Foods you inexplicably hate

[Pookie]

Ranch Dressing.

It just tastes gross. The Husband tries to tempt me, but I would much rather eat my carrots plain. Ech!

And I agree with whoever said Papaya tastes like spit.

[dockhl]

Mustard.........any kind (but ESPECIALLY yellow )

The weird thing is I like almost all pickled, vinegary things. I love the little cr

unchy mustard seed texture............just gag on mustard...........

Hated tomatoes, warm from my Grandma's garden, unntil I was 21......go figure. Now I am a tomato nut.

[andiesenji]

I have never cared for cheesecake, or rather the dessert cheesecake.

There are a couple of savory cheesecakess that contain textured ingredients that I do like.

For me it is the mouthfeel of regular cheesecake that I don't like. I have tried to eat it when pressed, just to be polite, but then find I have difficulty swallowing more than a bite.

I also do not like okra and never have, even though I was raised in the south.

I can't stand doughnuts, however beignets are okay, if done correctly.

[moira27]

Al last, I have found someone who feels the same as I do about certain food. Actually it was someones. I LOVE the smell of coffee but I cannot drink it at all. I don't mind mildly coffee flavoured things (coffee crisp more smell then taste) but I don't even like coffe ice cream or milk shakes.

I also cannot stand raw tomatoes, I will pull them off a sandwich and pick around them in a salad. I really think it is more of a texture thing than a taste aversion. Whip those puppies into a pasta sauce, bake them on a pizza, use diced canned tomatoes and I'm fine.

I'm not a big fan of olive either but that seems to be more of an even split between like and hate, as opposed to "What do you mean you don't eat tomatoes? But they're so good"

[godito]

Me, I don't get ketchup. Not that I don't like it, I just don't find it useful. I can eat it with my hamburger, but I'd rather have a juicy paddy made with enough fat, some good beefsteak tomatoes, a little lettuce, cheese and a nice beer. Ketchup on my fries? nope, not for me. I used to add hetchup to my tomato sauce because I never cooked it enough to accomplich a rich flavour.

But the one thing I just can't eat is olives. I try olives every couple of months, becasue I think I should like them, but I just don't. I even tried some "really good" spanish olives last time I was at Zabar's, and I understood why my friends were enjoying them so much; I even got some for my mom (she loves olives) but I didn't like them.

[torakris]

wow, I never realized so many people disliked coffee...

(sipping an iced coffee as I type... )

The cheesecake thing is a combination of the mouthfeel and the sweetened cream cheese, I also don't like the cream cheese frosting on carrot cakes and cinnamon rolls either.

I love cream cheese and eat it both raw and in cooked savory applications but add sugar to it and blech!

[emmapeel]

...I love cream cheese and eat it both raw and in cooked savory applications but add sugar to it and blech!

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Yes, I'm with you, although I can take it. But when considering a Coconut Cake recipe and the frosting calls for cream cheese, I say "Next!" And I don't even bother with Carrot Cake.

[Feedbag]

Iced tea. Whenever I'm in the states people push it on me.

Coming from Canada, it's odd to have servers in the US ask "hot or cold?"

when you order tea. Tea is hot in Canada; I don't know anyone

who drinks iced tea here (in the west, anyway). I think it really is an American thing.

To me it tastes like bitter water. I don't get it.

And liver, egads, what vile stuff. Upchuck city. My mum, being Scottish,

would try to force it on us as kids but when we dry heaved for the

fifth time she gave up. But then she pulled this evil trick. She'd buy

us pork chops and a piece of liver for herself. Cook the liver in the

frying pan, then, get this, cook the pork chops in the same pan

without first washing it. The taste and smell of the liver covered

the chops and we couldn't eat those. Then she'd complain it was

just her cooking we didn't like. Well, yeah, there's that too (she was

British, after all) but liver is gross!!! Thank god she didn't force haggis

on us.......

And I agree with the coffee comments. It always smells better than it

tastes. But I drink it anyway; I'm addicted. I just add cocoa to it to

cut the bitterness.

[pamjsa]

also:

honeydew

cantaloupe

WATERMELON - blech!

