# Foods that look/smell foul but taste delicious **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 9, 2006, 7:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foods-that-look-smell-foul-but-taste-delicious/375788 "2006-10-09T07:24:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![mazinger\_z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5f9b8f/32.png) [@mazinger\_z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mazinger_z)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2006, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foods-that-look-smell-foul-but-taste-delicious/375788/21 "2006-10-09T19:09:04Z")
[QUOTE=Kyla] Kim chee. [/QUOTE] I was waiting for someone to say kim chee. I will never ever ever ever ever ever ever eat kim chee. I would rather eat (yes, I said eat) spoiled milk. Anyone who brings kim chee to my house is asking to declare war. Spoiled cabbage should be thrown away. Adding spices does not make it any less spoiled. Yes, millions of Koreans can be wrong. šŸ˜‰ šŸ˜› ---
**Author:** ![Sunshine\_and\_Smiles](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a5b964/32.png) [@Sunshine\_and\_Smiles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunshine_and_Smiles)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2006, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foods-that-look-smell-foul-but-taste-delicious/375788/22 "2006-10-09T21:57:32Z")
Salt-Rising Bread. Smells like sweaty armpits, but tastes pretty good. ---
**Author:** ![Bippy\_the\_Beardless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ac8455/32.png) [@Bippy\_the\_Beardless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bippy_the_Beardless)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2006, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foods-that-look-smell-foul-but-taste-delicious/375788/23 "2006-10-09T22:33:09Z")
The only problem with Chili Verde is that it does tend to look like it has allready been eaten once. Smells and tastes great though. ---
**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:** [October 9, 2006, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foods-that-look-smell-foul-but-taste-delicious/375788/24 "2006-10-09T23:14:27Z")
[QUOTE=Bippy the Beardless] The only problem with Chili Verde is that it does tend to look like it has allready been eaten once. Smells and tastes great though. [/QUOTE] Most stews that Mr. Neville and I make have that problem. They smell and taste great, but they do bear some visual resemblance to vomit. > [@mazinger\_z](#): > > I will never ever ever ever ever ever ever eat kim chee. I would rather eat (yes, I said eat) spoiled milk. You mean cheese? ---
**Author:** ![OpalCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8edcca/32.png) [@OpalCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OpalCat)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2006, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foods-that-look-smell-foul-but-taste-delicious/375788/25 "2006-10-09T23:46:53Z")
Cilantro smells like mildew but tastes great. Most Indian food looks disgusting, but tastes amazing šŸ™‚ ---
**Author:** ![An\_Arky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/87869e/32.png) [@An\_Arky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Arky)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2006, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foods-that-look-smell-foul-but-taste-delicious/375788/26 "2006-10-09T23:54:18Z")
Fried bologna. Smells like piss, but makes for some good Elvis-style eating. ---
**Author:** ![sinjin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ebca7d/32.png) [@sinjin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sinjin)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2006, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foods-that-look-smell-foul-but-taste-delicious/375788/27 "2006-10-10T01:54:01Z")
[QUOTE=Kesamet] Durian fruit - best description I ever heard was ā€œimagine eating Ben And Jerryā€™s in a sewerā€ [/QUOTE] Iā€™ve eaten Durian on several occasions. The first description I heard was in Jakarta ā€œSmells like hell, tastes like heaven!ā€ We were staying at a college friendā€™s house and his wife was surprised we wanted to try it. (Hi Dan give us a call, we miss you). It really smelled bad (rotten), but inside the apparent bad fruit was a sack filled with the yummiest custard ever. It was almost like a joke fruit from a Terry Prachett novel. It has the texture and taste of a sweet pudding custard that you donā€™t even need to cook. Very weird. BTW, I have had bad (not ripe) Durian in Hawaii so be careful. ---
**Author:** ![wolf\_in\_second\_hand\_clothing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/9d8465/32.png) [@wolf\_in\_second\_hand\_clothing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolf_in_second_hand_clothing)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2006, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foods-that-look-smell-foul-but-taste-delicious/375788/28 "2006-10-10T01:59:39Z")
Raw honey smells like feet, but tastes like regular honeyā€¦ only better. ---
**Author:** ![jnglmassiv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f07891/32.png) [@jnglmassiv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jnglmassiv)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2006, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foods-that-look-smell-foul-but-taste-delicious/375788/29 "2006-10-10T02:12:24Z")
I have a frozen durian in my freezer right now. Iā€™m waiting for the perfect opportunity to break it out. Fish sauce smell rather offensive but tastes so very good. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2006, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foods-that-look-smell-foul-but-taste-delicious/375788/30 "2006-10-10T02:38:42Z")
Limburger cheese. Its bacteria, Brevibacterium linens, lives on skin and helps give many folks their particular aroma. Get past the aroma, and the cheese is quite tasty. Even so, we donā€™t bring it into our house often. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2006, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foods-that-look-smell-foul-but-taste-delicious/375788/31 "2006-10-10T13:36:08Z")
Cumin. Smells like armpit, but try making tacos without it. ---
