What was the worst food you HAD to eat as a kid?

[Smileelisa]

Mine was mom's chicken noodle soup. After she made the soup, she didn't bother to remove the skin and bones. She also refused us crackers because she didn't like them. I still gag thinking about it and to this day refuse to eat chicken noodle soup. I make it for my husband but I don't touch it! (and mine doesnt have stuff floating in it)

[Morganna]

Fortunately my parents seldom MADE us eat things. If we didn't like what was being served for dinner, we could make ourselves a peanut butter sammich. My mother was generally a really good cook, and I liked the things she made, but there was one dish of hers I couldn't stand and came to dread the nights she was cooking it. Liver and onions. For some reason (I dunno, maybe because she liked it that way) she always scorched the heck out of the liver. I mean it was like blackened liver. That meant scorched onions, too. I couldn't STAND it. I hated the smell, and it stunk up the whole house. I have to assume she liked the burnt flavour because she just didn't scorch things in general, she was a much better cook than that.

However, I now adore liver and onions. :) I just don't scorch it, I put a little sage in the flour I coat the liver with, and I fry it with bacon. :) Nummy

[Smileelisa]

My mom was a pretty good cook too except for her fetish with the entire chicken being served in her soup. As the soup would cool (cuz I just couldn't eat it without gagging) it would congeal and get even nastier. She had this rule that you had to eat what was on the table regardless if you liked it or not. When I had my daughter and she didn't like a particular food I would always make her a hotdog instead. I would never force anybody to eat something they didn't like.

[romansperson]

My mother did the Weight Watchers diet in the '70s and it was required back then that you eat liver at least once a week. Fortunately my mom didn't make the rest of us eat it, but she burned the heck out of it too - on purpose. She said that was the way it 'tasted the least bad,' lol. The smell was indeed horrendous.

The one gag-worthy thing I had to eat as a kid was canned beets. Blech. And no getting up from the table until you've eaten them all, missy! I was so glad when we got a dog and I could sneak some down to him.

[betsydiver]

my mom put me on WW by the time i was nine so i had to eat the liver and onions also; i think i'd rather have had it burned than "pink in the middle" yujk... we're still here and catagorize ourselves as chowsters, right. whenever i'd tease my sister about being a lousy cook she'd rejoinder that she had 4 kids and they all grew up to live full and active lives, didn't they? I should say that mom redeemed herself the 1st time i came home for a visit from college; she made all my favs, antipasto salad and veal parmesan; this was quite amazing for a woman of German/Irish descent who had quite a time "sourcing" the ingredients in our small town.

[JenJeninCT]

But did your mom make the WW recipe "ketchup" to go with it?? Mine did- i still can't think of it, or liver, without gagging. Fortunately, that was a short-lived phase, and my parents basic rule was that you had to try a bite of whatever was served. If you didn't like it, you didn't have to eat it, and were on your own. Both of my parents were very good cooks for the most part, thank God, and exposed us to many, many different types of food at a young age. One of the things I didn't think about then, that I'm thankful for now!

[spellweaver16]

I'm lucky enough that when my grandma makes liver and onions, the people who don't want it get steak instead lol

[flourgirl]

That's funny - the one meal of my mother's that made me gag was her liver and onions. Gross. She didn't scorch it - i just thought it smelled horrible and the texture of the meat was disgusting.

[Saddleoflamb]

Bacon, liver and onions.....thank god for the family dog under the table.......and my dad tried to get creative with a Smithfield ham after an Xmas.....I think he attempted some sort of a hash.......out of respect the rest of the just sat around the table, pushing the creation around the plate, mumbling things like interesting....all with a slightly glazed look in our eyes until he finally relented and said enough already and we 86'd the mess and mom cooked up something edible..........everytime I see one of those clothe filled bags I get flashbacks.....

[buggybabe]

My mom's horrible liver and onions which was ALWAYS served with spinich. Even the family DOG didn't want it. The smell was just awful and I'd cry when I heard that was our "dinner". Used to beg my friends to ask if their moms would allow me to eat with them. Mom wised up to that and wouldn't allow me to go anywhere those nights. Wasn't till I gagged and threw up at the dinner table after eating that when she re-thought her forcing issue. To this day, I cannot be in a room where that is cooking!

[anna59]

Now that was a funny story, lol!!!

[raidar]

Liver indeed. For some reason it was always brutal. Tough as nails and dry as the dessert. I couldn't chew fast enough.

[meowzebub]

Just had to pipe up, even at this late date.

I'm laughing at the anti-liver and onions litany.

Our mother died and because A. my older sister was/is a disinterested -- read, "negligent" -- cook, B. our dad was "traditional" i.e., gender-bigoted and C. anyway, my three brothers were self-centered and undependable; at the age of ten, I had the job of making dinner for the whole family.

In the seven years until I left for college, the ONLY comment my father made to me re: the meals was the demand that I make the liver "that way" all the time. Not, that was tasty, I enjoyed it, or good job.

My daddy had a warm and loving personality . . . to everyone except his family. XD

[cmztrav]

I hear you, meowzebub. Thank god that you know now that you are a better person, and have peace in that knowledge. It takes effort but it can be done. Ask me in a few years if a daughter can get over a nasty father completely. I think the right path is to find a very kind man that takes care of you very nicely and shows you how sweet and nice life can be. I hope you can find that. Trust me, those good men are all over the place. Just run away from anyone that makes you feel weird inside. Go for happiness, you deserve it.

[PeteSeattle]

You remind me of a story of a couple of generations ago, Inland South of US, where a mother died of pelagra and dad had to get a surviving child daughter to cook.
It sounds like your father was a lot more patient and tolerant, and when you hit on something that you did right, he made sure you knew about it.
It's hard to break in a child who's filling in the shoes of a grownup, and it sounds like he had to put up with a lot of awful, awful meals that he dared not say a word to you about because then you'd both be crying over how what you made wasn't like your dear departed Mom's cooking! (And your sister proved herself hopelessly inadequate to the task)
Some people can cook, some people can't.
Half my brothers and sisters want only hamburgers and french fries PERIOD. The other half is so adventuresome we've had to take them to poison control for trying out things like Clorox instead of vinegar to poach eggs in.
Your sister sounds like the first, and you sound like the second, and your father sounded like he was long-suffering and patient.

[Full tummy]

My father was also a single father, who also put the burden of cooking (cleaning, too) on his children. Laundry, window-cleaning, dishwashing, cooking as per his recipes, and more, all done under his magnifying glass of perfection. I beg to differ: in such a situation, it is the child who is long-suffering and patient.

[piccola]

Despite what my mother says, liver isn't the reason I became vegetarian - but it sure as hell makes me glad I am.

[cuccubear]

A little late to be posting I know, but reading this thread I was amazed at how many folks mentioned the same things. When I read the OP, immediately I thought of Liver and Onions, Lima Beans and Creamed Corn. The latter two we _had_ to finish before we could be excused from the table.

Limas I have come to love, but the creamed corn – brrrr! I can’t take it by itself, running all over the plate like...like...I don’t know what!

The liver...Mom knew we didn’t like it so she would offer us some, but make us a hamburger or hot dog if we declined. I still won’t eat it.

[coll]

My father used to put out his after-dinner cigarette in his leftover creamed corn, and that's what it always reminds me of. Who cares what it tastes like, all I can imagine is an ashtray. But I do buy it to put in my cornbread, so no permanent scars.

[cuccubear]

Wow, that's funny. Did he ever eat any of it first, or was that his not-so-subtle condemnation of creamed corn?

[coll]

Oh no, creamed corn was his favorite vegetable I think. Mom would force us to eat all sorts of things, but the man of the house got only his favorites. Don't get me wrong, he deserved it! I don't remember, maybe there was no room on the table for an ashtray (we were sort of a big family) or something like that.

Actually my husband loves creamed corn too (not that I serve it that often) but if he ever put out his cigarette in it, I would kill him!

[buttertart]

It seems to be a guy thing, my two older brothers could float away on the amount of it they've consumed. I think it;s a terrible thing to do to corn myself.

[cuccubear]

Well, I guess at a crowded table, one has to put the cigarette out somewhere, might as well be the creamed-corn! :-)

[Epicuriouser]

My Dad would stub his cigarette out on his plate too- maybe Mom did as well. When doing the dishes it made the dishwater stink! Finally my outspoken sister, (there was one out of six) demanded that they use an ashtray. And they did!

[chicgail]

Most people I know don't even smoke any more, let alone at the table. I remember it (I've done it!) but it still sounds so '50s to me. Almost nostalgic if it didn't stink and affect the taste of the food.

[coll]

50s, 60s and 70s mainly. Til he died of lung cancer, unfortunately. Husband still smoking away, but not during dinner at least, well he probably would if I wasn't there . Never smoked myself, except for all the secondhand stuff. Not much I can do, except complain!

[EWSflash]

+1

[pikawicca]

I want you to know that I've been traumatized by the mental image of this act -- don't know if I'll ever be able to eat creamed corn again.

[coll]

Sorry! (Welcome to my nightmare)

[Sal Vanilla]

My mom did that too. No matter the food. If the food was gone - into the drink it went. Vile.

[phelana]

spam spiked with cloves and a brown sugar and oj glazeeeeeeeeeee....ewwwwwwwwwwwwww

[coll]

Wow that sounds so familar....

[EWSflash]

No way Spam as faux ham? Wild!

[somervilleoldtimer]

There's a story that's still told about me. I hated beef liver, and I had to eat it. Apparently, my mother was reading me a story in bed, after I had finished dinner and had dessert and brushed my teeth and put my pajamas on. I was chewing liver! It was the grisly bit. I had kept it in my cheek throughout pudding and minty toothpaste, and it was still there. I think that was the last time I remember my mother serving it.
Now and then I make my children eat chicken livers, gently sauted in butter with onions and paprika and served on toasted rye bread. Not so bad.

[Misslady30904]

Second to my great aunt's bird and chitlin stew its liver. My great aunt (may her soul rest in peace) made a stew from birds and chitlins and simmered it until it was tender. On days she would cook the stew she would invite folk over for dinner. We (mom, my aunt and any other wise relatives) would send my little cousin over to see what was for dinner because he would eat anything. He would come back and say "that bird stuff" and we made ourselves scarce for a few days until the leftovers disappeared. My stomach still flips when I think of that dish!

[EWSflash]

That's one of the funniest, greatest posts I've ever read on Chowhound- such close family and not wanting to hurt any feelings but watching out for one's best interests. Thanks for posting that!

[weewah]

Those old timers had to get by on some awful things. My grandma told me they used to snare robins to eat when she was a girl; bullets and shot cost too much to use. Children were served last, after the men and (secondly the) women. And when the meat was gone - it was gone. She said you don't know what it is to see the last piece of chicken being picked up and know you won't get any that day.
I guess once you go hungry, you're never as particular again.

[pine time]

My Dad was from a very poor family of 13. I've never seen any one eat as fast as he did, and he claimed it was from childhood: those who ate fast, ate. Those who didn't stayed hungry. Sad.

[ptrichmondmike]

Every time someone tells me they love liver and onions, I want to slap them...liars!

[The Professor]

Slap away if that floats your boat, but I love liver and onions and I'm not lying. Only chicken or calf livers, though. Tasted beef liver and hated it.

I would not _ever_touch liver and onions growing up (my mom made it all the time). In my 20's I was on tour with a show and in a restaurant in Chicago for dinner, I saw a plate of it go by, and it just looked good. To this day I don't know what made me order some, but I did...and loved it. been hooked ever since.

[Epicuriouser]

We lived on a farm and my father raised beef. When we butchered, the liver was on the table until the liver was gone. We liked it- I still like liver but I do believe it may be a bit genetic- you either like liver or you don't . No-one ever says that they sort of don't mind liver. It's all or nothing.

[racer x]

I was just talking about this with my mother the other day. She used to fry liver and onions for herself when we were kids, and we would all gag. She did it very infrequently because she knew how much we hated the smell. What surprised me during our conversation is that she didn't like liver herself when she was growing up, but came to love it as an adult.

[swsidejim]

liver
dad's tomato, and bean laced "chili"
canned butter beans
mom's boiled(blasphemy), and then grilled baby back ribs
salmon loaf
cream tuna on toast
frozen spinach

[tatamagouche]

Funny, I'm the 3rd liver voter. Do that many moms really make liver? Is it a generational or ethnic thing or what?

I'm 37, grew up with East Coast–raised Jewish parents, and can guarantee you none of my friends' moms in Oklahoma circa 1978 were making liver.

[swsidejim]

38, chicagoan. calves live once a month. I wouldnt eat it after trying it once or twice, I'd rather go hungry.

[swsidejim]

woops, darn posting at work, made me leave off the (r). calves liver, not calves live. ;-)

[DanaB]

It must have been generational rather than ethnic or regional. I'm a 41 year old WASP from Los Angeles, and in the 1970s my mom used to make liver and onions for dinner. I detested it. That and lima beans (frozen) were the two dishes she made that I refused to eat.

[swsidejim]

add frozen lima beans to my list as well.

Many a night there was a power struggle with those nasty beans left on my plate until I would finish them.

[broncosaurus]

Red or lima beans for me. Nowadays, I don't seem to mind refried beans in mexican food.

[Passadumkeg]

I was very fussy, but I liked my mom's calve's liver w/ onions and potatoes. I hated kielbasi and saurkraut and almost everything else. Loved her fried chicken(except when my brother was eating my southern fried pet rabbit, w/ a broken leg, when I was in 3rd grade.) w/ white rice and frozen sweet corn.

[asiansensation007]

your family fried your pet rabbit and served it to you for dinner??? thats just wrong.

[danhole]

My husbands brother had a rabbit and when it died they cooked it up for supper. It wasn't until after he ate he realized it was his former pet. Is that gruesome or what??? But their grandpa raised chickens and geese, and would kill them for supper, so I guess they figured meat is meat. I would have starved at their house.

[dolores]

Wow. Real life and all that, I guess. I can still see the chickens at my grandmother's house (no, she wasn't in the country) running around with their heads cut off. My cousin and I ran screaming into the house and closed ourselves in the bathroom.

<-----------city mouse.

[danhole]

His grandparents weren't in the country either. Smack dab in the heart of Houston! My DH has told me the stories, but thank heaven I never experienced it!

My daughter worked at a summer camp in Marble Falls one year, and they raised pigs. She told me all about this pig "Babe" that she would feed, and help take care of. At the ending ceremony we went up there and they served us lunch. The meat tasted a bit odd to me, so I asked what it was. She cheerfully said "Oh, that's Babe!" Discreet gag, dropped fork and went for some chicken, after asking if it was also named (it wasn't). Talk about a city mouse!

[flourgirl]

My SIL and her ex lived in Maine and one year they decided to raise hogs for meat. They bought three of them and promptly named them after three of her brothers - one of them being my husband. I know she and her husband thought it was hilarious but my husband - not so much.

[James Cristinian]

Dani, I know this an old post but, that's horrible. It brings to mind when I was a kid, and we used to get baby chickens for Easter. They were dyed different colors, blue, red, yellow, etc. When they got bigger, and their natural colors were coming back, our parents would take them to the edge of town, less well off folks, and give them a "better home." I'm certain the better home was a pot or frying pan. Now that I'm thinking about it, we had rabbits when I was a kid. I never knew what became of my Benjamin Bunny or my brother's Pinky.

[SonyBob]

I too brought a chick home from school. Dad built a pen for it and we kept it in the garage, fed it well and it thrived. Only problem was that it turned out to be a rooster and crowed at sunrise without fail. We always had chicken on Sunday and one Sunday we had an especially delicious bird.Dad was the nicest man I ever met but he wasn't a morning person. I cried when I figured out what happened but it really was the best fried chicken Mom ever made!
Bob

[Glencora]

And did the rabbit, your brother or you have the broken leg?

[Passadumkeg]

Glencora & 007, sorry, I was in a rush. My students were coming into class. I teach the grammar error I knew I made and was curious if I'd get called on. Good for you two.
I had a pet rabbit, Thumper, in 3rd grade. A neighbor's dog got to him and chomped his rear leg in half. In retrospect, we couldn't afford a vet and my mom said he ran away. I was eating fried chicken. My older brother was sitting to my right. I'm sure upon pain of death, he was told not to tell me that he was eating southern fried Thumper. But as older siblings often do, he ignored the threats and turned to me and said, "Mmmm, mmm, Thumper, sure is good". It suddenly hit me, I jumped up started crying and hitting him. I won't watch Bambi, but I hunt and fish and my brother is my best friend today.

[goodhealthgourmet]

the power of disney at work...our first-grade class also had a rabbit named thumper - i imagine kids all over the world used that name. but i'm pretty sure that in our suburban north jersey town no one thought to fry him up for dinner when he passed.

[Passadumkeg]

Hey, this was in Sayreville and my mom was a 1st grade teacher in Spotswood! I lived on a dead end st. and hunted every day after school.
NJ is still a popular hunting and fishing spot. In Sayreville they have problems with bears and Bon Jovi
I live in Maine now (As close to NJ as I want to be.) and just bought new fishing licences for my wife and me. But, know what's funny? Due to coyote predation and habitation loss, the eastern cottontail rabbit is about to be placed on the Me. endangered species list. We have one cottontale behind our house and I don't hunt him. But Bambi, on the other hand, is nothing but a long legged rat that eats my garden and commits suicide on my car bumper (twice). Umm, Umm finger lickin' good.

[goodhealthgourmet]

pdk: don't hate me for saying this, but i always thought of sayreville as being out in the boonies :)

mea culpa!

[Passadumkeg]

Yes, and I wish it still was. My "boonies" have been cut down and turned into infestations of row upon row of god awful ugly McMansions. It was a great place for a boy in the fifties. Now the same thing is happening to the small town in which I live in Maine. We are being beseiged by the big box store attack! Go away, corporate America!

[cosmogrrl]

Once in a Disney World restaurant, they had a venison steak with rabbit sausage. I told the waiter I wanted the Bambi and Thumper plate. He laughed quite hard, as did my companions....

Worst food I had to eat was split pea soup. HATED it. Probably one the only food wars I won with my mom. Still hate it. YUCKY

[Passadumkeg]

in Norway , I served a rein deer roast, w/a a Marrachino cherry stuck on the end, at a Xmas Eve dinner.

[EWSflash]

like Rudolph's nose?

[Scargod]

A widow, my mom brought up five of us by herself. There was little I didn't like and I think pickled beets was about all she wanted us to eat that I didn't care for. Once my brother puked when she made him eat one bite of beets!
We had pet chicks one easter and as they matured my mom said it was time to eat one. We ate it, but none of us had much of an appetite.

[Passadumkeg]

Hey, we got cases of pickled beets left over from my mother-in-law. Want some? Canned yams too. Sorry, no okra, she was a Yankee Boston Brahmin.

[James Cristinian]

Ok Passadumkeg, another response to an old post, but I can't resist. With regards to poor Thumper, my cat once brought home my neigbhbor's rabbit, with two neat, bloody holes in the neck that Dracula would have been proud of. Had we been more frugal, it would of gone the way of Thumper. Our food we didn't like was peas. My brother and I would throw them at each other. Funny thing, I love peas now.

[Passadumkeg]

Canned peas! Still can't stand them I have an aversion to canned food in general.

[weewah]

My hillbilly mom was making it in Saudi Arabia in the 70's!
Stunk up the whole house.

[Morganna]

I find myself craving liver. It has to do with being female and the time of the month. Liver is iron rich. I'm chronically anemic. :)

[coll]

I always thought it was unfair, but my Mom made all us girls eat liver once a month, while the boys got to have hot dogs or hamburgers.

[flourgirl]

I'm 42, east-coast raised jewish parents and apparently liver and onions was a big part of my parents' culinary landscape growing up. My mom didn't make it real often (thank god) but she still makes it to this day for my dad.

[yumyum]

Agree it's generational and not ethnic or geographical. My (British born) mom made liver and onions too. In Salt Lake City Utah. And it was AWFUL. She also made steak and kidney pie but you could pick around the kidney and she didn't make me eat the organ meats for some reason. I had to TRY them, but not finish them.

But the worst thing was brussels sprouts. These I did have to eat -- had to sit at the table until I finished them. I'd never do that to a kid.

[flourgirl]

Same here with the brussels sprouts. I had to eat them too. And I would never do that to a kid either. I have a 7 year old son and there isn't anything that he is forced to eat. Luckily he's a pretty good eater with a varied enough diet that I don't worry about his nutritional needs being met.

[TampaAurora]

Tricked into eating liver in a restaurant from my dad's plate with A1 sauce. My dad's joke whenever the family couldn't decide what to eat was that we were going to the "Liver Emporium." Having to broil liver seems to give kosher cooks reason to cook the taste out along with the blood. My bubbe couldn't cook chicken to save her life either.

[goodhealthgourmet]

nothing. mom isn't the greatest cook, but i was never forced to eat anything i didn't want. even when we would go out to dinner, although they would encourage us to take just a bite of something new, it was always just a suggestion, never an obligation. i'm immensely grateful for that, because i'm pretty sure it's the reason i became adventurous about food as i got older, and learned to appreciate diverse cuisines.

[Melanie]

Trying something new can come back to bite you in the butt if you are with the wrong relatives!

When I was very young (7 or 8?), I visited my grandparents in Chicago and they took me to dinner. They encouraged me to order the lamb, as it was something I never had. I was, of course, reluctant to do so, but they told me that I should order the lamb and then if I didnt like it, I could order something else. Sounded like a deal to me! So, of course, I take a bite of the lamb and I don't like it. I tell this to my grandmother and she leans over and says to me: "Melanie, I am very disappointed in you."

Ugh, I will never forget that, unfortunatley! I think I ended up ordering something else, but probably lost my appetite after that belittling comment.

(Oddly enough, I DO like lamb now :))

[goodhealthgourmet]

oy. that's not exactly encouraging :)

fortunately for me, my sister was an impossible pain in the a** about food [and everything else, for that matter]. she would only eat three things - cold cereal, hamburgers [cooked medium], and french onion soup. oh, actually it was four - she would always eat mushrooms.

so compared to her, i was a pleasure to have at the table.

it's funny, even now she has a really limited and boring palate. she can't stand any sort of heat, spice, or herbs on her food. no pepper whatsoever, and heaven forbid there's anything green [e.g. cilantro, basil, parsley] on it!

[goodhealthgourmet]

i thought of one.

the curly parsley [ugh] dipped in saltwater for the passover seder. we were always obligated to take one bite, and it made me gag & heave every time...more because of the salt than the parsley, but i can no longer stomach curly parsley on or in anything, and i now insist that mom use flat leaf when she does the seder.

[Gio]

This is where I stand too! Both parents were terrific cooks, loved to try everything and always encouraged us to at least taste. There's nothing I didn't like....LOL Mother made the best calves liver with bacon and onions. I liked it medium rare...still a little pink inside.

[invinotheresverde]

This is off-topic, but as someone who's never eaten liver, I'm curious. If something is "still a little pink inside", wouldn't it be medium well, not medium rare? Is it different than other meats?
This is an honest to goodness question, not a flame. Thanks.

[Gio]

Oh shucks IVTV.... I don't know what You would call it. To me, it was medium rare - still a little pink inside. Tasty as all get out. But let's see...
the liver was about 1 1/2" thick. After frying the onion & bacon, the liver - uncut - was added and sauteed till the outside was .... I don't know - not quite the same color as it was when put into the pan. A coupla flips and it was taken out of the pan. Left to rest while the onions and bacon were plated, then the liver was sliced on the bias.... yup.... medium rare.... still pink in the middle. You shoulda been there!

[warrengwonka]

I don't know what the technicalities are for naming the doneness of organ meats. My wife hated the liver she got as a child until i made it for her. A week ago I ordered it in a restaurant, and it was horrible ... tough as shoe leather and razor-thin slices. It should be thick, cut out the tough veins and skin before cooking, use a pretty high heat and cook it fast just to the point where it is not raw in the middle. Cook some bacon, fry the liver in about half the bacon grease and fry onions in the rest of it. One of my favorites.

[Passadumkeg]

A little pink in the center.

[fershore]

Canned succotash! Total gag! To this day, I can't eat anything that has the texture of lima beans.

[dordarama]

yes lima beans a possibly boiled parsnips. canned peas are right up there too.

[Passadumkeg]

Ham and limas c-rations or ham mothas:
http://www.leatherneck.com/forums/arc...

[jeanmarieok]

My mom's homemade vegetable soup - she would grind up rutabegas and turnips, along with carrots, potatoes and onions, and I would just gag when she made me eat it. She would tell me 'it's really good - you'll learn to like it'. I've wondered recently if I'd like it now. I doubt it.

[SharaMcG]

Borscht with sour cream. I'd probably like it now (though I can't even bring myself to try after years of watching the sour cream turn the soup a sort of bruised lilac shade).Ew.

[dolores]

No doubt about it. Capuzella, or whatever the spelling is for this horror.

Roasted lamb's head. Watching my father eat the eyes and brains.

50 years later, and the trauma is still vivid.

[Cheflambo]

Canned vegetables. cooked to death. Nothing maked me gag like those grey, overcooked green beans. And I HAD to eat them. There was no "just one bite". No substitutions. No excuses. No dog under the table to feed them to. I think I would have preferred the liver mentioned above. Mom jokes about it now, but they were evil. Still not funny!

[taxi]

OMG! You must have eaten at my house. Those canned peas were the grossest veggies in the world (besides creamed corn, of course). My hubby couldn't believe how my mother made peas - we still joke about it to this day.
When I first saw GREEN ones on my plate, I was wondering if they had been injected with a dye!! Thanks for the memory

[sophia519]

I don't even mind the canned peas as much as I minded the canned asparagus. Those are the worst!

[firstlady]

Canned asparagus? My mom made me eat it once, but never again. I gag at the memory.

[FrankJBN]

It's a tough question - what's the worst food you had to eat.

None of the foods listed here are bad foods - bones and skin in chicken soup? And what was wrong with it? The responses are mostly answers to 'what food did you like the least?'.

I am surprised by the number of people whose parents exercised no control over them. 'If I didn't like the food my father bought and my mother prepared, I could make what wanted.' What?

For me, the worst food I had to eat as a child was by my own choice. i badgered my mother until she bought Popeye brand canned spinach. She told me I wouldn't like it, as I did not like spinach. I insisted as this was popeye's brand it would be different and I would like it.

Mom's always right. Although I can eat canned spinach today, I think most would agree that, degustation-wise, it is not worth the chewing.

