# Smells and/or Tastes that Everyone Loves but You Abhor **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 30, 2016, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smells-and-or-tastes-that-everyone-loves-but-you-abhor/773483 "2016-11-30T19:37:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2016, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smells-and-or-tastes-that-everyone-loves-but-you-abhor/773483/81 "2016-12-02T18:37:33Z")
> [@ZonexandScout](#): > > This is exactly what my friends and acquaintances tell me, but I would never be able to get past the first one. One guest at my house asked for a rum and Coke, but then declined any drink at all when I didn’t have Diet Coke. > > And I don’t want to make myself sound virtuous (a lost cause anyway), but, other than alcoholic beverages and black coffee, I only drink tap water. Sometimes I have to buy bottled water when I’m out, but definitely no soda, energy drinks, or even iced tea. I think just about anything would taste too sweet/weird to me. Ok, well then yes. Only take the switch challenge if you drink too much sugar soda. ---
**Author:** ![phall0106](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/phall0106/32/5934_2.png) [@phall0106](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/phall0106)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2016, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smells-and-or-tastes-that-everyone-loves-but-you-abhor/773483/82 "2016-12-03T00:38:47Z")
Mint. The smell and taste of it makes me gag. I have to buy [orange-flavored toothpaste](https://www.walmart.com/ip/Crest-Complete-Multi-Benefit-Whitening-Scope-Citrus-Splash-Flavor-Toothpaste-6.2-Oz/10311622) because everything else is mint. And mint ice-cream or desserts? Why would you want to eat something that tastes like toothpaste? (I guess it doesn’t help that I’m allergic to mint and mint-related plants. I had a horrible reaction to mint growing in my yard one year.) Love the smell of coffee and beer (not together though), but can’t stand the taste of either. Cannot enjoy the chemical taste of diet anything (like in soda). Artificial sweetner–even one sip–gives me horrible stomach cramps, diarrhea, and body sweats. The taste of black licorice–does anyone actually eat that anymore? And if so, HOW? Ugh. ---
**Author:** ![erysichthon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d07c76/32.png) [@erysichthon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/erysichthon)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2016, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smells-and-or-tastes-that-everyone-loves-but-you-abhor/773483/83 "2016-12-03T23:04:55Z")
> [@Shagnasty](#): > > If you don’t like the smell, definitely don’t taste it because it is much, much worse. It tastes like bad wet flour mixed with loads of salt except it is much worse than that sounds. That is probably because that is basically what it is. Reportedly, the unique Play-Doh aroma is the result of some secret fragrance that the manufacturer has added. I don’t mind the smell, and a lot of people like it (probably because it reminds them of happy moments from childhood). The consensus around the internet is that it’s a heliotrope scent. It’s possible to make Play-Doh at home using commonplace ingredients, and it’s almost identical to the commercial product—except for the smell. Homemade Play-Doh smells like a pile of wet flour. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2016, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smells-and-or-tastes-that-everyone-loves-but-you-abhor/773483/84 "2016-12-03T23:15:04Z")
Those cinnamon apple scented candles and pinecones. The scents are just a chemical, and one that tends to give me a massive headache when I’m around them too much. Other people must **love** it because it’s everywhere in November and December. ---
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2016, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smells-and-or-tastes-that-everyone-loves-but-you-abhor/773483/85 "2016-12-05T18:35:36Z")
I am the only one I know that not only doesn’t like olives but avoids them at all costs. ---
**Author:** ![Grumbacher\_Red](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/85e7bf/32.png) [@Grumbacher\_Red](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grumbacher_Red)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2016, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smells-and-or-tastes-that-everyone-loves-but-you-abhor/773483/86 "2016-12-05T19:25:04Z")
> [@CookingWithGas](#): > > I am the only one I know that not only doesn’t like olives but avoids them at all costs. This is what I cam here to say! I despise olives. They taste sourly rotten like the way I imagine the juice at the bottom of the garbage can to be. Bleck! I am alright with olive oil, though. I also can’t stand licorice. I blame my mother. She used to give me this nasty black cough syrup called Creomulsion that had actual creosote in it, and it was licorice flavored. Any smell of licorice gives me flashbacks to having my nose pinched while she poured that stuff they use to cure railroad ties down my throat. ::shudders:: ---
