I won't eat... What are your food limits?

[Lesley C]

Green peppers are not meant for human consumption. They are completely undigestible.

[Jason Perlow]

I don't like bell pepper either. But I like Italian frying peppers, other kinds of thin walled peppers and basically all other forms of chiles, though.

[Pan]

Brains. Tripe. Brussels sprouts. Kiwi fruit.

We have some commonality. I like tripe and tolerate kiwi but prefer not to eat it by itself (I'll have it in a fruit salad), but I find brains and sweetbreads just too fatty or something (I did like them once upon a time). As for Brussels sprouts, the only way they aren't horribly and unacceptably bitter to me is if they're boiled forever, basically killed. By contrast, I dislike the sort of mealy texture of peas as they're normally cooked. My father discovered a few years ago that I actually like peas if he gets frozen ones and puts them in boiling water for less than a minute, just long enough to thaw them. I think he actually likes them better that way, too.

I love mustard seeds but don't use mustard on anything. I also hate any type of mayonnaise except home-made, though I like Katz's cole slaw. No ketchup for me, either, though if a sauce uses ketchup in a suitable combination with other stuff, that's fine. I like lobster only if it's totally fresh and completely unfishy-tasting (so I prefer shrimps and crab); I eat mussels occasionally, and also only when they're completely unfishy; and I avoid raw shellfish completely because they're potentially dangerous cooked and even more dangerous raw.

As for insects, sure I'd eat them if I were starving! You know, during WW II, American servicement got survival pamphlets telling them what to eat if they had to survive on South Sea islands. They knew which grubs and insects to eat, yet some of them starved to death because they wouldn't eat those things. I think that's just idiotic! But otherwise, I don't think I'll be intentionally eating any insects, scorpions, or worms.

I'm trying to figure out what I've left out. Well, I don't like beer except for the Belgian beers with kirsch and such-like in them, and even then, I'd be hard-pressed to finish a whole bottle. I also dislike really dry wines, which are just too bitter for me. Yet I like Chinese dishes with bitter melon!

Well, I already mentioned caviar and goat cheese in the Foie Gras thread. I used to think I disliked blue cheeses, until I had great Roquefort in France (well, that's really a green cheese, but still). Oh, I know: I don't like frog. I also was underwhelmed by turtle soup and prefer mock-turtle. And I don't like rabbit. I also like mint leaves but don't like mint in any other form (e.g. sweets, jelly). I hate durian and cempedak and don't have much use for jackfruit (nangka in Malay). I don't like tea sweetened with condensed milk. I don't like coffee as a drink but don't mind more mildly coffee-flavored things including tiramisu. And then there are some things that taste OK but don't like me...

[Nick]

I have always HATED turnips. My mother would grow these beautiful turnips and fix them... "Oh, but you will like these. They are sweet as sugar." So I would try again. GAG! they tasted like sweet turnips.

Then not too many years ago, I was at friends house in New England and the wife fixed a rather simple brown beef stew. I was in the kitchen talking and helping out when she drags out the turnips and proceeds to cut them up. TRAPPED! Oh well, I say to myself, I will have to grin and bear it. Surprise! That was the most delicious stew I had eaten in a long time. The turnips added just a little something... a "turnipness" that was just right. I will admit that is the only way I have ever liked them to this day.

I can't imagine eating an insect if I were starving.

I used to hate turnips back when my mother cooked them - okay, rutabagas.

The thing to do is to peel them below the rind. If you cut one in half, you'll see a circle below the skin and beyond that is the meat. Peel the (this is all with a good knife) turnip down to the meat. They're really quite sweet and are excellent in stews and braises. They're even good just cut up and steamed.

Green and red peppers sauted are great. As is (are) sauted peppers, onions, and good sausage.

Kidneys suck.

[KatieLoeb]

Brains or kidneys (but I love sweetbreads!), blood sausage, kiwi fruit, grapefruit juice (I like pink grapefruits themselves though - go figure), tonic water (so acrid - blech!), rutabagas (even nastier than turnips which I sort of like). Tripe I can take in small doses as in a Pho or Pepper Pot soup, but no big honking plates of it, thanks. I like caviar, again, in small doses, but can't understand why some people could eat it with a spoon. I really don't like the large salmon roe that come in sushi. Too slimy and just plain icky for me. Most of my food dislikes are taxtural and not necessariily taste based. But I really don't like the taste of gin!

