eat. And I FEEL you on not telling people. I was embarrassed about not being an ‘adult’ so I ate like three or four bites of anything my boyfriend (who LOVES mixing food) made and then pretending I’d eaten before I came or something. It was months before my mom told him about my food preferences and then he felt bad because he would have just made something I could eat if he’d known. Thankfully, both my family and my boyfriend’s family are very understanding (his family’s always double checking what I can and can’t eat when I eat with them) but I don’t generally tell my friends and I always end up checking a menu before I go anywhere new to find something I can eat (or, barring that, determine the least offensive thing).
Just as a side note – even “plain” pizza which Joyce eats is still dough and sauce and cheese all touching, but that’s apparently fine. (And in her case, it’s also fine to have sausage cooked in it for flavoring as long as she can then pick the sausage off to eat separately.
I mean, I remember something before this, about Kit Fisto, and before that something about… some guy, don’t remember his name. None of it’s really important, right?
It certainly isn’t a conversation you can have in the IU Student Union Food Court right now. I was quite shocked today when I decided to actually eat lunch there today that they shut it down for renovation. 😛
I am pretty certain her dorm has a food court in it that serves both chicken fingers and soft serve ice cream, so why would she go out of her way to eat in the union?
Okay, my experience is out of date again. Back In The Day, the only food available in a dorm came out of a vending machine. The good stuff was always gone, and everything else was stale.
( wouldnt that feel really uncomfortable , chafe?
Unless the blouse is a very soft cotton/ rayon with no bra,
and the top as support .
but I dont see Joyce going braless )
kind of feel like this outfit is meant to be worn in reverse with the top button open
To be fair, it does kind of look like a sports bra since it’s all one solid shape. The notch at the front hints that it’s two pieces buttoned together, though.
Yeah, maybe it could have used a little more detail or different shading to make it more obvious.
A good example is Sal from a few strips ago. Her black t-shirt is actually a very dark blue, which helps differentiate it from her hair (which is a dark brown).
But those metal chopsticks are polished so smooth it’s almost impossible to pick anything up. Or get a splinter. (and I’ve had my share of metal splinters from drilling/tapping/cutting/grinding metal. not fun)
I love how wholesome Joyce and Dorothy’s relationship is. It’s like an oasis compared to how fraught and stressful some of the others can be. Probably the next closest one is like Dina and Becky in the comic. I feel instantly calmed when these two interact. Even when there’s one stressor you know they’ll work things out somehow.
Most generic “American” barbecue sauce (I’m not counting the regional variations) is just ketchup with a few more spices added, so I think it should be okay?
I suppose it’s a good thing that Joyce is aware of her neuroses and has coping strategies. It’s definitely a good thing that she’s trying to expand her horizons. It’s also a good thing that Dorothy is trying to work around her friend’s problems.
All this aside, I agree with everyone who says that these two are cute together, whether they’re just friends or whether it ever becomes more than that.
I agree. DoA has many ship-worthy vessels, but sometimes I like just strong depictions of friendship, and college isn’t probably the best time aside from age 9 or so to get those really lifelong, move-an-apartment, move-a-body friends.
And thank the gods for that, I wouldn’t want to be beneath a buffalo herd flying overhead when they decide to empty the holding tanks. It is bad enough being bombed by Canada Geese.
You pick up the broccoli with the fork, and scrape the rice off with the knife. This is covered in Joyce’s class, but separating peas from mashed potato is an advanced level subject.
I can’t help but think that the first time Joyce is able to let herself try something with multiple ingredients cooked together as a whole — a good chicken Kiev, for example, or a German-style beef rouladen — it will go something like this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iECwVCFjmqc
Dorothy looks incredibly cute when her hair goes uncut and unstyled for two months.
First semester, everyone is just too busy to realize they need a haircut.
You a what’s great? Chopsticks. You get to pick out everything of one kind, then everything of the next kind, without worrying about the initial mixing state. And Joyce made me realise that is probably the reason I like chopsticks :V
willis can i just say: thank you for this ARFID representation (which is probably a stupid thing to thank you for since this is based off your experiences)
What I’m getting from this is that you could feed Joyce some real-deal legit-shit culinary art and as long as you weren’t being the asshole about the plating (like people insist on telling me is the only way, pricks), she would happily eat it.
Some real culinary art – as long as the meal itself didn’t involve parts mixed together. A lot of classic meat and vegetables on the side meals would be fine, but any kind of dish where they’re cooked into one thing would be a problem.
According to some here, all sauces are bad and constitute food touching food, so you’ll have to have that steak without the pan sauce.
