Foods that you are *supposed* to find delicious?

[rockhopper]

-kim chee (most of it has a smell that sets off my fight or flee instinct. but recently i had some ... labelled "lactic acid bacteria" kimchee ...yum! ... that i thought was delicious)

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That might be the fish entrails that are used while it is "fermenting" (or rotting).

[GlorifiedRice]

What foods do you dislike that are supposed to be delicious and "everyone" likes them?

For me it is bone marrow.  Tastes like snot to me! 

What's yours?

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First of all how do you know what snot tastes like? LOL

Second,

Truffles

Eggplant

Cantaloupe

Blue Cheese

[Mikeb19]

What foods do you dislike that are supposed to be delicious and "everyone" likes them?

For me it is bone marrow.  Tastes like snot to me! 

What's yours?

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Shellfish and mollusks. Basically, any invertebrate animal. Worst of all, I'm a chef, so I'm supposed to like those kinds of things, but i really don't.

Then again, I also love alot of stuff that many people find 'challenging', so I guess I'm not too bad. I love caviar (all eggs really), raw fish and meat, offal (but only if it's prepared well), very strong cheeses (blues are my favourites), etc....

Edited November 16, 2007 by Mikeb19 (log)

[Katie Meadow]

Scallops and banana bread. Those are the only things I can think of that are generally considered appealing that I really don't like. All other bivalves: bring 'em on. I love raw oysters but I don't much care for them cooked as in chowder.

Also I am not fond of really rare lamb, as in leg of, but a small med-rare grilled lamb chop I can get into.

I don't like liver, brussels sprouts, or pastis, but generally those are not considered things you are "supposed to like" so I don't think they qualify (well, okay, I know I'm gonna catch a lot of grief about the pastis.) I also don't think crummy junk food or most fast food qualifies either. That isn't a category or a food--typically it's just cheap ingredients poorly prepared.

Two treats from my childhood that were rare and coveted: caviar and bone marrow. I love them both; caviar with vodka and bone marrow with salt on fresh rye bread.

Oh, not to be wet blanket, but honestly it would be prudent and polite not to compare foods you don't like to something clearly disgusting and negative. Keep it to yourself! Play nice.

[SheenaGreena]

-kim chee (most of it has a smell that sets off my fight or flee instinct. but recently i had some ... labelled "lactic acid bacteria" kimchee ...yum! ... that i thought was delicious)

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That might be the fish entrails that are used while it is "fermenting" (or rotting).

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lactic acid is naturally occuring in kimchi from the fermenting fish that's added. I'll take all the kimchi that you don't want to eat...if you have any

I HATE milk (makes me want to throw up) and hollandaise sauce tastes like.......I'll leave it up to your imagination

[grayelf]

Here's a couple that I think are explained by science: I hate to the point of feeling ill anything with cooked tuna or scallops, but can and do scarf both raw quite happily at a sushi bar. It seems obvious that the cooking process does something to these two proteins that my taste buds/nose/tummy just don't like.

[decolady]

red meat

foie gras and any other liver products

raw fish

Those I just can't eat. Blech! Others I don't really care for:

Jell-O

chocolate

ice cream

[Tri2Cook]

Worst of all, I'm a chef, so I'm supposed to like those kinds of things, but i really don't. 

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You don't have to like everything to be a cook/chef, you just have to be willing to make sure it tastes good for those who do like it.

[esowchek]

I am in total agreement about Jell-O. I think it has to do with the consistency. I do not like aspic either.

#1 on my list: asparagus, both green and white.

Ellen

[Aileen]

I tried poi for the first time last week, absolutely revolting! Room temperature slime with no flavor of any kind. I like all sorts of "strange" foods, but that stuff made me ill! Hmm, I also can't stand yogurt by itself, I'm thinking it's a textural thing.

[HVRobinson]

There isn't much I don't eat... and my large waist seems to show that. But the one thing that I just can't seem to get by is UNI. I've wanted to like uni for over 30 years. I've tried eating it (I can choke it down) dozens of times (at least 50 times)... but it still tastes awful. My wife was able to convert me to brussel sprouts, and I now ask for them. I still don't drink gin, but that's not a loss to me-- I drink everything else, and just don't care. As for sea urchin--- anybody who wants mine can have it, with my blessings, cause I've tried it more times than I ever required my kids to try other foods. And as a full grown adult I get to have dessert even if I don't finish my dinner, so there! Pbfffffft!!!!!

[eskay]

Kimchi. I just don't get it. I'll keep working on it though

Recently got over my dislike of yogurt...well, mostly. I don't gobble up plain yogurt with a spoon. Yet.

[ruthcooks]

Cinnamon, mixed with other spices or flavors, or as a secondary spice.

I like cinnamon alone, as in cinnamon toast, cinnamon apples and Snickerdoodles. But not for me the spice cakes, mixed with cloves and allspice and ginger and such. And not in anything containing meat.

Evidently most everyone likes it, because the food manufacturer's keep on adding it. Just recently, I've noticed cinnamon being combined with caramel in some new desserts like ice cream. And I haven't been able to buy a loaf of raisin bread without cinnamon for years.

I think my dislike came from my mother's apple pie. Instead of mixing the cinnamon with the sugar, she would sprinkle the top of the apples with the cinnamon, which would then stick to the pie crust lid. I loved the top crust, but would carefully remove and set it aside when the pie filling was apple.

[natter]

Both ketchup and catsup. Not only do I think it is bad, but it also has negative flavor, and sucks up whatever goodness any other food has.

