The "Culinary Axis of Evil"

[drinkingchef]

green peppers- what a shame it is too pick an underripe pepper. give it a few more weeks and it would be a sweet and delicious red pepper. its wrong. its a red pepper abortion

italian eggplant- tastes like biteer, feels like snot

buttercream icing- the kind that is only butter and icing sugar, yuck! occasionally i can tolerate the fluffy variety that includes a bit of meringue, but wouldn't you rather have ganache or whip cream on your cake. if you gonna eat cake, you may as well go all out.

[ludja]

Cheap pie filling (looks like snot with fruit in it; tastes like it too)

Red Delicious apples

Supermarket tomatoes

Shredded mozz. in the bag. Blech.

good list... I mean, of evil foods...

Reading through most of everyone elses I couldn't find anything I had *forgotton*, but to all four of your items, a hearty AMEN.

(I really love MSG ok, maybe not)

[slkinsey]

squash

eggplant

okra

Ummm.. ..ugghhhh.. ..aarrggghhh.... ...aaaack

Aw Sam, I don't even know where to start. Those three things, in various varieties, are some of the very reasons I plant a too large garden every year.

I'm certain that we can find some common ground somewhere...............

Dude, considering that my parents are from the South... common ground with those three foods was aggressively, one could even say forcibly, and it certainly seemed frequently sought for around 17 years.

[helenjp]

Cheap bologna (mouth-coating grease, foul smells, yeeeeurch!)

Sausage (but I'm cheating, that's really an extension of the above)

Silver Palate cookbook. Don't know why. Never liked it, seemed dated the day it was born, and I haven't learned to care for it since. But ditched my copy so long ago I've forgotten most of it.)

As for foods in their natural state? Not too keen on mushy stuff like boiled fish sperm or lamb brains, but that's about it.

[ExtraMSG]

Sausage (but I'm cheating, that's really an extension of the above)

Well, you're sure lucky this isn't my site. You'd be out!

[snowangel]

Avocado on sandwiches (they seem slimy in combo with bread).

Eggs cooked that still have runny whites.

Otherwise, I'll eat anything. My dislikes seem to be more textural than taste.

[malarkey]

MAN! I can't believe what mundane foods people hate. raw tomatoes?! c'mon! shellfish??? jesus, they serve dungeness & lobster in HEAVEN don't you know?! MILK?!? what the hell do you have with cookies???

my list:

prunes & prune juice (one of the things that truly tastes horrible to me)

calf's liver (tried it many times just don't like the flavor)

poi (who else said this? man, this is a food with absolutely no point whatsoever)

Margarine (why?)

[Aurora]

Okra

Chitterlings (the African-American contribution to awful offal)

Liver

Eggs

Fish fat

Coconut

Anise

Peas

The first two items make me persona non grata at the homes of relatives in three states, and that is fine by me.

[Pan]

Green peppers. They're lousy for my digestion and don't taste good. At least ripe bell peppers taste good, even though they're still hard on my digestion (though not as bad as green peppers).

Hmmmmm...well, mealy peas, mint in any form except for the leaves (mint leaves are delicious and mint tea is one of my preferred drinks).

I dislike colas but haven't had anything cooked in them.

I'm starting to draw a blank.

[Carlovski]

Raw Celery - Not really a big fan of braised either, but ok finely chopped as part of a mirepoix.

Cucumber - Hate it Hate it Hate it. Some people can't understand my hatred, and say it doesn't taste of anything. I can detect a single slice from across the room.

Most pickles. Onions, shallots fine. Cornichons, chilli peppers, great. But Red cabbage, Beetroot, Picallilli - Ugh. And with my Lancashire heritage, that is probably quite strange.

[AzRaeL]

green peppers- what a shame it is too pick an underripe pepper. give it a few more weeks and it would be a sweet and delicious red pepper. its wrong. its a red pepper abortion

do you eat eggs?