But yes, there are even fine cuisine meals she could eat – though it would probably take some learning how to navigate a menu, since it’s often not clear from that what would be acceptable.
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I feel like Joyce should get a poké bowl, everything is just kind of stacked and not mixed at all
And she could swallow it whole without chewing and barely taste it, even though it would cost several dollars…
That poor, poor Pikachu…
https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/601662979699638293/673295865351372817/IMG_20200201_152540544.jpg
I am trying to think of an appropriate politically correct word that best describes that…..
Terrifying seems to fit the bill as well as AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
What’s a poké bowl?
Hawaiian dish. It’s veggies and raw fish, in a bowl like a salad, but all the components are separated into neat little clusters; assuming Joyce could tolerate any individual ingredient, she would be fine just eating one segment at a time (possibly with the aid of a side-plate). https://www.heartfoundation.org.au/images/made/images/uploads/recipes/Poke_Bowl_Image_3_800_480_85_s_c1.jpg
Don’t think she’d go for the raw fish – unless it really was just that sushi is wrapped in rice and seaweed.
The “food touching” thing is the most obvious, but her issues seem to extend to new foods in general.
All we are saying…is Give Peas A Chance!
https://www.questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=2437
Don’t forget the followup: https://www.questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=2438
Off-topic, but I was trying to find that QC strip with Joyce and Daisy making a guest appearance! Thanks for posting this!
O_O How did I not notice that before?
In this modern media society both attention span and retention have been greatly diminished.
Squirrel!
That’s Joyce and Daisy?! That’s confirmed somewhere? Holy crap!
Wow! I didn’t know that was Joyce, either.
I’m…not seeing Daisy, there?
in QC 2438, Daisy Wooten is the character just to the left of Joyce.
She is from John Allisons’ excellent Giant Days
Oooooh. I thought, since people were just saying ‘Joyce and Daisy’, they mean, you know Willis’s Daisy.
“Come on, I’m hilarious!”
(I know, Claire said this after a different pun, but it always holds.)
“AI’s should get their head out of the cloud!”
(No, I unfortunately don’t remember the strip number and I’m too tired to search through 4000 comics to find it)
Nice to see our Claire ambassador here to add some detail.
Stop the violins —
Visualize whirled peas!
Why does everyone steal my puns?
My 5 year old is amused by how cross I still get about this: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-beds-bucks-herts-45564552 (safe for work)
Great, now I am channeling The Arrogant Worms. Again.
I don’t trust anyone who doesn’t dip chicken in honey mustard.
All forms of mustard are disgusting.
Guess that makes me untrustworthy.
All SAUCES are disgusting, so I’m right there with you.
I’m of Ambrose Bierce’s opinion on Sauce:
SAUCE
-n.
The one infallible sign of civilization and enlightenment. A people with no sauces has one thousand vices; a people with one sauce has only nine hundred and ninety-nine. For every sauce invented and accepted a vice is renounced and forgiven.
The Devil’s Dictionary
Excellent. More for you.
Still boggles my mind. “Sauce” is such a huge category, it’s really hard to see them all as disgusting. Even Joyce likes some sauces, though she might not recognize them as such.
I am partially exaggerating for comedic effect. I don’t mind barbecue sauce on chicken (so long as it’s so grilled in it’s basically part of the chicken) and I like steak jus on fries.
….I think that’s literally it though.
“All forms of *ketchup* are disgusting.”
Fixed it for you.
No, you didn’t. BBCC is right, all sauces are disgusting.
Ugh, my brain failed me, and I apologize, I thought you were replying to BBCC instead of timemonkey. Still gonna have to disagree, mustard is gross. But I also get why people don’t like ketchup (despite my grand love of it). Stiiiill find mustard worse cause at least I can handle the smell of bad ketchup.
Depends on the mustard, I am not a big processed mustard fan, but I have discovered some gourmet mustards that I really like. I found a horseradish mustard that I just love.
I’m very fond of the whole mustards, especially those made with a bit of whiskey in addition to/instead of vinegar.
All the sauces are great!
Mayo is kinda lame though…
Only if it’s light.
Ugh. Mayo and ranch are both on my no-go list. Mayo, in particular, because if you get it on a burger, it’s almost always glopped on until it matches the calorie content of the rest of the sandwich, smearing everything within with that overwhelming blandness.
Ketchup is fine–if you’re 12. And, of course, NEVER on a hot dog.
“overwhelming blandness”
who are these people commenting on your post and who hurt them? sauce is great y’all. more for me
Incorrect and also false. Sauce is nasty.
