# Are there food items that you automatically say you do not like... **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 24, 2018, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-food-items-that-you-automatically-say-you-do-not-like/825025 "2018-11-24T20:29:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Roderick\_Femm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roderick_femm/32/14875_2.png) [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2018, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-food-items-that-you-automatically-say-you-do-not-like/825025/21 "2018-11-25T00:33:22Z")
No, I don’t think I would say that I dislike any food that I haven’t tried. I am perfectly willing to say that I don’t want to even try something (e.g. from the smell, I would never be able to get [natto](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natt%C5%8D) into my mouth) but that’s not the same as saying I don’t like it. I have tried a number of things (snails and lamb, for two examples) that I don’t want to eat again, although I did have lamb once prepared in so many spices that I couldn’t taste the meat, which I would eat again if offered it. One thing I am grateful to my parents for is their influence that made me willing to be at least moderately adventurous when presented with new foods. (I’m not sure how they did this, perhaps with the negative psychology of telling me “you won’t like it” anytime something new was on offer; I was greedy and didn’t want to be left out.) ---
**Author:** ![Springtime\_for\_Spacers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Springtime\_for\_Spacers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Springtime_for_Spacers)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2018, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-food-items-that-you-automatically-say-you-do-not-like/825025/22 "2018-11-25T02:38:26Z")
> [@CairoCarol](#): > > I’m pretty adventurous about trying new foods, so it’s hard to think of foods I just “know” I hate without sampling them. Beets come close - people tell me that a fresh roasted beet, which I’ve never had, is delightful. Based on the smell and taste of the canned beets I’ve had, I’m not open-minded enough to believe it. Oh, and quail eggs - they are so tiny and fragile that it feels wrong to eat them, and my stomach turns just looking at them. > > There is one food sitting in the house right now that I can tell by looking at that I hate. It’s from Cambodia or Lao, I forget which (my husband travels all over SE Asia) and its name translates as “river weed.” Basically it looks like sheets of nori, but with weird, unidentifiable … THINGS … in it. (Think of marble that has fossils visible; it’s like that.) > > You’re supposed to fry it and eat it like a crunchy snack. It’s probably not unlike toasted nori in taste and texture, but I’m not finding out. Even if it wasn’t replete with mystery splotches, it’s from a river, not the ocean, which somehow suggests to me that it is rancid and muddy and polluted. > > Apparently it’s considered delicious. That’s a sad view of rivers… ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2018, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-food-items-that-you-automatically-say-you-do-not-like/825025/23 "2018-11-25T02:59:23Z")
I pass on raw meat or fish. Even cavemen knew that animals should be cooked before you eat them. I can handle the idea of eating clams or oysters if they’re an ingredient in something else. But I wouldn’t eat either one plain by itself. And that goes tenfold it they’re raw (see above). I’ve eaten liver, heart, and kidney. But I’m passing on brain; that’s a step beyond my gross limit. I’m also refusing snails and other bugs. (Snails count as bugs when they’re served as a meal.) And a no on those boiled duck embryos they eat in Asia. ---
**Author:** ![TRC4941](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trc4941/32/6792_2.png) [@TRC4941](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TRC4941)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2018, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-food-items-that-you-automatically-say-you-do-not-like/825025/24 "2018-11-25T03:41:42Z")
I understand exactly what you mean mmm! There are many things that I say I don’t like that I’ve never tasted nor do I plan on tasting. Even after the 100th time someone says “but how do you know? You’ve never tried it.” You are not alone mmm. Pickles - all varieties Olives - all colors Asparagus Mayo Mustard Hard boiled eggs Egg nog Cole slaw Any salad with mayo - egg, tuna, potato, etc Any seafood Liver Of course there are what I’d consider oddball foods that I’d say I don’t like - snails, bugs, tripe, weird organ meat, gizzards, hooves, headcheese, etc. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2018, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-food-items-that-you-automatically-say-you-do-not-like/825025/25 "2018-11-25T04:18:01Z")
> [@TRC4941](#): > > Pickles - all varieties > Olives - all colors > Asparagus > Mayo > Mustard > Hard boiled eggs > Egg nog > Cole slaw > Any salad with mayo - egg, tuna, potato, etc > Any seafood > Liver It’s like a checklist. I have eaten every one of these except liver in the last seventy-two hours. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2018, 5:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-food-items-that-you-automatically-say-you-do-not-like/825025/26 "2018-11-25T05:02:37Z")
Tofu. :mad: I don’t give a flying fuck about its supposed health benefits, or how it “soaks up the flavors of whatever you cook it with.” No, it doesn’t! It’s slimy, tasteless glop that smells like burned rubber if you bake it. I loathe the stuff. I used to go out to a Chinese restaurant with one of my old girlfriends on Valentine’s Day. She would invariably order sauteed frog legs and a platter of tofu swimming in hot pepper oil. Yeccch! Frog legs I could handle (they taste like a weird cross between chicken and fish), but the tofu made me physically ill just looking at it. ---