[Morganna]

I couldn't make what I wanted, I could have a sammich. Why is this strange? I would be told I had to -try- something first. I couldn't just say I didn't like something without trying it first. But Mom wasn't going to make two meals, so either I ate what she prepared, I made myself a sandwich, or I went hungry. My choice. I'm not sure why that doesn't make any sense :D

[MelissaC1]

My Mom tried that stay at the table until you finish crap with us, and back then she was a horrible cook. She went through a year long pimento kick where she put them in everything Thank God for Dogs.

BTW, If you force a kid to eat a food they dont want to eat, you will make them hate that food for the rest of their lives. Plus you will have rotting food hidden in all kinds of inventive places, like under the radiator etc.

[daylight]

hahaha!
EXACTLY!
still can't eat vegetables!

[flourgirl]

My mom only really pushed the stay at the table until you finish crap with me once - it was creamed spinach (which apparently she didn't like either) and I can still remember sitting alone at the table for hours because I refused to eat it. I think I finally threw it out the back door. And I don't recall ever seeing creamed spinach in the house again.

I was actually a very adventurous eater as a kid (still am) and there was really no reason to try to force me to eat the couple of things I didn't like (brussels sprouts, the aforementioned liver and onions, scallops. What was the point?) But every time she made those things she would insist that I eat them. I still hate all three of those foods to this day - creamed spinach I can deal with.

[kanosis]

I hated peas. They were small round disgusting little buggers! I'd put them all in my mouth at once and run to the bathroom to spit them out. Now, I just love them. Same with liver and oinions. Hated them but love it now!

[fara]

my mom would make me stay at the table long enough to torture me, or she would say 5 more bites. either way if it was something i hated, i was being forced to eat it, but not to finish it. anyway, there's almost nothing i don't like today.

[giordano56]

My mother use to make something from left over ham that was awful-Diced ham canned pineapple, and LOTS of brown sugar. It put me off any sort fruit with meat for the reat of my life!

[Furgs]

Overcooked-to-the-point-of-being-gray brussels sprouts. And to make them worse, they would be cold as stones because I would be sitting at the table until midnight if I didn't finish them. My brother and I would try to hide them in the centerpiece.

Lima beans. Those big ugly pasty dry nasty ones.

However, I have learned to cook both of these CORRECTLY. I actually really like brussels sprouts now, and I can tolerate tiny butter beans.

[Melanie]

I'm with you on the cold vegetables, Furgs. We were be given frozen spinach soaked in butter, which I refued to eat until I finally gave up, about an hour later and ate cold and soggy.

Sometime, when we would get to eat in the living room, I would dispose of foods I didn't like behind the couch. It was not a great day when my parents finally found that hiding place...

[Ruth Lafler]

Ah yes, my most vivid childhood food-trauma was also cold spinach (cooked fresh, though), dressed with vinaigrette and topped with chopped hard boiled eggs (which I hate). It was slimey and cold and nasty. I took the "bed without supper" route rather than eat it.

[hotteacher1976]

haha same here

[LJBTampa]

Brussels sprouts were the worst. The smell and taste gag me to this day. I literally lost it once when forced to eat them as a child. My husband keeps trying to find creative ways to serve them, but I still can't get them down.

I have acquired a taste for lima beans now. Amazing how our taste buds change (or don't) as we get older.

[LindaWhit]

didn't like Brussels sprouts when I was young but now love them roasted. Still don't like lima beans tho. :-)

[smalt]

brussel sprouts with BACON! cuz bacon makes almost everything taste better (hmm....doesn't help me with liver, though!)

i used to have the problem with some of the sprouts being bitter, but it's true, boil them in some soup stock and they lose the bitterness!

BACON!

i'm not fond of lima beans, but ya know, i'm probably too confused to correctly identify a lima bean from a soy bean......them big green pod things!

[kanosis]

Mom used to boil the heck out of the brussel sprouts. Sucked the life out of them. No one ate them during Thanksgiving. I'd toss them ensuring no "left over" b-sprouts the next day.

[Jimbosox04]

My dad would make deviled ham sandwich's and insist that the whole family eat some too. There is something about the "smeared catfood", as so it looked to me on a sandwich that didn't appeal to the senses.

[StrawbrryF]

Poached eggs. For some reason, my Dad was obsessed with feeding me this specific variety. I wasn't able to eat poached eggs until well into my 20s.

[bubbles4me]

Casseroles and the worst was called, "Spanish Delight". Ground beef, onions, cans of creamed corn, tomato over egg noodles and topped with cheese....I still remember the smell pfft!

[charlesbois]

My mother is a great cook. But she was a teacher and a single mom, so we were poor. To save money, she joined a food co-op. We endured the horrors of powdered milk and carob chips for about 6 months, and then she stopped buying them as we would eat only the amounts she made us eat. Ugh, the horror. Also, I didn't like the banana chips we got from the co-op, but I was in the minority on that one.

[emily]

My mom never made me eat anything I didn't like. She was convinced that her mother's "clean your plate" mentality had been partially responsible for her being somewhat overweight. BUT, the one dish I remember that came up frequently that I didn't like was her homemade mac & cheese -- it tasted way too creamy and bland to me. I much preferred the Kraft version, which she, of course, despised. Now, of course, I appreciate the fact that my mom avoided convenience foods.

[Cheflambo]

Emily. my mom made Kraft mac & cheese quite often, but only used about half of the packet of powdered cheese. I will never know why. When I got to college my friends would make this in the dorm (using all the cheese of course) I was amazed at how different (and better!) it tasted. That's when I realized what was wrong with mom's. Now I dont eat it at all (it was a favorite of my late husband's, and I still get a little choked up when I see that blue box) and I dont even make my own homemade version any more, as my current DH is lactose intolerant and I just can't consume that much carb in one sitting. Sigh .....

[Caroline1]

If you LIKE mac and cheese, Kraft (sorry, blue box) does make a product called, "Easy Mac" in individual packets. I buy it at Sam's in huge boxes that I take the packets out of and store in a plastic canister in the cubpoard. Just a thought...

[three of us]

cube steak

This pounded, grainy pattie of meat with lots of "chew forever" bits in it.

I once told my mom they probably got better food in prison. I had to eat cube steak leftovers for dinner for three days.

[PrincessBakesALot]

UGH! I'd forgotten how much I hated cube steak! My mom would pour water in the pan at the end of cooking it to make sure it finished steaming to a lovely shade of gray. ICK!

[feta]

omg I recall that one too, but ours also had some arteries running through- gross out, big time. That was a pure save on the side of the mouth, put it in ther napkin or go to the bathroom.
Thanks for sharing!

[MeAndroo]

Ooh, I love chicken soup with the whole dang thing in there. Picking at the bones, tearing the meat off. Good stuff...

I ate well as a kid. My dad grew up in a restaurant in Hawaii and my mom grew up in a Chinatown butcher shop, so they both know food and come from food loving families. Oddly enough when they would serve liver, we were actually asked not to eat it if we didn't like it; my parents like it so much, they thought it was a waste if I ate it!

I hated broccoli and cauliflower when I was a kid, and would only eat them if I could dip them in mayo. I'd only eat artichoke if we could play "basketball" with the leaves and toss them into a bowl in the middle of the table. Good times :) Now I like broccoli just fine, but still can't eat cauliflower...ugh.

[Smileelisa]

Oh man MeAndroo...where were you back then? I would have GLADLY given you my bowl of soup to munch on. Hey you should try my baked cauliflower. I made it for Easter this year and my niece who is REALLY picky ate quite a bit of it.

[LTL]

Would you mind sharing your baked cauliflower recipe?

[JungMann]

Mother's rice: Scorched on the bottom, mushy on the top, burnt-tasting throughout.
Mother's fish: Smelly, bony, gaggy.
Grandmother's munggo: bland, unseasoned mung bean mush. No meat, no garlic, no salt: no flavor.
Grandmother's ampalaya guisado: overcooked, almost creamed bittermelons with dried out scrambled eggs. Topnote was bitterness; bassnote was regret.

[JungMann]

I forgot to add homemade steak which was invariably cooked until tough and grey as a London afternoon. In general I didn't like eating meat because the parents overcooked it to the point where my jaw literally throbbed after trying to chew my way through dinner.

Also hated eating generic cereal. Father tried to save money anywhere he could, and children's food seemed to be an expensive decadence. So while I never got to eat Fruit Rollups, Mondo or Lunchables like the other kids, I had plenty of bland Rice Kwispies, chemical-tasting Fruity Puffs and wildly flavored generic soda from the Cub Foods.

[Bob W]

LOL Great post. You should be a restaurant reviewer.

[TampaAurora]

I had forgotten the fact that I "hated steak" until I tried it out of the house. I wouldn't eat pink food...too scared of all the science class lectures on diseases...so mom had to cook mine well done and that meant chew-til-bedtime. I ended up making sandwiches on steak nights or making a meal out of sides.

[Kelli2006]

My mom made a hamburger casserole that I would usually be late for dinner if I knew it was being served.

I only had to eat liver and onions once, but that would be right at the top of the list.

[ola]

Though we got most of our vegetables fresh from the San Francisco Farmer's Market on Geneva (never had a canned vegie until college), my mom overcooked everything. The absolute worst was boiled zucchini. Started out 90 percent water and ended up a slimy, gag-inducing mess.

[cresyd]

My parents made this cauliflower pasta dish, that I ate right after having my tonsils taken out and then proceeded to immediately throw up everywhere. Ever since that dish has had no appeal for me - but my parents couldn't connect that I disliked that dish specifically as opposed to cauliflower in general. So whenever I'd eat plain cauliflower without complaints - they'd take it as a sign to bring cauliflower pasta back out.

[Glencora]

I hated liver and onions, too. But I really, really hated canned mackerel "cakes." My parents made me sit at the table until I finished my plate, but I could add anything I liked to it. So one night I put carmel sauce on my mackerel. That was a long night. Also, I broke my arm when I was two, and according to the family story, stuffed canned peas down my cast so I wouldn't have to eat them. That got pretty stinky after a few days.

[marcia2]

My parents were of the "we're not running a restaurant, you have to eat what's served" persuasion. I take an entirely different approach with my child. My mother was a good cook, but there were a number of dishes I didn't like, not because she did them badly, but just because it was food I didn't like. Absolutely, clearly, hands down worst thing they made me eat: frozen mashed squash. Hated the taste and the taste/texture combination literally made me gag. And they made me eat it anyway. Years later, I asked her why she made me eat something I hated so much I gagged and she said didn't believe me at the time, figured I was making it up. Thanks, Mom.

Interesting phenomenon: There were foods I didn't like as a kid that I have acquired a taste for over the years. However, I have never acquired a taste for anything I didn't like but was required to eat.
Thank goodness my mother hated liver.

[Glencora]

Yeah, I don't want this topic to get sidetracked into "parents these days are so permissive..." but I don't make my son sit at the table forever and finish everything on his plate. As you say, it doesn't help them to enjoy the food later and I'd rather pick my battles.
.

[spellweaver16]

Kids have odd palates, sometimes. Making them sit and stare at it won't make them like it. Oddly enough, I wouldn't even touch sauerkraut until somebody told me that it was pickled cabbage. I tried it and loved it.

[Smileelisa]

I agree with you marcia,,,thank god my mom hated liver or I guarantee that would have been right up there with the chicken soup. It's funny if she didn't like something she just didn't eat it and would make herself something else but us kids didn't have that luxury. and we didn't have a dog but we did try stuffing food we didn't like into our napkins and toss them in the garbage but of course we got caught. that ended that.

[Avalondaughter]

I have always hated seafood, and was never forced to eat it, but Christmas Eve was the exception. My family is Italian. If I didn't want to starve, I had to eat something on the table. The least objectionable thing was the spaghetti with garlic, oil, and anchovies. It was NASTY, but I had no choice.

[Smileelisa]

I hated seafood too. and we are italian and along with the pasta aglio olio we had stuffed squid that was repulsive. It smelled so nasty. to this day I refuse to eat it.

[chef4hire]

I hated the 7 fishes dinner~but the horror of watching my father teasing me with the squid tentacles hanging out of his mouth just put me over the edge

I can't remember making it thru a christmas eve dinner until I was about 14 or 15

[flourgirl]

It clearly wasn't funny to you at the time but I did laugh when I read your post - what an image you created in my mind. Too funny.

[ipsedixit]

Lobster - did not like them as a kid, love them now

Oranges - (see Lobster above)

Braised pig's feet - hated as a kid, can appreciate them now, but still don't like 'em

[JennaL]

I may be the only one who had to suffer this, but for me it was UNDERCOOKED veggies. My dear mother, in response to her hatred of the slimy overcooked veg of her childhood, would basically cook any vegetable in a few tablespoons of water in the microwave (she also is the only human I know that prefers a microwaved bagel...) for like a minute and half, tops. The result: hot but raw dried out and bitter carrot sticks. Or broccoli. Or green beans. Every stinking night of the week.

[cywd]

Chinese medicinal tea/soup - it's a thick, black sludge that smells and tastes absolutely vile. I swear people 'get better' just so they can stop drinking it. My mom also went through a raw bitter-melon smoothie phase... ugh

[ipsedixit]

Raw ... pickled ... bitter ... melon ... smoothie????

Is it too late to contact Children's Protective Services on your behalf?

[theannerska]

I completely sympathize and agree with your theory on Chinese medicinal soup. At least it wasn't mom's fault (she's an excellent cook); it was just the combination of herbs and...I don't even want to know what else. Good riddance!

[Miss Needle]

Oh me too. I hated that stuff. My mom had to bribe me with chocolate for me to drink it. We didn't do Valrhona. It was Whitman's Samplers for me. But I liked it back then.

However, my mom never forced me to eat anything. In areas of food, she was into positive reinforcement. If I didn't like it, I didn't like it. She also never forced me to finish my plate. What she did was encourage me to eat things saying how delicious it was (even if it really wasn't). And she would praise me when I ate different things. But I was a difficult kid as I had to be encouraged to eat things most people would find delicious like apple pie and heavenly hash ice cream.

[goodhealthgourmet]

actually it's not so surprising that you didn't like heavenly hash ice cream. i loved the stuff, but almonds aren't a universally kid-friendly food...even when covered in chocolate and swimming in ice cream :)

[Miss Needle]

You're right. It's probably the almonds. What kid would say no to chocolate ice cream and marshmallow?

[Cinnamom]

Remind me what's heavenly hash...I only have a vague memory of a rolling stomach when I hear that name!

[goodhealthgourmet]

chocolate ice cream, chocolate chips, roasted almonds [they were chocolate-covered in some brands], & marshmallow swirl.

[theannerska]

Funny -- my mom's tactic was to say that the food in question was far too grown-up for me to eat. That worked at least a few times for the Chinese medicinal tea, and began my long love affair with picking apart whole fish.

[daylight]

i admit to eating alot of weird things as a kid, some that i really liked too (my dad's mexican rice with slices of banana; my mom's star soup with mayo in it; my mom's corn popsicles), but the thing i hated the most (thingS) were vegetables. especially the green ones. (i only ate corn, carrots & potatoes)
i HAD to eat them and couldn't leave the table until they were gone.
so i started to think of sneaky ways to have them disappear from my plate.
putting them in a napkin on my lap and then being excused to "use the bathroom" only worked a couple of times.
hiding them in my mouth, going to the bathroom to spit them out only worked a couple of times.
swallowing them whole became hazardous after almost choking.
but the worst had to be hiding the peas in my nose!
yeah! my nose.
hahaha.
my mom freaked out once.
i never did that again.
but she finally gave up trying to force me to eat my veggies.
i still don't eat them as an adult!
traumatized me for life i guess....

i also hated the skin on the chicken (my mom loved it).

[Morganna]

I think it might have helped that neither my brother or myself were picky eaters. We liked nearly everything we were served with few exceptions, including the vegetables. I even liked succotash with canned lima beans and canned corn. So for the few things they made that we didn't like, they were more inclined to be flexible with us. We also didn't play the "I haven't ever eaten it but I don't like it" game because they didn't allow it. We were allowed to not like things and therefore not eat them, but we had to TRY them first. :)

[Glencora]

I wore knee socks. Very useful for hiding food.

[mamamia]

Menudo - I don't like the chewiness of the tripe...very kid unfriendly
Chiccarones - the traditional, stew-like version not the crispy ones. Again, chewiness.

Not a fan of either as an adult.

[comestina]

We were required to take at least a small serving of everything, and eat it. No fussing would have been tolerated. The things that I was "made" to eat that I just didn't care for were: Okra, Eggplant, and--the worst--Swiss Chard. All were fresh from the garden. I like all of these things now, and were I able to get my hands on any of the above, fresh from the garden, I would think I was a lucky, lucky girl!

They also taught us table manners. I have found from raising my own children and having their friends eat over that this seems to be a lost art.

Anyone else experience this?

[linguafood]

When I stayed at my maternal grandma's house, whom I didn't like for a number of reasons (like every grandma in the world, she thought her granddaughter was spoiled), I had two choices for breakfast: porridge with salt, or porridge with sugar. OMG, I hate that shit so much. Only reason she ate it presumably because her first husband was "British born", and so that's what she had been eating half of her life.

Never mind the second husband who was Dutch, ancient, and apparently did not mind being subjected to eating tasteless slush every day.

She also made a sweet salad dressing, kinda like a vinaigrette, but *really* heavy on the sugar. Yuk.

My paternal grandmother was a great cook, but with age came deteriorating eye-sight, which I am guessing influenced the way she prepped her food: for years as a kid, I was convinced I absolutely HATED white asparagus, because every time she made it, it wasn't peeled right -- so it was stringy enough to be half-way down my throat and also still in my mouth. I was always choking on those things.

I still hate sludge/slush/porridge, but love (well-peeled) asparagus.

[chowmel]

Fried Pickled Tripe

[fromagina]

Wheaties.. sodden Wheaties congealing in milk.. ack ack.. my mother thought they were good for me.. guck.

[redearth]

Boiled potatoes. I absolutely hated them, and my parents made them all the time. I don't think I'd have a problem with them now, but I'd probably cook them a little differently (then again, if I'm boiling potatoes already, I think it's more likely that I'd either parboil them then roast them, or just go ahead and mash them with some butter and cream - either way is better than just plain boiled potatoes). Oh, and borscht. Didn't like it when I was a kid (though I'm sure it was a good version - my mom was a good cook), and I don't know if I'd like it now, as I would likely never order it, and would most likely never feel the desire to make it...

[theannerska]

Corn flakes -- while everyone else was eating sugary cereals. I wasn't a big fan of milk, either, so it was just bad news all around. We later compromised on Cheerios (no frosted ones, of course) with plain soy milk, and I actually prefer it now...

Also, Lender's frozen bagels because my mother preferred them over fresh ones.

[gryphonskeeper]

PEA SOUP! I would see mom start to boil that Ham bone and the bags of dried peas and I would literally cry. We had no choice as children, We ate what was cooked, there was no other food in the house to eat except what was on the table. I would sit there and stare at that bowl for hours before I could choke it down.

[daylight]

funny thing about pea soup, is that i had always refused to eat it, never even TRIED it! 'cause i hated peas and thought it would taste the same.
though, about 5 years ago, my old roomate made it.
he told me to at least try it, "how can you say you don't like something if you haven't tried it? it doesn't taste like peas, i promise!"
so i tried it and it really didn't taste like peas.
and i actually liked it!
i haven't had it since then, but i would if someone made it.

i think as an adult, i'm a little more willing to taste new things.
as long as it doesn't involve slimy animals, baby animals, blood, or anything TOO weird or crazy...
i hated tomatos as a kid, but love them now (only raw though, i still don't like them cooked.)
i still hate most veggies though...
also, i have a "texture" issue.
i can eat only about 2 or 3 pieces of calamari before the texture of it starts grossing me out...

[gryphonskeeper]

This was not traditional pea soup! My dad loved salt, and so did mom, so this was a thick SLUDGE that was thicker than homemade mashed potatoes (seriously, the spoon did not move) with huge chucks of porkfat, carrots, potatoes and ham, with a ton of salt. I had seen pea soup at a restaurant I was bartending at, and I took one look and was like "THAT is not pea soup like I remember" I did not eat if so I cannot say if it tasted the same, but the horrid image of a bowl of glow in the dark green pork fat laden sludge does nothing for my appetite.

[Catskillgirl]

I cried over pea soup too! For me it was the color. Oh lord I can still see a bowl of that stuff - and I never even tasted it. I just couldn't get over my fear of the color.

Of course as an adult I'm fairly sure I would enjoy it now, but those childhood memories are too strong for me!

[DanaB]

The pea soup memories reminded me of the time when my mom made a fancy black bean soup recipe that called for sherry and cream. The final result was a hideous shade of purple. My brother and I took one look at it and said, "no way are we eating that!" My mom, ever the resourceful one, served dinner by candlelight that night so we didn't have to look at the soup while we ate it. And you know, in the dark it tasted pretty good!

[Cinnamom]

My mom was generally an awesome cook, even though she sometimes made (and still makes) questionable substitutions in recipes... (deli ham for prosciutto, anyone?)
However, when times were a bit lean I think she made Spanish rice every few nights. White rice, can of tomatoes, onion, *maybe* some chili powder. Gag. But like others on this board, I was required to taste everything. I do the same with my kids, no sandwich option. My mom always talks about things she had to eat as a kid and gagged upon--canned stewed tomatoes with sugar and saltines, room temperature. Why were sweet things so very popular mid-century? I love looking at old cookbooks (a la Lileks) and talking with mom about the horrible food that was inflicted upon her generation.

[taboo]

Well...at least a lot of you had mom's that cooked. Mine had no idea what a kitchen was and thank goodness we had dogs that ate what we did not like. On the nights we did not go out to dinner, we had to eat undercooked pasta with ketchup or peanut and fluff sandwiches or soup. Thank goodness at 15, I started to cook and have ever since.......

[daylight]

oh! tuna!
i was always very picky when it came to tuna.
i had to make it myself.
i didn't eat it when my mom made it.
you see, i had to pick out the weird-looking colored pieces.
the pinks, and dark pieces gross me out.
also, i hated eating the chicken legs/wings 'cause of the little veins and things.
yuck!

[bakerboyz]

Frozen Fish Sticks!

[daylight]

i don't know.
i like them.
my mom made us those as kids, and i still like them.
my boyfriend said he was also given them as a kid and hated them, so he won't eat them now.
but i think they're not that bad...

[pdxgastro]

Ugh Catholic Fridays: fish sticks and kidney beans. I can't eat either of them now. (I do like whole fish and other beans, thank goodness)

[Cookiefiend]

Pete's Pride Frozen Scallops - generally burnt

Always awful

[poptart]

Minute rice with overcooked, leathery pork chops and under-heated frozen green beans.

[David B]

Boiled cabbage. Enough said.

And Jello with any kind of fruit in it. Something about bananas in orange jello really made the gag reflex kick in.

[daylight]

YES!!! i agree about fruit in jello.
won't ever touch the stuff.
frozen bananas on a stick either.
or banana splits. don't know why....

[meatn3]

My grandmother - every Sunday - had green jello with canned fruit cocktail for us. Yuck...I could deal with the peach bits, but the rest was/is repulsive to me. Still not a fan of jello. Although I had a day prior to surgery last year where broth & jello were the only "foods" allowed. I was hungry enough where a "margarita" flavored jello wasn't bad!

[cayjohan]

Oh, but to really amp up the ick factor in jello (for which I have a grudging affection in some cases, but in very few, and very specific), you have to include miniature marshmallows, preferrably multicolored. Foamy, squishy, sugary, rainbow-colored airpockets in a quivering mass of fruit-flavored hide/hooves/sinew/whatever suspension? Ick.

Cay

[Cinnamom]

And don't forget the Cool Whip!!! Or Cool Whip Lite if you're dieting! For really special occasions, mix them together until you get a frothy, quivering pile of artificial ingredients!

[meatn3]

As tempting as the mini marshmallows & cool whip sound - I really must maintain a family induced food phobia, if only to finance future therapists! BTW, Cay, the "quivering mass" actually gave me chills.
Now I must go eat something solid and crunchy...

[Sam Fujisaka]

Mom was a great cook--in all sorts of ethnic cuisines. The only things I didn't really enjoy were turnups and squash. Of everything growing in the garden, we didn't have turnups, so it was really just that squash was not my favorite.

I can't understand all the aversion to liver and onions coming from CHers! My mom's was great; and I still like the stuff.

[mercyteapot]

Wow, I can't imagine chicken noodle soup being my least favorite... but then, your Mom's version of it does sound pretty gnarly. My Mom's is one of my favorites... well,, the way she used to make it (she doesn't cook much anymore). She made homemade noodles, nice and thick and chewy, the way I like them!

I digress... I hated canned spinach and she would make us eat it. The nutrients, don't ya know. Oh my gosh, and she would chop up hard boiled egg to put on top of it. It was a solid blob of nasty, nasty dark green with the little bit of white and yellow. I'd refuse to eat it and had to sit at the table till bedtime. She just wouldn't understand that it made me gag. I was no big fan of canned green beans or peas, either, but the spinach was what really got me. The worst of all was when she'd serve the spinach with fried liver and onions. To this day, I don't touch liver. I remember how I'd always feel robbed when we'd get to the dinner table after smelling those onions cooking, thinking we were about to have something good.

And then there were the infamous salmon patties, made from the cheapest can of salmon on the market. I'm not sure I'd hate them as much now as I did then, though.

My Mom could be an excellent cook when she didn't insist on cooking dishes her children hated, and we all hated those salmon patties. All she says about it now is that she doesn't know what she was thinking.

I don't make my son eat anything he hates and never have done. He eats a well balanced diet, so if he doesn't want to touch brussel sprouts as long as he lives, I don't have a problem with that.

[Diane in Bexley]

Disclaimer: My mother has kept up with modern food trends and now cooks healthy light, protein based with veggie meals.

However, as a Jewish child of Holocaust survivors who actually experienced starvation in their youth growing up in Columbus, OH, I was subjected to horrible, disgusting meals. Mother was to be very American and read somewhere that children should have liver once a week, fish 3 times a week, chicken twice a week and beef twice a week. Her liver meal was every child's nightmare, liver cooked to rock like consistency with sauteed onions and canned spinach. Unfortunately, we didn't have a dog. There was no fresh fish in Columbus in the '60's, fish came out of the freezer in a block and sat on the counter all day defrosting (m/w not invented yet!) stinking up the house. The only way she prepared it was fried in grease that came out of a coffee can kept under the sink (anyone else remember this?) My parents had not yet experienced the delicacy of medium rare, which is unobtainable with kosher meat, and so beef was overcooked as well. I also hated gefilte fish, herring in any form, borscht of any kind. My scarred youthful memories have taken years for me to attempt to eat fish, hard as I try today.

