The "Culinary Axis of Evil"

[Katherine]

Thanks to the fact that I finally had time to come to the site and read this thread, I've been prompted to put red and green bell peppers in the cauldron of tripe I have simmering on the stove. Just what it needed.

[NeroW]

I realized the other day that I find sauteed spinach extremely offensive. It's like the Astroturf of vegetable sides.

[BrennaMorgan]

I cannot stand any of the following foods:

Cheese (this includes grilled cheese sandwiches and mac n' cheese)

Hot dogs

Sausage and bacon

Shrimp

Mayonaise on anything

Sour Cream and Onion chips

Alfredo Sauce

Cream Cheese

Peanuts

Cottage Cheese

Chocolate

Strawberries

Sweet Potatoes

Yogurt with chunks of fruit

Fish sticks

The chicken chunks in chicken noodle soup

BBQ sauce on meat

Eggs

Corn

Pretzels

Sweet Cereal

Marshmallows

Sugar Candy

Frito Chips

Rice

Okay, I think I've officially established that I'm a VERY picky eater. A lot of people can't understand why I hate some of these foods.

[cjs]

Any type of seaweed

cheap beer

margarine

eeewwww!!!! I hate margarine!!!!

[cjs]

I cannot stand any of the following foods:

Cheese (this includes grilled cheese sandwiches and mac n' cheese)

Hot dogs

Sausage and bacon

Shrimp

Mayonaise on anything

Sour Cream and Onion chips

Alfredo Sauce

Cream Cheese

Peanuts

Cottage Cheese

Chocolate

Strawberries

Sweet Potatoes

Yogurt with chunks of fruit

Fish sticks

The chicken chunks in chicken noodle soup

BBQ sauce on meat

Eggs

Corn

Pretzels

Sweet Cereal

Marshmallows

Sugar Candy

Frito Chips

Rice

Okay, I think I've officially established that I'm a VERY picky eater. A lot of people can't understand why I hate some of these foods.

what the hell do you eat??!!

[BrennaMorgan]

I'm a carb queen. I love stupid stuff like plain Ritz crackers, goldfish crackers, or just a good bowl of healthy cereal. I used to love some of the foods I listed before, but I over did it on the chocolate and pretzels and never want to eat them again. Weird, I know...As for the really meaty stuff, I've always hated that. I never said I hated fries or pizza though, so I'm not a complete freak....okay, well maybe a little....

[AuntieEm]

Evaporated milk

Sweetened condensed milk

Non-dairy creamer

...and then assuming I could exceed three in the axis...Bailey's Irish Cream cuz it tastes like canned milk!

[herbacidal]

I'm waiting for Andrew Fenton to notice this thread and make his comments about the Culinary Axis of Evil he thought up.

Well, it was actually the "Axis of Eating." Sort of the opposite; that is, the food isn't evil...

Andrew, was it really? My mistake.

Owen, it was done offline, during a dinner we were at, so no way you would have known.

Andrew thought up the idea of going to a culinary tour of restaurants:

Iraqi, Iranian, and North Korean.

[Pan]

Andrew thought up the idea of going to a culinary tour of restaurants:

Iraqi, Iranian, and North Korean.

That's a great idea!

[cdh]

The only dish I've eaten in recent memory and absolutely hated because of an ingredient was a dim sum dish of rounds of bitter melon hollowed out and stuffed with something. The Bitter melon was WRONG! Not just culinarily evil, but WRONG! Astringent, puckery kind of bitter. The thought still makes the sides of my tongue curl up.

And my other nomnation for axis membership is asafoetida. Smells like garlic infused sweat socks, and makes kitchens in which it was used smell the same. Tastes worse.

[Andrew Fenton]

Andrew thought up the idea of going to a culinary tour of restaurants:

Iraqi, Iranian, and North Korean.

That's a great idea!

Thanks. I've still gotta make it happen, ideally in one day, and ideally in as small a radius as possible. I'm thinking it should be doable in Jersey.

[ellencho]

First post after lurking for the longest time. Here's my culinary axis of evil:

1. eggplant

2. asparagus

3. food that should be served crunchy but is microwaved by Mr Ellencho who refuses to heat it up properly in the oven

[tanabutler]

organ meats

okra

brussels sprouts

asafoetida

olives (but I love olive oil)

fishy fish (sea bass, snapper, et al)

licorice, anise, fennel

raw onions, raw garlic

margarine

Karo corn syrup (Yankee stepfather used to put it on pancakes! ABOMINATION!!)

