# commonly reviled foods that are \*everywhere\* **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 7, 2008, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/commonly-reviled-foods-that-are-everywhere/471711 "2008-11-07T20:30:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Bites\_When\_Provoked](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bites_when_provoked/32/18073_2.png) [@Bites\_When\_Provoked](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bites_When_Provoked)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2008, 7:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/commonly-reviled-foods-that-are-everywhere/471711/41 "2008-11-13T07:06:37Z")
> [@Glory](#): > > My boyfriend hates cilantro, it’s amazing how many places it turns up considering how many people think cilantro tastes like soap. Yes, coriander/cilantro is bloody awful stuff. Vile! ---
**Author:** ![phil417](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/6bbea6/32.png) [@phil417](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/phil417)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2008, 7:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/commonly-reviled-foods-that-are-everywhere/471711/42 "2008-11-13T07:14:38Z")
Okay, I can take mayonnaise or leave it. I grow tomatoes during the summer & can or freeze them to use during colder times. I love Dr. Pepper, as well as its bastard brothers, Dr K (Kroger brand takeoff) and Dr Thunder (Wally world). Right now I can’t handle yeast. I like a well-made peasant bread (& make my own on occasion), but cannot take the smell, & will not countenance the likes of Wonder Bread. The smell of beer makes me retch. Love, Phil ---
**Author:** ![Hazle\_Weatherfield](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Hazle\_Weatherfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hazle_Weatherfield)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2008, 7:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/commonly-reviled-foods-that-are-everywhere/471711/43 "2008-11-13T07:33:34Z")
A seasonal entry: FRUITCAKE! How is it even still around? ---
**Author:** ![Khan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3ab097/32.png) [@Khan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khan)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2008, 7:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/commonly-reviled-foods-that-are-everywhere/471711/44 "2008-11-13T07:38:33Z")
Eggs, mushrooms, raisins, black jellybeans. Yeah they suck. I’d like to mention olives, but I think people actually like those (like eggs too, I guess). I love V8, and you can find it anywhere. Even the most barebones “convenience” store will have cans of it stuffed between the Gatorade and Pepsi. And yet, my dad is the only other person I’ve ever met who also enjoys it. Most people seem to hate it. I’m glad that the underground demand for it is so high. 😉 In a similar thread some months back the subject of tuna hot dish came up. It’s a very common main course in the northern plains and upper midwest. It’s egg noodles, canned tuna, and cream of mushroom soup. It is vile. ---
**Author:** ![MOIDALIZE](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e274bd/32.png) [@MOIDALIZE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MOIDALIZE)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2008, 8:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/commonly-reviled-foods-that-are-everywhere/471711/45 "2008-11-13T08:00:33Z")
Crappy French’s yellow mustard. I’m from Cleveland, so I grew up on Stadium Mustard, but there are enough varieties of mustard out there that offering nothing but plain yellow is inexcusable. ---
**Author:** ![Hostile\_Dialect](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e495f1/32.png) [@Hostile\_Dialect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hostile_Dialect)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2008, 8:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/commonly-reviled-foods-that-are-everywhere/471711/46 "2008-11-13T08:14:52Z")
> [@The Devil's Grandmother](#): > > IMHO, the big omnipresent food-hate is Bell Peppers. They are colorful and cheap, so they show up all over the place in winter. Soups, salads, a little bit in every side dish. Yuck! Ugghhhh. Seriously. I’m OK with the yellow ones, but the reds and (especially) the greens are like culinary nuclear bombs, ruining everything they touch. > [@Jeff](#): > > Dr. Pepper - I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone drinking this since I was about 10, and yet I seem to see it in pop machines everywhere (and by everywhere I really mean the two at work). I love it, as do many people I’ve met. I don’t drink it anymore because I’ve cut down on sugar and (especially) caffeine, but it’s my go-to soda and always has been. > [@Bosstone](#): > > The people who like mayo generally don’t bother speaking up about it, but the ones who don’t like it will complain about the ubiquity. Confirmation bias. (Sometimes I exclaim