# Foods you wanted to try, that dissapoint **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 30, 2012, 9:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foods-you-wanted-to-try-that-dissapoint/617253 "2012-03-30T09:55:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![california\_jobcase](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9d8465/32.png) [@california\_jobcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/california_jobcase)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2012, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foods-you-wanted-to-try-that-dissapoint/617253/81 "2012-04-03T02:11:29Z")
If some thing tasted like a mix of dish soap, kerosene, and rotten grapefruit to you, you’d say it sucks. ---
**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:** [April 3, 2012, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foods-you-wanted-to-try-that-dissapoint/617253/82 "2012-04-03T02:15:14Z")
> [@RadioWave](#): > > As I understand it, a few weeks a go a small team of men somewhere in Middle Asia left their huts and trekked 20 miles to the most desolate fields known to man or God. There, each man scaled the heights of a wind swept mountain at the top of which they found a single crocus flower. Using gold tweezers, they removed the stigmas from their nests, wrapped them in virginal cloth and started their treks back down the mountain. At the bottom, they emptied their tiny hand wrapped packages into a glass vial and sent it via the last remaining passenger pigeon to the United States. There it was picked up by Angelina Jolie and delivered to the local delicacy store where I humbly bought it and took it home. You left out the part where they have to battle a manticore. My additions to this thread; -Tequila. Growing up I heard people describe it like it was the king of liquors, the mother’s milk of a true man. When I finally tried some it tasted like oversalted butter that’s been sitting out too long. Small wonder that they have to drown it in lime juice and Cointreau to make it drinkable. -Kobe beef. I can’t taste the difference. ---
**Author:** ![Electric\_Warrior](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee7513/32.png) [@Electric\_Warrior](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Electric_Warrior)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2012, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foods-you-wanted-to-try-that-dissapoint/617253/83 "2012-04-03T02:44:13Z")
Poutine. Don’t get me wrong, it’s _good_, but it’s good in a comfort food, all familiar tastes sort of way. Nothing incredibly special (and I had it in Quebec City). ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Il\_Palazzo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Lord\_Il\_Palazzo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Il_Palazzo)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2012, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foods-you-wanted-to-try-that-dissapoint/617253/84 "2012-04-03T03:24:48Z")
> [@PapSett](#): > > Ah… I forgot about lobster. It was… OK. I absolutely LOVE crab and crawdads. lobster however left me really underwhelmed. Didn’t HATE it, just didn’t see what all the hoopla was about. I read this as “I absolutely LOVE crab and crabwads” and was afraid to ask what crabwads were. For me, I’m not a huge fan of crab in the shell. I like crabcakes and have had some pretty good crab salads and the like but if you just hand me a plate of steamed crab legs, it’s too much work for too little payoff. ---
**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:** [April 3, 2012, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foods-you-wanted-to-try-that-dissapoint/617253/85 "2012-04-03T03:31:40Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > You left out the part where they have to battle a manticore. > > My additions to this thread; > > -Tequila. Growing up I heard people describe it like it was the king of liquors, the mother’s milk of a true man. When I finally tried some it tasted like oversalted butter that’s been sitting out too long. Small wonder that they have to drown it in lime juice and Cointreau to make it drinkable… Until recently, it was pretty hard to find good tequila in the US. There are huge differences in the levels of quality of tequila, maybe more so than any other spirit; cheap whiskey still tastes like whiskey, but cheap tequila tastes like cheap tequila. ---
**Author:** ![Pai325](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c68b51/32.png) [@Pai325](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pai325)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2012, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foods-you-wanted-to-try-that-dissapoint/617253/86 "2012-04-03T03:33:16Z")
Flan. I guess I thought it would be sweeter. ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2012, 5:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foods-you-wanted-to-try-that-dissapoint/617253/87 "2012-04-03T05:26:54Z")
