What's The One Thing You Can't Eat, even for money.

[michele cindy]

Aside from the obvious things you might find on Fear Factor, what's the one basic food you just can't tolerate. It can't be because you are allergic to, or medically have to stay away from, just something your taste buds say - get out of my mouth when you try to eat it.
This is the kind of scale I'm talking about--- I don't like fresh corriander, but I would it if someone gave me $5.00, but I wouldn't eat a spoonful of goat cheese for $5.00, I'd need at least $25.00 to eat it.

[BeeZee]

Eggs. The smell alone makes me gag. I wish I liked them, because the idea of omlettes is appealing, but I haven't been able to since I was 6 years old. Not an allergy, just an aversion. It would take way more than $25 to get me to eat them. I could probably gag down creme brulee for $100 if there were enough caramel sauce.

[FriedClamFanatic]

I'm in your camp. I even have trouble making hard boiled eggs for my wife

[vorpal]

I love eggs, but only if they're prepared in one of the few ways that I like (particularly fried with the yolk still raw, i.e. over light). Soft boiled and hard boiled eggs make me gag, and I think I'd need about $100 to motivate me to eat one. The rubbery appearance of the white is sending my stomach into flip-flops just thinking about it.

[Passadumkeg]

What about raw eggs? I used to have one for breakfast every morning, in the 60's before corporate salmonilla became so prevalent.

[vorpal]

I've never tried a raw egg just on its own (in mayo and ice cream, yes). Did you eat it on something or with any flavouring added to it?

[Passadumkeg]

I was playing high school football and my dad and uncles told me to eat a raw eggs to bulk up. Duh, so I ate raw eggs mixed in milk or as shooters from the shell. The dumbness does not stop, in my twenties, I used to plop one in my beer for better nutrition. I still love soft "snotty" boiled eggs, but use local organic. Eat raw eggs on steak tartare too. Biut I'll still take a fresh raw egg over the powdered scrambled eggs or the scrambled eggs w/ ham in my C-rations packages 'Nam, any day!

[michele cindy]

My dad would crack an egg into a glass and drink it. I think he would out a dash of worsteshire sauce in it too. I tried it once, not so bad, nothing I want to do again.
I thought of one more to add to my list. Chipped beef, $20.00 .

[Passadumkeg]

In the military also called SOS! Still a lot better than C-rations, though.

[bwinter714]

Ohh-Rah! I loved Sh** on a Shingle (cream chipped-beef on burnt toast), still kinda nostalgic for it. Though I think you have to have been in the military to truly look back on something like that with fondness.....

[The Professor]

I love the stuff too! I never served in the military, but my WW II vet Dad used to make it every few weeks and we enjoyed it for breakfast.
Got me hooked on it.

[jvanderh]

I was raised Quaker, and I look back on it with fondness!

[aguynamedbob]

Chipped beef mmmm mmmm MMMM! Love it.

[huiray]

"I still love soft "snotty" boiled eggs, but use local organic. Eat raw eggs on steak tartare too."
------
Ditto, ditto! Also like a raw egg broken onto freshly pan-fried skinny egg or rice noodles or wide flat rice noodles (with meats & veggies), e.g. "wat tan ngow yook cheen heong mai fun" :-)

[Googs]

Hasn't anyone had egg nog made from scratch? Yes, before the chemical laden cartons of egg nog people would whip it up in a blender with, yes, raw eggs and drink it. Never killed me.

[alkapal]

my sister made it, but it was cooked, and was like a custard-style. talk about decadent!!

[miriamjo]

Egg Nog was what my Mom made for us when we were sick. With a lovely dash of nutmeg on the top. Would be wonderful if I dared try that now. We also drank raw milk that had thick cream that rose to the top when it was super cold outside and it sat a while after the milkman delivered it. We were allowed to have it on our hot oatmeal. OH YUM!

[EWSflash]

My mom used to make it once in a great while- we went through tons of eggs and gallons of cream and buckets of nutmeg, never mind parrels of brandy.

[Isobel_A]

I love eggs, but only if they're cooked completely through! Fried eggs I always break the yolk and flip the egg, never soft-boil and I cook scrambled all the way through also.

[mpjmph]

I'm so happy to see other egg averse people here! I have a theory that my aversion is tied to the timing of breakfast stops for everyone else right about the time my motion sickness kicked in on family trips.

The only other food I will absolutely not eat is mayonnaise. The thought of getting a perfectly good sandwich with mayo by mistake almost makes me cry.

[laliz]

Thats how I am about anything with Miracle Whip. Just ruins it for me.

[heavysouldarlin]

miracle whip ruins everything you put it on. real mayo is the only way to go, even better homemade...

[michele cindy]

I could start a new topic, there are things I can't eat but only for a lot of money, then there are things that I am afraid to eat, Miracle Whip is one, the other is SPAM. They just give me the willies!

[buttertart]

Let me rock your world then, when I worked in a fish and chip shop, the owner's wife used to bring Spam, Miracle Whip, and sourdough bread to make sandwiches as a treat/break from the fried stuff. Pretty darn tasty, too.

[michele cindy]

The Little Shop of Horrors Chippery? A horror film in the making.

[buttertart]

Beaucoup fresh-made Colman's mustard was the icing on the cake. San Francisco sourdough. I could go for one right now.

[Passadumkeg]

I've gone through SPAM therapy; no joke.

[John E.]

Do you eat hotdogs, kielbasa, pork sausage of any kind? Or ham? Spam is spiced pork shoulder and ham. That's all it is. It's the same as pork hotdogs. Slice it and fry it and eat it as a breakfast meat and you might change your mind. Or not, but Spam is not mystery meat, at least not any more of a mystery than sausage and ham.

[thew]

thats not exactly true. ham is a primal - sausage and spam are ground from various bits and pieces

[John E.]

You are right however I was refering to the flavor and texture and the fact that Spam is made from ham.

[thew]

but it isnt really just ham - its pork from all over the pig

[John E.]

According to Hormel, it's from the ham (rear leg) and shoulder (front leg) also known as a picnic ham (uncured and smoked). My point is mostly about flavor abd the fact that Spam is not "mystery meat" or "Frankenmeat", it's pork shoulder and ham (rear leg).

[The Professor]

@thew-"... its pork from all over the pig..."

Is that necessarily a bad thing? (other than the massive amounts of sodium added as far as SPAM is concerned).
After all, the best hamburgers (for example) are made from cuts from 'all over the cow'. :-)

I would agree with John E. that Spam is not mystery meat at all.
Of course, Spam_ is_ nonetheless a great starting point for all kinds of jokes.
It's really not all that bad, though.

[michele cindy]

I am not big on pork hot dogs, I prefer beef, so sam I am I will not eat that thing called spam!

[huiray]

No accounting for taste. :-)

[Passadumkeg]

SPAM is devil spelled backwards in Lavonian.

[John E.]

Spam is no more evil than is any other pork sausage/ham product.

[Phoebe]

Totally disagree....SPAM is EVIL!!! Just the look and smell of it would have me "running for the hills".....I have to admit I do love sausage, chorizo, saucisson....but SPAM is a totally different product. Would add scrapple to the "bad" list also. I know it's very hypocritical...but that's just the way it is!!!!

[John E.]

How many times have you had fried Spam?

[Passadumkeg]

Three meals a day for 3 weeks straight. Good morning Vietnam. Wounded there 44 years ago toay.

[woodleyparkhound]

My father was a depression-era child who would eat anything my mom made - he was grateful to have food. There was only one thing he told my mom he never wanted to see on his plate - spam. That was because he had been forced to eat it so much in the Army (WWII).

[Blythe spirit]

Very true. We should be grateful to have so much food.
I also agree about the spam... My mother used to make it occasionally; with a brown sugar and mustard glaze. It was so unappetizing....

[John E.]

Thank you for your service. I have two cousins, brothers actually. The older brother somehow got into an army band and played that for 2 years in the mid '60s. His little brother by two years got the same exotic vacation that you had. I've never asked him about Spam, but I will sometime. I do know that he refused to go on a fishing trip with the rest of the younger cousins unless we rented a cabin. He said he wouldn't sleep on the ground even in tent because he did that too long for about a nickel a day.

(I think eating ANYTHING for 63 meals straight would put a person off that food forever).

[woodleyparkhound]

(I think eating ANYTHING for 63 meals straight would put a person off that food forever).

Yes ... I ate dal bhaat twice a day for 2 years in the Peace Corps (Nepal). The only way I could get through it was to tell myself that once I was out I would never eat it again. I've made good on that promise except for a couple of times when Peace Corps friends invited me for dinner and cooked it.

[John E.]

Rice and lentils, right? Did you ever tell those Peace Corps friends about your experience with that food? (Or perhaps were they with you and it was a joke for everyone?)

I have a nephew that spent a year in Costa Rica and I'm pretty sure he's given up black beans and rice, not that he has trouble avoiding it anyway, it's not really a staple in the northern latitudes of the U.S.

I have noticed that many cultures outside of the U.S. eat like dogs, meaning they are willing to eat the same thing everyday like our pets do. My mother used to say that about my father. When he liked a particular dish, and if there were a ton of leftovers, he was willing to eat the same thing for days on end, like a dog, while my mother was not willing to eat like that.

[huiray]

Well, dal bhat is a STAPLE food, ditto beans & rice in many countries. They are eaten with differing complements of vegetables, meats (if the diners are not vegetarian) &etc. Rice is also the STAPLE food of many societies and cuisines around the world, complemented with many different vegetables, meats, dairy (more in Western cuisines) etc etc. These people *could* eat boiled white rice - or rice & beans - *every day*. So all these people eat like dogs? Well, I could also say that *many* folks in the US also eat like dogs because they eat the same thing, potatoes, every day. Certainly folks who eat bread every day and feel lost if they don't have bread for even one day are even more extreme in their dog-ness. :-)

Let's distinguish between staple foods and exact replicates (such as fried spam and nothing else) everyday.

p.s. Careful about calling entire swaths of people "like dogs", especially when combined with identifying them as folks outside the US. :-)

[woodleyparkhound]

Yes, lentils and rice, with some tarkari (vegetable(s) and achar ("chutney" - to put a kind spin on it). On rare, special, lucky days, a fried egg, ghee, raksi or water buffalo yogurt might be included. It can be horrible or delicious - depending on the talent of the cook and what they have available to them.

And yes, they went through the experience with me so it was kind of a joke - and besides, if someone else is cooking, I'll eat what is put in front of me. But if I was in on the "what shall we make for dinner" conversation, I would argue against dal bhaat, pointing out that it takes hours to make and when you're finished, you have dal bhaat! Most of my friends in Nepal cooked for themselves so they had it only occasionally while there. I ate with a family, so I had it day in and day out. My friends thought my vow to never eat it again was rather amusing. When we did eat it though, we used our right hand to really make it a blast from the past!

[Passadumkeg]

I woke up in a Hospital in Subic Bay Navy Hospital 44 years ago today. I just remember regaining consciousness in a bright whiteholpital, w/ bright white sheets, and a beautiful nurse in a tight white uniform bending over the bed to my right. I sincerely thought I was in heaven. Then after the feeding tubes were removed, a nurse tried to feed me SPAM and I threw up on her. After months of C-rations, however, the hospital food tasted wonderful!

Happy Valentines Day everyone! I have a heart on for you!

[Emmmily]

Mayo makes me gag. Mustard too. I used to love tuna salad sandwiches as a kid (toasted english muffin, cheddar cheese), but now... yick.

[iluvtennis]

I feel the same way about mayo...it is one of the few things i can't work with if they accidentally put it on my sandwich. I'll go ahead and eat almost any mistake, but not a mayo mistake.

[TampaAurora]

Why do they ruin good sandwiches and good sushi rolls with mayo?

[cheetobrain]

I don't mind chilled mayo, but hot mayo makes me ill. like, when a shop slathers a sandwich in mayo, then puts it through the toaster oven. yuck!

[alkapal]

hot artichoke dip made with mayo, mozz and parm is delicious to me -- esp. with added garlic and spinach!

[cuccubear]

OMG, alkapal - I love that stuff too! I had forgotten all about it, but now that the holidays are here...I think it's time to whip up a fresh batch!

[alkapal]

i've got a couple of chow threads on that topic in my favorites folder that i'd direct you to, if you wanted me too. i'd give you the links. but, it was only a day or two ago that i realized not anyone but i can "see" my list of favorites.

[cuccubear]

Thanks - "If you post them, I will go"...Looking for variations as well.

[alkapal]

well, all-righty, then! **acknowledgements to one of my (very most) favorite films, "ace ventura, pet detective." http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=66UUgH5k1eo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NrgaIFB9Zdc&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e7pX9IHTDn8

hot artichoke dip sans mayo: http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/455704
with all: http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/523862

ok, i just had an epiphany: combine knorr's veg soup/dip mix with all the spinach dip components (and i add extra scallions -- with the nice green parts) and THEN add the hot artichoke dip combo (parm, mozz, garlic, mayo, etc.). AWESOME (i'm thinkin').

ps. sometimes it is easier for one to google one's screen name (e.g., alkapal) and the topic (hot artichoke dip), rather than slogging through chowhound stuff -- cause their search engines stink. there is a quite simple recipe that i relate (therein) from a friend in a club. so simple, and so delish. but, hey, let's GO FOR THE GUSTO!!!

[cuccubear]

Thanks for the links!

The mayo recipe is quite familiar to me, but I like your idea of combining it with a spinach dip...just thinking about it makes my arteries spasm, but my mouth water.

[superkat]

Mushrooms and smoked salmon. It's a texture thing x

[Sal Vanilla]

I like to dip salty Santita chips into it. I have been accused of making oinking sounds when eating it.

Please pass the hot mayo. LOL

[CoryKatherine]

haha or YUM. One man's trash...

[Orchid64]

I don't know who "they" are (who are ruining your sushi rolls), but the Japanese adore mayonnaise. I recently bought mayonnaise potato chips (http://japanesesnackreviews.blogspot....) and they taste like eating mayonnaise from the jar. There's also a Japanese "we love mayo" fan club and they put it on everything including pizza. One of my students tells me that she has a piece of toast with salad slathered with mayonnaise every morning for breakfast.

I've never known a country to be as bonkers about mayo as Japan, so I'm guessing that's where the idea of ruining your sushi rolls came from since there's no place they won't put it.

[Humbucker]

I just thought of something: Mayo is to Japan what Bacon is to the US.

[TampaAurora]

"They" was very general - meaning anyone who uses mayo. Period. I just honestly and truly dislike mayo. I'm not against it for the sake of "authenticity" or anything like that, just against the taste, texture and smell of mayo. It doesn't matter what it is a part of, sushi and sandwiches are just the examples I came up with for posting purposes.

[mariacarmen]

Does anyone know if they sell these in the States? maybe a trip to Japantown in SF is in order..... i want these NOW!

[John E.]

I actually have cried after getting a sandwich with mayo on it.; I have never liked mayonaisse. I gag if it is on a sandwich. I can taste it if it is mixed in with stuff. I just don't like it. I dislike mustard about equally as I do mayo. I recently read a thread on here dedicated to how much people like mayo. I would never insult someone by saying something about them eating mustard or mayonaisse, just don't make me eat it.

[shygirl]

mpjmph, I feel your pain re mayo on an otherwise good sandwich. I always specify NO MAYO and yet have had to send back many sandwiches and burgers tainted by it. My dining mates always get very annoyed with me for making a fuss, but it's so nauseating, I just can't relent.

[Local]

love scrambled eggs, a good omelet... but you will not get me near egg salad. permanent damage from childhood, when i liked them and my mom made them again, and again, and again...along with that other purveyor of nausea, mayonnaise...well, the combination sends me into a tailspin.

[cresyd]

Hard boiled eggs, egg salad, deviled eggs - all egg products along that variety would require serious financial compensation.

[Kate is always hungry]

Me too. I only like eggs that are slick, slippery smoothe (not runny, though) and mobile--or baked beyond recognition in a cake.

[tvdxer]

That's really interesting. I can't stand mayo, and the idea of egg salad simply disgusts me - even though I love eggs (scrambled, fried, or hard boiled), egg yolk on my toast, etc. And mayonnaise is made from eggs and oil as far as I know - neither of which I find offensive, as I do mayonnaise.

[BamiaWruz]

I have to say banana and banana anything.

[imprylfsh]

raw bananas - i can't stand them... fried or otherwise cooked are fine, but raw just makes me nauseous

[dtremit]

Ding! Raw and *ripe* bananas, specifically, for me. I can eat plain bananas if they're at least a little green, and no one slices them. I know, that's odd, but bananas get slimy when you slice them. I try to eat them by breaking off chunks instead of biting them so the ends don't get slimed.

I consider it a personal affront that something like 92% of smoothies contain banana.

Grandma's Jell-O with cut up banana in it was my childhood horror. She eventually started making me a separate dish.

[The Professor]

Interesting... and for me, a banana with even the slightest bit of green on it makes me gag.

For me it's got to be yellow and fairly speckled before I consider it edible.

[Cattie]

I have a friend who is absolutely disgusted by the sight of a grown man eating a banana. Women and kids are fine, it's just the men. Funny, isn't it? Wonder what Freud would have to say about that one.

[alkapal]

freud would be laughing his a$$ off -- that is, if he laughed! i just wonder how your friend (male or female friend -- just curious) even came to observe this disgust! obviously there are some deep-seated childhood issues..... LOL!

[thew]

sometimes a banana is just a banana

[huiray]

...or some suppression issues... Heh. Wonder what it reminds him/her of... <rolleyes>

[Bex_03]

I can't watch my mother eat a banana. It bothers me so much...I feel like vomiting just by talking about it.

I can't eat fois gras. I don't know why! I mean, I eat EVEYRTHING. I've tried it at least 3 times (once actually IN PARIS!!) and I still can't stand it. The second time I had it, I was in a very expensive restaurant and I ended up spitting it out on my plate and tried to cover it up with the salad on the side. I don't know what it is about fois gras, but you'd have to pay me a lot to eat it again.

[kubasd]

and i refuse to eat a banana if it has speckles on it at all, even one!

[Sue in Mt P]

I won't bananas period. We parted ways when I was 3 and ate 2 in a row.

[kubasd]

and i just saw the date of this post.... damnit, sorry

[michele cindy]

I'm the OP and I add things as I think of them. I don't think the date matters since the discussion really isn't time relative. Like now, I just thought of another one, Spam. I'd need about $20.00 to eat it.

[msgenie516]

I like bananas that are a little green, also. Don't taste so much like bananas!

[EWSflash]

I'm just the opposite. Except for bananas sauted in butter and drenched in lemon juice just as the butter is browning.. Otherwise they must be raw.l

[berkleybabe]

+1 -- grade school trauma = egg salad bleah. Oddly, I like deviled eggs.

[dpan]

I have the same gagging reflex problem with cucumbers. Just the smell of raw cucumbers (and I can smell them a mile away) makes me want to gag.

[stricken]

RAW CUCUMBERS. I have a cast iron stomach, but cucumbers give me chills...I love pickles however.

[Sal Vanilla]

How do you feel about the soaps and lotions they claim smell of cucumber? Do you get the same feeling with zucchini?

[lvecch]

Same here: eggs. Blue cheese as well.

[njchowgal]

I am glad to see I'm not the only egg-fearing chowhounder. I can't even be near them when they are cooking or smell someone else eating them. My theory is that some people's sense of smell is very sensitive to the sulfer odor eggs emit and simply can't eat them. For $500, I would eat a forkfull, but only if I could swallow them without smelling them or chewing them. I would also need something strong as a chaser- maybe a Bloody Mary.

[Bittersweet_bigarade]

i thought i was the only one who hated eggs!
ive not eaten them for about 9 years now,
the thought of them makes me SICK!
I don't mind them in ice cream,or cake..or in something that wouldnt automatically make me think of egg.
the thought of runny egg yolk makes my tummy churn :(

[da0419]

I totally agree to an extent. For me it's the yolk, especially in hard boiled eggs. Even the smell of the egg yolk makes me want to throw up.

[Eric in NJ]

Limburger cheese nuff said

[Soop]

I used to hate the smell of parmesan - smells like sick. Tastes great though, fresh and shaved onto the right pasta/pizza.

[scubadoo97]

interesting I have the same problem with romano cheese, although I'd eat it even without $. Funny to see the many things listed here that I find wonderful. I have yet to find somthing that I would have to be paid to eat but I have never had durian.

[KristieB]

We call parmesan "stinky feet cheese" at our house because that's what it sometimes smells like. I think bleu cheese smells like vomit. But I consume both of these cheeses.

[AnnaBaptist]

Parmesan - shudder. Smells and taste like vomit to me. Odd because I love many other stinky cheeses, but I cannot abide Parmesan.

[msgenie516]

Love both Limburger and Liederkranz. They're both stinky!

[The Professor]

Oh yeah!!! Hands down, two of my very favorite cheeses. They taste best after their labeled "end" date as well.
After hearing jokes for years about limburger I finally tried it, and it became "King Cheese" for me. Liederkranz has only recently made a re-entry to the marketplace and is also very good. A slightly mellower version of the limburger from which it derives.

There's nothing like limburger & onions on rye and a glass of Fuller's London Pride to wash it down. Pure heaven.

[kubasd]

That sounds absolutely delicious..... lunch at your place? haha

[susancinsf]

Did you happen to watch Amazing Race last night? One couple was eliminated, basically because he couldn't eat sheep's rump (he was a vegetarian and hadn't eaten meat in years, and had to get through the dish quickly). The entire time, I was thinking to myself. 'that actually looks pretty good'. (it was in a stew with onions and such, was very fatty) :-)

for me, it's bananas. No allergy, just an extremely strong aversion. I'd eat them for a chance at a million dollar game prize though. For $25 though: forget it. Goat cheese, on the other hand, I happy pay others to eat. :-)

[janetofreno]

I'm with Susan on the bananas...no surprise there. And like her, I would eat them for a million dollars, or even one for a thousand....but I wouldn't go lower than that.
I thought the stew last night looked ok too.....especially if there had been a little bit of bread to sop up some of the grease.....

Its funny about the goat cheese: last week I learned after almost twenty four years of marriage to the guy that DH hates goat cheese almost as much as I hate bananas....he just isn't vocal about it. Who knew????

[HeyDeliciousBlog]

bananas are my kryptonite... i'd probably do it for a million... no less - worst fruit ever.

[swsidejim]

- veggie burger
- veggie bacon
- any fake meat

[Bill Hunt]

Yes to the fake. I feel the same way towards "Krab," with a "K," especially if they list it as "crab," but that is fodder for another thread, or two.

There are enough evil natural products on this Earth, that we do not need artificial bad ones.

Hunt

[swsidejim]

I agree. Lab meat/fish, etc is not something I caret to eat.

I'll also add tofu to my list of things I will not eat for $$$

[marietinn]

I'm just curious, what don't you like about tofu?

[swsidejim]

texture, "taste", smell. etc.

[im_nomad]

i used to feel the same way until i learned how to cook it properly.

[AndyGanil]

for a quick real chinese meal, a loaf of soft tofu drizzled with soy sauce and topped off with chopped green onions on rice.

