Straight Dope Message Board

[RealityChuck]

Coffee, beer, coconut.

Pop-tarts. Doughy and disgusting.

[bibliophage]

Sweet Potato, pumpkin, and yellow/orange fleshed varieties of squash. But zucchini is okay. They all taste the same to me, and they all taste nasty. I won't eating anything made from them either, including pie.

Cumin. A lot of Indian and Mexican food is right out.

Beets. They taste like dirt. That is apparently part of the appeal for some people. I wonder why they don't cut out the middleman and just eat dirt.

[pulykamell]

Originally Posted by cgg419

49 posts so far and this is the only one I agree with. Even then it’s just large chunks of fat, little bits like on a pork loin chop are no big deal.

I used to have a decent number of things I wouldn’t eat, but the older I get, the more that list dwindles. Sitting here right now, I can’t think of anything I wouldn’t eat besides a big hunk of fat.

Most people don't eat large chunks of fat, though. Or am I living in an alternate universe where everybody loves fat? I mean, isn't that why chicken breast and tasteless meat like that is king here in the US? Because everyone hates fat?

[Cardigan]

I'm aware of quite a few folks who don't particularly like a particular fish or even a class of seafood (e.g. sushi, shellfish), but I don't know of anyone but me who despises seafood in any and all forms.

[CelticKnot]

I'm glad I'm not the only picky eater here.
There are many more popular foods I won't eat:
melons have a weird, bitter aftertaste
avocados are just slimy
popcorn don't live up to its aromatic hype
bell peppers upset my stomach
carbonated beverages: too sweet, and I don't like the after effects.

I did ask for foods that most people seem to like, but some have strayed from the OP.
I don't think beets or liver really qualify.

[CairoCarol]

Originally Posted by WOOKINPANUB

Salad Dressing
I can't think of one that the mere smell of doesn't turn my stomach. I do like salad, though.
.

Yeah, I forgot that one. I'm not quite as strict as you - I can manage a little dab of sweet/creamy salad dressing if I have to, though I prefer my salad plain - but oil & vinegar dressing makes my tongue curl.

It's not that I don't like sour things - I do - but the combination of vinegar or lemon juice and leafy greens creates a bitter, astringent sensation that is extremely unpleasant.

My son should be in this thread too. He doesn't like bananas, despite having been raised in the tropics so having access to really good ones. And from toddlerhood he did not like pasta. I was the only mother in my cohort who didn't have the option of turning to Kraft macaroni and cheese for a quick kid-friendly meal. (He'd eat it, but only reluctantly, if I dressed it up with pesto, ham, real cheese, and tomatoes, thus missing the entire point - might as well make a good dinner from scratch if you have to go through that extra work.)

At age 21, he has allowed Asian pasta into his life - both good Japanese ramen bowls and cheap Indomie pass his personal taste test. But god forbid he should have to eat Western pasta like spaghetti or lassagna. No way. Yeah, he's always been a weird kid.

[AHunter3]

Strawberries, first & foremost.

[Hampshire]

At Benihana they give everyone two dipping sauces. A pink type "yum-yum" shrimps sauce and a ginger sauce. Everyone seems to go bonkers over the yum-yum sauce (especially females for some reason) and 9 out of 10 people I see eat there request to have 2 yum-yum sauces instead of one of each.
I'm the odd one who takes 2 ginger sauces instead and gets evil stare downs from everyone at the table like I just broke wind.

[Lancia]

Cinnamon rolls. The only people that actually believe me when I say that is my wife and kids because they know firsthand that I'll go hungry before eating a cinnamon roll. (well, used to. I'm diabetic now so it's a moot point.) Same with cheescake. Just no.

Shellfish. I tried, I really did. I live ~50 miles from the sea and summer bbq's at friend's houses usually included clams or oysters. Gag. Me. I'll eat sea fish, halibut and salmon and tuna. But no shellfish except clam chowder. And no crab or lobster either, although crab is plentiful here.

Interestingly, things I used to despise like mushrooms I'm becoming more tolerant of as I get older. I'd really, really like to learn how to cook better and being more adventurous with a wider variety of ingredients is pretty much a prerequisite.

[TreacherousCretin]

Originally Posted by Jackknifed Juggernaut

Watermelon (or any melon, for that matter)- always hated it

Me too. Even as a child. Watermelon and Cantaloupe look great, smell okay, but the taste is just awful.