[KatieLoeb]

Brains or kidneys (but I love sweetbreads!), blood sausage, kiwi fruit, grapefruit juice (I like pink grapefruits themselves though - go figure), tonic water (so acrid - blech!), rutabagas (even nastier than turnips which I sort of like). Tripe I can take in small doses as in a Pho or Pepper Pot soup, but no big honking plates of it, thanks. I like caviar, again, in small doses, but can't understand why some people could eat it with a spoon. I really don't like the large salmon roe that come in sushi. Too slimy and just plain icky for me. Most of my food dislikes are taxtural and not necessariily taste based. But I really don't like the taste of gin!

[Kerouac1964]

I have a big aversion to crunchy raw veggies. The ol' throat does an involuntary gag reflex. Now, if I take those same veggies and cook them fall apart tender, season and perhaps cover with a sauce or add the mushy stuff into a fried meat situation - then no problem.

I've never tried caviar or truffles. I saw a show on truffles the other day, and was intrigued by the complex economy of such a gourmet item. I saw these villagers secretively going out with a pig on a leash to find them. All they needed to do to make their daily wages was to find 1 or 2 small areas of them. What a life of Riley they lead. Spend a couple of hours finding their booty, then they can spend the afternoon in the local tavern drinking and kibitzing with friends.

Regarding the truffles - why can't they be grown here in the States?? What if someone were to go over, find good truffle growth, then cut the whole earth patch down say 2 cubic feet either way around the area, then carefully pack this with fertilizer and some water, box up with proper ventilation to air, and ship it home to transplant it into a person's own truffle farm??

Wonder if this idea has been tried??

[hjshorter]

Liver, except chicken liver sauteed in butter with lots of salt. That includes Foie Gras. Never had monkfish liver though, I will have to try it.

Uncooked crab, scallops, and shrimp. Cooked is fine.

Raw clams and cooked oysters - yuck. Cooked clams and raw oysters - yum.

Lots of mayo on anything.

Beer with a lot of hops. I've had to accustom myself to like bitter foods, but this is one that's just over the top bitter.

Offal.

Anything that tastes even slightly "funky." If anyone read the thread on supertasters I gave my reasons there. Just too sensitive to off flavors. But stinky cheese is OK for some reason.

Raw broccoli.

[Nick]

But I really don't like the taste of gin!

Amen. Or the smell.

[fifi]

Regarding the truffles - why can't they be grown here in the States??  What if someone were to go over, find good truffle growth, then cut the whole earth patch down say 2 cubic feet either way around the area, then carefully pack this with fertilizer and some water, box up with proper ventilation to air, and ship it home to transplant it into a person's own truffle farm??

Wonder if this idea has been tried??

Actually, I was googling and found this site.

http://www.truffle.org/

And this one...

http://www.oregonwhitetruffles.com/

[KNorthrup]

The gin (which I love) reminds me -- absolutely can't stand cognac. Which is very sad because I love the idea. I console myself with the fact that I save money this way.

In terms of sucking crawfish heads, eating whole crab/lobster, etc, I was at a business dinner (Bone's in Atlanta) where they ordered a round of soft-shelled crabs as the appetizer. I really really didn't want to eat them, but they were delicious. On the other hand, I made a point of ordering the classic sweet and sour (vinegar, raisins) sardines when I was in Venice and they were whole and I just couldn't do it.

[pixelchef]

Blech! You can add kidneys to my list along with tonic water. I also really dislike the use of mint in savoury dishes. I can stand fennel/licorice/anise flavour, but I certainly don't like it.

[Nick]

The gin (which I love) reminds me -- absolutely can't stand cognac.  Which is very sad because I love the idea.

Still can't get into gin, but cognac... not bad at all. And there's nothing like a little B&B after dinner.

[torakris]

I can't think of anything I wouldn't try at least once, but the only foods that I really know that I don't like are

brussel sprouts

cooked oysters

I can eat them if need be, but i will NEVER cook them or order them in a restaurant

I don't get the hype surrounding caviar and truffles, I have had them many ways, expensive ones, cheap ones and enjoy them but don't think they are worth the price.