[linguafood]

oh yessss! that's what i'm having tonight. and then drizzle some hot oil over it. sesam oil is good. i used to freaking hate tofu, too. found it bland, boring, stupid texture. but i've had very flavorful (or well-flavored, I guess) firm tofu stir-fried that was really almost like chicken.

and that soft stuff???? oh my! nobody said you can't add piles of ground pork, hot peppers and other yummy stuff to make ma po tofu.

i truly am a tofu convert, albeit just for a couple dishes --

[Eat_Nopal]

One of my most pleasant finds here in Hawaii is a Chinese steam table place that lightly simmers soft tofu cubes in vietnamese chili garlic sauce & lots of added chopped garlic. Its so damned good... I would choose a thick burger.. that I have to laugh at poor souls who've never had a good Tofu experience... and don't have the Chowisdom to know where to look for one.

[Sam Fujisaka]

You maybe go become good kine way now, Brudda! Can change name to Eat Poi and be defender all ting Hawai'i.

[Eat_Nopal]

Probably not... Nopales are such food of the soul for me... but I have to say 2 day fermented Poi tastes kind of like Fage.

[alkapal]

lol, sam: "all ting hawai'i"
made me think of "sebastian": http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sebastia...

[Scargod]

I'm wondering if your nom de plume is bigtuna27?

[KristieB]

I really love the Frugal Gourmet's recipe for bean curd with hot meat sauce. It is in the first book under the international section. I hate tofu that is fried too much. It remindes me of way overcooked eggs.

[Caroline1]

Have you ever wondered why carnivores/omnivores never try to make a fake carrot out of meat the way that vegetarians try to make fake bacon and hamburgers out of veggies? Seems to me that if you're *really* a vegetarian, you wouldn't want anything remotely reminiscent of meat. Curious.

[Humbucker]

Nothing is stopping a carnivore from eating a carrot, while something (themselves) IS stopping vegetarians from eating meat.

[invinotheresverde]

"Seems to me that if you're *really* a vegetarian, you wouldn't want anything remotely reminiscent of meat."

Many vegetarians love meat but don't want to kill animals. Fake meat is the next best thing.

~A "Real" Vegetarian

[Caroline1]

Bless your heart. I sincerely hope that you and all vegetarians who love meat find it more satisfying than I find diet mayonnaise!

[invinotheresverde]

I think ANYTHING is more satisying than diet mayo! :)

[swsidejim]

I have stopped trying to figure vegetarians out. But I do agree with your post.

[im_nomad]

Caroline, it's also because it's an easy, and appealing way to get a good jolt of protein without, say, having to eat five cups of beans :)

I've had a couple of experiences though when something was too "meat-like" for me...cooked portobella mushrooms are in this category.

[im_nomad]

no worries ! I fired that response off without saying more...oops. I too, regularly throw out all sorts of otherwise offensive names to my closest friends, and vice versa. Also in the interest of self-deprication, I occasionally call myself a few, lol.

On a side note, I forget that i've been around here long enough to be known. Coolness.

as for the mushrooms...i can't explain it...and it's only an occasional thing, i still eat portabellas. Just occasionally i get that reaction.

[Scargod]

Good.
I am an omnivore and yet there has been a few times when the odor of beef cooking has been offensive.
Dr. Spin

[stricken]

I eat pretty much everything, and people (the vegitarians) have been lying to me for years telling me that grilled portabella has a "meaty" texture. It does not. It has a "mushroomy" texture. I know the difference between a tenderloin and a shroom. Stop the propoganda.

[malibumike]

I am not a Vegetarian but once we had a portabella that we marinated in italian dressing( oil and vinegar) and threw it on a hot grill and it was pretty good, probably the closest thing to meat for a Vegetarian

.

[Scargod]

You eat vegetarians, too? Perhaps, only those that lie to you?

[Passadumkeg]

If a tree falls in the forest and there is no one there to hear it, is the vegetarian still wrong?
Or if a vegetarian had never eaten meat how would they know what it it tastes like?
Or if God had meant for Texans to ski, would he have given them mountains?

[im_nomad]

Passadumkeg...in my world, the vegetarian (me) is NEVER wrong, XD
...I jest.

Actually on the whole mushroom debate that seems to be ruffling feathers, it's not simply a taste thing, it's also a texture thing, and I can't explain it. Perhaps it's the umami thing.

Who knows....if i ever get around to figuring myself out...i'll let you know.

btw, I haven't eaten meat in ten years, so i kinda remember what it tastes, like, HOWEVER, having once accidentally eaten a bite of chicken a couple of years ago hidden in a burrito, I can tell you that it tasted NOTHING like I remembered....and it was not pleasant . Now i'm not one of the veg's who gets nauseated at the smell of cooking meat (roast chicken and bacon smells still smell good to me), and i'll actually cook it for you if you ask nicely, but that piece of chicken (incoming weirdness), tasted to me, like what wet feathers smell like.

[alkapal]

oh goodness, i-m nomad, WHAT DOESN"t ruffle feathers on chowhound?!?!

"my nostrils are too large to appreciate foie gras!"

"oh, well, nostrils have nothing to do whatsoever in the vastest universe with the appreciation of foie gras!"

"oh well, i had an aunt who had the largest nose and she only liked authentic fried skunk fritters, and nothing else! -- and she was an expert epicure, no doubt about it!"

[im_nomad]

just a thought stricken....but perhaps it's NOT meaty to you because you're not a vegetarian.....

[Scargod]

This reminds me of sexuality and homophobia, but I won't go there...
It's not about food!

[huiray]

<clap><clap>
<applause>

[Soop]

AFAIC, Dishes are down to preparation. I like most foods, but here's my price list:

$1 Pesto
$5 Raw carrot, very gamey meats (pigeon), Peas, lukewarm full-fat milk
$10 fruit in anything savoury (rasins in curry, pineapple on pizza etc), Turnips, Parsnips, tiramasu
$25 a teabag, 10 jacobs crackers w/out water
$50 an unpeeled whole lemon/lime
$100 Eyeballs, Brains, Heart, Lung of stuff

*PS, I hate raw corriander too, it smells like milk to me.

[cycloneillini]

I had to get this far down the list before I could think of a single thing I won't eat, but I am at least in the $100 range on the sweet/savory thing. Whoever thought Hawaiian pizza was a good idea has to be out of their mind. YUK! That's why I can stand jelly/jam/preserves on anything that doesn't resemble a danish or a cookie, and even then I'll pass. My mother always told me I was the only kid in the world that hated PBJ sandwiches. I'll take my PB plain thank you very much.

[im_nomad]

I like the sweet savory combo in some respects but i'm with you on hawaiian pizza. pineapple does not belong on a pizza....

[CoryKatherine]

haha this is good. my mom and i debate all the time. she thinks sweet with savory is the devil's work. I literally got in trouble as a kid for trying to put syrup on my bacon/sausage as well as my pancakes. I still love sweet and savory together almost 100% of the time. And i like Hawaiian pizza!

[betsydiver]

a recurring disagreement in our house was what to eat with scrapple...ketchup or maple syrup? I actually like both (either, i suppose, not both together) but thescrapple must be well done/crispy!

[grannybo]

When I make the big family breakfast for the holidays, I warm the syrup and keep the bacon warm in it. I also drizzle some on the sausages. ha ha I wouldn't eat eggplant or lamb for a million bucks.

[mpjmph]

And I just thought of the Simpson's episode where Lisa becomes a vegetarian and won't pass the syrup to Homer unless he promises not to use it on any meat products.

[MysticYoYo]

I get the aversion to sweet/savory. I can eat coconut. I can eat shrimp. But coconut shrimp? *gags*

I think people with an aversion to sweet/savory far prefer savory.

[aklein]

at any price: mayo...nightmarish and evil.... i barely let my wife keep it in the house...

[Janet from Richmond]

Hard boiled or deviled egg
Cottage cheese

[blond_america]

As a child i used to eat cottage cheese on bread everyday until one day i got the stomach flu after having eaten some. Now i only tolerate it in lasagna.

[krisrishere]

Milk. I have to keep it in the house to add to certain dishes and the occassional glass that my husband will have, but I can't stand it. According to my mom, I wouldn't even drink it as a baby. It makes me want to vomit. I would need to get upwards of $100 just to even THINK about taking a sip.

[Soop]

I used to have that. I can now drink skimmed ice cold milk, but I think it was because of the awful-smelling cartons in school - invariably full fat.

Gosh, the reek of that ... stuff .. in summer was enough to put you off for life.

[nolapark]

me, too...never ever ever drank milk! milk is cow formula, to make baby cows big & strong...I will never understand how it got OK for humans to drink the stuff

it would take some big money for me to drink an 8 ounce glass- I'm in the mid 4 figure range off the top of my head

[Local]

agreed, ...in college someone in a biology class said it was essentially cow sweat (and in checking this out, it appears they were close - see wikipedia) ...have never been able to rid myself of that concept, and stopped drinking it then...no problem w/ sour cream, cream, butter, ice cream...but a glass of milk- not gonna happen.

[FoodChic]

That's similar to my DH's issues with tomatoes. He loves fresh tomatoes, tomato soup, tomato sauces, but can barely look at a glass of tomato juice.
I drink several glasses of tomato juice a day and he's horrified to see it in the glass.

[bitsubeats]

yep I HATE milk. It also doesn't help that my mom forced me to drink it as a kid.

However I will add it to cereal, but I usually add about 1/2 a cup of milk to 2 cups of cereal...just to get it moist. Then I have to sprinkle cinnamon on it so I can't taste the milk.

I can't even drink it while holding my nose (yes I have tried this and it STILL takes like shit).

funny how someone above said that milk is similar in composition to sweat, bc I remember someone telling me that it's basically cow puss ):

[im_nomad]

yeah milk for me is one of those things that i've drank a few times because I knew it was good for me , but white milk is gaggish for me, as well as milky cereal. I can handle chocolate milk, but have of late gone over to soy milk. Oddly I love yogurt.

my mother can not drink milk at ALL, due in part to the fact that she couldn't keep it down while pregnant. I figure this is where I got it from.

[hotteacher1976]

I cannot drink milk without some kind of syrup, like chocolate or strawberry. Plain white milk is disgusting to me. I really think it's the smell.

[latindancer]

What smell?
I drink milk (Broguiere's) and there is no smell.

[CoryKatherine]

I agree, I don't notice any smell to milk unless it's bad. But lets remember that lactose tolerance is a genetic mutation. Most of the world's population is milk intolerant and maybe that is why so many people are averse.

[Local]

hot dogs, sausage, and pomegranates...don't ask, but all based on traumatic birthday party experiences occuring before the age of 7. for years i could not even think about pomegranates without my stomach flipping.

[Deenso]

There's no amount of money that could make me eat calves' liver. Every once in a while, when dining with someone else who has ordered it, I'll be subjected to something like this: "Oh, I know you think you don't care for calves' liver but you probably just haven't had it done right. This is just spectactular. I know you'll change your mind if you give this a try!" And I'll be a good sport and take a tiny bite, always with high hopes. I inevitably end up wishing I could just spit it into my napkin, but I politely swallow and then rinse my mouth out with wine.

[Bill Hunt]

Yes to liver. I was not a fan, and then in my youth, I read "Portnoy's Complaint." That did it for liver (except foie gras) for me. I usually start reciting the "liver incident," and no one offers me anything...

Hunt

[lynnlato]

Ditto on the calves' liver - blech. I just say no to chicken liver too. Now, foie gras is a whole other ballgame - my absolute favorite! I had a rabbit kidney at Per Se a couple of years ago too... I don't remember it to have had that iron/blood taste that completely freaks me out.

[Bomberman760]

Wow - of all the common foods I've seen listed, this one blows my mind only because I love it so much. Well, maybe it's not that common, but you can at least buy it in larger grocery stores.

I still love to pile it on French bread or brioche for breakfast. Truly one of the best delicacies I've ever eaten. Sorry you don't enjoy it. It really sucks that we all have foods that we can't tolerate.

[Passadumkeg]

We eat a lot of liverwurst on French toast. We enjoy liver onions and potatoes. Northern European soul food.

[Sal Vanilla]

Lots of folks love pate, wurst and all sorts of chicken liver fixups - but when you fry or saute a calf or pig liver.... ACK! I have to go......

[Passadumkeg]

As Frank Zappa sang, " "It's in your mind, in your mind, in you mind...."

[Sal Vanilla]

Perhaps! I smell it cooking and literally - I gag. Like I have to concentrate not to barf. The only other things that can do that to me are things I have had to clean up that are definitely inedible (but maybe - at one time_were).

[lcool]

I feel that you like one of my sisters is leaving more for the rest of us.It' ok

[dragonchowmein]

I feel the same way about calves liver, Deenso, but oddly, I love chicken liver pate and foie gras... and what is it with people who keep insisting you will convert on the spot if you just try something you hate their way?

[Scargod]

I can't believe you like chicken liver but not calf. I bet if you bought it where I buy mine, you would love it!

[Caroline1]

I too prefer fowl livers to those of mammals. I don't know beans about whether birds have bile ducts or not, but I've long suspected that the strong flavor of mammal livers may come from the bile content. Or maybe it's a simple matter of mammals (like me) not having much in the way of taste receptors for fowl (as opposed to foul) bile content in their livers?

However, if calf's liver is "clean" tasting and prepared well (as opposed to being tanned in a frying pan like a sheet of leather), then toss in some caramelized onions with pan fried potatoes and I'm there! I don't know what the difference is, but for me calf's liver only comes in two flavors. Edible and inedible!

[Passadumkeg]

Edible and inedible. You're right. Proberly cooked and overdone shoe leather. Love them onions and spuds too.

[Demented]

Besides filtering nutrients from the blood, the liver filters impurities and toxins as well. While these are broken down into compounds the body can get rid of, the older the animal, the longer this organ has been in use, and accumulations of toxins has to be higher.

I really don't know, but it's probably a safe bet that cattle are exposed to pesticides, growth hormones, antibiotics and who knows what else.

As to food I wouldn't eat on a bet, there's only one thing that comes to mind... Balut. Was served this while in the Philippines in the early 80's, the sight and smell brought me the closest I've ever been to vomiting at the table.

[Eat_Nopal]

Exactly... that is why I say... eat Blood Sausages instead.

[Deenso]

Dragonchowmein, I, too, adore chopped chicken liver (not whole livers), pork and duck liver pate and foie gras in all forms. But I swear to heaven, every time I've tried calves' liver - and, over the past 60+ years, I really have tried - it makes me gag. I don't care where it comes from, how it's prepared... But I'll still taste it anytime a dining companion orders it and offers me a bite because, hey! you never know.

[vintagechef]

It has takin me reading all the above to here to get me to reply, but I have to reply to this one. Liver is the only thing I have ever tried to eat that I could not swallow. Just getting it past my nose was a fight to keep from vomitting. Just the smell of it cooking makes me leave the house or vomit. The only thing I have ever smelled that was more rancid than liver was a corpse of a sheep that had been in the field rotting for many days if not weeks. Even then I think it is a toss up as to which smell is worse. I love cow brains, or tonge, and several other organs, but liver... NO THX It'd take 7 figures, maybe more to make me even think about trying to swallow some.

[JungMann]

Brains are delicate and tasty. Liver and limburger both have that strong flavor I like. Milk and mayo might be bad for me, but I still eat them anyway. But if there is a spider anywhere in the vicinity of my plate, I am not eating.

[madgreek]

Someone might come up with something, but I can't think of one thing (that is considered food) that I would not eat. There are things I choose not to eat, but am always willing to try things, and nothing comes to mind that is so off putting that I would refuse it, especially for money. My view is that if it is considered food to some, it is food, and though you might no be used to it, it isn't going to kill you.

The scale doesn't work for me, as I tend to have cravings at particular times. So one day, If I want chicken, you might have to pay me to eat fish. Another day, the opposite might be true. Sometimes I want black coffee, and sometimes I prefer sugar, and/or cream/bailey's, etc. I don't put much faith in my preferences, because they're dynamic. It keeps things interesting. I am intrigued by people who don't even try certain foods, or are too stubborn to try something again that they didn't like 20 years ago. It seems childish to me.

[Soop]

Yeah, I try to be like you, but I'm full of admiration. I still have certain stigmas ( although less than many people, I'd say). I hate doing a weekly shop, as I invariably end up with something that needs to be eaten, but I want to eat something else instead.

[grouper]

I am so with you on this one. I've had to stop weekly shopping because what I buy on Monday I no longer want on Friday. I thought I was alone on this.

[FriedClamFanatic]

Once on a business trip to Japan, as the "honored Guest" at a dinner I was offered raw Sea Urchin(insides only) on a little wooden platter. I won't describe what it looked like. Needless to say, I ate it, - followed by copious amounts of sake to wash it downquickly - but NEVER NEVER Again!

[tjr]

I would have eaten your uni for free!

[FriedClamFanatic]

Next time I"ll take you along!

[goodhealthgourmet]

i hope tjr will share...free uni works for me, and you can even keep the sake all to yourself!

my #1 "pay to play" food is definitely dried, shredded coconut. i've posted about this before...the mere *thought* of those nasty, waxy strands squeaking between my teeth as i chew is enough to make me shudder & gag simultaneously.

[AngelSanctuary]

I'll PAY to eat those!

[Passadumkeg]

El Greco! Just the way I feel. I would never choose Spam ( A Viet Nam thing.), but if served, I'd eat it.

[Scargod]

Good lord man, have you lost your senses? Wouldn't you, at least, have to shoot it first?

[Passadumkeg]

No in Maine! I love live bear meat. Most exciting dish I know.

[Passadumkeg]

I used to use full Spam can for target practice w/ a colt .45 in country. But if it really meant something to somebody, I wouldn't take their money, I just smile and eat it. I guess I'm growing up. My son and his wife were afraid to take me to restaurants that serve Spam in Seoul. Rather eat Spam w/ Sam than eat a Pop Tart.

A Pop Tart: $25.

[michele cindy]

I've never eaten Spam, it's really revolting to me, so I am putting it on this list too. For about $30.00 I'd try it.

[1stand3rd]

No money in the world will make me eat a hot dog with ketchup, quiche, or drink a light beer.

[cycloneillini]

I am so with you on the hot dog. I love a good hot dog, but would gag if I had to eat ketchup on it - or sweet relish. It's back to the sweet/savory thing I posted earlier.

[fara]

something about ketchup on a hot dog makes me sick as well. i don't mind relish, cheese, onions, kraut, or anything else that i can think of though. ketchup just makes the hot dog taste rancid somehow. sweet and rancid.

[Googs]

Relish on a hot dog makes me ralph in technicolour. You may wish to give me money for the floor show.

[alkapal]

no dough for a show where i have to mop up!

[danhole]

I have always said that I will try anything at least once, but when I read about the maggot filled cheese here on Chow . . . no amount of money would get me to try that!

[pinkprimp]

Agreed! YUCK.

[Olallieberry]

Wow, okay, I didn't think I'd think of anything reading this that I wouldn't eat for more than a couple of dollars, but you win. It would take a looooot for this one.

[Scargod]

Another "aphrodisiac" that can potentially kill you. If the maggots are dead, then the cheese is toxic. If the maggots are alive you must kill them or they start boring through your body...
How much is someone willing to pay??

[Gio]

Boy, Am I sorry I read that................

[FoodChic]

And WHY would anyone eat this ...ever?

[alkapal]

the zimmern factor.

and the lady currently in the news had a worm in her brain. she named it "dawn." it probably got there from some cruddy cheese. ;-) nah, docs said undercooked pork or bad washroom habits by folks.... <warning, graphic photo> http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,455067,00.html

eew, a worm in the brain from a pork taco! http://www.rense.com/general9/brain.htm

especially look out in tejas: http://www.boingboing.net/2007/01/15/...

[Soop]

EWW. But lesson learned (((o__o)))

[Sal Vanilla]

I wonder why she chose Dawn...

[FoodChic]

I cannot eat ginger. Ginger makes my stomach turn as I find the taste so unbelievably foul. Also, Menudo or anything else containing tripe. There is absolutely no way!!!

Glad to see others with egg issues. I can gladly say I've never eaten a fried or boiled egg. I love the yolks, but can't deal with the texture of the whites. That being said, I'd still choke them down for the right price.