[MoonMoon]

Originally Posted by TreacherousCretin

Me too. Even as a child. Watermelon and Cantaloupe look great, smell okay, but the taste is just awful.

That's funny - I loathe the smell of melon, especially cantaloupe. In the early 90s, when cucumber melon was the smell du jour, I was miserable.

[carrps]

Originally Posted by Biotop

How I like my eggs is on someone else's plate.

Apple pie? I will pass thank you. Cranberry sauce? No I'll just have more stuffing.

Venison is a waste of a good pest deer. Pumpkin anything? Get your bland gourd and unpleasant seasonal spices out of my everything.

Yes, venison! It has a sweetness that makes me think I'm eating spoiled meat, and it turns my stomach. Aside from that, I don't like the taste or texture.

I love sushi, though. There are so many varieties, I wonder what the uniting factor is for hating it. There's something about the way sushi rice is prepared that I find positively addictive.* I have to have sushi at least once a week -- even if it's just simple inari.

* the vinegar? 'cause I love vinegary foods.

[Zyada]

I don't like peanut butter or peanuts. I had gotten to the point where I was just meh on PB, and then I developed an allergy - eating anything with peanuts upsets my stomach

I don't like pickles at all.

[Zyada]

Originally Posted by carrps

Yes, venison! It has a sweetness that makes me think I'm eating spoiled meat, and it turns my stomach. Aside from that, I don't like the taste or texture.

I love sushi, though. There are so many varieties, I wonder what the uniting factor is for hating it. There's something about the way sushi rice is prepared that I find positively addictive.* I have to have sushi at least once a week -- even if it's just simple inari.

* the vinegar? 'cause I love vinegary foods.

Almost certainly the vinegar. When I have sushi that is not particularly sour, I enjoy it, but I know that what I enjoy is heavily westernized.

Another factor may be the texture for sashimi and non-roll sushi

[Treppenwitz]

I'm indifferent to milk chocolate.

I don't like most potato chips (crisps).

But I loathe popcorn.

j

[Time Like Tears]

• I can't deal with eating fresh bananas - texture issue. They're fine IN stuff.

• I hate cheesecake and cheesecake flavored things.

• Mushrooms, though the world is probably about 50/50 on those, most people around me seem to love them or at least enjoy them. Keep your fungi away from me.

• I honestly don't much care for chocolate. It certainly has its place, but if my choice is between a chocolate bar and no candy at all, I'll just go without.

• American cheese. Barf. I hate that it's the ONLY option in most fast food joints. I hate that so many people not only tolerate it, but scarf it down.

[Gatopescado]

Lamb.

[aruvqan]

I will try anything once, though I do have some dietary allergies and sensitivities that I avoid.


I dislike bell peppers, or anything with an anise-y liqquorice-y taste like celeriac, fennel, bell peppers have an anise undertaste. I will admit I am also not really into most peppers of any particular heat, the idea of too hot to eat doesn't appeal to me.


Okra - living in the south, I had it more times than I care to remember. NO way pr preparation made it edible.


Grits. Yuck.


Zucchini and eggplant have the same machine oil undertaste that I also get from shark and swordfish, no idea why.


Ultra fishy tasting fish - sardines, mackeral, that sort of thing. Can't even take really fishy cat food around the house.



Not fond of liver or kidneys, tongue, most other meats are fine, though I may like some less than others.



Really dry wines, if I want tannins I will chew on a tree.

[Yodalicious]

Originally Posted by LoneRhino

I think I just met Bizzaro me.

HA!

[John Bredin]

Onions, which are apparently the Borg of restaurants (resistance is futile). Order a burger, sandwich, or salad without onions, especially to-go, and often they're on there anyway. Read a menu description and, no matter how floridly detailed it is, often the description will not mention onions but the dish will have them anyway.

[typoink]

For a lot of my adult life, the answer would have been pasta. Used to find it bland, vaguely unpleasant, and not something I ate by choice from, like age 12 to 30. Around then, I started eating it grudgingly because my then-partner loved pasta dishes, and it grew on me. Still not something I actively seek out often, but will occasionally enjoy.

Except farfelle. Damn, do I hate farfelle.

