Put me on the “I-hate-bananas” list. (I’m so happy to see I am not the only one!) For me, it is texture, taste, smell and touch. I won’t even eat my own delicious meal if someone next to me eats a banana.
So my worst meal would be if the guy at the table across from me was eating bananas, because the banana would be all that I could focus on.
Fig Newtons–Ick.
Cilantro–Ick.
Clamato–Ick.
Lutefisk–never had it, but Ick.
Pate–Ick.
Any hamburger from McDonald’s—Ick.
I love threads like these! If we all band together, we will never starve. Just swap the food around until you get something you like. You like what I loathe, and vice versa. I love the things that everybody else hates. Olives, mayonaisse, sauerkraut, kimchi, tomatoes, asparagus, abnanas, coconut, lobster…all wonderful. 
What in the world do people eat at Dopefests? 
Am I the only one who finds it ironic that somebody who wont touch seafood goes by the name of fishbicycle?
Proably! My username was invented in a moment of surrealism, either that or I couldn’t think of anything better at the time. It has nothing to do with my love/hate of fish or bicycles.
Oh yeah, I forgot to mention coconut and mushrooms. Yeccccccccchhh!
Almost everything in this thread I enjoy, except for beets and tuna casserole. I did have to try sushi twice to catch on, though. There are many varieties of sushi roll, and they vary widely in taste and texture.
A lot of what I dislike now are sweets. Gummi bear/worm/fish texture wigs me out. No Gummi anything, please.
Also, confections of unadulterated marshmallow turn me off. Peeps especially have a gross, gummy, tacky texture. Yet toasted marshmallows, smores, Watergate salad, etc. are all fine.
Among healthier fare, I never have liked squash or yams. I do like fried sweet potates and sweet potato pie, though (what’s up with that?).
99 times out of a 100, I’ll pass on raw melons of any kind if given a choice. Cubed cantaloupe, honeydew, or watermelon are acceptable in a fruit salad.
There seems to be a lot of inconsistenct in my list … foods nasty one way are fine another way. I see that some feel the same way about tomatoes.
…
Dragwyr, cilantro (aka coriander) was an acquired taste for me. The first few times I had it, it tasted like Ivory soap. Yet cilantro is steeped into some of my favorite beers … and I could pick out the flavor, which seemed somehow refreshing in beer. Strange. I learned to accept it in both both Far Eastern and Indian cooking. I still wouldn’t put fresh, raw cilantro in my mouth, though.
I have been served the Lunch From Hell. By my step-grandma, and in front of my other grandma. It featured not one, not two, not even three, but FOUR different mayo-based salads. Even the fruit salad was made with mayo. I don’t really remember what the others were, I think one was ham and one was chicken and the third completely escapes me. I was too busy eyeing the plate of plain bread thinking I can always just eat that and grab something later…
The sheer horror I felt when I beheld the Lunch From Hell is indescribable, unless you hate mayo as much as I do.
Fortunately, my mom’s husband hates the stuff as much as I do. I figured she knew that, so I worked up the nerve to say something. Lo and behold, there was turkey in the fridge, along with margarine (as opposed to the White Goo of Death) so I had myself a nice sandwich.
Oh, it’s funny now. But at the time, it wasn’t!
Wow… quite a feast developing here. A few remarks about some of the things on the table:
Liver: I must confess, I have never eaten liver. As noted, the function of the liver should give us all pause. But I’ve always guessed it tastes something a bit like a hot dog, with maybe a sharper (dirty?) flavor. Might go good with mustard. But I’m not going to eat it to find out.
Mustard: I love mustard. One of the things that drives me apeshit at fast food restaurants in New York is that you either have to ask for mustard, or they don’t have this shiny yellow elixer. If anything, they usually have mustard-flavored sauce, or worse… (shudder) honey mustard. How they could contaminate my beautiful mustard with a gloop such as honey is beyond my comprehension.
Mayo, however, will destroy anything decent.
Milk: I feel so vindicated to know that so many people hate milk after all. Most people look at me like I have something growing out of me when I mention that I won’t ever drink a glass of milk again, no matter how cold and frothy.