The other issue is that you HAD to eat what was put on your plate. Please forgive me Mom & Dad, but they behaved like Food Nazis watching my brother & I to ensure we digested every morsel because there were starving children in Biafra & China (remember them?) who would KILL to have the yummy delicacies we turned up our noses at. There was an ncident similar to a Jewish version of Father Knows Best at our house where my brother showed up with a shoebox at the table on liver night and proclaimed to my mother, "Just mail it to them (starving children)!". My father chased my brother all over the house with his belt. But...we never had liver after that and it wa 15 years before I tried creamed spinach!

[gryphonskeeper]

I actually can empathize with your parents, I grew up very poor and often with not much to eat, and what little we did have I was grateful for (EXCEPT PEA SOUP)
but wow.... seems I was not alone in the "eat this slop or starve" category. Yes I remember the coffee can of fat drippings being used to fry whatever was needed. (remember those chucks of mystery meat suspended inside?)

One thing about growing up poor, my house now is a cornucopia of food, I have so much food in my house I could feed half of Ethiopia, I never want my children to experience the sadness of being literally starving hungry, and opening the cabinets and seeing a bag of flour and some baking soda, and weirdly food coloring. I never was allowed into the fridge either, what little we did have was for meals only, no snacking. My parents refused any government aid. It was a pride thing with my dad.

[dolores]

Great stories. Except for being forced to sit at the table -- hence the horror of the lamb's head -- I was never really forced to eat anything. I picked at things and then ate dessert.

Now that I'm not forced to eat food anymore, I pretty much don't. Thanks Mom!

[Cookiefiend]

"One thing about growing up poor, my house now is a cornucopia of food, I have so much food in my house I could feed half of Ethiopia,"

Me too...
Don't even get me started on my childen's clothes...

[gryphonskeeper]

I think we are so terrified of our kids feeling what we did. I am not so bad with clothing, grated I never wore nice clothing, but they were warm, and clean. Food was something I did not have, I remember many nights going to bed with a rumble in my stomach.

[somervilleoldtimer]

I STILL have grease in a coffee can under the sink, having grown up in Cleveland, Ohio. Maybe it's an Ohio thing? BUt I would never think of cooking with it, just using that as a convenient way to keep it before disposing of it.

[Morganna]

Grease shouldn't be put down the drain at all. It's bad for septic systems, pipes, and even if you're on a sewer system, it's not good for that, either. Better to dispose of it at the dump.

[c oliver]

Definitely. I store bacon drippings in a can in the fridge and will cook with it. The rest goes into a container and goes to the dump.

[meatn3]

My father was very picky regarding vegetables, so there were few on his acceptable list. Iceberg lettuce salads & 3 varieties of canned vegetables.

Tuna casserole (it stunk to high heaven), canned cream corn (looks/texture) and canned cold peas were nightmares for me. I slept at the dinner table one night and still had to eat the peas in the morning before I could go to school. That experience ingrained such a dislike of peas that I still pick them out of dishes - even though I have tried them as an adult and realize they are not always so bad!

My Grandfather would give me the little bottles of liquor from airplanes for my collection. I had seen how "fun" alcohol was on tv, so I assumed it must taste great. Opened the most intriguing bottle (Pinch, 3-sided) and swigged. Repulsive! Took me over 30 years to try Scotch, Bourbon & Whiskey again. Although that experience probably saved me a bit of cash & my liver over the years!

[coney with everything]

My mom was (and admits to being) a terrible cook. The only fresh veggies we ever had in the house were carrots, iceberg lettuce, onions and potatoes (and sweet corn and tomatoes in season).

So our vegetables were a rotation of canned green beans, canned corn, canned peas, iceberg lettuce salad and boiled carrots. All of these I can tolerate, but when Mom decided to try something different, it would be something NASTY like canned spinach or canned asparagus. UGH

I remember the first time my mom got us frozen corn--we thought we'd died and gone to heaven!

[danhole]

You all have brought up some truly gag worthy memories! From the deviled ham (what is that stuff?), the stinky brussel sprouts, fish sticks (got food poisoning from those and still don't eat fish) and having to sit at the table until it was either tasted or eaten. Spent a whole afternoon in the kitchen staring down a bowl of split pea soup in stead of being outside in the snow playing with my dog. Finally tried it, and it's one of my all time favorites.

My mom loved campbells' cream of mushroom soup and FORCED me to eat it. She also used canned green giant mushroom bits in most everything she made, and I found them disgusting, and still do! And don't get me started on her potato soup - mealy with hunks of onions, and as appetizing as paste . . . no, actually paste was better. But I did like the liver and onions, the borscht, and the lima beans.

Speaking about hiding food rather than eat it, my DH was and is picky, so when his mom took a stand to make him eat some green beans, he waited for her to walk off and stashed them in the base of a fake potted rubber tree. Took her over a year to find them, and when she did she wasn't really sure what they were.

[rHairing]

Oh man...the memories! Both my mom and grandma were gopod cooks...BUT......My
grandma used to boil chicken and potatoes....skin on the chicken...ugh. She also made this porkchop rice casserole but she would not cook the rice first as it would supposed to cook in the casserole juices...nothing like that crunch! I remember her swatting me good when she mentioned the poor starving kids in China and I told her to send it to them!

As for my mom, she made this horrid beef hash dish once. I was out on the couch as I was sick. Even our cat, Sassy would not eat it. I stuck it in the plant next to the couch, which was fine til it started to smell. And as God as my witness, Chung King Boil in a Bag Chicken Chow Mein was the nastiest food ever invented!

[danhole]

I keep forgetting about those poor starving kids in China! I got that line especially when I tore the crusts off of my sandwiches.

[Bob W]

With all this talk of liver, I am pleased to report that while my mother loved liver and onions, she never cooked it at home or made us even try it.

Of course, we had other "treats," such as chicken fricassee that was cooked so long it was more bones than anything else.

Then there were those passover rolls...

[Cheflambo]

I think those poor starving children in India/China/Biafra would still be starving if they were faced with a plate of liver and onions. And Diane, I understand that Depression/Greatest Generation mentality that goes with cleaning your plate. I. too, offered to send my nasty boiled carrots to those hungry children. Perhaps if I had actually known what hunger was as a child (the way Diane's parents did) I might have been a bit more forgiving.

But oh, those peas! Even as a baby, at the age where you can shovel just about anything into them and they will ingest it, I am told I spit them out with great gusto. Its the only vegetable I WASN'T forced to eat, once I got to the table. Luckily, now we can joke about it. Last weekend mom was visiting and we took her to a very nice restaurant. The dish I wanted to order came with asparagus (another green veg Ive never liked) and as I negotiated a substitute with the server, I told her "I just don't care for cooked vegetables and I brought mom along to verify it" Mom nodded and said "give her something else - do you have any overcooked green beans back in the kitchen?" (ever the joker, that mom). The server was most gracious and brought a lovely risotto instead. (And got a big tip!)

[Passadumkeg]

I've seen starving kids and they would have loved your liver and onions.

[rkscher]

my mother was a good if not adventurous cook. but then, in the 1950s food wasn't very adventurous in america. most of her stuff was palatable if not delectable, some things better than others (excellent roast chicken, horrible chili). but the absolute worst were two items which showed up at dinner much too often. one was something called "swiss steak," a sort of braised round steak swimming in canned tomatoes, greasy, absolutely flavorless but so tough a chisel wouldn't crack off a piece. the other was macaroni and cheese WITH MUSHROOMS! the mushrooms were bad enough - i did not eat them until i was in my 20s - but the cheese sauce was like soup. the whole thing was like a bad wet dream. i like m&c now, but it has to be dry, very dry. and save the mushrooms for something else! no swiss steak, thank you, in fact i have not eaten round steak in at least 50 years. i don't intend to start again.

[danhole]

Swiss Steak - UGH! It's been about 35 years since I've had to eat that stuff, and I'm darn proud that it isn't something I would cook!

[Sam Fujisaka]

2nd that

[trishyb]

Spam... We always had it in the house. My dad was in the army when I was a kid, so he loved the stuff. And my mother had grown up in Korea during the war where they had received it as rations and learned to incorporate into their diet. I had to eat it American style - cold white bread sandwiches and fried as a side to eggs for breakfast and Korean style - in kimchi chi-ge or stir-fried with cabbage.

[MelissaC1]

Ah, another one I now remember (was at work earlier). Corned beef (still cant eat it today, and STILL have a grudge over my long dead grandpa, not only for this, but thats OT)

I was at my grandparents house in Oconomowoc Wisconsin, and my grandmother made corned beef. I must have been about 7. I couldnt, it gagged me. (not really understanding why parents used to think their kids would fake gagging), well in due course I refused to eat it, as I couldnt swallow it. So I had to sit at the table ala Mommy Dearest (the movie reference gets better) all night, then was finally after what seemed like an eternity sent to bed. The next morning I awoke, and was coming downstairs rather hungry, and saw my grandfather making corned beef hash, and actually adding my unused plate to the mix.

I snuck back upstairs and hid in my grandpas closet. Everyone was calling for me, my mom was freaking the hell out, after about (hours it seemed) they even called the police and I heard my mom crying, which made me come out.

When I told the police why I was hiding they were trying not to laugh and were actually quite nice. My grandfather was not so pleased, said I would be sitting at the table all day, all night, I WILL eat what is served to me. While it was usually my mothers practice as well she finally relented told my grandfather that I was more stubborn than he is and took me and my brother out to eat (to let us all cool down).

To this DAY, the smell of corned beef (and usually boiled cabbage as well) makes me nauseous.

[otps]

If I responded to every item here that I remember, my post would be a book. I was the pickiest eater ever born. My mother was a great cook, but I was 15 when she passed. We are Scandinavian so the food was rather bland. I hated almost every food listed above and now enjoy almost all of them. The 2 items that I still cannot eat are creamed corn (I will gag at the first smell) and the hot cereal we ate in the morning, that was put in the bowl and when we added milk it floated like a rubbery cow pie.
What is strange is my 3 special items my mother made for me that I liked were chicken livers, fried with salt only, sliced cold cow's tongue sandwich, and what they called blood sausage. The blood sausage came in cardboard cartons (we lived across the street from a meat packing plant), and I think it was cow's blood that she fried and sprinkled with sugar.
I just remembered the Spanish rice we had back then, white rice with stewed tomato's on top.

[gryphonskeeper]

I love chicken livers :) my mom never made them when I was a kid, I think that is why I might like them so much now. I never even knew people ate them until one day I was out to dinner with my husband and ordered fried chicken tenders, and they served me fried chicken livers (it was the blue plate special that night) I took one bite and went "WOW these tenders taste weird" ... really good flavor like bacon, but this is not chicken I called the waitress over, and asked if she made a mistake, and she did, she said Oh I thought you said chicken i/liver/i I said I would keep them because it was good, plus they were only $3.99 lol

Moral of the story, always be willing to try new things, these were great! Deep fried chicken livers are now a treat for me.

[pikawicca]

My mom used to make "Lizzards and Gizzards" for a special treat -- fried chicken livers, gizzards, and hearts. My brothers always found someplace else they needed to be, but I was happy.

[c oliver]

When barbecuing chicken in the summer, mother would freeze the "innards." Then when she did fried chicken, she'd do the gizzards and livers (don't know where the hearts went, which I love now.). She and Daddy loved the livers and my brother and I the gizzards. Mmmm.

[gryphonskeeper]

I like the hearts too C-oliver. and I found the Vietnamese store in Manchester NH has them by the pound for only $1,99! I buy them once in a while and saute them with butter, onions, garlic and red wine. They are to die for!

[EWSflash]

I love gizzards- not sure how I came to taste them at first but when we grill a bird, DH gets the neck and I get the gizzard, adn consider myself ahead in the game. I make broth out of them and when they're tender I eat them out of the broth with a skewer, one at a time, adn then save the stock for a nice soup where nobody knows it was made with gizzards. Nobody's ever noticed anything was 'off', by the way.

[rHairing]

I'm half Danish. Loved the cow tongue! Frikadeler and red cabbage are still a favorite. With that being said, I have to say, my great aunt always made sure nothing went to waste. I think it was from having to make due when Denmark was occupied during WW2 among other things. Somehow, though, she always made the leftovers really appealing, You never felt like you were eating leftovers.

[smalt]

I never knew cow tongue was a dinner oddity until in my late 20's....the only way I've ever had it is boiled with carrots and onions. Horrified my coworkers with the thought of chasing people around with the tongue held in both hands and making slurping motions - never actually did that, but coworkers figured it was something I might really do...

[Bunnyfood]

Baloney sandwich...To this day, my father claims I "asked for it"...I sure did! Nasty! I sat at that kitchen table for 3 hours, refusing to eat the gelatinouspinky "meat." Just thinking about it, I can almost smell it...

[gryphonskeeper]

I too never liked bologna, and won't feed it to my children, along with most other processed meat. Sorry, there is no part of any animal in existence that looks like that!

[somervilleoldtimer]

My best friend growing up would eat "fried baloney" -- the slice was warmed up in butter in a pan before being put on the sandwich bread.

[kubasd]

have you ever had it? fried balogna sandwiches were my favorite as a kid..... especially with ketchup, which i hated as a child except in this sandwich

[coll]

I learned about fried bologna when I worked at a deli and one guy always ordered it on his egg sandwich instead of ham. We used to laugh at him, then one day when it was slow, we made some for ourselves and couldn't believe how good it was. I don't like regular bologna much, but this was great. Now my husband loves it too, I make it for him on the weekend whenever there's some bologna left from his weekday lunch stash. But it's more than warmed up, I cook it until it browns on the edges.

[Morganna]

Fried is the only way I can stand bologna. :)

[Full tummy]

There's a restaurant somewhere in rural Ontario, Canada, called the Goofy Newfy (owned by a couple from Newfoundland), and on their menu is "Newfy steak"--fried bologna. So, now you can call it Newfy steak, and it doesn't sound so bad after all, hahaha!!!

[kubasd]

yeah i hate plain bologna.... won't touch it, but fried? count me in!!

[MelissaC1]

I was just on the phone with my mom. She told me something that I didnt remember doing. When I was in 2nd grade, I brought a bag of food to an asian kid at my school. Even though they were probably better off then we were.

All those starving stories apparently got to me.

[Catskillgirl]

You didn't! Oh, that's funny. I wonder what the kid thought? Probably nothing, but his parents probably weren't pleased!

[jnk]

My mother was a great cook, and this dish was probably very good, BUT she made sweet and sour tongue (Hungarian style), and the sight of this gigantic body part used to make me cringe. You can cover it in any sauce you want, and cut it into whatever shaped pieces you want, but the texture of the meat, and the tiny bumps on our tongue are much larger and more pronounced, so....but I did get to take chicken paprikash to school while the other kids had bologna sandwiches on white with ketchup!

[Diane in Bexley]

JNK, you won't believe this but I actually am fond of pickled tongue. My parents (also Hungarian) cooked a lot of organ meats which I wouldn't eat, but I still like cold pickled tongue with fresh, homemade cole slaw & potato salad and a platter of sliced tomatoes on a very hot summer day. Go figure, to each his own. I have never made this for my family (my kids wouldn't touch it!) but occasionally order this in a good deli. Also very fond of chicken paprikash, stuffed peppers, stuffed cabbage, goulash, other Hungarian specialities. All things my DH and girls wouldn't touch with a 10 foot pole!

[jnk]

Hi Diane-
I realize I didn't say this but I did like the taste of the tongue, it was just the texture. When it comes to chicken paprikash, sweet and sour stuffed cabbage and stuffed peppers, I still eat them. There used to be a Hungarian neighborhood on the upper east side of Manhattan where you could buy the freshest paprika and with some of the best restaurants, but of course as rents rose, all of these places disappeared.

[Bill Hunt]

I did try beef tongue, that was smoked. It tasted a bit like a smoked pork chop, but with finer consistancy. Still, I could not help but think of those poor cows going, "m-u-r-f-f-f... " in the fields.

Hunt

[cayjohan]

Tongue is a wonderful meat. I do realize I dissed Jello upthread, so I am taking a chance. For those who have not indulged, tongue is a wonderfully delicious meat. Must agree with Diane in Bexley! Never was forced to eat it as a child(whence come a lot of our food antipathies!), but really worth a whirl if you're looking for good beef flavor.

Cay

[Passadumkeg]

I'm w/ you. I too never had to eat it and really enjoy it as an adult. In Finland, tongue is served cold, sliced thin w/ a sour cream dill sauce. Just ate a lot of tongue (lingua) tacos in Austin in Feb.
MMMMMM, tongue, finger lickin' good!

[somervilleoldtimer]

Yes! Chicken Paprikash! That's great eating.

[Passadumkeg]

Very Hungarian! Yum.

[trolley]

canned asparagus. in the 70's in japan we didn't have fresh asparagus so we ate them out of a can or should i say my mom ate them. i was about 6 yrs old and i remember being curious. tired one bite and it was off to gagging in the sink.
goose and duck udon-a few yrs later my mother really got into making udon with a goose base instead of using bonito. she would boil it like chicken soup. she would use duck too. i just remember the fatty gristle and meat in the soup that would make me gag. my sister and father would go for seconds and thirds telling my mom how delicious it was. i remember telling them i was eating in the bedroom b/c i didn't feel good but actually going to my room and dumping the contents of my bowl out the window. around this time mom was into making brown rice mixed with white. horrible! sadly, to this day i cannot eat goose or duck w/out gagging. thanks mom!

[HillJ]

10 years of summer camp; incld. 3 as a counselor subjected to the worst prepared lunch food ever.
HOT pb&j sitting in a brown bag while we hiked
WARM bucket tuna fish served on lukewarm white bread
Room temp chocolate milk............ah.......the memories!

[flourgirl]

The warm bucket tuna image really got to me. I've never been a fan of tuna melts precisely because warm -or hot - tuna makes me sick. Now add in bucket tuna to the the whole warm thing and we've REALLY got a party goin' on.

[HillJ]

flourgirl, for years I couldn't hold an ice cream scoop without flashing back to warm bucket tuna...it was god-awful.

[MelissaC1]

Warm PBJ from a camp sounds awful, but interesting enough (unlike a tuna melt ick), grilled pbj is pretty tasty (bring lots of milk to drink)

[cayjohan]

Even though a lot of the posts brought up things that made my lips curl a little, I think I could still eat the food mentioned. What I absolutely, positively cannot eat as a result of childhood over exposure is VELVEETA. It. Does. Not Resemble.Cheese.

The most revolting dish I recall was a salad of chopped iceberg lettuce, canned pineapple bits, a Miracle Whip dressing (so far, I'm not thrilled, but okay with the ingedients) and then comes the heavy-handed(really heavy!) dose of cubed Velveeta. For protein, you know. The salad would never be consumed completely, thus it would wait in the refrigerator for the next day's lunch. How many esses in the word "slime?" What is the color of ooze? Second day Velveeta salad? I'm having flashbacks as I type. Yack.

Cay

[linguafood]

Eeeewww, cay. Thanks for the details '-). You had me gagging at the canned pineapple (which can be a-ok with whipped cream, but in a salad? that's just wrong). The only cheese in salads I can handle are feta in choriatiki, a nice crumbly blue with some sliced pears & toasted pecans over mixed greens, or fresh buffalo mozzarella and summer-ripe tomatoes in a caprese.

Cubed velveeta. Oh my. I feel your pain.

[Judith]

My mother couldn't cook. To quote a writer I can't remember, the best you could say is that she made food not raw. Actually very not raw. Everything was cooked to death. Liver was green. Chicken was usually boiled to an unrecognizable state. But worse than that (if there is anything worse) she became obsessed with nutrition and started making weird vegetable loaves. She would mix vegetables like turnips and spinach in the blender and then bake them. It might sound like it has possibilities, but it didn't. Then there was a while where she got into the idea of stewed organ meats (heart and lung) which was beyond disgusting. I used to basically pretend I wasn't hungry, feed little chunks of meat to the cat under the table, and rush next door to my grandmother's after "dinner" to get something to eat.

[flourgirl]

Whew boy. Lucky for you that grandma was next door.

[Miss Ivy]

My mom has never been a very good cook so I'm not quite sure where to start here! But the two that most quickly come to mind...she went on a quick of making "monk fish" that smelled/tasted AWFUL and she made something she called "Cube Steak" that was covered in plain old Hunts Tomato Sauce. It was terrible.

[JonParker]

Creamed carrots. To this day I wont' eat cooked carrots in anything.

The worst thing I ever ate as a kid tasted just fine at the time. Mom made this Lileks-worthy dish that consisted of hot dogs split lengthwise, stuffed with cheese, wrapped in bacon and broiled. I loved them. Once I came home early from school, found all the fixin's and decided to make my own.

The problem was that I wasn't allowed to use the stove or oven. So I made them and ate them raw. With uncooked bacon. In retrospect it makes me shudder.

[somervilleoldtimer]

AARGH! YUK!

[pikawicca]

Yes, very bad.

[EWSflash]

LOL!

[Bob Haley]

Had to be boiled or steamed okra. If you didn't stab it with your fork tines and just tried to pick it up on the fork it would slip-slide into you lap. Proabably the slimeiest most revolting food I have ever experienced.

[pengcast]

We lived in a very small town and I remember my parents having canned asparagus one night. My Dad made my eat three long limp, barely green, yucky things. I remember actually wretching at the table. I think that was the exact moment when I began hating all forms of canned veg.

But that was not the worst. I went to stay at a friend's and her mom made this connoction of cream of celery and cream pea soups with tinned tuna served on dry white toast. It was a really big privelege to get to stay over and my parents warned me that I had to eat whatever was served. I did manage to eat a small portion using the old forkful followed by a glug of milk method.

[meatn3]

As a child the canned asparagus was one of our better vegetables! My brother & I would pretend to be baby birds, hold the asparagus high above each other by the larger end, and lower it to the awaiting baby birds mouth to be consumed. We enjoyed the ick factor of imagining them to be worms...
I prefer my asparagus in a non-canned fashion these days - but it is still one of my favorites!

[AndyP]

Hey Smileelisa...and all other readers,

When I was about twelve years old, a camping trip was arranged for me to go along with my best friend, and his family, in their AirStream trailer, to a No. Cal. lake. My hosts, the MacGuyer family, hailed from West Texas.

From my parents, I was given the correct admonitions that for the time that I was camping, I was to eat everything that was placed in front of my pubescent ravenous maw.

And, for one week, for EVERY lunch, I ate SPAM, ( sliced straight from the can ), with Miracle Whip dressing, and canned crushed tomatoes, on Wonder Bread.

Yoroshiku,
Andy

[Bill Hunt]

AndyP,

That sounds like a great friend and ex-partner. He loved to plan the menu for our remote location photo shoots. It only took me a few months to convince the clients, and him, that even though camping, food could be great. I think that he gave up on Miracle Whip and its counterpart, Durkeee's Famous Spread, when I had my wife cook, and then freeze some excellent meals.

Same for the freeze-dried junk in a vacuum-sealed bag. I do not do "grey food." Instead of Tang, I replaced the OJ with fresh-squeezed, and the clients never looked back. He complained about the cost, until the kudos started coming in. After an assignment, or two, we never had grilled bologna, but Boar's Head deli-meats, and the price be damned.

I also added a small Honda generator, to power the Margarita mixer, and the rest was history.

Hunt

[Catskillgirl]

Hahaha - with a Margarita, everything tastes good! I've never understood why camping should include bad food. Especially since everything tastes better in the wilderness! All that fresh air & exercise...

[HillJ]

catskillgirl, as an adult camper sure; love campfire food and the outdoor experience....but as a lifelong day camper (as I illustrated briefly upthread), lol-food that should be served refrigerated or packed properly for children and was by my experience done poorly and w/little regard to proper food handling--that was a nightmare.

Fresh air and exercise, food properly packed is heaven.

[Passadumkeg]

I work as a sea kayak guide in the summer, w/ 3and 5 day trips along the Maine Island Trail. Great food is my trademark. There is always room for more wine. I carry the wine and my clients don't stray.

[HillJ]

You are my kind of trail guide, passa..I've learned a few tricks myself since childhood. Altho wine on a land trail can make for slow passage :) Enjoy!

[Catskillgirl]

Yes of course food that's not stored properly is worse than no food at all. That hot pb&j had me shuddering!

[HillJ]

cats, I was just giving you a hard time :)
listen as awful as it was then...makes for great laughter and campfire stories now.
enjoy your sunday!

[Catskillgirl]

Now you've given me a big smile! I remember the first time I went camping for 2 weeks with my new hubby. I wasn't familiar with the area we were travelling to, so I brought SO much food. I remember while unpacking and setting up DH very seriously said "Oh No! You forgot the kitchen sink!" I swear I had everything else. I didn't realize there was a grocery store not far from the park. *G*

[coll]

I purposely leave my PB&J sandwiches on the dashboard in the summer so they get all melty, one of my favorite on the road treats.

[HillJ]

all I can say is...wow.. :)
dashboard PB&J...on purpose

what a concept.

[Bill Hunt]

I did that once, but by accident. It got "all melty" down the defroster slots. It took me a long weekend to clean it out with all sorts of brushes and rags tied to sticks. Could not get the smell of Welch's out of the Pontiac for months!

Hunt

[Smileelisa]

I feel for ya Andy....

[Bill Hunt]

Interesting, to me at least, it was brussel sprouts, beets, asparagus and spinach. These were all canned, jarred or frozen. Once I had "real" beets and grilled brussel sprouts, I realized what I had missed, because my mother only knew Bird's Eye, or the canned variety. However, I still cannot find anything good about asparagus or spinach, that is not fresh. To me, cooked spinach still reminds me of lawn clippings that have moldered in a trash bag in the Southern Summer. Raw, I love it. Cook it, and the memories come flooding back to the point of upper GI illness.

Hunt

[racer x]

I don't know how I forgot the beets! Bottled pickled beets! My mother loved them, but we detested them. I also hated asparagus cooked to mush, and I wasn't too fond of brussels sprouts either, although I wouldn't put the sprouts on my most-hated list. (Always loved spinach in all its forms.)

I like borscht, so I thought, hey, maybe I might like beets now. So I recently decided to try a new beets recipe from the web (that I cheated on and used the microwave to save time and energy, instead of the oven). Beets with carrots in a spicy sauce (brown sugar, cider vinegar, cinnamon, fresh ginger, mace). They still taste like beets, and I still hate them! (And they're messy!)
At least I was able to steam the greens and stems, to which I added onions, garlic, some bacon, and lots of pepper - very nice.