[pulykamell]

Originally Posted by CelticKnot

popcorn don't live up to its aromatic hype

Yeah, well put. For something that smells that good, it is especially disappointing. That said, while I did initially vote popcorn, I do like the occasional bag of cheese popcorn mixed with caramel corn. By "occasional," I mean like once ever year or two. I also remember one of my odder WTF experiences, going to a movie theatre in Germany to watch "Shakespeare in Love" with a friend of mine. Since it's the movies, I'm compelled to buy popcorn, because that is what one does, and even if I don't eat much, whoever I'm with will. I take my first bite into the popcorn, expecting salty, buttery goodness, and I get a faceful of sweet. I don't know if it's a regular thing, or if it's just that theatre or region or what, but my brain took a few seconds to wrap itself around the subversion of expectations.

[Slow Moving Vehicle]

I, too, was surprised in that original thread how many people shared my aversion to coffee.

Also, I avoid:

Eggs
Grits
Beer
Wine
Spirits
Jalapenos, or any hot pepper

Just for fun, I also dislike jazz, and will happily turn off Miles Davis to listen to Colbie Calliat. And I'm thoroughly sick of the Boston Red Sox. You've lifted your stupid "Curse of the Bambino", Boston, now quit wangsting over Bill Buckner and how important the Sox are to baseball history, and how much you hate the Yankees; the rest of us are tired of hearing about it.

[seal_cleaner]

Buffalo wings. Iced tea.

[Scribble]

Milk.

I like milkshakes, many cheeses, yogurt (especially Greek yogurt--yum!), but I can't stand drinking plain, unadorned milk. Ick.

Even as a kid, I would turn down milk and cookies, if it meant I had to drink the milk. And breakfast cereal dry can be OK, but the minute milk touches it, it becomes disgusting.

[River Hippie]

Coffee
melon
coconut
wine

[raventhief]

Originally Posted by Cardigan

I'm aware of quite a few folks who don't particularly like a particular fish or even a class of seafood (e.g. sushi, shellfish), but I don't know of anyone but me who despises seafood in any and all forms.

Now you know of someone else- I can't stand ANY of it.

[Rhiannon8404]

Mushrooms
Avocados
Raw onion
Raw tomato
Seafood (shrimp, losbster, etc. fish is fine)

[D'Anconia]

Originally Posted by typoink

Except farfelle. Damn, do I hate farfelle.

Why? It's just a shape.

[Qadgop the Mercotan]

Originally Posted by D'Anconia

Why? It's just a shape.

IME, all those folds give you a piece of pasta that's often simultaneously overcooked, al dente, and undercooked.

[davidm]

There are a number of things that I wish I could eat but can't due to my digestive issues, but there are very few things that I don't like.

The only things that come immediately to mind are cilantro (who wants to eat soap?) and egg drop soup (slimy snot soup).

I'm unusual in that I love liver. That's a good thing because it's high in iron (which I have a deficiency of) and other nutrients and I'm able to digest it.

[elfkin477]

Originally Posted by Cardigan

I'm aware of quite a few folks who don't particularly like a particular fish or even a class of seafood (e.g. sushi, shellfish), but I don't know of anyone but me who despises seafood in any and all forms.

Me! The only seafood I eat are fried clam strips, which a lot of people find odd because they have a strong taste. But they don't have a classic fishy taste.

I also dislike beer, dark chocolate, coffee, and many green veggies because they all taste bitter. (why yes, I am a super taster.) And I dislike grape wines of any color because they uniformly taste moldy to me.

[Grrr!]

Originally Posted by pulykamell

Most people don't eat large chunks of fat, though. Or am I living in an alternate universe where everybody loves fat? I mean, isn't that why chicken breast and tasteless meat like that is king here in the US? Because everyone hates fat?

All fats are not equal. The buttery fat you get from a ribeye is MUCH tastier than the rubbery fat you get from a top round for example.

[Tierce]

Truffles or truffle oil. Reminds me of something nasty from organic chem lab.

[The Stainless Steel Rat]

I can take (or oftne leave) much of the above, but one I haven't seen mentioned is something I have never eaten in my 65 and a half trips around the sun.

Pizza.

Just don't like tomato sauce or for that matter, everything else that goes with pizza, and have managed well without it all these years, so...no pizza.