[zeffer81]

bananas--i keep trying to like them but have come to the realization that it'll never happen

raisins--ditto for above. i will pick around them in salads, breads, etc. and leave a sad and limp pile sitting on my plate

anything with anise or black licorice flavor

gin (due to an unfortunate incident in high school )

raw tomatoes, sometimes. i get super grossed out by the seeds swimming in gelatinous goo. nothing beats the perfect summer heirloom tomato though!

there are, however, a number of things that i could not stomach as a child and will now eat as an adult. go figure.

[Pebs]

Black Licorice. I can't even be in a room with someone else eating it. It's an instant gag reflex. Once when I was yound and stupid and out to dinner with my new bosses on Wall Street, they insisted upon ordering me a Sambucca to finish the meal. It was all I could do to not barf on the table.

I'm with everyone who hates grape soda, grape juice or even grape popsicles. Once it's wine I am fine with it. Mighty fine indeed.

[Amarantha]

I dislike disliking foods.

Well put

I have a psychosomatic aversion to mango after eating an overripe one and subsequently feeling ill. But I'm working on getting over it. I have reached the point where I can eat half a mango if I have to - I don't love it, but it doesn't make me gag.

[Batard]

For me, it's fruitcake. I can't stand the candied fruit --- especially citron. Yuck, it's tastes so artificial, like eating chopped up gummy bears, and totally ruins an otherwise perfectly nice cake.

[faine]

Just within the past year, I've found myself tolerating a lot of things I used to find unfathombly vile. The most glaring are probably olives and licorice. I used to find olives horrible; now I pounce on them. (Although those canned black ones are still pretty nasty.) I can also tolerate licorice now, and I've even come to love those seeds they give out at the exist at Indian restaurants. I also used to loathe any kind of "squishy" fruit or fruit filling - now I find myself enjoying peaches and even apple pie, which used to be utterly off limits in the past. (Applesauce is still disgusting.) Have other people found themselves tolerating certain tastes more readily as they enter adulthood?

I still find uni hard to handle, though to be fair, I haven't had any in a few years. Maybe I should put that back on my "to try" list. The only issue is the texture: somewhere between a solid and a viscous slime. Umph.

[heidih]

For me, it's fruitcake. I can't stand the candied fruit --- especially citron. Yuck, it's tastes so artificial, like eating chopped up gummy bears, and totally ruins an otherwise perfectly nice cake.

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You just need to run into a good one that has the fruit soaked in port and rum for a month ahead of baking and then is so dense you make 1/16" or 1/8" sliced and are transported. There is hope.

[The Naughti Literati]

Uni.  I gave up trying to like it after trying it 3-4 times.  And lobster.  I love most seafood but don't get what the fuss is about.

Radishes with butter and salt.

I love all three components separately. But I don't get how they are meant to complement each other. It's a textural thing for me, I guess.

Try this (encountered first at Busboy's house, since adopted at my home): slice black radishes thinly on a rickety mandoline, then pile them on a slice of thickly buttered baguette and sprinkle with crunchy salt. Makes a super-easy hors d'oeuvre.

It took me a while to warm up to truffles, but now I love them. My daughter tasted truffles for the first time recently. She took a bite, her eyes lit up, and she said "Wow, this tastes just like dirt!" Not the reaction I was expecting.

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I can't stop laughing at this. How old was she at the time. HILARIOUS!!!!

What a great thread. Nduran is killin me ovah heah! LMAO! The two things I can think of off the top of my head are squid and octopus. If I see that anywhere near where I'm eating I am likely to faint! I just can't get with no tentacles and suction cups. Hayyle naw. And offal...is awful.

I do experiment with other things I used to have aversions to to see if my palate has matured though...

Edited December 6, 2007 by The Naughti Literati (log)

[Batard]

For me, it's fruitcake. I can't stand the candied fruit --- especially citron. Yuck, it's tastes so artificial, like eating chopped up gummy bears, and totally ruins an otherwise perfectly nice cake.

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You just need to run into a good one that has the fruit soaked in port and rum for a month ahead of baking and then is so dense you make 1/16" or 1/8" sliced and are transported. There is hope.

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Heidi, if you could point me in the direction of a good product or a good recipe, I would be willing to give it a shot. I think maybe I have just been subjected to my relatives so-called fruitcake for too long, and have become fruitcake challenged.

Oh and this will seem like sacrilege to many here, especially since there is a busy thread on this topic on the forum already, but I really can't stand Brussels Sprouts. I have eaten them very fresh and I am told well-prepared, but there's something skunky about them I can't get past. And I love cabbage.

And lobster.  I love most seafood but don't get what the fuss is about.

Ditto this; I love seafood and especially shellfish, but never could quite understand what as so darned special about lobster. Everyone sits and rolls their eyes with lobster-eating pleasure, and all I can think is, *Yawn*.

Edited December 6, 2007 by Batard (log)

[moreace01]

Other than the usual contenders:

truffles (once had a bottle of expensive truffle oil that i tried to pawn off on a friend - she asked what it tasted like i said "funk" - needless to say, she passed on the offer. A salesperson i am not)

and blue cheese (i try...so hard)...

I cannot stand beets. Wish I liked them. Their color is so beautiful and can make an ordinary dish look so spectacular. But ugh. To me, they taste like metallic dirt.

[3kyp777]

cheese - i can recognize a good cheese, i just dont appreciate it

analogy is to classical music. i can tell a good performance from a bad, but it wouldnt be my first preference when i need a listen

[Emily_R]

Ladies and gentlemen, I have condiment issues. Ketchup and mustard make me gag just smelling them, let alone tasting them. Won't eat like mayo (though not the same aversive reaction)... The other things that really produce that gag reflex for me are yogurt and buttermilk. I'll cook with those two, but have to breathe through my mouth while dishing them out...