Foods that you are *supposed* to find delicious?

[Lapin d'Argent]

Don't like:

- Bananas (can't even be in the room with them -- the smell!)

- Melons of all types (I keep trying; I know I'm missing out on a good thing...)

- Liquorice (but I like fennel and other mild anise flavors)

- Egg yolks by themselves (any form of eggs mixed together or egg whites I like just fine -- but boiled egg yolks, forget it.)

- Fish that's really fishy -- pickled herring, for instance. Although I love fish sauce - nam pla and it's siblings.

- Pesto. I don't think anyone else has mentioned this specifically. It's a bit overwhelming, even though I like all the individual ingredients. Just too much of a good thing, maybe?

Do like:

- Cabbage in all its many splendors, *especially* boiled!

- Strawberry jello (only strawberry; I crave it when I'm not feeling well)

- Just about every cheese there is

- Cilantro

- Goose, duck, or chicken liver (but not beef)

- Salt!

[Peter the eater]

Don't like:

- Bananas (can't even be in the room with them -- the smell!)

- Melons of all types (I keep trying; I know I'm missing out on a good thing...)

- Liquorice (but I like fennel and other mild anise flavors)

- Egg yolks by themselves (any form of eggs mixed together or egg whites I like just fine -- but boiled egg yolks, forget it.)

- Fish that's really fishy -- pickled herring, for instance.  Although I love fish sauce - nam pla and it's siblings.

- Pesto.  I don't think anyone else has mentioned this specifically.  It's a bit overwhelming, even though I like all the individual ingredients.  Just too much of a good thing, maybe?

Do like:

- Cabbage in all its many splendors, *especially* boiled!

- Strawberry jello (only strawberry; I crave it when I'm not feeling well)

- Just about every cheese there is

- Cilantro

- Goose, duck, or chicken liver (but not beef)

- Salt!

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That's a perplexing list of likes and don't likes.

It's like the things that should be together are falling on opposite sides of your fence.

I'll bet Dr. Gregory House from the TV show could make sense of it.

[Pierogi]

It's really dark, think black, and covered in marzipan, of all things, and iced with confectioners sugar icing.

ick.

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Oh Lord. That reminded me of something else I cannot stomach. Marzipan. Bleech. I mean really, treacly sweet bleech. With a weird texture to boot.

[conor610]

Uni. It's.... gooshy.

[Sherry B]

Pretty much any kind of offal.

My (first) mother-in-law, whom I loved dearly, used to make a stuffed beef heart. She would stuff it with a nice bread stuffing, to fill the...ventricles or whatever they're called.

So the platter would have, instead of a nice roast, this big honkin' heart, complete with the stubs of the arteries. Throb, throb. Nope.

Kidneys. Organs that have spent all of their time filtering the poison out of urine. Again...nope. And why would one defile a lovely crusty steak pie with a kidney? To me that's like taking a nice chocolate cake and filling it with blood pudding!

Needless to say; Blood pudding. Never ever ever.

Liver. I used to cook this for my first husband, who (see above) was brought up on guttish chow. I used to bread it and fry it up nice and crisp, and it really looked yummy...but I could never get past the pasty texture, *shudder*.

I was in an asian supermarket the other day, and saw a package of fresh, and I kid you not....Pig Uteri. Never going to happen. Also "Pork Bung", which I did not try to find out the meaning of.

[Intellidepth]

My father made me try everything once. So... I will eat anything, but prefer not to have:

Rollmops - ate a jar full once... that cured me for a lifetime. (Raw pickled fish.)

Beer - a wealth of promise in the odour, and a complete lack of substantiation on the palate. Yes, I'm a wine fan.

Liquorice I haven't touched since my first taste, although I acknowledge anise works in asian dishes because they get the ratios right.

Raw oysters - just a few please.

[The Naughti Literati]

Pretty much any kind of offal.

My (first) mother-in-law, whom I loved dearly, used to make a stuffed beef heart. She would stuff it with a nice bread stuffing, to fill the...ventricles or whatever they're called.

So the platter would have, instead of a nice roast, this big honkin' heart, complete with the stubs of the arteries. Throb, throb. Nope.

Kidneys. Organs that have spent all of their time filtering the poison out of urine. Again...nope. And why would one defile a lovely crusty steak pie with a kidney? To me that's like taking a nice chocolate cake and filling it with blood pudding!

Needless to say; Blood pudding. Never ever ever.

