# What is the most disgusting thing you have ever tasted? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 9, 2010, 12:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-disgusting-thing-you-have-ever-tasted/542527 "2010-06-09T12:34:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Tanaqui](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3bc359/32.png) [@Tanaqui](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tanaqui)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2010, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-disgusting-thing-you-have-ever-tasted/542527/81 "2010-06-10T14:50:35Z")
> [@MoodIndigo1](#): > > Silkworm, sea urchin, grilled spleen. All of those have a texture that I loathe. I will fourth or fifth sea urchin. I hear it’s supposed to taste better if it’s really fresh, but the one I had at a party in the middle part of Japan (e.g. as far away from the sea as possible) was disgustingly bitter. It’s not just that it tasted bad, it tasted _wrong_. Like something that no human should be eating. :eek: Not supposed to be eaten… I once accidentally ate a fly that landed on my hamburger. That was pretty disgusting. Tasted a lot like uni, actually. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![MeanOldLady](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/meanoldlady/32/10737_2.png) [@MeanOldLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MeanOldLady)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2010, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-disgusting-thing-you-have-ever-tasted/542527/82 "2010-06-10T14:50:41Z")
> [@Panurge](#): > > That’s what I was going to say! I don’t think our snake had a scorpion in its mouth though, but the bottle looked like the one in your picture. Also: stale beer with cigarette butts. I had both on the same evening. Did it, or did it not, taste like raw, horrible death? > [@Cicero](#): > > Which part of the question does oral sex belong in? Oh come now, it’s not that bad. Females aren’t, anyway, who have an infinitely more palatable taste than men. ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2010, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-disgusting-thing-you-have-ever-tasted/542527/83 "2010-06-10T15:35:06Z")
1. I’m at a loss because I’ve probably tasted worse, but all the mentions of Thrills gum brings to mind [C. Howard’s Violet Gum](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C._Howard%27s_Violet_candies), which has a nasty perfumy-soapy taste. Ugh. There’s a similar kind of flavored drop from a Scandinavian country, I think, which also has a violet flavor. Similarly, it’s a bad idea to eat those as well. I wonder if that flavoring has survived merely on sales from sheer curiosity and dares from others. Oh, and in middle school I found the taste of caviar pretty awful. Being a vegetarian these days I won’t have the opportunity to re-evaluate it with a better palate. 1. Probably the formaldehyde with pureed mouse bits in it, as a result of a mouth-pipetting error in college. I’ll take that over the aforementioned sulfuric acid any day, though! ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2010, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-disgusting-thing-you-have-ever-tasted/542527/84 "2010-06-10T16:26:26Z")
> [@](#): > > 1. I’m at a loss because I’ve probably tasted worse, but all the mentions of Thrills gum brings to mind C. Howard’s Violet Gum, which has a nasty perfumy-soapy taste. Ugh. There’s a similar kind of flavored drop from a Scandinavian country, I think, which also has a violet flavor. Similarly, it’s a bad idea to eat those as well. I wonder if that flavoring has survived merely on sales from sheer curiosity and dares from others. Okay – I have to object to this one. I grew up with C. Howard’s violet gum and violet mints, and I deny any “soapy” taste to them. They do taste “perfumy”, since most people associate violet with perfume, and not something you’d eat. But I do love the violet mints. I have a pack open on my dresser right now. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2010, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-disgusting-thing-you-have-ever-tasted/542527/85 "2010-06-10T19:02:13Z")
> [@tumbleddown](#): > > Intended to be eaten: Lychee fruit. I don’t know if it’s supposed to taste like an eyeball that’s been marinated in that stinky perfume that little old grannies wear or if the one I got was off, but it was the most horrible alleged food I’d ever put in my mouth, including omeboshi and lutefisk on the wrong side of a day too old.\ I think you did get some bad lychee - lychee is actually quite nice; a mild, pleasant-tasting fruit. I’d understand if you never wanted to try it again, though - I’m sure mussels are quite lovely, but after having a bad one, I’m not too keen on them, either. ---
**Author:** ![Panurge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/fbc32d/32.png) [@Panurge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Panurge)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2010, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-disgusting-thing-you-have-ever-tasted/542527/86 "2010-06-10T19:47:02Z")
> [@MeanOldLady](#): > > Did it, or did it not, taste like raw, horrible death? It did. What you see etc. It was absolutely foul and horrible - and I was so drunk at the time that I shouldn’t have been able to taste anything at all. A bizarre night, really. A friend of mine ate _The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufock_ to get the snake taste out of his mouth, I think. ---