[curlywurlyfi]

goat's cheese - I'm sorry, but it's like licking an old goat (totally sympathize, hathor!)

dulce di leche - feel your tooth enamel cringe away in horror!

rollmop herrings - just, sorry, NO.

[marlena spieler]

oh me oh my, poor mudpuppie and carolyn tillie: cilantro! my beloved cilantro, is your nemesis! I can never dazzle either of you with a plate of something wonderful, and by the way, buried in cilantro.

can you not try the jeffrey steingarten method of tasting 8 times? my step daughter did this and became a cilantro lover and her life is now full and fullfilled, at least cilantro wise. i love it so and can't imagine other people not being able to enjoy.......

here is my culinary hit list:

chitterlins and their french cousin, andouillettes.........

christmas pudding

margarine, horrible fats, anything cooked with them

and i hate salad cream/miracle whip too. with a passion!

but how could anyone dislike a vegetable? (okay, maybe i'm not a big fan of the parsnip or brussels sprout.......).......

[cakewalk]

LIVER!

margarine

caramel

pancakes of any sort (it's a texture thing)

Did I say LIVER?

[Moopheus]

I have a theory that almost anything can be made palatable with the addition of enough a) tomato sauce, b) cheese, c) chocolate, or d) some combination of the above.

Except maybe kidney beans.

The things I hate most are fake foods: margarine, miracle whip, cool whip, "non-fat" and "reduced-fat" anything, and the like.

Phaelon56 said:

One of my mom's many brothers had the assignment that day and mistakenly colored the block of lard instead, then served it at the table. Not a single person noticed.

possibly this was in the days when you might still get margarine made with pork fats, and there may not have been much of a difference.

[Raynickben]

Leg of lamb

Rack of lamb

Moussakka

Mint Jelly (served with lamb)

[Jensen]

Lima Beans ... the source of all evil.

I think I need to remove asparagus and replace it with lima beans. It's either that or my axis grows to four items.

You just need to revise the structure of your evils. Think of Renaissance theology...lima beans are the source so they're in the centre, the Prime Mover so to speak. After that, you can have any number of supporting axes, arranged concentrically around the source.

It all makes perfect sense in my world

[Carolyn Tillie]

oh me oh my, poor mudpuppie and carolyn tillie: cilantro! my beloved cilantro, is your nemesis! I can never dazzle either of you with a plate of something wonderful, and by the way, buried in cilantro.

can you not try the jeffrey steingarten method of tasting 8 times? my step daughter did this and became a cilantro lover and her life is now full and fullfilled, at least cilantro wise. i love it so and can't imagine other people not being able to enjoy.......

For me it was growing old...

I can remember, in my youth, being able to eat tomatoes off the vine when my father grew them and my now-ex-husband would make homemade tortillas with bacon-laden refried beans that I would FILL with fresh cilantro.

Somewhere in my mid/late twenties, the chemistry in my body changed and that is when the cilantro oversion occurred. I used to love the stuff and now it even smells rotten.

When I cook Moroccan for other people, and I know the dish needs cilantro, I have to have others chop it for me - if I try to chop it myself, the smell lingers on my hands for DAYS and makes me nauseous. At the World of Flavors Conference, I started walking towards a table when my stomach began to reel - sure enough, I turned around and a few feet away were POUNDS of cilantro being chopped.

So, to answer your question, nope - I'm not going to try the Steingarten technique!

[Bond Girl]

Anything man made like magerine and imitation crab meat. But, that's too easy a target. My own personal evil food: any bird (that includes chicken, duck, goose, turkey, fowl, quail etc.) And, any red meat.

I stopped talking about veggies I don't like because every time I made up my mind to hate them, I ended up eating them.

[marlena spieler]

oh me oh my, poor mudpuppie and carolyn tillie: cilantro! my beloved cilantro, is your nemesis! I can never dazzle either of you with a plate of something wonderful, and by the way, buried in cilantro.

can you not try the jeffrey steingarten method of tasting 8 times? my step daughter did this and became a cilantro lover and her life is now full and fullfilled, at least cilantro wise. i love it so and can't imagine other people not being able to enjoy.......