But, Bill, you must try some fresh asparagus lightly sauteed with onions, garlic, and bacon and covered with Parmesan. Addictively delicious!

[bucksguy14]

racer - try roasted beets. I'm not a beet lover but I really like the roasted ones. Not in the least bit mushy. Good served cold in salads.

[EWSflash]

Me too- doubt I'll ever order a raw beet salad but I do love beets roasted in foil in the oven or on the grill, the skin slips off, then you can salt or not, butter or not. They're wonderful.

[Caroline1]

For me, the run-away-from-home-and-never-come-back food was raw onions. It was my mother's fault. When I was around three, I noticed that I appeared to be the only one in the family who didn't know how to lie properly. Any time I told a lie, all of the adults in the family (mother and her parents, my father being Navy, and at sea much of my childhood) would instantly know I was lying and scold me. Yet I heard them tell lies all the time and no one ever even knew they were lying. I'm talking WHOPPERS, and I don't mean the candy!

When my mother tried washing my mouth out with soap for lying, she knew that wasn't working when she caught me sitting in the bathtub eating soap, blowing bubbles, and laughing. I think I was four.

So next time I tried my best to tell a lie people would believe, she dragged me into the bathroom, held my head over the toilet, and shoved a half of a huge raw Spanish onion into my mouth. That was shortly after lunch. Lunch came up, followed by breakfast. I think I was thirty before I could accidently bite into a piece of raw onion without throwing up.

The insult to the injury was when my father came home from sea. He was one of those men who wanted all rights of master of the house returned to him as soon as he walked in the door. Mother had come to terms with being responsible for my raw onion gag reflex, so she used to take my tossed salad out of the bowl before she added the raw onions for the rest of the family. But when my dad was home, he required I eat raw onions! And if I gagged, I got a spanking. The really unfair thing was that my brother hated string beans and was NEVER required to eat them. Why? Because my dad hated them too.

No. I don't think I was an abused child. My childhood, unlike most of yours, took place in the 1930s and 40s, and things were "just different" then. "Spare the rod and spoil the child," was probably the most quoted Bible verse of the time. And it turned out my parents were pretty good examples of how not to raise a child. But my mother's parents were the opposite. They were my saving graces! I did have one bit of luck with my dad. When he was home, my mother NEVER cooked liver and onions because he didn't like them. And neither did I!

[asiansensation007]

aww thats kind of sad! never would of thought as an onion as a substitute for soap.

[coll]

My neighbor used to put vanilla extract in their mouth and make them stand in the little space between the fridge and the wall for a couple of hours, wonder if they hate everything vanilla flavored now?

[hungry100]

tongue -- even the smell sent me running...

[LindaWhit]

Like many others, we were required to at least try the liver Mom made for Dad once. Stunk up the house, and none of the kids actually ate anything that night other than what we had to force down our throats.

Mom made liver for my stepfather once and I could smell it before I walked into the house. Ran upstairs, changed, and hollered for my youngest stepbrother to "Come ON! We're going to McDonald's!" and we hightailed it out of there. He paid he was so grateful to escape.

The other was lima beans. Usually served as succotash with canned corn, which I would eat, but the limas would get pushed around or mashed and eaten (buried) under a mound of mashed potatoes until they were mostly gone.

Canned beets - once. Even Mom declared them horrid.

Otherwise - it was the rule in our house you took a small spoonful of whatever was served (no diner cooking in our house!) and ate it. If you were still hungry, you could make a PB&J sandwich after leaving the table.

[gryphonskeeper]

I love canned beets with vinegar! Mmmmmmmmm MMMmmmmmmmm

[redearth]

I believe you're referring to pickled beets, which I also love! Canned beets, on the other hand, are another animal altogether, and not an entirely pleasant one, at that!

[revsharkie]

I remember eating canned beets, and I remember there being pickled beets, but I don't remember eating them. What I do remember eating was the hard-boiled eggs people were always putting in the jars with the pickled beets. Oh, my, I love those purple pickled eggs.

[Passadumkeg]

I was back in college as a Viet Vet and the GI Bill $ had run out and I looked in the cupboard and all that was left was a can of beets. With some buddies and beer, we dressed in black, blackened our faces and in the mid-of-night snuck in the back of the local trout hatchery and netted some mighty fine rainbows ($100 fine per fish if caught). Christ those fish were good. The beets made me do it.
My mother -in-law passed away a couple of years ago and left us w/ a couple of cases of canned beets. I slowly use them to supplement my own borscht and in red flannel hash.
Canned beets still beat c-rations.

[Sam Fujisaka]

What? This is CH! Have you forgotten?! HOW DID YOU PREPARE THE TROUT???

[gryphonskeeper]

I love trout. In fact I just bought 3 fillets tonight.

[taxi]

Frozen fish sticks on Friday nights...Yuck. I hope they are made much better now...

[Morganna]

There are some frozen fish sticks you can get at Costco that aren't too awful bad, plenty of fish and a nice breading. Still, they're fish sticks. :)

[Catskillgirl]

Oh, I'd almost managed to suppress *that* particular memory! Fish sticks. With ketchup to try and kill the taste. Life was so unfair - we ate fish every Friday, being Catholic. My mom sometimes gave us the choice of tuna salad or fish sticks. I'd always beg for the tuna, which I loved on toasted rye bread with lots of dill pickles. But since I was the youngest (of many) my vote didn't count too much.

To add to the unfairness of it all, my parents would always go out for a delicious fish fry. While we children suffered through those fish sticks.

[daylight]

now, were you traumatized for life 'cause of it?
can you not eat tuna or any other fish?

[Catskillgirl]

Nope, I love tuna. I'm not a huge fish fan, but it's not because of the fish sticks. *G* I was just PO'd because our parents got the good stuff!

[jnk]

Yummmm, crunchy Gortons fish sticks with left over spaghetti with tomato sauce. These kids nowadays don't know what they're missing. No, I'm not being sarcastic.

[Bill Hunt]

Now, this goes back before most of you were probably born, but some early frozen fish sticks were actually quite good. My wife often marveled, when I would actually request them. One hurricane, we cooked up a 48 pack, in case the electricity went out. The storm hit, but was mild. Fortuantely, because I had eaten the entire batch by the time that the weather folk put the storm to bed.

Nowadays, I still try to find something along the lines of fish sticks, that is edible, but have not found any. The processors use "trash fish," and then bleach them to white. Next, they bread the heck out of them, and put in seasonings to hide the taste. Really poor.

Believe me, when I say that there WAS a time, that Mrs. Paul actually used real fish, and not "imitation processed fish by-products."

Let me also throw anything that should start with a "C," (can you say CRAB?) but now, it starts with a "K," like krab. At least there is a warning on the box - the K.

Hunt

[Morganna]

I don't have a package handy to look at, but I'm pretty sure the ones I got at Costco were actually fish, all one fish, and not trash fish. :)

[Bill Hunt]

Interesting. To this day, I will still succumb to the old memories, and try ____ Fish Sticks. I have been dissappointed since about '75, but still will yield, once every 3-4 years, just in case. We have Costcos, and I shop there about once per week for wine, so I will look. I've had some very good meat, though not with the regularity that I like, and some good frozen seafood, again without the necessary regualrity. I'll see what they have. Is is Kirkland brand?

Thanks,
Hunt

[Morganna]

I can't remember but I don't think it is a kirkland brand. I'm trying to call the bag image to mind and I think it was light blue, that's not much help. :)

[pikawicca]

I make a Jamie Oliver recipe for baked fish sticks, using grouper. It's terrific. Quick and simple, too.

[broncosaurus]

I used to love the fish sticks served at early grade school around '70 or so. They were more of a square shape than the Groton's and similar you find today. Taste was great. Oh, that somebody would go back to whatever bread/fish combo that was.

[goodhealthgourmet]

i'm another one who has fond memories of those fish sticks. the "fish" was actually a solid piece of meaty & flaky whitefish, and the breading was thin & crisp. we considered them to be a treat! in fact, i recall it being a big deal when we discovered some in a friend's freezer & heated them in the toaster oven as an after-school snack.

[broncosaurus]

Yeah, they really were delicious. Odd how they've passed into the food ether; I'd guess there would be at least a niche market for the old-style sticks.

[coll]

If you see Icelandic brand in your store, give that a try. It's the only frozen fish I'll eat, most of the sticks are solid meat, even their fish cakes are unbelievably good!

http://www.icelandic.com/pr200_retail...

[broncosaurus]

Thanks, I'll have to give them a try.

[broncosaurus]

Hmmm, doesn't look too good as far as distribution on the West Coast (I'm in LA) is concerned.

[revsharkie]

I get some halfway decent fish sticks from the Schwan's man now and then. We had frozen fish sticks at home now and then, and I don't remember them being excessively awful; but they paled in comparison to the fish sticks they made at my dad's cafeteria. When I briefly worked in the kitchen there, I learned how they made them. They began with a box of "raw cod shims" from the freezer (this was in a small town in landlocked Kansas, so fresh fish was sort of hard to come by except the stuff we occasionally caught ourselves in the lake). They cut them with a bandsaw into sticks about the size of sticks of butter--regular sticks, not those short stubby ones you get on the west coast--then dipped them in flour, then egg, then breading, and then fried them. O, my goodness, those were good.

[smalt]

Anyone care to comment on pickled sausages? I have the designated food cube in the cube farm and one of the current offerings from a wall mate is a large jar of red pickling liquid and sausages. I'm not sure if it's the vinegary pickling liquid of the large letters on the label proclaiming that it's made from beef hearts that's doing it, but they aren't speeding their way out of my cube. We've resorted to slicing some up, spearing with coffee stir sticks and placing a plate in the aisle for the unsuspecting grab-and-munch types, who usually dash off with a frown on their faces.

[Bill Hunt]

Again, I'm setting the way-back machine to 1950, or so, but there was a line of "pickled 'Polish' sausage," that I still would love to find. These came in a 1 gal. jar, and were often found at the grills at some Southern golf courses, and also at many marina cafes. There were similar "pickled eggs," and "pickled pig's feet," but only the eggs were edible. The pickled sausages were quite good, and very spicy/tangy. I probably should not mention these, in case someone out there has read Sinclair Lewis, but they WERE good.

Hunt

[smalt]

The donor of the jar of pickled sausages DID mention that he considered picking up a jar of the pickled eggs at the same time. I had visions of this roly poly older guy tripping as he came off his bus on his way to work and smashing two large jars of pickled items in the heart of the business district. The current jar is labeled "Hot Mamas"....he left the "Big Daddys" with the pickled eggs in the store.

I don't think we're doing the pickled stuff again, folks!

[Bill Hunt]

Hey, I'm not THAT "roly-poly!"

In the Deep South, I seem to recall many "pickled" things. The "Polish Sausages," were the only things that I found favor in. I tried others, but they left me wanting, though these "other things" did seem popular.

Not at all familar with "Hot Mamas," or with "Big Daddies," but I'm going back to a by-gone era here.

Hunt

[smalt]

Hunt: rest easy.....my personal nickname for the roly-poly I'm thinking of is "Furry Ears". Go figure....

These Hot Mamas and Big Daddys are tavern-type supplies up here in the PNW...They reside in the commercial-quantity-type places right next to the jars of pepperoni sticks....

I dunno, these sausages...the insides look like the grind of meat is pretty fine, but I think I was kind of disturbed by the red dye sinking into the meet and not being just in the skin......the term "permeates" comes to mind...

[Bill Hunt]

Ah yes, the red dye. Last time that I tasted them was long before I had heard of "Red Dye #2." OTOH, I have been alive, and pretty well, and it's been almost 50 years since I last tasted these.

I do not wish to think of the "by-products," that may have been involved, but I still recall the flavors - oh, what flavors. I'd guess that there are a dozen organizations, that would quickly ban the ingredients.

Still, we're talking about "bad" things, and not the good ones, so I guess that I got way Off-Topic here.

Sorry,
Hunt

[Passadumkeg]

Bubba Bill, you can order pickled kielbasa at Chicopee Provisions Co. Inc. at www.bluesealkielbasa.com. Now, where can I find hominy in Lower Galoshes, Maine. Two large groceries, a Wally World, gourmet food shop, and a health food store and no hominy! Stuck in Yankee land, that why I need to Pass a dumb keg!

[azhotdish]

I knew of pickled sausage years ago, at my aunt's farm where they also made head cheese which often contained the occasional hair (for flavor!). Needless to say, I never indulged. However, I recently found a meat market (also of MN origin) here in AZ that carries it daily in their store. It's actually quite good, although I couldn't see serving to others unless they were into usual things.
http://www.vonhansons.com/products.html

[Catskillgirl]

I've been told that I really enjoyed pickled pigs' tails when I was a very young child. I have no memory of that, but I wonder if they fall into your category of all things pickled? I don't think I've ever seen pickld pigs' feet.

[smalt]

ahhh youth! i haven't had pigs' tail since i was young - dad made them with red fermented bean cake and i was much too young to learn how to make them at the time! and pigs' feet, too - he braised them or something. and then there was pig stomach.

oops. wrong thread, i liked these pig parts!

okay...back to the thread....worst foods...um....dad did strange soups....deer brain...phew! turtle (ol' tolstoy was gone one morning....)...i don't do liver of any animal.....giblets yes, liver no...

[Bill Hunt]

OK, I've seen the various liver replies, and must agree. Luckily, my mom only tried this about once per year. Some of the other organs never got plated in our house - luckily.

As for turtle (soup), we did not have this, but once I move to NOLA, it was a constant, especially from Commander's Palace. As an aside, wife tried to replicate it once. She cooked the turtle for days, and I DO mean days, and finally gave up. I took her to Commander's, and we relegated that soup to memory. Sorry about Ol' Tolstoy!

Hunt

[Bill Hunt]

I'd guess that the folk in Mississippi got the feet, and the tails were shipped up North... Actually, never saw those, which is surprising, as I did see all sorts of things in jars with some form of brine and seasonings. Still, no tails.

Hunt

[smalt]

Had to get all those odd animal parts into us young, once we were old enough to understand what they were and what part of the animal it was, well, if you didn't like it by then, ya weren't gonna like it later!

Living in an ethnic neighborhood, some of the local stores would carry whole pig heads. Kinda hard to buy with a clear conscience after seeing me go by and pat the snout and say hello to ol "Georgie" or whatever name I had chosen to bestow on the poor beastie.

[Bill Hunt]

I lived in Hattiesburg, MS, when I was dating my wife. One weekend, she came up from college and went to a local, albeit rural market, to get items for dinner. She was aghast, when she encountered a refer-case full of hog's heads. Now, you must understand that this is a young lady, who grew up in New Orleans, where one was expected to "pinch the tails," and "suck the heads" of crawfish. Still, this was a big shock to her. Luckily, for both of us, this was never on our menus.

Hunt

[Caroline1]

When I was an early-teen, I came home from school one day and my grandmother and the grandmother from across the road were in the kitchen making head cheese! Oh...my...god...! You cannot imagine the smell! I held my breath and barged down the hallway and into the kitchen only to find the two elderly ladies bent over this HUGE hog's head sitting on an oil cloth in the middle of the kitchen table. The two of them bent over the mass that was smiling at me with a grotesque tusked smile! I don't remember how many months it took before I could eat a meal at that table without that haunting memory.

At the other end of the spectrum, when I couldn't find a suckling pig to roast for Christmas dinner one year, I did roast a whole hog's head to a beautiful mahogany sheen, set it in the center of a holly wreath resting on a huge platter, then had sliced pork loin with apricot sauce surrounding it. A lovely presentation. Can't remember whether anyone ate any of it. After all of the guests left, my husband took it in a couple of big plastic trash bags and dumped it out in the desert for a merry cayote Christmas! Hey, every critter deserves a nice holiday once in a while! '-)

[Smileelisa]

My mom ate pickled pigs feet all the time when we were kids. Thank god she didn't make us eat them. I think maybe they were rather expensive so she figured it wasn't a good idea to make us kids eat them.

[Passadumkeg]

Senor Bill Hunt, I think I recently found the pickled kolbasa while taking our son to college in Amherst Mass. They are made in Chicopee Mass. I'll see if I can find out more.

[LindaWhit]

I was just up in Quechee, VT yesterday, and in one of the stores I was in, there was a large barrel with separate containers to "pick your pickle!" They had dill pickles, pickled eggs, pickled beets, and pickled Polish sausage! I thought of this thread when I saw them (but didn't buy them).

[pikawicca]

When I was down in LA a couple of years ago, volunteering at the "Hippie Kitchen" in St Bernard Parish post-Katrina, I bought several huge jars of pickled sausages and pigs' feet and donated to the common area. The stuff was gobbled up at an amazing rate. I didn't eat any, but a sniff revealed that they were very vinegar-y. An acquired taste, I think.

[c oliver]

My daddy used to buy pickled pig's feet and I remember that I liked them but haven't eaten them as an adult. Should try them again.

[pikawicca]

Well, let us know how that goes. I've decided that I don't like feet: chicken, pig, no thanks.

[c oliver]

No chicken feet at dim sum??? We ate dim sum for decades before we started etaing them. Now it's a must-have for us. Plus it makes the staff and patrons so happy to see us (Caucasians) eating them :)

[pikawicca]

I tried them at a Dim Sum place in the South Bay a few years back. Not for me.

[c oliver]

Hey, YOU at least tried them. Neither of us tried them all those years, just KNEW we wouldn't like. And maybe we lucked out and got really good ones. Chicken-feet-virgins :)

[gryphonskeeper]

ok now I will have to try them next time I go out for Dim Sum...my curiosity is piqued!

[pikawicca]

The ones I tried had no taste, whatsoever, just chewy, gelatinous, crunchy ick.

[c oliver]

We will definitely meet in SF and have some. Except for the bones, which you don't eat anyway, I've never had anything that was "crunchy."

[EWSflash]

The only time I had chicken feet at dim sum it was kind of a mess with a weird tasting sauce, and the dish was all fat, gristle, and bvone, nothing that i"d like to gnaw on like a nice pork baby back rib. But that may be the dim sum equivalent of big old baby back ribs. I may try them again some day, maybe at a different restaurant.

[phelana]

Cooked Celery in ANY CASSEROLE..terrible

[danhole]

Someone else mentioned creamed carrots. Why my mother "creamed" things was, and still is, a mystery to me! She would serve corns, carrots, peas, lima beans, all creamed. YUK! How do you even do that? I don't think it involved milk. It tasted like vegetables coated in wallpaper paste. And it looked even worse than it tasted. Did I eat it? Had to.

[Catskillgirl]

Oh yes, the creamed dishes. In Home Ec classes (early 70's) one of the first dishes we had to master was the ubiquitous white sauce - thin, medium and thick. Because nobody would eat veggies unless they were creamed, don't you remember? *G*

[Diane in Bexley]

Given the number of traumitizing experiences, is there a field of psychology/psychiatry dedicated to adult survivors of food issues? Seems like there should be sub specialities in liver & onion aversion, etc. Just kidding.

Wonder what the next generation will say of the worst food they had to eat as kids? Chicken McNuggets? Eating whole meals in the car en route to band/soccer/la crosse/piano/violin lessons?

[mercyteapot]

I have actually given this some thought. I am afraid that what my son will have to say is not that I made him eat anything terrible, but that I didn't cook every night and when I did, we had dinner at some god-awful hour.

[Glencora]

But does he complain about it now? After all, when we were kids we KNEW we were being tortured with liver and onions. (Or whatever.) In our house, the problem isn't eating take out or eating late or in the car, but I do sometimes let my son eat dinner when he's on the computer. The only one who feels badly about that is me. As long as your son is eating healthily, don't beat yourself up about it too much.

[Catskillgirl]

No, I'll bet "these kids today" will remember the chicken McNuggets with great fondness! They'll probably have such awful memories as being forced to eat a home-cooked meal that included vegetables. The horror!

[cayjohan]

"These kids today" are already thinking with fondness of Chicken McNuggets. See "Supersize Me" or "Fast Food Nation." The nostalgia is built in, thanks to multi-million dollar research and "kid-friendliness."

Yes: the horror!
Cay

[Bill Hunt]

Wasn't there an entire chapter in "Portnoy's Complaint" dedicated to this aspect? I do agree though.

Hunt

[bootsandscoots]

Fortunately my folks weren't into torture via cuisine; I didn't *have* to eat anything I didn't want to. I wasn't spoiled; no one would cater to any of my passing finickiness; I could take something or just have less to eat. One thing I did *HAVE* to 'eat' as a child that I despised was this bright pink stomach medicine when ill (it was prescribed, but kinda like pepto bismol I guess??). Sometimes I had to take it twice because I would instantly wretch up the first dose.

[flourgirl]

I used to get the pink stuff too and it never did anything except make me sicker. To this day the mere thought of that stuff makes me a little queasy.

[BBettinaB]

Worst food ever as a kid was frozen fish. I don't care what "kind" of fish it ever was originally, it was all nasty once it got frozen and had whatever mom did to it done to it.

Second up would be rolled oatmeal. I can not eat it to this day. Steel cut oats are great. The other stuff makes me gag.

Next would be any canned vegetable, followed closely by those frozen blocks o' veg - remember those? I used to be forced to sit in front of the night before's congealed cold vegetables at breakfast and yelled at as I didn't eat it then, either.

What did these people think they were doing in trying to force us to eat this garbage? Had we actually been hungry I'm sure we would have eaten it gladly, but they fed us too much and then expected us to eat as if we were living through a depression.

I'm always so happy people don't do this to their kids anymore.

[Antilope]

A fried egg for breakfast.

[blakta2]

My father had a thing for hominy which I absolutely hated. It's not like it was a common thing on our dinner plates but it was there maybe once every couple of months. I hated the stuff but I had to finish every single, puffy kernel before I could leave the table. I honestly think Dad just enjoyed torturing me with the stuff and thought it was amusing. My Dad grew up very poor in Cincinnati, OH. There were times when all he and his 12 sisters and brothers ate for weeks at a time was beans. Every now and then his mother would toss in some hominy or a ham bone to mix it up a little. Hard, hard times. Dad has never forgotten where he came from. The hominy was a reminder to him of those times and a jolt back to reality if he ever felt 'too big for his boots'. It still tasted terrible, lol.

[Bill Hunt]

Hominy. I love it, when folk complain about grits. Most will fawn over polenta, 'cause it's so cosmopolitan, but grits!?! Now, I am not a big fan of most preps of hominy, but once the lye-soaked corn has been dried and ground, well, I do love my grits. Or, should I say "polenta," for all of my non-Southern, cosmopolitan friends.

Hunt

[blakta2]

lol. I thought that the "grit" was the hard little white kernel in the puffy corn itself. At least that's what my Dad taught me. I thought the little kernels were removed in order to make the grits.I didn't think they dried and ground the whole corn. Now I've never minded the grits and in fact quite enjoy them with butter and honey or maple syrup and a splash of milk or half and half. The hominy itself though I just couldn't stomach. I can taste it still. It's not as if it were a rancid flavor or anything but a strange taste I just can't quite explain.

[revsharkie]

I started to say that other than my dad's runny fried (sunny-side-up) eggs, which he cooked for Sunday breakfasts and then we all had to eat at least some, I didn't remember anything my mom cooked that was horrid. When she would make oyster stew for supper, she'd always make a small batch of plain potato soup for my sister and me. I might have been weird, but I've always loved sauerkraut, and I remember the occasional liver-and-onions supper actually being pretty good. Her Swiss steak was round steak braised in canned tomatoes, and then she made gravy with the tomatoes and pan drippings, and it was really good. Probably her weakest dish was spaghetti sauce, and even that wasn't inedible; plus by the time I was fourteen or so I learned how to make it and everyone decided mine was better, so spaghetti sauce became my responsibility.

But I can't totally say everything was wondermous. I remember a time when all the relatives were at our house, and my mom cooked some really mushy overcooked broccoli, and my sister and cousins and I were all at the kids' table in the family room. We just couldn't any of us stomach that broccoli, and my sister knew how to unhook the screen in the window there, so we all put that broccoli out the window.

We were occasionally subjected to fried spam, and now and then she thought it'd be a good idea to take sliced bologna and fry it on a griddle for our supper. We were never tortured by being forced to eat something or sit at the table till we did, but what was served was what was served, and you pretty much had the option of eating it or being awful hungry by breakfast. Most of the time we ate it, at least some of it, at least enough that we'd be allowed to have dessert.

[smalt]

oooh fried bologna! can't do that these days, too much water content in there! that brings back memories of hot dog & ketchup sandwiches for school.....the ketchup would bleed thru by lunch time....

friend of mine used to bring chow mein sandwiches for lunch...i never did understand that one....what the heck, today's she's an ob/gyn in hollywood.....

[Glencora]

Never had hotdog and ketchup sandwiches (they sound interesting, in a trashy sort of way), but I did have peanut butter and honey. (Honey, not jam, because jam had refined sugar.) The honey would bleed through the bread and sort of crystalize. The bread was my dad's homemade whole wheat and he had to cut the slices an inch thick or else they would fall apart. And the peanut butter was the cement-like self-grind kind from the healthfood store. Yummy.

[coll]

You're right, my Mom would make us honey and butter sandwiches for school lunch, and as it sat it soaked through the bread in a very cool way.

[Diane in Bexley]

Hot dogs & ketchup sandwiches were among my favorite school lunches! I wanted my hot dog HOT and my mother devised a way to this: she packed vegetable soup in a thermos and stuck the hot dog inside with a piece of string. She packed 2 pieces of white bread (why not hot dog bun, I dunno?) spread with ketchup & pickle relish. When I got to lunch in the cafeteria, I would open the soup, which tasted wonderful because the hot dog gave it some zing. The sausage was nice and warm. Oh man, those were good. All the kids wanted to trade me for it, but this was the one lunch I never let go!

[smalt]

WOW!......never thought i'd find someone else who'd had hot dog & ketchup sandwiches! ours didn't have relish on them, tho, and they were cold....

in fact, we used to go to the public market and the butchers would give us cold hot dogs to eat - never worried about whether they were cooked or not!

okay, so we got hot dog sandwiches, no takers on chow mein sandwiches? :-D

[azhotdish]

Chicken and rice - mushy white rice and chicken, baked w/cream of mushroom soup. Absolutely disgusting, but a perfectly acceptable Northern-Minnesota "supper" apparently.

[rednyellow]

union cheese. work was slow and my folks would get food from the union hall that included big blocks of american cheese. I think the cheese itself as well as what it represented - being poor, or having cheap parents, hit me hard. As a very young kid I hated cole slaw, had to choke it down. I like it now.