**Author:** ![phantom\_lamb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/5f9b8f/32.png) [@phantom\_lamb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/phantom_lamb)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2016, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smells-and-or-tastes-that-everyone-loves-but-you-abhor/773483/87 "2016-12-05T20:34:42Z")
I do not enjoy the scent of freshly cut grass and peanuts. ---
**Author:** ![Personal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Personal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Personal)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2016, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smells-and-or-tastes-that-everyone-loves-but-you-abhor/773483/88 "2016-12-05T21:11:07Z")
Any type of fatty pork. Frying bacon to me is a combination of two odors, one the cooking meat, which I like, and two the underlying lard-ish smell of the sizzling fat, which is disgusting but only lightly noticeable. Because of overwhelming disparity, I can eat bacon and enjoy it. My wife, though, cooked something called [goetta](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goetta)one weekend morning while I was sleeping. I awoke to a near-vomit-inducing odor of pork fat and had to leave the house for the day and go to the office because of it. When I returned that evening, the odor lingered, as if the walls had been glazed by the stuff. It was disgusting. Any type of cooked fatty pork, whether ham, pork roast, whatever, other than the aforementioned bacon, I can’t handle. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2016, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smells-and-or-tastes-that-everyone-loves-but-you-abhor/773483/89 "2016-12-05T21:43:35Z")
> [@Personal](#): > > Any type of fatty pork. Frying bacon to me is a combination of two odors, one the cooking meat, which I like, and two the underlying lard-ish smell of the sizzling fat, which is disgusting but only lightly noticeable. Because of overwhelming disparity, I can eat bacon and enjoy it. > > My wife, though, cooked something called [goetta](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goetta)one weekend morning while I was sleeping. I awoke to a near-vomit-inducing odor of pork fat and had to leave the house for the day and go to the office because of it. When I returned that evening, the odor lingered, as if the walls had been glazed by the stuff. It was disgusting. > > Any type of cooked fatty pork, whether ham, pork roast, whatever, other than the aforementioned bacon, I can’t handle. Stay away from chorizo then. Fortunately for you, bacon is getting leaner. ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2016, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smells-and-or-tastes-that-everyone-loves-but-you-abhor/773483/90 "2016-12-05T22:08:29Z")
Green tea seems immensely popular these days, but I can’t stand it. It smells and tastes like it was brewed from not-so-fresh grass clippings and/or shredded rubber with more than a hint of aged fish. ---
**Author:** ![Procrustus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/procrustus/32/2994_2.png) [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2016, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smells-and-or-tastes-that-everyone-loves-but-you-abhor/773483/91 "2016-12-05T22:20:53Z")
> [@CookingWithGas](#): > > I am the only one I know that not only doesn’t like olives but avoids them at all costs. Top of my “will not eat list.” ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2016, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smells-and-or-tastes-that-everyone-loves-but-you-abhor/773483/92 "2016-12-05T23:27:26Z")
> [@Machine\_Elf](#): > > Green tea seems immensely popular these days, but I can’t stand it. It smells and tastes like it was brewed from not-so-fresh grass clippings and/or shredded rubber with more than a hint of aged fish. I prefer black tea myself. ---
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2016, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smells-and-or-tastes-that-everyone-loves-but-you-abhor/773483/93 "2016-12-06T00:26:26Z")
> [@Grumbacher\_Red](#): > > This is what I cam here to say! I despise olives. They taste sourly rotten like the way I imagine the juice at the bottom of the garbage can to be. Bleck! > > I am alright with olive oil, though. I use olive oil but don’t like it if it becomes a predominant taste, like on salads. But to me olives taste like an industrial chemical, not even like food at all. Not rotten or nasty, just not food. ---
**Author:** ![Flughund4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f17d59/32.png) [@Flughund4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flughund4)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2016, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smells-and-or-tastes-that-everyone-loves-but-you-abhor/773483/94 "2016-12-06T01:07:10Z")
Ketchup. The taste I can tolerate, but I hate the smell. It’s the last of a list of condiments that I used to dislike, but have gradually acquired a taste for: vinegar, pickle relish, mayo, mustard. ---