I’ll take Sequential Thread Titles for $100, Alec: Foods you wanted to try, that dissapoint gefilte fish ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2012, 5:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foods-you-wanted-to-try-that-dissapoint/617253/88 "2012-04-03T05:34:04Z")
Put me on the list for risotto. I made one of Cook’s Illustrated risotto recipes, and I made it right, and it just tasted like not-as-good-as-Rice-a-Roni flavored rice. Whee. ---
**Author:** ![Infovore](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/infovore/32/420_2.png) [@Infovore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Infovore)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2012, 6:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foods-you-wanted-to-try-that-dissapoint/617253/89 "2012-04-03T06:13:59Z")
> [@california\_jobcase](#): > > If some thing tasted like a mix of dish soap, kerosene, and rotten grapefruit to you, you’d say it sucks. Isn’t cilantro one of those foods that a small percentage of the population can’t stand due to some genetic thing? I’ve heard before that some people _do_ think it tastes like dish soap. ---
**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:** [April 3, 2012, 6:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foods-you-wanted-to-try-that-dissapoint/617253/90 "2012-04-03T06:40:34Z")
Yeah, some people do taste soap when they eat cilantro. I think it is just over used and went through a trendy period when people just put handfuls of the stuff in dishes. ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2012, 9:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foods-you-wanted-to-try-that-dissapoint/617253/91 "2012-04-03T09:58:35Z")
> [@Infovore](#): > > Isn’t cilantro one of those foods that a small percentage of the population can’t stand due to some genetic thing? I’ve heard before that some people _do_ think it tastes like dish soap. I happen to like cilantro, but yes, a certain percentage of people can’t stand it. I think it’s more than a small percentage, and I also think that if EVERY SINGLE SAVORY DISH ON THE MENU contains cilantro, then the chef is getting obsessed with this ingredient. Same thing goes for every ingredient. Just call your restaurant “Cilantro Central” if you can’t offer a variety of tastes. Even I want something that DOESN’T taste of cilantro now and then! ---
**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:** [April 3, 2012, 11:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foods-you-wanted-to-try-that-dissapoint/617253/92 "2012-04-03T11:06:26Z")
> [@The\_Devil\_s\_Grandmother](#): > > I’ve wanted to try the strawberry phosphates the kids talk about in _Our Town_, but I can’t find anyplace that makes them. > > I’ve been sadly disappointed by oysters, champagne, dim sum sweets, chocolate cream pies, meringues of any kind, and a soda-pop called Moxie. IIRC, a phosphate is basically just club soda, strawberry syrup, and a few drops of phosphoric acid, which you can find plenty of places to buy online if you just Google “food grade phosphoric acid”. Not too dissimilar from the Italian sodas you can get at coffee shops. And i’m gonna have to disagree with you on Moxie - it’s delicious. Like if someone made Angostura bitters into soda. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2012, 12:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foods-you-wanted-to-try-that-dissapoint/617253/93 "2012-04-03T12:09:46Z")
> [@Lynn\_Bodoni](#): > > I happen to like cilantro, but yes, a certain percentage of people can’t stand it. I think it’s more than a small percentage, and I also think that if EVERY SINGLE SAVORY DISH ON THE MENU contains cilantro, then the chef is getting obsessed with this ingredient. Same thing goes for every ingredient. Just call your restaurant “Cilantro Central” if you can’t offer a variety of tastes. Even I want something that DOESN’T taste of cilantro now and then! Would you like some cilantro special with cilantro, chicken, rice, and cilantro? It doesn’t have _much_ cilantro in it. ---
**Author:** ![Steken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e274bd/32.png) [@Steken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steken)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2012, 12:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foods-you-wanted-to-try-that-dissapoint/617253/94 "2012-04-03T12:33:33Z")
This one time when I was a kid, me and my brother were standing in line for a circus show when some dude ahead of us absent-mindedly crushed a bug with his heel. Being strangers to the cruel ways of the world, my brother and I were horrified, and could do little but stare in horror and revulsion at the crushed corpse of said insect, its guts bleeding into the gravel and aaaaaagh it was fucking disgusting. “Through fractured bones the face of murder grins”, as the poet said. Anyway, for some reason we simply could not forget that terrible, terrible smell - and consequently refused, _AND TO THIS DAY STILL REFUSE_, to partake of a certain herb which happens to taste _exactly_ like the stinking innards of that foul insect smelled. The herb in question is, of course, cilantro. ---