[Cheflambo]

The posts regarding fish sticks have made me want to buy some on my next supermarket run. I ate a LOT of them as a child, and remember them as not being too bad. As good Catholics, we always had some sort of fish on Friday,but for a while when I was VERY young it was tuna casserole. EVERY Friday. Those of you from sturdy Minnesota Luthern stock know this as "tuna hot dish" and it shows up at EVERY post-funeral meal in every church basement. My paternal grandmother gave my mom a recipe for this and assured her that it was my dad's favorite. Dad was always too nice (or at least respectful of his elders) to tell her that he hated it. Mom tried to dress it up every way she could -- crushed potato chips on top, adding mushrooms (most unpopular with us kids). Finally dad came home one Friday night and announced we were going OUT for dinner, and there would be NO MORE TUNA CASSEROLE -- EVER. I think this was about the time we started having fish sticks. I could never get enough of that tartar sauce too -- for me, it is a side dish!

A few weekends ago I saw all my siblings at a family gathering and the subject of favorite (or less than favorite) foods from our childhood was discussed. One of my sisters bragged that she still makes tuna casserole on a regular basis. Out of the corner of my eye I saw her 17-year-old son silently sticking his finger in his mouth and making that classic barf gesture. Apparently the torch has been passed to the next generaton.

[alwayscooking]

Fried spam and pancakes soaked in syrup - took me years to finally eat pancakes again. It seems unlikely that spam will ever grace my plate again.

[Kari]

Frozen Lima Beans
Frozen mixed veggies
Asparagus which I love now
Cooked cabbage and fried bacon-stunk the house up

[vtnewbie]

Pig's ears and tails, beef tongue, brains. What the hell?

I do not force my kids to eat anything they are revulsed by.

[Sam Fujisaka]

Sincerely curious. Don't you think you were fortunate getting to eat pigs' ears and tails, beef tongue, brains?

[Passadumkeg]

I miss my grandmother's jellied pig's feet and head cheese.

[Morganna]

Some families can't afford the luxury of not "forcing" their kids to eat cheap foods. :)

[latindancer]

"Some families can't afford the luxury of not "forcing" their kids to eat cheap foods :)".

There was always, and I mean ALWAYS, pig's feet and head cheese in our refrigerator growing up. My father didn't consider these foods 'cheap' by any stretch of the imagination. He genuinely considered them a luxury item. He never considered asking his children to eat them but it was something he couldn't be without.
I always found both items interesting and now, as an adult and my father long ago passed,, I wished I would have sat down and asked him where/how he learned to love them and taken that first bite with him.

[Morganna]

My dad always had spam in the cupboard because he'd make spam, minced onion, minced green pepper, and eggs for breakfast sometimes, but he wouldn't force us to have them. :) He learned to like spam in the Marines in the 1950s. :)

[vtnewbie]

Sam Fujisaka wrote: "Sincerely curious. Don't you think you were fortunate getting to eat pigs' ears and tails, beef tongue, brains?"

I certainly didn't think so then, as I attempted to chew and swallow mouthfuls of cartilage. And certainly not the way they were cooked: boiled long enough to develop a mucilage coating.

I decided many years ago that pigs must be exposed to direct hardwood flame to taste good.

[flourgirl]

My mom used to make beef tongue now and then when I was a kid. It was funny, but I was both repulsed and attracted by this food. And I did eat it. Can't touch it now though.

[dberg1313]

Fried eggplant! Salmon loaf (like meatloaf, only with canned salmon), served with white sauce. Thinking of it gives me dry heaves. My mother was a good cook but with 8 kids, she brooked no nonsense. She served it up--take it or leave it--but NOTHING ELSE until the next meal. I also hated creamed lima beans. Oh, and her liver and onions? Tender, yummy, and served with bacon.

[mtngirlnv]

Oh, the dreaded salmon loaf!!! And in alternate weeks, ham loaf made with left over ground up ham. Mixed up with mayo, and peas, it was a nightmare to me.

[pikawicca]

I loved my mom's salmon loaf (JOC recipe). I haven't tried to recreate it in recent years, and perhaps I'll leave that memory undisturbed.

[gryphonskeeper]

pic, canned salmon loaf.... bad bad bad.... I still remember picking bones out of my mouth :( not a good memory

[pikawicca]

Bones? I think our moms must have been using different brands of salmon. You've piqued my curiosity, though. I will buy a can of salmon next week and make a loaf. Will report back.

[gryphonskeeper]

I could not tell you the brand, we are talking 30 years ago maybe. But the memories live one... the bones piercing the roof the my mouth.... *shudder*

[pikawicca]

I don't know the brand Mom used, either, but there were no bones, as far as I can recall.

[Budget Palate]

Funny I was just posting on an Alice Waters-related thread and thinking of the contrast between kids growing and eating their own food as part of a school program, and the horrific and bizarre foodstuffs of my own elementary school cafeteria...

[MattInNJ]

Lima beans!

[Potrezebie]

St. Johns Bread (Bukshoo, in Yiddish). My rabbi gave me some to try in Hebrew School. I wanted to convert then and there!

[Whosyerkitty]

I was never made to eat anything. Not at school, home or summer camp. I don't believe in making anybody eat anything they don't like so I don't with my own kid. I think it's cruel and a power thing.

[MoxieBoy]

But when my girls say they don't like something without trying, funny thing...a few months later they tell me they tried it on their own and actually liked it. It's not a powerplay to expose my daughters to new foods...it's to get them experieced in something new. Nature just takes its merry course many times.

But my wife hates peanut butter and coffee, and I love them (not together, of course). Not only won't she try them, but she wants me in a separate room when I have them.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Drink Moxie! For those who are at all particular! (another item that you either love or hate...described as carbonated Robitussin. But to those who took their first swig, we're addicted for life. (Diet version for me!)

[Passadumkeg]

What do you leave your kid's tastes up to? What is sold on the ads on Sat. morning TV. Peer influence?

[gryphonskeeper]

I am with you on this one. My parents NEVER allowed to me choose what I wanted to eat as a kid. Heck we were not even allowed to order our own food until we PAID for it at a restaurant. I am very glad for that, it taught me to enjoy a lot of foods I would never have eaten otherwise. Plus, when you let your kids choose, they will only live on chicken tenders and mac and cheese.

[piccola]

I'm sure there's a happy medium between forcing your kids to eat what you choose and caving to their every whim. I agree that kids need to try new foods, even when they don't want to - just like they have to read literature in school when they'd rather read Twilight. But if they try and don't like it, let it go. And for god's sake, give them some say on their meals, unless you want to set them up for a binge the minute they leave home.

[latindancer]

"And for god's sake, give them some say on their meals, unless you want to set them up for a binge the minute they leave home."

I'm a member of a large family. We sat down at the table for breakfast and dinner....lunch was packed by my mother. She packed the same thing for each of us. None of us has an eating disorder, problems with binging, etc.
I continue, to this day, to eat 3 meals a day with no snacking in between.
I ate what was put in front of me while growing up. As a child I thought that was natural and normal. The children in this country have far too many choices when it comes to food,, watch way too much television and are current about every fast food joint and junk food item out there and, ironically, are some of the most overweight children in the world.
My mother would have laughed in our faces if we decided we wanted a 'say' on our meals. She cooked healthy, creative meals and we benefited greatly for it and there was no binging....

[gryphonskeeper]

I too had that type of childhood Latin. There was no "snacking" and we were never allowed to eat without asking.

[Peg]

I thought it was only me! As a child (to 18) I NEVER ate food without being given it - raiding the fridge wasn't even considered an option. I was raised in a rural part of the UK (ie not even in a village) (by a US mom from Yonkers NY) - there were no food options other than what I was given. I have no food 'issues' now, other than obsession with yumminess - which I developed the moment I left home.

[EWSflash]

+1 both of you

[daveowld]

Thank god I had a dog! Once a week my mother made this gray colored meatloaf. I couldn't touch the stuff. Of course my parents insisted that you must "clean your plate" before leaving the table. One time I sat for what felt like hours. I finally put three chairs together so I could lay down.
In desparation I finally came up with a ruse. Once my parents left the table I would put the meatloaf in my pocket. The dog (an Airedale) would be attracted due to the smell of the meatloaf in my pocket and would follow me around. Once out of sight I gave the meatloaf to the dog which was "wolfed down instantly". I don't think this really fooled my parents. I think they just gave up in exasperation.
I ate spinach, okra and tomatoes, black eyed peas, even grits, (I was raised in SE Texas) with no problem but I could not touch that awful meatloaf!

[Athena]

We weren't Catholic, but we had to have fish on Fridays anyway.

Slimy canned spinach.

Evaporated milk on cornflakes.

Wheatena/Cream of Wheat

Tapioca

All grisly childhood memories.

[breakfastfan]

Hot Dog casserole. Boil potatoes, slice hotdogs into the water you boiled them in, throw in a few sliced onions. Dinner. OMG, dad loved it with ketchup, but I went hungry those nights. I realize now money was tight, and they were doing their best, but never, ever again.

[latindancer]

Ovaltine and a salad every day.
Had to...no choice.
I plugged my nose with the ovaltine and learned to make my own salad dressing that I liked for the salad whose contents were picked from my mother's garden.

[sidwich]

My nursery school *made* us eat peanut butter and jelly sandwiches as a snack. I guess they were afraid of grumpy, low-blood sugar kids in the afternoon, but to me, peanut butter and jelly was something entirely foreign and apparently I objected really loudly to having to eat it. My family was not so far removed from the Old Country, and I thought this sticky sweet mess was awful, and I was not going to eat it under any circumstances. (Obviously, this was quite some time ago, because I can't believe any place would be serving peanut butter at all considering the peanut allergy issue).

I was expelled from nursery school not long afterwards, and my parents enrolled me in a school that was much more lenient about their afternoon snack policies.

[gryphonskeeper]

you know, I thought I was the only person on earth who hated PB&J I can't eat that super sweet glop.

[linguafood]

definitely not the only person on earth. that sandwich is practically unheard of in germany. i'm not crazy about peanut butter as a bread topping, and to add some jelly to it... ugh. i can only handle peanut butter in reese's (or homemade) pb cups, or in savory dishes.

[vorpal]

You're both not alone. I hated peanut butter as a kid, and I'm still not a big fan of it now. I like peanut butter cookies and other baked goods with peanut butter, but a PB sandwich is something I'll never do.

[gryphonskeeper]

Thank goodness, I was feeling like a freak.. I would not eat it in school and everyone else loved it. :)

[cuccubear]

Not to be contrary, but PB is something I eat just about everyday, and have since I was but a wee lad. Breakfast to me smells like melted PB on toast. And, PB+J is a staple lunch. Funny thing how one persons favorite is some else's last resort. :-)

[gryphonskeeper]

its ok cuccubear! My husband LOVES PB sandwiches. I buy him the chunky variety at the deli all the time. I do like Peanut butter noodles though :) I just hate it with jelly it seems way too sweet. I never liked sweets, even as a child. My aunt called me strange because I never ate anything sweet, she told my mother I would grow up to be an old matron. Shows what she knew.. LOL I am married with 3 kids! Oddly both boys love PB&J, daughter hates it like me.

[EWSflash]

nope, horrible combo imo

[IndyGirl]

I hate it too--way too sweet, but also the gummy texture. EW

[amanda3571]

Hamburgers. I didn't like them back then and still don't today. My parents used to make us sit at the table until we were done with dinner. I spent hours at that table on hamburger nights forcing bites down with a glass of milk. Blech.

[redearth]

Wow. You must be in the minority on this one.

[jensunnyside]

My mom never made us eat anything we didn't like. One year my sister and I spent christmas at my dad's with the grandparents and my grandmother made the worse veggie soup. I ate everything but the gross canned green beans. My grandparents forced me to sit there and eat the green beans and my dad didn't have the balls to step in and tell them I didn't have to. I was bitter about that for years. It ruined my relationship with my grandparents for me. My children will never have to eat anything they don't want to.

[LindaWhit]

How do they know they don't want to eat something if they don't at least try it?

[kubasd]

thank you linda. That is definitely my pet peeve. If they refuse to try stuff as kids, and are allowed to get away with it, what are their eating habits going to be like as adults? Even if their tastes expand, they are stil missing out on years of nutritious eating that they might just love.... If only they'd tried it.

[Full tummy]

Now, that is true. But some parents take it to the extreme. My dad believed that one could learn to like anything, so anytime he discovered something my sister or I didn't like, he gave it to us more!!!

[vorpal]

Hear, hear. Despite the fact that I loathed cauliflower, my dad forced me to eat a few pieces every time it was made, which was at least once a week. He was convinced that I would develop a taste for it. Fifteen years later, I still hate cauliflower and find it revolting.

[Morganna]

This is not uncommon with cruciferous veggies. How do you feel about broccoli and brussel sprouts?

[vorpal]

I like broccoli now, but hated it as a kid. Brussels sprouts are still a huge no-no with me... probably the vegetable I hate the most!

[linguafood]

have you had it deep-fried, or roasted until soft and brown and caramelized? it's a whole 'nother animal...

[c oliver]

Fried is to-die-for. And I make faux-mashed potatoes with it also.

[gryphonskeeper]

I do that too!!!! With butter and garlic!

[vorpal]

No, and when you talk about it in those terms (especially the second), you've made my imagination perk up. I'd be delighted to give it another go if served it like that!

[Full tummy]

I, too, hated cauliflower as a child and don't like it so much now, though I have adjusted to broccoli somewhat. Much prefer "Chinese broccoli" though. What I enjoy, as linguafood said, is breaking the cauliflower into florets, putting them in the baking pan and sprinkling with olive oil. You can put onions in too, or other veggies if desired. Then roast at 400F or so, for about 30 minutes (not sure of exact times as I do it by sight) until the cauliflower looks a little toasted, but not burnt!!! You might want to turn them once or twice for more even browning. I also like to sprinkle cumin seeds on them before roasting, to serve as a side with Indian dishes.

[vorpal]

Agreed. I like broccoli to a degree now (I won't eat a huge amount of it, but a few pieces is nice)... I do love Chinese broccoli (gai lan), though.

Thanks for the recipe idea. I'm going to give that a try! *grins* it has to be better than my mom's uber-boiled cauliflower mess.

[Full tummy]

Let us know what you think. The cauliflower shouldn't be crisp, but it shouldn't be mush either.

[linguafood]

When I get a falafel sandwich, I always ask for the deep-fried cauliflower to be added along with the various salads. It is sooooo good, and really tastes very different from raw or steamed (which I like, too, but not as much).

Once I found out you can achieve the same results by roasting it with olive oil.... yowzah.

[Morganna]

That was the rule in our house. We weren't allowed to refuse to even try something, but if we tried it and genuinely didn't like it, then we weren't made to eat it.

[DoobieWah]

That's how I raised my son.

I didn't insist that he like everything, or even eat everything.

But I did insist that he try everything, and even as a small child he had a terrific palate.

We were at an elementary school academic competition of some sort one Saturday and everyone was supposed to bring something to eat. One of the parents asked my son if she could get him anything, and at the ripe old age of eight, he asked for some smoked gouda. (Needless to say they only had Kraft American singles, and some Monterrey Jack. He turned those down, though.)

Turns out her husband was a caterer, and he actually hired my son for some gigs later on when he was a teenager.

(I was so proud!) <sniff>

[EWSflash]

My son, when he was around six, told his auntie that he'd eaten rattlesnake. She saidf "Oh- what did it taste like?" thinking the joke was on, only Andy said "Calamari". A favorite Andy story with me :-)

[Full tummy]

For me, there is no one worst food. I pretty much remember not liking most of the food we had in the house, aside from apples, oranges, bananas, fish sticks and microwave chicken legs, skin removed, with chicken seasoning salt (quite possibly my most favourite main course), green peas, peanut butter and whole wheat bread. My dad was a single parent with little money and a 100% commitment to efficiency and eating healthy. So, nothing was ever fried. We never had butter, margarine, sugar, maple syrup, bacon, ham, cold cuts, cheese, herbs, potatoes, pasta. They weren't even in the house!

What we did have were a lot of pressure cooked plain beef heart and kidneys. Cod and beef liver were steamed, as were all vegetables, including gritty spinach (my dad didn't know how to wash spinach and didn't seem to mind the grit), parsnips. Pork hocks were cooked in the slow cooker so the fat and skin became gelatinous and slimy (at that time, my dad didn't realize that the white slime was fat, so he made me eat it!). And a wedge of iceberg lettuce with salt on the side -- we didn't have salad dressing, vinegar, mayonnaise, or any condiment to dress it, or anything, with. Nothing had a sauce, there was no deglazing, reducing. Gravy was a bad word.

And I had to eat it all, whatever was put on my plate. Alas, there was no family pet to pass it to... my dad was like some sort of surveillance system, so trips to the washroom, discrete napkin wraps were impossible.

I survived, though, as did the rest of us, hahaha.

[vorpal]

My parents were extremely vigilant, too, and were essentially the worst preparers of vegetables that the world has seen (everything was frightfully overboiled and mere minutes from unidentifiable mush). I had to eat the vegetable they cooked at every meal, and there were very, very few that I liked. The strategy that I used was to put one bite in my mouth, begin gagging uncontrollably (given how disgusting they were, it wasn't much of a stretch), and then run over to the garbage as fast as I could and make wretching noises while spitting it out. That usually ended the torture session quite well :-).

[Full tummy]

Oh, poor you!!! I don't recall delivering a believable and convincing gag fit, alas. I guess a flair for the dramatics would have been advantageous in such a situation, hahaha.

[vorpal]

*grins* I think my performances during dinner may well be responsible for piquing my continued interest in acting and the theatre!

[Full tummy]

Hahahaha! Didn't have a bent for acting then, and I don't have it now, alas!!!

[EWSflash]

Wow. That's alternative.

[Auriana]

My mom was a horrible cook, but she knew it and didn't make us eat much that we didn't want to. However, she had a gross habit of putting chopped-up hot dogs in Kraft mac & cheese. I always ate around the hot dog chunks, but the mac & cheese got stained with hot dog juice and just tasted rank. She thought it made the pasta healthier by adding protein. :(

[Full tummy]

Oh my goodness, healthy (?), did she never read the ingredient list on the hot dog package??? Funny thing is that was many children's dream dinner... KD with hot dogs...

[Auriana]

My well-intentioned mom has only recently started reading ingredient lists...due to my prodding.

[mattwarner]

Forget kids - I'm pushing 30, cook dinner from scratch every night, and I'd gladly sneak M&C with hotdogs for dinner tomorrow! (You know, if nobody would ever know of my secret, shameful proclivities...) :-)

[vorpal]

I have to agree... KD (Kraft Dinner, which is what we call boxed mac & cheese up here in Canada) + hot dogs is a delicious combination! Even better is KD mixed with pan-fried ground beef, cooked up with some garlic and salt and pepper. Yum!

I didn't enjoy that kind of stuff when I was a kid (I was a dreadfully picky child, and I must have been such a pain in the keester), so I may as well enjoy it now!

[linguafood]

I like to add chicken breast, red peppers, and mushrooms. And hot sauce, of course. Voilá: dinner.

[kubasd]

haha my boyfriend loves kraft mac and cheese with sliced hot dogs in it. As a matter of fact, during football season he eats it every sunday morning before the games. To me it's nasty, but he'd eat it 4-5 times a week if i made it.

[just_M]

My husband and son love this too, but the kicker is they use Doritos to scoop it up with. Honestly its disgustingly good.

[CookieWeasel]

The worst food I had to eat routinely was summer squash, and yes, I was MADE to eat it, every last bite. I HATED it! I had a bathrobe with big pockets and sometimes I would wear it to the dinner table and slip some squash into the pockets. Then I'd take a bathroom break and flush the evil vegetable down the john. I have no idea why I found the taste so repugnant. Nowadays, summer squash is one of my favorite things!

[Full tummy]

Hahaha, did your parents ever figure out the bathrobe trick?

Tastes can change, and I don't believe it has anything to do with something being forced on you, though it's good to taste a little bit now and again, to see if it's something you can acclimate to. That's how I learned to like olives, and anchovies, and probably many other things.

[FrankD]

We hated brussel sprouts; they were always over-boiled and smelly. And of course, no child was allowed to leave the table without cleaning their plate ("Think of all those starving children in China!". "Well, let me mail it to them" turned out, after a swift cuff to the back of the head and an extra helping of sprouts laid on the plate, to be an ineffective response).

One night I was sitting there with my brother and sister, moaning over the sprouts, while my parents, who were done, had adjourned to the living room nearby. Suddenly, my sister jumped up, announced she had to go to the bathroom, grabbed her plate, and disappeared. When she came back with an empty plate, she sat down for a minute, announced "I'm done", and showed the plate to my parents. "OK" they said, and she left. My little brother and I looked at each other, and burst into helpless laughter.

[vorpal]

Isn't it funny how that works out? When I was a kid, I loathed buckwheat pancakes, broccoli, and glazed carrots. Over the last few years after not eating them since childhood, out of the blue, I've developed wild cravings for all three of those things and now absolutely enjoy them.

[EWSflash]

LOL- my mom used to make sourdough buckwheat pancakes as a treat- I didn't realize how much I hated them until she had some friends over after I was an adult- and half of the people got that look on their faces that said 'Sweet Jesus how do I get this sh!t out of my mouth?' I haven't made anything with either sourdough or buckwheat since I was an adult.

[CajunJacques]

It would be white beans on rice, well, white beans period. When I ate the white beans at that time it was on rice. I ate a spoon full and felt sick to the gills at the taste and smell of the beans. My mom told me to eat it all or I would not go to see a movie with them that night.

It felt like an eternity to finish the bowl. To this day, I do not eat white beans.

[magfitz]

my parents were pretty good about not making us eat many things that we just did not like (i hated macaroni & cheese while my siblings loved it. they would get it as a side but i was excused from eating it). the only thing i remember being forced to eat was cubed steak. AAARRRGGGH! i would gag at the mention of it. i would chew and chew and just could not break it down enough to swallow it.

one thing i do remember was that my father used to refer to hot dogs as 'tube steak'. i would always have to have him repeat and enunciate his announcement of what was for dinner because i would often find myself looking forward to hot dogs only to have 'cubed steak' served. what a let down.

oh, his term for leftovers was 'magapani stew'. not sure of the spelling of that as i had never seen it written and haven't heard the term anywhere else.

[Sam Fujisaka]

You don't mean, "mulligatawny stew"?

[gryphonskeeper]

I looked up that recipe Sam, and it sounds wonderful!

[magfitz]

nope. i've had mulligatawny. kind of an indian chicken soup, no? this was just a term that they used for leftovers. magipani (or something that sounded like that) stew

[Full tummy]

Tube steak!!! Cute!!! Where did he get that from? Was it sarcastic?

There's a restaurant here in Ontario called the "Goofy Newfie", where they serve "Newfie steak" (The owners are from Newfoundland.) The "steak" is really fried bologna, hahaha.

[gryphonskeeper]

LOL.... I had that once.... only once. EEK..

[pikawicca]

"Tube steak" was a pretty common name for a hot dog when I was a kid. I always thought it was lame.

[Full tummy]

Hahaha, that's funny. I did an Internet search, and the term goes way back to the 1930s!! Apparently, there's even an entry in the Oxford English Dictionary for "tube steak"...

http://www.barrypopik.com/index.php/n...

[c oliver]

Me too. I'm 62; how old are you?

[pikawicca]

60

[buttertart]

"Tube steak" was one of my dad's witticisms when I was a kid (London, Ont., 1960s). I always thought it, like some of his others (not all as polite), were WWII army lingo.

[latindancer]

Well it's also one of my favorite ZZ Top songs...

"Tube Steak Boogie"

[buttertart]

My dad must have consulted on the lyrics, "Here's to the girl who lives on the hill..." was one of his favorite toasts, in company or just muttered to himself.

[latindancer]

Maybe your dad knew my dad :).

[roxlet]

My mother made escarole soup, which I think must have been delicious, but since I had an aversion to most vegetables at that time, I thought it was disgusting. She would cook the escarole in the pressure cooker, and the smell of the escarole cooking was very similar to the smell of artichokes, which I adored. So I would come into the house all happy thinking that dinner would be a snap, but as soon as I realized the truth of the matter, I knew it would be another dinner that would stretch on interminably as my parents and I waged a war of wills. I'd do homework sitting at the dinner table with the bowl of escarole soup in front of me. Finally, it would be time for a bath and bed, and the war was over for the night, probably to resume the next night over steak pizziola, which was always made with a gristly, tough meat that I would wage war against. There were so many instances of things I wouldn't eat that I would love to have right now!

[The Professor]

Interesting how individual taste is. The chicken soup described by the original poster is the same chicken soup my family made when I was a kid, which I loved, and which I still make the same way to this day.
As far as food I had to eat as a kid, there are a number of things that I professed to hate back then (MILK was one of them..the only way my mom could get me to drink it at all was to put it in coffee); but I gradually grew to love many foods I had an aversion to (mostly during my college years...the "munchies" served a powerful purpose in retraining my palate concerning foods I formerly may have considered unappealing. LOL!).
Just proves that in the end, people's food aversions can be pretty silly. Half the time, the real hurdle is just tasting something for the first time.

[pikawicca]

Did you ever come to like milk? I have had a lifelong loathing for the stuff.

[The Professor]

I can drink it now, yes. It wasn't until my freshman year in college (40 years ago) that I would even consider it. As I mentioned, it took a little prodding from a temporary 'sensory enhanced' state..LOL...but man oh man, with not much else in the fridge, that first glass tasted SO good. After I finished the quart container, the bowl of chopped liver (another former 'no-way' food) was the next course.

[pikawicca]

Wow, I thought I was a hungry student, but I was never desperate enough to drink milk. More power to you, prof.

[c oliver]

And Mother fussed at me because I love milk so much that I wanted to drink it just because I was thirsty.

[linguafood]

I used to drink TONS of milk as a teenager. I remember getting yelled at by the guy who ran the stable I was riding/working at, telling me that calves triple in size within weeks, and that milk was a food, not a drink.

I had no problem downing a couple of big glasses every morning, even liked it for quenching the thirst after a night of boozing...

I still absolutely must have a glass of milk with breakfast, but nowadays it's skim, of course.

[c oliver]

Not gonna fit in those britches if you get too fat :)

[gryphonskeeper]

Mental note..... pour water on cereal from now on....