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2010, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-disgusting-thing-you-have-ever-tasted/542527/87 "2010-06-10T19:51:06Z")
> [@Mangosteen](#): > > Dried Peyote buttons were really bad (but well worth it!), however the worst was Asparagus Juice, a popular box drink in Hong Kong. > > Who thought of that stuff? Heh, a friend of mine drank something called “Jew’s Ear Juice” in Hong Kong. Apparently, a quite disgusting mushroom compound. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2010, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-disgusting-thing-you-have-ever-tasted/542527/88 "2010-06-10T19:53:27Z")
> [@FloatyGimpy](#): > > Thrills gum is delicious! It’s what the tooth-fairy always used to bring. Mmm, soapy goodness! Count me in as perhaps the only (other?) person on the planet who actually likes Thrills. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![nikonikosuru](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/5f8ce5/32.png) [@nikonikosuru](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nikonikosuru)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2010, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-disgusting-thing-you-have-ever-tasted/542527/89 "2010-06-10T20:30:21Z")
Lychee tastes too flowery to me. Looks pretty, the first bite is always “Wow, I must’ve just had a bad one last ti-bleghghhhwharbblee!” ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2010, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-disgusting-thing-you-have-ever-tasted/542527/90 "2010-06-10T23:54:33Z")
> [@jjimm](#): > > Speaking personally, my can was on a table with another can of the same brand beer. And I was a bit drunk so didn’t notice the temperature difference until it was too late. Similarily, I used to have a thing for room temperture sodas and I had set my coke can down next to my brother’s spit receptacle. I did notice as I was taking a swig that it weighed more, but just a fraction of a second too late. ---
**Author:** ![jackelope](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a6a055/32.png) [@jackelope](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jackelope)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2010, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-disgusting-thing-you-have-ever-tasted/542527/91 "2010-06-11T00:05:04Z")
Jeppson’s Malört. ([Wiki](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mal%C3%B6rt), [taste test](http://www.avclub.com/articles/taste-test-jeppsons-malort,2529/).) The taste is so amazingly bitter that there’s actually a [Flickr group](http://www.flickr.com/groups/malortface/) dedicated to the faces people make when they drink it. It took me _weeks_ to finish the whole bottle. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2010, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-disgusting-thing-you-have-ever-tasted/542527/92 "2010-06-11T00:29:35Z")
> [@jackelope](#): > > Jeppson’s Malört. ([Wiki](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mal%C3%B6rt), [taste test](http://www.avclub.com/articles/taste-test-jeppsons-malort,2529/).) The taste is so amazingly bitter that there’s actually a [Flickr group](http://www.flickr.com/groups/malortface/) dedicated to the faces people make when they drink it. > > It took me _weeks_ to finish the whole bottle. Ah, Chicago’s very own Malort. I was actually a bit let down when I first gave my girlfriend a drink of it – she actually liked it from the first sip. I was hoping for the usual face-scrunching reaction. It is, indeed, perhaps the most bitter substance you’ll ever taste, being flavored with wormwood. But it’s also a popular drink in my family (all of who like very bitter flavors.) ---
**Author:** ![salinqmind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ec8ea/32.png) [@salinqmind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2010, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-disgusting-thing-you-have-ever-tasted/542527/93 "2010-06-11T00:31:20Z")
I bought a package of Krusteaz Lemon Bar mix as I was too lazy to make lemon bars from scratch. They came out of the oven with this weird rank smell, I can only describe it as “barn-like”. Of course we tasted them! Yup, tasted exactly like a nice, manure covered barn floor. Very odd, a packaged mix going bad like that. Krusteaz said it might have been improperly stored in the heat and turned rancid. ---
**Author:** ![Darth\_Panda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ee7513/32.png) [@Darth\_Panda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darth_Panda)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2010, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-disgusting-thing-you-have-ever-tasted/542527/94 "2010-06-11T14:25:54Z")
1 (meant to be eaten): some weird glazed fish thing in China - don’t know what it was, but it was covered in this slimy sticky sauce that was both too sweet and had a weird sickening pungent thing going on. It was also served whole and had a weird texture. 2 (not meant): One more vote for beer can with cig butts in it. So not cool. ---
