I’m biting my lip really hard trying not to (or maybe I’m biting my typing fingers). Instead I’ll just comment that a lot of these hates seem to be more about texture or perception of the ingredients than actual taste.
The birds nest soup example started out with how delicious the soup was… until it was told what the ingredients were and then it had to be choked down. If it is delicious it is delicious. The ingredients aren’t going to kill you (and birds don’t normally shit in their nests).
But seriously… T-Bone Steak… Swordfish…anything with mushrooms? I can see some things with a stronger taste like Bleu Cheese (although I love it), but even things like Calamari… it tastes mainly like fried spiced batter with a hint of the sea in it. I almost guarantee if you didn’t know it was octopus you wouldn’t have any problem with it.
But then again, I won’t hold it against anyone who feels differently. I can’t stand Brussels Sprouts. I’ve tried them many times and prepared many ways. People keep telling me “but you will like them like this” and the result is always the same. I want to like them, but I just don’t for whatever reason.
Texture or the source though I don’t get. You can serve me Squirrel Spleen in Squid Ink marinade I’ll gladly try it… If it tastes delicious I’ll gladly continue eating it after you tell me what it is. If it doesn’t taste good I’ll politely decline the next bite.
I like pretty much everything so this rarely if ever happens to me, but the last time was probably something with A LOT of raw red onions in it. I like a little bit of raw red onions, but I do not like when there is too much of them.
Gefilte fish, at seder [token goy] with my wife’s family. I was assured that it was the highest quality gefilte fish, made with the best fish prepared with time-honored techniques, imported from Brooklyn.
It’s still cold mushy fishloaf. But I ate a few pieces and smiled.
I also don’t eat anything I don’t like. I am not very picky and there are very few things that I don’t eat. That being said, I cannot choke down food that I don’t like. My gag reflex is too strong.
Hardboiled eggs. Just looking at them squicks me out for some reason. Fortunately I can manage not to show this reaction, but there’s no way I could bring myself to eat anything that contains them.
Raw carrots – I used to love carrots and veggie dip, until I was 11 and had a nasty bout of stomach flu. I had eaten a bunch of carrots sticks earlier in the day and since then, every time I try to eat raw carrots, I start gagging and can’t finish. Now, I do like COOKED carrots, and carrot cake, but raw ones? Can’t do it.
Well prepared, flawless calamari is mouthwateringly tender and delicious, but even a slight deviation from that level of perfection means there is going to be a hint of rubbery bite. Me, I can enjoy that chewiness. But I can also relate to someone who is repelled by it. Texture isn’t a minor consideration; if anything it is even more important than taste.
I guess I’m the opposite. Give me something that tastes amazing and I don’t care if the texture is slimy, mushy, gritty, crunchy, or whatever… the taste is what matters to me when it comes to food.
I guess I’ll agree to a compromise… if something tastes great and there is one version that is slimy and another that is “normal” I’ll probably prefer the “normal” version, but if the only version of a wonderful taste is slimy then I’ll be happy to eat it anyway.
But texture still doesn’t explain how something can change from delicious to hideous once they find out the ingredients.
The last several times I ate swordfish the sides and bottom of my tongue began to itch and swell up a little. So I don’t try swordfish any more.
Other than that, if it’s food, I eat it and enjoy it. If I put something in my mouth and discover that it tastes horrible, I slip into Food Pope[sup]TM[/sup] mode and decree that it is not made out of food.
Bruce, I apologize for spoiling your enjoyment of your nachos and I promise that if you and I ever meet at a Dopefest, I’ll take you out afterwards for portabella and steak. And pears with cheese, too, if pears are in seasonn.
Both taste and texture matter to me, but texture is usually the deal breaker.
I adore asparagus, but it must be barely cooked. Brilliant green and barely steamed or lightly roasted and I’m a happy girl. I have a dear friend, however, who customarily boils it until it separates into unappetizing droopy strings. As much as I cherish her friendship, I just can’t gag it down. Tried once and nearly came to regret it. They would have, too. It was a near thing.
Just thought of another one, and friends gagged it down on my account. I still feel bad about it.
They had come over to help me learn to mushroom hunt. Boletes are easy, so we focused on those. Gathered up a whole bunch. The mushrooms had a little forest tilth stuck to them, as you would expect. Not knowing better, I submerged the whole lot in a pan of water to clean off the bits of soil. I later learned this was the worst thing I could do. Boletes soak up water like little sponges. When sauteed, they release all this moisture into a slimy mess that would give okra a run for its money. Worse, even.
When I realized that the saute idea wasn’t working, I decided to invent a Plan B and made the glop into mushroom soup. Again a bad move.
I eventually ended up serving my friends large bowls of exquisite mushroom flavored snot. The more it cooled, the slimier it got. They choked it down their gullets with game smiles plastered on their faces. I couldn’t do it. The whole batch went into the compost heap.
Now I just dust boletes off with a pastry brush and dehydrate them. Ground into a fine powder, they add a lovely flavor to soups and stews.
Even though I’ve said several times to my wife that I don’t really like octopus (the taste isn’t revolting, it’s just unpleasantly chewy), she’l occasionally prepare a meal of just sliced octopus with some olive oil and chopped onion. And then she’ll be shocked when I remind her that I don’t like octopus. I’ll still eat a little of it, but I can’t do a whole plate of it.
Recently, going out to dinner, a friend mentioned that she loves raw oysters. It didn’t sound appealing to me, but since I’d never tried them, I decided to give it a go. It was the most revolting thing I think I’ve ever eaten, but since that was all that was available at that restaurant, I ate about 6 or 7 of them. Afterwards, I told them I wasn’t doing that again.
And in college, I’d go with my Chinese friends to Chinatown, where they’d order the dishes that weren’t on the English menus. It always tasted a bit too ‘off’ to my white suburban palate to be pleasant, but I went through with it just to try new stuff. Nowadays it would probably taste just fine to me.
I’m really, really glad I wasn’t taking a sip of water when I read that. If I had been, you might owe me a new laptop.
I think gefilte fish is a food you have to grow up eating in order to like. You’re right, it’s just cold, mushy fishloaf, but I love it!
My most recent encounter with an undesirable food served to me by a friend was Waldorf salad made with mini marshmallows. Based on a quick Google, that’s actually a pretty common recipe, but I stand firm in my belief that marshmallows and celery should never, ever be in the same dish.
I spent a couple months on a Russian fishing boat. Most of the food was awful. But every day they made borscht and it was awesome. That and bread got me through the ordeal.
I lost 10 pounds. At the end of the trip they picked up some American food. Dannon yogurt. Even starving I won’t eat yogurt! gah!
Last summer the CEO of my husband’s company and his wife (before he agreed to come work for them) took us out to eat. I ordered crab cakes and they were fantastic. I commented on how good they were. So they had the company Christmas party at their house and, remembering how much I like crab cakes, she made them. They were so full of hot pepper I could hardly choke them down. It was like setting my mouth on fire.