Anyway, the younger sonlost has taken an interest in Asian cooking, which I also share, so we went to a large Asian market last week to stock up on supplies. One of the things I picked up was a large container of kimchi, the last of which I just finished up for lunch.
I was first introduced to kimchi in my 20s when I worked at a graphic design studio owned by a Korean. One day around lunch I thought “What is that horrible smell? I think there’s some rotting garbage that badly needs to be taken out”. But it was just my boss having lunch. I discovered that kimchi was actually very delicious, despite its odor. My younger sonlost likes kimchi as well, despite saying “good god dad, that smells terrible!”
Which seems odd, because the taste of food is typically strongly influenced by its smell. It occurred to me that kimchi might be the worst-smelling thing that actually tastes really good. Of course that’s very subjective, I know.
Durian is another thing that famously smells terrible yet many people like its flavor (though many people hate its flavor, too). I’ve never smelled it, let alone tasted it, but the Asian market did have fresh durian fruit. I picked one up and gave it a surreptitious sniff, but it didn’t smell like anything. I guess you need to cut it open to reveal the smell. I kind of wish I had bought one purely out of curiosity.
As for the reverse, things that smell great but don’t taste as great as they smell, I couldn’t really think of much, other than the fact I know kids often love the smell of coffee, but when they first taste it (before they acquire the taste) they usually find it horrible and bitter-tasting.
I think the big ones that smell bad are Surströmming (Swedish) and Hákarl (Iceland). (per a note from @tofor…these are NOT cheeses…they are fermented fish)
I have had neither but there are plenty of videos of people vomiting or gagging just being near them (there is one of chef Gordon Ramsay vomiting after trying Hákarl). But, I have been told, if you can manage the smell they don’t taste too bad. I’m not going to try.
Fish Sauce. I really don’t like to smell it, and it really, really needs to be used sparingly. But the incredibly delicious thai curries and Drunken Noodles absolutely need it to taste so amazing.
Yeah, I expected to get responses like these, which is fine, but the thing with those (and also durian I’d guess, which I mentioned in the OP) is that they are things that most people think smells and tastes terrible, and smell like they taste. And as you say, if they can manage the smell, they may get to like the taste. But one sniff and you’re not going to be surprised at what those things taste like.
But to me kimchi has always, and continues to, smell much worse than it tastes.
I had a Korean roommate once. After he moved in, a few days later, I opened the fridge and it smelled like something had died. It was awful. I asked WTF was in there and he said no problem, it was just kimchi. I had never had it before and my first exposure to it was not welcoming. He got me to try it eventually though, and I do like it a lot. But it can really stink up the fridge.
Though I was first introduced to kimchi in my 20s, maybe I don’t eat it often enough to get used to the smell, and I’d get to like the smell as you do if I ate it more.
Darn it, I wish I would have bought a durian from that Asian market. Next time! I’ve heard the taste and texture described as custard made from rancid onions, and that was one of the more positive descriptions.
Definitely coffee. It smells fine, but the taste is just terrible for me. And it’s not the bitterness–I don’t like coffee-flavored candy, which is basically sugar with a little bit of coffee flavor and no bitterness at all. Or, a friend of my once made chili with some coffee and absolutely ruined it for me. Others didn’t even notice it, but it was like a poke in the eye for me.
I’d guess it’s the fermented fish that puts some people off the smell of kimchi.
At a social function a couple weeks ago, someone brought in some pickle flavored gummi bears to share. For some reason, I decided to smell them first and it was pretty awful. I enjoyed trying them though.
I’ve never had anything that didn’t taste like it smelled. I don’t get the “it’s better than it smells” thing. It doesn’t work at all for me. That said, I like the taste and smell of lots of “nasty” things.
Tastes awful would be stretching it a lot, but there is almost no smell better than that of chips (French fried potatoes) wafting from a chippy on a rainy November evening. And they are always - always - a disappointment. Not awful, but they can never come close to living up to that smell.
j
ETA: and now I think of it, I guess there is a whole class of foods like lemons which smell great, but you wouldn’t eat them as they come.
