I do think that some people have taste buds that make cilantro taste like soap and brussel sprouts taste rancid.
Impressive, at our house only the cat yaks on the oriental rug. He used to yak in the fringe, the hardest place to clean up. I started wondering if he was chewing on the fringe, which made him yak, but never caught him at it…
I hated mushrooms for the first 30 years of my life. Then one day, I liked them. Don’t know what happened.
My mother was also in the “canned vegetables” camp. I don’t like peas, and it directly relates to being forced to eat canned peas as a kid. Salads were iceberg lettuce with French dressing, because my dad liked French dressing. No tomatoes, no peppers, no croutons, no cheese (except powdered Parmesan cheese from a can - blech!) no other dressings that actually taste good. So I didn’t eat much salad as a kid either.
I like it now, although I almost never have iceberg lettuce.
This is my list of foods I dislike in any way/shape/form, raw/cooked- you name it. Not including less common foods- there’s usually a reason they are exotic, ie not many do like them…
green peas!- I can tolerate them cold in a salad if they are sparse. Still remember sitting at the kitchen table as a 6 year old forever because I wouldn’t eat my peas- even to get dessert.
liver (however I do like liver sausage sometimes- go figure)
squash- acorn and other winter varieties
yams- sweet potatoes (tolerate fries of same sometimes)
lima beans
edamame
cilantro (not because it tastes soapy)
coffee- smells fine but even in tiramisu I can taste it- bitter no matter how much milk/sugar
tea
most beer- an little bit sometimes if followed by something to take away the aftertaste
There are other foods I wouldn’t choose but tolerate better. My H’s favorite vegetable is peas and except for liver all of my intense dislikes are things he likes. Being a good cook/wife I will cook these for others as long as I don’t have to eat them. H makes his own coffee and teas however. Every so often I try a sip but just can’t tolerate them.
I do not tolerate much red pepper- I have plenty of taste sensors and a little goes a long ways (there was a Scientific American? article several years ago about this). Would not eat peanut butter or most soups until later- past my 20’s?
The “just can’t eat” title is excellent. The list of plain dislikes is of course much longer for everyone. However- can’t limit myself to just one- unless it is peas. Even the smell nauseates me.
Was this in the parenting manual back in the '60s? My mother did the same thing to me. I had to sit at the table until I ate my peas or bedtime.
Still traumatized… :-&
I’m way too picky. Despite effort to get over my intense dislike I still can’t face lima beans, Brussels sprouts, broccoli, peas, squash, oysters, clams, or any organ meats. Dh loves them all. I’ll cook any veggie for him except lima beans. I don’t drink coffee, tea or beer. If my doctor ever tells me to give up dietCoke, I’ll be in trouble.
All the foods listed above seem pretty tame. I draw the line at Balut (duck or chicken embryo slurped out of the shell. A delicacy in the Philippines.
http://www.bizarrefood.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/balut.jpg
I have to be starving on a desert island before I eat this.
I can not stand chicken feet, any insects, blood from any animal. Yuck!
Somehow my wife believes in drinking dandelion tea. Occasionally she tried to convince me that it would do me good if I drink it. (she has not been very successgful.)
At one time, I heard that when DS caught cold at school, his GF made some “tea” similar to this (do not know what kind exactly) and asked him to drink it and he did (love could make a person “irrational”. It is likely her mom who mails her this “self-help” stuff, otherwise where can she buy this kind of stuff in a small city in US?!) We think we could not be successful in making him drink something which tastes as bad as this but she could. It is telling. (We have never introduced any “non-traditional” medicine to him when he was growing up with us. We ourselves were fed too much of this and sometimes something even worse; so both of us do not like this part of “tradition” ourselves. But as my wife becomes older, she has the tendency to go back to the “old world” in recent years.)
I’ll eat most anything except cilantro (although given that I love Mexican food avoiding it is nearly impossible) , okra, tripe, and due to an unfortunate childhood experience, corned beef.
Count me in the “roasted brussel sprouts are like candy” camp. I think I’ll make some right now!
Cilantro tastes like soap!!! Don’t like it won’t eat it, but I love brussel sprouts–especially roasted. I agree they are like eating candy. I also won’t eat brain or other organs.
Cottage cheese, I just can’t do it. Also add me to the list of canned frosting haters.
The number 5 item in this link is what I dare not eat, pig’s blood cake. I think it will throw 99% of people here off.
http://blog.travelandleisureasia.com/food-drink/2010/01/25/5-unusual-taiwanese-night-market-snacks/
A web site mentioned this food is actually banned here.
The oyster omelet is tasty to me though (the picture in the above link does not do it justice, as the oyster is not cooked as shown in the picture. When it is cooked, it looks just like an omelet but softer/watery and more irregular shaped. It is just a “sea food” omelet.
Goat cheese. I love cheese but this doesn’t work. Something about the slippery texture and tanginess
My friend and I were at an Asian market here in Southern California and all these people were buying these beautiful blue duck eggs. My friend said, “That’s because duck eggs make great omelets.” So we bought some.
Back home, we cracked the first one and SCREAMED in horror when a bloody, fully developed duck fetus fell into the bowl. Neither of us heard of this “delicacy,” and, boy, this was NOT the way to be introduced to it. SHUDDER!!!
Then there’s this story that’s been in the news here for the past few days:
http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-raccoon-supermarket-investigation-20150211-story.html
@nottelling, I guess you have won the competition of posting the most disgusted food!
(I actually do not know what the blue duck egg is. There is some kind of duck egg though.)
I really miss the Hangtown Fry that Mallorys hotel made in Portland.( traditional omelet from Gold Rush days with oysters & bacon,& parsley or spinach)
I also love brussel sprouts. Try them grilled with balsamic vinegar.
I really hate prime rib. Dont like lutefisk either.
Having lived in Asia, I have certainly run up against some items that make my blood run cold. Balut is #1 (lol at your story, notteling) The stinky tofu as mentioned in the Taiwanese article above is another. Fermented foods from other cultures are hard to process. SE Asian fish paste. I like kimchi however, and would try the pigs blood cake, having grown up with British black pudding, which is similar.
Here in N. America, I’ll eat about anything, though avoid many typical foods due to the lack of nutritional value as well as taste. Having never eaten a fast food hamburger is rather a point of pride, and they do disgust me. But I will eat organ meats, though have had few in recent years. Back in the day, my mom was into Weston Price, and I grew up with large amounts of organ meats, everything imaginable. Brains were our favorites, made into fritters. These days I’d not trust them due to prion diseases.
Licorice
root beer
snails
liver
brains
tripe
ETA tongue
Rocky mountain oysters. Look it up.