Food I don't understand

I used to be a very picky eater growing up, but in the nearly ten years since leaving the comforts of home, reality has of course shaped some new habits. From having the luxury of every whim & unreasonabl demand being fulfilled it has come down to mom's concern over food being reduced to anxious questions over the phone, leaving me to fend for myself; so much so that now if I don't get what I want, the most likely thing to happen is for someone to mutter "in any case would do her good to not eat for a few days" under their breath.

Neverthless there are still some foods, or food habits I fail to understand - either due to taste or any number of illogical reasons.
1. Liquorice or twizzlers: it's chewy, takes serious jaw muscle to eat and tastes like nothing nice. WHY would anyone eat this stuff?

2. french toast - the traditional way: ok so I'm gauche and I grew up eating my french toast like most Indians- salty, with ketchup even. I mean it makes sense doesn't it - it's egg and it's bread. Eggs & bread are eaten salty and with ketchup. So pray, why is bread dipped in egg & cooked, eaten with syrup? I don't get it. It grosses me out.

3. pineapple on pizza: yes I know it's Hawaiian pizza and Hawaii has lots of pineapples, but that doesn't mean they should put it on their pizza. Or whoever did it. That's like putting curry on cake and calling it Indian cake.

4. cereal with hot milk: An Indian habit again but this time I don't get it. I used to eat this as a kid, mostly because it was shoved down my throat at about 6 am, a time when I was too sleepy to protest. Hot milk makes the cereal soggy & as the milk is cooling down it forms an icky layer. Horrible.

5. cadbury's chocolate eclairs: it gets stuck all over your teeth, you spend more time picking it off than you did in eating it so it's not even worth all that effort by the end.

... I have more strange dislikes but 5 seems a good round number for now.