Bisque de homard
Beurre Bercy
Beurre blanc
Beurre Chivry
Beurre Colbert
Beurre d’ail
Beurre d’amande
Beurre d’anchois
Beurre de citron
Beurre de crabe ou de crevette
Beurre de cresson
Beurre d’escargot
Beurre fermière
Beurre de laitance
Beurre maître d’hôtel
Beurre manié
Beurre marchand de vin
Beurre Nantais
Beurre noisette
Beurre noir
Beurre rouge
Sauce grenobloise
Sauce vierge
Aïoli
Sauces hollandaise
Sauce Figaro
Sauce Joinville
Sauce maltaise
Sauce marquis
Sauce Mikado
Sauce mousseline
Sauce à la diable
Sauce béarnaise
Sauce Beauharnais
Sauce Bontemps
Sauce Choron
Sauce Foyot
Sauce paloise
Sauce arlésienne
Sauce tyrolienne
Sauce Véron
Sauce Valois
Mayonnaise
Mayonnaise aux anchois
Mayonnaise onctueuse
Mayonnaise printanière
Mayonnaise ravigote
Sauce rémoulade
Sauce antiboise
Sauce berlinoise
Sauce chypriote
Sauce cocktail
Sauce dijonnaise
Sauce enragée
Sauce gribiche
Sauce La Varenne
Sauce mousquetaire
Sauce norvégienne
Sauce rose
Sauce tartare
Sauce verte
Sauce Vincent
Sauce vierge
Vinaigrette
Sauce Albert
Sauce à la crème
Sauce à la maître queux
Sauce allemande
Sauce anglaise
Sauce aux anchois
Sauce aux crevettes
Sauce aux moules
Sauce bâtarde
Sauce Mornay
Sauce Nantua
Sauce normande
Sauce poulette
Sauce printanière
Sauce riche
Sauce Soubise
Sauce Chivry
Sauce Cardinal
Sauce béchamel
Sauce aux câpres
Sauce cardinal
Sauce au raifort
Sauce princesse
Velouté
Sauce à la reine
Sauce Albuféra
Sauce Alexandra
Sauce ambassadrice
Sauce aurore
Sauce chaud-froid
Sauce Chivry
Sauce crapaudine
Sauce dieppoise
Sauce duchesse
Sauce financière
Sauce ivoire
Sauce ravigote
Sauce suprême
Sauce allemande
Sauce impératrice
Sauce polonaise
Sauce poulette
Sauce sicilienne
Sauce normande
Sauce diplomate
Sauce Joinville
Sauce laquipière
Velouté au vin blanc
Sauce Bercy
Sauce Comtesse
Sauce Grandville
Sauce marinière
Sauce matelote
Sauce orléanaise
Sauce Pompadour
Sauce vénitienne
Sauce Victoria
Sauce Bonnefoy
Sauce financière
Sauce marinière
Sauce Richelieu
Sauce Villeroi
Velouté ivoire
Sauces espagnole
Sauce bordelaise
Sauce à la moelle
Sauce rouennaise
Sauce italienne
Sauce au sang
Sauce Chambord
Sauce Chateaubriand
Sauce genevoise
Sauce italienne
Sauce matelote
Sauce piquante
Sauce poivrade
Sauce grand veneur
Sauce Robert
Demi-glace
Sauce à l’oignon
Sauce à la pauvre homme
Sauce au porto
Sauce au vin rouge
Sauce bourguignonne
Sauce Chambertin
Sauce chasseur
Sauce Colbert
Sauce Diane
Sauce Dodard
Sauce Duchambais
Sauce duxelles
Sauce François Raffatin
Sauce madère
Sauce aux champignons
Sauce aux olives
Sauce Périgueux
Sauce sarladaise
Sauce portugaise
Sauce marchand de vin
Sauce moutarde
Sauce Régence
Sauce Sainte-Ménehould
Sauce Talleyrand
Chaud-froid brun
Chaud-froid Madère
Chaud-froid Nantua
Chaud-froid rosé
Chaud-froid royale
Chaud-froid sibérienne
Chaud-froid jaune
Sauce tomate
Sauce créole
Sauce provençale
Sauce au citron
Sauce à l’abricot
Sauce à l’ananas
Sauce à la cerise
Sauce à l’ananas et au rhum
Sauce au chocolat
Sauce au café
Crème anglaise
Sauce au Grand-Marnier
Sabayon
Sauce à la vanille
Sauce à la vanille et au rhum
Sauce à la vanille et au bourbon
Sauce instantanée
Sauce piment
Sauce à l’ail
None of these sound appetizing to me in any way :P.