[goodhealthgourmet]

"Ginger makes my stomach turn"
~~~~~~
that's ironic, considering that it's traditionally used to promote digestion and alleviate nausea.

does it taste like soap to you?

[FoodChic]

I guess soap would be close, it seems to have an overly perfumed taste and odor.

[KaimukiMan]

interesting, i can deal with the whites, but please please please do not ask me to eat the runny yellow yolk of a sunny side up egg. I was raised to eat what is put in front of you, and many years ago when a friends mom plopped a fried egg down on my plate i dutifully managed to get the white down, but figured that was all manners demanded of me. Friend's mom was stunned that there was anyone who didn't like fried eggs. From then on she was kind enough to scramble them for me.

[FoodChic]

I can eat them scrambled, but there cannot be even the slightest hint of white. The eggs must be completely blended and a dash of milk or cream must be included. I've sent eggs back at restauants when they were scrambled on the grill and the whites showed up in the scramble. Just seeing it makes me gag.

[Nyleve]

HA! Me too! I don't usually admit this to anyone. I will eat a scramble egg if you can't see the whites AT ALL. And I will eat the yolk of a hard cooked egg. But I will give the whites to my husband (or the dog). No fried or soft boiled eggs, though - it's too easy to accidentally contaminate the yolk with white.

Makes it hard to eat a devilled egg, though, doesn't it? I'll suck the filling out and dispose of the white (behind a bush at a picnic, or down the toilet at someone's house).

[FoodChic]

LMAO! That's exactly what I do with deviled eggs!

Another think I do is separate the egg yolk from the white and just poach the yolk or fry it until it's just medium. Then you can use a fork to peel away the small bits of white and smear the yolk on toast and add a bit of S&P....delicousness!

My DH watches this and just shakes his head.

[fatema]

Its the total opposite for me....I am totally averse to the yolk...if I can see it or smell it, I will not eat it. I dont usually eat eggs that much, but if there is any presence of the yolk, its a BIG No No for me.

Other things on my list are tuna and bacon.

[im_nomad]

fatema, i was like that for years, and would only eat an egg over hard and well dispersed over the whole egg. I never could eat a runny yolk...but can now appreciate a semi cooked one.

i once choked down an egg with runny whites while a guest at someones home ...it was horrible, my eyes were watering the entire time. Plus i had a raging hangover...it wasn't pretty.

[Firegoat]

I'm the same way, as is the bf. I order mine scrambled or in an omelet. He likes fried eggs but orders them over hard. hard. hard.

[CoryKatherine]

I've just started using ginger (sparingly) in dishes again after a lifelong hatred of the smell and taste. My stepdad used to cook with it a LOT (like, all you could taste was ginger) and as a kid I just couldn't take it. Ever since then- yuck. I shudder. My mom uses ginger body lotion and I can't even stand near her after she's put it on. I'm glad i'm not the only one.

[Peg]

Honey - unspeakably vile. Even the smell is nauseating.
Cooked root vegetables (carrots, swedes etc) - simply make me retch.

[Soop]

Oh yeah, I hate honey. Nasty stuff.

[mpjmph]

I don't mind the taste of honey, but the smell of honey drives me nuts.

[michele cindy]

I'm really surprised at how varied the responses are. From a scientific side, I wonder what causes these reactions. Can it all be psychological, or is it a biological reaction? Are there any scientists, neurologists, or psychologists out there to answer? For me the goat cheese reminds me of the way a petting zoo smells, really musky, but is it just something in my head that forces me to gag, or is it a biological reaction?

[dumpycactus]

could've been a traumatising experience... instinctive reaction to avoiding "poison"

even though it's a rather innocuous substance, i won't have orange juice. ESPECIALLY the frozen concentrate!

[Scargod]

I find many of them odd, too, but when I was young I was sickened by some rancid potato chips. Took me years before I could stand the smell of them and then a while longer before I could eat them again. Now, I only really like to eat sea salt and vinegar style.
There's been at least one stinky, slimy cheese that I would have to be paid to eat again...

[Passadumkeg]

I had the same reaction to Tequilla on my 25th birthday. But a tequilla oyster shooter sounds good about now!

[uptown jimmy]

Any cheese other than parmesan and mozz makes me gag just to smell it. I've had a very mild cheddar on bruschetta that was delicious, but then again it was a good stand-in for mozz, so....

So I live for pizza and lasagna, but if you put any of the "stinky" cheeses anywhere near me I will flee the room.

[Melanie]

There isn't much that I wouldn't eat (save those things that you see on those 'reality' shows - raw intestines, etc.).

Other than that, someone would need to pay me $5 to eat Kimchee (I got sick from it once and haven't eaten it since)

Lastly, I think my price for eating a stick of butter would be $3,000

[madgreek]

LOL- I just had some homemade Kimchee with brown rice, shitakes, and roasted onion and pumpkin for lunch. It really hit the spot.

[Melanie]

oh wow...that sounds nothing like the Kimchee that made me sick - yours sounds delicious. Forget paying me...I'll pay you for that one!

[Miss Needle]

Cucumber pickles (the olive green variety). Absolutely NASTY in my opinion. But if you pay me at least $500, I may reconsider.

[cgfan]

Then there's this lady: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4OCPN3...

[Sam Fujisaka]

Watch out, Needle, I've done this to you before:

http://a54.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/0...

[Miss Needle]

Both of you sure know how to taunt a lady with picklephobia! ; )

[CoryKatherine]

my list is short but the first thing on it is pickles. any kind. kill me first. no- i'd eat some for $20, but I'm a broke college student. also on the $20 list are raw carrots (mealy- disgusting). And I think that is about it. I really don't think that there is anything (other than the obvious reality-tv stuff we've covered) that I wouldn't eat for $20.

[alkapal]

corykatherine, have you ever had fresh carrots right out of the garden? they're like crispy candy goodness! ;-).

[CoryKatherine]

I can't explain it! It's the texture they break down to in your mouth. I can't swallow them. I love the flavor- give me cooked carrots all day.

[alkapal]

so many people have different food texture preferences or dislikes. probably worth a thread of its own. ;-).

[betsydiver]

i prefer not to eat beets of any kind....although might try them again for $25 or more

[OCEllen]

Mint! Anything that has the least hint of mint smell or flavor is revolting to me!

[duck833]

Don't ever come to the South Willamette Valley in Oregon in August. We have lots of acres of mint growing everywhere. After harvest they distill the leaves to get peppermint oil, the smell is everywhere and smells wonderful. I actually buy pickup loads of blended mint compost for my garden and flower beds, it is the part left behind after the oil is taken out, smells wonderful and everything loves it.

[Glencora]

When my boyfriend and I, ages 17 and 18, were in Venice he ordered some very garlicky pasta for dinner. The next day he HAD to have mint. We walked all over Venice, bridges and alleys, looking for mint. Finally we found some candy in a tiny market. That was when he told me that he loathes mint in any form. I almost threw him in the canal. It's not as though the mint was going to make his breath less stinky -- just minty AND stinky.

[OCEllen]

No one else with a mint aversion? Must be why it is such a ubiquitous 'flavoring'!

[im_nomad]

I like it sweets, but I'm not fond of it in savory dishes, and mint tea will never grace my cupboards.

[Firegoat]

I don't care for mint. It is fine in gum or the occasional peppermint patty, but in general, keep it away from my meats and veggies

[alkapal]

hey there, firegoat! i'm with you on the anti-"mint-jelly-with-roast-lamb" bandwagon, but i do enjoy some thai salads with mint and poultry, like duck or chicken. but, typically, mint is "outweighed" flavor-wise by the thai basil or cilantro in the same salad. http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/574054#4219512
http://www.manic.com.sg/recipes/duck.html
http://www.chow.com/recipes/13001

one combo of an aromatic that i don't care for is lavender in any dish. i always think i'm eating soap from my grandma's house!

[lcool]

With you on the soap
Where did the "mint" flavored apple jelly thing originate?I never encountered it before 10 years or so ago.I know it isn't recent,but don't know where or when.
My father always served a jelly like citrus/rosemary/quince concoction cold with lamb and mutton.I still do,foils the fat without changing the meat.It is ok with poultry if you bump the acid a bit.

[alkapal]

i think the mint jelly with lamb is an english concoction. i like your dad's concoction, so long as it is not heavy-handed with the fresh rosemary.

[lcool]

it's just a half note to dress up the quince,you still need a little citrus for the complex notes.

[Scargod]

England is to blame. SO likes mint jelly with lamb. I love mint in salads; especially those with meat in them.

[CoryKatherine]

mint jelly- so unnecessary. i mean, i'll eat it, but WHY?

[EWSflash]

I cant stand mint, for the most part. And don't even mention mint jelly in the same hour as roast lamb, or I might have to smack you. Might as well just tie that leg of lamb to your bumper and drag it behind your car through a corral while you're at it.

[cycloneillini]

Although lamb isn't something I would choose to eat, I'm not averse to it - until you put mint jelly on it! But for me it's not the mint - it's back to the sweet/savory aversion again.

[msgenie516]

I dislike mint throroughly but love roast lamb (cooked medium rare without the mint)!

[kubasd]

if its not gum or toothpaste, i hate mint..... can't stand it! Peppermint patties, andes mints, mint jelly, mint with dessert.... ugh ew!!!! gross!!!

[BamiaWruz]

I hate mint things too, though I love mint itself, in a black tea with sugar or with yogurt or in a salad with tomatoes and in middle eastern cuisine.

[iluvtennis]

I don't dislike mint so much that i wouldn't eat it, even if offered money, but for some reason, i tend to get a headache when i eat things that are mint flavored. I actually have to get the cinnamon toothpaste.

[dcdavis]

There is only one thing in the would I will not try (again). Black Licorice. I rather live on snails, sea cucumber and tripe than to have that taste in my mouth!

[uptown jimmy]

Oh, lord. I hate licorice. Nasty.

[hotteacher1976]

Same here. I absolutely hate black licorice.

[cycloneillini]

Yep, me to. I could tear through a bag of red twizzlers (I know they aren't really licorice), but even the smell of black licorice makes me gag. Reminds me of the catfish bait we used when I was a kid.

[pasuga]

Count me number five. Black licorice is the only thing you would have to pay me big bucks to take a bite of ever again. Or anything flavored with it - anise, ouzo, saltimbucco, etc. Don't like tripe or brains either, but could eat them if I had to.

The only other foods I absolutely can't stand are yams and sweet potatoes. I read years ago about Francis Marion's men mainly living on sweet potatoes during the Revolutionary War... a captured British officer was brought into their camp, took one bite of a sweet potato and gagged. When told it was their staple food and had been for years he said, "We are going to lose this war."

[laliz]

oysters

[jeni1002]

* Oysters
* Mayo
* Sausages
* Peanut butter
* White non-crusty bread
* Chocolate
* Donuts
* Burgers
* Key lime pie or any lemony desserts
... I'm weird, I know.

[DiningDiva]

Chittlins

[kare_raisu]

hey you did tripe!

I bet I could get you to do some crisp-chicharronesque tripitas!

[DiningDiva]

I doubt it. I once had to clean 30# of chittlins. That did it for me, couldn't get the smell out of my hands for 3 days.

[hotteacher1976]

yes!

[Eat_Nopal]

Tuna Salad.... Chicken Salad is barely okay.... I might consider it for $25k.

Persimmons... I don't think I could eat a whole one... but I might consider it for $1k

[kare_raisu]

Have you had the fuyu - you eat like an apple? I can eat 4 in a sitting

[Eat_Nopal]

Yup... my mouth starts feeling puckery & tingles.... and people look at me strange as I am the only spitting it out... yelling the KGB got me, the KGB got me!

[DiningDiva]

Check zapote negro, IIRC it's variety of persimmon

[pigtails]

food that is the wrong temperature really squicks me. cold soup or lasagna - could not do it. well, maybe, for $50. but it would be difficult.

[beth1]

mayo
organ meats of any type
oysters
eggs
dairy milk

[mojoeater]

I must be a whore, as I'm willing to eat just about anything for money. Except excrement.

[TampaAurora]

Then I guess I'm a prude! I won't eat anything for money (non-obscene amounts anyway) that I don't already like enough to eat on my own.
That includes:
Beer - just don't like the taste, no good stories or bad memories beyond every time I try to like beer and end up just laughing or gagging
Mayo, or anything creamy really
Organ Meats - bad experience
Pork & Shellfish - religious reasons

Do I even belong here?

[Kate is always hungry]

Of course we belong here! What amount of $$$ would make you eat traif?
Though, even without the religious restriction, I could never eat a lobster or a crab.
My top two self-imposed food restrictions:
asparagus
olives (olive oil is not a prohibited food)
mustard that has not been incorporated into potato salad

[TampaAurora]

I forgot about the mustard, olives and balsamic vinegar. Olive oil is ok.

[LJS]

Oh, thank God, somebody mentioned olives...I began to think I was the only one. And, for me too, olive oil, is jut fine, but the actual 'fruit' or whatever the heck that thing is...gross!!!

[Terrieltr]

Olives are a waste of good oil.

[CoryKatherine]

your list is my fantasy. lobster, asparagus, olives... it would be a sad sad world for cory without those things

[southernbelly]

+1

[Scargod]

No, because you think you eat beer......

[TampaAurora]

I can remove beer from the list. I have found several beers that I really enjoy. I even tried my hand at beer bread today just to revel in my new found like of beer.

[CoryKatherine]

if you're a whore, then I am too

[grinninggourmand]

@mojoeater, @CoryKatherine, I agree. Then again, I grew up in a bicultural household. Kimchi is, to me, a glorious comfort food, best when made by a patient aunt around the holidays. Foie gras, paté, raw uni (never had it cooked): superb delicacies. With a Japanese friend recently, had surf clam sashimi so fresh that the ends of a piece would wave slowly in the air if you poked it with chopsticks.

My boyfriend cannot eat fresh tomatoes, only cooked. He used to work in the produce department of an organic co-op, and will never forget the experience of handling spoiled raw tomatoes.

I'm a card-carrying chile head, but I may have to draw the line at eating, say, a whole raw habañero. I think that can be classified as cruel and unusual punishment.

[ZenSojourner]

My ex's family (from S India) used to polish off a meal by eating, with great gusto, a raw green Indian chili. They said it aided digestion.

I guess - if that didn't get the old gastric juices flowing, NOTHING will!

[Morticia]

Mine would definitely have to be any products from the goat and sheep family - lamb or goat meat, goat cheese (especially chevre!) Goat and sheep feta are sometimes okay, if they are not too strongly flavored, since the salt masks the sheepy/goaty flavor. Once when I was cooking a bunch of lamb sausages in school I accidentally spilled a tray of hot lamby grease all over my boots and pant legs (luckily I wasn't burned!) Unluckily, I smelled like lamb for the remainder of my 12-hour day...Yuck!

[cimui]

i'm pretty sure i have no self respect when it comes to food and can be bribed at the right price to eat just about anything. :)

heck, i'd even eat soap for a (hefty) fee, not just coriander that tastes (to some people) like soap!

[Bill Hunt]

Uh, I'd say eel booties. No, really, there is one thing that I would not even get near.

Some decades ago, we stayed in Honolulu at a friend's high-rise condo. Just as we returned, his Korean neighbor uncorked the kim chee. OMG, this had to be the ultimate bad smell. I have had some really, really "stinky" FR cheese, and this was the ultimate. Our eyes were burning. We were getting physically ill. We fled to the lanai and closed the door. It took a half-hour to get to a point that we could breath. Tears were flooding down our cheeks, and we were gasping. I would have called 911, but the phone was inside and the door was securely shut. We sat outside for about three hours (no wine!), before we could even open the door. This was 100 year-old "death in a jar." I'd rather face a rabid Balrog, than get near that jar of kim chee. Now, I've had kim chee, usually the packaged variety, but nothing like this batch. I'll rub fresh habaneros into my eyes, before I'd be in the same block, as that jar of kim chee. Yeah, that's it.

Hunt

[FoodChic]

This reminds me of a childhood friend whose Korean mother used to let her know from time to time that she was "in deep kim chee." Apparently, the reference was rather accurate. :-)

[gordeaux]

Miracle Whip for me.
Sickly sweet. Adds no other flavor than sugar. Not really sure how ppl add it to canned tuna. Sugar flavored tuna is not for me. Honestly, it's even hard for me to think about it. The stuff is just so wrong, and all of the cheap, sweet, sugary fake mayo imitators out there as well. Nothing worse than ordering a sandwich, and getting sweet mayo instead of real mayo. Who are these people that like sugary sandwiches?? Sugary potato salad? Sugary Cole slaw? What gives?

[invinotheresverde]

I agree 100% on the Miracle Whip.

I'll add eggplant and any mushroom.

[laliz]

I agree with you 100%.

There is nothing worse than biting into a salad or sandwich and tasting "sweet" where sweet should never be. Just awful.

[sweetmaggie]

Yes! I hate Miracle Whip! Tastes like corn syrup. Just ...grrrrr. We can't even be friends if you like Miracle Whip. Deal breaker!

[Passadumkeg]

Funny, Miracle Whip and margarine are my Achille's heel. Why bother? Some places up here sell lobster rolls made w/ the whip. Oughtta be illegal.
Deal breaker for me too.

[msgenie516]

I always hated Miracle Whip. I was never sure what I disliked about it but maybe it's the sweetness, although I think there's something else that makes me hate it.

[alkapal]

miracle whip also has mustard.

[Sarah]

Thanks to CH, there are animal parts I never ever even considered edible: Head (brain, eyes), throat, genitalia, among other things, oh my. We are talking mortgage payoff amounts here for me to partake! And I love chicken and pigs feet, tripe and oxtails... go figure.

[marietinn]

mayonnaise, absolutely disgusting. since i won't eat it, that makes me avoid potato salad, macaroni salad, etc.

[RichK]

You should try real german potato salad - never any mayo

[MinkeyMonkey]

Yes, there are many ways to enjoy mayo type things without having mayo. German potato salad is one. You can also try replacing mayo in salad with sour cream or plain yoghurt. I just use tons of dijon mustard, but I'm a mustard fanatic!

[streetgourmetla]

Imitation abalone sucks, but I would have some for $$.It's found at far too many Mexican mariscos places north of the border.

Turkey burgers
sandwiches with wonder bread and packaged lunch meat, arrrgggh, child abuse!

[Mattkn]

The smell of canned peas literally makes me retch every single time. I can tolerate young fresh baby peas, but I certainly won't seek them out. My mom is the same way. She told me that when I was three, she had made us chicken pot pies (frozen) and she was choking down the peas as to not impart her dislike on me. She looked over and I was diligently picking out my peas and so she did the same....

[mpjmph]

When I was a kid I felt that way about onions. I would pick out every tiny speck of onion from a sauce or casserole. I went a month without dairy because my parents told me cows sometimes eat wild onions. Eventually I matured to a point where I would eat a dish that "contained" onions (like ice cream, according to the parents) as long as I didn't taste the onions. Now I'll happily use onions in cooking, but in general won't order things like onion rings or onion soup.

[Kate is always hungry]

I, too, removed peas from my chicken pot pies. I don't now, but when I was a kid I removed them because they were powdery inside and I didn't like that texture.

[catrn]

I am so with you on the peas. Absolutely disgusting. I won't touch anything that has peas in it. Even the smell turns my stomach. Couldn't pay me enough to eat them. Sad thing is, this is my hubby's favorite veggie, and every so often he likes to have fresh baby peas. UUGGHH

[michele cindy]

I have a friend who feels this way about peas too. I asked him why his aversion was so intense, all he could tell me was that when he was a young boy, he was served peas, and all he kept thinking about was little aliens popping out of them. No clue as to why, but he could never eat peas.

[catrn]

That's too funny. I think I am going to have that image in my head now everytime I have to cook them.
I was forced to eat them as a kid. Found all kind of imaginative ways to get rid of them (putting them on my fork then tipping it at it went in my mouth so they would fall and the dog would get them). Parents figured out quickly what I was doing. I would then have to sit at the table until they were gone. Still couldn't do it, went to bed early a lot. So this has been a life long aversion.

[Terrieltr]

When I was a kid, my mom would make Tuna cassarole with canned cream of mushroom soup. Itty, bitty chopped mushrooms. I picked out every single piece. And if I missed one, I could tell right away and would gag. The texture was NASTY.

[danhole]

Terrieltr,

Oh, that brings back many BAD memories. I have been able to eat a few mushrooms as an adult, but not if they have been cooked too much. But those dang canned mushrooms make me gag, too.

[Terrieltr]

They don't resemble food at all. Cheap musrooms, badly prepared. Yeah, never going to sell me on those.

[missfunkysoul]

fish, shellfish, anything that has eyes and comes from the sea basically. i wish i liked it, it would be nice a nice, grown-up thing to get over it, but i can't. seaweed is yummy, though.

[The Professor]

I am shocked by the food aversions I'm seeing here!
Someone somewhere has to do a study on this...why does one person hate Limburger or other ripe cheese (which is something I enjoy immensly) and another person love Miracle Whip (a product that proves conclusively Satan is alive and well and living at Kraft Foods)? It just goes to show that everyone is different, and for a million different reasons. That's what makes the word go round I guess, and it is certainly one of the things that I enjoy most about these boards.

[hypertomatoes]

I'm vegetarian...so meat, poultry, fish. Also:

Olives
Chevre
White Chocolate
Mayo
Plain tofu...gag!
Margarine
Lentils....just to spare myself the intestinal distress :)

[lcool]

No realistic amount of money for mammal eye balls or okra. Not even to be on my plate
uneaten,sacrifice polite and REFUSE,firmly!!!!

[SusieS]

Frozen peas. I do like fresh ones staight from the garden, though.

[danhole]

I've been thinking about this topic, trying to remember what have I eaten that I will never put back in my mouth. 2 things come to mind. Smoked salmon that comes in the vacuum sealed package. You would have to pay me more than $20 if I had to take a full bite of it. Tastes like cat food to me.

Also, one year my MIL made some canned asparagus for Thanksgiving. I think she just dumped it in a pan and warmed it up. I was pregnant, but being polite. Took one bite and all I could think of was that this is what urine must taste like. I had to excuse myself, so I could spit it out and rinse my mouth. I have had asparagus since, steamed, and I like it, but that stuff was vile. Maybe for more that $50 I may take a bite, if I've had a drink first.

[thinks too much]

Money, whatever. What would push me more than money is the host/guest relation. That is, what would I decline to eat that my host put in front of me? I wasn't certain there is much of anything ... until I thought of a piece of butter thickly spread with margerine. *gag*

[Ruth Lafler]

We had a thread on "obligatory eating" a while back, and I pointed out that it will offend your host more if you gag on the food than if you politely refuse it. I was referring in that post to dog (served to some by her Korean in-laws to-be), which you couldn't pay me enough to eat -- it would be like being a cannibal!

I've got one that I haven't seen mentioned: avocado. Hate, hate, hate. The last time I missed a chunk in my Mexican food I reflexively spit it out the second I realized it was in my mouth. On the other hand, if I managed to choke it down, I don't think it would make me feel icky in retrospect, like eating eyeballs would. I don't have an aversion to avocados in principle, just in practice.

[MinkeyMonkey]

Hmmm, good point about the host/guest relation. In that case, for any host/ess I would not eat the mayo or eggs if they already knew I did not like them. For my grannie, I ate it because she could not understand my aversion and I loved her too much. when I was about fifteen, I had to ask her why she put so much mayo on my tuna and crackers so that it was dripping when she knew I hated mayo. "Oh, I thought you might like it, that's the way I like it". I actually ate about half the serving. I can't forget that though, too yucky! And, no, I did not charge grannie for the mayo eating ;)

[Gio]

I've been trying to think of what I wouldn't eat under any circumstances and probably eyeballs and that dammmm rat Sam the Man likes to fool his guests with are the two I'd avoid at all costs. On the other hand, no one has ever offered me any money to eat anything. Untill someone out there pays me in the neighborhood of Warren Buttet's last year's bank acount, I'm quite satisfied with my current foods of choice.

[lhb78]

Raisins- ick! Tilapia b/c I saw a show where they were used to clean the water in a Hippo enclosure.
I tried to like foie gras and toro but the consistency makes me gag.
White asparagus, Miracle Whip, Ham salad, tripe or anything organy probably wouldn't suit me well... eels or anything worm like- NO WAY.
Not a huge fan of marshmallow fluff

For Money, I'd try certain bugs like a grasshopper or ant.

I'd be a terrible fear factor contestant but generally don't consider myself a picky eater.

[chloe103]

Anise. Anything in that realm, including fennel, makes me run promptly in the other direction.

Also, put me in with the mayo-haters. Ick!

[marietinn]

Welcome to the mayo-haters, lol. I agree with the fennel, eww.

[meb903]

lemons and anything that lemon has lemon in it!

[JanPrimus]

Cantelope and Cranberries for me....

[Vetter]

Brains, most obviously cow brains. I got into a kick reading science books on prion diseases and boy, I wholeheartedly reject that part of my family's ranching tradition. Not even for money.

Liver, miracle whip, tarragon and very ripe bananas are tied as distant seconds.

[Bill Hunt]