[EWSflash]

I'm not a milk drinker, but when I was pregnant I would have a big glass of skim milk with a lot of skim milk powder added. I'd invented that when I was an anorexic 20-year-old, sometmes as the only thing I 'ate' all day, but I'd developed a taste for it and drank it every day during my pregnancy, in addition to eating like a thresher. I had a very healthy 10.25 lb baby boy.
It just occurred to me to say Thank God I don't have anybody around to tell me what to eat any more!

[CouplesCooking]

Without a doubt it was ONE lima bean,.....still don't eat them!

[gryphonskeeper]

Lima beans is the ONLY veggie I won't eat

[lyn]

yup. lima beans. I eat many different , even extreme ( in pop culture words) food items. But Lima beans is where I draw the line. my parents said we had to try everything before we said we would not eat it. They paid for that in gack at the table. tongue, pig ear, blood saugae, innards, bring them on. Lima bean? I will crumble every time.

[Florida Hound]

I posted elsewhere on the thread re: horrid creamed spinach. But, Lyn, you touched a still-raw nerve or raw taste bud mentioning "lima beans." I had left them far in the past and never looked back. But back in the day of eating at Mom and Dad's table, the periodic challenge of the lima beans was an event. I think I would silently wait out the ordeal and sometimes get sent to bed without my supper. I think one time when Mom tried, "Well, you can just sit here all night until you finish them," I sat there all night.
And then, as others have posted, there was liver. My father loved it. I must have been adopted.
Florida Hound

[ZenSojourner]

"And then, as others have posted, there was liver. My father loved it. I must have been adopted."

LOL! I'm right there with you!

[chowmel]

fried pickled tripe, blood sausage are the two that really stickout. We only HAD to eat them the first time. After that - they were just for my dad. For me it was also routinely mashed potatos. I'd have to sit at the table until I ate them. Stubborn girl that I was I'd last for hours. Then I ate them hard and cold. That showed them I guess !! :>

[pikawicca]

"Pickled" tripe? Tripe on its own wasn't gross enough? Gack! But, pardon me, you didn't like mashed potatoes? Mashed spuds (properly prepared) is just about the most perfect food known to man.

[Dagney]

Canned green beans. I have a DISTINCT memory of actually vomiting them up at the dinner table when I was 5. And peas. No. Not ever.

However, I love that weird green bean casserole.

[boyzoma]

I have to agree with many posters. Liver and Onions. I would get physically sick to my stomach at the smell of the liver. To this day, I still cannot touch that one! I can't believe there are so many others here that feel the same. It gives me validation!

[roxlet]

Once, when I was in LA on business, a friend invited me to her house for dinner. She was serving liver and onions. It was the only time in my life that I just couldn't eat what my host was serving. I confessed my aversion, and she was very understanding. What would possess you to make this for company??!!

[Sam Fujisaka]

Well. I'd make liver and onions for an informal dinner and for guests with adult food tastes.

[LindaWhit]

Sam, that's a pretty unfair statement. Just because someone doesn't like liver doesn't mean their tastes are adult; they just don't like the taste of liver.

If an adult only ate Chef Boyardee Spaghettios and frozen pizza and chicken fingers, *then* perhaps their tastes aren't adult. But to say that those of us who don't like liver do not have "adult food tastes" is, at the least, demeaning to those of us who don't like liver.

[Sam Fujisaka]

Yes, you're right; and I apologise. On the other hand, I was responding to roxlet's indignation when s/he asked, "What would possess you to make this for company??!!". That tone made me indignant. Plus, I grew up in a time before packaged foods and tastes, a time when liver & onions were served in restaurants!

[LindaWhit]

Fair enough - I figured that's what you were responding to. But then again, being one of those who detests the taste of liver (at least the liver I've tried four times or so in various meals, whether at home or out) I have to agree with roxlet's query! LOL

[JungMann]

I'm not terribly old, but it does make me *feel* old to reminisce when I used to be able to get liver and onions at any old restaurant. I can still hear the creakiness of the faux-leather banquettes and the wonderfully rich scent of onions fried with bacon. Now the only times I ever see liver and onions are when they are a special at some upmarket New American boite.

[latindancer]

I love liver and onions. Calves liver is my favorite choice but either way is fine.
Years ago it was considered one of those delicious delicacies and I'm not sure when/why they began taking it off menus.
This thread is convincing me I must make it more often.

[coll]

Most restaurants get beef liver frozen in 4 oz portions, for the rare (older) clientele that requests it. It's not going to win any taste contests, since it's cut so thin, so I predict its popularity will continue to wane.

I grew up eating it by force, and my Mom made only us girls eat it for the iron, the boys got hamburgers those nights. Unfair! I do love chicken liver in almost any form though, and I once had the most delicious beef liver at a German restaurant, served Sauerbraten style. That, I'd eat again. But as far as serving it to company, only if it was my mother, or a friend of mine who's in his 80s and orders it in restaurants when it's on the menu, only to be disappointed everytime when it comes out well done.

[latindancer]

"....for the rare (older) clientele that requests it".

I've been told that I began loving it as soon as I could chew meat. I remember eating it at a diner next to the hospital I worked at when it was their special. I couldn't wait for it to be on the menu again. It was delicious. Of course it was during the '70's and it's apparent, from reading this thread, that this dish is no longer popular. Each generation, if what you say is true about 'older' people being the only ones who ask for it, apparently has their favorite dishes....so I wonder what this generation's popular/acceptable dish is....perhaps anything quick on 'on the go'? Something to be eaten in one hand while being able to text in the other?
I, like you, love chicken livers also.....chopped chicken liver in my case.

[coll]

Sadly, the younger generation seems to be pushing the trend towards fast food items. Making french fries into a meal. Breaded chicken fingers with ranch dressing. Burgers, but not juicy fresh ones, just skinny little patties with lots of condiments. Of course, this is extremely general, but if McDonalds etc sells it, every other food place has to sell something similar. Including the schools, which is part of the problem. Predictable food trumps exotic for most.

[The Professor]

Sad...very sad.
Prefab, processed food is winning the day (not in my house, though).

[Sam Fujisaka]

All of you are implicitly but more politely backing my tbhoughtless comment above about liver & onions being a perfectly acceptable dish for people with adult tastes.

[pikawicca]

Calves liver and chicken livers, both served with mashed potatoes and cream gravy, are still served (Gott sei dank!) in diners throughout the Midwest. That said, most folks I know won't touch them. I think they must have been exposed to poorly cooked/over cooked versions in their youth. How else to explain their rejection of these delicious dishes?

[Smileelisa]

I agree professor. My husband loves processed food to my utter disgust. He chooses store bought mac and cheese, cookies, bread, etc I love to cook and bake and everybody who comes over wants to move in, they complain their wives don't bake and tell my hubby how lucky he is. When I make him his *stove top* he is the only 1 who eats it. Guess it is a matter of taste. He grew up on processed foods and doesn't know any better. I am slowly changing his way of eating. Just the cost alone of the processed food is enough to keep me away from it. Plus the fact it isn't good for you. My niece who lives with us is 17 and she grew up on processed food and cannot believe I make food from scratch! She hasn't refused to eat any of it yet.

[Morganna]

You can get liver and onions off the standard menu at the Wayside Restaurant in Berlin, Vermont. :) They also have tripe. :)

[pikawicca]

Whoa...tripe in Vermont? Where did that come from?

[linguafood]

Calf's liver with apples & onions along with mashed potatoes is one of the "official" dishes of Berlin.

I eat it all: liver, kidney, brains, sweetbreads... GOOOOOOOD eats!

[pikawicca]

Sorry, I will part company on kidney, which smells (surprise!) like urine. The rest are good, though.

[linguafood]

Never smelled or tasted like urine to me, and I have a pretty sensitive nose. I've only had calf's kidneys, so perhaps pork or beef are stronger smelling -- calf's liver is much milder in flavor than beef or pork liver, too.

And if they're in a creamy mustard sauce with dill over rice... delish.

[gentlyferal]

I've tried and tried to enjoy liver -- in fact this thread is inspiring me to try yet again -- but I've always found it pasty and squishy when it wasn't cooked to death. And then there's the whole bitterness issue.

The one time my mother (recovering from a stroke, and with no limitations on her diet because the doctor wanted her to regain weight) craved a batter-fried brain sandwich, like she used to have in Chicago, it was such a production number. First we had to find the brains. Then Grandma had to reinvent the recipe from Mom's description. Then she cooked them - for everybody. Mom was very happy, but I thought, "Bland and squishy, yet not nauseating. Well, I don't ever need to eat this again."

Sweetbreads, though - one of my fondest childhood memories is the annual family trip to Reno NV, where we would dine at Eugene's, one of those 1960's kinda-French Middle-western-posh restaurants. I always, ALWAYS ordered the sweetbreads in some kind of ravishing brown gravy that had red wine or sherry in it (I think). Tender, succulent ... I've been craving them for about a week now. To me, they're reminiscent of chicken "oysters" - the succulent bits on the back of a chicken, just where the "waist" should be. I believe I was still in elementary school when I discovered them.

[puddin head]

I have a distinct memory of sitting with my father at a tavern. It was dark, with those faux-stained glass tiffany style lamps above the booths. I was about 4 years old, it was in the 1970's. I was drinking a Shirley Temple, and my father was eating a plate of liver and onions. I detest liver, even then I remember watching him eat with a bit of digust. But I did love Shirley Temples.

[roxlet]

I consider myself to have adult food tastes, but I think that liver and onions is not a meal for company, particularly since many people do have an aversion to it. I am not the only one as evidenced by many of the negative reactions to liver as a dish on this thread. When I invite someone for dinner, I try to find out if my guest has any food allergies and I will often mention the main part of the menu to make sure that there isn't a problem. It's called being a good host or hostess, and has nothing to do with whether your tastes are "adult." I resent your remark.

[szeglin]

Chicken a la King. I never liked it. Probably never will.

[SonyBob]

That would be a toss up between Mom's mashed turnips and Grandmother's aspic. Mom bought the biggest turnips she could get and then boiled and mashed them. They were horribly bitter and no amount of butter or pepper would keep me from gagging. My grandmother, bless her heart, thought aspic was a really special thing to fix when I and my very young family would visit over Christmas break. It was tasteless and reminded everyone of cold snot. She would serve it with such pride and anticipation, we just HAD to eat it approvingly
Bob

[puddin head]

My father's second wife's mother lived with us when I was 5-8 years old. She was a HORRIBLE cook. We weren't allowed to snack between meals, and then had to eat horrid plates of yuck for dinner. It was almost out of a Grimm's fairy tale.

So, to this day I cannot STAND anything called "pork." When I read descriptions of pork dishes the appeal is completely lost on me. I have tried occasionally to give it another chance, but the damage is done.

Incidentally, I do enjoy bacon.

[hala]

my dad's scrambled eggs. He cooked them in lard and put in equal amounts of eggs , fat and dates. They were disgustingly sweet and fatty. My mother never allowed him to make that dish, so, he only cooked it when she was not there.

[boagman]

Veal parmesan. My mom, who is an excellent cook, could not fathom (along with my father) that I actually couldn't eat this abomination. After throwing up while eating it on multiple, sequential occasions, they *finally* relented and didn't make me eat that atrocity any more. In fact, my abhorrence for it got it eliminated from the dinner selections altogether.

I don't mean to paint my parents in any kind of cruel light: we did have a "no-thank-you serving" rule at the table which was very helpful in making me into the foodie I am today, but to this day, with cultured dairy products, they're not forced on me. Ever.

[crazybaker]

Lima beans was the 'YUCK' food for me. Luckily our kitchen table had a narrow ledge on the inside bottom of it. I used to line up my lima beans on that ledge when nobody was looking. I'm not sure whatever happened to all thos lima beans. Maybe they just dried up and turned to dust! Yes, I still hate lima beans!
Another disgusting thing was the mashed pumpkin that my grandmother served one Thanksgiving. All my cousins and I thought it was rutabaga, which we love, so we all took huge helpings of it. The first taste told us it was NOT rutabaga. Grandma told us that if we wanted dessert, we had to clean our plates! That pumpkin had fallen off the back of a truck and my unmarried aunt picked it up off the road and brought it home. Grandma decided to make it part of the Thanksgiving dinner. It was DISGUSTING!

[szeglin]

I have a relative who enjoys eating lima beans doused in ketchup.

[coll]

Everything tastes better with ketchup.

[miriamjo]

Oh, really. My Grandfather would make ketchup on white bread for us as an afternoon snack. YUK!! To this day I rarely use the stuff. I learned to like all sorts of offal, liver (especially lamb which is so much better than beef), kidneys, black pudding and haggis. We had the one taste rule at our house. You had to take a taste before you could claim you didn't like something, and it wasn't just the first time it was served (in case your taste had changed). I'm glad that was the case as there are few foods I won't eat. I don't do canned veggies except tomatoes and beans (not the green kind). My mom was a good cook who baked her own beans, Boston style, made her own brown bread etc. Living in RI we had lots of clams, crabs, scallops and the like. Loved it all, lucky me.

[Mkir]

Canned peas.

I always knew when my parents were going out that night because my mom would always fix the same dinner for us -- boiled hot dogs, canned peas, and cottage cheese. Or, if we were particularly unlucky, canned lima beans.

Gack. None of those items ever graced my plate once I left home.

[dr. pepper]

Ditto with the liver and lima beans.
I detested frozen brussel sprouts and would wash them down whole with milk - it was like swallowing golf balls.
Mom also made "salmon pea wiggle", a Vermont specialty: canned salmon with canned peas and some sort of sauce (canned no doubt) to goo it all together. It was served on a bed of saltines. I would carefully cut and eat the four little triangles on the corners which didn't have the wiggle on it, after which I was in for a long night.

[bushwickgirl]

Big hate: I went to parochial school at a convent in ME in the fifties, where the French-Canadian nuns did all the cooking. We were served yellow split pea soup, which I thought was the most vile smelling and tasting stuff ever to cross my 6-year-old palate. I remember thinking that is wasn't really even food. Unfortunately, the nuns made us finish everything on our plates before we could go out for recess. Boy, did I suffer for Christ. I like it now, though.
Big fear: fish bones, had nightmares about choking on them when I was a kid and we had fish every Friday. More torture by organized religion.

[gryphonskeeper]

Bushwacked, One of the nuns in my Catholic School choked on a fish bone once, We were given tuna sandwiches after that for the remainder of Lent.

[bushwickgirl]

Ha, I had no such luck.
If it was bad or scary, I was going to have to eat it, in the name of Christ.
Made me the ethical hedonist I am today.;-))

[coll]

She should have lit a candle for Saint Blaise. Wasn't there a holy day when they blessed your throat so you wouldn't choke on a fish bone. If I remember, it was right before Lent began......

[bushwickgirl]

Yes, it was Saint Blaise, with the crossed holy candles. I seem to remember my Mom telling me it was to ward off sore throats, so you see, I just couldn't win.

[coll]

The legend is that they were taking St Blaise away somewhere, probably to torture him or something, and a boy was choking on a fish bone and he made the sign of the cross and the boy miraculously recovered. Must be a repressed memory for you!! I know I always had a fear of choking on fish bones too, and I guarantee it was the nuns trying to scare us into being holy. I mean, how many people actually choke on fish bones and die?

[bushwickgirl]

Well, if there are any, I don't know them, probably because they're dead.
Seriously, it's a highly unlikely way to die, IMO.

[Jetgirly]

My mom's cauliflower-cheese soup is really, really gross. I can't really describe it... Well, she never sweats the onions long enough and they're always really crunchy. Then, the oil never emulsifies (or too much is used, more likely), and there's a filmy layer of oil across the top of the bowl (okay, I just typed "bowel" and that isn't actually far off). It's just gross, and I speak as an avowed soup lover who will eat almost anything in soup form. She's been really good about not cooking it when I come to visit (and of course I always offer to cook when I'm there!)... but the memories still haunt me!

[Aramek]

The only thing I hated when younger was Hard Boiled eggs. Something about the smell just made me queasy. Thankfully that has passed.

[horseshoe]

Pickled beets, cooked cabbage, brussel sprouts, still hate them. Things i used to hate but love now are: mushrooms, oysters, broccoli..

[elvirabarker]

When I was 4, my mom put a lot of work into making kidney stew. I can still remember the strong smell of urine in it. ugh

[Sarah Ann Bowden]

My mom wanted to try a new recipe and so she made squash soup - with chicken flavoring! YUK!!! I have never had an appetite for her liver and onions, either. My dad, on the other hand, has a tendency to ruin chili by making sure that it is not spicy but really, really sweet.

[Florida Hound]

My mother made an extremely gross cooked spinach in a white sauce. I guess my father liked it, but the kids in the house fell into the stereotype that kids are supposed to hate spinach. The Popeye cartoons of my era did not impress. As an adult, I discovered fresh spinach leaves in salads and occasionally put fresh spinach leaves in a sandwich to veggie-up what ever meat is the main deal. I wish Mom had served just raw, unmutilated spinach.

[bushwickgirl]

Growing up in the '50s and '60s, my parents always had a garden and grew spinach. For some reason we never ate it raw; it was most often cooked to death, or frozen (my mom was big on freezing things) and then cooked to death some more. Not until the '70s did I even consider eating raw spinach and of course, I still do today.
Now I make creamed spinach (from fresh) with reduced heavy cream, a little shallot, a bit of nutmeg and butter. A far cry from the creamed spinach of mom's kitchen.

[BabsW]

Cube steak. *shudder*

A gray hunk of gristly grossness.

[boagman]

Cube steak I could handle...I didn't necessarily *like* it, but it was certainly edible. I'll say this, though: ours was never grey. Brown? Yes...the color that beef should be when cooked, with a little red worked in there. It is most definitely a lousy cut of beef, but it was never a Hill To Die On for me. I fully agree about the gristle, though.

[Perilagu Khan]

My mom's sweet and sour pork. She was a heck of a cook, but her SaSP was overloaded with pineapple. Nasty stuff.

[boagman]

Now, see, to this day, I absolutely love my mom's SaSP. When she's making it, the smell of the vinegar is SO STINKING STRONG, and while it does have pineapple in it, it's in correct ratio with the rest of the veggies and pork in the dish. Smelling that dish cooking is just a little preview of heaven to me. There are other great smells, too, but that one is just so very distinctive. I'm sorry you grew up not liking it...have you since had versions of it that you approve of?

[parliament]

The worst thing I remember eating as a kid was Chef Boyardee ravioli. Back when I was a kid, probably around seven or eight, they had kid-appealing Chef Boyardee commercials that would come on Nickelodeon. So I begged Mom to get a can of it at the grocery store. She fixed it for me one day for dinner, and I bit into it. It was seriously disgusting. The texture was revolting, the meat inside of the ravioli smelled and tasted old and horrible, like it had been sitting out for days rotting. After eating the first one, I felt like I was going to ralph. Mom made me sit there until I was done eating. I got about 30% through before she turned her back and I dumped it into the garbage can. And then I ran to the bathroom, where I stayed for close to a half-hour.

[marneybrown]

My aunt had her own farm and made spaghetti one night which was my absolute favorite food on the planet. Well she didn't have any beef in the house so she "improvised" and used liver instead. Because they were poor, and we were guests visiting, we were forced to eat it. We still talk about how disgusting it was to this day and my mother has apologized for making us eat something so revolting.

[buttertart]

Oh no, that really takes the cake.

[raidar]

So was it diced/ground up? I just can't even imagine this.

[The Professor]

I once had "spaghetti a la Caruso" in a NYC restaurant...spaghetti in red sauce with chicken livers...and it was absolutely delicious.

[chuchelo]

My mom's rice pudding. Actually, my three brothers and I showed amazing solidarity in the face of this. All of us refused it and were left sitting alone in the dining room until we ate it or we were sent to bed. The following morning, it was served as breakfast. Then we found it in our lunch.....

I still gag at the sight of it.

[aynrandgirl]

Liver and brussels sprouts, naturally.
Cabbage and rice casseroles. My mother loved them.
LIverwurst
Bacon fat spread: refrigerated rendered fat used as a spread on sandwiches.

[linguafood]

Mmmmm. liverwurst. delicious. Dito for the liver & sprouts.

[aynrandgirl]

I thought rumors of people who like liver were urban legend.

[linguafood]

You've lead a very protected life so far, then.

[Morganna]

I love liver and liverwurst. :) Though I never learned it from my parents. :) My mother used to scorch the liver and onions (she, apparently, like it that way, to me, it was utterly disgusting and inedible). I never realized how much I liked it until I cooked it myself and DIDN'T scorch it. :)

[linguafood]

Done well (not well-done haha), liver is one of the delicacies in life. Calf, goose, duck, chicken, lamb.... bring it on. Seared to a crisp on the outside, and soft, pink & creamy on the inside. With apples & onions for calf, dark berry compote for poultry. Good eats.

[Full tummy]

Hahahaha, liver AND brussels sprouts!!! Two real winners on the same plate together. Wow!

[sueatmo]

The 2 worst things I ever ate as a child were canned hominy and mashed summer squash. Hominy has no tase and I never liked it, but at least it was inoffensive. Mashed squash looks like throwup. Its texture is not pleasing. It has no flavor. I talked about this in front of my kids, and when they were served this at Grandmas they refused to eat it.

[Riatta]

Macaroni casserole with macaroni, canned chinese mixed vegetables, spam and cream of mushroom soup. Really watery because of the vegetable giving up a lot of liquid when it cooked. Ga-ross!

[gryphonskeeper]

I just got the single worst visual ever.

[bushwickgirl]

Jeez, that sounds God-awful, like the worst ever. I guess you could pick out the Spam, though. I'm sorry you were subjected to that.

[meatn3]

If we are having a contest, I vote for this as the winner.

This is a really unappealing mix...

My sympathies.

[FLFoodieGrl]

The worst thing I ever, well, almost ate has a bit of a "story" attached. I grew up in a small town that still had 5 & 10¢ stores. Every year just before Easter, the window display was full of baby chicks that were dyed every color of the rainbow...blue, lime green, yellow, orange, purple and my favorite color...pink. Every year I begged for one of those pink fuzzy chicks and, FINALLY, I got one for Easter. I took care of it, fed it, made a cage for it, but I was a "city" girl and the chick finally grew too big to keep. It went to live with Aunt Molly and Uncle Ben on their huge farm and I was happy that it had a large country home. One day, during dinner, I noticed the scrawniest roast chicken on the table with tiny little drumsticks and I had a sinking feeling. Now, I'm no vegetarian and I love roast chicken, but my "chickdar" was going off pretty strong, so I point-blank asked my parents if it was MY chicken. When they said "Yes" I told them they were cruel to do that do a child and feed them their pet, ran from the table and refused to eat anything for dinner. That, friends, was the WORST thing I was ever served (but really didn't eat) in my whole life.

[James Cristinian]

Similiar story. I grew up in a large city with a 5 & 10 store that sold colored chikcs. We raised them until they were too large, (or our parents got tired of them), and we'd take them to the edge of town to some less well off folks where they could "have a good home."

[coll]

We did that too. Six for a dollar, not colored: one drowned because my sister took the two duck chicks (no way to tell) and put them in the bathtub because they were ducks. Then the other duck thought it was a chicken and ran around behind the others like a maniac. Neighbors complained to the authorities so we had no choice. Imagine now, with PETA and whatnot, every big store sold them at Easter back then.

[gryphonskeeper]

Ok, that is incredibly cruel. That would have turned me into a Vegan for sure.

[guilty]

OK, that pet chicken story is horrible. I'm sorry.

[chef chicklet]

Potatoes in their "jackets". These were smallish red or white potatoes with their skins oiled up. I at the time hated them and all potatoes for that matter, but these were at the top. I however today, love potaotes, but I woudl cringe when I'd ask what's for dinner and mother answered with "blah blah, and potatoes in their jackets."

[commander77]

My grandma made her famous (according to her) Weenies and noodles. It consisted of hot dogs cooked in a ketchup based sauce that was too sweet served over a variety of noodles, or sometimes rice. It was supposedly my uncle's favorite so we had it quite a bit when we ate with them. Years later my uncle told me he always hated that dish. Sadly, my least favorite meals were ones she cooked. She wasn't a very good cook, but there was a lot.

[jorogo]

OMG, just found this site! Read about, agreed with -- and guffawed through -- everyone's Meals From Hell . . . but I don't believe I saw any mention of mine . . . beef brains! Oh, you've not lived until you've seen a pot of beef brains boiling in an uncovered pot on the stove. Betcha' can't guess how they're served. Ready? Well, first, of course, the brains need to be thoroughly cooked (although I don't know how this is confirmed, because I was never around to find out or cared to ask). Drain, then mash. (Again, if salt or another seasoning was added at this point, I'm clueless. See above.) When cooled, or still a tad warm, they're ready for eating! Spread a saltine cracker with *yellow* mustard (!!), sprinkle with chopped onion, add a dollop of brains . . . and enjoy!!! My born-and-bred Jewish Mom would make these for my Dad (ditto) as an appetizer (an oxymoron, ya' think?).

[Babyducks]

As a kid, cabbage and liver (not together). I like cabbage now.

[linguafood]

I've only ever had calf's brains, and my mom sautéed them after lightly dusting them in flour, s&p in lots of butter. They were crispy on the outside and the texture of scrambled eggs on the inside -- comparable to sweetbreads, but with less of a bite. Squeeze of lemon was all you needed. Absolutely delicious. But I was not fond of how the raw product looked.... kinda like brains '-D

[jorogo]

Mea culpa, I think it *was* calves brains that Mom made! Still, brains are brains are brains. Maybe your Mom should give her recipe to my Mom. Hmm, maybe not.

[tiffeecanoe]

Gerookte paling (Dutch smoked eel) with bread... hated it as a kid, but we'd have it for lunch on the weekends or in the summer several times a month because my Oma loved it. It was a texture thing. It was at about 16 that I started really enjoying it! I special order it now and keep it on hand in the freezer! It's so expensive, but I love it now! NEVER thought that would happen!

My dad made this dish with ground beef and canned mushroom gravy over boiled potatoes that he LOVED... blech.

[Tinka82]

This must have been a generational thing too. My Grandparents were Great Depression era. Whenever my spoiled brat self decided I wouldn't eat something Granny had made, I got to hear about the scrambled brain sandwiches he lived on as a kid. Eeeewww!
My mom wasn't that crazy with the odd parts of the cow, but did occassionally serve liver. She never forced it on us. The worst thing she did force on us was goat's milk. She and my little sister were allergic to cow's milk, so the whole family got to drink that stuff. Mom and Granny both would insist you couldn't taste the difference. Au contrare! Sure as hell can! :)

[bucksguy14]

Positively, absolutely it was succotash! To this day, I hate lima beans.