[carnut]

Foods I hate:
- Vegemite and Marmite
- Any fish that still looks like a fish (phobia category)
Foods that are meh:
- Ketchup, steak sauce
- Squid, why not just fill your mouth with rubber bands?
- Mayo on fries or a burger, blech at the thought
- Poutine, I love the ingredients but together, not my thing.
- Watermelon, I just don't get it.
- Most fish, strangely, I find I can eat it if it doesn't look like a fish but most of it tastes blah and is wasted on me.
- Navy beans, canary beans, they have no discernable flavor or texture that makes them interesting.
- Peanut butter as a sweet, though I like peanuts in savoury cooking

[kambuckta]

Originally Posted by Gatopescado

Lamb.

Cool. I'll have your serve.

Another for watermelon. Missed out as a kid because it looked like SO much fun to eat on a hot summer's day!

And like Qadgop, I can and will eat every colour of capsicum (bell pepper) except for green. Now I'm sure if you blindfolded me and I was to taste samples of each kind, I probably wouldn't be able to tell the difference. But yeah, I buy and love the red varieties, just not the green.

[rowrrbazzle]

Coffee. Somehow I just never acquired the taste. It always seems bitter and burnt to me. When I do drink it, I need sugar and a whitener. I will have a latte or something at a coffee house. Occasionally I buy B&J coffee toffee crunch, or at 31 jamoca almond fudge. I'd buy Starbucks frozen frappuccino bars once in a while when they were still available.

Pepperoni, especially on pizzas. As far as I'm concerned, it just doesn't belong on a pizza; just cheese and sausage for me, and mushrooms if I'm in the mood.

I don't like spicy hot foods in general, except when I can get a beer to nullify the heat. And Chinese hot mustard is great with egg rolls.

[lingyi]

Licorice and root beer. Also, celery root and brussel sprouts which have a hint to licorice flavor. Oh and cloves. Basically anything with that "earthy" flavor. And yes, I DO know what dirt tastes like. :-)

Also, too much black pepper. If I can distinctly taste it, it's too much. I posted in another thread about how my favorite Mexican food place changed chefs and the food went drastically downhill. The greatest abomination was salsa with way too much cracked black pepper (which AFAIK has no place in salsa at all). When I asked the waitress why there was so much pepper in the salsa, she said it was because that's the way the chef liked it. Ugh!

[psychobunny]

Fat on meat. I will carefully cut the fat off all meat. Other fats are fine. I can happily eat a piece of bread thickly spread with butter. Which leads us to....
Bacon-that is, typical American strip bacon. Don't hate it just don't really see the point. Yes, a BLT is a good sandwich but as for adding bacon to everything-just don't. It adds nothing to breakfast (except the very thought of bacon or sausage in the morning gives me heartburn-so partially a conditioned response). It doesn't enhance a salad or a burger. If I am having meat with breakfast I would prefer Canadian bacon or ham. If I want a salt and fat fix, there are other things so much better, like potato chips or olives. Why would somebody want to eat nasty fatty greasy bacon instead.

[scabpicker]

Oranges, or really any citrus flesh. You can keep your weird chewy little alien pods. I'll drink the juices, even grapefruit juice, happily. But the bizarre, chewy texture of the flesh is just a recipe for gag time in my mouth.

[griffin1977]

Originally Posted by ThelmaLou

How have we gotten this far without mentioning the evil, dreaded cilantro? And it's in everything now, even in Mom & Pop diners! On the cooking shows, the TV chef will put together a wonderful, beautiful, yummy-sounding dish and then ruin it by topping it with "bright, citrusy cilantro." Bright? Citrusy? To some people cilantro tastes like soap. To me it tastes

SPOILER:

the way your mouth tastes after you throw up.

I've no cite for this (would love to know the dope actually) but I have heard this is a specific genetic biological effect. As in there is a specific gene that X percent of people have that makes cilantro/coriander taste soapy and horrible.

[nelliebly]

Peas. Disgusting, whether fresh, frozen, or canned, mushy or whole.

Beans--the legume type. I'm OK with green beans. Or wax beans, though I can't see the point, as they taste like...wax.

I won't eat sushi, but that's because some food scientists ruined it for me by discussing parasites thereof. I'd had it once before that and liked it.

And slightly off-topic, I'm also grossed out by yellow cheese on pizza (like American, cheddar) and, of course, pizza with pineapple and ham on it. Abominations. Why they're popular, I'll never know.

Also, catsup on a hot dog is nauseating, but that's cultural. Almost everyone from Chicago knows better than to put catsup on a dog.

