Foods you just don't like

[C. sapidus]

I am a fairly adventurous eater, and not everything has been a favorite. A Russian grandma once loaded my plate with cold slabs of lard doused with her homemade hot sauce. Cold lard was not great, but the hot sauce was flavorful and I cleaned my plate.

 

The only two things that I consistently do not like are honeydew and cantaloupe. Most folks seem to love them, and I try them every few years just to confirm, but there is a sickly-sweet taste that puts me off.

Edited January 25 by C. sapidus (log)

[FauxPas]

9 hours ago, C. sapidus said:

The only two things that I consistently do not like are honeydew and cantaloupe. Most folks seem to love them, and I try them every few years just to confirm, but there is a sickly-sweet taste that puts me off.

 

I think I know what you mean, even though I like melons. But I have to say that I like them a tiny bit on the green side. Not really green, but with the flesh a bit crisp rather than soft and with less of that musky sweetness. 

 

I think I feel the same about papaya. Fully ripe papaya can be quite off-putting to me.  And bananas too, I definitely like them just a bit green-ish. 

 

 

Edited January 26 by FauxPas
To add banana (log)

[chromedome]

44 minutes ago, FauxPas said:

 

I think I know what you mean, even though I like melons. But I have to say that I like them a tiny bit on the green side. Not really green, but with the flesh a bit crisp rather than soft and with less of that musky sweetness. 

 

I think I feel the same about papaya. Fully ripe papaya can be quite off-putting to me.  And bananas too, I definitely like them just a bit green-ish. 

 

It's interesting how different we all are on these things. For me an underripe melon (ie, still with that hint of crispness you find appealing) is just an inferior cucumber, and a banana that's not leopard-spotted isn't worth wasting my time on. My sister, on the other hand, likes her bananas with just a faint flush of yellow over the green.

 

(shrug) To each his/her/their own, right? I have to say, it works in my favor that bananas I consider to finally be ready to eat get marked down at most stores.

[liuzhou]

I wait for the bananas to turn black and start packing their bags and moving out of the store under their own steam then I round them up and make banana bread.

 

 

Perfection.
 

(If you like that s ort of thing)

 

 

[Katie Meadow]

2 hours ago, liuzhou said:

I wait for the bananas to turn black and start packing their bags and moving out of the store under their own steam then I round them up and make banana bread.

 

 

Perfection.
 

(If you like that s ort of thing)

 

 

I don't like that sort of thing. I don't like bananas or bread made from them. I thought you didn't have an oven...

[liuzhou]

59 minutes ago, Katie Meadow said:

I don't like that sort of thing. I don't like bananas or bread made from them. I thought you didn't have an oven...

 

 

I totally understand. I don't like or eat anything containing cØrn.

 

For while I did have an oven, then it died. Then for a while I didn't have an oven. But then I bought a new one. A large toaster oven. I make bread in that. Once upon a long ago, I was quite active in the bread baking topic.

 

Extremely few of my neighbours have an oven, if any.

 

 

Edited January 26 by liuzhou (log)

[FauxPas]

11 hours ago, liuzhou said:

wait for the bananas to turn black and start packing their bags and moving out of the store under their own steam then I round them up and make banana bread

 

Oh yes, I do make banana bread with older bananas actually! Mostly made for my husband but I enjoy it also. I couldn't eat the bananas straight up for some time before they are ready for bread, but they don't bother me once baked. 😃

[SLB]

I irrationally dislike shrimp.  I mean, I like shrimp, sort of.  But I am afraid of them.  Almost 30 years ago, I had a negative response to a shrimp in a pasta dish at a restaurant called Carrabbas, which was a promising new option in Montgomery, Alabama.  The revolt was immediate, which is to say it wasn't even all that disgusting!  

 

But since then, any shrimp that has been cooked to any texture other than exactly perfect is gag-inducing.  Which is unfortunate, because shrimp dishes can be quite good, and also shrimp is comparatively cheap.  

 

I've never eaten at a Carrabbas again, either.

 

The other food I can't stand, a feeling that I think is genuinely rational unlike my shrimp aversion, is jelly donuts.  I don't get it at ALL!  I can work with a lemon curd donut, but even then I usually discard 2/3 of the lemon curd.  But cold jelly by the gob?  Sweet surrounded by sweet sprinkled with more sweet?  And at least here in the United States -- they are GIANT-size!!  Are there grownups out here who can really eat such a thing? 

[liuzhou]

It suddenly struck me that I never mentioned my second strongest dislike. I never drink the mammary secretions of mammals (or any of their plant substitutes), although I love cheese and plain yoghurt, especially Greek style. I regularly make my own.

 

I was reminded of this when I received this as a 'gift' when I bought a six-pack of beer - a proper drink, yesterday.

 

 

Labelled 早餐奶 (zǎo cān nǎi), meaning 'breakfast milk', the ingredients, as translated by my cell phone* are 

 

 

I'd need to look back at what 'bunsen' and 'carafe' really should be, but I very sensibly binned the stuff before noticing.

 

* I was too lazy to do the long list myself.

 

 

Edited March 4 by liuzhou (log)

[MaryIsobel]

1 hour ago, liuzhou said:

It suddenly struck me that I never mentioned my second strongest dislike. I never drink the mammary secretions of mammals (or any of their plant substitutes), although I love cheese and plain yoghurt, especially Greek style. I regularly make my own.

 

I was reminded of this when I received this as a 'gift' when I bought a six-pack of beer - a proper drink, yesterday.