Going back a few years, we had a wine dinner with a well-known Napa vintner at our country club. The day before, mad-cow disease had just made the headlines in the US. Cows were being disposed of and beef-trade with Canada was being halted. Guess what the third-course was. Yes, you got it. The entire room gasped in unison. I believe that I was the only one, out of 200+, who even tasted it. Let's just say that it was not MY thing, regardless of the wine pairing. Still, as they say in the comedy world, "timing is everything."

Hunt

[mickie44]

Margarine. Is it even food? Visiting relatives went to Denny's for breakfast one time and as I don't like typical breakfast foods and wasn't particularly hungry (after all, we were in a Denny's), I ordered a grilled cheese sandwich. Eeuew! Coated with margarine...AND they garnished it with a slice of pinkish no-flavour tomato that probably travelled a thousand miles in a truck which is my second no-can-eat (the tomato, not the truck). I love a real tomato though.

[lindsley]

Food chic and Nyleve - we must have been separated at birth!!! Ditto with the egg thing - can eat scrambled IF the egg is whipped to death with an egg beater and a littl milk, but if ONE HINT of white is showing, whole thing is down the disposal. As for the deviled egg dilemma - will only admit this in anonymity: I lick out the middle and my niece eats the white...we have to hide to do this. We are ashamed.

[danhole]

lindsley,

LOL! I can just see you two hiding behind the house sharing your deviled eggs! Thank heaven you have a partner in crime.

[lindsley]

Oh, no, danhole....you've seen us!? :)

[Nyleve]

I married my partner in crime. My husband will eat both yolk or white, but I tell myself I'm looking out for his cholesterol count when I give him the hollowed-out devilled egg white.

[amyzan]

I've not yet been able to make myself eat beef tongue. I'm sure it's delicious, but I cannot deal with it. I've even had it deliciously grilled in front of me when other diners were enjoying it, and not tried even a little bite. I consider myself a fairly adventurous eater, excepting that there are apparently some parts I cannot eat, as of yet. Here's the thing: every time I see beef tongue, I somehow involuntarily think of a cow licking me. I don't even remember when this happened, or if it did, but that image and feeling just WON'T leave my mind whenever I see it. I know, it's odd. Latent vegetarian inclinations, which clearly need to be psychoanalysed. <wink>

[Miss Needle]

Oh, you probably wouldn't have enjoyed eating at my place a couple of weeks ago when I made tongue. I was acting childish, sticking the big tongue by my mouth and acting really stupidly in front of DH pretending I had some super power mega tongue. Luckily, he's very tolerant of my warped sense of humor. I'm sure a psychoanalyst would have a field day figuring that one out.

[alkapal]

the divine miss n, that made me laugh!

the only suggested augmentation: a heartfelt "mooooooooo.!"

[Sam Fujisaka]

Hilarious. Going to have to do that for my five year old daughter. Problem will be after both playing with the tongue chasing each other around the house, having to then cook and eat it.

[alkapal]

fried egg must. be. cooked. in. bacon. grease. (and whites cooked, yolks runny. (serve with good stone ground buttered grits. or nice buttered toast. or good corn pone. ps, i do not have a cardiologist....yet. ;-))

[Eat_Nopal]

In some circles that would be a REAL turn on =)

[Miss Needle]

Well, that was my intention with him! : )

[Eat_Nopal]

I think what you were missing was a Blood Sausage in your hand.

[alkapal]

holy moly!!! here on chowhound?!?

[Eat_Nopal]

"Latent vegetarian inclinations, which clearly need to be psychoanalysed."

You are having issues with sexual intimacy.

[Sam Fujisaka]

Not even!!! Indicated is deep-seated sub-cutaneous confusion between his/her father and a squash brought about unfulfilled yet much criticized by peers childhood longings for zucchini and guilt as to vegetable identities.

[alkapal]

oresteian zucchini complex? aeschylus meets freud? only on CHOWHOUND!

[Ima Wurdibitsch]

Tongue - the only food that tastes you back.

[amyzan]

LOL, yep, that's the aversion in a nutshell!

[SOBoston]

When I was younger, I went skiing with a friend whose family was from Russia. We were having thanksgiving dinner with traditional russian cuisine and she somehow coaxed me into trying a piece of meat that looked very unappetizing. As soon as I started chewing I immediately knew it was tongue. The toughness/texture/sight of it was extremely awful...that and the bathroom trip soon after...

[alkapal]

undercooked egg whites. a ga-ron-teed trip to the ... well, you know..... (TMI, i know...)

on a lighter note, offal. i pronounce it awful. <alright, chowhounds,-singin'-the-praises-of -offal, don't jump on me, ok?> and andrew zimmern is, well, a little perverse, if i do say so: "i just LOVE grubs!!" ok, buddy, go for it!

<i repeat, no "grub-eatin'-offal-lovin'-hounds need apply to bash me here....as if that will forestall some of you who "love, love, love" this type of food).>

[pikawicca]

Kidney! Other organ meats are fine.

[Petrichor]

This thread is cracking me up! Love it.

Raclette cheese--smells like a combo of dirty underwear, BO and rotting feet. I've tried it twice in the last 5 yeears and just can't do it.

Milk--I tried really hard to drink it when I was a teenager, but the taste just gags me. It's fine in coffee, but not on its own.

Fried eggs--actually, I've never had a fried egg. I am going to try one, I really am. Hopefully soon. I'm trying to decide if I should make my own at home where I can retch and gag in privacy, or if I should go to my favorite farmers breakfast cafe where I could at least chase it with a huge fluffy biscuit.

[Soop]

Oh, here's one; I can't drink coffee with milk. It's so natural to me that I don't even think about it, but some years ago I had a capuccino and it made me gag. Couldn't finish it.
When I was a kid and my parents made fresh coffee, I'd aways ask for a cup and never drink it, but it smelt so good. When I finally tried it black, it all made sense :)

[aklein]

I thought I was the only one. I have no idea why anyone would do such a thing, unless they're used to really bad coffee

[Soop]

Yeah, white coffee doesn't taste of coffee - it tastes like milk

[MEH]

Coconut. Coconut. Coconut!

Never!

-Mary
www.BestinKitchen.com

[Chefsquire]

-Organ meats - including and especially foie gras
- Diet salad dressing
- Coke or Pepsi (though I like a diet soda on rare occasion)

Oh and I hate ginseng. Anything with ginseng tastes like metal to me.

[Bomberman760]

I've eaten a lot of stuff, that makes people sick, from all over the world. I mean regular Andrew Zimmer (Bizarre Foods) stuff. In my 34 years of eating, the only thing that has ever caused me to regurgitate is yogurt. Plain old yogurt. But, for money I'd eat it. I've tossed cookies before, and I'll do it again. Might as well get paid for it.

I do want to try durain. And not the genetically altered stink-less durain. From what I've seen, it is wretched smelling (even by Asian standards). But if Bourdain can eat it, then there's hope.

The other is putrid shark form Iceland (frequent viewers of the travel channel now know where I get my list of things to try). If there's anything prepared for human dining that is that bad, I expect that would be it.

But to date, there is nothing I've tried that I would not eat for money.

[milkyway4679]

Beets. Even the smell makes me gag!

[kittywithawhippet]

Tuna noodle casserole, especially with embedded peas, makes me wish I had no tongue, nose or soul.

[Kate is always hungry]

Yuck! Made me remember eating dinner at my neighbor's house when I was a kid. They served tuna casserole with potato chips on top. I couldn't eat anything below the soggy, hot potato chip layer.

[vintagechef]

wow kitty, this is one of my favorite casseroles. I make it from scratch atleast twice a month. I don't much care for the baked version though, I make mine much like spagetti where the sauce is mixed into the noodles, any wide flat noodle will do (although I hate spagetti made that way).

[AngelSanctuary]

ketchup - it's like someone stabbed a tomato and let it rot
raw bell peppers
pickled anything

[Soop]

Yeah, I dislike ketchup. Luckily as a condiment it's easily avoided.

[DaisyM]

Game meats. We were flying to Iceland on Icelandic Air and were served meatballs. I asked the attendant what kind of meat they were made of. I couldn't really understand her and thought she said, "Reindeer". What ensued was a dialogue of her saying "Reindeer" and me saying "Reindeer???" several times. Yep, reindeer meatballs and no I didn't eat them. Later in the trip we met a woman from Denmark and I told her the story. She was astounded that we were served reindeer....because it is so expensive and considered such a delicacy.

[mpjmph]

We took a family trip to Sweden when I was in middle school, and my most prized souvenir was a box of reindeer jerky. It's was good stuff. I can't imagine that reindeer meatballs, especially those served on an airplane, would taste much different than any other processed and hermetically sealed meat product. Not really an argument for eating them, but I can't see any reason not to eat them if reindeer was your only objection.

[AngelSanctuary]

haha, not when you are friends with ketchup fanatics who wants to slather insane amount of it on everything =.=

[Scargod]

Jimmy Dean Bacon, Egg & Cheese Biscuit Butcher Wrap Sandwich or Jimmy Dean Sausage & Egg with Cheese Filled Biscuit Breakfast Sandwich. Not that I always felt this way.... but now I have more respect for my body.

[PegS]

Liver and kidneys, or anything that tastes like liver and kidneys. Only foodstuffs that really make me gag. Foie gras and the like, which don't really taste like regular liver, are fine.

[2dogs2]

monk fish, I ABSOLUTELY HATE IT, and no, it doesn't taste like lobster (which I love)

[vvvindaloo]

I'm loving this thread! Too funny.

Would only eat for lots and lots of money:
Any type of insect, I don't care how tasty/crunchy/bbq-saucy they are
Brains (I may never get over it)
Tofu (the texture/smell is a total turn-off for me)
Mayo (unless it is well-mixed into something in such moderation that it becomes impossible to detect)
Head Cheese (another one that traumatized me at a young age)

[Panini Guy]

I probably eat a few bites of everything listed so far without even a glass of water. In fact I actually like a good 3/4ths of what I've seen mentioned.

And with a glass of water, a beer or some milk, I could probably choke down a few ounces of anything for money.

But without the help of a liquid, gotta say the three things in the "normal" food range (e,g, no Bourdain warthog anus or durian or femented seal) that might trip me up if I had to eat a cup of them on a bet would be cooked cauliflower, peas and raisins.

Even then I might get away with the peas and raisins because they're small. But even with a bad cold I can't get past the smell of cooked cauliflower.

[cimui]

hilarious. warthog anus really? sadly, i missed whatever episode that was on!

i bet you could eat durian without batting an eyelash. you should actually try it sometime.

[Panini Guy]

By all means catch that episode - it's the one where AB is in some savannah partaking of a bushman ritual kill. If there was every a meal that put Bourdain's ethos of not offending the host's culture to test, that was it.

Nobody sells durian around here. I was at an event in Toronto recently where someone was willing to drive me to a durian right then and there and I was willing to go, but we'd already started drinking beer and I was told durian and beer definitely do not mix. It'll have to wait - though I am very intrigued.

[Rick]

Panini Guy, I THINK the asian grocery store in the strip, the one next to Wholey's, has/had durian, though it may have been frozen. If you're really looking to try it, I'd bet that's the one place that might have it.

[KevinB]

Every Chinese grocery in Toronto sells frozen durian at the least, but you really need to go to one of the markets on Dundas or Spadina, and get a whiff of the fresh stuff. Then, like me, you'll wonder just how hungry the first guy to eat this stuff was, and second, how in the world he convinced the second guy to try it.

No amount of money will get me to eat this stuff.. well, maybe $100 billion Zimbabwe dollars...

[alkapal]

kevin, apparently you sell out pretty cheap: $100 billion Zimbabwe dollars...

[pinkprimp]

Would it be wrong for me to say that I pay for that stuff?? I LOVE IT. Whether it's at room temperature, or in the freezer for about half an hour to sort of firm up like icecream...mmmmm!

[purple goddess]

Yeah, call me a food whore.

I'll eat it all... brains (crumbed and wrapped in bacon), tofu, kimchi, tongue, sweetmeats, pizzle, liver, beets, runny yolks, canned peas.

But kidneys??? I mean, come on people, do you know what those things DO???

It's totally psychological, but I swear they smell JUUUUUST like their function.

**shudders violently**

[Gio]

OK... I'll bite..... What exactly is "pizzle." OTOH, maybe I don't want to know.................

[pikawicca]

Let's call a spade a spade: they smell like piss.

[Scargod]

Methinks you are having a tastebud orgasm just thinking about delicious kidney pie....

[cimui]

i thought kidney was pretty shady and undelicious, too, PG -- until I made a steak and kidney pie earlier this year. that was really good!!

[purple goddess]

no no no.... All that adding kidneys to a pie does, it make the whole pie taste like whizz.

And Gio, pizzle is a pretty common ingredient in pho, and umm.. let's just say, that what the kidney's start, finishes at the pizzle.

AND you want to get all freudian and oedepal?? My Dad was on dialysis for years, due to losing both kidneys, and every time my Mum would serve them, I would get all weird about it.. Dad not having any and all..

How's THAT for an unresolved Electra complex??

[firni]

-Tripe...I think intestine-oriented items in general, even sausages that have actual casing.
-Durian (I know, I know, I'm missing out....but that smell)
-Rocky mountain oysters
-Anything in those rotating vending machines where they have "real" food like sandwiches....yech
-Feet (i.e. chicken feet, pigs feet)
-brains
I too find mayonnaise revolting...also, for some reason, certain slimy foods. I love okra, but find natto pretty unbearable. Also, herring in cream and gefilte fish.

I guess I'm not much of organ meat person. But I'm on the whole open - a friend of mine goes hunting and cooked goose for use. Yum.

[Scargod]

Perhaps more than I wanted to know.. but now I know pizzle is penis. I have not run across penis dishes, but I have not been to Asian countries.
(Speaking of more than you may want to know), Pizzle walking sticks: http://cgi.ebay.com/Bull-Penis-Walkin... Probably light duty.

[alkapal]

scargod, ROTFLMAO!!! one of your best lines ever!

but look at some of the "piz-scription" (!) of the product:
"Organ is reinforced with metal rod to make it sturdy
· High gloss polyurethane finish
· Features label (This shaft is made from the actual reproductive organ of a bull…skillfully fashioned by professional “shaftologist”)."
_______
i never knew there were "professional shaftologists" -- or maybe i just heard about them by another name..... {;^D

[Scargod]

RLMAO.. ho-boy!
I knew some women who were...(amateurs)

[Eat_Nopal]

"but look at some of the "piz-scription" (!) of the product:
"Organ is reinforced with metal rod to make it sturdy
· High gloss polyurethane finish"

The company's health insurance broker recently shared his wackiest insurance claim story... which seems to match this ad verbatum =)

[im_nomad]

haha, hahahaha.....i bet every time you take a walk with that thing, a bull smiles in heaven.....

OMG that is a good one...i love how it comes with an optional rubber tip.

[cimui]

*laugh!*
i have to disagree about the whizz tasting pie, but i love your expression and i think i'm going to have to use it a lot from now on as some sort of aphorism. sort of like "one bad apple spoils the barrel"? :)

[alkapal]

one bad pizzle spoils the sizzle?

don't get your pizzle in a twizzle?

fo' shizzle, my pizzle? (fo' shizzle, faux-pizzle, for viagra fans....)

[Scargod]

Fo' shizzle my nizzle, it do... Why doncha jump my pizzle till it fizzles. Then seez what's left sizzlin?

[cimui]

>>one bad pizzle spoils the sizzle

brilliant. someone should make a state motto out of that one!

[aklein]

or at least a restaurant/chain's new ad slogan

[Googs]

Foie gras and veal. Even the thought brings tears to my eyes. No amount of money could ease that. I do make a point of never preaching to my friends or family. They're exercising their freedom of choice as am I.

[Kate is always hungry]

Add those to my list, too--and anything that is still alive.

[berkleybabe]

Well, I'm a pretty ecumenical eater. I loathe, loathe tripe, but would eat it for $100. What I would have to rachet my price up, way up, is eating anything alive --- live sushi for example. No wiggling or squirming. Maybe a semester's tuition for my college age daughter? Yeah, I'd be shameless.

[Caroline1]

I'm with you on the tripe. And you can add brains too. Oh, and there is no amount of money that could tempt me to kiss Andrew Zimmern! Noooo way!

[Passadumkeg]

Menudo, yum!

[Scargod]

Excuse me...I don't know of any sushi or sashimi that uses anything live.

[Eat_Nopal]

In upscale Sushi places, not catering to the American petty burgeosie, its not unknown to have a live lobster sashimied before your eyes, or to be served live eels etc.,

[chloe103]

I've had the live lobster sashimi. I never would have ordered it myself, but I was there as a guest and my host went and ordered it before I even realized what was going on. The platter came to the table with the lobster still alive, but the tail (I don't remember about the claws) had been cut off and was prepared as sashimi. Once that was eaten, they took the lobster away to make soup, which they brought back to the table a few minutes later.

So nothing that you eat is wriggling or squirming: you're eating the tail end while the front is still wriggling.

[bermudagourmetgoddess]

I have also had live lobster and it was GREAT...my husband is fisherman in Bermuda and we took a live spiny lobster to our local sushi bar and chef who we have known for over 12 years..and it was the BEST...Would love to have it again....

[lost squirrel]

At tsukiji market I've had 'still moving shrimp' a few times. It stops moving once you start biting.

[lcool]

Also at the wharf market and restaurants Inchon,Korea.Live eels (skinned) racing around a bucket is only half as distracting as the still walking? tentacle from a giant octopus or squid that suckers across the table.To be sure not the best way to introduce newcomers/first timers to sushi etc.

[Passadumkeg]

Golly gee (again), I thought sushi was rice.
The Shashami Kid

[laurachow]

Geoduck! I'd never, ever eat one of those things. Just picturing it in my mind is a nauseating. Yuck!

[im_nomad]

I'm finding many posts hilarious...very average, "normal" foods that no one can be paid to eat.

I haven't eaten meat in nearly ten years, but i'm sure for the right price, if i was in a bind, I might consider it. It would be a VERY high price however. Who, after all, says you have to keep it down? I may never live down the guilt however.

Lots of things i'd prefer not to eat, i'd easily be paid to eat. Thing is, there is no agreed upon definition of "basic food". What i'd be horrified to eat here, can be quite appetizing and basic on the other side of the world.

But......i'm pretty sure sheeps eyeballs are not everyday food eaten in the same way most people have their morning toast. I would have one HELLUVA hard time biting into an eyeball as it looked back at me.

Maggoty cheese? would take an awful lot of funds as well. Ditto on the live sushi.

I know a group that had a fundraiser once along these lines.

[pikawicca]

You doesn't actually "chew" a sheep's eyeball -- you just slurp it down like an oyster.

[im_nomad]

well i can't speak from experience obviously....just thought i'd remembered Bourdain talking about the crunch, same goes for the Lonely Planet version. Wouldn't that be kinda wide to "slurp"?

[Sam Fujisaka]

icca, not true! Can slice and eat for better appreciation.

[Caroline1]

Before or after it's cooked? From what I recall from disecting an eyeball (sheep's? pigs? teacher's? who knew?) the vitreous humor is kind of liquidy, isn' it? Anyway, my uncle, who actually did eat sheep's eyes in Saudi Arabia, said it was rather like a huge grain of caviar or a really big grape with a skin that was hard to pop. I think of Uncle Hank every time I eat a grape...

[malibumike]

There isn't almost any food that I dont like, heck I even love Buttermilk, but I absolutely gag on plain mashed potatoes, I can handle them only if they are burried in gravy.

[Flatland]

Like a lot of stuff but cant stand Liver even with onions.I worked as a short order cook and to this day can cook a mean batch of Liver and Onions.I just wont eat it!

[gloriousfood]

Ick, I cannot tolerate mashed potatoes from a box--that horrible, gummy texture and artificial taste that lingers in my mouth (although I have found that a decent gravy will do wonders in terms of masking the taste/texture).

[im_nomad]

I have an odd comfort food love for boxed mashed potatoes. then again, i love all things potato-ey

[Sam Fujisaka]

With some help from another thread, I finally discovered something I wouldn't eat:: makizushi (or any sushi, for that matter) made with brown rice.

[mmalmad]

I offhand cannot think of any food I would not try once, Having said that I once had "eyefish" sushi which were almost transparent little wormlike thing that if I did not know and trust the sushi chef maynot have gome there, but it would take some cash to make me eat again

[Passadumkeg]

Again, I am not a fussy eater at all, just prefer "quality" foods. After another wonderful Thanksgiving meal with lots for which to be thankful, I just can't help but remember my Thanksgiving 41 years ago in Nov, "67 as a corpsman on Marine recon along the Ho Chi Minh Trai in N.Viet Nam and eating creamed chicken c-rations wrapped in a poncho in the driving rain, on Thanksgiving Day, and swearing I'd never eat c-rats (or Spam) again for any amount of money. Since "68 I have have eaten neither, but with the passage of time, I am curious and do wonder what c-rats would taste like "back in the world". I'm not anxious to find and buy some, by any means. I just remember of being so tired of eating them only to keep the bod going. As time goes by...

[Scargod]

You eat creamed chicken..... enchiladas :)
Thank you for your duty to your country. Luckily I dodged that bullet (for lack of a good metaphor).

[Passadumkeg]

Hey, pork enchiladas for this dude, New Mexican style. Not a great chicken or beef fan.

[im_nomad]

pray tell, do you have a recipe for "creamed chicken wrapped in a poncho" ?

;)

[Passadumkeg]

Yes, huddle in jungle where one is not supposed to be, far from home base, watch battalion of NVA slither by 30 m. away, try to contract anus and fail. Voila, Creamed Chicken in Poncho. Try it some time. A very memorable experience. Lima Beans and Ham in Pants is good too.

[latindancer]

Same with 'chipped beef on toast' or lamb during WW11...however, that being said, there's an entire population of people who wouldn't dream of not eating Spam. The Hawaiians are notorious Spam eaters and find every imaginable way to prepare it. It's not that hard to find in any market on the mainland so therefore someone's enjoying it :).

[Passadumkeg]

My son and his Korean wife know better than to serve it or take me to a restaurant that serves Spam. Three weeks on a hill top w/ NOTHING (really) but Spam to eat and NVA to look at does funny things to one's attitude. Full cans were great target practice for a 45, though.

[link_930]

Velveeta. I smelled it once, and then promptly threw up in the back of my mouth.

[Scargod]

Ah, Velveeta; the glue of nachos..

[im_nomad]

T.....M.........I......

(mental note, do NOT chowhound and eat supper at the same time.......)

[link_930]

Oh, and something I learned recently: cheap scotch. *shudder

[RichK]

Beets- cooked raw cold hot Same for cooked carrots and asparagus and brussels sprouts.
But give me some good headcheese and blutwurst mmmmmm!

[Jax]

I'll try anything twice. Except sea urchin. Never. Again.

[FriedClamFanatic]

Yep.there are other takers here for that! They can have mine as well

[HillJ]

No amt. of $$$ could persuade me to eat .....HEAD CHEESE.

[llgb]

eel, snake, or anything else that slithers. horrifies me.

[alkapal]

eels don't slither.

[llgb]

In my imagination they do, ad that's just as bad!

[alkapal]

if you really want to wig out on eels, watch the tin drum movie.

and speaking of slithering, how about noshing on some delicious monkeyface prickleback! http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article...

[rHairing]

I love homegrown summer tomatoes. I will eat them as a meal. I like the little grape tomatoes. I put those in salads.. but I cannot STAND storebought /restaurant tomatoes. They taste like the smell of formaldehyde.

[kpaumer]

I Hate Marshmallows! I can't stand anything with marshmallows in it. Not Smores, Rice-Krispie Treats, etc. The texture, the sweetness, the sticky-ness, is sickening to me. I can't explain it. I don't even like holding a jar of the stuff!

[alkapal]

LOL! "I don't even like holding a jar of the stuff!"

---- wow, you've got it bad, kpaumer!

[mickie44]

You've got my vote on this one. The only way I will eat tomatoes is from my garden or farmer's market. I refuse to order anything in a restaurant that has tomatoes as they usually follow the 5,000 Mile Rule (maybe it's the exhaust fumes from all that burned fuel that make them taste like that).

[AndyGanil]

Capers, why ruin a perfectly great baked salmon with vinegar soaked capers? making it all sour and caper juice running down the filet instead of salmon fat.
.............disgusting

[Eat_Nopal]

Tell you what... tuck those capers in Veracruzana sauce and you might have a different opinion.

[EWSflash]

LOL! That's how I feel about dill and/or mustard on salmon.
I'll take your capers, though!

[SOBoston]

clam bellies, uni, ultra-pasteurized milk (warm), mutton, mozzarella sticks and bubble tea...blech

[im_nomad]

eurgh....clam bellies. my very first attempt at fried clams, and i bit into this "thing" that burst in my mouth.....given that I had no idea what it was, I thought I had eaten something bad, and was eating them with a fellow uninitiated diner. It took a very very long time before I ever tried them again, clam bellies aside, I wasn't a fan anyway, no loss.

[SOBoston]

Oh yea, and my mother's baked mac n'cheese: pound of American cheese, stick or two of butter, milk...she knows not to even offer me a portion...rest of my family thinks of it as food utopia...I think it's more like porn...heinous to even see.

[bermudagourmetgoddess]

I refuse to eat McDonalds, I think that is the only food that I can say that I WILL NOT EAT, that is if you want to call anything that comes from McDonalds food!

[madgreek]

Really? Everything from the menu? Not even a milkshake? A salad? LOL.

[bermudagourmetgoddess]

REALLY!

Life it way too short to McDonalds...including the salads or milkshakes.

Thank goodness in Bermuda there are NO McDonalds

[roygbiv]

it's my opinion that if we can psychologically get past the idea of eating meat (a living thing's flesh), milk (cow formula as someone already pointed out), eggs (unborn chicken babies), brains/hearts/livers/kidneys/eyeballs (duh), then i don't see the reason to protest against a few chemicals and artificial additives in McDonalds. There's nothing better than a big mac on a hangover once in a while - you know you love it!! ;)

