What Are Some of Your "Evil" Foods?

Cafe Society
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This isn’t meant to be about guilty pleasures, though I suppose you could call those foods evil, too.

Nor am I looking for a discussion about foods that you find gross, really, for all the trepidation rained down on the durian, or lutefisk, haggis, or even casa marzu (Do not read the link if you have a sensitive stomach!) I don’t think they’re dishes that the average Doper is going to have to face without deliberately going out to hunt them down.

No, I’m looking for the foods you see regularly that annoy you, perhaps even disgust you, or that you’re simply tired of seeing because someone you regularly eat with loves them and you’re stuck going along.

For me, the two of the dishes that I’d consider evil foods are:

Manhattan Style Clam Soup. Now, I’ll admit that some people love this stuff, and that it may even be a very nice dish. But I will never forgive it for the way that I was introduced to it. It was billed on the menu as “Clam Chowder” with no warning, and had no cream based broth, no potatoes, nor any of the other features that one finds in common with any other dish called chowder in the English-speaking world. It exists under that name solely because Manhattanites wanted to play spoiler for the divine food that known as Clam Chowder to the rest of the world.

Evil. Very, very evil.

The other dish that I’m going to nominate is something my father loves. It’s a recipe from an old cookbook (1930’s era) The Mystery Chef’s Own Cookbook: Student Ragout. It’s actually not that bad a recipe, but while he and my mother love the dish, it’s just meh for me. And they have it two or three times a month, often when I’ve been invited over for supper. A free meal is always nice, but it’s so not my taste. Lots of lard, plus bacon for a little extra flavor, then they ruin all that by cooking carrot slices in with the spuds, beef and onions. Lots of carrot slices. And my view of carrots has always been that they taste much better raw than cooked.

At this point, now, it has fallen over into the evil category - and if I never see it again, it will be too soon.

So, what are your evil foods?

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Eggs, really. Most days I can pull down the shade over that dark window in my mind and enjoy 'em fried and scrambled, deviled and boiled, pickled and made into egg salad, but every so often the shade goes flying up again and I realize that I’m EATING CHICKEN EMBRYOS AND EEEEEE :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek:

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Cheesecake. The normal, New York style, plain or topped with fruit (especially the typical, jelly-like slimy cherries or strawberries). I got sick on a bad batch some 15+ years ago, and I have had zero interest in the stuff since, which my waistline and arteries appreciate.

However, if a cheesecake-like item is adequately disguised I might give it a try and even enjoy it. But a big triangular-shaped wedge? *Teh *yuck.

4

In the second grade I loved pears. Loved 'em, loved 'em, loved 'em. Until I ate enough in one sitting to make myself sick for two days.

I’m not repulsed by the things and I have eaten them since then, but they sure don’t cross my plate as often as they used to! :wink:

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Cilantro. It tastes like sickness.

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Bananas. Nothing wrong with the flavor - I LURVE banana bread and banana nut muffins and bananas foster. Nothing wrong with the look - yellow, fruit-like, usually good signs. But then you bite into one and HOLYCRAPMUSHY!!! I can’t even swallow the things.

I’ve grown okay with mayo, to the point where I’ll eat it on a sandwhich, or in chicken salad. But people who put mayo on a burger should be declaired insane.

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I eat burgers with mayo.

Er, but wait a minute, mayonnaise is made with egg yolks! So once again, I’M EATING CHICKEN EMBRYOS AND EEEEEEE :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek:

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Chicken A La King.

My mom made this ALL THE TIME growing up. I could barely stand it. Canned carrots and peas and chopped chicken in a flour gravy, all over white bread toast. Blegh! It looked like eating barf on toast. Even before I began eating healthy I couldn’t stand this stuff. My stomach flopped every time I smelled it and I would have to search for my own dinner that night.

One time, one time I gave in to eating this stuff. I was around 11, and just extremely hungry. Hunger overrode my tastebuds and common sense. And ever since that mistake, my mom would act like that’s my favorite dish or something! “What do you mean you don’t like it! You’ve eaten it before!”
One time. :rolleyes:

Oh, and my favorite evil food is tiny tiny shrimp that I could by when I was in Japan. A pinch of them would taste like shrimp jerky. I would toss them in eggs, such as the picture here:Photo Storage
I called it the Omlette of a Thousand Souls. Makes me feel a little bad at all the buggers who sacrificed their lives, but damn are they tasty lives.

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El_Kabong, your post makes me think of this. Thank you. I am highly amused.

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Mentioning thousand year eggs would be very cruel, wouldn’t it? :smiley:

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I hate eggs too, but I hate them because they’re so stinky! Especially hard boiled (usually for egg salad), which my housemates absolutely adore. I think they go through 2-3 dozen/month. Gag me with a spoon.

I can bring myself to eating a beaten, fried egg about once a year, and then resume my hatred of them as a standalone dish.

On Preview: OtakuLoki, I think I just threw up a little in my mouth.

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Not really, though. They are unfertilized, so no embryos at all. It could never be a chicken. It’s exactly what it says it is…an egg.

Edit: fixed quote tag

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Well, having followed BlueKangaroo’s link, for some reason I’m not feeling any better, but thanks anyway.

Oh, and Chicken a la King? Another survivor here.

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I’ll make a call to the psych ward.

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Or balut.

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I’m so sorry, but I had to share. As soon as I read your post, I flashed to that comic and started giggling like a mad-woman. Of course, I really like eggs and am not squicked out by them in any way, so that probably helps.

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Shrimp. I got REALLY sick on a bad batch years ago and haven’t ever touched the stuff again. Not really a problem as I’m quite allergic to shellfish—found that out about the same time I got sick.

[holds hand up as a proud mayo-on-burger person]

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Stuffed cabbage.

I cannot stand the stuff. I can barely stand the smell of it cooking. The bad thing is it’s a traditional cultural dish in my family so everyone “oohs” and “aahs” over it, and gets all excited when it’s served. They critique it. They show up at events just to eat it.

I feel like a real jerk for being a Slovak who hates stuffed cabbage. The dish just makes me feel bad because I can’t join in the fun.

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This response, coupled with your first post to this thread, absolutely made my day. My husband has been subjected to me reading both posts aloud, complete with my interpretation of what the “EEEEEEE :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek:” sounds like.
My evil food is grapefruit. It’s fruit! A juicy, plump, citrus fruit! It should be sweeeet or even sour… but noooooo, it’s bitter! BLECH! I love, love, love the smell. But the taste, oh gawd. It’s one of the few foods I try again and again, hoping against hope that I’ll like it one day, but it always tastes like fresh puke.

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I am so with you on this one. I cannot be in the same residence that cabbage is cooking in. I don’t care if it is stuffed cabbage, corned beef and cabbage or cabbage rolls, it is all barf inducing to me.

People rave about my sisters stuffed cabbage rolls…Gross

It is the only food that smells worse than East Indian curry food.
GAH