Foods you're embarrassed to hate

[Curlz]

Wow - a quick scan of the numerous previous responses leads me to believe that I'm in a very lonely minority, as I think I'm the first person to say that I don't like

goat cheese

Interesting...I know a few people who say they just can't stand it--and they're legit eaters otherwise. I don't think it's so rare, if that makes you feel any better! But CRAYOLAS? I thought that waxy description was reserved for the cilantro haters...

As for the sinus story, that makes perfect sense--for anyone with sinus and/or allergy issues, it certainly can interfere with one's enjoyment of food.

[Squeat Mungry]

What he had was a sense of SMELL, something he had never had prior to the surgery and which also interfered with his being able to taste.

andiesenji, in case you haven't seen them, I made a few comments on this thread on how my sense of smell has increased since I quit smoking three weeks ago.

[Betts]

How very fortunate for that man. My experience has been the opposite - I have known a number of people who suddenly and permanently lost their sense of taste/ smell. In every case, it occured after a bad cold.

The meager sensations that were left were for very spicy foods and sweet things. Spicy is not so much a primary flavor as an irritant and sweet does not seem so dependent on smell.

Nonetheless, the net effect was that all of these people gained significant amounts of weight trying to get the pleasure of taste. Way too many desserts!!

[TheFoodTutor]

I am a huge food enthusiast, so there is nothing on my list that I don't continually go back and try over and over again, to see if I have suddenly developed a taste for it. Well, except for canned vegetables. I will eat them, if forced, but unless I am dining at the home of someone with a very meager food budget, I leave the canned vegetables on the shelf for someone else to buy. Other than that:

1) Brussels sprouts. Even when they're good, they're still kinda yucky. I think it's the sulfur content of this and other cabbages, as well as cauliflower that make them hard to like. At least with cauliflower, I make more of an effort, because there are some ways to make it taste pretty good.

2) This is my big freak-factor. Oranges. I'm probably the only person in the world who doesn't enjoy getting a big glass of orange juice, or eating orange candies, or just peeling and eating an orange. I really do try this one a lot, and it's just not a flavor that I like. The only orange thing I like is a Creamsicle.

3) Raisins. And even on this one, I'm not terribly picky. I'd prefer to leave them out, but if they're there, eh, they won't kill me.

The one thing I never do is pick a bunch of stuff out of what I'm served and pile it on the side of my plate like a big heap of contagion. Does this bother anyone else? If I'm eating a stir-fry that someone has served me, and there are entirely too many onions in it, I carefully eat around them without calling attention to it, and then push my plate away when I'm finished, explaining that it's been wonderful, but I couldn't possibly eat another bite. I would sooner gnaw my left arm off than insult a cook who's invited me to dinner.

I may be strange, but I'm not that picky.

[TJHarris]

Kidneys...Veal Kidneys...Lamb Kidneys...Kidneys

If you must have them, I can prepare them for you, I know what they taste like when they are good. I know what they are like when they are bad. I will taste for QA reasons but will not eat them. I think it is probably all in my head as I can't seem to get around the fact that the job in physiology is to filter urine from the blood.

For the same reasons, I just can't seem to do chitterlings.

[misgabi]

Just wanted to add my view to this thread, I can only think of a couple of things that I don't like but I make up for the short list with my passionate dislike (even loathing) of them:

1) Corriander - cannot abide the taste (has been mentioned here as tasting like soapy wax - but to me it tastes like I imagine my husbands joggers would taste if I licked the inside!!)

2) Coffee - I just don't like the taste and get very depressed when it sneaks into desserts that don't mention it

3) Onions - am gradually getting better at eating really well cooked ones but usually just try and skirt around them

4) Cracked black pepper - hate, hate, hate .............. no pepper steak for me, I can't even stand the smell of pepper - to make this worse my husband loves the stuff and would eat pepper steak with pepper sauce for every meal if he could.

5) Orange Juice - cannot drink a glass of orange juice for any money. I like oranges and anything cooked with orange but cannot force myself to swallow down a glass of the juice.

Oh well, I suppose the world would be very boring if we all liked exactly the same things.

[Arey]

I don't hate anything, because it is wrong to hate. However, I heartily abhor, detest, despise, dislike, and loathe that abomination of abominations, the Lima Bean. But, I'm not embarassed about it, and have, more than once, declared that succotash sucks,

[Mooshmouse]

5.  Gin.  I've never had a bad experience--just HATE the smell.  And since I don't like olives, it's not like I'm sad about the lack of gin martinis in my world...

8.  Anise/licorice.  NO WAY.  On occasion, I can deal with fennel if it's very mild in a dish, but I do avoid it.

Ironically, there are a few things that I've just started to enjoy in the last couple of years... it's only in the last 5 years that I've discovered blue cheese...and I'm SO glad I have!  I guess our palates really do develop with age.