[bermudagourmetgoddess]

I just don't like McDonald's...as you may not like a certain place...I don't like McDonalds. My hangover treat...a nice hot Whopper...that is when I am in the US..

Oh by the way I love eggs, brains, sweetbreads, kidneys, livers, have only had fish eyes...but I don't drink milk...don't like the taste!

[roygbiv]

hehe fair enough ;)

[Scargod]

If you enjoy hangovers and Big Macs, then fine... I don't want either or to have one to justify the other. Are you sure you are not starting with a "BM" and then needing a stiff drink after eating "IT"?

[CoryKatherine]

HAHAHA i agree, it's just like porn- highly enjoyable and deeply shameful...

[cuccubear]

Here goes gang... I recently put my fork down at the dinner table and proclaimed out loud that I do not like Okra! I have tried it every which way and I simply do not like it, and have no desire to ever eat it again. (The cook understood, as he didn’t really care for it either.)

A couple years ago, I had a similar epiphany and declared my dislike for Lentils. However, with the proper balance of hope and reluctance, I might give them a second chance.

Also, with apologies to all its fans, I have an extreme dislike for Kim-Chee. The smell and the taste nauseate me.

[1sweetpea]

My BF and I are pretty adventurous travellers. We'll sample almost anything, once. We've tried dog, guinea pig, fish eyes, sheep brains, deep fried bugs and many other delicacies. That said, here is a list of dislikes and "won't eat again" items: I'm not a lover of eggs and meat in general, though I'll always taste it in case there are exceptions. I don't like milk. I have an aversion to most organ meats, though I've eaten chicken livers, foie gras and the liver and kidneys of a rabbit. I can't stand pig's liver. The smell, texture and taste of tripe will put me off an entire meal, no matter how good the rest of it is. I had one taste (that was deposited in a napkin) of intestines in Chengdu, China. I don't like uni, but for the uni haters among us, a worse preparation is cooked sea urchin. I tasted it in Italy -- reminded me of the erasers on the ends of pencils. If I have to be polite and eat sausages, I will do my best to peel away the casing before touching the meat. Two of my most memorable food moments have been in Asia. In Laos, I split an order of 3 bamboo skewers of meat with my BF. One bite told me I was eating raw buffalo liver that was merely charred on the outer layer. No way. My BF got stuck with all 3 skewers. The other "treat" was in Cambodia. It was early morning at Angkor Wat and we were peckish. We saw a vendor selling boiled eggs. I've already mentioned that I'm not an egg lover, but I'm a good sport, so we got one each. It came with some herbs and a dish of pepper and salt, which struck me as odd because usually a boiled egg comes without accompaniments. Locals appeared to be giggling as well. Just as my BF cracked the shell, I realized that this was going to be a fetal chicken egg. The chick is incubated for a couple of weeks, before the egg is boiled up. The inside contains a partially formed chicken (or duck), complete with bones, beak and feathers. The liquid inside was ashy coloured. My stomach started to turn. I watched him take a bite or two, then retreated to our hired tuk-tuk to wait for my nausea to pass. My BF, bless his proud soul, dutifully ate his. He was refunded for my untouched egg. I'm sure he made some friends at the stand, but when I asked if he'd ever eat another, he said "one was enough".

[1sweetpea]

I have one all-too-often served dislike: underripe, tasteless tomatoes. I'll pick every last one out of a salad. My father calls them atomic tomatoes. It's an even bigger crime to see them in restaurants where I live, since it is a massive hothouse tomato growing region. I see these hideous excuses for tomatoes in some grocery stores, but usually the worst examples are served by restaurants, both high end and low end! In my opinion, if the atomic ones are the only ones a restaurant can afford to buy, then stop serving them altogether -- at least until summer, when something better is available. Even then, some places have the nerve to keep on serving up the non-tomatoes. They're beyond awful. I suppose I'd stomach them, though, for big $$$.

[lcool]

Pigs liver (very fresh) as an ingredient in Pate' and terrines is OK by me.However the kidneys a totally different story.Even our three dogs won't touch them,nor will the crows,speaks volumes.

[alkapal]

yep, when the crows don't eat it -- look out!

[lcool]

It isn't as if these are classy crows,good zip code / neighborhood will out.All this past month we have had to pick nasty fast food wrappers out of the bird water hole.They steal them at the renovation/construction project 4 doors away,drop the wads into water for the relaxed method of openning and eat all scraps,leave all trash.All of this ill mannered posturing after they finish the dog food and table scraps we serve.Yes we want them.The are the only easy alternative to the Cooper's Hawk and the Northern Gosshawk loitering here ALL day.We call them the "wet your pants birds" the Mynah "CoCo" goes bat guanno when they are too close or around too much.I think they are the only thing that intimidates "sin in a black satin suit" CoCo

[alkapal]

cuccubear, i'm on your "meh on lentils" team. i didn't even eat dirt (which they taste like to me) as a kid! but fresh young tender okra fried up southern-style, with some field peas and cornbread alongside, is one fine meal for me!

and 1 sweetpea, no "duty" would ever make me eat that fetal chick egg! i know "saving face" is very important in asian cultures, but i'm not that strong to eat gross-out (to me) foods.

[jnk]

Soft egg white. Ughhh

[alkapal]

for me, the white must be cooked. if it is even the tiniest bit uncooked, it is really bad news for me. like the tiniest speck of "bad" lettuce or fresh spinach. sends me a-runnin'....

[hollow_legs]

I can't deal with sweet potato. I've tried it a variety of ways now, but... bleurgh!

[Eat_Nopal]

Its got to suck being some of you... no sweet potatoes, okrah, cauliflower etc.,

[Scargod]

I too, think, "what do these people like(?)", if so many things gag them...

[Passadumkeg]

Pop Tarts & Coke, of course!

[Panini Guy]

as the cauliflower-phobe, I'll note I can eat it raw. just not cooked. the smell gets to me. i know EXACTLY what I'm missing. and it doesn't suck at all. it would suck if i couldn't eat something i wanted to.

but I'll happily go out with you for maguay worms and grasshopper tacos.

[Eat_Nopal]

"but I'll happily go out with you for maguay worms and grasshopper tacos."

Oh... geez.. okay, I guess you are redeemed =)

[im_nomad]

well, to be truthful, I remain amazed at times that many on this board manage to eat at all with all the gagging and "I threw up in my mouth" (my new word usage pet peeve btw)

[alkapal]

i think that phrase is gross, too.

[EWSflash]

Ditto that...

[CoryKatherine]

but so accurate

[Scargod]

I was reminded by SO that suggestions and inferences can play a big part in how people react to food smell, texture and taste when they are given something blindfolded.

I recently had a parmesan cheese laden soup with granules of barley and carrot in it. SO said that you might be convinced it was vomit if you were influenced to think that it might not be something you would like and if the cheese odor was the first thing that struck your nose.
You guys have really made me nauseated and sick to my stomach talking about gagging, throwing up and .... vomiting!
Ewww, ick, ughhh, bleurgh! GAG!!!!!!!!! Thanks a lot! :)

[im_nomad]

and yet sadly, even after reading that, the soup still sounds appealing to me and I want the recipe :)

[Scargod]

This is probably close:
Barley Soup with barley, Chick Peas, chicken stock and small amount of diced carrots.
Once done mash or puree soup till peas are pulverized. Add grated Parmigiano Reggiano.

[amethiste]

I am trying to get over my dislike of beans. I can succeed in some cases. However I simply cannot eat baked beans or pork n beans. My mother served pork n beans and ground beef or pork n beans and hot dogs at least once a week. GAG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Eat_Nopal]

Don't feel bad, I love beans and I even I can't figure out what possessed anyone to brutally dismember the honorable bean in the form of baked beans.

[Passadumkeg]

In '74 I made my first trip from New Mexico to Maine. We went to a Downeast baked bean public suppah. I thought the beans were dessert served first and the neon red "red snappah" hot dog accompanying the beans were a visual "treat". Took some gettin' used to, but after 20 years, they are edible.
I propose a military time machine draft for fussy hounds. Two years of c-rations and Spam and afterwards, no complaints, mate (except maybe Pop Tarts.).
Huevos rancheros (w/ pinto beans) for breakfast.

[alkapal]

passa, you crack me up with your writing: "baked bean public suppah" and "the neon red "red snappah" hot dog".

i got visions of william windom playing "dr. seth hazlitt" on "murder she wrote"!

[im_nomad]

I imagine it has something to do with, in some cultures, an abundance of dry foodstuffs such as beans and also molasses....to form a high energy, cheap, stick to your ribs food. Molasses has iron and such, it's not all bad. Fat back pork for a bit of flavor. Makes for a good in-between meal when all you have is fish and potatoes, and the game meats are running out.

Not all cultures had a strong agricultural base (my own in particular back in it's very early days), so no tomatoes and i'd imagine spices were very few and far between. Molasses (and rum :) ) was regularly traded for salt fish back in it's day. This pre-dates me, however molasses was everywhere when i was growing up, and I still have a love for the stuff.

I love my father's baked beans, although i've had some from a couple of other kitchens that were way too syrupy. Canned doesn't even come close. Salt codfish cakes and a side of baked beans.....mmmm......

[Passadumkeg]

im, If ever down in Rockland, Me (great Blues Festival and ok lobster festival), get the fish cakes and beans at the Rockland Cafe for breakfast.

[Eat_Nopal]

Yup makes sense... btw, I have no problem eating Baked Beans in terms of gagging etc.,.. but whenever I have the misfortune of being served... I am always puzzled why someone finds them compelling. Although truth be told... one time my generous host sent me with leftover baked beans... this was around the time I had read about Haitian mud cookies so I was in no mood to through food away.... I just fried up a bunch of diced bacon... ladled on the beans added some Rasputin porter? and a couple of whole chipotles... simmered for 20 minutes... the result was quite edible, quite edible.

[Passadumkeg]

Funny, though beans w/ fish cakes for breakfast is a different animal and a great cure for a hang over. My FIL was a cook in logging camp in Maine long ago and I learned to like this combo from him.

[Scargod]

There's virtually no canned baked beans that I can tolerate. Many want them to be very sweet, too. Gag.
Like you, I can "doctor" them into something edible with bacon, onion and jalapenos or chipotles.
In the morning, I like beans and rice with my eggs. Nothing like a big meal of huevos rancheros before skiing Taos!

[EWSflash]

I kinda like baked beans. I add a lot of molasses and consider it dessert.

[lcool]

SUGAR...........excessive........GAG!!!!!!!!! would be my response to the problem.Take great components and ruin them in the execution.

[latindancer]

Margarine and goat.
The thought of either one of them makes me physically ill.
ugh.

[Passadumkeg]

Hey Latino Bailando, next time I'm in Walnut Creek, we can go out on a margarine and Miracle Whip rampage! Build a huge bonfire!

[latindancer]

You're on! :). I can just imagine the strange yellow/orange glow.
We can dance around it while drinking shots of tequila.
What a party.

[Passadumkeg]

With posole and tamales (red chile pork)! And pulque too?

Sam, how much to drink a liter of pulque in one draught?????

[latindancer]

This is getting better by the minute.
Sacrficing margarine and Miracle Whip to the gods while dancing and drinking pulque.
Yeah...
Where do we meet?

[latindancer]

Of course with posole and red chile pork tamales...
I'm all in.

[Passadumkeg]

Third week in June or the middle of July? Flyin' to see the kids in Korea and Thailand. Got a buddy in Belmont Shore who needs a visit and would probably join us. (In 1971, he, my bro and I stood lookin' down on The Truckee R, each w/ our own bottle of Almaden Mountain Red Burgandy and we broke into a rousing version of "Darcey Farrow".) I could use a stop "to prevent" jet lag and for a real taco truck fix.
Oh yes, one more point of clarification. Do we dance to traditional Mexican folk, "La Curucucu Paloma", "De Colores", etc., cumbia, merengue, salsa or regaton?
Or All the above?
Gotta get back to my black bean soupstew.

[Sam Fujisaka]

Remember, you can or are always forced to win if you start drinking pulque - it always cones in a single (long, disgusting, slimy, vomit-tasting) strand! I love goat and would even eat it covered with MW before I'd have more pulque. ?Y que te pasa, latindancer? !Todos de nosotros latinos se comen la cabra con gusto!

[latindancer]

Asado al palo.
Patagonia.

[relizabeth]

Scotch eggs are the single most revolting thing I've ever heard of. Once I was offered at a party by 2 new classmates, and after hearing what it was, I said 'i'm a vegan.' I slowly had to pretend to fall off the vegan wagon over the next couple months. I'm not opposed to the ingredient: egg (although, I don';t eat hard boiled eggs) covered in ground sausage and breadcrumbs and deep fried.

[caitlinh]

This reminds me of Jeffrey Steingarten and his quest to eliminate all his food phobias...as someone who used to dislike (to the point of being nauseated) cream cheese, egg yolk, peppers, strawberries, raw onion, oatmeal and guacamole and now loves all of those things, food aversions can mostly be overcome. I don't think I've seen anything on here that I wouldn't eat prepared the right way (including balut!).

As to all the Miracle Whip people...I totally agree with you that it's repulsive, but couldn't you see someone like Grant Achatz doing something amazing with it? Never say never.

[im_nomad]

Miracle Whip has it's place IMO....even though i'm more of a mayo gal.

Just one point on the above...re: raw onions. I love onions, but despite the fact that I can eat my weight in hot peppers with little (knock wood) consequence, raw onions and raw garlic feel like they are burning holes in my stomach. It's not a food phobia , and i'm known to ignore it and eat them anyway. I eat them like they're going out of style cooked.

Not ALL food aversions are just of the "ewww icky" variety....some i'm guessing (not mine necessarily) do have their roots in physical problems, and I wouldn't necessarily say "food aversions can MOSTLY be overcome"

[Steady Habits]

Beets, liver, giblets and any protein that not's cooked well-done (raw cookie dough being the exception)

[lcool]

......Beef well done ?????????? or fish the same seems so?????

[Steady Habits]

Yes, beef well-done, LOL.

Now...what about the fish?

[szmeterling]

I do believe that I will win with mine. I like almost everything, and can uncomplainingly eat everything else....Except for coffee WITH SUGAR!! Can't figure out why. Truth is that I prefer iced coffee WITH sugar, but I find the hot stuff genuinely undrinkable when sugar has been added. I cannot figure out if it is simply something psychological, or if there is a biochemical thing going on here.

[LJS]

Now, that is interesting to me because a huge turn-off to me is to be in a room (or, way worse, a car) with a cup of stale, cold coffee with milk and sugar in it...black coffee no problem...but a half a cup of leftovers can nmake me feel quite queasy and if I had to drink, well lets not go there.

But I LOVE hot 'regular' or even 'double/double' Tim Hortons coffee (a sort of Dunkin' Donuts version of coffee up here north of the border).

[Steady Habits]

Completely with you on that anti-coffee-with-sugar deal. Ugh. Blech.

[im_nomad]

count my vote for that one...however I once got a mixed up freebie from a coworker and drank it in the interest of staying awake at work ;) Sometimes one must sacrifice.

To me, coffee is meant to be bitter. IMHO people who load 4 cream and sugar into a coffee, don't really like coffee. Can you even taste coffee in there?

Tea on the other hand, was something I was allowed to have when I was little, with lots of milk and sugar (and probably not a whole lot of tea). To this day, I still prefer my tea milky and sweet.

to each their own i suppose.

[Scargod]

I would disagree with "all" coffee being bitter. I just ground up some Starbuck's whole bean Gold Coast, and to me, it was anything but bitter.

[latindancer]

I think Starbuck's (any bean they roast) tastes like burnt rubber....and you're right, not bitter.

[Passadumkeg]

What's a Starbuck? Can ya hunt 'em?

[Panini Guy]

A lot of coffee is brewed bitterly - far too much of what's consumed (and thrown away). It's a sad story.

However,. specialty coffee (beans graded at 80+ according to SCAA standards) shouldn't be. Just the same,II can show you how to make even a 95+ rated coffee sour or bitter. It's pretty easy. And there are multiple avenues. First, you can underextract the flavor compounds by not having a long enough immersion/steep time or overextract by letting the beans sit too long in water . This can also be done by brewing with water that's either too hot or not hot enough enough for the selected brewing method. To some extent it can even be achieved by screwing up the grind. Voila, three ways to ruin your coffee if you're not paying attention.

We often wonder why so many othewise good restaurants have bad coffee - simple answer is that it's generally not somebody's primary job. So they're not paying attention.

[im_nomad]

I guess I should explain what I meant a bit more, I don't necessarily mean bitter in the true sense, that makes it sound unpleasant.

[alkapal]

" I still prefer my tea milky and sweet."

i m nomad, you must not really like tea.

[im_nomad]

ah but there is a difference between having a bit of milk and sugar in tea, and the example I gave, 4 cream and sugar....which is drowning in the stuff. I didn't say there was anything wrong with sugar in coffee, I commented on those who are essentially having coffee flavored cream.

there are occasions when I like the tea without anything in it, say in an appropriate restaurant setting. But then again, I also love chai, steeped in milk. Regular run of the mill tea, I have with a bit of milk and sugar. I don't have my spoon standing up in tea flavored syrup however.

[szmeterling]

I, for one, love tea. I often buy very high grade teas and drink them straight, as they must be.

But a teabag of Orange Pekoe or Earl Gray - sweet and milky is a mighty fine way to drink it.

[szmeterling]

Do not get me wrong, I do not just dislike coffee with sugar. I simply CANNOT drink it. I once got the wrong take away coffee, with sugar...tried to drink it and actually could not. It was akin to drinking a cup of my own spittle.

and just like imnomad, I love my tea sweet and milky.

[EWSflash]

When slipped a "sweet tea" my mouth tries to spit it out before my mind has registered that it's sweet. I just despise the taste, feel, whatever the trigger- of sweet ANY KIND of tea. Green tea's almost worse- why would you want to eff up a refreshing, healthy, lovely tasting glass of iced tea by adding sweetener??? I'll never understand it.

[alkapal]

well, if you grew up in the south, you'd understand, embrace it and rave about it in online food discussion groups. like me! ;-).

and i can also sip the finest ceylon dimbula or nuwara eliya b.o.p. tea. http://www.angelfire.com/wi/SriLanka/...

[EWSflash]

Mebbe so, Alkapal, but I did spend four years growing up in Millington, Tennessee- does that count?

[alkapal]

ewsflash, perhaps! let's just love on our tea the way we love on it, for sure! ;-).

[Potrezebie]

What I can't eat? Clowns. They taste funny.

[Passadumkeg]

I like eating Brownies, ooooo, touche.

[michelle in laguna]

1. Venison
2. Coleslaw (traditional type)
3. Rabbit

Not for $5 . . . Not for $500

Not in a box . . . Not with a fox

[alkapal]

michelle, might i interest you in some green eggs and ham? ;-). http://thatotherpaper.com/austin/dr_s...

[michelle in laguna]

Very cute!
I could actually do the green eggs and ham. But the others . . . uh; No.
You know you cannot tolerate it when you were raised by the :
"If you throw it up; you have to eat it anyway DAD".
That is how I knew.

Put me down for the sea Urchin as well; nothing to prove here. For those that do; Wasa in Tustin Ca not so harsh.

Read your posts here . . . what part of Missouri are you from? :)

[alkapal]

who? me? i'm from florida.

[massgirl]

Eggs (except for omelets and quiches--but the other ingredients need to overpower the eggy taste)

Mayonnaise/Miracle Whip--disgusting disgusting disgusting in any incarnation. I am throwing up a little in my mouth just thinking about it. Bleccch!!! I can't even eat any kind of salad (i.e. chicken salad) if it has even the tiniest bit of mayo.

Vanilla flavored foods
White chocolate (it's not even chocolate--what's the point?)
Gamey meat (venison, rabbit, etc)
Goat cheese
Fast food

If you paid me enough I would eat of any of the above things. But it would take a WHOLE LOT. I'd probably eat goat cheese for the least amount--the rest I would really have to consider :)

[brendastarlet]

I can't stand eggs, either, but I will eat them in a fritatta, an omelette or a quiche. Go figure. I couldn't eat a poached egg or a fried egg or scrambled eggs if you paid me. And Egg Salad literally makes me queasy.

Agree on white chocolate, too.

Raw onion

Not a pork eater, except bacon.

Here's a goat cheese trick for you. It's wonderful rolled in breadcrumbs or chopped nuts and then microwaved for about 10-15 seconds, then served on a salad. Make sure you have a nice dressing. It's also great stirred into a tomato sauce: it just makes it creamy with a little bite.

[shallots]

Whole sea cucumber- cooked- just lying there on the plate. Waiting for chopsticks.

[mshenna]

Scrapple.

Haven't eaten red meat or chicken since age 13, but always loved the taste of meat, other than some organ meats, & will cook it for other people. Bacon frying still smells like heaven & the first lab that can clone pork will have me at the door begging for a bite. After decades, I still miss sausage.

And then there is scrapple, the vilest food on the planet (except maybe Pop-Tarts, but are they really food?).

Now I eat kimchee -- hell, I make kimchee, several varieties. I like natto. I love durian. Bring on the stinky cheese (no maggots, please) & the fermented shrimp paste. Will it reek out the room? I'll have seconds.

But DH -- formerly a pathologically picky eater (lived on microwave popcorn, frozen pizza, ramen noodles & fast food when we met) & still fussy about strong flavors -- is hopelessly addicted to scrapple, & has been since childhood.

DH does not cook, & won't be learning anytime soon, since he managed to lop off a fingertip (no bone, at least) while slicing bread by holding his very own special imported left-handed bread knife in his *right* hand [why?], up in the air several inches above the cutting board [why??], & attacking the loaf, which he held in his left hand, also up in the air [why???]. During the subsequent hours in the emergency room, he was never able to explain this, but it's not worth risking a repeat.

So we buy scrapple at the farmers' market, or during trips back to his parents' house, & I cook it, trying not to breathe & fully aware that the smell will be in my nose for hours. Greater love hath no woman.

Best diet aid ever = one whiff of scrapple.

[alkapal]

mshenna, you say "slicing bread by holding his very own special imported left-handed bread knife in his *right* hand [why?], up in the air several inches above the cutting board [why??], & attacking the loaf, which he held in his left hand, also up in the air [why???]"
------
i feel compelled to inquire, after re-running that mental video: "were any pharmaceutical products perhaps involved?" {;^D

[mshenna]

Aside from the Valium I gulped down dry once he'd been stitched up (hint: do not watch)? No.

When he explained to the ER staff how he had cut himself, his story sounded so improbable that they had a social worker come by to ask him if he'd been a victim of domestic violence.

In the next cubicle was a man who had put a fillet knife through the palm of his hand. Saturday morning: not a good time for men in kitchens.

DH was quite chipper, of course -- I have photos of him sitting there grinning -- since he knew perfectly well he would never again have to get up early & make breakfast. Or do anything else requiring knife use at any time of day, which is why I get scrapple-cooking duties.

For those who love the stuff, slicing it & putting it on a cookie sheet at 400 degrees until crispy (you can turn it once, in my case while wearing a noseclip) is the simplest way.

[ginael]

What is scrapple?

[Meann]

Scrapple id a thrifty dish made with scraps left over from the butchering bound with corn meal and seasoned with a lot of black pepper. Very popular in southeastern Pennsylvania. It's boiled like porridge and then allowed to set in a loaf shape, sliced and fried up, especially for breakfast. I like it, but a lot of people don't.

Me, now, I will pretty much eat anything, even things I don't actually like, if they're put in front of me by my host.

But I literally cannot imagine putting a canned sardine in my mouth.

[The Professor]

LOVE scrapple...and also especially the Cincinnati version made with oats, "Goetta". Great stuff...

[Passadumkeg]

Ditto, bring scrapple and apple butter back to Maine every visit to NJ/Pa.

[sdsometimes]

Hey ginael, you should look up "Philadelphia Scrapple" at wikipedia.com... noticed another post from you where you said you spend time there with a significant other. You could surprise your sig. other with a ~ tasty ~ plate of Philadelphia Scrapple! They might not be your sig. other very long after though!

[brendastarlet]

Brats. Can't stand the taste, smell, or texture, and hate the way they look.

[Terrieltr]

If only they're parents would discipline them... Then there might be hope. ;)

[Tyrone Slothrop]

A long while ago I was in New Orleans on a business trip when my host took me to a family restaurant which he obviously knew well. After chatting with the family he didn't even order but just instructed the owner (?) that we would have whatever the family was having. It was something unidentifiable, white-ish and sitting on top of pasta. Everyone (owner included) looked at me (the big shot down from NYC) to see if I approved of this special dish. I had know idea what it was but smiled, stabbed it with a fork and gingerly put it in my mouth and swallowed. Never have I eaten something that I strained to swallow, hit my stomach, and returned so quickly and with so much vigor.

I had had my first and last taste of tripe.

[taos]

My going rate to eat a spoonful of mayonnaise would be $30. And I'd need to wash it down immediately with a martini. Shaken, not stirred. Very dry, no olive.

[BamiaWruz]

I'm just curious since so many people mentioned mayo and myself too I dislike it. Are we talking any mayo (real deal, home made..fancy to miracle whip) or?

