I haven’t tried a lot of organ meats, eyeballs, etc (though I eat turkey heart every Thanksgiving and love it), but I’d be willing to give them all a shot at least once. I’d also try insects, and I’m kind of morbidly curious to try an earthworm.
As for stuff I commonly come across, I am always very reluctant to eat:
-artificial sweeteners,
-most non-fried seafood,
and
-romaine lettuce*,
but I’ll choke them down if I have to.
I will absolutely not touch:
-cilantro,
and prefer not to be in the same room with it.
*the second to last time I ate romaine I gagged and almost vomited, but then I tried it again a couple months later and managed just fine, so I’m still ranking it above cilantro.
There’s no “NO WAYs”! for me, but as far as things I’ve tried that I didn’t particularly care for, the only thing I’ve had that was offensive, so far, is surströmming, a Swedish fermented herring. I liked pickled herring and strong flavors in general, but this stuff is in another league. I reckon it’s probably similar to that fermented shark the Icelanders eat. The stuff smells like a cross between a fresh dog turd and rotting flesh, and attracts flies just as effectively. (Seriously, when I opened up a can of this stuff on my stoop, within a minute it seemed as if all the flies in the neighborhood had gathered on my front steps.)
I’ve never had balut, though, but I think I might have some difficulty trying to get that down.
I don’t like the idea of eating reptiles (you might convince me to eat gator, but snakes are right out) and there’s no way I’m eating anything’s brain.
I attended a dinner party in the Philippines at which balut was served. I did not partake (when I saw it, I decided it was NOT vegetarian), but a number of my classmates did. One of them really liked it. One of them declared herself to be immune from disgusting food because she’s Mexican and has eaten every part of the animal. The rest were not impressed. Apparently it wasn’t the flavor that was bad, it was the texture that was gross.
It’s been mentioned by the Queen before in a previous thread about foods you hate (can’t find the silly thread now, but it was there, damnit), but nonetheless it bears repeating.
Until my final breath of life while upon this mortal plane, I stand by what I consider to be The. Most. Hated. Food. Everlasting: lima beans.
The very **words **make me shudder with horror.:eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek:
I’m so NOT there with almost all of you, except for aruvqan. Liver and lima beans I agree with. And wet bread except in stuffing and onion soup. Yum.
Jello salad. Any jello containing Miracle Whip, cottage cheese, cole slaw, or marshmallows. That shit is a sin against God and man.
Mayo-based “salads.” That includes seafood, egg, macaroni, and potato. Odd, because I adore seafood, eggs, macaroni, and potatoes. Tuna steaks are great, tuna salad is fishy barf. (Yeah, I know. I’ve also never seen The Godfather.)
Any good peasant cuisine eats tip-to-tail. I’ve eaten most parts of the animal: from brains to eyeballs to intestines, stomachs, hearts, kidneys, etc. But a fertilized duck egg would give me pause.
Pretty much everything that lives underwater.
Mayo.
Brussel sprouts.
Parts of a chicken or turkey that ain’t breast.
Offal.
Beef.
Fresh tomatoes.
Sweetcorn.
I was going to agree with the wet bread thing (Summer Pudding makes me gag), but then again, I absolutely love bread and gravy - if there’s gravy left at the end of a Sunday roast, and I’m hungry, I can very happily tuck into slice after slice of bread soaked in gravy.
Pretty much anything else is OK (hence the username). Durian didn’t work for me, but I’ve only tried it in preserved form.
-I agree with soggy, overcooked noodles. Add rice to that.
-I have thrown up from the mere smell of canteloupe. Not only will I not eat it, I actually have a physical fear response, as if I am in some sort of danger, when I see it.
-Raw or even rare meat. Get away.
Everything else is pretty much ok as long as it’s not slimy.
I am hard pressed to think of any serious food aversions.
Processed cheese is the only thing that comes to mind - whether it’s Cheez Whiz,Velveeta, those nasty little “slices” which aren’t sliced off of anything, aerosol cheese product, “American Cheese” of the sort used in hotel omelettes and which I have been assured by earnest U.S. Dopers is not like real “American Cheese” which is asserted to more closely resemble cheese - all of these things fall well short of anything that might reasonably be classified as “food.”
Oh, I might also add that (while I am grateful for the gift of lactobacilli and appreciate the tireless work that those little bastards put in transforming mere milk into something that’s much more useful in the kitchen) I can confess that I am at a total loss when contemplating the appeal of kimchi. Sauerkraut is something I can get my head around. Kimchi is a mystery to me.
This is a bad time of year for me, because I really don’t like any of the fall vegetables. Gourds of any kind - pumpkin, squash, I’m not liking any of it. I also don’t care much for sweet potatoes, turnips, beets, brussel sprouts, radishes, rutabaga, etc.
