There are some food combinations that just don't seem to make sense. Personally, I never got the whole french fries in a Frosty thing or the KoolAid and pickle combo. But there's a rule that you don't yuck someone else's yum, even when that thing is as odd as someone dipping their chicken tenders in Coke.
Tennis fan Alexa Greenfield was eating lunch with her nephews at the U.S. Open and a U.S. Open camera caught her dipping chicken tenders in Coke.
So this happened at the US Open today... ? pic.twitter.com/fRDmpd3YWE
— ESPN (@espn) September 3, 2018
The reaction from social media users was... not supportive.
Why are we dipping chicken fingers into soda? Why is this happening? Someone call the cops right now! pic.twitter.com/iO9KsgYE4O
— Eric Hubbs (@BarstoolHubbs) September 3, 2018
Other people on Twitter concurred with the request for police, called Greenfield a psychopath, and suggested jail time for her.
Greenfield, surprised both by the fact that she'd been caught on camera and the reaction to her admittedly unusual choice for a dipping sauce, reached out to Sports Illustrated to explain.
She told SI: "My dad taught me. He had me doing it when I was really, really young. His reasoning was to cool them off."
It only works with regular Coke, Greenfield noted, and it does make the soda greasy, so she doesn't drink the Coke after she dips the chicken in it.
Greenfield also said that no one else in her family really picked up on the dipping chicken tenders in Coke food habit, but that particular day she was showing her nephews the trick. "I was like listen guys, this is gross, watch me do it, haha. It's not that common, but maybe like once or twice a year," she said.
Fortunately, plenty of others on social media stepped up and defended her right to have the acquired taste, with some comparing it to putting pineapple on pizza or the aforementioned french fries in a milkshake.
If you put pineapple on pizza... don't say nothing about her dipping her chicken in soda
— Wesley Nobles (@WesleyNobles) September 3, 2018
It might seem fun to trash talk other people's food choices, but really, shouldn't we let people find their happiness wherever they need to in this crazy world, especially when it's something as benign as dipping chicken strips in ice-cold Coca-cola?
If you can't find joy in terrible food, you're living a life of unreasonable expectations.
— subtle cheddar (@shitfoodblogger) June 2, 2018