to my roommate how much I like mayo. Weirds her out.) Yep. I like mayo just fine. I don’t _love_ it, but I like it in certain contexts. But it’s not just that it’s fatty or anything–I like light mayo just fine. (The best sandwich dressing, though, turns out to be fat-free Italian dressing.) > [@Martini Enfield](#): > > I think Mayonnaise’s ubiquitousness must be an American thing, because in this part of the world we put butter, margarine, or olive spread on our sandwiches- not mayonnaise. I’ve heard that they eat their fries with mayo instead of ketchup in Holland. I like olive spread and wish it were more widely available here. > [@faithfool](#): > > was to make me eat my vomit :eek: :eek: That’s got to qualify as child abuse. I’m quite serious. > [@Rhythmdvl](#): > > As for lettuce, I don’t get the ubiquitousness of iceberg. It adds green texture and that’s about it. Iceberg lettuce is preferred in the restaurant industry because it can go bad while still looking green, so it’s cheaper to stock because they don’t have to throw it out. ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2008, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/commonly-reviled-foods-that-are-everywhere/471711/47 "2008-11-13T16:25:21Z")
> [@Knorf](#): > > I cannot abide raisins in anything. What a way to ruin a perfectly good carrot cake, oatmeal cookie, or cinnamon roll, with those turds of Lucifer. Yuck. > > A lot of people agree with me. And yet, raisins everywhere. > > _Ralf_ I swear there’s a Raisin Mafia that makes sure bakers add raisins to all their desserts, or else. > [@Hazle Weatherfield](#): > > A seasonal entry: FRUITCAKE! How is it even still around? It’s said that the same fruitcakes get passed around forever. ---
**Author:** ![It\_s\_Not\_Rocket\_Surgery](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/it_s_not_rocket_surgery/32/312_2.png) [@It\_s\_Not\_Rocket\_Surgery](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/It_s_Not_Rocket_Surgery)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2008, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/commonly-reviled-foods-that-are-everywhere/471711/48 "2008-11-13T20:58:37Z")
No one else has said it, so: BACON. And the taste is so strong, I can tell when I get a burger made on a grill, and the previous burger had bacon. Barf. I don’t like sausage or breakfast meats, either, so there goes a LOT of breakfast items. Also a lot of pizza purchases for office luncheons and such will be pepperoni. Yuck. ---
**Author:** ![SmartAleq](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smartaleq/32/163_2.png) [@SmartAleq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmartAleq)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2008, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/commonly-reviled-foods-that-are-everywhere/471711/49 "2008-11-13T21:33:20Z")
> [@Bosstone](#): > > I thought that was Miracle Whip. No, Miracle Whip is _imitation_ devil’s semen! Mayo is horrible, and so are raw tomatoes. Wanna take a guess on what my husband and daughter consider to be the epitome of sammiches? Yeah. _shudder_ > [@tygre](#): > > I know a number of people (myself, husband, and kids included) who don’t like eggs, but TRY going out for breakfast and having more than one choice on a menu that doesn’t involve eggs. > > I don’t care for soda, and especially despise colas, but I’ve never met anyone else who feels that way. Even the smell of Coke or Pepsi makes me feel ill. I like ordering a side of hash browns smothered in sausage gravy–yummy, cheap, filling, no eggs, voila! I myself have no problem with eggs in general, although I like my eggs fried but hate the white part so my husband eats those for me. Pop is a horror, I can’t abide it. Once every three years or so I’ll get a wild craving for a good root beer float, otherwise I never touch the stuff. Bleah. Cola is pretty much the worst, although even the smell of those new bizarrely flavored Dr Pepper products can gag a maggot at ten paces. Black olives in Mexican food–can this stop sometime soon please? They squeak when you bite them and taste like vomit. Likewise smothering everything in sour cream–enough! If I want that stuff I’ll ask for it, okay? Bad enough it usually lurks in a corner with the horrible iceberg lettuce but when it’s slathered all over the top of everything it’s just plain evil. ---
**Author:** ![control-z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eada6e/32.png) [@control-z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/control-z)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2008, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/commonly-reviled-foods-that-are-everywhere/471711/50 "2008-11-13T21:34:57Z")
Onions. Ruins a perfectly good burger. ---