I'm with you on gin and anise/licorice. Absolutely, unequivocally ACK. Either smell sets my gag reflex in motion.

Root beer. I'm the only person in my family, immediate and extended, who can't stand it and I'm perpetually berated for it. Again, one whiff of root beer and my stomach starts to churn.

However, my taste buds haven't yet discovered blue cheese. Love smoked cheeses like gouda and gruyere, but can't deal with the moldy flavour of blue cheese... as far as I'm concerned, it's tantamount to chewing on an old sock.

And brussels sprouts. I get harassed about this every Thanksgiving. Just for posterity, I put three on my plate, drown them in gravy and choke them down. Key word here is choke.

[Wholemeal Crank]

Eggs....it rarely comes up, but I can't stand just plain eggs--poached, scrambled, sunny-side up, hard boiled, deviled, omeleted.

And though many friends and family would be shocked if they knew, I have never ever fried an egg in my life.

I do like some custards, and many other lovely things containing eggs, but just not eggs.

[Wholemeal Crank]

And coffee. Almost forgot coffee. I love the smell, but not the taste, black, with milk and sugar, in ice cream, mocha-flavored anything, all repellant.

Oh well. I have managed, on one or two occasions, to find a blue cheese that I like, so there is hope in that department.

[Randi]

I *wish* I liked:

Raw Oysters

Raw Clams

Sushi

I want SO much to like them!!!!

I've tried them but the "skeeve" factor is just too strong for me

[FistFullaRoux]

I'm secure enough in myself to note that I'm not embarrased to say that I dislike certain foods. But mentioning that I don't care for any one of these is liable to end up in a discussion, usually punctuated by, "Well, you've just never had it done right." Hate that. I'm not going to say I don't like something if I've never tried it. If I say I don't care for it, believe that I have tried numerous times. And I still don't like it. Go find someone else to bother.

Really rare steak. I can go as far as medium, maybe medium rare on a thinner cut, but don't give me red juices spilling all over the plate. And certainly not anything short of 170 degrees for a burger, even if you did grind it yourself from a Japanese cow killed by virgins at dawn on the sacred rock. I prefer the "overcooked" burger's texture.

Raw onions. They are always in salads, on sandwiches, etc. Even grilled onions are a bit much to me.

Kansas City style BBQ sauce. The ketchup and molasses kind. Vinegar and mustard based are fine.

My intense dislike of raspberries has been documented elsewhere on this fine website.

And salmon. I'll give it a try once in a while to be nice if I'm in someone's home, but I never ever ever order it out.

Edited to add: Regarding the supertaster thing upthread, I must be one. Or at least borderline in regards to bitter. I catch frying oil that has been overheated or needs to be changed. Most cooked cabbage is too bitter for me to eat. Carrots are somewhat bitter to me. I can taste caffeine in soft drinks. That may also be part of my aversion to artificial sweetenters, which are bitter in any amount.

But I love nuts, (including almonds), coffee, and other slightly bitter foods. But the cooked cabbage - especially in egg rolls - really gets over the top. Raw is just fine, though.

Edited August 21, 2004 by FistFullaRoux (log)

[sarahoc]

I can't believe I forgot to post how much I absolutely HATE raisins!!!! I HATE raisins with a fierce passion.

They taste like big black ants (I know because I accidentally ate one as a child), and they absolutely ruin perfectly good cereals, breads and cookies all the time for me.

[spaghetttti]

Really rare steak. I can go as far as medium, maybe medium rare on a thinner cut, but don't give me red juices spilling all over the plate. And certainly not anything short of 170 degrees for a burger, even if you did grind it yourself from a Japanese cow killed by virgins at dawn on the sacred rock. I prefer the "overcooked" burger's texture.

priceless!

[Squeat Mungry]

Really rare steak. I can go as far as medium, maybe medium rare on a thinner cut, but don't give me red juices spilling all over the plate. And certainly not anything short of 170 degrees for a burger, even if you did grind it yourself from a Japanese cow killed by virgins at dawn on the sacred rock. I prefer the "overcooked" burger's texture.

Well, you would have loved the burger I was served at lunch today, which I ordered "on the rare side of medium rare". It came well done. Very well done. Like dry and crumbly well done. This has happened to me twice now at a place that does a good job with most other things. If I ever order another burger there, when they ask me how I'd like it done, I'm going to say "alive" and hope it comes out with at least some pink in it.

Anyway, I forgot to say that I also usually hate ketchup. Oddly, though, I actually crave it about twice a year or so, and really enjoy it that one time with some good fries. The rest of the time, however, I really can't stand it. Maybe partly because it causes my eyelids to sweat every time I eat it, which is kind of freaky and unpleasant. No other food causes this particular phenomenon.