[massgirl]

For me, it's mayonnaise in ANY form. Homemade, generic, gourmet, Miracle Whip, etc. I cannot stomach it all. The very smell of it makes me sick to my stomach.

On a positive note, when my family has spring and summer parties it's pretty easy to watch what I eat because so many things have mayo in them. And those things don't tempt me in the least bit. I'd rather go hungry, actually.

[BamiaWruz]

Ohh ok I see. Good to know.

Personally I only hate mayo with certain things (eggs, tuna..most sandwiches) , but I understand where you're coming from and I've met people who hate it, the smell and all.

Thanks! :)

[Paula76]

I agree with fresh coriander...and the same goes for cucumber and beetroot for me (although if the money was right...I'd grin and bear it, as most would) Making me drink hot milk would cost considerably more as would those fluorescent, processed Kraft 'cheese' slices, frozen ready-meals, sausages (excluding good Spanish or Argentinian chorizo), margarine, black pudding and kidneys. As for the many bugs and animal body parts I have not tried yet, my philosophy is that ignorance is bliss...if you don't tell me what it is beforehand, I'll happilly gobble it down.

[Kate is always hungry]

Thanks Paula, I just thought of two more to add to my list: cilantro (okay in salsa, though) and raw cucumbers (will eat tzatziki sauce).

[cuccubear]

As I re-read this thread, I realized my previous post included things I disliked to eat and not things I would not eat for money.

So, to answer the question: I would not eat brains (which they sell in buckets at the grocery stores here) or other kinds of popular, edible offal. I just feel that there are so many others things I'd rather eat that probably look and smell a heck-of-a-lot better.

brrrrr!

[ndelson]

Passionfruit and Cheetos. Also banana "flavor" (like in Runts candy).

These are the only two things I can think of off hand that I wasn't able to acquire a taste for as I got older.

[BamiaWruz]

Banana flavoured anything is the worst in my opinion, the taste lingers, it's awful. I remember this from my childhood in gums and candies.. Sickening.

[Sal Vanilla]

That is a nasty smell. I wonder why it has to be so strong. I smell it (or overripe bananas) and get immediate heartburn.

[CoryKatherine]

the bananas are the best runts!!!!

[TampaAurora]

I OD'd on Runts as a kid and can't stand them now. After my grandparents' 50th wedding anniversary, I saw a punch bowl filled with the candy and mentioned to my grandmother how much I liked them. Half an hour later, I ended up with a grocery bag full of them. As everyone left the party, they took a small handful of the candy and passed it along to me. Nanny decided to stop playing games and just emptied the bowl into her purse which was lined with the bag. Somehow she decided the payment for the party included the bowl of candy.

[Jelly71]

oh, one the worst flavors that was ever in my mouth was the day i had a gyro for lunch, then a few banana Runts a little bit later. then i burped. it was a gyro/banana party in my mouth. no one wants to be invited to that party.

[Jelly71]

i am shocked that so many people are anti-egg and/or mayo. that's just so foreign to me. i could eat egg salad by the bucketful and there is nothing you can do to an egg that would make me not eat it. but, more for me, so YAY!

the food that i would have to be paid to eat is sushi. and yes, i have tried it. i hated everything about it. the smell (i have a very attuned sense of smell, so much so that it is sometimes hard to be in a large crowd of people because the smells become overpowering), the taste, the mouthfeel, all of it.

for $5K i might be able to choke down 2 pieces. maybe.

[alkapal]

oh. yeah. the "brains sold in buckets" place. maybe they should open a franchise here in d.c. we could sure use some.

[cuccubear]

HA! There must be an import ban on them in the District, that's why you can only get them here in the sticks.

ndelson, speaking of artificial flavoring - it's artificial strawberry flavoring that I can't stomach, especially in one of those box-mix cakes everyone loves to bring to picnics.

[Caralien]

For me, it's split among:

Cooked Vitamin A vegetables--sweet potatoes, carrots, butternut or acorn squash. The texture as well as the flavour. Exceptions: adding so much sugar and spice and making it into a pie or pureeing and adding a very strong stock to mask the flavour. I can't even eat the slices/chunks of carrots in chicken noodle soup unless I hold my breath.

Banh Xeo--the Vietnamese omelet made with cornstarch, shrimp, and bean sprouts. I used to be forced to eat this, and through this monstrosity discovered the "hold your breath and swallow without chewing" eating technique. I believe that my hatred for cornstarch and refined corn products began here.

Papaya--smells like arm pits and tastes worse. Passionfruit. Durian--smells like rotting flesh.

Artificial banana flavouring. Yuck

Basically, if I have to hold my breath to consume it, it's not worth eating. At any price.

[Sal Vanilla]

I cannot eat giant clam or urchin egg sacs. Honestly I involuntarily upchuck them. Very embarrassing.

Sauteed liver (brings on the gag reflex). Maybe for 10K I would eat it, but I could not guarantee I could keep it from revisiting my plate. The texture and the look of it is absolutely revolting! There are not enough exclamation points for that. I would rather eat my shoe.

Soy nuts. I have to wash my mouth out if one sneaks in disguised with chocolate.

Sturgeon. It fills my nasal cavity (the smell) and I feel ill. That coupled with the texture. GAGOLA!

I have an acute sense of smell. Sometimes a curse.

[Caralien]

I forgot about smoked birds. Why anyone would take any delicious bird and make it taste like dried out and chewy ham mixed with rubber is beyond me.

[alkapal]

poor caralien, obviously you have not had the opportunity to enjoy the delectably juicy and tender smoked chicken of the south!

[Caralien]

I've had it, and gagged (we go to SC regularly to visit with family). Ditto with smoked duck and turkey. I don't mind smoked pork and beef, but birds? Absolutely disgusting.

[Sal Vanilla]

Do you like smoked turkey from the deli (sliced for sandwiches).

[Caralien]

no.

[Passadumkeg]

Mr Alkie, Waaaait a minute! Mr Weber, Mr Brinker and I make foul smoke, I mean wicked good smoked fowl (including wild eiderduck grouse and turkey).
Princeton U was the place to go for learnin' in the first half of the 19th century. There were riots at the beginning of The War of Succession and according to some The Stars and Bars were even raised over the campus. (Princeton was also one of the 4 capitol cities of the US of A.). A lot of fine dining in Princeton too.

ps But don't eat BBQ or okra north of the Mason Dixon Line.

[alkapal]

whoooaaaa there, mrs. passie, i meant no affront to the yankees who smoke!

[Caralien]

collards, by the way, are really good at Je's in Newark and Last Legg's in New Brunswick. Haven't found any decent okra from anyone except my mother-in-law from South Carolina up North.

[Sal Vanilla]

Caralien -

You have not had a properly smoked bird. It is neither dried out or chewy. the exact succulent opposite in fact.

[Caralien]

Sal, I don't like smoked birds. Period. Even if the texture were not like a tire (like the smoked turkey I had from Texas 2 years ago, which was moist), the smell is rather offensive to me. I have relatives who know how to BBQ and smoke meats and poultry properly. The birds--blech. Pig, cow--yum! Bird--I'll pass. If it's put on my plate and the dog isn't around, I'm happy that paper napkins exist.

More for you, and I'll politely decline.

[ligature]

A few Christmasses ago a British friend came over with a traditional English Christmas treat, canned smoked oysters. Of course we had to eat them or offend our friend. It was one of the most disgusting things I've ever put in my mouth. My poor wife wound up gagging them up in the toilet. Never again.

[alkapal]

if you are ever "stuck" with a can of smoked oysters, try this dip: http://www.cooks.com/rec/view/0,161,1...

it is mysteriously addictive, and you would not suspect it had smoked oysters in it.

i've also seen the recipe made with a touch of worcestershire, and made into a log, then rolled in fresh, chopped parsley.

[michele cindy]

this sounds really tasty. I think I'll try it. Do you prefer the chives or olives?

[alkapal]

i like both (but i'm a sensory-overload hog!). make it into the log and roll in the parsley (use waxed paper to help). festive!
it really is delicious.

[EWSflash]

It appears that a lot of people are averse to eating a lot of things! I thought I was being overly picky with my aversion to organ meats (except for gizzards and the odd natural-casing sausages). Especially brains. I think working as a biomedical photographer for 36+ years and the smells encountered in the OR during that time has had something to do with it.
Otherwise, I really hate dill. And banana-flavored foods (I like bananas plain, though, usually). And as much as I've truly enjoyed many Asian and Indian homemade curries, the smell and taste of commercially prepared "curry powder" makes me flat-out gag.

[hotteacher1976]

Fried chicken gizzards are so good!

[EWSflash]

Re- organ meats- I had me two big old bowls of menudo this morning, with tripe, voluntarily, so I guess tripe's not on my list of -not-for-love-or-money food, either.

[RI Swampyankee]

Tofurkey. The nastiest thing next to Jell-O.

[hungryungry]

There is very little I won't eat, I'm definittely an omnivore; I love eggs, organ meas, goat/sheep cheese, blue cheese,

blowfish: I'm just not that gutsy
Banana compound: you couldn't pay me, I'll spit out a dessert onto my plate in a fine dining restaurant if it's made with fake banana. I really like real bananas though
Frozen Shellfish: not all frozen shellfish, but some, even expensive stuff, will make me gag for hours, especially crab and lobster. Again though, I love the real, fresh stuff

[stay_classy]

Cilantro. It absolutely kills me that I can't eat it. Can't even get it down--I just gag!

(Did I mention that I used to live in Mexico? Talk about painful...)

[mshenna]

IIRC, there is a compound in cilantro that tastes very different to some people, & Cilantro Horror is an inherited trait. DH cannot tolerate fresh cilantro at all, swearing that it tastes like cheap soap; I have (generally) a better sense of smell/taste than he does, but can't pick up any soapiness. And we live near a bunch of terrific Mexican and South Asian restaurants, so it's either screen the menu carefully or cook it at home ... . Judging from the look on his face when he has tasted any, the flavor must be awful. (But coriander seed seems to be fine -- it's just the leaves, apparently -- is that also true for you?)

[EWSflash]

Very interesting, mshenna. I could graze my way through a field of fresh cilantro and had no idea about Cilantro Horror.
That said, my nearly-nonexistent gag reflex surges to the forefront when smelling or tasting epazote. I wonder if that affects some people similarly- other than me. I can't imagine that people even consider it to be a "flavoring:.

[detune]

Cilantro was an acquired taste for me and I still think it smells like cheap aftershave. I grew some before I'd ever tasted it, and when I first caught a whiff, I thought someone had vandalized my garden. Now I love it and can eat the straight leaves.

[BobbyG]

I'm not sure if I have the Cilantro Horror. I can eat it but to me it tastes like I'm licking a tin can. It tastes very metallic to me.

[Avalondaughter]

Things you would have to pay me a lot of money to eat:

Mayo straight from the jar (I don't like the stuff on sandwiches either, but it's almost tolerable in a sandwich if there isn't too much and its flavor is hidden)
Most seafoods (more on that later)
Most organ meats
Beer
Scotch
Blue cheese
Olives

Things you would have to pay me A WHOLE LOT of money to eat

Salmon (the worst fish ever)
Peas (just the smell makes me gag)
Brains or eyeballs (and I don't know if I could do eyeballs even if I were paid)
Bugs

[Sam Fujisaka]

Love everything on your list except the jarred mayo.

[EWSflash]

I have no problem with jarred mayo unless it's Miracle Whip, but draw the line at bugs, eyes, brains, and most of the organ meats.

[Chimayo Joe]

Too many things to even mention them all. Common things like mayo, milk as a beverage, salad dressings, anything with too much vinegar in it(I hated the smell of vinegar so much as a child that my older siblings would torment me with it), pimento cheese, lots of cheeses--the list goes on and on. It's a problem trying not to eat things in certain situations. Eating them then throwing up would also be a problem though.

Odd thing is that I'm not squeamish. I'd eat a well-cooked rat or fried grasshoppers.

[alkapal]

hmmmm......likes rats but not cheese. very interesting! ;-).

[Passadumkeg]

Joe, the important question is do you eat Chimayo chile & where do you get it; better than Hatch.

[michele cindy]

I thought of one more over the weekend. I was watching a cooking show and the recipe called for buttermilk. I might be able to cook with it, but as for drinking it, you'd have to pay me!

[chaz]

Rare to medium poultry

[EWSflash]

Ewwwwww, ditto that!

[CoryKatherine]

my list is short-

raw carrots
avocados
raw cucumbers
pickles

and i'd eat any of them for $20. Probably $10. or $5. Then again I'm pretty broke. So If anyone is looking for some entertainment, I'll do a lot of things (nonsexual) for a price

[thew]

well i try to revist things i think i dislike every now and then to make sure it just isn;t a habit.

so i was out by myself for a bit of dinner, while working on some writing, and i decided to throw caution to the wind and order calves liver, which i hated since childhood - and have not eaten since childhood. There are so many thing i like now that i may not have liked then - so i ordered liver and onion

i could tell it was well prepared, very tender and flavorful. I'm glad i ordered it. now i know my dislike of it is not a habit. i don;t like it.

[mcsheridan]

Cilantro (what you call fresh coriander) ihatecilantro.com - $10 to eat it and another $10 of hard cider to wash it down
Head Cheese or Black Pudding - $50.00
Oysters - As the VISA commercial used to say : Priceless -- I wouldn't eat 'em, not even for money. I don't even like seeing them shucked.

[litchick]

I've got three. I discovered they wouldn't stay in my mouth (independent of one another by the way) in most unfortunate fashion. I am an otherwise quite adventurous eater.

1. chitlins
2. rocky mountain oysters
3. orange roughy

[hungrystudent257]

Truffles! Which I know, to most, is a complete and total sacrilege. The taste, the texture, especially the smell, the way it permeated everything. I have tried and tried to love them the way the rest of the world does, but no luck. They make me retch. Some people feel bad for me, but just think of the money I save!

[cuccubear]

Now that I see this thread revived, I thought of one more thing:

I would not eat any part of the human body or by-product thereof.

I guess I should sell my stock in Soylent Green, hunh?

[Thunderduck]

I'm unable to choose just one.

Even the thought of the following foods makes me feel ill, mayonnaise, coleslaw, parmesan and papaya.

[Babyducks]

Pickled herring

[EWSflash]

Yeah, I could never see the appeal, either.

[Cakegirl]

I pride myself on being an omnivore--willing and able to eat and enjoy nearly any fairly conventional food--but I can't abide anything that tastes like anise/black licorice/fennel. Makes me gag...I must have had a bad experience with it as a child. You couldn't pay me to eat anything in that family.

[Goldendog]

My in-laws--born and bred in the Hamburg area of Germany, came to Michigan in the mid-50's. A Christmas tradition they made every year and took great pride in was "Herring Salat" It was a mix of finely chopped salted herring, apples,, raisins,hard boiled eggs, cranberries, and some sort of sweet & sour sauce they always kept secret. The concoction--especially when it was heavy with the chopped raw fish--was the most disgusting looking thing I've ever seen. I tried it a couple of years just to fit in and it was disgusting....& I'm a foodie who likes about anything but you can't pay me enough to scarf down a bowl of this crap.

[goldendawn7]

Cazu Marzu. If you dont know, look it up.

[michele cindy]

I will not eat for the remainder of the day after reading that one!

[h2Bn]

I won't say I would not eat them for, say $5,000, but I greatly dislike uncooked spinach, uncooked mushrooms, buttermilk (as a beverage), borscht, tempeh, and papaya.

[michele cindy]

I'd like to add Spam to my list. It would take at least $15.00 for me to try it. Never had it and without someone paying me I doubt I ever will.

[alkapal]

michele, i had to laugh at your "at least $15.00" figure for spam.

you have a $25 price for goat cheese, yet you have a goat kid as your screen avatar. hmmmm. (or is it a lamb; i saw fur and not wool, right?).

[michele cindy]

i created a group on FB called "Goat Cheese Stinks". The photo I used was just one of the cutest goats I ever saw. So I thought I would use it here too. My own cats were getting tired looking...

[emmaleeb]

There isn't alot I wouldn't at least try or eat, but once on Bizarre Foods, Andrew Zimmern ate these intestines that hadn't been cleaned out, and were stuffed with other veggies and stuff, but he said he could still taste the "last meal" if you know what I mean.

That, I absolutely could not eat.

[cgfan]

Actually I can picture eating that, depending on the situation. Context is everything!

There's a favorite scene of mine from the movie "Tampopo", (a must, by the way, for every Foodie), where the Yakuza character is assasinated on the street by several gunshots as her girlfriend runs to his side. In the ensuing dying breaths the Yakuza character tries to calm her down describing a dish that he'd like to have with her someday.

From the sound of the dish and the entire "logic" of it I don't think I'll have any qualms about eating such a thing, at least how it was described in Tampopo!

I won't reveal the "secret logic" of it, but it'll be clear in this YouTube clip subtitled in English: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cvu_2p...

[emmaleeb]

Ha, by "the last meal" he meant he tasted the last meal that the ANIMAL had eaten, aka he was basically eating half-digested almost-excrement.

But yes! I must see that film. It seems so eloquent and lovely.

[MinkeyMonkey]

One of my all time most favourite movies ever! The scene with the squiggly on her tummy...eek! And the hero is my favourite movie cowboy ever.

[Sam Fujisaka]

Of course they had been cleaned. There are times when ruminant intestines are cleaned and cleaned, but retain just a bit of that grassy taste. Its not really bad if you don't think about it too much. Perfectly clean and those types of dishes are really good.

[bushwickgirl]

This is a fairly hilarious thread. Who knew how many people don't like mayo. I thought it was the great American all purposes condiment (or is that ketchup?).
I used to be a very adventurous eater, as a chef, I tried it all. Heart, gizzards, racoon, wild boar, bear, venizon, bison, tongue, sweetbreads, organ whatever, although tripe is not my favorite. Now my food issues are more politcal, no goat, lamb, veal or rabbit. I like the creatures too much.
I have no vegetable or fruit issues. I like stinky cheeses,milk, eggs and ketchup. I eat eel, shark and pickled herring. I like okra, bananas and cauliflower. Asparagus is heaven and Limberger is too die for. I feel blessed that I have an open mind (or mouth.)
However, I saw A. Bourdain eating roasted armadillo recently and I have to say it would be a no go for me, not even for the big money. No eyeballs either. I have to draw the line somewhere. Or Zimmern with the sea slugs from the bottle, described as brackish and crunchy. Dear god.
Oh and no pulque.

[michele cindy]

Add huitlacoche to the $15.00 list.

[latindancer]

Double salt black licorice picked up and eaten in Amsterdam.
O M G repulsive.
There is no amount of money.

[olia]

I have tried doing that thing of having something 5 (or is it 10?) times but w/licorice every time made me shudder, gag, and wash my mouth

[im_nomad]

lol, I recently tried these for the first time, and despite the fact that I dislike regular licorice, I actually quite liked this stuff.

[detune]

Piratos Salt Licorice is the worst "candy" ever. I keep a bag around to play tricks on unsuspecting guests. I'd still eat it for money though. You can sort of tell it might taste good if it weren't for the insane amount of salt.

[donlat3]

black licorice. Makes me gag just thinking of it!

[Journey]

Raw sea urchin is one of the few foods I don't care for, at any price. To my palate, it tastes like green oak wood that's been coated, shellac and dirt. Weird. Don't even get me going on the texture...

[Passadumkeg]

How about sea cucumber? Slime eels? Oscar Meir Wieners?

[Sensuous]

crawfish

[KristieB]

Canned creamed corn is the one thing I cannot abide. I'm not a huge fan of canned corn the regular way as it smells overcooked as is. But that creamed corn is just vile. It appears already consummed.

[cuccubear]

It is nasty, isn't it...blech!

[jAmbre]

The genitals of any animal, any type of blood-related dish (e.g., blood sausage) or insects, partially due to religious reasons, partially because it's gross.

[michele cindy]

minced meat pie.

[cweaver90]

I don't like eggs of any kind except hardboiled, but I'll eat them occasionally. What I REFUSE to eat is a soft shell crab. The idea of it makes me want to convulse.

[thew]

but the hard shelled ones are ok>???

[njmarshall55]

Agreed. I was in a MD crab house enjoying oysters and crab cakes when I saw my first SSC sandwich. As the diner picked it up, the legs fell out the back of the bread...I knew then I'd NEVER even try it. Although, I DO enjoy raw oysters alot. Go figure.

[CouplesCooking]

Organ meats of any kind. I did eat a Rocky Mountain Oyster one time, but it took more than money, it took a lot of alcohol!

[jerry pittman]

I agree. And LIVER is the worst food memory of my childhood.

[MNLisaB]

Here in MN we frequently get called for focus groups to test new products. I was once offered $75 to taste test a new flavor of oatmeal- had to turn it down flat, no hot cereals shall pass my lips. A textural thing, along with the smell- no thanks.

[Mkir]

Waldorf salad. Mayo + apples + celery + etc all mixed together. Eeewwwwww. All ingredients in separate piles on my plate? Fine.

[michele cindy]

I'd eat it for $10.00, prefer them separate as well.

[Aramek]

Raw tomatoes. I like them fried, and stewed, but, raw is just terrible to me. I remove them from burgers/subs, but, the gross flavour is still on the bun!

[margaretelise]

Completely agree! I detest raw tomatoes. It's funny because whenever I tell someone that I am immediately asked to justify it, like "Why? Is it the texture?" "Maybe you've just never had a fresh, ripe blah blah" and I tell them I don't like them because they taste disgusting. I (half jokingly) also feel discriminated against because of this! At least 50% of the time (I've kept track before) I order something without tomatoes it comes with them anyway, or I can see traces of tomato slime where someone had forgotten, then taken them off . That lingering taste is still disgusting!

[jvanderh]

Why?? Is it the texture? Maybe you've just never had a fresh, ripe, heirloom tomato.

[buttertart]

Not if margaretelise is like my husband, who also dislikes tomatoes strongly. He's had some of the best and just doesn't see what the hoo-hah is all about. More for me!

[jvanderh]

Whenever I find people who hate tomatoes, I feel torn between relief that I won't have to share and worry that there might be something seriously wrong with them. . .

I kid, I kid.Tomatoes do seem to be a polarizing taste. They're my favorite food.

[buttertart]

One of mine, too. This dislike covers every kind you can imagine, he has told me he can't tell what's good about even the ones that make me swoon. And he's otherwise a virtually complete omnivore with a great palate. "Oh well, nobody's perfect!"

[John E.]

I too am not a huge fan of raw tomatoes and will remove them from most food. I will eat pico de gallo if it's in a taco or other Mexican food. Sometimes people will challenge me about the whole tomato thing because I eat ketchup, tomato sauce, etc. I'm also not a big fan of avocados.

[stuck in Hartford County]

Maytag Blue Cheese (yuckky taste, chalky, unpleasant texture)
white rice (the texture, the taste, the look...like maggots)
pears (grainy texture like sand)
rice cakes (?) I just hate them. I don't know why.
white meat from a grocery store chicken (like chewing sawdust)

[MinkeyMonkey]

Eggs. I've been going through odd phases of hating any and all aspects of eggs then liking overly cooked, non shiny, cooked MY way eggs. Right now I just stepped out of the I hate you phase into the "the recipe calls for lemon curd and I don't feel like making my own with starch right now" phase.

Two days ago I would not have eaten eggs for $500. $5000, well, yes, I would have done it. Today, I just had another fruit tart (with lemon curd in the filling).

I love, love love all aspects of tofu, sometimes referred to as bean curd. I once tried a friend's home made Korean bean curd, which looked Nothing like tofu. I will never forget that taste (1995 or 96?). I have no idea what was in it but it was unbelievably dreadful. It looked like a fruit gel, cut into a rectangle. One piece was orange/red and one was more of a green-ish colour. I would not eat that again for even $700. $7000, yeah, I'd eat one bite but be newly haunted for another billion years!

And now I'll have to entertain myself reading the other posts.

How could I forget mayo? I hate it, period. I avoid it like the plague but if I were offered $20 bucks, I'd eat a bit but only because a dare is tough to turn down!

[marneybrown]

Black licorice...the smell makes me gag. Don't think I could even eat it for money.

[Panini Guy]

Been working on a consulting project for a major retailer involving mass-market coffee. As part of this I had to take tasting notes of top brands.

I would rather be waterboarded than ever again have the experience of trying to hold a mouthful of Folgers Instant Decaf long enough to take notes.

Not that any of the CPG coffees were good. But Folgers Instant has a special place in food hell. For the life of me, I cannot comprehend why anyone would ever drink that crap.

[stuck in Hartford County]

Funny! I use the Folgers instant stuff (or Sanka) in some chocolate recipes. I'll switch to another brand now that I know that it's the worst of the worst!

[junescook]

Milk, cream, sour cream, cream cheese, etc. Even the smell, even thinking of the smell makes me nauseated.

[cuccubear]

I'm guessing you're not a baker...;-)

Is it just the "straight up" consumption of these products you can't abide or are they OK when used in specific dishes?

[Ironhand]

Ok, Anchovies, spam, Shampagne and anything like morningstar or boca or any of that soy protien. Meat is goood meat comes from creatures NOM!

[alkapal]

i guess champipple (champagne + ripple) is out?

[michele cindy]

champipple what a cute name. I would try a sip just based on that. & no money needs to change hands.

[alkapal]

ba ba BA duh, ba ba BA duh....
to get your champipple, you gotta go to mr. sanford's place up in new york: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T5DnqW...