**Author:** ![Sigmagirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c89c15/32.png) [@Sigmagirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigmagirl)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2016, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smells-and-or-tastes-that-everyone-loves-but-you-abhor/773483/95 "2016-12-06T02:54:28Z")
Eucalyptus and lavender are both major migraine triggers for me. ---
**Author:** ![Mama\_Zappa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@Mama\_Zappa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Zappa)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2016, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smells-and-or-tastes-that-everyone-loves-but-you-abhor/773483/96 "2016-12-06T05:04:25Z")
> [@Asimovian](#): > > Chocolate. > > Smells as horrid as it tastes. On the occasions that my ex-wife made fudge, I sometimes had to leave the house. Vile, nasty stuff. All of it. You are dead to me. Coffee: I don’t like the taste but the smell doesn’t bother me. Microwave popcorn: If it’s not “butter” flavored, it smells good. If it’s “butter” flavored, it’s nauseating. I once bought some by mistake, removed the overwrap from the first packet, couldn’t even stand the smell enough to actually cook it. I threw that package and the rest of the box away. Mushooms: I’ve tried them many, many times. They are vile. My husband once asked me what it was I disliked. I said “The taste. The texture. The CONCEPT!!”. Very rarely, I’ll order us pizza and get them to put mushrooms just on half. Inevitably I’ll wind up with a slice that had mushrooms on at least part of it. I can pick them off but they have already left their nasty funk to ruin the pizza. Mushrooms are rotting vegetation and if you like them you are wrong. Almost all yogurt. For many years it would literally make me gag. I finally found I could eat the custard-style Yoplait. Then just a couple years ago I found I could eat _regular_ Yoplait. I’ve managed to down some Greek yogurt but find the texture is somehow too grainy or something. But other brands… I have not dared to try them. They just _look_ disgusting. ---
**Author:** ![Uzi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/91b2a8/32.png) [@Uzi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uzi)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2016, 6:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smells-and-or-tastes-that-everyone-loves-but-you-abhor/773483/97 "2016-12-06T06:56:26Z")
> [@eschereal](#): > > Perfume and incense, of all kinds, give me a headache. There is one cheap perfume that I can more or less tolerate, but only because I love the particular woman who wears it, but fragrances have made me stop at the door and go elsewhere. I agree in 99% of the cases, but once in a while the planets align and a woman wears a scent that somehow is the right one for her and you’d divorce your wife, sell your kids, or do whatever she wanted you to do, if you could only smell her one more time. Coffee. I’ve never understood why people are drinking filtered burnt poo water. Any alcohol product. Smells awful, tastes worse. ---
**Author:** ![pythonzzz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/9e8a1a/32.png) [@pythonzzz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pythonzzz)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2016, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smells-and-or-tastes-that-everyone-loves-but-you-abhor/773483/98 "2016-12-06T19:04:53Z")
Caraway - can’t stand any breads/rolls with it. Rye is fine without it. Black licorice odor is pukey, esp on someone’s breath who’s been eating it. :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Grumbacher\_Red](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/85e7bf/32.png) [@Grumbacher\_Red](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grumbacher_Red)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2016, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smells-and-or-tastes-that-everyone-loves-but-you-abhor/773483/99 "2016-12-06T19:23:33Z")
And beets. Vile in both taste and smell. Does anybody really enjoy the flavor of beets? I know people who tolerate them because of their recent “Super Food” status, but they choke them down in various liquid and powder forms. I bought one of those Bolthouse beet drinks and couldn’t finish it for the case of gags it gave me. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2016, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smells-and-or-tastes-that-everyone-loves-but-you-abhor/773483/100 "2016-12-06T19:27:51Z")
> [@Grumbacher\_Red](#): > > Does anybody really enjoy the flavor of beets? I love beets. This time of year I like to peel and coarsely chop beets, turnips, parsnips, potatoes, carrots, onions, etc. I sprinkle some balsamic vinegar on them as they roast in a hot oven until tender. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smells-and-or-tastes-that-everyone-loves-but-you-abhor/773483.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/smells-and-or-tastes-that-everyone-loves-but-you-abhor/773483.md?page=6)