Cheers.

Squeat

[andiesenji]

And coffee. Almost forgot coffee. I love the smell, but not the taste, black, with milk and sugar, in ice cream, mocha-flavored anything, all repellant.

One of my long time friends, originally from Africa, educated in England and for many years a university professor here in soCalif, now back in England, said once that if coffee tasted the way it smelled it would be as popular as chocolate.

He said that try as he might he could never get the stuff past his tongue. He drank tea constantly and could tell the difference between varieties with just a sip.

He also could not drink cola products as they all tasted terribly bitter to him. His wife was a dedicated coffee-head and was never without a cup/mug/thermos or whatever, in hand. He learned to prepare it in various ways from espresso to various brewed types for her but couldn't swallow even a spoonful.

He said that the aroma was so delicious it made him salivate but the actual taste was horrible and he tried many, many times and could detect the tiniest hit of coffee in desserts as well as other foods.

The three of us attended a food festival in Santa Monica several years ago and one of the vendors had a chili which Louis tasted and discretely disposed of. He asked if it contained coffee and the vendor was surprised that he was able to tell.

So was I, it was indistinguishable to me and I was amazed that he could sense it.

Some people do have an extraordinary ability to taste certain compounds.

[gariotin]

I can comment on the loss of smell. I am in the food biz and have been for over 25 years. I make my living tasting and selling high-end specialty food products. I had a pretty damn good palate. Long story short - I had the first and only allergic reaction of my life 2 years ago to a H & H everything bagel. Went into anaphylactic shock on the streets of NYC, fell down and fractured my skull. In the process, all nerves coming from my brain to my nose were completely severed. I have not smelled anything since. (OK, now anyone who knows me has identified me from this story!) It has been a huge source of sadness for me - I went thru the Kubler-Ross stages of anger and denial before I finally came to accept it. I still dream of smelling things and wake up enervated and sad at the same time. I only taste the big flavors - salty, bitter, sweet, sour - with none of the beautiful nuances in between. I now tend to salt and spice my food a lot to get some flavor. And yes, I gained weight b/c I kept trying to get the flavor "high" I missed.

Smell is an amazing sense - it is easy to imagine what it must be like to be deaf or blind, but it is impossible to imagine what it is really like to never smell. On the other hand, I'm alive, so that's a good thing.

My embarrassing hated food is pears - I cannot abide the mealy texture. Every couple of years, someone makes me feel guilty and I try again - YUCK.

As to leaving unliked food on a plate - life is too short to eat any food you don't like. It has nothing to do with being rude or hurting your host's feelings.

[Curlz]

Wow, Gariotin, that is one heartbreaking story. Yes, you're lucky to be alive, but it's obvious that you miss one of life's great pleasures that was also a huge part of your world. My sympathies--seriously. And I'm curious to know--what was it in the bagel that you reacted to so violently? Seems pretty wild since you were in the business of tasting food!

As for your dislike of pears, it's interesting that you quote the texture as the issue; as my previous post indicates, I'm certain that texture plays a huge role in my dislike of raw tomatoes, fresh bananas, and the like--yet I LOVE pears. Not mushy raw ones, but if they're roasted, I don't care about the mush--must be something in their heady aroma and flavor that supercedes the texture issue for me. Fascinating stuff for sure!

[gariotin]

Yes, Curlz, it was a bitch, and thanks for your thoughts, but I am convinced that life sends us what we can handle. I did contact H & H and they were wonderful about supplying the ingredient list for the bagels. I've been tested and - nada. Knowing what I know about the food biz, I suspect there may have been some fungus or mold in the bulk seeds they were buying and I may never come in contact with them again. Least I hope not! Texture has become way more important to me - I find myself evaluating it as I used to do flavors. And I still swirl and smell wine - I know I won't get anything, but it's a habit I refuse to give up - just as I still wear perfume.

[jbonne]

... said once that if coffee tasted the way it smelled it would be as popular as chocolate. ...

he's not the only one. the founder of one of the best espresso joints in Seattle says he got into the matter of obsessive coffee science because he couldn't stand how great it smelled and how horrid it tasted.

truly well made coffee is a thing to behold. and a rare one, sadly.

[creepygirl]

My distaste for most alcoholic beverages is a bit embarrassing. At wineries in Burgundy, I got all sorts of questions when I declined to sample the wines. Beginning to feel like an alien from another planet, I let my husband tour the wineries while I stayed in the car and read.

I know I could order a glass and sip daintily from it or just have the glass sit in front of me as a prop, but I don't like to waste good money.