 

 

Labelled 早餐奶 (zǎo cān nǎi), meaning 'breakfast milk', the ingredients, as translated by my cell phone* are 

 

 

I'd need to look back at what 'bunsen' and 'carafe' really should be, but I very sensibly binned the stuff before noticing.

 

* I was too lazy to do the long list myself.

 

 

Not a huge fan of milk myself. I drank the obligatory glass or two when I was a youngster. When I was pregnant with our twins, I was told that I should drink about 2 lites of milk per day or the equivalent in cottage cheese or yogurt. That got old really fast and the best I could do was to chug chocolate milk. Both girls were born just fine although one is lactose intolerant but I believe that is just luck of the draw) I've always thought it odd that we drink milk past weaning. I do love cheese in all forms, even cottage, I can abide yogurt and I love sour cream on a baked potato but I could easily go dairy free.

[lemniscate]

13 hours ago, SLB said:

jelly donuts.  I don't get it at ALL! 

Same.  I won't touch them.  And I grew up with the whole Paczki Day craziness.   Which is today March 4th 2025, so there's probably lines in bakeries in the Metro Detroit, Chicago, and Cleveland (among others) buying up the paczkis by the dozens.   

 

 

[Darienne]

I hated milk as a child and I have never drunk a glass of milk as an adult.  Fortunately while carrying our offspring I was never exhorted to drink milk...in fact there were never any food issues at all, and not a word about smoking, liquor or drugs of any kind.

 

Ed, on the other hand, cannot eat  a cookie or a piece of cake without the mandatory glass of milk.

 

And neither of us will eat any seafood.  

[SLB]

I hated milk as a child and since school dictated the boundary of how long I could be made to sit at the table, the unfinished cup was placed in the fridge only to be put in front of me at breakfast the next morning.  This was before ultra-pasteurized, I believe, and after a couple-three days, things started to smell and my brothers joined forces WITH OUR MOTHER to get me to drink it to relieve everyone the foul.  You see why I live far away from home?

 

Anyway.  I also hate water chestnuts.  I will not eat them at all, I behave like a child and pick them out and make a pile on the plate, even in nice restaurants.  It would very much shame my aforementioned mother.  

[rotuts]

Green Bell Peppers  :   greed over flavor . for millions of years .

 

Celery :  I like the flavor of celery , I don't care for those strings texture-rely when raw .  Cooking celery in something is fine,

 

but if you leave it in when its turned into an offensive gelatinous   $#_()%&@#$&%+ , that's a permanent Cardinal Sin.

 

Liquorice // Anise flavor  .  I like a little anise flavor in some Italian foods , ragu etc .   Im not sure what went on with the French

 

when they invented Pastis . ( Richard or Pernot ) , after all , that it turns white when diluted tells you something right there .  French taste

 

is usually pretty solid , not on that day .

 

 

[Tan Can Cook]

Shrimp, lobster, and any of them in the same genus. Same goes for clam, oysters, etc.

 

Even for chicken, I can't stand steamed chicken. Nope.

 

Fish has to be fried (cooked) with spices so that fish no longer smells "fishy."

 

Years ago, my uncle hosted splurged on a super fancy Chinese New Year celebration in San Francisco. It was a huge family gathering. He rented out the banquet room.

 

Because I was taught to eat little bit even though I don't like it, I remember consuming sea abalone was not-at-all a pleasant experience!!! I didn't even bother chewing and swallowed fast.

 

I am sorry, but not sorry. Sea abalone tasted nasty with the capital-N.

Edited March 4 by Tan Can Cook (log)

[Tan Can Cook]

18 hours ago, SLB said:

I irrationally dislike shrimp.  I mean, I like shrimp, sort of.  But I am afraid of them.  Almost 30 years ago, I had a negative response to a shrimp in a pasta dish at a restaurant called Carrabbas, which was a promising new option in Montgomery, Alabama.  The revolt was immediate, which is to say it wasn't even all that disgusting!  

 

But since then, any shrimp that has been cooked to any texture other than exactly perfect is gag-inducing.  Which is unfortunate, because shrimp dishes can be quite good, and also shrimp is comparatively cheap.  

 

I've never eaten at a Carrabbas again, either.

 

The other food I can't stand, a feeling that I think is genuinely rational unlike my shrimp aversion, is jelly donuts.  I don't get it at ALL!  I can work with a lemon curd donut, but even then I usually discard 2/3 of the lemon curd.  But cold jelly by the gob?  Sweet surrounded by sweet sprinkled with more sweet?  And at least here in the United States -- they are GIANT-size!!  Are there grownups out here who can really eat such a thing? 

 

I am similar to you. I can't stand shrimp, lobster, crab, or any of them in the similar genus.

 

Mind you, I am in my 40s. As long as I could remember, this was always the case. I am not-at-all allergic to them either. Their smell, their texture, is simply weird to me and almost always provokes my gag reflex.

 

The "funny" (haha!) thing is that if shrimp is ground and mixed in with other ingredients, e.g. like in Vietnamese egg rolls, I will eat them knowing there is shrimp inside. Because—I can't taste the shrimp. I can't smell the shrimp. They are well masked!

[C. sapidus]

4 hours ago, Tan Can Cook said:

 

I am similar to you. I can't stand shrimp, lobster, crab, or any of them in the similar genus.

 

 

You have just described most of my favorite foods. 😉

 

But hey, what one likes is what one likes. De gustibus non disputandum est.