Ditto Moopheus's "fake food" list (Miracle Whip, Cool Whip, instant coffee, CoffeeMate, cake mixes, frosting in a can, et al)

Jell-O in any guise

German food almost in its entirety (sour meat, anyone? Vinegar overdose, anyone?)

hard pretzels

Cilantro haters: you are the unfortunate possessor of a particular gene that makes cilantro taste like soap or metal or otherwise foul. I feel sorry for you.

[flybottle]

Fancy food, health food, and stand-ins for meat...

[Katherine]

Fancy food, health food, and stand-ins for meat...

Any stand-ins for real food, be it junk, pseudo-meat that smells and tastes like dog food, or food bars that taste like the cr*p my mother used to buy us at the health food store, smelling and tasting medicinally of brewers' yeast, liver powder, and other things that you only ate because someone who thought "good for you" ought to be enough forced you to eat them.

[flybottle]

...things that you only ate because someone who thought "good for you" ought to be enough forced you to eat them.

It's chiefly this sort of thing that rubs me the wrong way, eating out of principle. Seems to me that the clearest reason to eat something is because it's tasty.

Edited February 8, 2004 by flybottle (log)

[malarkey]

so I'm not a complete freak....okay, well maybe a little....

trust me, you're a freak.

[bleudauvergne]

Whew, I am so glad I read this string where so many people have confessed their hatred for cilantro. I LOVE it with a passion, and I'm having 12 people for dinner on thursday. I was going to put lots of it chopped fresh into the mushroom tamales I'm going to make. Now I think I'll keep it to one super cilantro laden sauce that can be optional. One sauce with cilantro and one without.

When I saw this post I didn't think I would answer it, I am actually pretty adventurous in my food tastes, I grew up in a home where the rule was that we had to taste everything when it was served. Once we'd tasted it, if we didn't want to eat it, we didn't have to. It was liberating as a child to know that no one would ever penalize me or put me on the spot for changing my mind, and sometimes I'd get a nice pat on the back for joining the ranks of the adults for appreciating one thing or another. No interference there. I never was forced to eat out of principle.

But I've given it some thought, and there are some things that yes, I've definitely crossed off my list forever:

1. Topinambour (Jerusalem artichokes) no matter how lovely they look at the market - my husband and I almost exploded the first and last time I experimented with this foul root, then realised with a start in the beary eyed morn after no sleep and nearly a trip to the emergency room that I'd read about it once (see Harold McGee's "The curious cook" chapter 5 for details).

2. Fromage fort, which is the rinds from all cheeses thrown into a ceramic pot and left to fester and rot several months and then sold "a la louche" at les halles. No matter how thin you spread it, it will always taste like barf.

But I'd like to say that some things taste different in different places, for example, I wonder if Helen in Japan would come to an appreciation of sausages if she came to Lyon and tried the varieties here, they really aren't like sausages anywhere else. That mouth coating phenomenon that I completely understand exists in some kinds of sausages does not happen here. I don't know why, but it's true.

Another example, I served beets (fresh boiled, not canned) to my sister and her husband when they came to visit, and my sister dutifully tasted them. "These are beets?" she asked. "But they don't taste like dirt! Honey!" she sid, jabbing her husband. "These beets are ok!" her husband was not amused, apparently she refuses to serve them at home and he loves them.

- Lucy

[hillvalley]

I am actually pretty adventurous in my food tastes, I grew up in a home where the rule was that we had to taste everything when it was served. Once we'd tasted it, if we didn't want to eat it, we didn't have to. It was liberating as a child to know that no one would ever penalize me or put me on the spot for changing my mind, and sometimes I'd get a nice pat on the back for joining the ranks of the adults for appreciating one thing or another. No interference there. I never was forced to eat out of principle.

But I've given it some thought, and there are some things that yes, I've definitely crossed off my list forever:

1. Topinambour (Jerusalem artichokes) no matter how lovely they look at the market - my husband and I almost exploded the first and last time I experimented with this foul root, then realised with a start in the beary eyed morn after no sleep and nearly a trip to the emergency room that I'd read about it once (see Harold McGee's "The curious cook" chapter 5 for details).

