I can hardly conceive of disliking mushrooms, but I know lots of people do. Like with cilantro, there doesn’t seem to be a lot of middle ground. Do you know anyone who disliked mushrooms at first and acquired a taste for them later? For the people who dislike mushrooms, what do they taste like to you? Were you exposed to them from a young age, or did you not encounter them until later in life?
To me, there is very little more delectable, simple, and savory than a thin sauteed mushroom. I never get tired of them. When I go to a Chinese buffet, I could eat an entire plate of them. But I was exposed to mushrooms at a very young age, because my dad was a hunter and brought home fresh morels several times a year. I’m kinda wondering if childhood exposure is key to developing a taste for mushrooms? Or is that just a coincidence?
I’ve had them from a young age and I dislike them. My problem: texture. It’s like eating a little slimy leech.
I use Cream of Mushroom soup in recipes and have no problem with it. But I do pull out the slimy little squares when I run into them in a fork-full of food.
To me, mushrooms have two major flavor components: A generic protein-ish flavor, which is fine, and a distinctively mushroomy flavor (which can’t really be meaningfully compared to anything else), which I dislike. In some dishes, the protein flavor predominates (a mushroom pizza is no problem, for instance), but in others, the mushroomy flavor is highlighted. Morels seem to have a lot more of the mushroomy flavor, with the result that I can’t stand them.
I was exposed to mushrooms from a young age. They literally taste and smell like shit, and the slimy texture of cooked mushrooms also disgusts me. The smell alone of cooking mushrooms is enough to make me gag. I used to have a hard time even choking down the ones that make you see pretty colors (although, those aren’t exactly cultivated for their pleasing taste).
I did not like mushrooms when I was a child. Later in life I dated a girl who liked mushrooms and I thought eating them would help me get laid, so I did and they were good. I’ve met plenty of people who say they didn’t like mushrooms when they were a child, and plenty among those who changed their mind later in life, by no means all of them though.
I hated mushrooms growing up, and I still have an aversion to some of them. Mainly, canned or jarred mushrooms; the texture really puts me off.
I was an adult before I realized that there were indeed mushrooms that weren’t slimy and disgusting. I really like most wild mushrooms, and portabellos are OK as well. The common white ones still seem a little slimy to me, and never in my life will I eat a canned, jarred, or pickled mushroom.
Mushrooms aren’t the only “polarizing” foods. There are many others, like broccoli, spinach, brussels sprouts, peanut butter, root beer, anchovies, haggis, etc.
For the record, I LOVE all of these foods, except haggis.
There are certain peculiar flavor and odor compounds that are most commonly found in mushrooms which many people find to be distinctively unpleasant. The most famous one is 1-Octen-3-ol, also known as “mushroom alcohol.” It is:
Note that different mushrooms contain very different levels of these kinds of compounds, of course. The popular “button mushroom” found on American pizzas is famously mild compared to the more flavorful, much more expensive “delicacy” mushrooms that connoisseurs enjoy.
My brother didn’t like mushrooms as a kid, he eats them now. However, his main exposure to mushrooms was those horrible canned ones. I preferred mushrooms on pizza from an early age, I never cared for the grease of pepperoni.
I like the taste of mushrooms actually, but there’s a texture thing that’s definitely too much for me (even fresh cooked, top quality mushrooms have inherent crunchsquish which I don’t like). Mushrooms cooked into things are good, even as a major part of the dish as in Chicken marsala, but I don’t eat the mushrooms themselves for the most part.
What little taste mushrooms have is pretty neutral to me. I dislike the taste, but not a lot. interface2x, however, sums up why I hate mushrooms perfectly:
Even the ones that aren’t slimy have an unpleasant texture to them that I simply can’t stand.
Haggis is one of those foods like chili or ice cream: no two people make it the same way. Some chili is basically bean soup, while other chili is essentially very thick creamy beef stew. It can be mild, spicy, flavorful, bland, thin, or thick, and it’s still chili.
I’ve had haggis all over Scotland and in faires, Burns suppers, St. Andrews dinners, and highland games all over the U.S., and it’s never the same twice. I’ve had haggis on a stick, bag haggis, pot haggis, haggis-stuffed chicken, haggis burgers, haggis with neeps and tatties, haggis on a cracker, haggis-coated salmon, haggis in a can, and haggis in a puff pastry. Some is pretty bad*. Most is quite good. Some is awesome.
If you have only had haggis once or twice, don’t give up. There’s some wonderful food out there you’re missing out on.
I hated mushrooms as a kid but now love them. I’m not sure when the jump happened since I had a long period of just not eating them. I think it was around college or after that I developed an appreciation for them. I think I used to think of them as slimy and weird tasting as a kid and now appreciate the textures and varieties of flavor (woody, meaty, etc) that didn’t make much impression on a seven year old.
I never liked them as a child, and the smell of cooking ones made me somewhat ill. (also warnings from parents about NOT eating any of the wild ones we found, combined with their “weirdness”)…as compared to say fruit off of a tree…
I can eat them now, but dont really enjoy the taste or texture, except for those giant portebellos that can mimic a hamburger when cooked correctly. Those are great!
I wonder if some of the dislike is partially hardwired…? (no facts to back this up, just thinking out loud)
They dont smell or taste like most of things that early humans ate, they tend to grow out of decaying/ and or dead materials…or just dark places…and eating the wrong ones can cause some really serious trouble.
I generally have strong opinions for or against different foods, but mushrooms? Meh. I can take or leave them. Mostly I will leave them, but I don’t hate them.
I strongly disliked mushrooms as a kid, and I am still not found of cooked mushrooms. However, I love raw mushrooms in salads, etc. Completely different taste!
I hated mushrooms as a kid, but love them now. The flavor is nice at meaty and they add to just about anything. I suspect it was the texture thing; I don’t have a problem with it now, but I was far more picky as a kid. I’d suggest that if you hate the texture, use fresh ones in recipes; they are not slimy.
I disliked canned slimy mushrooms growing up, but liked mushroom soup. Today I still dislike canned slimy mushrooms, but they haven’t been offered to me in years either at restaurants or in a home.
Raw or sauteed mushrooms are ok with me. Overall, I find that mushrooms complement other things pretty well.