**Author:** ![Hi\_Medlo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a183cd/32.png) [@Hi\_Medlo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hi_Medlo)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2012, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foods-you-wanted-to-try-that-dissapoint/617253/95 "2012-04-03T13:11:57Z")
Primanti Brothers sandwiches. Pittsburghers rave about these…white bread, some sort of meat with cole slaw and french fries on the sandwich. I was so disappointed. ---
**Author:** ![salinqmind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ec8ea/32.png) [@salinqmind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2012, 1:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foods-you-wanted-to-try-that-dissapoint/617253/96 "2012-04-03T13:32:28Z")
(not meaning to hijack or anything but I was a cilantro hater and then I had a dish with fresh cilantro and all of a sudden I could not. get. enough. of fresh cilantro. It’s foul alone, but in some things it’s divine.) OK. A family friend invited us over for pasta fagioli (well, she called it pasta fazzoo). My parents were all excited, said she had always made this fabulous Italian specialty that everyone asked her the recipe for, it was so darned good. Meh. WTH?? It tasted like canned beans, pasta, and Chef Boyardee. OK if you had a family of 12 mouths to fill up. I was unimpressed. ---
**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:** [April 3, 2012, 1:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foods-you-wanted-to-try-that-dissapoint/617253/97 "2012-04-03T13:35:47Z")
> [@Infovore](#): > > Isn’t cilantro one of those foods that a small percentage of the population can’t stand due to some genetic thing? I’ve heard before that some people _do_ think it tastes like dish soap. There may or may not be a genetic component for some people. But, more recently, there has been [this study](http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/14/dining/14curious.html) which examines the chemical, neurological, and experiential components of cilantrophobia. For me, that explantation is more satisfying, and reflects my personal experience, as I also disliked the taste of cilantro the first dozen or so times I had it. I remember the Mexican place down the street that I thought had a problem with the dish washer as everything tasted soapy to me. Eventually, I found out it was cilantro, and I got used to the flavor. Now, it’s one of my favorite herbs. **Stekken** - good call on the “stinky bug” aspect of cilantro. That’s in the article, too: > [@](#): > > The authoritative Oxford Companion to Food notes that the word “coriander” is said to derive from the Greek word for bedbug, that cilantro aroma “has been compared with the smell of bug-infested bedclothes” and that “Europeans often have difficulty in overcoming their initial aversion to this smell. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2012, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foods-you-wanted-to-try-that-dissapoint/617253/98 "2012-04-03T14:26:21Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > The biggest example is easily lobster. That stuff was hard to choke down. It’s one of the few foods that I’ve gotten at a sitdown restaurant that I didn’t finish, or at least take home a doggie bag. And it really made me feel bad, as it was the most expensive thing on the menu. > > It’s odd, too. What I remember not liking about it was the texture, but it wasn’t that different from shrimp, which I absolutely love. This. I like to eat my food, not fight it. Also, sometimes things made with chocolate just _look_ awesome. Then when I eat it… meh. Still chocolate. ---
**Author:** ![Scumpup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce73a5/32.png) [@Scumpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scumpup)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2012, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foods-you-wanted-to-try-that-dissapoint/617253/99 "2012-04-03T14:31:55Z")
> [@Hi\_Medlo](#): > > Primanti Brothers sandwiches. Pittsburghers rave about these…white bread, some sort of meat with cole slaw and french fries on the sandwich. > I was so disappointed. I’m from the area and I’ve never seen the attraction of Primanti sandwiches. One of the great mysteries to me is how they win “Best Cheese Steak” every year. The sandwich in question is actually more like a mutant cheeseburger or meatloaf sandwich stuffed with greasy fries and vinegar slaw. ---
**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:** [April 3, 2012, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foods-you-wanted-to-try-that-dissapoint/617253/100 "2012-04-03T14:35:13Z")
Peking duck. I had it at a very high end 5 star restaurant, and was anticipating a true culinary delight. Instead, it tasted like your basic mallard that my uncle Dave shot out of the sky and let his dog chew up a bit before throwing it on the grill. In other words, okay, but nothing special. The skin was just… skin. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foods-you-wanted-to-try-that-dissapoint/617253.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/foods-you-wanted-to-try-that-dissapoint/617253.md?page=6)