Asparagus: I was surprised, when I tried asparagus for the first time at the age of 22, to learn that I like asparagus.
Bananas: Bananas are a breakfast food. I don’t like breakfast food in general. In fact, I hate being at airports in the morning because you’re in an inescapible place, and there’s nothing around but god-damned breakfast food. Therefore…
Finally…
Great! More for me. I didn’t use to like green olives… but now I never meet an olive I don’t like.
A fair question. Occasionally it has been a good thing… it just means there’s a broader spectrum of things to enjoy. In the case of the green olive for me, it was like learning to see a new, beautiful color that you’d never heard of before.
And on the balance, acquiring a taste for beer has been good.
I can’t acquire a taste for anything that’s really offensive to the palate, tho. YMMV.
Sweet potatoes. Ugh. UGH, I say!! I refuse to eat anything the same color as Lucille Ball’s hair. Yep, same thing goes for carrots, which just taste nasty.
Oysters. Seriously, does anyone really enjoy loogies on the halfshell?
Escargot. Mini erasers in butter.
Hog Maw. if6was9 swears this is the best stuff in the world, but to quote a friend of ours, it just sounds like redneck haggis. Which you can ALSO put on the list.
On the question of why you should try to like things that you don’t currently like. I can add that those things that you acquire a taste for often become your favorite flavours and tastes. Olives and Almonds used to trun my stomach, but I now find them very pleasing.
Sing it brother. Someone here said it is actually an allergy, but it does the same thing to me. My mouth explodes with the flavor for cheap cologne, which lasts all day and screws up my taste buds for anything else.
my meal of death
We will start off with a Beet, celery, and cucumber salad.
Soup will be: Tripe stew with soggy carrots…
Entre: Liver
Sides: brussel sprouts and broccoli.
Dessert: Tapioca, with pineapple slices
To drink: Cheap Chianti
There are very few things that I can’t stand in terms of single ingredients. What clamps my jaw firmly shut is usually related to texture or combinations of tastes. So my meal from hell would incorporate any selection of dishes surrounded by a vile and lumpy concoction. Gravy, sauces, just keep them well away from me.
Equally vile in my eyes is any form of protein combined with any other form of protein. Ham & cheese sandwiches, chicken and bacon together - anything like that is a definite no-go. The ultimate in verboten food was a friend’s lunch the other day: chicken tikka with a majorly gloopy sauce, topped with slices of hot dog. This foul scraping from Satan’s slop bucket is a featured sandwich at my local deli. I spent a lot of the time in a voyeuristic fugue of disgust, and the rest trying to keep my gorge from rising.
seafood - Any kind. And I’ve tried most kinds. I can handle fish sticks if I have enough ketchup.
asparagus, green peppers, squash and zucchini - I pretty much like all the rest of the veggie family.
liver - beef or chicken. Never had pate or foix gras (sp?) and never plan to.
nuts in stuff - I LOVE nuts. Just can’t stand em in stuff, like brownies or cake. Texture thing…
chicken legs - to many… things… in them
burnt eggs - any brown and I can’t stand it.
Well, liver, wax/green beans, and baked potatoes have already been mentioned, so I’ll have a go a runnerup meal from hell.
For starters: Clam chowder
Salad: head lettuce with too many big ribs, with Miracle Whip for dressing, and chives for extra zest
Main course: Beef or chicken pot pie, or any other pot pie if there are any (tuna?)
To drink: Corona
Dessert: grocery store bakery white cake with godawful, sweet,oily frosting
After dinner snack: Cornnuts
Garlic bread: Even the smell makes me nauseous.
Olives: I won’t even touch a piece of pizza if an olive has been anywhere near it tainting the yumminess.
Yogurt: I absolutely cannot stand it. Even the smell. Especially the smell. shudder
Cottage cheese: Yuck! Yuck! Yuck!
Beer: I can’t stand it. I likes me booze (hic) but not beer.
I do love ketchup chips though. They’ve been standard fare in Canada for a long time. Yum!