For me it was growing old...

I can remember, in my youth, being able to eat tomatoes off the vine when my father grew them and my now-ex-husband would make homemade tortillas with bacon-laden refried beans that I would FILL with fresh cilantro.

Somewhere in my mid/late twenties, the chemistry in my body changed and that is when the cilantro oversion occurred. I used to love the stuff and now it even smells rotten.

When I cook Moroccan for other people, and I know the dish needs cilantro, I have to have others chop it for me - if I try to chop it myself, the smell lingers on my hands for DAYS and makes me nauseous. At the World of Flavors Conference, I started walking towards a table when my stomach began to reel - sure enough, I turned around and a few feet away were POUNDS of cilantro being chopped.

So, to answer your question, nope - I'm not going to try the Steingarten technique!

actually, carolyn, you could be allergic to it! if it makes you feel so horrible, and it came on after you had been exposed to it a number of times, sounds like an allergy to me!

which means you don't need silly people like me telling you to try the steingarten method of getting to like it! yay!

[Mudpuppie]

oh me oh my, poor mudpuppie and carolyn tillie: cilantro! my beloved cilantro, is your nemesis! I can never dazzle either of you with a plate of something wonderful, and by the way, buried in cilantro.

Before I die, I will somehow manage to convince the world that cilantro hatred be not a sign of poor taste, nor compromised will-power, nor an unpleasant personality, nor suspicious personal integrity. It causes in me, purely and simply, a very icky physical, visceral, biological reaction. It makes my spine twist and my stomach lurch. It ruins my meal.

I have experienced that accidentally on more than eight occasions. Why would I want to do it eight times on purpose?!

One thing cilantro lovers don't understand -- this is not something that can be overcome. It's not like learning to like oysters (something I never did, but something I probably could have done had I put my mind to it).

Learning to like cilantro would, for me, be as futile as trying to grow a second nose.

But I'm glad you like it.

(Now please convince people to stop sneaking it in to dishes I order in restaurants.)

but how could anyone dislike a vegetable? (okay, maybe i'm not a big fan of the parsnip or brussels sprout.......).......

Ah, it's a good thing I'm at work. Otherwise I'd get started on the evils of eggplant and the virtues of brussels sprouts!

Edited February 3, 2004 by Mudpuppie (log)

[phaelon56]

Phaelon56 said:

One of my mom's many brothers had the assignment that day and mistakenly colored the block of lard instead, then served it at the table. Not a single person noticed.

possibly this was in the days when you might still get margarine made with pork fats, and there may not have been much of a difference.

Yes.... it was in the 1930's - the very early days of margarine. That said, my grandmother was not one to be trifled with when it came to food quality. Fifty years before packign plant contamination and Mad Cow became hot issues, my mom was reuired to choose the cut of chuck at the neighborhood market and watch the butcher grind the meat for ground beef - Grandma did not trust any meat whose provenance she was not absolutely certain of. As a city dweller, she was also lucky enough to have not one but two separate fruit and vegetable suppliers who came by the house on a daily basis. I'm told that these fellows got a bit antsy as she hand inspected every single ear of sweet corn, every potato etc. but she bought generously for a family of eleven and it was worth their while. When I think I've had a busy or stressful day just taking care fo my own personal business I stop and reflect on what I've been told of those times - makes life today seem pretty easy (says the guy who had microwaved Marie Callendar's lasagna for dinner last night because I still haven't installed my new stove!).

[Hest88]

Liver/Kidney (they taste the same to me: vomitous)

Bell peppers

Raw sprouts

[Hest88]

I dislike cilantro as well, so I certainly understand. I tolerate it, the way I tolerate raw tomatoes, in things that mask the taste sufficiently. (I guess that would mean, uh, basically salsa.) Otherwise I pick it out.

[hjshorter]

Cooked oysters.

Margarine.

Instant coffee.