Pregnancy Cravings: Are They Onto Something… or was it Just a Fail?

Although neither of us personally have a bun in the oven — and don’t plan to any time soon — we figured it’d be a good idea to see if pregnant women are really onto something with some of their maternity cravings. There’s a variety of genuine medical reasons that explain what draws women in certain trimesters to certain food combos, but whether it be baked beans poured over vanilla ice cream or hot Cheetos and milk, the combinations are super odd — and sometimes even scary. 

Creativity can take people to wonderful places, but it can also invite terrible things. And then sometimes you land in that grey area — that’s the best way to explain this combo. 

The contrast of the cold (room-temp at best) pickle slice and the warm hot fudge was confusing — our mouths couldn’t decide if they were pleased or disgusted. The taste was similar to a french-fry-in-ice-cream combo, but with a dill-flavored twist. The hot fudge is amazing on its own, but the combination with the pickle gave you a few fleeting seconds of savory safety until you were jarringly interrupted by the juice and crunch of the pickle. But after the two initial flavor shocks, they start to mix and all your mouth can comprehend is “sweet and salty = good.” 

As fans of pickles and hot fudge independently, we understand the potential appeal, but this isn’t a snack we would reach for again. This pregnant mother might’ve been onto something for herself, but this isn’t for us. 

We really hate to admit it, but after the first apprehensive bite of this unique combination, it only took a few seconds and a few wayward glances at each other for us to burst into laughter as we went in for…another bite? Look, we get the idea of artificial tomato paste mixed with the world’s greatest candy bar seems disgusting, but hear us out. 

When you first bite in, the tangy saltiness of the ketchup hits first, but dissipates quickly as the flavor of the Snickers starts to mix in, turning the taste of the ketchup from tomatoes to a strawberry jam. The strawberry flavor paired with the initial peanut flavor from the Snickers tastes much less like a pregnancy-inspired horrific food combo and more like a peanut butter and jelly bite. And by the time you’ve processed that PB&J taste, the chocolate comes in at the end to round you off for what may as well have been an elementary school lunch. 

We understand it’s strange, and definitely wouldn’t reach for this knowing there’s a bag of Cheez-Its available in the pantry, but we promptly agreed after that it makes a scary amount of sense — pregnant women, you win this round. 

In the 90s movie “10 Things I Hate About You,” Gabrielle Union’s character Chastity serves a philosophically game-changing question — “I know you can be overwhelmed, and you can be underwhelmed, but can you ever just been whelmed?” Yes, Chastity, you can just be “whelmed,” and this craved combo proves it.

We were expecting something a little more garish, but within the first few seconds of our first bite, the applesauce completely overrides the “sour cream and onion” part of the chip. It’s really just a mouthful of applesauce with a little crunch. 

While this was by no means bad — unless you aren’t an applesauce person — it’s really nothing special. If you’re ever craving applesauce but can’t stand the texture or even just want a little crunch, this is a good option. The potato chip could be literally any flavor, we don’t think it’ll change the taste.

All in all, this really isn’t anything special and we won’t be craving it any time soon. While an expecting mom may have personally enjoyed it, we just don’t agree with the potato chip and applesauce craving.

Ok, let’s set the mood for this one: think microwaved ravioli with a sweet squash filling and insanely good marinara cream sauce on top. If we closed our eyes and ignored the abhorrent texture of a not-quite-ripe banana and lukewarm pasta sauce, we could kind of pretend we were at lunch in Italy and not grimacing over the reality of what we were actually eating.

This definitely isn’t the absolute worst thing ever, but it was pretty rough. The flavor was a whirlwind, the texture made us want to puke and we both could’ve done without the kick that the red pepper flakes gave it. 

Unlike the other combos we tried, this was the only one we just couldn’t take a second bite of. It’s almost, kind of, a little bit ok, but the taste just isn’t enough to overcome the offputting visual of banana slices smothered by the chunky tomato basil pasta sauce. We soon forgot about the Italian escapism, and we just couldn’t do it. 

Technically no shame in seeking this combo out, but for us, this one is a never. 

On a scale of one to Gordon Ramsay, we’re probably closer to Guy Fieri on the taste-testing scale. But to be honest, if we were eight months pregnant, you better believe we’re going back to the Snickers and ketchup combo. Bananas and red sauce? Probably not. All in all, you’re not missing out on these pregnancy cravings — best to stick with the cinnamon bread and Winstead’s milkshakes our moms craved when they were pregnant with us.