h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

That's absolutely horrific! It shouldn't be allowed.

I felt pretty much the same way about marzipan actually - I really hate nuts (except dry roasted peanuts, oddly) so I'm not a big marzipan fan, but it's *disguised* as 100% pure sugar. Something looking like marzipan should be an instant trip to a sugar rush, but defeats your positive expectations and requires you to gag, spit and wash your mouth out repeatedly for the next half an hour or so.

It's just not on.

Oops - haven't visited this page for a bit! Sorry for the delay

I know what you mean; we have similar experiences at work - because we're housed in an academic department, we get a lot of visitors from around the world who stay for a few months at a time. There are strong traditions that involve the provision of cakes, sweets and other nibbles whenever someone has a birthday, gets a paper published, feels in a good mood, walks into work without getting rained on... the list goes on.

This is all well and good, but most of us have developed a Pavlov's Dog-style reaction. If something looks in the least bit edible and is left on the coffee room table, someone will eat it without pausing to think.

Due to the multinational nature of our group, some of the nibbles don't taste quite how one would expect - the looks on the victims' faces are always a picture! (As long as it happens to someone else...)

Azimuth