Goat Milk = whole milk with a lamb chop soaked in it for a couple days… blurg!
Liver & Onions, and yes, I’ve tried it the way your mama makes it. Baaarrrugh!
Brains, brains in a taco… Think of walking your ma to the train early, early in the morning when you have a hangover, she makes a pitstop in the mexican taco joint, comes out and says “Here honey, take it bite, its scrambled eggs”
*bite… chew, chew…urk! :eek: .blurrrrrrrgh! Projectile vomiting, all over Sheridan Road.
Habanero Peppers. One small thumbnail sized pepper can make an entire 2 quart pot of chilli taste like the business end of a burning hot poker. No flavor, just searing metalic nastyness.
Chitlins… lets be for real here. Its the caca tube. You wash the caca out. You scrub the caca out. You boil it. Your house smells of caca. You eat it (?) It comes back out. Ta Da!! Its caca again!!
Let’s see…
Brussel Sprouts, liver and onions, asparagus, tomatoes by themselves (I can deal with them in salad, mixed in anything but not on burgers or by themselves), mayo (I like miracle whip, but despise mayo), hot dogs, ramen…
bland soup: I HATE when people make homemade soup and it tastes like nothing. Like water with just the barest hint of chicken and boiled vegetables. My Grandma is always hit or miss… her soup is either the best I’ve tasted, or the worst I’ve tasted.
Pickled onions/carrots. Why? Seriously… why? pickled beets are good, pickles are good… but pickled ONIONS AND CARROTS?
olives, just… ick… same with feta cheese
Fat: can’t choke it down, makes me do the cat hurkhurkhurkbleah thing.
Tofu: don’t you know it makes me wanna… BARF!..hang my heaaad down and BARF, shake my aaassss now and BARF, a little bit harder now… a little bit harder now… A LITTLE BIT HARDER NOW-OW…HEYEYEYEY (heyayAYay), etc.
Beets: may be wonderful, but I can’t get past the smell.
Asparagus: [paul hogan]you can eat it, but it tastes like shit[paul hogan]
Belgian endive: best way to prepare: cover bottom of baking dish with endive, cover with crisp bacon, shred mozzarella cheese over the top, turn oven on to 425, turn oven off again, throw whole mess in the garbage, send out for pizza.
Oysters: prominent member of the mucous family (or is it phlegm?). Ain’t chokin’ it down no way nohow.
There are many foods I don’t like but the main one would have to be anything containing vinegar. This includes anything pickled, condiments, sauces, and salad dressings. This one has been so difficult all my life as most people seem to delight in putting any one or a combination on these on just about everything.
I also don’t like any tinned vegetables or beans. Raw seafood and tomatoes are another couple of no-nos. One thing which really bugs me too is people who put sultanas in curries or apple crumble. Sultanas belong in fruit cake along with raisins and currants NOT in apple pie! and I wont even get into pineapple on pizzas.
I rather like brussel sprouts and liver, onions and bacon fried up though and I don’t mind milk either. I’ve noticed many people don’t like these.
I tend to like my meat/fish/eggs well cooked and my vegetables raw or lightly cooked, salad natural, and fruit not quite ripe and with nothing added. Easy.
Baked beans, or bland white beans with ham. My mom’s been able to cook a pot of beans or two that I’ve liked, but everywhere else… yuck. Also, Lima beans are foul beyond foul.
99% of the meatloaf I’ve ever had. I’ve had ONE good tasting meatloaf, and it was a completely atypical specimen: no ketchup on top, and it contained some mushrooms.
Peas: Not bad if they’re with something else, like my mom’s fabulous Tuna Noodle Stuff. Peas alone are the nasty.
Beer: While I’ve never had a hobo piss in my mouth, I can’t imagine it’d taste any worse than beer. And I’ve tried Guiness.
Beets: Can’t get past the smell.
I will eat: asparagus (yum!), brussels sprouts, broccoli, and occaisonally liver 'n onions (the texture’s kinda odd, but it doesn’t taste too bad). Also, chitlins. Why eat something that SMELLS like shite?