2. Fromage fort, which is the rinds from all cheeses thrown into a ceramic pot and left to fester and rot several months and then sold "a la louche" at les halles. No matter how thin you spread it, it will always taste like barf.

But I'd like to say that some things taste different in different places, for example, I wonder if Helen in Japan would come to an appreciation of sausages if she came to Lyon and tried the varieties here, they really aren't like sausages anywhere else. That mouth coating phenomenon that I completely understand exists in some kinds of sausages does not happen here. I don't know why, but it's true.

Another example, I served beets (fresh boiled, not canned) to my sister and her husband when they came to visit, and my sister dutifully tasted them. "These are beets?" she asked. "But they don't taste like dirt! Honey!" she sid, jabbing her husband. "These beets are ok!" her husband was not amused, apparently she refuses to serve them at home and he loves them.

- Lucy

Great post. I grew up in the same kind of home

If only jerusalem artichokes didn't taste so good!

[Mudpuppie]

Whew, I am so glad I read this string where so many people have confessed their hatred for cilantro. I LOVE it with a passion, and I'm having 12 people for dinner on thursday. I was going to put lots of it chopped fresh into the mushroom tamales I'm going to make. Now I think I'll keep it to one super cilantro laden sauce that can be optional. One sauce with cilantro and one without.

On behalf of cilantro haters everywhere, thank you for your consideration!

1.  Topinambour (Jerusalem artichokes)  no matter how lovely they look at the market - my husband and I almost exploded the first and last time I experimented with this foul root, then realised with a start in the beary eyed morn after no sleep and nearly a trip to the emergency room that I'd read about it once (see Harold McGee's "The curious cook" chapter 5 for details).

Don't have the book. What's up with sunchokes? Are you allergic?

[Pitter]

This forum is very amusing. Some people's dislikes seem so utterly incomprehensible to me, just as my dislikes have always raised people's eyebrows. I eat every and all real, unprocessed food including offal, stinky cheese, strong fish, the usual suspects, except I will never, ever get near:

watermelon, cantalope, honeydew -- or any other melon

white chocolate and most milk chocolate (but crave semi- and bittersweet)

peas -- frozen or fresh, except for snow peas

popcorn

egg salad (but I love deviled eggs)

[tanabutler]

white chocolate and most milk chocolate

Well, sure. Because you're not a teethling.

If it's chocolate, it isn't white.

It it's milk chocolate, it's for babies and toddlers.

I hope that's all cleared up now.

Thus spake Zarathustra.

But god, fresh peas are one of my biggest pleasures. I am tempted to make a sexual analogy but won't.

[chromedome]

What's up with sunchokes? Are you allergic?

They are absolute world-champion generators of gas. Think beans squared. Think "beer and saurkraut festival" for a week. Think "Hindenburg."

Oh, the humanity!

(PS I love 'em, but avoid them to spare my loved ones the consequences)

[Mudpuppie]

What's up with sunchokes? Are you allergic?

They are absolute world-champion generators of gas. Think beans squared. Think "beer and saurkraut festival" for a week. Think "Hindenburg."

Oh, the humanity!

(PS I love 'em, but avoid them to spare my loved ones the consequences)

Ah. One of the benefits of living alone is that you don't notice things like that.

Also, I always know who drank the last of the orange juice.

[chuck]

You people, all of you, are very strange.

Why has no one mentioned bugs? You know, snails. I have never tried one and I never will. Where does the slime go when they die?

Kidneys. Had some perfectly cooked veal kidneys in my mouth once. Briefly.

How about the blue cheese that the health authorities in Italy have decided isn't such a good idea? Letting it sit out so flies can lay their eggs in it, waiting awhile for the eggs to hatch, letting the blue cheese get very blue, and then trying to eat it with the maggots screaming quietly, 'abandon ship!', as they hit your wrists. I realize this is 'bugs' again...

One more, one more. That pink frosting when you were a kid. I would know what was in it if I ever allowed myself to think about it. It was served at the birthday parties of kids you sorta knew, whose mothers seemed to have the mop ready in the next room. Of course you threw up, and somehow those other kids remembered it for years. Why would grown adults do that to us?

Cilantro? Yummers.