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

[fifi]

I forgot another one...

Raw tomatoes. It is a texture thing and a taste thing. I know that is strange. I don't care if it is the best home grown, vine ripened specimen. I just gag. I have to ask the Mexican places to serve my pico de gallo on the side. Cooked is fine. Funny thing is, both of my kids are the same way even though they grew up with inveterate Creole Tomato eaters.

[MySiuMai]

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

I'm with you all the way, Nick! Small sprouts, boiled--then cooked for ten minutes or so with melted butter and sauteed garlic, a dab of grained mustard and lemon, and some diced ham or pancetta. Toss in some breadcrumbs/parm/black pepper as desired.

[reddevil]

I forgot one too.....MAYO. Yuck, yuck yuck.

[Kim WB]

I forgot one, too. Spearmint. I don't like wintergreen, either, but I'm not sure that this is an actual herb, perhaps it was invented by chewing gum manufactureers?

Spearmint definitely falls into the "aroma" category of aversions...if my kids are having spearmints or wintergreen altoids, I won't let them have them while driving in the car with me..in that confined space, they make me a bit nauseaus.

[oraklet]

truffles are delightful in small quantities, awful when dominating. like fennel. well, like a lot of things, actually.

tripe is probably the worst of all things. probably, 'cause i haven't tried insects. buttermilk is really really bad, too.

french and italian apples are shit. danish and swedish apples are wonderful. all strawberries suck, nowadays.

caviar and oysters are aquired tastes. lov'em now.

[pastramionrye]

i dislike truffle oil...i think it is too intense of a smell; almost unatural.

i love the earthyness of a real truffle.

as for other things i dislike...

green peppers

while i dont hate lobster and salmon; i find them to be a bit overrated. id much prefer monkfish and halibut.

calves liver i find to be a bit too iron-y for my like, i can eat a small portion, but not too much.

i have never had tripe, though i have eaten sweetbreads and calves brains and find them to be excellent.

but i eat most things put in front of me; and have been into them all.

i am allergic to avocadoes though:(.

[Jinmyo]

Chicken and cheese just strikes me as... strange. Almost eerie.

[scamhi]

I consider myself a "good" eater.

Just don't serve me

*most offal...exceptions- Liver ,foie gras OK

*bologna, head cheese, speck

*green bell peppers-exceptions- jalapeno, serrano, poblano OK

*golden or red delicious apples- too mealy

***the one thing that will never cross my tongue

raw or shedded coconut

*Raw mussels

[smallworld]

Watermelon.

Mayo (unless it's just a wee bit mixed up with something else).

Soft, rich, creamy desserts like pudding, cheesecake, tiramisu, whipped cream.

Raw oysters. Cooked, they're dandy. Other raw shellfish I can eat (but don't love), yet I can't even get near raw oysters.

Uni.

Mammal innards. Certain fowl and fish guts are great though- fois gras, crab brains, cod milt, monkfish liver etc.

I keep trying all of the above because sometimes they just LOOK good, or everyone else seems to be loving them. I know they are acquired tastes, so I think maybe I should try acquiring them. But time and time again I find them inedible.

I like caviar, but prefer other roe like salmon or cod.

Haven't tried brussel sprouts since I was a kid, and I hated them back then. But from what I've read on this post it seems that they just suffer from poor preperation. I'm sure if I try the soft mushy ones again I'll still hate it, but I bet I'd like nicely cooked ones.

[Andrew Fenton]

Chicken and cheese just strikes me as... strange. Almost eerie.

Amen to that! Don't get me started on chicken pizza. That's just wrong.

[T. Brooks]

Chutney. Can't eat it, don't like it. Keep trying it every time I have to make it, and know that it tastes good and is well prepared, but I just can't bring myself to find pleasure in eating it myself.

[WHT]

Any food served in a center-weighted presentation. This unimaginative approach made popular by so many new chefs. Few foods benefit from such treatment. Food is meant to grace the plate and be attractive in so many ways. This seems to be as much a cop-out as the 5-section cafeteria tray.

[Mistinguett]

For a very long time i tried to like cheese. I haven't had any cheese for years until I went to Paris for the very first time. Now I can enjoy soft cheeses mostly, but still no stinky cheese.

One thing that my friends think it's weird that I don't like is pasta. Italian food or pastries in general I don't like (with a couple of exceptions - manicotti and tortellini). I'll eat rice noodles though. You don't want to hear me talk about pasta sauces. Pizza a couple of times a year only if a craving strikes and it has to be thin, crusty, with fresh tomatoes.

Dislike hamburgers. A lot. Had maybe 3 in the last 10 years.

Mayo only when is an important ingredient in a dish.

I don't get the artichoke craze.