**Author:** ![Hostile\_Dialect](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e495f1/32.png) [@Hostile\_Dialect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hostile_Dialect)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2008, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/commonly-reviled-foods-that-are-everywhere/471711/51 "2008-11-13T22:45:46Z")
> [@It's Not Rocket Surgery!](#): > > No one else has said it, so: BACON. And the taste is so strong, I can tell when I get a burger made on a grill, and the previous burger had bacon. Barf. > > I don’t like sausage or breakfast meats, either, so there goes a LOT of breakfast items. Also a lot of pizza purchases for office luncheons and such will be pepperoni. Yuck. So, in other words, you don’t like pork? ---
**Author:** ![Anne\_Neville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Anne\_Neville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anne_Neville)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2008, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/commonly-reviled-foods-that-are-everywhere/471711/52 "2008-11-13T23:01:34Z")
> [@cochrane](#): > > I _lurve_ mayo. Especially on Whoppers, which it does come on by default. I can’t understand how people can hate it. I could understand having an egg allergy, but to just not like it at all? I’ll tell you why I don’t like it. When I was 15, I made a tuna salad sandwich without checking the date on the mayonnaise in the fridge. It tasted a little odd (kind of like Miracle Whip, even though it wasn’t), but not too bad, so I finished it. Bad move. I looked at the jar later, when I started to feel not-so-great, and saw that the expiration date had passed 6 months ago. I was sick off and on for a month, and have never liked mayonnaise since. I will eat aioli or a mayonnaise-based chipotle sauce, but not plain mayonnaise. Many animals, right down the evolutionary ladder to slugs, can get a conditioned food aversion from a situation like this. It’s very useful evolutionarily speaking, for obvious reasons. > [@Knorf](#): > > I cannot abide raisins in anything. What a way to ruin a perfectly good carrot cake, oatmeal cookie, or cinnamon roll, with those turds of Lucifer. Yuck. I hate raisins, too. They have almost a metallic taste to me that I find very objectionable. > [@SmartAleq](#): > > Black olives in Mexican food–can this stop sometime soon please? They squeak when you bite them and taste like vomit. Can we stop putting bad black olives in things? There are good black olives, like Kalamatas. Then there are those crappy canned things that do nothing for the taste of anything. If you don’t want to spend the money for decent black olives, just leave them out. > [@](#): > > Miracle Whip is imitation devil’s semen! It really does taste like mayonnaise that has gone several months beyond its expiration date. I have done the experiment. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Devil\_s\_Grandmother](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/74df32/32.png) [@The\_Devil\_s\_Grandmother](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Devil_s_Grandmother)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2008, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/commonly-reviled-foods-that-are-everywhere/471711/53 "2008-11-13T23:45:22Z")
> [@Lumpy](#): > > I swear there’s a Raisin Mafia that makes sure bakers add raisins to all their desserts, or else. I have no trouble believing that. The girl on the packages is probably the Don’s mistress. A few year ago I decided there was no application of raisins that wasn’t made infinitely better with dried cherries. Haven’t changed my mind yet. ---
**Author:** ![It\_s\_Not\_Rocket\_Surgery](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/it_s_not_rocket_surgery/32/312_2.png) [@It\_s\_Not\_Rocket\_Surgery](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/It_s_Not_Rocket_Surgery)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2008, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/commonly-reviled-foods-that-are-everywhere/471711/54 "2008-11-14T04:17:00Z")
> [@Hostile\_Dialect](#): > > So, in other words, you don’t like pork? Mostly, except ham. I loves me some Boar’s Head Deluxe ham. ---
**Author:** ![Miss\_Woodhouse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/838e76/32.png) [@Miss\_Woodhouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miss_Woodhouse)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2008, 5:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/commonly-reviled-foods-that-are-everywhere/471711/55 "2008-11-14T05:38:50Z")
I’ll jump on board the bandwagon. Raisins, onions, tomatoes, yellow mustard (although necessary on a corn dog and horrible everywhere else for some reason) and olives. All of these things could disappear from the world tomorrow and I would be very happy. It would be so lovely to not have to take the nasty tomato out of my salad or off my chicken sandwich. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2008, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/commonly-reviled-foods-that-are-everywhere/471711/56 "2008-11-14T13:46:11Z")