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Count me in. Yes, I'm a watermelon hater. Melon, in general, is not my thing, but I can choke down honeydew when I have to. I can't eat anything that's even been in the vicinity of watermelon.

The first time I met my now-husband's family was on the 4th of July in Kansas and, yes, of course they offered me a big old slice of watermelon. It didn't occur to anyone that it was possible to dislike the wretched thing. I was torn between seeming weird and not throwing up at our first meeting. Ultimately, I decided that not throwing up was probably the better choice.

[helenjp]

Hmmm...for me I think it's the cream cheese, not the cheesecake! I do like the really old, old style of thinner, drier, baked cheesecake, but not refrigerator cheesecake.

I keep thinking I must have only tried cheap cream cheese or something, but I can't a cream cheese pastry (rugelach etc.) that I like at all. I was just about to post for help in the pastry forum, but still can't decide if I even want to like rugelach!

[Curlz]

Duck, nearly any form of it. But I have been known to nibble on a piece of crisp duck skin every now and then.

Lamb has sort of a weird goat-cheese taste to it. Not surprisingly, I don't like goat cheese either.

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I'll trade you all of my olives and fresh tomatoes for your duck (any form of it), lamb and goat cheese!

Edit: Moira! Finally! I knew I couldn't be the only one on eG who doesn't like raw tomatoes...

Edited May 30, 2005 by Curlz (log)

[cakewalk]

Guavas. Vile and overpowering smell, never mind the awful taste and revolting texture.

[evongvisith]

Do you have any foods that you just can't eat that no one seems to understand?

I am generally unimpressed by chicken. Except for a very occasional craving for fried chicken (I grew up in the South), I never order it in restaurants or cook it at home. I'm not crazy about poultry in general, really -- once a year for roast Thanksgiving turkey is enough for me.

Chicken doesn't gross me out or repel me, but I'd rather have pork or some other kind of meat, or none at all. On the other hand I like chicken liver pate. Go figure

[Milagai]

Guavas. Vile and overpowering smell, never mind the awful taste and revolting texture.

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hey! try them slightly unripe (they are not squishy then)

liberally sprinkled with salt and red chilli powder!

yetanother great indian street food snack.

i eat copious quantities of these when at home

telling myself i'm eating a healthy vitamin c laden fruit,

but it's only my way of disguising my salt and red chilli fix....

milagai

[viva]

People don't understand my abhorrence for the potato. It's a very specific potato dislike, based entirely on texture.

Specifically:

Littler potatoes may be okay - the little purple Peruvian guys have a creamier and less mealy texture. Roasted in bacon fat, even better. The little brown ones taste like their larger Idaho cousins and therefore must be avoided at all costs. The little red guys can go either way, making them somewhat of a crapshoot.

Sweet/yams - no worries.

Sliced thinly and fried, julienned and fried, sliced thinly and baked with plenty cream or cheese - all good. None of the mealy texture will shine through. Slice/julienne too thick - all mealy, all bad. Dice 'em in a stew - bad, unless they're really really tiny and virtually dissolve.

Mashed potatoes are simply vile heaps of mealy nastiness. I don't care how much garlic/goat cheese/cream/wasabi/whatever you toss in 'em - they still have the mouthfeel of a bad apple. Mashed into gnocchi - perfectly acceptable.

Thank you for listening...

[steps off soapbox]

[purplewiz]

Cherries. Real or artificial, in pies or on sundaes, I don't care, the smell and flavor immediately trigger my gag reflex.

Licorice, or any anise flavored anything. See above.

Asparagus. Mushy, nasty smelling, stringy - or worse, undercooked and crunchy. Not to mention the vile after effects. This is one of my mother's favorite foods, and for the last 40 years I've had to remind her not to waste any on me - I ain't eatin' it.

I have quite a few other dislikes, but these are the three that seem to cause the most trouble with other people, especially the asparagus thing this time of year. They just don't get it that I can't stand the stuff, and keep telling me "you should really try this, it's wonderful". Yuck.

Marcia.

[Pan]

Me, I don't get ketchup.[...]