I dun wanna be a sauce…
And that’s just some of the French ones, ignoring the entire rest of the world.
As the French do their best to.
@St Clair:
If only.
Choucroute (alsatian version of sauerkraut) was probably taken from China’s tradition before the real deal of colonial exploitation, but the french cuisine is like all (maybe more tha most) a colonial litany of stolen goods, from stolen lands and grown by stolen working forces. Tomatoes, potatoes, almonds, mais, sugar all these essential elements of so-called french cuisine that were unknown before the colonial boom. It’s the 18th and 19th bourgeoisie that invented the idea of a french cuisine existing.
Actually, it’s a classification of sauces known to french at some point. But you’re right, and that was one of my points, if a french-only list from the 19th is that long they’re should be myriads of possible sauces, what leads me to my central point: what is a sauce? Is it even possible to do without it at some point? If you look at that partial and actually short list, you see that broths, soups, almost anything with a bit of liquid can enter the definition of a sauce.
Thinking a little more about this and admitting my experience is very limited – I’d never even heard of this before reading about Joyce and then BBCC and some other posters here confirming it as a real thing: It seems to me modern American (and to a lesser extent English and maybe Western European cuisine in general) would be relatively easy for someone with this kind of food issue to navigate. The classic meat and potato/bread and vegetable on the side kind of meal is perfect. Skip the gravy, get some kind of vegetable cooked straight without a sauce and you’re good.
How do those raised in some other cultures fare, assuming the same issues still develop? Indian cuisine, to use the one the came up for Joyce? Or Mexican or Chinese cooking? Again I’m no expert and maybe it’s just the kinds of dishes I tend to seek out, but I don’t think the separate foods thing is nearly as common.
Those same issues definitely come up in other cultures. In India and Mexico and China it’s entirely possible to subsist entirely off of rice + some sort of plain pulse + plain cooked chicken.
In my case, they usually don’t add anything for me, but I do like marinara sauce with my mozzarella sticks, I like ketchup with my fries, but they aren’t a needed thing. Unless it’s BK fries, then I must drown them in ketchup so that I don’t taste the badness that is their fries.
The other side is they also have a not nice texture or flavor. Ranch must be in small amounts, too much and it’s bad. Mayo has both bad texture and not nice flavor, and having it on my tongue induces desires to vomit. But sadly, a lot of foods make my body want to vomit, odd examples being lettuce and corn. I can smell both, and it just causes agro on my stomach. It really sucks, cause I’m even more picky that Joyce as I won’t eat that broccoli, but they can at least touch so maybe not as bad?
joyce maybe you should… be more careful with that particular word
Segregation doesn’t have to be a dirty word if we don’t let it be. Unless you meant pea since it sounds like Pee.
Segregation is a perfectly good English word for separating things. The problem is never the words. The problem is the use we make of them.
As long as she doesn’t run around the building shouting “Segregation is a good thing! I love segregation! We should go back to not mixing what doesn’t belong together!”
Side note: how can you be so careful about eating only one ingredient at once and still enjoy, say, waffles, or pancakes? Any batter is made of at least two ingredients, usually 3 or 4. Or even soup? Is it because the mixing is so complete that it doesn’t look like it was initially 4 things? If she doesn’t accept croutons in soup, would she accept soup thickened with day-old bread, if it’s been mixed fine?
I guess it’s because once the ingredients are combined, they “become” the end result instead of being themselves mixed together?
“What therefore a cook hath joined together, let no man put asunder.”
“how can you be so careful about eating only one ingredient at once and still enjoy, say, waffles, or pancakes”
Easy: pick and choose among the rules you decide to follow. It’s not like it’s a rational process.
It’s not so much “pick and choose”, but as you say not a rational process. If you think of them as “one food”, it’s okay. If you think of it as two foods mixed together it’s gross.
Noodles with sauce would be gross. Macaroni and cheese is one of Joyce’s favorite foods. Mac and cheese is just pasta in a cheese sauce.
Sounds twisted but somehow it still works. And the simple fact that she eats pasta and bread answers my question, actually. I wasn’t paying attention.
And now I want to know whether she eats Marmite. Yeast in bread ok, yeast in more yeast not ok?
Also, haggis. It’s just one food, right?
Probably not, on the ground of both being weird foreign foods if nothing else.
Plus you generally put marmite on something, right? Are things like sandwiches or jam on toast acceptable? Classic pb&j? Shouldn’t be, but might be grandfathered in.
