Normal Foods You Loathe

In My Humble Opinion
101

All meat. There’s something about the texture that’s just gross. And that makes me the worst vegetarian in the world, because I also don’t like:

Zucchini and any other manner of squash vegetable. They’re disgusting, and the last time I ate any, I (presumably unrelated) spent the next two days in bed with a horrific stomach virus. Since then they literally cause me to gag if I try to eat any.

Whole mushrooms. Chop them up real small in a nice thick sauce and I can force it down (though if I’m on my own I’ll pick them out). Whole or big slices of mushrooms? Blaargh.

Seafood. Fish, shrimp, whatever it is, the smell seriously nauseates me.

Kidney beans and garbanzo beans are good. Black beans are tolerable. Any other beans (especially string beans and lima beans) are disgusting.

Most raw vegetables are gross, excluding: red bell peppers, banana peppers, iceberg lettuce, tomatoes, baby carrots with peanut butter. I refuse to eat nuts other than peanuts.

Most forms of tofu. Boca brand veggie burgers are fine. That nasty white gelatin-like tofu you buy as just tofu is disgusting.

102

Lamb, coffee and milk.

103

Perhaps it’s in the preperation - runny, soggy mash potatoes (like a low cost store-brand instant flake-mix made with way too much milk) is absolutely miserable (and many diners around these parts serve them that way, with watery gravey), while mashed potatoes actually mashed from whole potatoes, with a little milk and butter and some nice thick brown gravy (no onions) is extremely tasty and filling.
In a similiar way, a very light coating of the much maligined Mayonnaise on a sandwich or hambuger can really enhance the flavor, while a thick glob of it detracts greatly in my opinion (and leads to those signs at Burger King which recommend leaving off the mayo and saving 20% of the fat & calories :eek: - I always take their advice.) - same w/ getting a toasted bagel w/ cream cheese at a deli in NY - they ‘schmear’ on the cream cheese (some ‘small dab’ - they use half a brick of cream cheese on each bagel), so I usually get a plastic knife and scrape off enough extra cream cheese for 8 more bagels…

104

Go sometime right after lunch rush and ask the chef what he would reccomend for someone timid about raw fish. There are many delicious options that any sushi bar will probably have on the menu that are very cooked and very good.

Examples at my favorite:

Fried shrimp roll: Pretty much what you would expect, a couple tempura shrimp rolled up in rice and sliced up.

Tempura Crab roll: Sticks of imitation crab tempura battered and fried rolled up with some cucumber and or daikon and sliced accordingly.

Anything invoving unagi (Freshwater eel) Yummy!

105

cilantro
fennel
basil
peanut butter

106

Do you put a bit of honey in it? I learned that from a Sikh friend and it seems to make the yogurt less tart. Put about 3-4 tbsps per quart of milk.

Oops, forgot to add: cilantro and sardines. If that was all I had on a desert island, I’d eat sand.

107

I had to wiki that, because I couldn’t figure out what cheese had to do with Poitin LOL! (You just never know how somebody is going to spell that one . . .)

And I second, third and fourth cilantro! Yuck! It tastes like soap to me. I’ve had an informal poll going for years now, and so far I’ve never found a person whose parents had “washed [their] mouth out with soap” who also liked cilantro. I love coriander though . . .

And jello. Mmmmmmm! Fruit flavored horse hooves! Yummmy! ! ! :dubious:

108

I really hate peas but I love pea soup. Yeah, I don’t understand either. Also as tdn and a few others have said…anything called salad that isn’t a real leafy salad.

109

Anything with vinegar or that is pickled. Including “sourkraut” and coleslaw.

With the sole exception (that “proves the rule”?:p) of pickled beets, which I love…They were a common condiment where I grew up, esp. with such fare as new potatoes, green beans, corn on the cob, cornbread, summer foods.

BUT I love them more the way I make them fresh, just steamed fresh beets with a bit of sugar and a dash of apple cider vinegar.

The ONLY way I can tolerate pickles (as in pickled cukes/relish) is in small doses in deviled eggs (which I LOVE!)

Yellow squash still icks me right out, having had a Hungarian Aunt (by marriage;)) who would boil huge pots of the stuff all day with tons of pepper and make us eat it…slimy, disgusting, stinky, putrid! :eek: Still can’t stomach it, even when cooked properly/grilled or steamed.

Raisins. I don’t mind the flavor, but the texture and appearance has grossed me out since I was a kid…like flies in my cinnamon roll :frowning:

Liver and onions. Grew up being forced to eat it at least twice a month. OMG, the flavor was nasty enough…the TEXTURE (gritty) was almost too much to keep down. Could be one reason I ended up a vegetarian. :smiley:

Not so sure how common these foods are in my current “clique”, so to speak, but they are the ones that spring to mind when asked about ones I loath. I am pretty open to foods overall.