[guestchaz]

Avocado- why in hell is this even considered food? Satan's pus filled scrotum
Ketchup-nasty corn syrup with "tomato" added, Satan's semen
Green olives-again, why in hell are these disgusting things considered food? Satan's pickled testicles
Coffee from starbucks or starbucks wanna be clones-why are you serving me over heated and burned coffee you let sit on a hot burner all day yesterday in a glass pot at very over inflated prices? Convenience stores, for the most part have better coffee. Starbucks style coffee is Satan's ass juice after a hard night of drinking and eating pickled eggs with sauerkraut

All these "foods" are punishments inflicted upon us by an angry vengeful god for some sin committed by humanity that was so egregious that it has slipped from the collective memory.

Ok, maybe that was a bit over the top, but not much.

[yendis]

Pumpkin, squash, beans of any sort. My main issue with these is their texture, with awful taste a close second. Also macaroni cheese, I eat almost any other pasta dish but mac&cheese just doesn't work for me.

[The wind of my soul]

Since I feel compelled to offer my opinion here: some of these answers don't really seem like foods that nearly everyone else likes. But CINNAMON ROLLS? MACARONI AND CHEESE? Those are legit answers. It blows my mind that someone can not like those foods.

[nearwildheaven]

Originally Posted by LoneRhino

Bell peppers. There are some cuisines that seem to put them in every dish. I'll eat them but I have never had a dish with bell peppers that wouldn't have tasted better without them.

Green or ripe? Those are NOT the same thing.

[nearwildheaven]

Originally Posted by puzzlegal

Funny, the only thing I really like about bananas is the texture. I don't have the flavor, but most foods would be better without it. (Yes, I prefer them a little under-ripe, after the astringency is mostly gone, but before too much flavor develops.)

Probably the weirdest is that I don't care for avocado. I don't hate it, and I don't bother to pick it out of my sushi, but I don't get the appeal. If there's a large chunk in my salad I will offer it to others.

And the weirdest that I won't eat is bell pepper. I don't mind fresh green pepper. But if you cook it or even if it gets old it develops this really nasty flavor. And that flavor gets into everything. I don't even want to sit next to you if you are eating a stuffed roast pepper. Ick!!

When I got married, it took a while for us to figure out why I didn't like tomato sauce (which my husband loves) because I like both fresh and cooked tomatoes. Turns out that my mom always put green pepper in it. And lots of other places do, too. Some brands of canned tomato sauce include some bell pepper, even! And that makes it taste disgusting.

In general I like foods that are more mildly seasoned that most people. That's not true for every seasoning (I love ginger) but I have a sensitive palette, and enjoy most foods more if I can taste the underlying food (beans, vegetable, meat, cheese, rice, whatever) and not just be overwhelmed by the seasoning. My sense of taste isn't as sensitive as it was when I was a kid, and I find I can now tolerate (sometimes even enjoy) tiny amounts of highly-flavored things like mustard. But a lot of foods other people like just taste overblown and brassy to me.

Are you a super-taster? Some people really do have more sensitive taste buds than others.

[nearwildheaven]

Originally Posted by pulykamell

Yeah, well put. For something that smells that good, it is especially disappointing. That said, while I did initially vote popcorn, I do like the occasional bag of cheese popcorn mixed with caramel corn. By "occasional," I mean like once ever year or two. I also remember one of my odder WTF experiences, going to a movie theatre in Germany to watch "Shakespeare in Love" with a friend of mine. Since it's the movies, I'm compelled to buy popcorn, because that is what one does, and even if I don't eat much, whoever I'm with will. I take my first bite into the popcorn, expecting salty, buttery goodness, and I get a faceful of sweet. I don't know if it's a regular thing, or if it's just that theatre or region or what, but my brain took a few seconds to wrap itself around the subversion of expectations.

Sounds like this theater served kettle corn or some similar variation, which is also very popular in the Midwest and is sweet.

When my sibs were teenagers, they both worked at an independent movie theater that used real butter on their popcorn. At least once a night, someone would bring their Vat-O-Popcorn back and ask, "What's this stuff all over my popcorn?" Yup, real butter, not butter-flavored oil.

[Ulfreida]

Originally Posted by pulykamell

Most people don't eat large chunks of fat, though. Or am I living in an alternate universe where everybody loves fat? I mean, isn't that why chicken breast and tasteless meat like that is king here in the US? Because everyone hates fat?

No, it's because Americans like their food very bland. They love fat.