In short, I am fully capable of drinking alcohol to save my life, but I won't if I don't have to!

I have the same distaste for drinking alcoholic beverages. I love cooking with them, though.

It's embarrassing because it's a huge category (while I have other dislikes, they're generally fairly specific.) Plus I know that lots of restaurants make their money off alcohol, so I feel like a cheapskate when I go out to restaurants.

Also, when a restaurants have special wine-pairing dinners, often the food sounds great, but the wine would just be wasted on me.

-cg

[frdagaa]

Hadn't checked on the thread since first starting it...glad I did now. Great responses!

I'm struck by a few things:

1. Some people dislike certain things because of what the foods are. They can't get over the "idea" of those foods. These are things like offal, rare/raw meat, raw fish. We can call this category "gross-outs". Nothing really grosses me out, and I have to admit that I can get annoyed with someone who won't even try something because of what it is (e.g. "ox-tongue? eww, gross!"). A bit snobbish, perhaps, but that's the way I feel.

2. Sometimes textures are disliked. Personally, I'm essentially never turned off by textures. But many people are, and I can certainly accept that. My mother-in-law loves the flavor of watermelon but can't stand the texture. Nuts in ice cream freak my son out. Slimy boiled okra get a lot of people. Raw bananas and mushy pears, as we've heard. I think textures might be a more common reason for disliking a certain food than taste alone.

3. Some people who love food just don't like certain tastes. Like me and truffle oil. Although any tastes can fall in this category (in this thread we've heard chocolate, truffles, eggs, raspberries, brussel sprouts, plums among many others), the bitter, musty, and fishy tastes seem to most prone. But largely, these are just unpredictable.

4. LOTS OF FOOD-SAVY, OPEN-MINDED PEOPLE HAVE CERTAIN THINGS THEY JUST DON"T LIKE. This seems a bit obvious, but to me it's enlightening. For example, it indicates to me that menus without choices (e.g. tasting menus) might lead to some unhappy customers even when the customers are foodies. I had a FANTASTIC tomato dish at Seeger's in Altlanta (selection of fresh/raw heirloom slices on clear tomato water gelee with tomato mousse) and prior to reading these responses I'd have thought that anyone who didn't like it simply did not have a sensitive/sophisticated/refined palate. I guess I'll be a bit more open-minded now.

And it's good to know I have company on truffle oil out there, and that I might still like fresh truffles.

[TheFoodTutor]

It certainly is an interesting thread, and I find that, practically every time that someone presses me to think of a foodstuff that I really don't like, after giving my answer, I tend to fish around in my brain for some way this ingredient can be prepared so that I will like it. And then I usually find one.

With brussels sprouts, that's probably the most limiting one I've found, because the best way I've had them so far is steamed so that they're still bright green and tossed in a light anchovy butter.

Because I find myself cooking for people and teaching other people to cook, I try to be as open-minded as possible, so that someone searching for the "ultimate cannelini bean recipe" isn't limited by my imagination.

And I truly feel for those of you who are unable to appreciate alcoholic beverages. I'd look at it as a huge bonus, where you can just sock away all that money that you'd be spending otherwise on booze, but since this is sort of a hedonist's forum, I have a feeling that you folks are investing that money in other, equally frivolous pursuits.

So probably the biggest challenge I can think of would be if someone called me and asked me to teach a class, Iron Chef-style, on how to prepare and eat bugs. A crispy mealworm appetizer, cream of aphid soup, june bug salad, grub soufflee and cockroach-studded ice cream for dessert.

At the prices I currently charge, I'm afraid I'd have to pass.

[AzRaeL]

I hate Redwine, I dont like the taste of raw oysters, and durian is just too gross to me.

I dont like Escargot and I am squeamish about frog's legs

[andiesenji]

With brussels sprouts, that's probably the most limiting one I've found, because the best way I've had them so far is steamed so that they're still bright green and tossed in a light anchovy butter.

I have been preparing Brussels sprouts this way:

Brussels Sprouts with Chestnuts

practically forever. This is not my exact recipe, I use two cups of chestnuts and instead of the oil I use 1/4 cup (or a bit more) of brown butter sauce.

However except for these two changes my recipe is very similar.

In my family this dish came from England and was often served during the holidays.

We had 3 huge chestnut trees on the farm that escaped the blight back in the 1920s or so and we used to gather bushels of chestnuts which were roasted and eaten as is, boiled and mashed, combined with other things as in this dish, dried and ground into flour for baking, canned for later use and turned into confections by cooking them in syrup to make glacé chestnuts or marrons glacé.

The combination of the sweet chestnuts and the slightly bitter sprouts is just wonderful.

A variation was to drizzle a bit of Calvados over them half-way through the baking.