**Author:** ![GESancMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gesancman/32/2923_2.png) [@GESancMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GESancMan)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2018, 5:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-food-items-that-you-automatically-say-you-do-not-like/825025/27 "2018-11-25T05:07:26Z")
The first thing that popped into my head is eggplant. The childhood trauma of being forced to eat it has never gone away. It’s probably been close to 40 years since I’ve had it, and the very word “eggplant” still makes my stomach turn. There are many things I disliked as a kid that I’ve gotten over, and even come to like. But eggplant will not be joining that list. As for something I’ve never tried, and won’t be trying, ever: sushi. I’m not big on cooked fish, I’m most certainly not going to eat it raw. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2018, 5:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-food-items-that-you-automatically-say-you-do-not-like/825025/28 "2018-11-25T05:53:17Z")
> [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](#): > > I suspect I’m the only one on earth, but I thought I’d ask. Not at all. In my experience, most people are like you in disliking some foods even if they’ve never tried them. Lots of folks have aversion to organ meats without even tasting them. The smell gives you a reasonable idea of the taste, since smell is perhaps the biggest component of taste, no matter what the “it tastes better than it smells” folks tell you. That said, I don’t have any foods I automatically say I dislike and, honestly, there’s really no foods that I actively dislike. I’m an easy food date, and I’ll eat anything you put in front of me. Well, to be honest, I may hesitate on some of those eat-while-still-living things I’ve seen on the internet. That I may actually take a pass on. ---
**Author:** ![stillownedbysetters](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/41988e/32.png) [@stillownedbysetters](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stillownedbysetters)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2018, 6:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-food-items-that-you-automatically-say-you-do-not-like/825025/29 "2018-11-25T06:09:57Z")
Kidneys. My grandmother would nearly always have a pot of kidneys boiling in the kitchen and that constant smell of urine, not terribly strong but noticeable, soured me on even trying them. And I am a very adventurous eater. The same goes for limburger cheese. Smells too overwhelming. My throat closes at the smell of it. ---
**Author:** ![KatTP](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9dc877/32.png) [@KatTP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KatTP)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2018, 9:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-food-items-that-you-automatically-say-you-do-not-like/825025/30 "2018-11-25T09:07:10Z")
There’s no food that I’d say I automatically dislike. I’ll try most anything once or twice, or even a few times and then avoid at all costs. Like cooked carrots. There’s absolutely no way to make cooked carrots taste good. There are foods I won’t eat because I think it’s gross like liver, or heart, or any other part of an animal that isn’t the ‘norm’. And even then, I’ve eaten a chicken heart. Won’t try it again though. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2018, 10:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-food-items-that-you-automatically-say-you-do-not-like/825025/31 "2018-11-25T10:37:18Z")
> [@stillownedbysetters](#): > > Kidneys. My grandmother would nearly always have a pot of kidneys boiling in the kitchen and that constant smell of urine, not terribly strong but noticeable, soured me on even trying them. You wouldn’t have liked the cafeteria at my graduate institute in Moscow. Kidney soup was on the lunch menu practically every day I was there. On the other hand, English steak and kidney pie (pub food, yum! :o ) is delicious! As for carrots, they’re so naturally sweet I just eat them with a little butter and salt, like sweet potatoes. Sometimes for the holidays, I’ll glaze them with a little Muscovado (dark brown) sugar or maple syrup, but they’re fine without them. ---
**Author:** ![Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mean_mr.mustard/32/3865_2.png) [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2018, 11:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-food-items-that-you-automatically-say-you-do-not-like/825025/32 "2018-11-25T11:59:55Z")
OP chiming in. In retrospect, my post could have been clearer. I am looking for foods that you don’t like and you really have to good reason to not like. Furthermore, those around you are semi-baffled that you do not like it. And it’s not something anyone would consider exotic; in fact, it is ‘around’ fairly regularly. So balut, kidneys, and unicorn testicles - while understandably undesirable - don’t really fit the spirit of the thread. Egg nog, asparagus, and Nutella? Yeah, that’s the ticket! mmm ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2018, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-food-items-that-you-automatically-say-you-do-not-like/825025/33 "2018-11-25T13:11:29Z")
No ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2018, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-food-items-that-you-automatically-say-you-do-not-like/825025/34 "2018-11-25T16:33:55Z")
> [@brainstall](#): > > Cooked cauliflower and pretty much anything else in that family of vegetables. I can eat it raw, but if someone even just blanches it, I can taste the difference and it will make me gag. It’s been more than thirty years since I last ingested cooked cauliflower by accident, and I am quite certain I still won’t like it if I try it now. In the same vein, something I saw in CostCo the other day: Cauliflower crust pizzas. I suppose they’d be a godsend for a celiac sufferer, but I’m not, so just… no. ---
