It takes a lot of different personalities to make up this old world and for some reason many are related to food. 

Have you ever known someone that was just so nice, never had an opinion to be shared, laughed at the right times and didn’t have an enemy in the world? There are those who blend in because they have no opinions and no ideas to share; they agree with everything anyone says. In other words they take on the “flavor” of their surroundings. People who are unwilling to state their opinions have much in common with a certain soybean product. They don’t stand out on their own, and they share a common descriptive name. Another attribute of that food is it takes on the flavor of the foods around it. Everyone likes them because they don’t rock the boat; if they talk they are noncommittal. Let’s call them “tofu.”

Some people are aggressive. They are always right and they do not like to be challenged. These types often cause heartburn and they are full of gas. It might be said they are “full of beans,” if what they say is not to be totally believed. Someone who tells a secret is said to have spilled the beans. Either one could be called “beans,” for short.

Folks you enjoy being around are like “meringue.” They are all encompassing and sweet yet have their own form. They can take high heat only for a very short time and if they are not treated just right, they may separate and even weep.

Cold-hearted people are like candy that has been cooked to the hard crack stage, like peanut brittle. The set process in their minds has caused a chemical change that cannot bring them back to a softer stage. They may speak when spoken to but will not look you in the eye so you know the greeting is insincere and they just as soon not speak to you at all. Their hearts are “brittle.”

“Hard-boiled” are those who are not bothered by anything, seemingly unfeeling but actually just severely in charge of their emotions in public. Once they get to the privacy of their own room, they often crack.

Referring to those who act, think or look alike as “two peas in a pod” is an old, old expression. According to Mr. Google, the phrase came from John Lyly, a playwright, in 1580. The line from the play (with what we would now called misspelled words) was, “Wherin I am not unlike unto the unskillful Painter, who having drawen the Twinnes of Hippocrates, (who wer as lyke as one pease is to an other).”

American English is filled with food references, most of which are commonly used and understood by residents. Tofu and meringue people are not part of the lexicon yet, but give them time and they’ll catch on and will be like icing on a cake.

Sanders is a national award-winning columnist who writes from the family farm. Her internet latchstring is always out through peggy@peggysanders.com.