~~~~~~~
do they still sell ripple?

[bushwickgirl]

Stripple is good, so said Fred Sanford.

[stuck in Hartford County]

OK, I've go a new one: eel.

Why? I know it's not a "normal food" but recently I've seen it mentioned WAY TOO OFTEN in various cuisine.

So, bleeeeeeech! Freaks me out. Like the big, black snakes that emerged from the Chesapeake Bay in the early eve and am to slither up towards the house... aaaaaaaah! Truly the stuff of bad, southern dreams. OMG. Worse than an Aint's NFL playoff collapse. Maybe. I'll throw away the paper bag I used to wear to their games...Just let them please get to the Super Bowl! But I digress, again...and again...

[Panini Guy]

Get real! I've had eel in my creel. A well-peeled eel has more appeal than veal While you reveal you squeal when ee's your meal. I eat eel with zeal using forks of steel. Can you deal?
,

[Passadumkeg]

Eat it raw, NOLA Dude!
Photo 1, before. Photo2, after.
Yum! Better than shad roe. Relax, just do it when you want to...

Freddie Goes to Hollywood

[stuck in Hartford County]

Love the tie-in lyrics and the new avatar. Ran screaming from the snake-like images, though. AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!

Panini Guy, check out the "advanced poetry" in the New England posts about the demise of CT restaurants- you belong w/us!

[Passadumkeg]

I like eels,
But not as meals
Or the way they feels.
Ogden Nash

[alkapal]

hey wassup wid all the finger-pointin' avatars? first alanbarnes, now you, passa!

and if y'all really wanna go off eels, watch one of the first scenes of the movie, "the tin drum"! squeamish-alert! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eW03z8...

[Panini Guy]

Well, I did live in Ffld Cty for a long time and in Quincy, MA for a bit... so I actually do fit in there!
Couldn't find that particular post though.

[stuck in Hartford County]

http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/677228

I think this is the link. It's called "Departed CT Restaurants...Don't look back in anger"

Anyway, I wish more folks had added their poems!

[zoona]

not for a million dollars:
natto beans
natural-casinged anything, or natural casings
tripe
whale
blood (inc puddings)
those ridiculous canned desserts in the uk--spotted dick, etc
mushy peas (wtf!)
goat cheese
anything with bone marrow in it
okra (unless its how the sudanese do it with the dried small ones..)
garden mallow (buggers basically!)
rabbit

[michele cindy]

I am SO happy you said goat cheese! I don't feel so alone anymore.

[Sensuous]

buggers? ew

[michele cindy]

I just reviewed a brunch menu from a local restaurant. I can ad this to the list. "Goat cheese foam" sounds like the liquid essence of a petting zoo musk smell - Yuck! .

[buttertart]

Family law: eat nothing we've had as pets. Extends to rabbit from the usual feline and canine contenders.

[stuck in Hartford County]

Oooh- I love that family "law"! Thank the gods we've just had a dog...a beautiful, sweet black lab who I could NEVER think of eating. NEVER. Except my son did keep a lobster for a couple of days at the beach house...and my old classroom had a pet turtle (and chicks!) and I do love the turtle soup at Commanders in New Orleans... I never really liked cats...

Oh never mind. Just no eating of dog "products?". The very idea!

On the other hand, my one food I can't eat was/is eel. I feel secure in adding "dogs" as my second. Do they even consume our canine friends anywhere? Yuck. The OP did say "basic food" so pets probably don't count (unless you are my son or one of my students).

[buttertart]

I suppose you're right re their not being exactly basic food - but yes, dog is still consumed in China and Korea among other places (I passed up a chance to buy a dog cookbook in Shanghai in 2007) and cat in the south of China - and rabbit is prevalent on restaurants these days. (re being your student - "san ren xing": When three men walk together, surely one of them must be my teacher. Confucius)

[BobbyG]

I have a Korean friend that has no problem eating dog (if it's cooked right...LMAO) but refuses to eat lamb. When I started quizzing her on how she can eat dog but not lamb, she told me that in Korea, they keep lambs as pets, but dogs are rarely kept as pets. Her thing was "they are too cute to eat". I've never been to Korea so I have no idea if they really keep lambs as pets. (don't lambs eventually become sheep? Isn't that a lot like keeping catapillers as pets only to see them turn into moths?) Anyway, that's what she told me.

[ZenSojourner]

People here occasionally try to keep lambs as pet, right around Easter.

Then they come to me about 6 months down the road with their full-grown Ram who wants to climb into your lap and be petted and want me to give it a "home" on my farm.

LOL!

[Passadumkeg]

Dog meat in Korean is Don Kay.

[John E.]

There was a whole MASH episode once about a lamb being too cute to eat. Radar shipped it home to be his little brother. They had a Spam lamb for easter instead.

[shaogo]

Taiwanese "Chou Tofu" (Stinky tofu). I will not put anything in my mouth that smells like a dead pig that's been in the sun for a few days.

I can't get blood pudding past my lips for love nor money.

I committed a major faux pas by refusing to drink snake-blood wine with a Cantonese friend.

No sea cucumbers nor dried shrimp. None.

Eyes, brains (except sweetbreads at the Belgian or French restaurant).

I love a good Margarita, but go figure I can't help but throw up even the costliest tequila when done as a shot. And I can do shots of almost anything else just fine.

Please don't serve me a dessert which combines mint and chocolate. I'll have one spoonful but guarantee you someone else's going to eat the rest.

[StephanieZink]

Cheesecake. I love regular cake and generally any kind of baked sweets, but you couldn't pay me to swallow a bite of cheesecake.

[kubasd]

ok, I've thought about this one for about a year. I would not eat dog or cat. For any money. It'd take some money to eat waldorf salad, eyeballs, or brains. And i've eaten gator, shark, rabbit, goat, grasshopper tacos, foie gras, many organ meats, durian, sea cucumber, uni, sweetbreads, and ants, so i'm not picky. but pets, sweet mixed with mayo, and those previously mentioned head items..... ew, just the idea

[stuck in Hartford County]

Same here- I forgot about the ghastly concoction called "Waldorf Salad" that my mom used to make. I just can't stand the mayo/apple/grapes/nuts thing. Oddly, I do like that combo in curried turkey/chick salad, but I hate regular chick salad... I think it's the sweet w/mayo- bleeech. Anyway, waldorf salad sucks!

[commander77]

You couldn't pay me to eat tongue. The thought just about makes me gag. Head cheese is another one. I agree with Jerry Seinfeld , those two words shouldn't be anywhere near each other in a sentence. I have a hard time with cooked broccoli. I think it smells like dirty socks, ones that have been worn through a walk in a swamp. Yuck.

[Passadumkeg]

Commander, have you thought about enlisting in the real meat batallion?
You just listed listed 3 of my faves.
Pfc. Keg
ps welcome to chowhound

[michele cindy]

I'm with the commander, head cheese, just the name alone is repellent enough.

[The Professor]

That's just silly.
It's meat. (and some gelatin) Meat from a different part of the animal, but it's meat.
My god...if you've ever eaten a hot dog, I can't imagine what you're squeamish about.
:-)
Of course I'm just being facetious ... you likes what you likes, and stay away from the rest.
That's ok by me. We all have our quirks.
But still...good head cheese really _is_ a tasty treat.

[michele cindy]

There's just something about the name and the look of it. I love marrow bones and they look awful so it's just the bad rep head cheese gets I guess, whoever named it needs to be questioned. I've eaten mortadella too but headcheese ewwww.

[buttertart]

I eat pretty much everything and the source of the meat in any sausage or cold cut doesn't bother me in the least but the gelatin in head cheese does - really don't like savory gelatin anything.

[alkapal]

just the other day, i was watching eric ripert ("artisanal" episode, of "avec eric" on createtv.com http://aveceric.com/14-episode-7--Art...
swoon over a local purveyor's head cheese at the farmer's market. he was in tuscany.

[buttertart]

OK, I wouldn't turn my nose up at it in Tuscany.

[alkapal]

i thought the same thing. it didn't look like what i've seen as "head cheese" growing up -- but i really didn't see it much at all growing up, to be fair.

my mom, who grew up in poor, rural north florida during the depression speaks highly of head cheese. it's funny how being frugal is now de rigueur, and using snout to tail is trendy (thanks to fergus making it more mainstream -- http://www.amazon.co.uk/Whole-Beast-Nose-Tail-Eating/dp/0060585366/ref=pd_bxgy_b_text_b ).