**Author:** ![WOOKINPANUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wookinpanub/32/132_2.png) [@WOOKINPANUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WOOKINPANUB)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2006, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foods-that-look-smell-foul-but-taste-delicious/375788/32 "2006-10-10T13:46:16Z")
Sorry to hijack, but Iā€™m reading your discriptions and wondering how you \*could \* (not to mention why you \*would \* )ever put something that smells like feet(or worse)in your mouth. Something that doesnā€™t look too good, yeah I could deal with that, but smell is such a big part of tasting. Can anyone tell me how you can put something repulsive in your mouth? Has there ever been anything you found just too gross to try? Have you ever tried something that made you gag? Being uber picky, Iā€™ve always been fascinated by people who will try anything. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2006, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foods-that-look-smell-foul-but-taste-delicious/375788/33 "2006-10-10T14:07:53Z")
To answer **Wookinapub** ā€™s question, Iā€™ve come to the conclusion that people will eat anything with a nonzero taste. This is especially true when youā€™re stuck with a bland diet ā€“ you look for something different, even if it initially seems awful. In books about WWII prison escapes, the former inmates complained about how same and dull the food was, which encoyuraged them to grow onions and the like for flavor. It explains how the French prisoners described in Reidā€™s **The Colditz Story** could eat the ā€œHigh-Smellingā€ fermented vegetable stuff they had. In a book about Eskimo life, I read that they prefer the blubber that has started to go bad, since it has more flavor than fresh ā€œunfermentedā€ blubber. In **the eat - a -Bug Cookbook** and in Marvin Harrisā€™ **Good to Eat** , itā€™s pointed out that most insects have a bland taste, which makes those species with notable flavor desirable, even if the taste seems odd at first. ---
**Author:** ![chela](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chela/32/21582_2.png) [@chela](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chela)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2006, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foods-that-look-smell-foul-but-taste-delicious/375788/34 "2006-10-10T14:51:37Z")
I hate the smell of microwave popcorn while its in the oven. Doesnt matter the brand, orville, Popsecret whatever, it stinks like motoroil and gives me a headache. But I can eat just a few kernels when its done. ---
**Author:** ![Bippy\_the\_Beardless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ac8455/32.png) [@Bippy\_the\_Beardless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bippy_the_Beardless)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2006, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foods-that-look-smell-foul-but-taste-delicious/375788/35 "2006-10-10T15:03:29Z")
[QUOTE=Anne Neville] Most stews that Mr. Neville and I make have that problem. They smell and taste great, but they do bear some visual resemblance to vomit. [/QUOTE] Can you get gravy browning in US? that or tomato paste (the stuff that comes in a tube) add the colouring necessary to turn a pale stew into a dark looking stew. Molasses works the same but alters the flavour significantly. Other mathods of beautifying stews is to put a layer of thinly sliced potato on the top if it is an oven cooked stew, so that you get cooked caramellised potatoes on top, or very fine breadcrumbs can do a similar thing. Thus making a thin crust ove the stew. Mmmmm winter soon, stew time Mmmm. ---
**Author:** ![WOOKINPANUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wookinpanub/32/132_2.png) [@WOOKINPANUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WOOKINPANUB)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2006, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foods-that-look-smell-foul-but-taste-delicious/375788/36 "2006-10-10T15:30:43Z")
Thanks, **Cal**. Apparently some people \*will \* eat anything (not me, though). I shall now go ponder the idea of fermented blubber. ---
**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:** [October 10, 2006, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foods-that-look-smell-foul-but-taste-delicious/375788/37 "2006-10-10T16:53:58Z")
[QUOTE=Bippy the Beardless] Can you get gravy browning in US? that or tomato paste (the stuff that comes in a tube) add the colouring necessary to turn a pale stew into a dark looking stew. Molasses works the same but alters the flavour significantly. Other mathods of beautifying stews is to put a layer of thinly sliced potato on the top if it is an oven cooked stew, so that you get cooked caramellised potatoes on top, or very fine breadcrumbs can do a similar thing. Thus making a thin crust ove the stew. Mmmmm winter soon, stew time Mmmm. [/QUOTE] Eh- if weā€™re just making stew for ourselves (almost always the case), we donā€™t care enough about how it looks to do anything about it. We just eat it, and maybe joke about how it looks like vomit. ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2006, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foods-that-look-smell-foul-but-taste-delicious/375788/38 "2006-10-10T17:44:44Z")
I donā€™t have any sense of smell, so I can love cooked cabbage without reserve. I also love liver, though Iā€™d prefer not to have to see it raw. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2006, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foods-that-look-smell-foul-but-taste-delicious/375788/39 "2006-10-10T18:08:00Z")
[QUOTE=CalMeacham] In a book about Eskimo life, I read that they prefer the blubber that has started to go bad, since it has more flavor than fresh ā€œunfermentedā€ blubber. [/QUOTE] Iā€™m no devotee of blubber, so I canā€™t say. But poi that has started to ferment has way more flavor (that is to say, some) then fresh. Raw buffalo meat smells like dogfood. Cooked, it makes a mighty fine burger. ---
**Author:** ![iamthewalrus\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/258eb7/32.png) [@iamthewalrus\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamthewalrus_3)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2006, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foods-that-look-smell-foul-but-taste-delicious/375788/40 "2006-10-10T22:49:32Z")
[QUOTE=Annie-Xmas] I think that mangoes smell exactly like turpentine (to me anyway) but they taste delicious. [/QUOTE] They smell like theyā€™re rotten to me. But I also love the taste. I notice that most people donā€™t mind the smell at all. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foods-that-look-smell-foul-but-taste-delicious/375788.md?page=1)