I do like any and all: fruit, meat (including offal and I love tripe, legs and feet) but I draw the line at insects and worms.

I dislike licorice/fennel, not crazy for thyme (I'd rather use oregano instead).

Edited to add (how could I forget??) bread. Same as with cheese, Paris was the first time I liked it - ever, in my life. I avoid bread unless is crusty, fresh and tasty in that artisanal way.

Edited June 3, 2003 by Mistinguett (log)

[jmcgrath]

It's been a very long time, but canned spinach. Growing up in the '40s when city vegetables came out of a can leaves horrible memories, but canned spinach most of all. I used to start gagging when I walked into the house and could smell canned spinach cooking.

I have never tried offal and probably never will, so I can't comment on that. Well, liver is OK especially if slightly pink.

I grew up hating food. Even after frozen vegetables became available, my mother cooked them until they looked like they came from a can. I married a farm girl in the mid '60s and discovered how good food could taste. She is long gone, but my discovery of food as a delight remains.

Then there's gin. I think it has something to do with a run in I had with it as a teenager, but puking and gin still have strong correlation in my memory.

Jim

[GordonCooks]

Raw onions, raw celery, raw green peppers are the only things one may consider odd. Things like pig's feet, raw octopus, are self-explanatory.

[chefrodrigo]

Hello Robb

I've been reading and enjoying your articles since the Austin Chronicle days. You had a real cult following with my friends and me in the Austin days.

I have a friend who will eat anything put in front of him. I'm a fairly adventurous eater myself but this guy puts me to shame. We were all glad to hear one day that a Malaysian friend had finally shut him down. She put a big plate of stir fried pig filopian (sp?) tubes in front of him. While she enjoyed her plate my friend just couldn't do it.

Have you ever been served anything that you just couldn't get past?

Rodney

ps - I carry your Texas Barbecue book around like the Bible.

pps - Don't forget to call Rodney/Merediths friend

[Robb Walsh]

Well thanks for the kind words.

Fallopian tubes don't sound real appetizing. But neither do pig's intestines (which are very popular in Bejing and are really pretty good) or cow stomach lining (aka menudo, the breakfast of champions). Sometimes all you really need to do is stop thinking about what it used to be and focus on what it has become.

But for the record, let's say I have some limits. I can't recall refusing to eat anything, but I want to reserve the right. I saw people eating live cinch bugs at Fonda Don Chon in Mexico City and while they were probably very tasty, they didn't appeal to me much.

[John Whiting]

Insects are an underrated source of protein. There's a book written in 1885 by Vincent M. Holt, called Why Not Eat Insects?. It explained, for the Victorian reader, that insects are the most efficient -- "green", one might say -- method of producing food energy.

An ironic footnote is that there have been a number of instances in America of serious illness and even death from malnourishment caused by a macrobiotic diet, but none in Asia. The reason is that in Asia, the rice is so infested with insects as to provide the necessary protein.

[Robb Walsh]

I prefer my bugs dead.

[russ parsons]

i've made it a point of pride that i try to taste everything with an open mind. i've eaten live sushi in korean places, oaxacan crickets and maguey grubs. i've even eaten "snail caviar" that someone was trying to get started several years ago (tiny, as you might expect, with a kind of herbal overtone). i do draw the line between things i'd order again for pleasure, as opposed to sheer research.

[bloviatrix]

Insects are an underrated source of protein. There's a book written in 1885 by Vincent M. Holt, called Why Not Eat Insects?. It explained, for the Victorian reader, that insects are the most efficient -- "green", one might say -- method of producing food energy.

Many years ago, while hiking in the Canadian Rockies, my guide began pointing out all the edible insects. His point was that if you ever got stranded in the woods, there were plenty of food sources that would allow you to avoid starvation.

The one I remember most clearly is the carpenter ant, which has a vaguely lemony flavor.

[ExtraMSG]

So, if the food network decided to make you their star and pay you to go around the world eating whatever's disgusting, would you do it? Fear Factor/Survivor no problem?

btw, just remember that the difference between a crab and a spider is only that the former is bigger and lives under water. If you've eaten crustaceans, you've eaten bugs.

[Robb Walsh]

No thanks.

Like I said in the introduction to Are You Really Going to Eat That?, eating weird food is not all that interesting except as a part of somebody's culture.

[Keith Talent]

What is the one thing you will not eat, regardless of who it's prepared by, and where it's served? There are alot of things I wouldn't be that keen to try, but if prepared by the right person would ceratinly give them a go.

The one thing I wouldn't ever eat, I don't care if Jacques Pepin made them himself would be escargot.

I'd try bugs, I'll try brains, but I am not eating slugs, period.

[phlawless]

I think salmon is absolutely disgusting.