I honestly enjoy Happy Joyce. That was some of the best parts of the prevoius universes (just took a loot of work to get there)
Joyce is me when it comes to food. Stuff touching is gross.
Except ketchup. It only belongs in chip form. Any other is totally unacceptable.
Hickory sticks are better than ketchup chips. Ketchup belongs with fries, just like vinegar.
Disagree on both counts. 😛
Aw, the two of them make such a cute couple <3 .
(Yeah, I know they're not actually a couple; but this would totally be an “Awww” conversation if they were.)
becky’s gonna hunt you down
Not really an intimidating prospect. You’d hear her coming and you’d have a free shot while she informed you she was a lesbian.
That’s okay, I’ll distract her with pictures of Dina’s hat just barely being on.
l-lewd…
Just because they’re not dating, that doesn’t automatically mean they’re not a couple.
While this is true, I’m picturing Forest Quad “Aww”ing a romantic couple, and it doesn’t quite feel like they’d do the same for a platonic one.
“They’re not a couple?”
-Everyone in-universe and most of the comment section, probably
Somebody’s eventually going to cut out the “awwww”-s from a few days ago and superimpose them on today’s comic, aren’t they.
Joyce is very cute.
She’s an utter mess, but very cute.
I don’t know if Joyce is the best person to teach a class about segregation…
“I see we have a diverse class this term, and all of you bring your unique perspectives to it, and that’s GREAT. But if those perspectives mix, that could get complicated and weird, so let’s just split you up into groups, okay?”
(Yeah, I know she wouldn’t do that, but my brain went there anyway.)
Will someone explain to me what the poop is wrong with Joyce and food? I don’t get it.
She has sensory issues about food.
She has neuroses, generally. I also suspect she may be slightly autistic. Lots of neurodivergent folks have texture sensitivities or a need for organisation.
I’m willing to let foods touch sometimes, but I generally don’t combine things or eat a main part and side simultaneously. You eat all of one thing first, and then all of the other thing. You know, as is logical.
Yeah I’m not certain if Joyce’s diet is limited enough to go under Adult Restrictive Food Intake Disorder, and some of her Food Quirks seem less about eating the food and more about a need for orderliness, but she’s definitely some stripe of neurodivergent and undiagnosed. (I waffle over autistic or anxiety disorder of some flavor or both, personally.)
But yeah, I’m in this comic and I accept it.
Honestly, I doubt it. She’s probably just a fussy eater. I used to eat like her, and it wasn’t ‘cuz of any neurodivergent traits. I was just, y’know, ten.
And Joyce hasn’t exactly broadened her horizons until… like… three months ago?
Some people really do not like their food touching and find it deeply unpleasant.
Joyce’s case is more extreme than mine, but for example, I do not, EVER, have ice cream and cake on the same plate at birthday parties, because crumbs get in the ice cream and it is a visceral sort of revulsion from me.
What about vanilla ice cream and apple pie? I’m generally averse to food touching (unless it’s not the sort to cross-contaminate, like chicken + plain fries), but select combos are pretty tasty.
Some people have trouble eating certain foods. This *can* be associated with autism or sensory issues, and often is, but it certainly doesn’t have to be. In Joyce’s case I think her bigger issue is just generalized anxiety that manifests as food issues.
It’s very easy to brush this off as immaturity or attention seeking or somehow not “real”, because after all, you and I can eat these foods without problems. But consider all the foods that loads of people eat every day without problems that in our culture, very few people do… like insects. Lots of people in lots of places around the world eat insects. Insects are a good source of protein, and easily sourced! In the West, eating insects is so outre that you’d have to literally be starving in the woods to think of it. It’s a regular feature on “dare” shows, even if the insect in question is chopped up and encased in chocolate. If you were to put a clean and sanitized insect in a glass of water and then remove it, people wouldn’t drink the water.
To Joyce, all food is potentially insects. (Not literally, but let’s run with this analogy, shall we?) She has a small variety of foods that she trusts are (probably) insect-free, but in order to be safe it has to be, well, safe. No sauce. Nothing mixed, which might mean that sneaky insects are hiding or that incompatible foods have turned into something she can’t eat just by proximity to each other. Nothing “weird”, which means stuff she’s unfamiliar with (which is a lot of stuff, because there are a lot of foods she doesn’t eat because eating them might make her sick). She has a great deal of anxiety about accidentally eating something that she can’t eat, and she also has anxiety about the fact that she looks weird picking apart her foods and that people think she’s childish for having such a limited diet.