[Nick]

Sorry to differ with so many people, but I love brussels sprouts. Beautiful, miniature, green cabbages. Don't overcook.

[Kim WB]

I'm also suprised by the negative opinions about oysters and shellfish.

The only two edibles that I have discovered that I absolutely HATE are Beets, and gin.

However, I dislike pepper, and think yhe pepper mill is greatly overused in most home cooking,and much dining. There are some hearty foods, such as a steak or tuna steak, that can stand up to the strength of pepper...but I hate it on a salad, or vegetables, and if its added, it often dominates the entire dish, IMHO.

[Jinmyo]

Regarding the truffles - why can't they be grown here in the States??  What if someone were to go over, find good truffle growth, then cut the whole earth patch down say 2 cubic feet either way around the area, then carefully pack this with fertilizer and some water, box up with proper ventilation to air, and ship it home to transplant it into a person's own truffle farm??

Wonder if this idea has been tried??

What we call mushrooms are just the fruit of something that can frow out for hundreds of miles to the sides and yards andyards and yards underground.

As for truffles, they are very very picky. Under oak trees mainly. Certain light, certain shade.

--------

I like guts, roe, liver, guts, kidney, guts. Guts, too. Brains, not so much.

Loathe chicken breast.

Use lobster often, won't eat it (or crab) from the shell. Why? Bugs. Just big bugs. Sucking on a bug stump is just not something I will do.

Loathe desserts of all kinds unless it's really cheese.

Have despaired of fruit for the last twenty or thirty years because it's watery sweet pap now.

Tapioca. The devil's ovum.

Fake cheese. Fake meat is fake tofu.

[lizzie]

Pixelchef started a thread about not liking foie gras. The thread sometimes drifts into other foodie confessions. Someone suggested a separate thread so here it is. ...

OK... I feel a lot better. Now that I have lost my foodie credentials, I will crawl back under my rock.

I hope this doesn't mean I can't play here anymore.

Oh my. I was the someone who suggested the thread.

I'd better confess.

I think offal is awful, except, of course, for my buttery chicken liver pate.

I don't like raw fish, or seaweed. Maybe it brings back childhood memories, growing up at the beach, tumbled over in the waves, swallowing seawater, thinking maybe now's the time I drown.

Raw meat makes me gag.

There, that feels better.

[Jason Perlow]

Regarding the truffles - why can't they be grown here in the States??  What if someone were to go over, find good truffle growth, then cut the whole earth patch down say 2 cubic feet either way around the area, then carefully pack this with fertilizer and some water, box up with proper ventilation to air, and ship it home to transplant it into a person's own truffle farm??

Wonder if this idea has been tried??

Truffles have a symbiotic relationship with certain types of trees only found in Europe.

The science of growing these trees in attempting to replicate the ecological process is a daunting effort.

http://www.truffletrees.com

[birder53]

I hate beets and turnips. My grandmother would not let me leave the table until I finished everything on my plate. When I protested, I got another gargantuan scoop of her mashed turnips on my plate! No matter how many times I try beets again, they still make me gag.

[Bux]

You're all fired.

[Bux]

I can also see why someone might not like raw oysters or raw clams either. I like raw oysters, but only usually after having a couple of drinks first.  Can't go straight into the raw oysters. Its sort of like foreplay needing to precede more intimate sex, I think.

Jason, oysters are foreplay.

[docsconz]

I can't think of anything I wouldn't try at least once, but the only foods that I really know that I don't like are

brussel sprouts

cooked oysters

I guess I haven't had a cooked oyster that I've really enjoyed either, although I love them raw.

[Lesley C]

Jinmyo you are so right about fruit. I barely eat fruit anymore and I used to love it. the fruit we get here in Canada just has no taste. I buy it, but it just sits in the basket and rots. Heavy sigh...

[jhlurie]

Sorry to differ with so many people, but I love brussels sprouts. Beautiful, miniature, green cabbages. Don't overcook.

I always THOUGHT I'd hate them (my mother never made them), until in college, when my roomate's mother (who was damned near a gourmet chef) made them for us slathered in garlic and olive oil.