Liver. I used to cook this for my first husband, who (see above) was brought up on guttish chow.  I used to bread it and fry it up nice and crisp, and it really looked yummy...but I could never get past the pasty texture, *shudder*.

I was in an asian supermarket the other day, and saw a package of fresh, and I kid you not....Pig Uteri.  Never going to happen. Also "Pork Bung", which I did not try to find out the meaning of.

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I just laughed so loud that I woke up my boyfriend and he is HEATED.

Ditto, though I recall reading something by MFK Fisher in which she prepared a heart for her father! And pork bung...OMFG! Was it round and about the size of a quarter?

Edited December 21, 2007 by The Naughti Literati (log)

[junehl]

Brie. EWWW. I love a lot of weird textures and flavors. But brie reminds me of rotten dirt.

Baked Brie, soft brie, hard brie, refrigerated brie. Brie with mushrooms, Brie without mushrooms. Brie served on a platter by bulldogs. All ghastly, although I do enjoy being served by English bulldogs.

[randomwalk]

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...

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YES!!! My worst nightmare (that actually does trouble me...i guess i have anxiety issues ? lol) is being stuck on a desert island with nothing to eat but white bread and mayo. the smell alone of mayo somewhere in the same room with me is enough to make me leave the room. (oddly enough, it is my best friend's fantasy that i get stuck in that situation. i guess she's really sick of dealing with my picky eating.)

hate ketchup, mustard, relish, etc. most salad dressings, especially creamy ones.

i hate (see above, nightmare) sandwich bread. it smells and tastes really artificial and gross to me, whether or not it is. i loooove good crusty bakery bread, although not all bakery bread is good crusty bread.

this means that i hate sandwiches (except ones i make myself from good bread) which is *very* embarrassing in social situations. think of all the times where all there is to eat is sandwiches?? thank your lucky stars you like them!! (i also always have to order hamburgers/hot dogs without the bun--again, embarrassing--thank your stars you don't have this problem, if you are most people.)

also, eggplant, zuchini, really any kind of squash, all gross me out. bananas. any dried fruit--raisins, dried apricots.

and a million other things i just can't think of right now!

but, like many many others, i came to LOVE olives after hating them for many many years.

Edited February 27, 2008 by randomwalk (log)

[saskanuck]

Hi there, I've been lurking for a while, because I haven't been around much lately, more's the pity, due to work and home commitments.

These are the things I won't eat:

organ meats or anything made from them

beef, pork, lamb, veal

white milk on its own

eggs unless they're in baking, but dislike flans and custards or anything with a strong eggy taste

mayonnaise

raw fish/uni

raw onions

insects

There are other things that aren't my favourite foods, but I will eat them and still enjoy them. I could not live without cheese, wine, olives or good chocolate.

Edited February 27, 2008 by saskanuck (log)

[Bonnie Ruth]

Hi there, I've been lurking for a while, because I haven't been around much lately, more's the pity, due to work and home commitments.

These are the things I won't eat:

organ meats or anything made from them

beef, pork, lamb, veal

white milk on its own

eggs unless they're in baking, but dislike flans and custards or anything with a strong eggy taste

mayonnaise

raw fish/uni

raw onions

insects

There are other things that aren't my favourite foods, but I will eat them and still enjoy them.  I could not live without cheese, wine, olives or good chocolate.

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I wish I would somehow learn to like olives, but it has not happened yet. I cannot eat anything with olives in it, no matter what kind. Well, the exception is a martini, but I don't eat the olives. But what nauseates me to the point I have to get away from it is even the scent of canned or frozen green peas. YUCK! Airlines used to put peas on breakfast trays once in a while (back when they served breakfast), and I would get instantly ill and not be able to eat anything on the tray. Most things I hated as a kid, such as squash and eggplant, I like now, but not peas. I love mayonnaise, milk and eggs in any form.

[Mota]

-FOIE GRAS..

Last year I was picked(along with several other students) to go to a "fancy schmancy" dinner party w/ my college president, foie gras was served as an appetizer... I managed to choke quite a bit down...never again

-Artichokes

-Caviar

[chappie]

raw onions

insects

Yeah, but I don't think anyone would claim you are "supposed to find delicious" either unadorned raw onions or insects.

For me, one thing that stands out is Morbier cheese, the one with that ash line in the middle. Smells and tastes like what I can only imagine the unwashed foot of a corpse, doused in sewage, coated in a used-cat-litter crust and buried for 18 months, would.