Joyce knows she probably will not literally be sick if she eats combined foods, or if she eats something that she turns out not to like – although it’s certainly possible. People with serious food aversions can and do vomit from eating things on the “no” list. She also knows that it wouldn’t literally be the end of the world if she is a little sick – though, again, it can be serious. Foods can move from the “yes” list to the “no” list through association with a “no” food or unpleasant experience. She knows it, but knowing that intellectually is not actually enough to get you through anxiety or food aversions or phobias.
Depending on how limited her diet is and how badly this affects her life, she could probably benefit from therapy. When children have a severely restricted diet you speak to an occupational therapist or a speech-language pathologist. That’s probably the best option for Joyce as well. However, given her background it’s very possible that she has never thought of this as being a medical need that can be treated – actually, Americans of many backgrounds are likely to think of this as a personality problem or (in children) a discipline problem, but I suspect that the fundiegelical crowd tends to be even slower to consider therapy as a solution here than the general population.
One note about sensory issues: As I said at the start, I see no reason to think that this is the root cause of Joyce’s specific problems with food. However, it is often part of a seriously “picky” eating in adulthood. Even though you probably eat many more foods than Joyce does (and may even eat the aforementioned insects if they’re presented to you in the right way!) you probably have some foods you just don’t like. Most people do. And there’s no explaining it! The food that other people enjoy is just so gross to you. We usually don’t use the phrase “food aversion” unless people have that reaction to a lot of foods, but it’s worth thinking “This person’s reaction to EVERYTHING is like my reaction to THAT ONE FOOD”. They’re not being picky at you. They’d rather be able to eat ALL THE FOODS just like you can.
Therapy definitely helps with food issues. My little brother went from crackers to bok choy and burgers and some kinds of sandwiches after some months of “food school”. Shoutout to food therapists!
This was a very eye-opening explanation. I’ve never experienced any intense food aversion like Joyce’s, so the insect analogy actually made it a lot more understandable. Thanks!
I’ve been assuming she’s just a picky eater like me, but it could be something else.
It could be a sensory issue like myself and other autistic people tend to have; it could be a compulsive need for organisation; it could just be a way for anxiety to safely manifest in organising something; it could just be that she really does not like the way food tastes when mixed. It could be a mix of more than one of these as we literally saw her counting meatballs so she could evenly distribute them.
Regardless, Joyce has like, food rules which if they aren’t followed or only bent by her own personal choice, makes her very unhappy and this is likely partially because she doesn’t *like* a lot of foods and when you don’t like a lot of foods, people sometimes develop tendencies to try to trick you and hide things in your food. Or they try to persuade you into trying things then question you on why you don’t like them, because *they* like them.
Like, my dad used to put onions and bits of tomato in my spaghetti and it just led to me not eating spaghetti for years as I was spending so much time picking out bits it kept going cold and because I didn’t trust him not to keep trying to hide them in it. His lack of trust in my ability to discern what I like and dislike led me to not trust him to make spaghetti that I could eat.
Foods that have minimal ingredients you can easily discern are also mostly basic ‘kid’ foods and you become very guarded against new things that are likely to contain things you dislike. Especially because a lot of people label you as a ‘fussy’/’picky’ eater as if you are purposely doing it to make things difficult and brush it off as not a big deal. Which means you can’t trust them to make sure food is something you can eat.
I literally went to a buffet after a funeral and the only thing there I could eat there was a small quantity of bread. Because I don’t like a lot of things. And no one bothered to consider that when they organised it so I literally went home hungry. I didn’t even bother mingling with anyone, I just wanted to go home and was so annoyed about the lack of food available to me, that I did not have a good time and I don’t remember it fondly even though it was supposed to be a pleasant time. For me, it wasn’t. It was just another time when people didn’t consider me and let me starve because they wanted sauce and vegetables in everything.
I find this often with ‘events’ and ‘special dinners’ that they’re really not for people like me and don’t have options for me as well. Like, Joyce is really not as far off-base as you might think when she considered ordering everything on a pizza to be what people expect a grown-up adult person to do. Pizza is one of the few things you can get plain and no one questions it, but adults are more expected to like ‘everything’ i.e. eat everything with a sauce, a salad, a second sauce on the salad, and a second salad.
I don’t remember where I was going with this but my main point is that Joyce doesn’t like a lot of things and is likely very ‘fussy’ in behaviour about it at least partially because a hell of a lot of people disrespect you and don’t take your dislikes seriously so you *have* to constantly monitor and control your food because you can’t trust the people that are dismissive to actually make sure you can eat at all.
