I've never had a problem with texture

[Kent Wang]

Growing up in a Chinese household I've never rejected a food because the texture was weird. Only because I didn't like the flavor, like with pickles, anise or olives (since then I've overcome all these impediments). Westerners, though, seem to often reject foods like pudding and tapioca on the basis of texture.

Has anyone else noticed this divide? Have you heard of any Asian rejecting foods on account of texture?

[Hiroyuki]

Good topic!!! I've often wondered why some Westerners are so intolerant to some Japanese foods like fish sausage.

helenjp explains her aversion to fish sausage here and torakris agrees with her views.

That's really mysterious to me.

[sanrensho]

Growing up in a Chinese household I've never rejected a food because the texture was weird.

Same here, although I grew up in a Japanese household.

Deep down, I don't really "get" the problem that some people have with the texture of certain foods. I mean, I can understand what they're saying, but it doesn't really strike a chord with me.

Just out of curiosity, have you tried natto? Did the texture bother you?

Edited January 26, 2007 by sanrensho (log)

[ghostrider]

Growing up in a Chinese household I've never rejected a food because the texture was weird. Only because I didn't like the flavor, like with pickles, anise or olives (since then I've overcome all these impediments). Westerners, though, seem to often reject foods like pudding and tapioca on the basis of texture.

Has anyone else noticed this divide? Have you heard of any Asian rejecting foods on account of texture?

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I'll readily confess to being one of those Westerners. I cannot abide pudding & tapioca & other such concoctions.

I question how real the "divide" is, though. The supermarkets are full of them. My SO (Irish ancestry) eats them all the time.

I grew up in a household where these things were served several times a week. My parents loved them & spent years trying to get me to like them. Didn't work.

This begs the question of whether ths predilection is something innate (but not directly inherited - maybe it skips a generation ) or learned (it was a way of transferring my dislike of my parents). I question the "learned" theory since we ate a # of unusual items for that time & place, & my dislikes were very texture-specifiic.

[Habeas Brulee]

That is interesting. I'm a New Yorker. My father was born here, too - his family came over from the Ukraine in 1902. My mother was born in Israel, and her parents were born in Hungary. As a New Yorker, I've been eating food from all sorts of cuisines all my life.

I care about texture a lot.

In fact, I'd say that most of my food issues relate to texture rather than taste, though there are definitely a few flavors that I dislike, too.

I've actually read that people with autism spectrum disorders are more sensitive to texture in foods and more likely to dislike foods because of their texture.

Maybe Westerners are more likely to be slightly autism spectrum?

(Wildly theorizing with absolutely no real evidence or scientific basis. Please do not take too seriously.)

[miladyinsanity]

I have a brother who cannot tolerate mushy stuff.

To this day (he's 16), he will not eat papaya or tofu. It's only in recent years that he's learnt to tolerate rice porridge (he started eating rice when he was 9 months old). Pudding of any sort makes him run in the opposite direction.

Then there's my other brother. Who loves papaya, tofu and porridge.

We're Chinese, by the way.

Kent, I think you're trying to look for answers where there are none, beyond individual taste.

[cakewalk]

Kent, I think you're trying to look for answers where there are none, beyond individual taste.

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I agree with that.

I'm American, yet I hate pancakes -- it's a texture thing. I think they're vile, and it's not because of the taste. But I love scallion pancakes -- their texture is nothing like typical American pancakes. I really don't think there is an explanation for it. But I do somehow think that an aversion to certain textures is much harder to overcome than an aversion to particular tastes. (Although I have absolutely no proof of that.)

[K8memphis]

This is interesting. I cannot compare to other countries and while I can tolerate puddings just fine, some slimy things are too much for me. I can eat fresh mushrooms but not cooked ones--eww eww eww. Although I do like okra which although it's uber slime it has some crunch to it's sliminess.

Interesting. Yes, texture is a big deal.

And partly why I did not care for fois gras when I had it. Although I'd like to try it one more time. Isn't is supposed to have a little crunch on it?

[Rebecca263]

This is so interesting to me! I'm American, grew up eating many different culture's foods(my parents were Middle Eastern and Italian Jews). I can't stand gelatin desserts! It's the texture. I can eat something in a thin coat of aspic, or the jelly that comes with gefilte fish(an amazing food that I dscovered in 1986), but no other gelatinous food appeals to me. I enjoy a good tapioca or some red bean or guava paste, I like preserves and jams, but bubble tea or fruit jellies? I just can't.

Hmmm. Are we keeping track here? I DO think it might just be an American thing, and now I feel VERY American and mainstream!

edited to add: I ADORE okra, and other 'slimy' vegetables, and caviar, and uni, too!

Edited January 26, 2007 by Rebecca263 (log)

[Rebecca263]

Pate has a 'weird' texture? Hey, K8memphis, send me all you get, especially the chicken liver 'pate'.

[K8memphis]

Pate has a 'weird' texture? Hey, K8memphis, send me all you get, especially the chicken liver 'pate'.

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I'm game to try it one more time. I'll get chef-boy to cook it for me some day, but yeah, Rebecca, expect the knock on the door from UPS any minute!

[annecros]

I almost prefer a slimy or creamy texture. Love grits, okra, tapioca, caviar, livers and pates, anthing conjealed is fine with me, mushrooms, gravies and sauces, custards any way etc. etc.

The things I have a texture issue with seem to come with a flavor component. Can't stand octopus, but love squid. Can't stand beets, but love turnips and rhutabaga. Dislike raw oysters based mostly on a texture issue, but I'm not a big fan of oysters in other preparations as well, they just don't skeeve me so bad in a textural way.