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Me neither. I hardly ever eat hotdogs, either, and generally dislike hamburgers. But in any case, I never add ketchup, mustard, or mayonnaise (unless homemade) to anything. That said, I love mustard seeds and can enjoy dishes that include any of those ingredients in their sauces. I've never liked any coleslaw except Katz's, though (even though I'm sure they use Hellman's or another commercial mayonnaise in it).

[evongvisith]

Me, I don't get ketchup.[...]

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Me neither.

I third that. I don't put ketchup on anything, not even French fries. I think it's way too sweet.

[Pan]

I like my fries completely plain, without salt (perhaps a bit of pepper).

I've occasionally gone to Belgian-style fry places and had fun with their sauces, though.

[Genny]

Not in any particular order...

Miracle Whip: What the hell is this crap? Just give me Best Foods/Hellman's. And don't put it in my potato salad, cole slaw or deviled eggs either! Do you think I can't taste the difference? It is so sweet and tangy it just grosses me out. When my SIL comes for the holidays she has to buy a small jar of this stuff because I refuse to keep it in the house

Pumpkin Pie & Mince Meat Pie: Sorry, I just don't get it. Thanksgiving is fun at my house: My husband's whole family loves these things. They are the favorites and must have for dessert. So I make my own apple pie or pecan pie instead.

Candied Fruit: Being Italian this is kind of odd to my family. I don't eat the panetone because the candied fruit is just gross. I'm going to try to make my own this year with just raisins and maybe dried fruit instead so I don't look so wacko. (Like making panetone isn't a bit wacko if you are doing it for this purpose? )

Chicken Liver: Just ick, 'nuff said. (don't love beef liver but it doesn't make me gag)

smoked oytsers: Just a whiff of these things gets my sense memory running and I just want to heave. I used to like them but when I was about 15 I tried to eat a whole can as an afternoon snack. Ooops. You guessed it!

I've tried really hard to get past some of my aversions over the years and I have found that my tastes really changed in my mid-twenties. I also found out that my mom was a lousy cook and that there was stuff that tasted just fine when prepared properly!

Past aversions: asparagus, green olives, any liver, any fish, raw onions, anything that wasn't familiar.

The jury is still out on caviar, sweetbreads, oysters (sometimes OK, sometimes not).

EDIT: Oh and papaya. Someone said it smelled like spit. Something like that, I always thought it left a moldy aftertaste that just lingers forever!

Edited May 30, 2005 by Genny (log)

[Pan]

I forgot to mention that I hate raw oysters. I really find them disgusting.

[Pam R]

Iced tea. Whenever I'm in the states people push it on me.

Coming from Canada, it's odd to have servers in the US ask "hot or cold?"

when you order tea.  Tea is hot in Canada; I don't know anyone

who drinks iced tea here (in the west, anyway). I think it really is an American thing.

To me it tastes like bitter water. I don't get it.

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My #1 drink is Iced Tea.... maybe I should be American??

I'm with everybody who is anti-canned fish. I can't handle the smell, let alone eating the stuff.

Mayo - don't like it. Never will. The texture, the taste, the... concept. pheh.

Caviar - tried it. not interested.

[lesfen]

Plain old cream cheese. I like cheese cake and cream chees fillings/frostings and pastries, but when I see someone spreading it on a bagel it makes me a little sick. My brother likes to spread it on salami, roll it into a tube and pop it into his mouth. Ohhh... my tummy. Whem I do make something that calls for it as an ingredient, I have to have someone else take it out of the package for me. Ok, that's a little wierd.

Miracle Whip... gawd!!! Why?! When I first started dating the man of the house, I watched him make what he told me was tuna salad... which was in reality a can of tuna mixed with Miracle Whip until it resembled some kind of soup. I used to keep a little jar on hand to keep the peace, but then I just said screw it and stopped buying it for him. He's gotta learn somehow.

[MelissaH]

Bananas. I must be the only cyclist on the face of the earth who doesn't like bananas. Oook: the taste, the texture, and most of all the smell. If my husband wants them, he needs to bring them in to work and eat them there.

However, fried plantains are fine!

MelissaH

[Jason Perlow]

Anything made with liver, especially Jewish-style chopped liver, and canned tuna fish. Just smelling it makes me want to throw up.