**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2018, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-food-items-that-you-automatically-say-you-do-not-like/825025/35 "2018-11-25T16:37:42Z")
> [@DesertDog](#): > > In the same vein, something I saw in CostCo the other day: Cauliflower crust pizzas. I suppose they’d be a godsend for a celiac sufferer, but I’m not, so just… no. I don’t avoid gluten, and found them quite tasty. Too pricey for routine purchase, but the crust was crispy and flavorful. ---
**Author:** ![gkster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gkster/32/14107_2.png) [@gkster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gkster)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2018, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-food-items-that-you-automatically-say-you-do-not-like/825025/36 "2018-11-25T17:09:08Z")
> [@TRC4941](#): > > Pickles - all varieties > Olives - all colors > Asparagus > Mayo > Mustard > Hard boiled eggs > Egg nog > Cole slaw > Any salad with mayo - egg, tuna, potato, etc > Any seafood > Liver > [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > It’s like a checklist. I have eaten every one of these except liver in the last seventy-two hours. LOL, I could check off that list too, not within the last 72 hours but not too long ago either. I eat liver too and really love liverwurst and pate. I used to dislike mayo and still not a fan but when I learned to make homemade coleslaw I got to appreciate it more. > [@TRC4941](#): > > Of course there are what I’d consider oddball foods that I’d say I don’t like - snails, bugs, tripe, weird organ meat, gizzards, hooves, headcheese, etc. I’ve eaten most of these except for bugs and hooves. Some were meh (snails, “sweetbread” organ meats) while headcheese was surprisingly tasty. One everyday item that I really don’t like is coffee. I love the smell but not the taste. I’ll have it only if I desperately need to stay awake and there’s no alternative pick-me-up drink. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2018, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-food-items-that-you-automatically-say-you-do-not-like/825025/37 "2018-11-25T17:19:40Z")
> [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](#): > > In retrospect, my post could have been clearer. I am looking for foods that you don’t like and you really have to good reason to not like. Furthermore, those around you are semi-baffled that you do not like it. And it’s not something anyone would consider exotic; in fact, it is ‘around’ fairly regularly. Okay, in that spirit there are common foods I don’t like; coffee, mangoes, tomatoes. But I’ve tried them all. I don’t think there’s any common food I’ve refused to even try. ---
**Author:** ![jnglmassiv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f07891/32.png) [@jnglmassiv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jnglmassiv)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2018, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-food-items-that-you-automatically-say-you-do-not-like/825025/38 "2018-11-25T17:26:04Z")
Mine is sweets. I’ve written about my aversion to sweets before on the board but I have absolutely no interest in cakes, pies, candy, pastry, sweetened beverages and juices, or ice cream (especially). A little sugar is ok as an ingredient to balance a dish but it doesn’t take much to go past the threshold. I’m looking at you, commercial salad dressing and condiments… My mom made [Indiana sugar cream pie](https://www.saveur.com/sugar-cream-pie-recipe) for Thanksgiving last week. I actually laughed when she was listing off the ingredients. Sounds dreadful. I’ll also eat dessert if social decorum plays a role. I was once vacationing with some friends. One of my companions had old family friends in the area and we were invited to dinner. They are an older retired couple and, while I’d met the husband a few times before, I’d never met his wife, our cook for the evening. After the meal, a plate with homemade apple pie and ice cream was placed in front of me. My friends, knowing how I feel about dessert, looked at me for my reaction. Show time! Big smiles, yumyum, ‘so good,’ all that. I couldn’t wait to brush my teeth afterword. And I always make a point to eat at least a bite of cake at a wedding ceremony. > [@brainstall](#): > > Cooked cauliflower and pretty much anything else in that family of vegetables. [Brassica](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brassica) is probably what you’re looking for here. It covers broccoli, cabbage, Brussels sprouts, turnips, kale and (I hadn’t realized before reading the wikipedia page just now) canola/rape and mustard. ---
**Author:** ![Rough\_Draft](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/76d3ee/32.png) [@Rough\_Draft](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rough_Draft)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2018, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-food-items-that-you-automatically-say-you-do-not-like/825025/39 "2018-11-25T18:12:42Z")
Lima beans and Brussels sprouts fit the description for me. I hated them as a kid and haven’t had either in decades. Based on my adult food tastes, I’d probably like both of them just fine now but I’m not really in a hurry to make the attempt. Beets and sweet potatoes, on the other hand, are on my permanent “only-when-I’m-the-guest-of-someone-serving-them-and-I-want-to-be-polite” list. ---
**Author:** ![ExTank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/35a633/32.png) [@ExTank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ExTank)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2018, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-food-items-that-you-automatically-say-you-do-not-like/825025/40 "2018-11-25T20:27:08Z")
I can’t stand peas. Never liked 'em, still don’t. Tried 'em again a few years back; nope, still tastes like rotten vegetable mush. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-food-items-that-you-automatically-say-you-do-not-like/825025.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-food-items-that-you-automatically-say-you-do-not-like/825025.md?page=3)