What foods can you absolutely not stomach, to the point where you can’t believe that ANYBODY could possibly like them?
To set the ball rolling, here are my bottom three:
Bortsch (if that’s how you spell it). I’ve only had this once, in Poland in 1979, when they were still Communist. It was in a posh restaurant, I suspect it was the sort of place where ordinary Poles couldn’t normally go. I’ve often wondered if the kitchen staff deliberately made this stuff so vile as a kind of anti-Soviet protest because they knew that most of their customers would be Russians. I couldn’t finish it, and for at least two years afterwards I couldn’t even think of it without feeling ill.
Curly Kale. My mother used to make me eat this when I was a kid. It’s a very dark green cabbagey stuff, which tastes like concentrated essence of old socks. As a kid I had no idea what it was called - we just called it “dark greens” at the time - but I recently came across it in the canteen at my workplace, and I had some, mistaking it for spinach (which I quite like). Big mistake - but at least I know what it’s called now, and can avoid it more efficiently in future.
Vegetarian Scotch Egg. I don’t know if Scotch eggs are known outside the UK; they consist of a hard-boiled egg encased in sausagemeat and coated in golden breadcrumbs. They make a nice, filling snack if you aren’t hungry enough to eat a proper meal. But one day the canteen at work had run out of real Scotch eggs, all they had was vegetarian equivalents, so I tried one. Big mistake - the sausagemeat was replaced by something which tasted like cardboard. I had to throw half of it away.
Your turn now. What foods really turn your stomach?
Peppers. Any kind. It has nothing to do with being hot, mild so-called “sweet” peppers, bell peppers, any of them. To me they taste nasty, plus they give me heartburn for hours. I have had numerous unpleasant hours because somebody sneaked the loathsome things into something otherwise pleasant.
Other than when I was pregnant and found just about everything except french fries and bleu cheese dressing utterly repellent, I’ll eat damned near anything, except…
Beef or calf liver. Had a bad experience many years ago with it and it has remained gag-inducing to me ever since.
Something that I think is going to become repulsive to me is bakery cake icing. It literally causes a weird crawling sensation in the roof of my mouth and soft palate that’s becoming less and less tolerable.
There are two Japanese foods that I cannot even get close to:
Natto, which is fermented soybeans that smells like, well, something obnoxious. I almost wish I could get past the smell, I have a feeling I would enjoy it.
Tororo, which is raw grated mountain yam, and when served it has the consistency of fresh nasal discharge.
Actually, a third one comes to mind, although I ate it out of politeness, but I haven’t seen it since. It was an ingredient in miso soup, served out in the country in Hokkaido, that looked like rat intestines - that is, it was some sort of irregular tubular shape, white, and it seemed to be organic rather than man-made. It didn’t have much taste that I recall, but the texture was repellant. I never did find out what it was called (any time I asked “what do you call this?” my hosts would ask “don’t you like it?” so I stopped asking).
And may I say I don’t consider myself a fussy eater, I have eaten lots of raw fish, seaweed, and other tasties that many 'Mericans would flinch at. These just went a little too far in the “icky” department.
I can eat just about anything, though I may not enjoy it. But I cannot stomach Beer at all, I think it must be some reaction I have with hops, sice I can’t manage Dandelion Burdock which also has hops in it. Beer cooked into a sauce is fine, but straight beer is beyond my pallette.
OTOH, I love most of the items listed above: cabbage, coconut, cucumbers, broccoli, yogurt, mayo, peppers, scotch eggs…I’ll generally eat anything that doesn’t eat me first.
The traditional Russian stuff is beet chunks in beet juice, served cold with bits of meat. My father substitutes sour cream for meat and eats it hot. It offends all my senses.
Shellfish other than lobster, crab, and scallops; even lobster and crab are borderline - they look too much like bugs. I suspect my aversion stems from growing up on the bald-faced prairie, but I don’t care. I’m a grown woman and don’t have to eat it if I don’t want to.
Sushi. Cooked or not. No friggin’ way can you make me eat it again. Ever.
I am vegetarian, but most meat does not really repulse me. In fact, I likethe smell of bacon or pastrami and some days I long for Tuna fish. The things that repulse me are shrimp and lobster. I don’t mind lobster if it just the meat, but if it is a huge alien-insect creature sawed in half on a plate I am totally grossed out when someone starts digging around in its body cavity and pulling out its tasty flesh. Ew! And shirmp are okay if they are breaded and fried and I don’t have to see them, but if they are all pink and brainy-looking with their little tails attached - I just can’t understand how people can do it.
They smell like urine. That’s all I know and all I need to know.
That’s about it for absolute repulsion, by which I mean I don’t think I could even watch someone else eat it. I don’t eat raw fish or hot (spicy) food, and I don’t like shrimp or green peppers, but I can sit across the table from someone else chowing down on them with no worries. Kidneys, I think not.
Bell peppers ruin everything they touch, to the point where whatever they were in is no longer edible even after going to excruciating lengths to remove them. Peppers should be hot, damnit.
Philadelphia cheesesteaks are the only exception.
The other thing I can’t picture anyone enjoying is powdered egg substitute. I had to shovel that stuff down in boot camp and there were a couple of times I nearly lost my military composure and my breakfast all over my plate.
Pineapples are the reason I don’t go out for pizza with some people and I don’t order fruit bowls. They poison what were perfectly good fruits and pizzas.
Deviled eggs taste really, really good, and I really want to like them, but they smell awful and something about the texture literally makes me gag every time. It’s so frustrating to know that I can’t eat something that I know tastes damn good.
I wouldn’t put mayo on a burger I prepared myself, but I’ll happily eat it on a burger I order. That said, it has absolutely no place on a breakfast sandwich. Ugh. Why so many fast food places insist on putting mayonnaise on those, I can’t fathom.
They are so green and refreshing. My hair salon (I know, I can be pretty fabulous for a straight guy sometimes) has pitchers of water with cucumber slices in them in the lobby–fantastic idea.
In that case, may I request that you transfer your legal right to beer over to me? I could really use it down here. I’ll push out my legal right to smoke and (re)join the military to make room, if need be.
Kimchee. Korean cabbage dish. Every once in a while, if it’s on a salad bar or something, I’ll try it again, just to make sure I still hate it. So far, I still do. It sucks.