Am I the only one who is sometimes grossed out by what other people eat?

Cafe Society
21

On a personal note, I have yet to meet a food item that actually offended me. There are some that appeal to me less than others (I’m not the biggest eggplant fan, but if you make an eggplant lasagna, I will dig in with very little hesitation), but that’s not at all the same thing.

I do think that it often comes down to textures - OpalCat alluded to this earlier in the thread when she mentioned the “mouth-feel” issues w/ regards to bananas. I myself don’t have any texture issues, but I can understand where folks are coming from…

22

I’ll eat pretty much anything put in front of me, so, no I don’t get grossed out by what other people eat. I may wonder why people enjoy certain foods so much (like, what is the fascination with ranch dressing that people drown their salads and even pizza in it), but it doesn’t squick me out.

23

The question should be what do other people eat that doesn’t gross me out. I generally don’t say anything, except to the boyfriend who will eat anything and that’s really just jovial ribbing, but I will leave the room if the smell of someone’s food is offensive to me. It makes working in a big office really unpleasant sometimes.

24

Heh. A few of the responses in my own thread have triggered my gag reflex, so no – you’re not alone. My husband actually likes Army-issue MRE’s – this would be surprising if you never met his mother or tried to eat at her house, otherwise, not so much.

I admit that I eat more than a few food combinations that make others do the WTF? look, but they taste good to me, so who cares what they think. I tend to keep my mouth shut about other people’s food choices, though, as I have heard way the hell too often just “how disgusting” Brussels Sprouts are – and yet, for me, Brussels Sprouts are the food of the gods.

pulykamell – what’s funny about your comment about ranch dressing is that while I won’t eat it on a salad, I do put it on pizza and french fries** – but then again, just about anyone who went to my high school does too. The reason is that while the cafeteria guarded the frickin’ ketchup like it was made of gold (you could only get 1 pack, period) the ranch dressing was easily available. The pizza and french fries at our school were always dry and nasty without some sort of condiment, and as the ranch dressing was easily gotten, it became the condiment of choice.

**I don’t eat french fries very often anymore, though and I have switched to hot wings sauce on my pizza…ever since my hiatal hernia was fixed, I just can’t get enough hot, spicy food!

25

Aren’t you the former stripper who’s had her stomach stapled?

26

[QUOTE=hawthorne]
Aren’t you the former stripper who’s had her stomach stapled?
[/QUOTE]

And this is relevant to the topic under discussion, how?

I have no problem with anything that other people choose to eat. Some of the “comfort foods” that other posters are things I like, some are things I’ll eat if offered but probably wouldn’t fix for myself. But then, I’m one of those people who are willing to try anything once (or twice, it may be an acquired taste) and I’ve had very few things actually make me feel ill.

27

I’m so glad to see people acknowledging ranch dressing as the revolting condiment it is. When I was a teacher’s aide in an elementary school, I ate lunch with my students. The cafeteria would serve them raw vegetables with little tubs of ranch dressing, and when the kids were done with the vegetables, they would drink the remaining ranch dressing right from the tub. Grossed me OUT.

28

[QUOTE=devilsknew]
You seem to forget that these so called “revolting smells” are maybe ambrosiac, delicious, or exotic to others. Seasoning is not a sin.

I assume you have an American Brahmin East Coast sense of taste.
[/QUOTE]

I didn’t forget–I specifically said that I realize that other people have different taste.

As far as seasoning not being a sin, you’re preaching to the choir. I have over 60 different herbs and spices in my house and as a general rule I assume that to get it to taste like anything, most recipes’ measurements need to be doubled or tripled. I also don’t think spicy food is spicy enough if you don’t have to blow your nose several times during the meal, or at least have your eyes water.

I have no idea what the second part of your post means.

QUOTE=Harmonious Discord]Yes. The polite thing on this board is not to be a bitch about it, because you don’t have to smell or see it actually eaten. You just move on and internally comment blech, unless somebody asks for your opinion on it. I think most food thread contain something everybody thinks is gross to varying degrees.
[/QUOTE]

Yeah, I generally don’t go “eeeww!” in the actual thread. That’s why I started this thread, to ask if anyone else gets the same reaction, and also to expand it into the real world. This lets people express the generalized feeling without offending anyone in the actual setting of the gross-out encounter, as it were.

My mom related to me this story just the other night: Someone she knows was in Ireland being wined and dined by the mayor of the town (she was there because that town is the “sister city” of her own and it was some sort of official visit) and she was offered a raw oyster or something. Someone recorded the video on their phone–she actually said it “looks like elephant snot” and then after eating it proceeded to elaborate on how disgusting it was. Now, I think it’s gross, too, but I think her manners in that situation are equally if not more gross. That is just totally rude.

To add a different dimension to the discussion: there are foods that gross me out to look at but which I love to eat. This would include a whole lot of Indian food, for example. It looks like Splat On A Plate but tastes wonderful.

