Everyone has an opinion about food, so food questions keep a would-you-rather game going longer than anything else. These seven come from the "Food Would You Rather" theme in our app, Infinite Balance. They start out as normal menu choices and get stranger as they go, which is kind of the point.
A couple of the foods are Korean, since that's where the app started. I'll explain them when they show up.
1. One food for life: tteokbokki or fried chicken?
Tteokbokki is chewy rice cakes cooked in a sweet, spicy red sauce. It's the street snack you'll find at pretty much every market in Korea.
I'm going with tteokbokki. I'd be sick of fried chicken within a week. Tteokbokki comes in so many versions, soupy, black bean, creamy rosé, stir-fried dry, that I think I could make it last.
I asked my younger brother and he said chicken without even thinking. His plan was to rotate soy garlic, spicy, and plain. Honestly, that almost got me.
2. Which is worse: instant noodles for breakfast or cereal for dinner?
At first I thought noodles for breakfast would be worse. Salty, greasy food first thing in the morning? But then I remembered eating them a few times during exam weeks, and it was actually fine.
So I switched. Cereal for dinner is worse. Ending the day with a bowl of cereal just sounds kind of sad. Which one bothers you more?
3. Rice soaked in Coke or rice soaked in Sprite?
Here's where it gets weird. In Korea, people sometimes drop a scoop of rice into soup or even cold water. Soda, not so much.
I don't want either, but if I have to, it's Sprite. At least it's clear, so I can pretend it's rice in water.
A friend said Coke might actually work, since it's sweet and salty together. I told him to go try it, and suddenly he wasn't so sure. We laughed about that for a while.
4. Give one up for life: brushing your teeth or showering?
I'd give up showering. People notice bad breath the second you open your mouth. I'm not totally sure about this one, though.
5. Less embarrassing: steam from your nose or smoke from your ears?
Every time you eat, something comes out of you. I'll take smoke from the ears. It's like a cartoon character who just ate something spicy, so it's more funny than anything.
Steam from the nose seems more awkward to me, so I'm curious what the people who pick it are thinking. Maybe it's because in winter everyone's breath steams up anyway, so nobody would notice?
6. One food for life: Korean pork belly or beef?
Same question as the first one, meat edition. Samgyeopsal is thick-cut pork belly you grill yourself at the table, the heart of Korean barbecue. I'm picking pork belly.
I once had beef at a work dinner, and every time I picked up a piece I thought about the price. I couldn't really taste it. That weekend I had pork belly with friends, grilled some kimchi in the fat, and fried rice in the pan at the end. That meal was way better.
7. Worse at the table: the person next to you burps, or you fart?
The last one asks whether it's worse when someone else does it or when you do. For me, it's way worse if I'm the one farting. A burp from the person next to me is one grimace and done. If it were me, I wouldn't taste anything for the rest of the meal.
From tteokbokki to table farts, how many did you pick the same as me? Infinite Balance gets a new theme like this every week. If you want to try it with friends, grab it here.