Very western.

[Kouign Aman]

I dont enjoy eating 'rubbery' textured things, no matter how much l like the flavor. There was a delicious cold dish I was served several times in China that looked like noodles but had a resistant-then-sudden-give texture that made it an act of self control to eat. (I think the guide said it was sea cucumber.) Snails are out too, same reason. Great sauce, you can keep the pencil erasers.

I suspect this texture is because I never experienced it growing up. If I tried, I could perhaps overcome it. I dont expect I'll try tho.

[eje]

I grew up in a very typical Midwestern home in the 60s and 70s.

I like puddings and tapioca. Consider myself pretty open minded about food. Okra is fine with me, as is just about anything else.

The foods I have had the hardest time learning to appreciate are those with cartilaginous textures and fat.

Especially fat on beef or pork.

It just provokes a gag response in me.

Always has and still does to an extent. No idea why.

[ghostrider]

It just provokes a gag response in me.

Always has and still does to an extent.  No idea why.

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That's exactly what puddings & tapioca (& caviar, for that matter) do to me.

Pork fat, OTOH, bring it on!

Material here for a scholarly study I suspect.

[chocomoo]

My family is Chinese and as far as I know, my auntie is the only one in our whole extended family who has issues with texture. She can't stand pudding, jello, yogourt (yes, even yogourt in Greece) and other similarly-textured things.

[Hest88]

Huh, lemme think. There are foods I dislike that I attribute to texture, but come to think of it it's how the texture affects the taste. I don't like foams or whipped cream or the like, but it's actually more because I dislike the diluted taste that foam creates and not because of the airiness.

OTOH, I also gravitate *towards* foods of a certain texture. I love anything with a jellyfish or cartilage-type crunch.

But yeah, I don't think any of my relatives have ever rejected a food because of the texture.

[Kouign Aman]

Huh, lemme think. There are foods I dislike that I attribute to texture, but come to think of it it's how the texture affects the taste. I don't like foams or whipped cream or the like, but it's actually more because I dislike the diluted taste that foam creates and not because of the airiness.

OTOH, I also gravitate *towards* foods of a certain texture. I love anything with a jellyfish or cartilage-type crunch.

But yeah, I don't think any of my relatives have ever rejected a food because of the texture.

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You and I could play JackSprat and wife :laugh:

"Jack Sprat could eat no fat, his wife could eat no lean. 'Twixt the two, they licked the platter clean".

That texture you gravitate toward? Thats the one I dont like. And I lurv whipped cream, meringue pie topping, etc.

[beccaboo]

I like slime (natto, tapioca, okra).

For a long time (till I was 30 or so) I didn't like pears because of their grittiness, though, and I still don't like the unctuousness of avocados. I've figured out ways to prepare avocado to minimize that quality, but I really used to hate them. Once I threw up when my mother tricked me into eating an avocado smoothie!

[chile_peppa]

I was just discussing this topic with an co-worker yesterday. I can't stand oatmeal and other cooked breakfast cereals, rice pudding, tapioca, congee, and cottage cheese and the like because of their texture, especially if they are warm. Oatmeal literally makes me gag. But I like whipped cream, plain cooked grains (rice, couscous, etc.), and yogurt. I think it's the combination of the creaminess with the discernible tiny chunky or fibrous bites that puts me off. It reminds me of vomit (sorry -- it is that disgusting to me). And I eat tako sashimi, kamaboko, okra, mushrooms, and pate with relish!

I am a hybrid -- Japanese mother, Scots-Irish/American Indian father -- so I suppose my varied preferences in textures is culturally and genetically appropriate!

[miladyinsanity]

The foods I have had the hardest time learning to appreciate are those with cartilaginous textures and fat.

Especially fat on beef or pork.

It just provokes a gag response in me.

Always has and still does to an extent.  No idea why.

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I totally get this. I refuse to eat chicken skin, especially on barbecued chicken wings. It's just...Ugh.

I'll eat okra though.

[ghostrider]

I was just discussing this topic with an co-worker yesterday.  I can't stand oatmeal and other cooked breakfast cereals, rice pudding, tapioca, congee, and cottage cheese and the like because of their texture, especially if they are warm. Oatmeal literally makes me gag.

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Now this is curious. I love oatmeal, because to me the whole oats have suffcient chewy texture. I draw the line at Cream Of Wheat. Grits & polenta are right out too.

Funny how specific our textural sensitivities get.

[annecros]

I was just discussing this topic with an co-worker yesterday.  I can't stand oatmeal and other cooked breakfast cereals, rice pudding, tapioca, congee, and cottage cheese and the like because of their texture, especially if they are warm. Oatmeal literally makes me gag.

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Now this is curious. I love oatmeal, because to me the whole oats have suffcient chewy texture. I draw the line at Cream Of Wheat. Grits & polenta are right out too.

Funny how specific our textural sensitivities get.

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No kidding. I cannot tolerate Cream of Wheat. But give me oatmeal, grits or polenta and I am a pig for it.

Interesting.

[Carrot Top]

I am texturally omnivorous. Give me a pigs foot. Give me cream of wheat. Most of all, give me okra. Cake is fine, as is a spoonful of rock sugar. Jellyfish? Yay! The edging of fat on a grilled lamb chop. . .ahhhh.

I have not tried a fish eye yet, but can't wait.

Oh. I am American. From the United States.

Do I have to leave now?

[K8memphis]

I have not tried a fish eye yet, but can't wait. 

Oh. I am American. From the United States.

Do I have to leave now? 

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Well, no but let me know when you're going to start popping eyeballs so I can leave the room...