110

I like a good, fresh, easy on the dressing potato salad, but otherwise, nope. The WORST sort of “salad” is that hideous fruit salad, drenched in whipped cream and with marshmallows and assorted other crap they try to force feed me every damned holiday! :eek: Nasty shit. Forget what it’s called (maybe “ambrosia”?) but regardless, I know it from a mile away and always steer clear.

111

It’s a deal! I love bell peppers.

112

Awesome!

I’ll be expecting my snow crab any day now.

113

I love fruit salad, given one proviso: It has to be made with fruit. That ambrosia crap is like declaring war on God.

What is it about midwestern cuisine where everything has to taste like shit?

114

Sorry, TruCelt, I just broke your streak. I had my mouth washed out with soap as a kid, and I love cilantro.

115

Olives. So many people think they’re the food of the gods, and they’re available in many gourmet varieties so that the foodinista can pick and choose which delectable morsel they prefer to pair with which wine, etc.

Bleck! Barf! Poo! I hate olives.

116

Reading through this, I’ve found, like many others, so many foods I just LOVE!
I will trade those who hate them anything on MY list THEY love for all their :

Avacados (I actually hated them as a kid due to the texture as guacamole and appearance, and the flavor is really very subtle, so a LOT of kids don’t get avacodo) but I had some as a teenager and OMG! :eek: Food of the frickin’ gods, man! I go through about 5 a week, and my kids grew up eating and loving them)

Olives (but ONLY black…those brown Greek olives are horribly nasty to me)

Fresh Green beans…really? There are actually people who don’t like green beans? :confused: Must be fresh and not overcooked, of course. Or raw, fresh from the garden. I’ve grown lots of green beans, and I once accidentally left a canvas bag full on the back porch for a week in 90 degree temps…they were still fresher and prettier than the ones you usually find in the supermarket. Scary old beans they try and sell us! :dubious:

Brussel sprouts…ditto on the fresh and steamed/not boiled to slime.

Fresh, ripe, raw tomatoes…vine ripened are the ONLY ones I buy because they are the ONLY ones with any taste or decent texture. Home grown are da BOMB! Those pale, hard, mealy, tasteless and odorless abominations that pass for tomatoes in most grocery bins…I could not agree more. ICK! If a tomato doesn’t excude a strong, musky odor, it is crap. BTW fresh tomatoes should NEVER be refigerated…it destroys their flavor and texture.
And I will sweeten the pot by adding a few items others reminded me of to my “loathe” list:

Lobster/crab/crustaceans in general…like giant insects, ITA.
Shellfish/snails…like, well, SNAILS!:wink:
Okra, no matter HOW it is prepared. They should manufacture lubricant out of the shit; even deep fried, I can still feel/taste the slime. :mad:
I suspect a great many of our dislikes stem from improperly prepared examples of the foods and/or mass market genetic atrocities as opposed to natural, fresh examples. (as with wild vs supermarket blueberries)

Or from negative associations we formed as kids (my DH had a violent dislike of anything involving spearmint, and I strongly suspect it stemmed from some early childhood association with his father, who chewed Wrigley’s Spearmint gum his whole life.) I hated chicken noodle soup for years, then tried some as a (pre-vegetarian) adult and loved it…I realized that the last time I’d eaten it, I’d been ill with chicken pox and EVERYTHING tasted like crap. I carried that aversion for over a decade.

And fact is, our taste change, often dramatically, as we age…what tastes horrible and overly strong or bland to us as kids (kids are notoriously averse to strong veggies like brocolli, brussel sprouts, spinach) can taste wonderful as adults. But often we never bother trying something again once we decide we “hates it forever, yes we DOES, Precious!” :stuck_out_tongue:

But it’s all good…who cares if we don’t like something? Plenty of choices out there to replace the loathed items with. Interesting to share, of course.

117

I also (once, by an Uncle, who caught MUCH grief from my mother over it) had my mouth washed out with soap and love cilantro.

But I DESPISE corriander, which comes from the same plant (the seeds vs the leaves). Go figure.

118

Pizza - can’t eat it, won’t eat it. Even the smell puts me off (My parents tell me I refused to eat pizza even as a toddler)

I also hate mushrooms in any form. Most anything else I will eat if I’m hungry enough.

119

I’m from Texas, just for the record…this sort of blasphmey goes on all over. :smiley:

120

Oh, you ought to do yourself a favor and try some fresh Brussels sprouts sauteed in olive oil and garlic. Slice the little sprouts in half the long way, toss them with olive oil and cook them for 5-10 min on medium heat until they are tender - YUM!! I remember the mushy boiled sprouts from when I was a kid and was sooooo hesitant to try them, but they are GREAT cooked this way! They must be fresh, not frozen (in my experience, anyway).

My hated foods:

Bananas and anything with fake banana flavor like candy or pudding. Exception: Banana bread.

Miracle Whip - yuck!!! But surprisingly enough, I can tolerate real mayonnaise in small amounts.

Asparagus

Fish