[Querencia]

Canned grapefruit juice. I had to sit at the table until either I drank it or hell froze, whichever came first. I still can't stand the nasty sour stuff.

[Glencora]

Well, since this thread is going to keep showing up on "my posts" until hell freezes, I might as well add that I, too, had to drink horrid canned grapefruit juice at snack time in nursery school. No going to the park, until I finished the glass. The entire school sat at long tables waiting for me to drink the stuff. I honestly don't remember if we got to the park that day. I just remember feeling that the whole world hated me. I was 3.

[micheniche]

Sharkfin's soup during Chinese New Year. I had to eat it all because it was really expensive and also, that's my mom first attempt on it. So I basically had to be respectful and finish it off.

An hour later, I vomitted in the shopping centre's parking lot.

[Marsonda]

I grew up in the 1950's & 1960's. My mom was a good cook as was my grandma. The worse dinner my mom prepared was pork backbones and sauerkraut. Yuck! Mom boiled the backbones and then mixed them with sauerkraut and continued cooking. There was barely any meat on the bones and though I like sauerkraut and wieners, I didn't like the backbones and sauerkraut. Thankfully, she only made them about once a year.

Also, my mom fixed calf liver. She fried the liver with onions and them smothered it in gravy she made from the liver with flour and water. It was gross. My dad wouldn't eat it, so she always prepared hamburger patties and smothered onions for him and my siblings. Since I had a problem with anemia every so often I had to eat a small piece of liver then could have a hamburger pattie. To this day I don't like liver.

My mom and dad loved okra and tomatoes. A mixture of boiled okra, with tomatoes, onions, green pepper. When okra is boiled it becomes slimey. My dad was from Louisiana so he enjoyed this type of food with cornbread. Also, mustard greens, collard greens, etc. I don't like that stuff.

[Morganna]

I'm having liver right now! I'm prepping for going to give blood later today and having some liver for breakfast seems to boost me plenty high so I can do so successfully. I've had chronic anemia most of my adult life, so I get cravings for liver. I never understood it because it was one dish my mother utterly destroyed. She LOVED it burnt, and so she'd always scorch it! BLEAH. So when I started getting cravings, I thought I was crazy, but then I found out about sage and BACON. :) That combined with not overcooking the liver makes ALL the difference. :)

[linguafood]

Calf's liver medium rare with bacon and sage (or caramelized onions and apples served over mashed potatoes) is one of the most delicious things in the world. Overcooked liver... one of the least '-)

[Marsonda]

Butter beans, hated them. My mom would cook them a couple times a year. She cooked the beans with ham and cooked and cooked and cooked. The butter beans would be mushy. Lima beans I didn't care for either, but I don't mind them in vegetable soup. Mom made great ham & pinto beans and ham & northern beans though.

[at24]

I hated when she made stuffed peppers, liver and white rice and meatloaf. Wasn't made to eat food. My mom gave up I think and I survived on Banquet frozen chicken in a box.

[jenni49]

Creamed codfish on toast, every Friday in our Catholic household. To make it worse, lima beans or brussel sprouts as a side. I will never serve any of them in my kitchen.

[gryphonskeeper]

Were your parents Damien Thorn and Regan MacNeil?

[The Professor]

I don't think I could live without brussels sprouts...I love them roasted, probably my favorite vegetable.
They are so sweet and delectable, I could never figure out why there is so much hate for them...

[tatamagouche]

I love sprouts too, but sweet? I don't think of them as sweet.

[The Professor]

I suppose it depends partly on how you cook them, and partly on your taste buds' perception. Assuming they are fresh (or at least flash frozen after harvest) I definitely find them pleasantly sweet no matter how they're cooked. But the roasting of Brussels Sprouts and the resulting caramelization definitely brings out some extra sweetness.

[tatamagouche]

Yes, I guess you're right that, roasted, they can have a touch of sweetness. Fair enough!

[woodleyparkhound]

My mom was a very good cook and never served me anything that was truly gross, unlike others who posted here! She did serve me several things that I just hated at the time though: peas, lima beans, liver, watermelon, cantaloupe, cucumber and "soup beans". I still don't like these things, but I can tolerate peas, limas and soup beans if I have to.

[Sly72]

Sauerkrout (sp.), Beets, Creamed Corn, Yams, Any kind of meat on the bone... Still to this day!!! No Fried Chicken for me EVER!!!! Little did I know then...Fried Spam and Fried Bologna were always treats back then..... YUCK!!!! We all lucked out with the Liver issue, Mom and Dad have always been disgusted by the innards of anything.... And Thank God, no Pets were ever consumed!!!! THAT'S JUST WRONG!!!!!! : ( : ( : (

[Full tummy]

Well, if they've been disgusted by the innards of anything, they'd do well to avoid spam and bologna, hahaha!

[firemyars]

Easy. Canned spinach. I still love popeye, but not at dinnertime. Milk. Those are the only two things I had to eat, thankfully. I hate milk, and still won't drink it, but it was child cruelty being forced to eat canned spinach. It's revolting still.

[jmckee]

Anything cooked by my dad's mother. An impossbly un-gifted cook.

[racer x]

This is a tough question.
The candidates would have to be

- scrambled eggs
- green peas (alone, or in previously frozen "mixed vegetables," which included peas, lima beans, corn kernels, and carrot bits)
- lima beans

(And there was that one baby-sitter who didn't know that you were supposed to add water to Campbell's chicken noodle soup. She could never understand why I would refuse to eat more than a spoonful of the thick and extremely salty goop.)

[Perilagu Khan]

My mom's sweet n' sour pork. God I dreaded that treacly stuff, and she made it frequently. That said, she was a wonderful cook, and I still make many of the dishes she made when I was a li'l spark back in the 70s. But that sweet n' sour...man, the less said the better.

[Sandwich_Sister]

I hated mustard as a kid and so my brother decided one day while I was taking a nap with my mouth wide open on the couch he would squirt mustard in my mouth. Funny that I didn't wake up, it was a mess all in my hair and everywhere. It's surprising that now that I am older I love mustard.

but the actually food for me was Hominy and my mom used to make me try it every time she served it.

[EV_Eats]

My father insisted on adding bacon or some other pork product into pretty much every dish. Unfortunately this obsession continues & I fully expect to find the Thanksgiving turkey wrapped in pancetta this year...

[bushwickgirl]

Nothing wrong with bacon or other porky products, but your post reminds me of the bacon-wrapped whole roasted turkey avatar Chowhound proudly flashed on the board pages throughout the holiday season and refused to remove after the holidays were over. It was cute at first but after two months posters were referring to it as Turkadillo or Armaturkey or something like that, to indicate that it looked like a turkey-armadillo cross Paleolithic leftover. Funny. Hopefully your Thanksgiving turkey won't have that look.

[LindaWhit]

ROFL! I just posted on buttertart's comment about the Turkeydillo below!

[EV_Eats]

I totally agree Bushwickgirl. I love pork & pork products, but in moderation though! Luckily there was no ground pork in my oatmeal! My Mom had to draw the line somewhere!

[buttertart]

Hope he didn't see the America's Test Kitchen (or was it Cook's Country) show with the turkey roasted with salt pork arranged on the breast....

[LindaWhit]

Or the godawful-looking turkey with bacon strips that used to always show as a "holiday turkey" around Christmastime.

http://www.chow.com/recipes/11130-bac...

The first comment that says it looks like a roly-poly bug is spot on! LOL

[buttertart]

Nasty, just nasty. I don't care how moist the salt pork makes the turkey, I don't want it on mine.

[bushwickgirl]

That bacon-wrapped Chow turkey is obviously unforgettable.

[LindaWhit]

I'm afraid it's burned into my brain.

And my comment on the recipe still stands - one of the major reasons for roast turkey is crispy turkey skin. Not crispy bacon.

[bushwickgirl]

Let's hope it's not resurrected next holidy season <groan.>

[pikawicca]

But a turkey wrapped in caul fat is sublime.

[HarryFromMarydelDE]

Black-eyed peas. My dad loved them, and planted enough in the garden one year that we filled an enormous mason jug with them. My mom would make them for him on special occasions, and everyone would have to eat some. No matter how many times I ate them I always hated them, in fact I hated them more the more times I had them. I will say that I think everyone in the family (other than my dad) had the same opinion since my mom would make them as infrequently as possible. By the time I was thirteen (we filled it when I was around five) the jar was only about half empty.

[bushwickgirl]

If nothing else favorable, your post speaks to the longevity of the black eyed pea.

Growing up in New Englad, I never knew anything about black eyed peas as a child, never had them until I was well into my twenties, didn't actually cook them for the first time until 1990 and eat them quite happily and regularly now. Maybe we should have switched families.

[guilty]

1: steak. grey, tough, disgusting.
2: Triaminic. Not a food, but I was still forced to ingest it. I would pretend NOT to be sick so I didn't have to take the stuff.

[Midlife]

No way I'm going to read this whole topic to see if mine has been covered...........

Cow's tongue!!!! The idea of it #1. Then the texture of it!!! Maybe tied for #! was seeing that thing in the pot the first time....... or any time.

Funny, but so many years later I like it in a deli sandwich. Don't usually go out of my way to order it, and prefer pastrami or corned beef.................. but will occasionally indulge.

[flourgirl]

My mom used to serve us tongue now and then - but she NEVER cooked it - she bought it already cooked and sliced. Even as a fairly young kid, I knew exactly what it was and thought the idea of it was disgusting - (I could even still see some of the "bumps" on the edges of the slices) but at the same time I liked the taste of it and I ate it willingly. It was a very weird experience. And then for some mysterious reason it disappeared forever from the rotation, never to be seen again.

[pasuga]

Hi - I think this topic could take a second incarnation, 500+ entrees and two years is a lot to scroll through.

I never had to eat anything growing up. My folks were about persuasion rather than forcing... the only rule was that we had to taste one bite - and that meant one pea, one tiny shred of carrot or spinach and if we didn't like it, we were allowed to spit it out. If we spit it out they'd wait a couple months before asking us to try again. I was about four before I could eat spaghetti sauce (I just got the noodles with butter, 8 when I discovered the delight of parmesan on top) and seven when I could finally enjoy salad dressing (got the veggies with a tiny bit of lemon juice and salt before that.) The result of this is that my brothers and I all eat almost everything - the only tastes I really can't stand are licorice and Miracle Whip.

The worst thing I ever HAD to eat (in order to be polite) were tuna fish sandwiches made with Miracle Whip that our next-door neighbor made for me and her little girls. And one of my grandmothers liked to roast the hell out of a chunk of beef and then serve gristle sandwiches from the leftovers.

[Midlife]

Funny............................ my wife can't stand Miracle Whip but I like it. We both LOVE licorice.
I must have consumed 1,000 tuna sandwiches through my high school years. I don't think Miracle whip was around that long ago. I still really like tuna salad. But, then....................I'll eat pretty much anything that isn't nailed down.

[flourgirl]

Actually, Miracle Whip has been around since 1933. My 78 yr old mother can still remember HER mother using it - and how thankful she was when my grandmother switched over to Hellman's.

[flourgirl]

OMG! This is SO weird!!! I was JUST having a conversation with my mom about having to choke down tuna salad sandwiches made with miracle whip at my husband's Aunt's house just to be polite. SOOOOO disgusting!!!

[beethoven]

Huh. I was adventurous: loved squid, clams, tongue, liver, kimchee, saurkraut, gorgonzola. No problem with things stinky and strong and savory. Loved lima beans and spinach, artichokes, kale, broccoli. Truly not a picky eater.

What I couldn't eat was orange mushy vegetables (sweet potato/yams, butternut squash) -- it was the texture, they just caught and wouldn't go down. And swiss chard, stewed tomatoes, and Miracle Whip tasted sweet, which just didn't fit at dinner - sweet was for dessert.

And you know what? I'm STILL mad at my parents for making me sit at the table for hours until I finally gagged (literally) down the cold remains. Why didn't they get that it was an innate reaction, not an attitude problem?.

[bushwickgirl]

Far as I can tell, it was the "there are staving children in China" syndrome, very prevalent parental whine in the 50's and 60's, the major excuse for parents to get the kids to eat the most God-awful stuff or just clean their plates in general.

[cosmogrrl]

My Grandmother always spoke about the starving children in Armenia. Of course she had been a nurse in WWi so it was applicable; to her at least. She didn't have kids until she was 40, long past starving Armenian children times (I think)

[guygirl94]

My mom's brisket - dry, stringy. No amount of ketchup, barbeque sauce, or horseradish sauce could help me choke that down. It's no wonder that I'm now a vegetarian.

[DomesticDizziness]

BOLOGNA! (aaaagh...the memories....make it stop!)

[SanityRemoved]

While there were many good tasting things served during my childhood there were numerous foods that to this day I find akin to torture. The standard catch phrases imposed on baby boomers were there: "clean your plate", "starving children" "children going hungry" etc., but my father's favorite line was "it tastes like candy, eat it". Now this phrase applied to cherry tomatoes, Limburger cheese, Sap sago cheese, liver, lima beans and head cheese. Luckily I managed to get out of eating head cheese because we were at a friends house and the friend wasn't about to waste head cheese on a kid that didn't want it. To this day I still have not seen That Darn Cat, which I did not get to see at the drive-in because I did not finish my peas in time.

[buttertart]

Ah, the psychological cruelties dealt out in the name of proper childraising techniques. "It tastes like candy" is a particularly pernicious example.

[ZenSojourner]

Liver. Beef liver. Not chicken livers, those were a "delicacy" reserved for adults.

Great bloody hunks of dead cow flesh dredged in flour and fried in Crisco, LIVER.

Now part of my revulsion undoubtedly came from the fact that I was cooking this stuff so I knew what it looked like before it was cooked. And back then, you didn't get nice genteel slices of beef liver packaged in crisp, clean white Styrofoam trays with that stuff on the bottom discretely soaking up any stray blood.

No, you went to the butcher (grocery stores had Real Butchers back then) and you got a great bloody purplish wet oozing hunk of flesh swimming in blood that had to be carefully wrapped and rewrapped so it didn't ooze all over everything else in the grocery bag.

Then you had to take this slimy slippery mass of rubbery used-to-be-part-of-an-innocent-living-creature, clean it (which sometimes involved cutting away some unidentifiable but somehow horrible anyway membranes and various ducts and things), and slice the slippery tricky thing into nice even slices with a whacking great knife and your tiny little six year old hands.

Then you had to dredge the horrible stuff (still oozing blood like it's a live thing) in flour, getting a gluey mess of flour and blood all the way up past your knuckles which seemed like it couldn't be scraped off with a paint scraper and made your hands look like something from a cheap dimestore comic book about Mummies, and finally you had to fry the evil oozing mass in a hot cast iron skillet full of Crisco.

*SHUDDER*

As if this wasn't enough, after you'd pushed the now grayish-brown, congealing, cold mass around on your plate for an hour, trying to avoid eating it, your mother would flip over into Crazy Mode, start screaming about what an evil awful horrible child you are who is trying to kill her with your selfish obstinance, and refuse to allow you to leave the table until.

You.

Eat.

EVERY.

BITE.

The fact that as soon as you put a forkful in your mouth and somehow manage to swallow it, you have to run for the bathroom to throw it back up does not faze her in the slightest.

So you go through the process of forcing a forkful down, throwing it right back up, rinse mouth, repeat, until there is, indeed, no liver left on your plate (it's all in the sewage system now, along with about a gallon of bile and most of the rest of your dinner) and you are finally allowed to retreat from the table and are sent STRAIGHT TO BED, young lady, and you think about what you've done! Well actually you have to do the dishes first and maybe some laundry, and THEN go straight to bed, young lady, to think about what you've done!

This is essentially the same as being tortured and then sent to bed with no dinner (since you can't selectively throw up ONLY the liver, you've thrown up the entire meal).

To this day I cannot tolerate the sight or smell of liver. You cannot cook it in any way so as to disguise it. I once came across a piece of liver in a Malaysian dish that was so hot (spicy hot) I very nearly couldn't feel my tongue, and had to run for the bathroom because of the immediate gag reflex it caused. I was over 30 before I could tolerate - just TOLERATE, mind you, not actually like or enjoy - mushrooms in any way, shape or form because the very texture reminded me of liver. I still will not eat them given any choice at all and have no compunctions whatsoever about refusing to allow them to be put in food I am ordering at a restaurant or picking them out of/ off of some dish that has managed to appear on my plate with mushrooms in it, in public or not. I don't care. I won't eat them given the choice. When I say "tolerate", what I mean is that if I do accidentally get hold of one of these in my mouth, I no longer automatically gag and throw up.

Liver, however, has never reached that kind of detente with me.

Needless to say I never never never never NEVER forced my son to eat anything, something he actually took me to fault for the other day, believe it or not. Nonetheless I have no regrets in that department.

[Bada Bing]

Most memorably bad single experience was some soup I had at a military hospital maybe around 1970, when I was about 7 and recovering from a childhood surgery.

Eating was in itself a challenge (because my surgery had involved my cleft lip). But if I were now trying to recreate the gruel itself, I couldn't do better than this: flavor a cup of warm corn oil with some stale paprika and call it day!

[pitterpatter]

When I was eight years old, we lived in Gainesville, Florida, and forty-five years later still remember the apple sauce that was dyed kelly green, and the plain hominy, both on the same tray. Can't remember what else was on that tray, and who would? That dyed applesauce is certainly the worst of my childhood food memories.

[coll]

Was it St Patricks Day?

[mothrpoet]

Salmon patties made from canned salmon. It was cheap, I guess, but the canned salmon always had bones in it...gag. I can't to this day face a can of salmon.

[Masonville]

OMG, there were many--mostly at school and at aunt's houses--my mother was a terrific cook. The worst I can recall sounds like a cartoon. Food at my Catholic school first grade (after that I went home for lunch) was utterly wretched. Possibly the worst was the "mashed potatoes", some kind of ultra-thick wallpaper paste. One day i just couldn't do it. Sister Mary Whatever patiently explained to me that I couldn't leave the lunch room until I ate my "mashed potatoes", and if I didn't eat them soon, I'd be late for Whatever. Silly Sister, she left me alone, I mashed the "mashed potatoes" into one of my shoes, and walked out. A certain kind of deceit is a necessary part of growing up. Who knows, maybe Sister Mary Whatever was checking me out for Innovation. I passed.

[linguafood]

Well, you would've been well-prepared to do 'the mashed potato" - if a dancing class had called for it.

[gentlyferal]

The fat on chops and steaks. We could usually get away with leaving a little bit of it, but if Dad saw a long strip of fat on my plate, he'd order me to eat it. He was under the impression it was good for us. Greasy, slimy, nauseating - I could just barely choke it down if I swathed every bite with whatever other foods were left on my plate.

And then there was the cholesterol scare, but that happened after I was grown and married and gone away.

And now we know that beef fat has a similar composition to olive oil; if I'd known that ca. 1965, I could have offered to eat some vinaigrette instead...but the issue was more than nutrition, he was also annoyed by the waste of "good food," I think.

[tnsquire]

as a kid my grand mother used to make soft boiled eggs for breakfast with a slice of egg bread no salt or pepper so when any of the grand kids sent the night thats what we had to eat .and we olny had coffee to drink with one cube of sugar no milk
i can never eat soft eggs of any kind and that was over 40 years ago

[firstlady]

Fish sticks. All stick; no fish. Also, the frozen pizza with the tiny pepperoni cubes and the rock hard crust. Very sad when I saw that coming to the table.

[dscott15]

We were incredibly poor, and at one point there was nothing, so my mom made us some McDonalds ketchup packet soup with dirt in it. It was enough for us to go to sleep.

[linguafood]

Did she add the dirt to make it more flavorful, or more substantive? Sorry, I am being serious here (assuming that you are, too).

[coll]

My brother told me that in Southern Georgia where he now lives, a lot of people eat the dirt, which is mostly clay, to keep their stomachs settled. They even sell bags of it in his local grocery store, he sent me a picture.

[linguafood]

Whoa. Clay. The more you know.... (cue rainbow)

[buttertart]

It's been a practice for a loong time. It's called "pica" - eating of non-food substances for whatever reason. (My mother used to eat laundry starch when she was a kid sometimes, laundry starch was just starch then, but it was still a bit odd of her.)

[linguafood]

That would make pica the opposite of picky, at least in my book.

[Babyducks]

Cabbage. And my mother would make these salmon croquettes that I hated.

[DoobieWah]

My father's "Tuna Fish Casserole".

Near as I can remember, it was a can of tuna fish, elbow macaroni and cream of mushroom soup, with canned biscuits on top and then baked.

It was disgusting and used to make us cry.

(Seriously.)

[buttertart]

Makes me cry thinking about it. Gack!

[IndyGirl]

I think that is disgusting, but everyone else loved this.

[Christina D]

That's so funny...tuna casserole would be my death row meal. It would be me, a pepper grinder and the whole damned pot. I *love* tuna casserole. My mom's was made similar to your dad's, but had tuna, Kraft mac & cheese, canned peas, and cream of mushroom soup.

[DoobieWah]

My father's tuna casserole would be your death row meal only if you wanted to cheat the hangman with a peremptory strike.

You will just have to trust me on this.

[Christina D]

LOL!!

[DBinNOLA]

SPAM ! ! ! Cold, fried SPAM while visiting my cousins, their mom was one that insisted you eat what ever SHE put on your plate. The most disgusting thing I have ever tasted.

[igorm]

At lunch, when I was a child, I had to eat a soupspoonfull of castor oil followed by whatever there was for lunch. Whatever it was sure did not taste good and made me dread lunch. I have outgrown this predicament by many years and favor lunch too much.

[alliegator]

I think I need some Maalox just reading all these!
For me it was this godforsaken "salad" of mini marshmallows, mandarin oranges, coconut shreds, sour cream ? and something else... My neighbor, a sweet widow who must have been like 1,000 years old would bring over little bowls of it for my brother and I to eat while she chatted. I always ate my bro's too because he was younger and had a more tender stomach. I pitied him. Horror in an ice cream dish, it was.

[cosmogrrl]

I think that's ambrosia salad. Never had before last Thanksgiving. Absolutely vile. Hoever my BFs Mom had made it. So I had to smile and eat some of it whilst shoveling the rest of it under a lettuce leaf

[flourgirl]

Yuck. I thank my lucky stars that I've never had to eat that.

[hamboney]

something else...mom made it w/ pineapple tidbits and maraschino cherries. She also made a jello mold of cherry jello, bing cherries, and sliced green pimento-stuffed olives.
Hammy

[Sal Vanilla]

I am glad to see I was not the only one forced into liver and onion hell. My mom cooked it a lot and we had to eat it because "we had to try new things and our palate would grow accustomed to it if we persisted". Really, my mom was a sadist. I used to cry mad tears if I walked into the house when the street lights came on and there was the smell of cooking liver. If my mom caught me I had to eat two portions.

Many years later hubby and I owned a restaurant where our customers begged for liver and onions for a lunch special. My husband would do it, but plan ahead so I could schedule not to be there. I would gag wildly if I smelled it. Strangely I love pate and foie gras.

Now for a bit of laughter - I used to hide peas in my panties. Unfortunately I had droopy cotton panties and once in a while peas would escape as I took my plate to the sink. I won't bore you with the details that followed.

Mom, if you are reading this - sorry I outed you. I still hate liver as you know. Also, toss the allspice. You have held on to it since the 60's. Time to let go.

[kaleokahu]

I won't read all 585 replies here, but I know I win. The worst is my aunt's Lime Jello Meat Salad.

[just_M]

Sorry, but a description is required for any and all designations of worst. ;-) Not that I actually want to know!