**Author:** ![Qwakkeddup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/90ced4/32.png) [@Qwakkeddup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qwakkeddup)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2010, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-disgusting-thing-you-have-ever-tasted/542527/95 "2010-06-11T14:33:46Z")
1. Tried to figure out what the difference between Nestley’s chocolate mix and Hershey’s Coco. 2. Raw sewage, standing on a ladder looking for leaking pipe, it broke. 2a. Not me, friend got the munchies after drinking/smoking and ate **half** a bag of catfish cheese bait. He only stopped eating it because we took it away. ---
**Author:** ![Thing\_Fish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecb155/32.png) [@Thing\_Fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thing_Fish)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2010, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-disgusting-thing-you-have-ever-tasted/542527/96 "2010-06-11T16:24:49Z")
OK, just to establish credentials… I actually like a lot of things that have been listed thus far. My favorite pizza is anchovy, caper and olive. I enjoy very spicy foods as well, and will happily consume peppers that most people couldn’t tolerate. Sea urchin, eh, not my favorite, but OK. Having said that… 1. I forget the name…there’s a pub in San Mateo, California popular with British expats and other beer snobs. They have a “Habanero Burger” which is just ridiculously painful. I took one bite and was in AGONY. No amount of beer or water could quench the horrible, searing pain, and I eventually had to go in the bathroom…not to use the facilities, but just to curl up on the floor and sob in privacy. Not recommended. 2. In college I worked in a fast food restaurant which served sesame chicken nuggets…quite yummy, especially after a few beers. One night I was hanging out with some co-workers at their house and was offered a nugget which had been brought home from work. They neglected to mention that it had been brought home three weeks ago, and had been at room temperature since. Fortunately, it had solidified so that my teeth barely made a dent, but still…I get nauseated remembering the awful, putrid, rotten taste of death now, over twenty years later. I really tried to puke on the guy’s bedspread in revenge, but could only manage several minutes of convulsive dry heaves. ---
**Author:** ![6ImpossibleThingsB4Breakfast](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/6/e19adc/32.png) [@6ImpossibleThingsB4Breakfast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/6ImpossibleThingsB4Breakfast)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2010, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-disgusting-thing-you-have-ever-tasted/542527/97 "2010-06-11T16:31:12Z")
Dr Pepper Cherry. Would gladly eat a durian to get rid of THAT taste. Semen. Though preferable to the aforementioned Dr Pepper. ---
**Author:** ![senpai71](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7993a0/32.png) [@senpai71](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/senpai71)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2010, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-disgusting-thing-you-have-ever-tasted/542527/98 "2010-06-11T16:33:19Z")
1. Another vote for kimchi (sp?) 2. Vomit. Someone else’s vomit. She was very drunk and I was kissing her and she threw up in her mouth a little and…well, you get the picture. We subsequently married, so I don’t think it was the fact that she was kissing me that made her throw up… ---
**Author:** ![dobieman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7c8e57/32.png) [@dobieman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dobieman)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2010, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-disgusting-thing-you-have-ever-tasted/542527/99 "2010-06-11T16:35:35Z")
Maybe it’s something to do with the arctic environment but the talk of lutefisk and decomposed shark reminds me of what the Inuit here in Alaska (and not always just the Inuit for there are some Interior tribes serve this as well) also…uh…create. It’s called “stinky fish heads” and it is precisely that. Fish heads which are left to decompose for several weeks. I’ve never had any. I don’t intend to ever have any. But I know folks who swear by it (and a few who swear because of it). The Interior natives have a couple delicacies…stewed moose nose (the bulbous portion of a moose’s “muzzle”) and porcupine. I’ve also heard they can be tasty but again, I think I’ll stick to my escargot. That’s about as adventurous as I get unless you want to count Mickey D’s, which can be rather disgusting when you really think about it. ---
**Author:** ![Toxgoddess](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f08c70/32.png) [@Toxgoddess](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Toxgoddess)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2010, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-disgusting-thing-you-have-ever-tasted/542527/100 "2010-06-11T16:54:08Z")
1. Buffer containing chopped rat liver while mouth pipetting. The buffer contained sucrose, so it actually tasted sweet. But the idea was disgusting. That and 100% ethanol. Burned the inside of my mouth terribly. Really, mouth pipetting is not a great thing to let your students do. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-disgusting-thing-you-have-ever-tasted/542527.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-disgusting-thing-you-have-ever-tasted/542527.md?page=6)