The worst part is I'll accidentally sample it from time to time on someone's fancy holiday or cocktail party cheese and fruit platter, and I can't swallow it. The taste takes ages to scrape from my mouth and memory.

[MikeHartnett]

-FOIE GRAS..

Last year I was picked(along with several other students) to go to a "fancy schmancy" dinner party w/ my college president, foie gras was served as an appetizer... I managed to choke quite a bit down...never again

-Artichokes

-Caviar

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Honestly, foie gras is one of the few 'delicacies' that I find lives up to its billing. It's amazingly delicious.

[Sherry B]

I have another thing to add:

Mussels

I would love to love them, so to speak, but I can't bring myself to try one. I've cleaned and cooked bushels of them (in my days as a catering minion), and I wasn't grossed out by the aroma or anything.

I just can't put one in my mouth. Maybe I need counseling or something.

[heidih]

I have another thing to add:

Mussels

I would love to love them, so to speak, but I can't bring myself to try one.  I've cleaned and cooked bushels of them (in my days as a catering minion), and I wasn't grossed out by the aroma or anything.

I just can't put one in my mouth.  Maybe I need counseling or something.

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I had an issue with these for a long time. First saw them in Corsica as a young teen. My Austrian friends would eat vast bowls full with glee. I just looked at them (the mussels) and thought them vaguely pornographic. Then they showed up at a catered affair at my step-moms- COLD! I put one in my mouth and started to chew....it never made it down my gullet. My "third strike you're out" was at a fairly well respected restaurant in Malibu California. They were chewy and the sauce so salty I gagged. Well, because I find the shells so visually appealing, and so many people love them, I bought a half pound of farmed black ones at my local farmer's market recently and did them up myself. I knew from experience that examining them was not the way to go, so I just slurped them down and they were sweet and wonderful. Pays to keep trying.

[hummingbirdkiss]

I will eat anything ....

but I dont care for broccoli flowers I love the stems but not the flowers ..so I buy/order/eat Chinese broccoli and that solves the whole issue

[OliverN]

I can't handle fancy 'emulsions' and 'foams' that are served up at many upscale restaurants. I get that it's trying to break new ground taste and texture-wise, but it's just not for me.

[Darcie B]

I can't handle fancy 'emulsions' and 'foams' that are served up at many upscale restaurants. I get that it's trying to break new ground taste and texture-wise, but it's just not for me.

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So many foams look *exactly* like cat puke so I can't get into them either.

[rstagg]

Honestly, foie gras is one of the few 'delicacies' that I find lives up to its billing.  It's amazingly delicious.

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Agreed times 10. One of the few things I've posted about on EG.

As for foods I *don't* like, I have a confession to make. One that before now only my wife was aware of. Despite me famously - in my modest circles - claiming that there's no food I don't like (and I've tried many things), I CANNOT choke down Uni. I really want to like it, but I had a bad experience and I'm afraid now.

The one time I've had it, it was at the sushi restaurant we frequent on a weekly basis. The owners are very kind and very Japanese, and their fish is always fresh.

Well, a couple of years ago I decided I was going to start eating Uni. I stuffed the piece into my mouth, and immediately started gagging. Wife says it's a look she's not seen on my face before or since. After swallowing one bite with great difficulty, and nearly vomiting, I as discretely as possible put the remainder in my napkin. And not wanting to shame the owner and further embarrass myself, I made my wife carry it out in her then brand-new Louis Vuitton bag.

She's still not quite forgiven me.

[Alisuchi]

Dill! Let's just say...memories of running outside in my pjs in december and puking up green "stuff" in grandma's yard, to the interest of all the neighbors..."what is that weird american girl DOING?"...and to the consternation of poor grandma

Nutmeg...yes, I know that's a weird one, and I don't know why I don't like it. But I have never liked this one, and can pick it out instantly in anything. Ruins apple pie for me when it's in there...

I am pretty picky about fish and meat in general, I don't like anything that tastes too, well, meaty

But I do really enjoy some of the sour/tart flavors that bother some, such as yogurt, kefir, kimchee (mmm!)

[cathrynapple]

It seems that so many food dislikes have to do with texture. Does anyone agree that most western pallets, particularly American ones, are not used to and don't enjoy gelatinous, gooey, squishy and/or rubbery foods?

As a child I always ordered es cargot. For some reason the texture grosses me out these days.