> [@Martini\_Enfield](#): > > I think Mayonnaise’s ubiquitousness must be an American thing, because in this part of the world we put butter, margarine, or olive spread on our sandwiches- not mayonnaise. What’s olive spread? Is it an olive-oil-based spread, or actual olives in a spread (like tapenade)? ---
**Author:** ![RiverRunner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/977dab/32.png) [@RiverRunner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RiverRunner)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2008, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/commonly-reviled-foods-that-are-everywhere/471711/57 "2008-11-14T15:40:52Z")
> [@Hazle\_Weatherfield](#): > > A seasonal entry: FRUITCAKE! How is it even still around? Mmmmm, fruitcake. Send yours to me. I’ll eat it. As long as it’s the good kind that’s mostly fruit. > [@Khan](#): > > I love V8, and you can find it anywhere. Even the most barebones “convenience” store will have cans of it stuffed between the Gatorade and Pepsi. And yet, my dad is the only other person I’ve ever met who also enjoys it. Most people seem to hate it. I hate regular V8 and always have, but I have discovered to my vast surprise that the low-sodium stuff is pretty good. Anyway, my entry to the list would be the already-mentioned Dijon mustard. It is the second-worst-tasting substance I have ever put into my mouth, being edged out by the soldering flux I accidentally tasted one time when I burnt my finger and reflexively sucked on it. Dijon mustard is horrible, horrible stuff, but a lot of the sandwich shops around here use it exclusively and seem _proud_ of it. That’s like being proud you talk on the cell phone in movie theaters or something. RR ---
**Author:** ![robardin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/43a26b/32.png) [@robardin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robardin)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2008, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/commonly-reviled-foods-that-are-everywhere/471711/58 "2008-11-14T15:45:16Z")
I concur on the hate for Mayo, for the most part (under very specific circumstances a nice, tangy mayo, very lightly spread and not glopped on, is just what is called for – like on a Turkey BLT). On the mustard front, to me it’s the bright yellow French’s mustard that is a stain on the joy of mustardness. Spicy brown mustard is the TRUE mustard. The yellow stuff is just turmeric and vinegar, it doesn’t even taste like mustard seed to me. And Dijon is perfect with smoked ham and a strong Swiss (Emmentaler) cheese on a dark bread (pumpernickel or rye – seeded, of course). On the other hand, I despise Honey Mustard. Mustard is supposed to be tangy, hot and spicy, not sweet and mild! I’ll put relish on if that’s what I want. Which leads me to bring up unseeded rye bread. If it’s not going to have caraway seeds, I’ll take plain ol’ whole wheat or multigrain instead. The only thing I’ll take unseeded rye over is plain white bread (unless it’s _good_ fresh white bread with a real crust). The caraway seeds are a crucial complementary component of what makes rye bread so tasty! Eating seedless rye is as if one were to just lick off the chocolate coating from a Reese’s peanut butter cup! ---
**Author:** ![Yorikke](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yorikke/32/4335_2.png) [@Yorikke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yorikke)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2008, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/commonly-reviled-foods-that-are-everywhere/471711/59 "2008-11-14T16:13:13Z")
> [@Hostile\_Dialect](#): > > So, in other words, you don’t like pork? [Homer] Heh, heh. Right, Lisa, they all come from some magical animal…[/Homer] Joe ---
**Author:** ![overlyverbose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/9dc877/32.png) [@overlyverbose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/overlyverbose)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2008, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/commonly-reviled-foods-that-are-everywhere/471711/60 "2008-11-14T17:52:07Z")
> [@Lamia](#): > > Black jellybeans. > > Well, okay, they’re not EVERYWHERE, but they’re usually included in packages of jellybeans. Yet many Americans\* and I think the vast majority of American children (who must be the primary consumers of jellybeans) HATE them. I remember at elementary school parties everyone would give their black jellybeans to the one kid who liked them. Otherwise they just got thrown away. > > \*It’s my understanding that licorice is more popular in some other countries, like the Netherlands. I’ll take those black jellybeans off your hands. I love them! However, I DO hate brussels sprouts. They’re not exactly everywhere, but are in many Western countries. They taste like ass. Not that I’d know. I also hate swordfish and most things made of lumpy milk solids. Yech. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/commonly-reviled-foods-that-are-everywhere/471711.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/commonly-reviled-foods-that-are-everywhere/471711.md?page=4)