This. I’ve gone to a lot of places where we were ostensibly supposed to eat dinner and ended up just mingling because nobody thought about what I was supposed to eat. And I FEEL you on not telling people. I was embarrassed about not being an ‘adult’ so I ate like three or four bites of anything my boyfriend (who LOVES mixing food) made and then pretending I’d eaten before I came or something. It was months before my mom told him about my food preferences and then he felt bad because he would have just made something I could eat if he’d known. Thankfully, both my family and my boyfriend’s family are very understanding (his family’s always double checking what I can and can’t eat when I eat with them) but I don’t generally tell my friends and I always end up checking a menu before I go anywhere new to find something I can eat (or, barring that, determine the least offensive thing).
Just as a side note – even “plain” pizza which Joyce eats is still dough and sauce and cheese all touching, but that’s apparently fine. (And in her case, it’s also fine to have sausage cooked in it for flavoring as long as she can then pick the sausage off to eat separately.
The rules here are complicated.
Where’s Mike?
He’s moved on; it’s time that we do as well.
There is a big difference between moving on and having been moved on.
I thought he moved down, and rapidly.
Barring future events, he’s on the bus.
Who?
I mean, I remember something before this, about Kit Fisto, and before that something about… some guy, don’t remember his name. None of it’s really important, right?
It certainly isn’t a conversation you can have in the IU Student Union Food Court right now. I was quite shocked today when I decided to actually eat lunch there today that they shut it down for renovation. 😛
What I can’t figure out is how they’re this far into the semester, but this is just the first time Joyce has been in there?
Maybe she’s just surprised Dorothy chose to go there for lunch.
I am pretty certain her dorm has a food court in it that serves both chicken fingers and soft serve ice cream, so why would she go out of her way to eat in the union?
Okay, my experience is out of date again. Back In The Day, the only food available in a dorm came out of a vending machine. The good stuff was always gone, and everything else was stale.
She’s a fool, the best sauce for chicken fingers isn’t red, it’s honey.
Honey isn’t a sauce, you fake food eater.
You’re right – it’s bee vomit.
(I kid; I love the stuff, actually.)
Does anything vomit better than a bee?
I’ve never tested it.
Is honey vomit? All these years I’d thought it was from the butt.
cow juice and bee barf
Back in the 1980s, then-governor of Wisconsin Lee Dreyfus stated that while he ate honey his wife did not because she considered it “bee poop”.
I’d take the class if I wasn’t already partially living it.
You know who might or might not be partially living? Mike.
Weellll, see? My question is whom shall we ask? Schrodinger? Or Heisenberg?
what is joyce wearing?
( wouldnt that feel really uncomfortable , chafe?
Unless the blouse is a very soft cotton/ rayon with no bra,
and the top as support .
but I dont see Joyce going braless )
kind of feel like this outfit is meant to be worn in reverse with the top button open
Have you no sense of fashion?
the Colors look nice.
but id probably layer them in the other direction
? Doesn’t look uncomfortable to me at all. It’s a blouse with a vest on top. I wear stuff like that all the time.
Since when does Joyce wear a vest? /s
To be fair, it does kind of look like a sports bra since it’s all one solid shape. The notch at the front hints that it’s two pieces buttoned together, though.
thankyou.
I thought it was a midriff athleisure supportive tank.
Yeah, maybe it could have used a little more detail or different shading to make it more obvious.
A good example is Sal from a few strips ago. Her black t-shirt is actually a very dark blue, which helps differentiate it from her hair (which is a dark brown).
is that a vest?!
i thought it was a midriff top like Sal wears.
or a sportswear or athleisure tank bra.
I thought it was tighter, smaller and higher than a vest.
but it looks like Microvests are part of the DNA of the character
https://www.itswalky.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/2017-01-07.png
I dunno; Joyce likes vests over her blouses/shirts. It’s just the look she likes, I guess.
ive never seen her wear a vest that small or formfitting ?
i thought she wanted to wear something more risque than her usual plaid vests, but then wore it over a blouse
https://www.itswalky.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/2017-01-07.png
But In Walkyverse Walky thought a short vest meant AntiJoyce,
so maybe it signals character change
( im agreeing with everyone else that its a vest , unless Willis says otherwise. )
Daaang.
OTOH https://www.dumbingofage.com/2014/comic/book-5/01-when-somebody-loved-me/march/
I can’t see there being a conscious choice on Joyce’s part but, yes, I’m wondering if she’s feeling aggressive today.
It’s just like how my dad always said “miscegenation of the rices” whenever he was having white and brown rice together.
Why would anyone ruin brown rice by mixing white rice in it?
I got no answers for the heretics. Brown rice has things that are good for you besides ‘just’ calories. White rice has,… calories.