29

I don’t like seeing meats and fruits mixed, that grosses me out for some reason.

30

[QUOTE=devilsknew]
Seasoning is not a sin.

[/QUOTE]

When she just talked about 1950s casseroles and their ilk, how can you think THAT statement even relates? Most 50s-60s ish era comfort food seasoning comes from salt. If you want to get REAL wild and crazy, maybe a couple of grains of black pepper.

31

[QUOTE=Cub Mistress]
As a cook, I have been known to try to gently dissuade people from putting ketchup on my lovingly grilled steaks, but if they must, they must. Next time they get hamburgers.
[/QUOTE]

:eek: What?! Who desecrates good meat like that?

I kind of have an overactive gag reflex too. Food threads don’t usually get me, but then I rarely read them.

32

Really? That’s incredibly common. When I was an undergrad they always served the ham with some fruit – cherry or pineapple or something else sweet, I assume to take the salt taste away. I think that’s the idea behind “Hawaiian Pizza”. I’ve had pork chops with fruit topping, and even steak with Kiwi. Chicken and Turkey is very often made with a fruit glaze. Fruit and Meat doesn’t seem at al odd to me.

33

Whenever I see anyone eating hardboiled eggs. Especially the yokes. The smell makes me gag-it smells like farts, and they just look so hideous.

34

[QUOTE=MsWhatsit]
some crunchy stuff of unknown provenance.
[/QUOTE]

Cornflakes?

My dad puts applesauce on his pizza. I just thought I’d share that.

35

[QUOTE=Helena]
Cornflakes?

My dad puts applesauce on his pizza. I just thought I’d share that.
[/QUOTE]

I’ve done that. Its good especially with meaty pizzas as you get that sweet/savory thing going.

Most seafood makes me gag. It’s the oceany smell that gets me.

36

[QUOTE=Harmonious Discord]
The thing that will make me sick is to be eating by somebody with meat that is red and puddles red juice on the plate. My meal is done at that point and I eat bread outside while they are eating. I have about a minute to get away, before the gag reflex can’t be controlled.
[/QUOTE]

Remind me not to go to a steakhouse with you. You would not like the results.

I must say, however, that if it’s cooked properly, there shouldn’t be a puddle on the plate at all.

37

[QUOTE=Cub Mistress]
As a cook, I have been known to try to gently dissuade people from putting ketchup on my lovingly grilled steaks, but if they must, they must. Next time they get hamburgers.
[/QUOTE]

I always figure that my job as a cook is to try my best to have my guests enjoy themselves. If they want to put ketchup on a steak I have cooked them, I’ll happily bring them the bottle. No epidermis off my nasal protuberance.
I remember being in a restaurant one time when someone at another table ordered a steak well-done. The chef had a real tizzy about it; all I could think was, “He’s paying for it, he’s eating it, shut up and give him what he wants.”
RR

38

[QUOTE=control-z]
I don’t like seeing meats and fruits mixed, that grosses me out for some reason.
[/QUOTE]
I don’t necessarily mind seeing it, but I don’t want to eat it. So, CalMeacham, I know it’s not odd; I just don’t like it.

I can tell by its very name that Sweet-and-Sour Anything is Wrong.

[QUOTE=zweisamkeit]
Most 50s-60s ish era comfort food seasoning comes from salt. If you want to get REAL wild and crazy, maybe a couple of grains of black pepper.
[/QUOTE]

[QUOTE=Marge Simpson]
Oh, look at that adorable spice rack! Eight spices? Some must be doubles. Ore-GAH-no? What the hell?
[/QUOTE]

39

[QUOTE=Cub Mistress]
I have food dislikes, too, but I try to just say “I don’t care for shrimp” (if asked)instead of “how can you eat that awful stuff?” unless I’m teasing a family member. As a cook, I have been known to try to gently dissuade people from putting ketchup on my lovingly grilled steaks, but if they must, they must. Next time they get hamburgers.
[/QUOTE]
I don’t get this. If you understand and accept that people have different tastes – as in you don’t like shrimp but you understand and acknowledge that some people do like it – why is it an insult to you as the cook, or to your “lovingly grilled steaks”, that a person happens to find steak tastier when combined with ketchup? It’s not a statement that your steak is bad, it’s just a statement that that person’s tastes are different from yours.

40

[QUOTE=Roadfood]
I don’t get this. If you understand and accept that people have different tastes – as in you don’t like shrimp but you understand and acknowledge that some people do like it – why is it an insult to you as the cook, or to your “lovingly grilled steaks”, that a person happens to find steak tastier when combined with ketchup? It’s not a statement that your steak is bad, it’s just a statement that that person’s tastes are different from yours.
[/QUOTE]
I’m guessing Cub Mistress would say it’s because ketchup doesn’t combine with steak, it overwhelms it, so that you can’t taste the steak–hence, it’s a waste of a good steak. And, given what he said about ketchup on hot dogs, I suspect Cecil himself would concur.