I’ve never liked eggplant, but I did see some baba ganoush on sale at the natural foods store and bought it because I’ve heard great things about it.
I gave it more than one bite, but I realized that I was NOT going to acquire the taste of dirt with a kick.
Because, like jtur88, I do not believe in throwing edible food into the garbage, I mixed it with birdseed and tossed it out into my yard for the ducks that live in a nearby creek. They ate it.
Probably a mandarin orange. You know how sometimes you’re all psyched up for a nice juicy orange slice and you bite into it and it’s completely desiccated and tasteless? Bleah.
About 20 minutes ago I threw away roasted asparagus from the cafeteria. It was so soggy that I could barely cut the tips off, and tasted horrible. Into the bin after one bite.
I just don’t get it. When traveling, I ride buses I don’t like, but I stick it out to the destination. I sleep in hotels I don’t like, but I say until morning. I’m served meals I don’t like, but I swallow it and clean up my plate. I guess it’s how I was brought up.
Well it’s not exactly a habit for me either; hence why it’s interesting for me to think about the times it happened.
I recently went on a company lunch where the other attendees kept ordering dishes because it was on the company dime (BTW this is China, and all the dishes are shared). At the end, everyone was stuffed, and the table was still packed with full dishes; you couldn’t fit another plate. I was still thinking about the appalling waste days later.
When I was a kid, we were at a wedding reception buffet. My grandmother, who was very observant and kosher, tried what she thought was tuna salad. As soon as she put it into her mouth, she knew it was ham salad. I’ve never seen a fat old lady sprint to the ladies’ room so fast! We all cracked up.
With buses and hotels there are no refunds. And you gotta sleep and you gotta get to where you’re going. That being said, next time you know better to stay at said hotel or ride said bus.
I also get the argument if you are a guest in someone’s home, you eat what’s served to you out of politeness. But to force yourself to choke down something you bought with your own money sounds utterly ridiculous to me.
Last week, I bought a quart of name-brand milk at one of our finer convenience stores (read: gas station). It was not just sour but had a strong petro-chemical taste. Down the drain it went, after taking pix of the container for a consumer complaint phone call.
Eating food I like is one of the great pleasures of life. What’s the appeal of eating food I don’t like? (Other than being polite if I’m a guest in someone’s home–I get that).
Salsa.
it was made with a can of diced tomatoes… and it had broken glass in it.
Guacamole with jalapeno and cilantro in it. I like normal guacamole, I couldn’t stand this type.
Vegetable soup. A woman at work brought in a large vat of homemade soup and told everyone to come get some at lunchtime. It smelled good. It tasted… sweet. Apparently she puts sugar in her vegetable soup. It was vile and inedible.
I’ve always made guacamole with pico de gallo so I’m not sure what guacamole without cilantro and jalapeno would be. Lime juice, onion, sour cream, avocado, and tomato?
I agree completely. No point in making yourself unhappy by sticking to a bad decision when not sticking to it doesn’t hurt anyone (except yourself, if you have to buy more food to eat).
It’s been 20 years now since I’ve been there, but in my experience, nothing got thrown away in China. Kids sitting on the street refilling Bic lighters and reselling them. . A restroom in a rural Chinese bus waystation, with hogs on the other side of a wall, eating the shit directly from a trough under the wall. Rural villages with a communal toilet, with a tray underneath to collect what the next day would be fertilizer for the fields. The Chinese people produce a half a million tons of human shit per day, and recycled as much as they could. (But probably somewhat different now in the new China.)
Food waste is an American phenomenon. In the third world, everything gets eaten. In Brazil, when a restaurant closes for the day, the leftovers and plate scrapings get distributed out the back door to the poor of the neighborhood. With dignity.
Bee Gee:
You know what? I’m not sure now. I just looked up the ingredients of the guacamole that I know I like, and it has jalapeno and cilantro in it also. So, the brand I didn’t like - don’t remember the name right now - must have had something else in it I hated. But the main difference I recall tasting, and disliking, is the hotness. I’ll have to return to this thread once I ask my wife what brand that bad one was.
SharkWife, a devotee of healthy eating, tried making kale chips at home.
Those were in 'n out of my mouth in 1.5 seconds. Blerrgghh! She pretended to like them, but finally confessed they were truly awful.
That reminds me of when, at my parents’ 50th anniversary party in a fancy schmancy banquet room, my brother put a piece of a bagel with lox on it up in my face and before I knew it I had taken a bite. I had never tasted it before and I really had no desire to but I didn’t want to make a scene and I figured “hey, they’re salty and smoked; how bad could it be?”. Very, very as it turns out. Unlike the vast majority of the people here, I will not swallow something that disgusts me (unless maybe I’m in a business situation). My brother immediately realized I was not pleased and could barely contain his laughter. I spit it out in a napkin and gave it back to him later 
We were camping this weekend, and my wife tried a new freeze-dried desert. She took one bite, spat it out, and tossed the whole package, citing a plastic/chemical taste. I never even got to taste it. And I am just fine with that.
Well yeah, you eat banana peels. Youre a human goat. Just what WOULD you turn your nose up at?
Last thing for me was seven or eight years ago; at our local pho’ restaurant, I decided to branch out, and ordered Bun Bo Hue. I don’t know if I got a bad bowl, or if the restaurant bungled it, or if it’s just not my thing, but it was BAD. Smelled bad, tasted bad, etc… And I’m someone who doesn’t balk at strong tasting stuff like fish sauce, blue cheese, etc…
Brussel Sprouts - Last night.
To be fair, they were probably past their prime but I thought I’d give them a chance. They tasted like roasted fart.