Thar Shaddin

There are a few intense food cravings that I get that I can reduce down to probably one or two ingredients within the item. I'm not talking about entire dishes here, like macaroni and cheese or something, I'm thinking specific types of food that you get intense, targeted cravings for, even if you wouldn't eat them plain.

For example, mine seem to be:

1) Beans, particularly red kidney beans, black-eyed peas, and refried beans. I crave them when I'm hung over. I reckon they are my preferred starch for some reason, like others crave potatoes or rice.

2) Tomato paste. Not raw tomatoes, and not even just roasted tomatoes: super condensed tomato flavor. Something about the tangy/savory combination.

3) Squid. Thick pieces of squid body, not the tentacles. I guess it must be the rich flavor of the cholesterol that some shellfish have (shrimp, squid, lobster), without the excess fat, that gets me craving it.

Of late I keep getting intense cravings for sugar, chocolate in particular. I've come home from the last four grocery runs munching on a 3 Musketeers candy bar. My husband keeps asking me if I'm pregnant. (I'm not, before anyone ELSE starts asking.)

Being stuck over here in Iraq, the food gets blander and blander by the day. In order to appease to the general tastes, they avoid anything stronger than salt and pepper... and you have to add that yourself.

Extremely salty - roasted pumpkin seeds do the trick. Probably has something to do with the massive amounts of plain water I drink.

Garlic- Not an active craving but I definitely find myself greatly appreciating garlic after deployments.

Chocolate- Dark, rich, bitter chocolate is my fav i crave every now and then.

Pork and beans. Mmmm.

Staying up late causes me to crave bad food, like starchy shit, and that happens often, but surprisingly I've found that I can ignore the craving and just have fruits instead.

I always get cravings around certain parts of my cycle. Pickles, refried beans (with sour cream and some cheese, mmmm), tomato soup (I know what you mean about the paste, I always lick off some from the can when I make tomato sauce), and often sushi AND OH GOD NOW I WANT SOME NIGIRI.

Chicken tikka, cheese and egg. Mixed together. Don't know why, but it tastes gooooood... and i can never rustle it up cos there's never any chicken tikka in the house