For as long as I can remember, I’ve been repulsed by the taste of bell peppers. Cooked, they are especially disgusting, but they’re also disgusting raw, and their odor is even more repellent to me in this state. I hate them. Yuk, yuk, yuk.
I’m sure most people have similar feelings about other foods-- lots of folks have an item or two they can’t stand. But why? Where does that gut-level, as-long-ago-as-you-can-remember aversion to a particular food item come from?
It doesn’t seem to be genetic, since all my forebears loved the vile things, and indeed, seemingly found few greater joys in life than setting steaming salvers of them before me throughout my childhood. And I have to assume that I was not molested with a bell pepper in my prelinguistic infancy-- so many people have food aversions that I can’t imagine we were all victims of kinky uncles raiding the larder for improvised edible sex toys.
Finally, I can’t see an evolutionary basis for this, since bell peppers, repulsive as they are, are not, strictly speaking, toxic. (Though I still maintain that I would die and go mad, in that order, if I ever had to choke down a whole one.)
So, that’s it. Why are some people so unwilling to eat certain foods either in a box, with a fox, or under any other circumstances?
I don’t know. For me it’s mushrooms. They trigger an automatic gag reflex and makes me want to throw up the second it’s in my mouth. I cannot see any environmental reason for this effect on me what so ever. It’s been this way since I was younger. To this day I still cannot eat a mushroom no matter the preparation. And believe me I’ve tried several times because they look good, and smell good, but my mind/body says “hell no” when it comes time.
I have the same problem. There’s an overwhelmingly bitter taste I get from yellow and green ones, that ruins whatever dish they’re in for me. Bizarrely, though, I don’t mind the red ones, and happily munch away on Hungarian paprika, jalapenos, chillis, etc.
A lot of people claim cilantro tastes like soap to them. Seems that a genetic cause hasn’t yet been proven, so I was being a bit hopeful there. Similarly, some people find that cucumber tastes overwhelmingly unpleasant and bitter, while other people love them.
Count me in on the bell pepper aversion. My throat simply closes when I taste them. I can’t even eat food that has been placed next to them on, say, a vegetable platter. This is not at all the same as my refusal to eat mushrooms, which is solely based on texture and does not cause anything close to the violent revulsion I have for peppers.
I’ve always speculated that the pepper aversion is actually physically based, almost an allergic-type reaction, while the the mushroom thing is only a matter of preference. Peppers cause a lot of the same symptoms as shellfish does (do?) but not as severe, and I’m violently allergic to shellfish.
I’ve hated green bell peppers ever since I can remember. I think I heard somewhere that the green ones are actually unripe versions of mature peppers that would eventually become tangy & sweet red/orange/yellow bell peppers if allowed to fully ripen. Now those are yummy and I can eat them raw or cooked. Maybe there’s a good reason to be instinctively repulsed by unripe food?
I have the same repulsion to black olives, and like green ones. Although I think the ripe/unripe situation is backwards here.
Why would there be? Our ancestors pretty much had to eat anything they could find; they didn’t have the luxury of being as picky as we are.
With only three exceptions I love every food I’ve ever tasted. The three are kidneys, haggis and limburger cheese . . . which are all easy to avoid. As far as green peppers are concerned, the green ones are ok, but I greatly prefer the yellow/red ones; they’re milder and sweeter.
I guess what I’m asking y’all is: How do these preferences arise in the first place? How does it come to happen that I love anchovies but hate capers? I’m looking for someone to provide some scientific, or at least psychological, explanation.
I agree on the peppers. I hate the taste of them, and I also hate re-tasting them the rest of the day if I accidentally eat something that has had a pepper next to it. Red, green, yellow, any of them, bleccch. Strangely, I have no problem with the dried pepper flakes that you sprinkle on pizza. Nor do I have a problem with spiciness in general. I think there must be some substance in the fleshy part of the pepper that is irritating to me. It’s a shame, too, because these vegetables are very nutritious. And pretty.
Apparently while green peppers color when ripe, different cultivars are used for different colors.
I am unable to eat liver, and dislike fish. I have kept aquariums at various times, and the odor when cleaning puts me off fish, as well as the concept of eating my little friends. Liver I cannot explain.
Add another one to the hates bell peppers, but LOVES hot peppers committee. The hotter the better.
Now my real aversion is to broccoli. I don’t even want to be in the same place when it’s cooking. Mrs. Butler eats lots of broccoli when I’m out of town.
I don’t know why, but bell peppers cause me to burp for hours. Even a small bit will trigger some burping. I assume my strong dislike for the taste of bell peppers, regardless of color, stems from that - it’s uncomfortable and embarrassing, though harmless.
Other varieties of pepper don’t have the same effect on me and I will happily, for instance, suck the pimentos from stuffed green olives.
I had absolutely no idea. I’ve grown peppers, green, banana, hot, etc. I always harvested the green ones when they were large. They might have a small streak of red, but I thought they were ripe, that colored were a different variety. Wow, learn something new everyday.
Another vote that green Bell peppers are not good. I also don’t like red onions. They’re not revolting, and I’ll eat them if needed, but they’re simply not tasty. Just like Brussels Sprouts.
But all other onions and the other colored Bell-like peppers are fine.
And in general I’m the King of Spicy Food. Hot wings you can smell from three tables away? Those would be mine. I eat Jalapenos like other people eat peanuts. I’ve got several varieties of habanero sauce for various dishes, including green salad (try it, you’ll like it! It’s even low in fat). In general I like savory or spicy a lot more than I like sweet.
Finally, I don’t like mustard in any form; mustard’s bad enough even a little dab will pretty well ruin anything. That stuff I eat only if the alternative is going hungry. And sometimes not even then.
Clearly there is a lot of variation between different people’s tastes. And no particular need for consistency in any one person’s taste.
I find them to be very off-putting in taste and in odor. Same goes for mushrooms. If someone puts them in my food, I can smell it a mile away and picking them out does not help.
Oddly, you can throw some of the stinkiest sharpest cheeses on my plate and I will wolf it down. Except for one greek cheese that tasted like feet.
As far as genetics, I will say that my grandfather was the same way. Mushrooms, onions, peppers nothing. And using that starving children line didn’t work on him. He grew up quite poor in Germany and then right after he came to the states, the Depression hit and he was out of work. He still wouldn’t eat a lot of things.
Some tastes seem to vary through life. For example, my mom says when I was a toddler, I just loved eating bananas and cottage cheese. Then until my early 20’s I hated the taste of bananas, and now since then I tolerate them but they aren’t my favorite. Cottage cheese I still can’t stand.
I’ve heard it said that your taste buds change about every 7 years, so you can find yourself liking things you didn’t before or not liking things you used to. The psychological side could be that you remember not liking something and don’t want to try it again. (I was this way with bananas, but finally decided to try them again and found myself liking them)
Liver I cannot explain.