Joyce’s nightmare: Dorothy will only hang out with her if Joyce eats bibimbap the proper Korean way.
(The Korean way is to mix or mash everything together, which is great.)
(And to use metal chopsticks, which is not great.)
Short metal chopsticks are 100x better than disposable wooden chopsticks that have a non-zero change of putting a splinter in your tongue. FITE ME
Metal can give splinters as well.
But those metal chopsticks are polished so smooth it’s almost impossible to pick anything up. Or get a splinter. (and I’ve had my share of metal splinters from drilling/tapping/cutting/grinding metal. not fun)
I love how wholesome Joyce and Dorothy’s relationship is. It’s like an oasis compared to how fraught and stressful some of the others can be. Probably the next closest one is like Dina and Becky in the comic. I feel instantly calmed when these two interact. Even when there’s one stressor you know they’ll work things out somehow.
awwww. Dorothy stepping carefully around Joyce’s neuroses is beautiful.
Everyone who hangs out with Joyce gets an education in her neuroses. Everyone.
I take it that chicken fingers with barbecue sauce, even though is is reddish in color, is a non-starter then. Poor girl!
Are chicken fingers in breadcrumbs or some kind of batter covering? If so, that’s a red line for Joyce!
Most generic “American” barbecue sauce (I’m not counting the regional variations) is just ketchup with a few more spices added, so I think it should be okay?
I suppose it’s a good thing that Joyce is aware of her neuroses and has coping strategies. It’s definitely a good thing that she’s trying to expand her horizons. It’s also a good thing that Dorothy is trying to work around her friend’s problems.
All this aside, I agree with everyone who says that these two are cute together, whether they’re just friends or whether it ever becomes more than that.
I agree. DoA has many ship-worthy vessels, but sometimes I like just strong depictions of friendship, and college isn’t probably the best time aside from age 9 or so to get those really lifelong, move-an-apartment, move-a-body friends.
Chickens don’t have fingers.
Also: buffaloes don’t have wings.
Also, chicken fingers aren’t the exact shape of a human finger.
Except sometimes, but those are “incidents” and the “media gets involved.”
And the Rocky Mountains don’t have oysters.
And thank the gods for that, I wouldn’t want to be beneath a buffalo herd flying overhead when they decide to empty the holding tanks. It is bad enough being bombed by Canada Geese.
Chicken to broccoli is easy, but she’ll need an extra fork to flick off the grains of rice that stick to the bottom of the broccoli.
You pick up the broccoli with the fork, and scrape the rice off with the knife. This is covered in Joyce’s class, but separating peas from mashed potato is an advanced level subject.
I can’t help but think that the first time Joyce is able to let herself try something with multiple ingredients cooked together as a whole — a good chicken Kiev, for example, or a German-style beef rouladen — it will go something like this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iECwVCFjmqc
Oh, thank you. I needed that video today.
My first thought:
“Joyce has never been to the food court?”
My second thought:
“It’s only been two months, the campus is large, and Joyce has been a recluse for the vast majority of that.”
I contend mental illness is the true villain in every series.
Definitely in any Batman work.
Dorothy looks incredibly cute when her hair goes uncut and unstyled for two months.
First semester, everyone is just too busy to realize they need a haircut.
In my head, Walky will see her soon and get googoo eyes. Amber sees this and musses her hair up like Amazi-Girl’s.
Props for the correct use of “myriad”.
You a what’s great? Chopsticks. You get to pick out everything of one kind, then everything of the next kind, without worrying about the initial mixing state. And Joyce made me realise that is probably the reason I like chopsticks :V
willis can i just say: thank you for this ARFID representation (which is probably a stupid thing to thank you for since this is based off your experiences)
What I’m getting from this is that you could feed Joyce some real-deal legit-shit culinary art and as long as you weren’t being the asshole about the plating (like people insist on telling me is the only way, pricks), she would happily eat it.
Some real culinary art – as long as the meal itself didn’t involve parts mixed together. A lot of classic meat and vegetables on the side meals would be fine, but any kind of dish where they’re cooked into one thing would be a problem.
Steak with pan sauce, sweet potato fries.
According to some here, all sauces are bad and constitute food touching food, so you’ll have to have that steak without the pan sauce.
But yes, there are even fine cuisine meals she could eat – though it would probably take some learning how to navigate a menu, since it’s often not clear from that what would be acceptable.
cool, they got a coke freestyle machine!
It IS a different cafeteria. Whodathunk. And whodathunk it’d be organization heaven!
Oh hey one of those preview images!