[LindaWhit]

Lime Jello Meat Salad
~~~~~~~~~
Just those 4 words makes one shudder. And like just_M, a description is needed to win the title, kaleo. Although I think we need be afraid. VERY afraid. ;-)

(This sounds suspiciously like something that would be at Lilek's Gallery of Regrettable Food site!)

[debbiel]

Wow. That sounds much much much worse than the lime jello-mayo-green olive-carrot of my childhood.

[williewill]

My mom is an awesome cook so I was never forced to eat anything gross. School was a different story. My high school made the worlds worst pizza. I swear it was steamed. The crust was so soggy that it was almost like hot cereal. Obviously I couldn't pick it up so when I cut into it with my fork water swirled with tomato sauce would run all over my tray. It was insipid beyond belief.

[Ntbiv]

My aunt was from west Texas, which means many things were overbooked,
I remember a beautiful beef roast my mother bought for her. First it was boiled a long time, then roasted until it was like shoe leather. With this came instant mashed potatoes and those horrible canned peas

[debbiel]

Liver and onions. Supposedly my Dad's version was relatively wonderful but I always hated it. I think it was the texture. And the smell. It must have been cheap, because it seems like we had it about once a week during our lean years. <shiver> Ick.

[Caroline1]

Does anyone know any kids who like liver? I sure hated it. So did my brother. And all of my friends. I think it's just not a childhood dish!

[HillJ]

I loved it as a kid and found new ways to enjoy it throughout adulthood. I think liver gets a bad rap because its LIVER. I'm not a fan of every organ meat but liver is my exception. And, I learned to enjoy certain pates but I can't stand liverwurst or headcheese. Some "gourmet" chopped liver with loads of garlic and chopped egg is divine. No rhyme or reason to my liver love.

[flourgirl]

I love my mom's chopped chicken liver - and loved it even as a kid. But beef liver? No way. I still can't eat it.

[HillJ]

Point taken, not all liver is created equal :)

[debbiel]

Now liverwurst,or at least the stuff in a tube from the grocery that my dad called liverwurst but was probably oscar meyer and hence not "authentic", I loved. Ate it out of the tube. We called it liverwurst, yet I never associated it with the liver of liver and onions torture.

Mmm...liverwurst on white bread with mayo, lettuce, onion. Mmm....

[HillJ]

Funny isn't it. That's what makes the world go round.

[linguafood]

My mom prepared calf's liver all the time when I was a kid. Loved it. But then, I also had no qualms eating creamed kidneys, sautéed sweetbreads, and pan-fried brains (all calf, too).

Kids often don't like strong flavor, and if your calf's liver (or chicken) is too strong-flavored, you've cooked the shit out of it. If it's done right, it's actually a very mellow flavor.

[Caroline1]

You've described my mother's method of cooking liver perfectly; "cooked the shit out of it." Hers was dry, mealy, with a horrible flavor made worse with burnt onions. There were some things my mother COULD cook. Liver was NOT one of them! Nevertheless I was forced to eat it. Child abuse! Child abuse!

[linguafood]

Admittedly, it is very easy to overcook liver. It's so thin and delicated that one really has to pay attention and take it out early when in doubt. If it's med-rare it's perfect, creamy, and wonderful.

[Caroline1]

True. But I was twenty-something before I found that out. Thanks, Mom! '-)

[Passadumkeg]

Mom's mantra, "Never over cook liver." Thanks mom; made me a liver lover for life.

[debbiel]

My two brothers loved it; my sister tolerated it. I pouted and stomped my feet and generally went a bit hungry those nights. :)

[Caroline1]

I've gotta share a funny story about the power of liver! When my son was in his late teens and early twenties, he was an elite bike racer. His team was invited to partipate in an international 9 day UCI stage race that toured the state of Chihuahua in Mexico. In that country, for the top teams, the race sponsors provide everything from hotel accomodations to all meals. About day five was an individual time trial. When they came down to breakfast, Mexico was not quite up on carbo loading for athletes and breafast was LIVER! Tons and tons of liver. No toast, no tortillas, no eggs, just platters and platters of liver. My son left the dining room without eating. His teammates were uptset. "You can't race on an empty stomach!" My son is a stubborn guy. He raced on an empty stomach. And WON! By a very comfortable margin, and against racers from all over the world. After the race, the he was interviewed by the media. "What's your secret?" they asked. He shrugged, "I was hungry. REALLY really hungry!" Ahhh, the power of liver!

[IndyGirl]

Liver is one of the reasons I don't eat meat today. That, and a scary raw chicken incident at a Holiday Inn restaurant. I was scarred

[J.Dish]

Tuna Casserole. The one with the cream of mushroom soup. And peas, and cheddar cheese. Dad didn't even crush potato chips on the top. Not that it would have saved it.

I've made tuna casserole from scratch before, but it was still just as awful as what I remembered as a kid. The staff loved it.

Tuna melts are high on that list too... I guess I just don't like hot canned tuna

[HillJ]

I guess I just don't like hot canned tuna
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I don't either...unless it's of the music variety!
http://hottuna.com/

[flourgirl]

That's so funny. I too have never understood the appeal of tuna melts. I tried one once too - and I actually gagged, which is not something I do very often. Hot canned tuna is not a good thing.

And I really like that band, HillJ - but every single time I hear the name, I swear to god, it brings me back to that sandwich!! Yuck!!!

[HillJ]

I'm ruined for life...far too many hot tuna sandwiches from my youth...day camp days. I can't even go near a hot tuna sandwich without thinking about camp. But Hot Tuna concerts bring back tons of great memories!

[debbiel]

I also don't get the hot tuna salad thing. Ick. Just ick.

[Antilope]

I remember as a child, being served at school green jello with shredded cabbage and carrots in it and red jello full of fruit cocktail. Yuk!

[flourgirl]

"Yuk!" is right.

[alliegator]

cabbage and carrots? whoa...

[Antilope]

It was a way of trying to get the kids to eat vegetables. Didn't work in a lot of cases. The veggie jello was usually hidden in the small carton of milk, that came with the meal, after the milk was consumed.

[Foodlexi]

Junket

[montrealeater]

I LOVE junket! If you're still reading the thread, why does this gross you out? Seriously, junket is on my list of desert island foods and I have a standing order for the pink stuff from a friend in England.

Any other hounds familiar with this very simple English dessert? I associate with childhood and my mom being nice to me. Ha.

[Floridagirl]

When I was a kid we had to eat everything, otherwise we got it cold until it was gone. My mother was a great cook and my father was an avid hunter and fisherman (I grew up on Long Island) so we had lots of fresh seafood and plenty of game. And I like almost everything. However, when we went clamming, way before pollution, we were expected to eat raw clams while shucking them and I still cannot deal with raw shellfish. They loved boiled tongue, which I find disgusting but I had to eat it. When I got older I explained to my mother that the depression was over and eating tongue was no longer necessary but they loved it anyway.

[jubilant cerise]

Mine are mostly all filipino dishes: a stew with okra in it; bitter melon stew (maybe the okra and the bitter melon were the same stew and I hated both vegetables so much I remember them as two different stews? -lol!); some sort of stew with whole raw peanuts in it; and eggplant overcooked by my parents and served completely plain (ick!).

I did like other foods of my ethnic origin as a kid, just not those first three. I'd be willing to try them again now, just to see if my tastes have changed. I know how to cook eggplant properly now and like it. I tried okra again a while ago - didn't like it but I'm still willing to give it another shot: saw a crunchy baked version and I don't know that I've had authentic gumbo with okra in it.

[LorenM]

My father made me and my brothers eat oatmeal infested with weevils once. I was pretty traumatized. He also went through a period when he added a ton of cloves to EVERYTHING. Bleah!!

[Jay F]

>My father made me and my brothers eat oatmeal infested with weevils once.

Why?

[LorenM]

He didn't believe us that there were bugs in it. Later he admitted he saw them after making us eat it. Also I think I need to mention he ate peanut butter and horseradish sandwiches but didn't make me eat those. I had a strange childhood I guess. Why he went on the clove kick and suddenly stopped one day was never explained- I was just glad it was over!

[Jay F]

Reading this thread and one about foods your family ate that you didn't know were weird, I realize I was lucky. I never had to eat anything I didn't like. But there wasn't much I didn't like. My brother had only ten foods he'd eat, so I was Mr. Normal when it came to eating.

We ate the typical American roast on Sunday, leftovers from said roast Monday, "casserole" (made in the pressure cooker) on Tuesday, chili or pasta Wednesday, leftover chili or pasta Thursday, pizza or fish on Friday, steak on Saturday. I liked it all, with the fish, chili, and pasta being my favorites.

And we had instant mashed potatoes, frozen vegetables, iceburg lettuce wedges with either Catalina or homemade Russian dressing.

The only weird things were Spam and Velveeta omelets. My mother had no idea how to make an omelet. She'd leave the eggs and spam in the pan without stirring or turning until the heat came up from the bottom and they were almost done. Then she'd put in the Velveeta. Pretty nasty stuff.

And she drank "coffee," which was equal parts coffee, evaporated milk, and sugar. I avoided coffee until I was 25 as a result.

And my grandmother, who lived with us, had a gift for dessert making.

I never HAD to eat anything as a kid. The only thing that ever pissed me off was my father's insistence on buying generic soda instead of Coke.

[noodlepoodle]

I had plenty of great food as a kid. My mother was a pretty good cook and my father liked to make pies, but there were a few things that I could not abide. I was lucky in that they never insisted I eat anything I didn't want to. Dad loved to fry hamburger patties in a skillet and serve that on a plate with mashed potatoes and canned peas. He would top his mash potatoes with the hot grease from the pan. That made me gag and to this day I don't like hamburger without a bun. My mom would make stewed chicken, thicken the broth and add curry powder to season. It took me years to like anything curry but I'm getting there.

Some of the things I hated:
Canned fruit cocktail (especially suspended in jello)
Lima beans
Tuna and mayo made with canned light tuna in oil. Fishy
Grape jelly - still can't stand the stuff
Canned stewed tomatoes as a side dish.
Overcooked broccoli and cauliflower covered with a cheese sauce

[flourgirl]

My mom used to serve us hamburgers like that - no bun, with mashed potatoes. It just really bugged me that we couldn't have hamburgers on buns like normal people. She used to put chopped sauted onions in them too. They weren't bad - but she would try to tell us they were just like the hamburgers you get out and we knew they weren't. (We almost never went out for burgers, either. My parents seemed to be against that for some reason.)

[rockability]

Luckily (and thankfully) I was never forced to eat anything but brussel sprouts were and still are the worst food ever. I've yet to find a recipe to make me change my mind!

[flourgirl]

I think I posted a while ago about my anti-brussels sprouts stance on this thread. They were one of the few things I wouldn't eat as a kid and still intensely disliked as an adult. And I had tried every which way to prepare them to see if my mind would change, and it never did.

My mom is a pretty good cook - but she didn't do such a hot job with cooked vegetables. So I was suspicious for a long time that my intense dislike was perhaps due more to incorrect preparation than the veggie itself. But no, it turned out, it WAS the veggie - until I tried two different recipes recently.

One was for a salad of shaved raw brussels sprouts with chopped marcona almonds, chopped hardboiled egg and a citrus dressing that I found in Michael's Chiarello's new book "Bottega". That salad is amazing, I loved it and I will definitely make it again. This was HUGE for me because I couldn't believe how good that salad was and it uses a LOT of brussels sprouts.

The other method of prep that I just tried was to simply roast them with olive oil and sea salt. I don't know why I never tired this before, because I roast veggies all the time - but I guess it was because I had given up on them before I started roasting a lot. Anyway, someone here on CH recommended this method for people who hate brussels sprouts - and they were so right. They were delicious!

[rockability]

Roasting them sounds good, since one of the main things I dislike about them is how soggy they seem to be..they even TASTE soggy! But roasting them...I may have to look into this one and the salad does sound awfully good. Thanks for sharing flourgirl..if my opinion changes I'll be sure to let you know!

[IndyGirl]

I heart roasted brussels sprouts!

[downtownfoodie]

shred them and fry in bacon/duck fat.

[flourgirl]

Yep, this sounds like a winner too. :)

[hypomyces]

We had to eat my Aunt's overcooked, dry, tough, beef liver once a week. The horror of it.
I still eat liver, but veal, and always pink inside.

[Maggie Larkin]

fishsticks! - uggghh

i was also a picky eather & did not enjoy veggies as a child. i would fight everytime with the worse being broc which i know love - sorry mom :)

[cheesecakeking]

Liver and lima beans. My dad loved them both and liked them served together. I would eat the bacon off the liver and then take about a year and a half to finish dinner. I still can't abide either of the two vile concoctions.

[hamboney]

Minute steak is what mom called it. She also made salisbury steak out of it by adding salt, onions and salt, tomato sauce and salt ...did I mention it was sort of salty?!
Hammy

[lenorelenore]

canned "french" style green beans boiled till they were almost white, topped with margarine. ditto peas and--ackkk--asparagus. Slimy. Sitting at the dark empty kitchen with a glass of by-then-warm milk and couldn't leave the table until i drank it.
My mother's cook book was the "I hate to cook, cookbook." If a my wrist rested on the table (rather than in my lap) pow my father's fist came down on it.
As Dan Savage says, in all sorts of ways, "It gets better."

[flourgirl]

It made me sad to read this. I'm glad though, that things are apparently getting better.

[kittyangel]

Hands down it was liver & onions. My mother didn't scorch it, but it was always tough and chewy. We kids had to eat at least a few bites so we would drown it in A-1 steak sauce. She would make Kraft Mac & Cheese with it, so to this day, while I can't stand the smell of liver, it always make me hungry for a box of Kraft Mac & Cheese. One of the best things about growing up was not having to eat liver! I occasionally make it for my boyfriend (or he cooks it), but cook it so it comes out tender.

[annasiam]

I was personally not forced to eat any foods. The worst thing my mom made was the Stouffer's spinach souffle, yuck! I had to take one bite but not finish it.

My boyfriend's family made something called baloney salad. It was made like ham salad only with ground baloney instead of ham. He had to eat it, cried when it was served, and still shudders when he talks about it. Blech.

[flourgirl]

I think I would have cried too...

[cookiequeen2]

my mom's homemade meatloaf served with Creole sauce (aka tomato soup based gravy) I can still picture myself around 6 or 7 years old coming in from playing outside in the winter time in Montreal, just ravenous and asking my mom what was for dinner. She replied meatloaf with Creole sauce. I burst into tears just at the thought of having to eat it. Needless to say she was not impressed.

Do not recall if I had any dinner that night at all!

[Vinnie Vidimangi]

Beet borscht from a bottle "improved" with raw egg. I refused. There was a big fight. About 7 .

Chopped lung . This was at my cousin's. I forced it down, but one forkful of the stuff, follwed by a slice of soft brown bread as if wadding. @16.

[geneva1]

We had a lot of good food growing up, but apparently my mother didn't understand broccoli. She bought frozen chopped broccoli and then cooked it to mush. When referring to what was for dinner, it was never broccoli, but "chopped broccoli". It was almost one word - all run together, just like the broccoli mush on the plate. I actually never thought about NOT eating what was presented, but when I got an apartment in college and started cooking for myself and friends, I discovered FRESH broccoli, properly steamed and DELICIOUS!

I also never liked liver (it's a gland, folks - not meat!), but I ate it until I was on my own. Prior to getting married, I warned my liver-loving fiance that I would NEVER cook liver, or allow it to be cooked, in my home. If he wanted liver, it would be eaten in a restaurant! And it has been that way for 36 years.

[LorenM]

The broccoli thing is too bad. I had a great time as a child eating long stalks of broccoli pretending I was a big dinosaur eating trees. What a fun memory!

[link_930]

That is one of the most adorable things I have read in a long time!

[recipelover]

Tied for 1st place: pickled pigs feet and okra

[montrealeater]

Steak and kidney pie - Mom tried to tell us it was all beef but we knew. The dogs waited under the table for little morsels to be slipped their way. I also remember burying pieces of kidney in various houseplants.

[PeteSeattle]

Worst meal mom ever cooked, Beef Stew. Made with aged beef, which in this case meant "well-rotted" and cooked in hard water. (Which meant it was so alkaline it was slippery) and seasoned with potassium chloride since she was on a low-sodium diet.
One of my little brothers cried for an hour as the rest of us sat embarrassed, while mom Spanked and Argued with him, until he threw up on the table!
Mom remembers that as her worst meal ever as well!

[yumyum]

Makes me wish we had a family dog. My mom made steak and kidney *and mushroom* pie, in an attempt to slip the kidneys past me. She would cut the mushrooms and kidneys in to the same size and shape and even though I was VERY good at picking thru her scam, one or two of the offending bits would always make its way in there.

[miriamjo]

Wish I'd have lived in your house. I love kidney. When I made beef and kidney pie, my husband would eat all the beef (I really don't care much for well done beef) and I would get almost all the kidneys Yeah!

[pikawicca]

Rereading this old thread on Fathers' Day brings to mind one of my Dad's favorite dinners: leftover (very garlicky) cold sliced lamb with pancakes and maple syrup. That was a hard one to eat without gagging.

[arktos]

Soft-boiled egg.. I LOATHED it!! It is a culinary Chernobyl.

[opentoinput]

The worst food that I had to eat was canned creamed corn or canned peas. Which is probably why I gag at the thought of canned vegetables to this day.

[racer x]

Leftover macaroni & cheese.
Leftover spaghetti with congealed tomato sauce.

I complained upthread about scrambled eggs, peas, and lima beans, respectively, but those weren't served that often. Leftover mac & cheese and leftover spaghetti were served at least once a week, sometimes twice.

[PeteSeattle]

Hmm, leftover spaghetti is often better than when it's just been cooked! I wonder what the problem was? Do you have any ideas?

[racer x]

"Hmm, leftover spaghetti is often better than when it's just been cooked!"

Only in Bizarro World.

[DoobieWah]

Sorry Speed Racer's older brother, (Racer X's true identity), but I agree with Pete. Tomato sauce will definitely meld its flavors better after an evening the fridge.

I think the question was, "Why was the sauce congealed? Didn't she reheat it? ".

Please feel free to correct me if I misinterpreted Pete.

[racer x]

I think it had something to do with the starch from the pasta, and not adding enough water. Basically they (the parents) would just warm up the pasta/tomato sauce mix in a sauce pan, adding minimal if any water. If they'd made fresh pasta and simply heated up the leftover sauce, then it would have been a different story.

(I wonder if anyone else recognized where the name Racer X came from. When I first registered on chowhound, I wasn't planning to necessarily stick around, so I chose the first random silly name that came to me, thinking it wouldn't matter.)

[PeteSeattle]

Oh yeah! I remember that kind of pasta! True, the sauce has more flavor, but by the next day, if it's been reheated you have to eat around pasta pieces that are about as appetizing as the twigs they now resemble!

But when there's enough sauce on the pasta to adequately cover it in the fridge, it's actually a whole lot better!

There's an actual fritatta that's made of leftover spaghetti with tomato sauce. I don't think I've tried that, but when I was younger and hungrier I seem to remember that if you broke an egg over leftover spaghetti and pasta and put the whole thing in a fry pan and frizzled it it would get kinda gummy and slimy.

[cosmogrrl]

I recognized the name immediately! But Speed Racer was on TV almost everyday when I came home from school. Thanks to the remake, even the kids know who Racer X is. Loved his car!

[CountryGrown]

I've got to tell you that when I was a little girl I had such a crush on Speed Racer! Thanks for the memory. I didn't get it that they weren't real back then. My brothers used to tease me when I was older about that. It took years to live down.

[basildip]

Gordon's Frozen Fish Sticks. I think they were made with halibut. So, I grew up thinking halibut
was the nastiest of all fish. As an adult, fortunately I learned what a delight fresh halibut really
can be.

[001mum]

all the horribly overcooked vegetables
a few years agi i discovered organic carrots and love them!(only took me 40 years to finally eat carrots)
biggest memory is broiled tomatoes cut in half with breadcrumbs on the top
Hate hot tomatoes

[Axlsgoddess]

Lima bean soup with that repulsive ham bone. I detested this and would not be allowed to leave until it was gone. I thiqnkq Lima beans are repulsive and slimey and coupled with that boiled ham hock, downright retch inducing!

[racer x]

Agree about the lima beans.
But the ham hock is like bacon -- it can do no wrong!
(Hmm, was it at least smoked? If it wasn't smoked, maybe that's what the problem was.)

[ansluasi]

It's a toss up: my mother's french fries or her grilled chicken. The french fries are oven fries made by cutting potatoes into strips and applying a miniscule amount of oil, then baking on a cookie tray. She never cooks them hot enough or long enough. They come out very white and kind of slimy and bend when you pick them up. Not good. Her grilled chicken consists of a skinless whole chicken breast boiled until it is white throughout then charred on the outside on the grill. The only flavoring is salt. Unfortunately french fries and grilled chicken go together in her menu planning and this makes for one tough dinner to get through.
Oh, but I forgot cube steak dinner, where you boil the life out of a poor cube steak in beef bouillion broth, then serve it over dry toast with the bouillion broth and plain boiled potatoes. Ditto for hamburger supper cooked the same way. Served with boiled peas. Oh those were bad. There is no way that those will ever enter into my cooking repertoire. No wonder I loved the nights when we had Banquet pot pies or Hungry Man dinners.
Thank God for rotisserie chickens, those are mostly what my mother serves when I visit now (although for some bizarre reason she still insists on grilling them until they are dried out and their skin burnt after getting them from the store). I love going home to visit but the food is rough.

LOL, this topic makes me laugh, since I wonder what thing I cook will be on my 3 year old daughter's hate list when she is grown :)

[flourgirl]

Hoo boy, that was tough to read. ;) I wonder what will be on my son's list - but I really try very hard to make stuff that we all like to eat. And I don't make my son eat anything he really doesn't like. There's no point to it. There's so much good stuff he will eat, and happily, that I feel no compulsion to force him to eat anything.

[pamelak52]

Bittermelon. My mom would slice it, stuff it with spices, tie it back together and then cook it in a skillet. She told us it was alligator tail. So, so, so revolting. My MIL occasionally cooks it and told me once, "oh it's not that bitter today, I drained the liquid..." My husband told me to not fall for that trap - it's always bitter. I am pretty sure I would eat ANY other food listed here than my mom's bittermelon. (Sorry, mom. Great cook, bad vegetable.)

[whiteasianchef]

My mom was a damn good cook but I did always have to eat my veggies/beans/fruit. I like most veggies and fruits but the worst to me was Lima Beans. She would try to spruce them up but they just never got any better.

I also hated w/ a passion deer meat, it was extremely gamey and dry. I did not grow up w/ a lot of money so when my moms friend had some extra deer meat left in his freezer, she was up for taking it. I don't mind deer meat now but it is not something that I would go out of my way to eat.

[PeteSeattle]

Bittermelon should only ever eaten in small portions. It's not actually edible. Seriously. Like horseradish and nutmeg, it's actually poisonous if you try to eat too much of it. But in small doses it has a lot of vitamins and such.
Alligator tail is WONDERFUL, however! Like breast of chicken with some actual flavor to it.

[traveleryvette]

yellow wax beans
something called toad in the hole which ground beef &gravy over mashed potatoes
crock pot vegetable soup that was mostly cabbage and barley = no flavor &t i always found the bay leaf in my bowl

[Christina D]

I read through this entire thread and did not see the bane of my young existence...Minute Rice! Dear gracious I hated that stuff. It was like white cardboard put through the chipper/shredder. I had no idea that I actually liked rice until I grew up and made it myself (Jasmine, of course, not Minute).

Lima beans and sour beef are tied for second place. Blech.

[Antilope]

If the government won't let Miracle Whip be called mayonnaise, why do they allow Minute Rice to be called rice? ;-)

[The Professor]

Minute Rice IS rice...it's been cooked, then dehydrated. Nothing else changed, added, or taken away. I don't use it, although the Brown Rice version isn't bad and is a bit of a timesaver.
Whereas...
Miracle Whip is a sugary mess that has little resemblance to real mayonnaise. It has ruined sandwiches for decades.
It is evil. ;-)
LOL

[PotatoHouse]

Broccoli. 'Nuff said.

[danany]

Seabrook Farms creamed spinach. I don't know what it was about this brand, but it always made me gag. My parents stopped forcing me to eat it when I couldn't hold it in one time. I swore I hated creamed spinach and never again would it pass my lips.

15 years later, when the surly waiter at Peter Luger's in Williamsburg refused to leave the table until I tasted THEIR creamed spinach....well, I understood how good it could actually be.

[CountryGrown]

Liver every Wednesday. My Mom said it was for the iron in it and she made you sit at the table until you ate every scrap. uggh. I never made it for my kids. I did cook it a few times and can cook it very well for those who like it. But I hate to touch it. The texture of it. I get my iron from cantelope skins juiced thank you so much for juicers.

[kubasd]

I just did a bunch of searches and couldn't find ANYTHING about cantaloupe skins having iron... In fact, everything said NOT to eat the skins. Where did you get your information? I'm curious :)

[PeteSeattle]

Horses won't eat cantaloupe skins. Is someone confusing them with watermelon rinds?

[kubasd]

Yeah, I've got no idea.... I would rather get my iron somewhere else and not risk salmonella poisoning....

[ChefVito]

Blood Sausage... for sure! Never again!

[kireland]

I'm a pretty good eater and I think I always have been. I have really early memories of going over to friend's houses and hoping their Moms' would feed me something!! As a child there were things I couldn't stand though (and I think most have been mentioned here). Number 1 on the list was boiled potatoes! Something about the dryness, and the way the skin cracked was awful to me and no amount of butter or salt could help it. I still won't eat boiled potatoes on their own.

Many people have mentioned liver and the funny thing is that I've never had it! My Mom and Dad loved it, but Mom wouldn't cook it with us kids in the house (I guess we complained too much and took the pleasure out of it for them). She'd wait until we they had a night to themselves and cook it - I could remember smelling it when we got home though!

I didn't have to eat peas as a child either - apparenlty I had choked on one once and my mom thought it was because my esophagus was too small so I was never subjected to them. I love fresh peas now.

My Dad & sister loved fish and all things seafood and I hated it! I can remember going out to restaurants and having to stand a menu up between my plate and theirs so I wouldn't see the shells/scales/bones and so forth, which for some reason made me sick! When I was in my 20's I went on a trip to Mexico with some friends and we took a day trip to an island where the only thing they served at lunch was fish. A lot of tequila and screaming got me though a lunch of shrimp with the heads on! Now I love anything from the water (with the exception of sea urchin) and I wish my Dad was still alive so we could enjoy some oysters together!

Lots of things I wouldn't share with my Dad though - even if he were still alive! He used to eat some really strange things - penaut better and Spanish onion sandwiches, tartar sauce on pancakes at breakfast! My sister and I thought he did it to get a rise out of us!

My sister was a much pickier eater than I was though - and I think there are some things I didn't like just because she did! To this day I can't stand Dr. Pepper or Cream Soda, her two favourite drinks!

Good memories!

[Regnes]

I was never forced to eat anything I didn't like, but then again I wasn't an incredibly picky eater, only if somebody made seafood I would always be a bit upset since it meant no entree for me, I wouldn't even eat shrimp back then.

There isn't a lot of culinary talent in my immediate family, so I've had to endure a lot of crappy dishes in order to be polite. I also have a rather refined palette, so I had to learn to cook for myself if I wanted to enjoy something good every now and then.

My Mom was always great at baked goods though.

[trvler]

Liver--need I say more??

[The Professor]

Funny though... I felt the same way about the stuff when I was a kid.
Then in my early 20's I finally actually tasted it, and found that I love it.

[dr. pepper]

The worst: my older brother and Dad caught trout by the dozens but we never had them fresh. They were wrapped in foil and relegated to the freezer in the old rounded-corner fridge in the basement. When it came time for fish dinner, Mom would pull the oldest, freezer-burned relics from decades past and "poach them in wine", which meant boiling them for hours in cheap, bad sherry from the endless jug that lived under the kitchen sink like an evil troll under a bridge. They soaked it up like dry sponges. She added seasoned salt for the gourmet touch. Mom and Dad are long gone, and I miss them sorely. I love almost all fish and wine now, but still have problems with trout and sherry.

[racer x]

I love this thread for the laughs. Thanks, Dr. Pepper.

[PenskeFan]

Kapusta! Blech. just could not get used to it.. It is basically saurkraut but seems even more sour, and with slimy mushrooms in it. (I now love mushrooms, so long as they are sauteed or browned , but as a kid I didn't like them much)

I miss many of the foods I had to eat and the other Polish delicacies, but Kapusta I will gladly do without.
I dont mind kraut on a Reuben sandwich, it tastes good there. But keep your Kapusta to yourself.

[johnb]

I had a Polish friend in grad school whose family made kapusta. We could eat bowl after bowl of that stuff until we exploded. So good! With sliced rye bread, buttered.

I got the recipe from them once, very long and detailed, but never made it myself. But I often think about it. Actually I have a gallon jar of saurkraut in the pantry that I need to use -- maybe I'll find a recipe and try it. Thanks for the memory.

[PenskeFan]

Blech lol! Enjoy :)

Maybe my family made it wrong lol. I just could never abide by it.

[Puffin3]

Boiled beef kidneys with boiled turnips.

[PeteSeattle]

I ate shark once. Since sharks don't have kidneys, all their flesh tastes like urine. So do beef kidneys.