what's old is new again. or to quote solomon, "there is nothing new under the sun."

~~~~~~~
and now for something completely different..... http://www.cartoonstock.com/directory/h/head_cheese.asp

and.... here is a comment to a foodie blog with photos of making head cheese: "I dont think there is anything more grotesque you could cook is there? Any food you need to shave in preparation is off the menu for me!" (dan). http://www.blogjam.com/2006/10/11/hea...

[buttertart]

The shaving part IS amusing. We're of the same generation, my mother would occasionally buy head cheese but my father (a proud Englishman) would have nothing to do with it.

[alkapal]

i don't recall which thread it was on, but there was a quip about okra:

"i don't want to eat any vegetable that needs a kleenex and a shave."

[buttertart]

Good one. I always think okra tastes vaguely of cigarette butts (but I like it, slimy or no). Not overfond of gel/slime in general - a terrifying appetizer on JAL: a cold fish ball coated in one slimy substance slipping around on a slightly denser jellied base.

[alkapal]

i like okra.

i cannot connect with the asian "jelly" thing, though.

[michele cindy]

I'd prefer to eat a cigarette butt over head cheese any day.

[buttertart]

I'd have to come down on the side of the head cheese, if put to it.

[michele cindy]

We went to Lupa (NYC) on Friday for lunch, We ordered the piccolo asst meats, and what was on it? Head Cheese! And I got all my wits together and tasted it. It wasn't awful, but I wouldn't eat it again.

[buttertart]

I've eaten it occasionally too, it just doesn't float my boat.

[michele cindy]

Reminds me a dish my mom liked, Pecha - jellied calves feet... I tried to like it, but never could. I did like the garlic part, but the consistancy just couldn't get over it. However, I love marrow bones.

[buttertart]

I love marrow. There was a particularly memorable headcheese we had in Paris - had a lot of pig's ear in it. The combo of jellied and crunchy cartilage...no...please!

[Passadumkeg]

I'll eat a cigarette butt over slimy okra, but give me head cheese, any day! Just another form of meat.
Funny food attitudes. My grandmother used to make head cheese and I actively seek it out as a specialty food, along w/ jellied pig's feet. But okra is not part of my history/culture and what I have had is ghastly. It out to be kicked out of the vegetable category (and placed w/ Spam, cheap corn dogs and pop tarts).

[buttertart]

I've made some very nice vegetable curries with it (a Madhur Jaffrey recipe). Have also had it stewed southern-style and in Greek briami veg stew. Not bad in a sort of a limited way for an off night.

[Passadumkeg]

Damn, sounds good.

[buttertart]

Just about everything is, treated right. I've noticed that's your philosohpy too.

[runwestierun]

Spaghetti-o's. I can't even smell them. Gak.

[stuck in Hartford County]

Uh, westie, is this a result of an ARI? (alcohol related incident)

I mean, Spaghetti-o's are great. Unless you've partaken of the grain-jungle-juice libation...

[meatnveg]

KRAB - i.e. the fake crab thing

potato - from french fries to aloo gobi; all failed at getting my taste-buds going

Licorice - blech..is all i can say

Foie Gras - felt like I was eating plain butter. maybe pan seared would be better

[Sensuous]

you don't like french fries?

[firemyars]

I'm vegetarian, but there is nothing that could make me eat celery. It's poison.

[Sensuous]

make sure the stalk is fresh and cold and tender and clean of any strings, then smear it with cream cheese and give it a try again i promise you will like it

[stuck in Hartford County]

Here's a good one a la Anthony Bourdain (AKA "everything goes better w/cigarettes and alcohol") Definitely grosser than my issues w/eel.

On the Iceland episode, AB goes to this crazy VFW/dining hall place where he eats raw shark that has been buried in the ground for, like, a year or something. Yup. They just dig it up and eat it. It's rotted. It's the only thing I've ever seen him eat that ISN"T better w/alcohol. Especially the gross Icelandic alcohol they give him. And these guys are singing really, really bad music at the mic the whole time. Man o man o man. It's bad.

[Passadumkeg]

The shark is like strong lutefisk and the drink is like aquavit, called Svarte Dodde, The Black Death. Gimme both over Pop Tarts.

[stuck in Hartford County]

Like, NO WAY! I'd rather eat eel and shad. What, no rotting shark in 'Nam? " I think I just threw up a little bit into my mouth"

[Passadumkeg]

No, but I lived in Norway and traveled in Iceland. I'd rather eat Hakarl and drink Svarte Dodde that the C-rats I had to eat in Nam any day. All a matter of perspective, dearie.
Don't believe everything you watch on TV. And remember, AB is from New Jersey.

[michele cindy]

Passadumkeg - I'm originally from NJ too! Watch it bud. :)

[Passadumkeg]

Bon Jovi and I went to the same high school. Were you from the land of panzerotti (south) or the land of the Italian hot dog (north)? Nj sloppy Joe and The Scarlet Knights.
Proof enough?

[MandalayVA]

Your list is made of fail without pork roll. ;)

/Jersey native

[Passadumkeg]

Taylor's Pork Roll or Taylor's Ham. Jfood uses Taylor ham, I grew up w/ pork roll. More North vs South?I bring it back each visit.
ps Tasty Kakes

[MandalayVA]

I'm central Jersey so we called it pork roll and believe it or not you can get Taylor's here in VA. I went to college in south Jersey and was introduced to the joys of panzarottis. Can't get those here. :(

[Passadumkeg]

Or a butter roll, Kaiser, of course.

[michele cindy]

union - exit 138 gsp. Italian Hot Dog land. What is a panzerotti?

[Passadumkeg]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panzarotti

Exit 124, Sayreville, "Where Industry Prospers".

[michele cindy]

Do you call "calzones" calzones? They seem so close.
--"Union the home of the world's largest water tower."--

[Passadumkeg]

Five corners hot dogs in Union, Jan's Ice Cream Shop on Springfield Ave, in the 60's. Jfood is a Union boy, my uncle lived there as well.

[michele cindy]

Hotdoglover too. I found out he was a neighbor of my parents way back.

[southern_expat]

Bananas (I shudder to even type that word). I've eaten crickets, ants, durian, Guinea pig, horsemeat, all kinds of offal, etc. I'd do it all again just for the experience. Put me in a room with a banana, I go nuts. I really have a hard time even looking at one (hard to buy fruit, but I manage.) I should really call the Maury Povitch show.

[cgfan]

You must have seen this one, then:

NSFPP (Not safe for pickle phobes) - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HSCotd...

[malibumike]

My wifie loves Bananas but I almost throw up when I try to eat one.

[weewah]

Liver. Why do people insist on eating an organ that exists to filter toxins from the human body? GAK. Mineraly, mealy, dense, dry Oh, that blood taste makes me want to hurl!
And blood sausage is an invention of the devil.

[Tripeler]

I don't think many people eat "an organ that exists to filter toxins from the human body." Of course, many eat organs which exist to filter toxins from other kinds of bodies, but few people eat human organs.

[Passadumkeg]

Lean Cuisine type diet frozen meals. Frozen, expensive, tasteless crap! Can't these folks make a salad? Frozen pizza, only for the taste bud deprived. Have Americans forgotten how to cook. I'm too busy is an excuse, not a reason.

[guygirl94]

Easy Cheese. I use it to give pills to my dogs. It is not fit for human consumption. $50. Eating the ultimate raw fish - priceless: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iwTH7b....

[Passadumkeg]

An octopus bar was the setting of my eldest son's bachelor party in Seoul and I was the guest of honor (age). I've eaten a lot of bizarre stuff in my life, but this one set me back. I drank a lot of So Ju before I'd even attempt it. I think that is the perfect setting for this food foolishness. A bunch of drunk 20 something males. I avoided it last trip. Wonderful wedding though.

[DomesticDizziness]

Barring the uncommon or bizarre etc. My list of foods are things I wouldn't take a bite of without monetary compensation. Eating an entire meal....not sure I could choke it down for any amount.

1) Offal (Organ meats, entrails, testicles - anything other than muscle or bones) $5,000
2) Bologna = Vile It would take well over $2,000+.
(Bologna is my arch nemesis. I won't allow it in the house. But most pressed, formed meat is repugnant)
3) Lamb $300

[sourgirl]

I love this thread.

couldn't pay me to eat meat, tomatoes (and I have had extremely fresh, home-grown ones), avocados, french onion soup, and goat cheese.

[stuck in Hartford County]

I like all your "yuck" foods. Send the tomatoes to me, please!

[michele cindy]

Goat cheese was what inspired me to ask the question.

[bermudagourmetgoddess]

Peanut butter on CORN!

[cuccubear]

Odd combination...Has anyone ever asked you to eat that for money? :-)

[bermudagourmetgoddess]

Not really is was a thread on the site!

[eviemichael]

I cannot eat ketchup or baby corn. At all.

I remember the first day I met my college roommate freshman year she dipped baby corn into ketchup at the school cafeteria. I was afraid it was a bad omen, but she turned out to be a wonderful person. :)

[Lefty21]

mayo

[Writeher]

I had food poisoning, once..... The real deal, 3 days in the hospital on an I.V. after eating lasagna. There is nothing wrong with lasagna but my body, my brain or something deep within (much bigger than me) causes a visceral reaction and, I simply cannot eat it!

[missmar79]

any mayo based salad or store brand mayo plain on anything
(but i love aioli, and flavored mayo- go figure)

tuna fish salad - kill me now

bologna/head cheese/olive loaf etc.

cooked carrots

sardines/anchovies/herring/mackeral (any "fishy fish")

black licorice

chardonnay (the oaked kind is like poison)

scotch/brandy/burbon

[swampwitch]

deep fried anything but especially brain. yuk! used to work in a place that I had to make em gives me the chills. Also tripe; my hubby , rest in peace, used to love it but he had the courtesy to cook it out side on the burner so not to smell up the house.

[DomesticDizziness]

Wow. At first I thought this was my post (seriously)!
missmar, we could cook together! Your list is *exactly* all the things I hate. Ewww. Tuna & cooked carrots......washed down with an oaky chardonnay.....It's all God-awful, vile stuff.........gag.......

[Isoldamay]

Blood sausage, most organ meats (liver is okay in a pate or if it's foie gras), and white chocolate. I cannot even put that in my mouth without gagging.

[nooyawka]

Ooh! Blood sausage. I just recently developed a fondness for that. I repeatedly returned to an Argentinian restaurant b/c it was a part of their parillada (mixed grill). Especially with the little bits of pork fat in there....mmmm....

Organ meats?! I live for tripe, beef stomach, sauteed liver and onions, ...

[nooyawka]

Colored sprinkles, on anything (donuts, ice cream, etc.). Chocolate sprinkles, I tolerate. Chocolate shell (dipped) I love.

[michele cindy]

I think that's the most odd one here. I could kind of understand many of the other aversions, but this one "takes the cake". :).
Where do you think that comes from? How much money would it take for you to eat them? I love them and to me they are a bit on the tasteless side.

[nooyawka]

You think that's strange? I work with a girl who doesn't eat anything that's blue: blueberries, blue snow cone, blue icing on cake...

[Passadumkeg]

For decades, no amount of money on earth could get me to eat any Vietnamese food. A trigger. Now I pay to eat it. What the pho? Time heals....

[MVNYC]

I think yours might be the only real reason to have an aversion to anything here. I think everyone here needs to open their minds as you clearly have. This is chowhound have some open minds. Pretty much anything can taste good if it is treated the right way

[thew]

anything can, but some things do not, to some people.

[MVNYC]

I battle with my five year old niece to try things, I think adults should be a little more open minded. It sort of goes against the original Chowhound ethos if you limit yourself to broad groups of foods.

[buttertart]

I think most people here are extremely catholic in their tastes, but there are some experiences/factors that can cause aversions to certain foods that are difficult if not impossibleto overcome. Another VN vet I know won't eat ANY Asian food whatsoever, I'm glad to hear that P doesn't suffer from that phobia.

[Passadumkeg]

Thank ya ma'm, just no Spam or c-rations. A warm Bud is still ok, though.

[buttertart]

A warm Bud is better than no Bud, buddy.

[thew]

i have a 5 year old son. i get the battle. and i eat almost everything. but e.g. i don't like calves liver. i've had it prepared very well, and i've tried multiple times. I know people who love it. but, to me, it just doesn't taste good. it has nothing to do with a closed mind. just the opposite, as every few years i try again, because i don;t want to dislike it just out of habit. but the end result every time (and i'm almost 50, so it has be more than a few tries) is that i don't like the taste of it.

this has nothing to do with limiting myself, it has to with the simple fact that some people don't like some things. and that's ok. if everyone had the same tastes then there would be no need for creativity, no delight in getting to know someone new, and the world would be a dull dull place

[MVNYC]

Not liking calves liver or one particular item like that is not what I was referring to. I am referring to the people who broadly state that they won't eat seafood, or a particular cuisine. It is the people who say blanket statements such as this who are clearly not into trying things again. I get that you don't like calves liver, I mean there are foods I don't like despite trying multiple times. So again this was not aimed at you, it is at the picky eaters who make snap decisions based on one or two encounters.

[michele cindy]

op here.. just to clarify by "aversion" I mean something you've tasted before and just can't stomach no matter how much you've tried.

[nooyawka]

hey, op, wazzup?!

sea urchin, 'nuff said.

[thew]

that's avery different statement than "Pretty much anything can taste good if it is treated the right way"

[nooyawka]

New acronym: wtp :)
I was like that with sushi. Slowly acquired a taste for it. Now I crave it. Go figure.
I know people that still refer to it as "bait" and I'm obsessed with trying to convert them.

[fara]

peanut butter cookies make me gag, or any dessert with peanut butter. i love pb in savory items, but shudder at a "pb and chocolate chip cake with pb mousee and caramel."ugh.

[foodarts56]

number one on my list is cooked raisins....those, weirdly wrinkled and plump things that make me shudder when I discover one buried in rice pudding. Like raisins the way they were intended, dry.

[michele cindy]

reminds me of my friends aversion to peas. He looks at them and envisions tiny green aliens popping out of them. Something must have happened during his childhood...:)

[alkapal]

a cooked fat raisin looks just like a fat tick (sans those sexy little jagged legs, though). eeeeuuuuw!
WARNING will robinson, this visual aid is not for the squeamish: http://www.dypyx.com/wp-content/uploa...

[cuccubear]

Mmmm, raisins

[alkapal]

LOL cuccs! i couldn't even go back and click on the photo link because i couldn't bear to see that lovely "raisin."

[Glam Foodie]

A Swanson's turkey dinner. I mean, I COULD DO IT, for a large fee and a ton of water, salt, and pepper to help me out. Otherwise, I just can't handle it.

Also, pate - ick! I could probably handle HOT chicken livers cooked with butter, wine, and herbs. I could do that. And foie gras is absolute heaven. But cold, mashed up liver? No, thank you. I think I'd need at least a grand before I'd even consider it.

And while we're discussing organs, aside from liver I have to shout: NO BRAINS/TESTICLES/KIDNEYS/etc etc etc! Ever. I mean it, there would have to be some serious, reality gross-out game show money on the line for me to even go there.

[thew]

just curious - have you tried pate/chopped liver? have you tried these BRAINS/TESTICLES/KIDNEYS/etc etc etc?

or is the dislike purely conceptual?

[Glam Foodie]

Purely conceptual. I CAN'T. I'll try anything else, seriously, but that's where I draw the line.

I remember being 16, and someone brought over a large plate of pate to my parents' open house Christmas party. The smell of it was enough to make me literally gag.

[Passadumkeg]

Glam, remember ham ham is a pig's ass and who knows what evil offal lies in the hearts of hot dogs, sausage and chicken McNuggets?
Gimme 20 bucks and I might try a Mc Nugget, a Taco bell taco, Denny's, Appleby's or Olive Garden. I've never eaten any of the above, it is purely conceptual. Chains hurt my teeth.

[Panini Guy]

Not suggesting Denny's is CH-worthy, but unlike a McNugget at least if you order bacon and eggs you get actual bacon and actual eggs. You might only get there because of a hangover, but it won't hurt your teeth if you stick with basics.

One of the best pizzas I had in Bulgaria was brains and peppers. But if that were on the menu at Denny's I'd probably turn several shades of green, lol.

[Passadumkeg]

I am mistaken. After a Super Bowel (sic), I took advantage of the Denny's Super Whoopie free breakfast. My wife refused to go. The bacon was ok the pancakes tasted meh, the butter unlike any butter I've ever eaten and the fried eggs, plasticy. The atmosphere was plastic oppressive. Even for free, it was not pleasurable and not worth it. I do not like chains, Sam I am.
In Norway I liked the reindeer pizza (no maraschino cherries, please) and the asparagus and mussel pizza as well.

[michele cindy]

Do they really put cherries on it?

[Passadumkeg]

Marichino cherries? At Xmas on time I serve a large reindeer roast w/ a marichino stuck on the top end singing.....
But no, not on pizzas.

[Firegoat]

I tried some Zevia diet soda recently.... I got about 2 swallows down. That's about a $500 to drink the whole can.

[woodleyparkhound]

When I was in the Peace Corps I got invited to a wedding, which was a real honor. Everyone was drinking glasses of pink liquid. I was very intrigued. When I got my glass and tasted it, I realized what it was - rose water... in a very concentrated form. It was one of the most nauseating things I've ever tasted (and really, there are VERY few foods I refuse to eat). So, since I was the Peace Corps volunteer, everyone was looking at me. (In every situation I was in I got as much attention as Mick Jagger!) Even though I KNEW I was being rude by not drinking it, I just couldn't do it. It was really a horribly embarrassing and uncomfortable moment.

I still will never order a dessert in an Indian restaurant that contains rose water (or cardamom, which I can force myself to eat, but would rather not). Needless to say, I almost never eat Indian desserts!

[grlwhoeats]

Red pickled hardboiled eggs. The smell and texture make me gag.

[The Professor]

good...more for me.
These have been a favorite of mine since childhood!

[cgarner]

Lima beans, had a bad experience with them as a kid, I can't even smell them now without gagging!
(see what parents do to their kids?)
also sea urchin... it's not a 'regular' thing to most (it's a regular at sushi bars) I had it once and it was like putting a big cold snot in my mouth, texturally... can't do it!

[lusfolgena]

Green bell peppers. Just smelling them makes me gag.

[ChrisOC]

Last night, on the Travel Channel, they guy that eats all the wierd stuff had cod fish with a sauce made from cod sperm. No way, no how!!!

[masha bousha]

Nuts in brownies, cookies, salads or ice creams.
Miracle Whip which always smells like wall paper paste to me and lastly, the huge amounts of fat surrounding every piece of prime rib that my inlaws love to serve.

[The Professor]

Well there you go...and this is what makes the world go round. For me, nuts are good anywhere (especially in brownies and cookies) and I like the fat on the prime rib better than the meat itself.

I agree wtih you wholeheartedly on Miracle Whip though...it is an evil, vile substance.

[condie]

Blood sausage!
In my youth, when in other parts of the world, I made a standard practice of ordering those things on a menu that were not familiar to me. I've tried it all and liked most of it, but even if I didn't particularly like it, I considered it a shame not to eat it.
The day I ordered blood sausage in Germany put me to shame. It totally repulsed me and I simply could not get it down. I bowed my head humbly when I had to admit that fact to the friendly proprietor.

[linguafood]

Raw or pan-fried? Pan-fried, it is absolutely delish, but needs mashed potatoes and apple sauce to offset the, umm, chalkiness & richness. But it certainly is an acquired taste, and as a child, I hated it.

[lisaress]

I have never had it, but imagine that it tastes like beef heart. Is that right or wrong? I only had heart as a child and I was an extremely picky child, but did not mind it. Every once in a while, I get a taste of beef that I think "heart", and that is not a taste I really want to repeat. Can you describe the taste of blood sausage? What is it made of?

[condie]

Blood sausage. I think it was boiled. I did not eat enough of it to be able to make a description of the taste, and the experience was years ago. It definitely did not have the consistancy of heart, but ran somewhat over the plate when cut into. The proprieter was somewhat surprised that I would not eat it. He knew that I would eat anything, and this was apparently a local favorite at that time in that local.

[linguafood]

As far as I know, it's made of coagulated blood, fat, and assorted 'Other Things.'

You can have it as a cold cut, sliced thinly, or, as mentioned previously, pan-fried. Boiled, it sounds kinda icky, and I understand that a plate running over with blood would be detrimental to someone's appetite...

It is really delicous pan-fried, though.

[lisaress]

I can't think of anything that I have tried that I wouldn't eat for any amount of money. I like money! You might have to pay me $10 to drink coffee or eat broccoli and maybe $50 to eat raw oysters which my grandpa would get by the pound container already shucked for Christmas and slurp one after the other. Other than that, with the exception of organ meats I haven't tried and insects, I'm a cheap date. Even if I haven't tried it, if I see someone else eat it, I will try for free - maybe only once though.

[twj]

For me it's masago, or any kind of fish roe. The crunchiness and *pop* of liquid is so repulsing and vile. Even a few inadvertant specks of orange on my sushi will make me want to stop eating it altogether. I've never tried sturgeon caviar, but can imagine that it is similar.

[natewrites]

Liver and onions

[FBing]

Cocunut anything. I will eat raw from the shell, also grape candy, and strawberries

[braisinhussy]

Although I enjoy omelets and crisp-edged fried eggs, and I also like mayonnaise, egg salad makes my skin crawl. Always has. (Deviled eggs, too.) I can't say I won't eat it under any circumstance, ever, because I did have to consume 1 egg salad sandwich as part of a sadistic GI test. I wished for Versed, a sedative that makes you forget what transpired just before dosing. I don't think I could replicate the experience without significant compensation. As in, write-it-on-a-slip-of-paper-with-a-studied-nonchalance compensation.

"Cream of" soups. And creamy white sauces - apologies, bechamel et al. I don't know if I can put a price on this aversion. I think I'd have to ask family and friends how much they'd pay to see me take a bite.

Hot oatmeal. I have no idea why. I love it in all baked goods. But a hot bowl of it fills my nose and eyes with panic. I'm not sure how much it would take for me to eat it. I'm thinking $50. Or enough to cover an hour's massage.

Molasses. Another item I like as a (ligthly used!) flavoring in baking, but I have to hold my breath around an uncapped bottle of it. That said, $15 would likely encourage a spoonful. A small one.

[erikschwarz]

Close relatives. Don't know what it is - maybe the memory of holidays and family occasions - but I just can't choke them down. Strangers, on the other hand, especially small tender ones...

[marlynn]

I think a lot of the input forgot the main question. MC was specifically asking about "regular" not fear factor foods. That said, one person's regular is another person's "never tasted it". Some people have implied that taste aversions can be simply overcome by trying. Not true. Many [for all I know, maybe most] food aversions are based in the brain. They've written about that in newspapers and research journals. For instance, one such is Cilantro, which I love but was surprised to find that some people HATE. So, I don't serve it them. As for me, I have a list of strong dislikes, headed by sweet potatoes or yams. I loathe the taste and the stringiness. As a child, they were served by a mother who demanded they be eaten, because she liked them, and she couldn't understand my total aversion. I grew up to realize that I disliked any vegetable that turns sweet when cooked... beets, peas [love them raw], carrots, etc. I tried eating cooked veggies till I hit 50. Half a century was enuf. Some of the stories here are funny - DH grinning [though he lost a bit of his finger] at the thought he would never have to make breakfast again. Personally, I'd rather have a whole finger. Each to his or her own. But, some of us really suffer from feeling the need to eat something we hate, just to be polite. I don't do that. I, politely ignore the food I don't like. My equally polite hosts usually, also, ignore the food I don't eat. No scene. I don't like cheese cake. One hostess insisted I would like her particular cheese cake. It really wasn't bad. But, if it had been, I wouldn't have eaten more than 2 bites. That's not good manners, it's a form of subtle torture. I also have recently given up eating fish. Not because I don't enjoy good, well prepared fish, but because so many times, part of the fish has been "fishy". Nobody else mentioned that fishy fish is awful. It's disgusting. Yet, often my husband doesn't mind it. Though, he has his limits, too. My sons take after their Dad. But, one bite of "fishiness" can ruin an entire entree, for me. Does anyone else feel that way? And, how about sweet, cooked veggies? I know most people love them. By the way, I've tasted blood sausage - not my thing but doesn't make me gag like sweet potatoes do. And, I'm not concerned with exotic fried bugs or eyeballs, etc, as that wasn't the question.

The only post I had a problem with was the one where the writer tries to "battle" his niece into eating something she really dislikes. I found that troubling, even more because this child wasn't his own. But, that's my personal opinion. Children don't need bullying by the people who are supposed to love them. There are other ways. I found that serving everything and not making a fuss one way or another was helpful in raising children with open minds. Sorry, if this is preachy. Those who disagree, will undoubtedly let me know. Meanwhile, we can all find lots of foods we love to eat. Yum!!!!!

[SherBel]

Kidneys. Can't do it.

[erikschwarz]

"Mr Leopold Bloom ate with relish the inner organs of beasts and fowls. He liked thick giblet soup, nutty gizzards, a stuffed roast heart, liverslices fried with crustcrumbs, fried hencods' roes. Most of all he liked grilled mutton kidneys which gave to his palate a fine tang of faintly scented urine." From James Joyce's Ulysses, an otherwise largely indigestible book.

[Passadumkeg]

Bloomin' Hell, a man after my own heart; especially the fried hencods' roe.

Erik, you are a better man than I. I never finished Ulysses.

[buttertart]

Now's the time to do it.

[erikschwarz]

Neither did I. I would have a better chance of working my way through Joyce's punch list of offal than of finishing his book.

[buttertart]

The Wake, yes. Ulysses is nothing like Finnegan's Wake in terms of readability. Rather a lot about food in it too. C'mon, P-k!

[Passadumkeg]

I am now teaching 5 novels concurrently and teaching how to write research papers. Gimme a 36 hour day, will ya?

Gimme 20 bucks and I consider Kraft Mac & Cheese, if I can doctor it up.
The same goes for Hamburger Helper.
I'm just an offal kind of guy.

[onceadaylily]

Lightly paraphrasing a quote from James Joyce's wife, "Why don't you write a book people can read?"

[Phoebe]

Spam! It looks nasty...smells nasty...and tastes nasty!!! When I was a kid, my Mom used to make a macaroni casserole with it. Just the way it looked was enough to send me running. Thank goodness I was never forced to eat the stuff. I still remember the blue can with yellow lettering to this day. :O

[michele cindy]

I'd add that to my list too. Never tasted it, never plan to.

[Passadumkeg]

Thank goodness I was never forced to eat the stuff. I still remember the blue can with yellow lettering to this day. :O
Refer above and you will see that I was "forced to eat the stuff", 3 meals a day, in jungle conditions, for nearly 3 weeks. Never again

[lizabu]

I would eat anything that was considered a food. I might have a little trouble with an eye ball but I'd still eat it to see what it was like.

[michele cindy]

When in Thailand years ago, my husband ordered a bowl of soup. Upon stirring it, a huge cow eye ball popped up and was stared straight at him. He is not too adventurous, couldn't eat it.

[ZenSojourner]

Tongue is the one I have considered and then rejected eating. The thought of tasting something that was tasting me back kept running through my mind . . .

I wouldn't eat an eyeball either. I figure that just leaves more for the folks who like it. >:D

[jvanderh]

Blue cheese!! Just NO. I gag just walking through the cheese section of whole foods. It is absolutely beyond me that people pay for that stuff. I eat pretty much anything, but NOT blue cheese. It tastes like vomit.

[Passadumkeg]

Isn't it funny? We seem to fall into 2 general categories.. Those who refuse to eat historical, real food, no matter how "offal" and those who refuse to eat modern American processed "ersatz" food, because it isn't "real food". What is the divide? Age? Demography? Regionalism? Economics?
Ethnicity? Political party affiliation? Musical tastes?

[mamachef]

for me, the only "politicking" comes in when I'm deciding; is that going into Mama's mouth, or not? I'll try pretty much anything. I do prefer an informed decision. Which is why I'm sitting her forking up some of my neighbor Nanny's deep-fried chitlins. I'm glad she made them at HER house instead of mine of mine, but they shore are mighty tasty!!Frank's Hot Sauce!! Yeah!!

[michele cindy]

I'd eat anything fried. Well except goat cheese, That would cost someone about $40.00 to get me to do it.

[Passadumkeg]

I just found a place w/ chciharone (chitlin?) burritos w/ a real spicy green chile sauce. Yum, heart-stoppingly good.

[onceadaylily]

36
Middle child of the working parent with 2.5 in tow fame, who fled the homestead with the bloom of youth making of the world a rosy glow
Midwest
Unemployed, but yet still safe
American mongrel, French/Native/a bit of English/German
Undeclared
I can't imagine the one music I would not listen to, even for money. Okay, I don't like raw onions, but I *would* eat them for a fiver.

Upon examination, I think raw onions are equate how I fell about polka. Which does call into play many of the factors you have listed.

[Passadumkeg]

"Beer Barrel Polka"? "In Heaven There Is No Beer", "Who Stole the Kishka", "Sunrise Over the Tavern"?
I eat for a lot of old 1 9 friends and I eat it all.

Carpe chow!

[liangcha]

There are very few things that I cannot eat or will not eat. I believe in the simple: "if someone made it with their very own hands then I must at least try it once" and yes I have tried some weird things once but never thought that I disliked them just never thought anything about it. cover it with soy sauce or some other sauce and I will bet you that you could not tell the difference between rabbit and chicken or dog and beef.

[alliegator]

Tuna from a can. That smell just absolutely makes me sick. You can't disguise that crap in any salad or casserole. Just, words fail me....
And you'd have to threaten me with bodily harm to taste dog meat. While I repect that it is okay in some cultures, for me personally, it's just way wrong.

[buttertart]

Hooray hooray hooray, I am completely with you on this one.

[linguafood]

When I recently made tuna salad for my man. I threw away the first can b/c I thought it had gone bad. The smell was just awful. When I opened the second can and it smelled the same, I realized that's what it's 'supposed' to smell like. Ugh.

Quickly mashed it up with Duke's mayo, lemon juice, celery salt, fresh chopped celery, s&p, and voilá - pretty damn edible.

But yeah, that odor from the can is really, really, really bad.

[alliegator]

Haha, I got home a few hours early from a trip a while back and walked into the place to find my man trying to like dry fry a can of the stuff. I think I would have been less angry to catch him with another woman, the smell was that bad.
There is now a strict "no canned tuna" policy in place.

[Oran Tarlin]

Marmite. Vegemite. Whatever you want to call it... Never again. NEVER AGAIN.

I actually have a list of five of these, because I normally think all food is infallible, and you have to like everything, but I leave 5 exceptions:

Marmite, obviously
Manicotti
Macaroons (the coconut variety, not the French sandwich cookies)
Paella (Which even I know I should love, there's nothing there to make me less than adore it... but god... it's horrible, nothing makes me sicker, no clue why, it's not the saffron)
I'm leaving this fifth one open in case I go on my long speal about food being infallible and someone is able to prove me wrong with something I can't stomach.

In what I think must be some kind of masochistic self torture, I've eaten all of these foods multiple times, at the insistance of people saying "it's the best" and they have failed. Other foods I've hated, but found their good qualities, this remain damned forever.

[Pzz]

Cloves. The smell and taste are both repulsive to the point of being extremely nauseating. And those nasty little things are in almost everything during the Thanksgiving to Christmas season. They're in everything from incense to potpourri to herbal tea to pumpkin pie and on and on. I hate, hate, hate, hate, hate clove.

[chefathome]

I can think of very few things I wouldn't try - sure, there are things I would prefer not to eat again (i.e. Spam, wieners, mortadella, pickled pig's feet, leutefisk, durian, eyeballs) but I am very adventurous and love to learn more about various cultures through their food. Not too keen on trying rotten shark but would take a bite. I would try Argan oil (goat dung oil), edible bird's nests, and plump grubs (likely just once!). There is one thing that would give me difficulty - Casu Frazigu or rotten maggot cheese - it literally teems with maggots. You can actually hear them moving from several feet away. But back to regular fare - I seem to dislike mainly processed "meat".

[michele cindy]

So glad I didn't eat breakfast before that one!

[wrldsworstcook]

I'd have to jump aboard the "egg train" too! I'm right there with BeeZee on the gag factor...especially the yolks of hard boiled eggs! (Although it's a close call between eggs and creamy/dairy-based products like pudding, cream cheese, yogurt, etc.)

[kaleokahu]

My dad had a slaughterhouse and a packing plant when I was growing up, so I ate just about everything that makes a cow--or bull--bovine. But the one thing I could never eat was kidney. Something about the texture makes it squeak against your teeth when you bite down. Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!

[Basiorana]

I would eat most things for money, except for human flesh. It would take a lot of money for me to eat otoro because I know how horribly endangered it is and I know that when bluefins go extinct I would feel personally responsible for that bite-- and then all the money I got would probably go to conservation to feel better about it. Same thing for something like tiger or another endangered species, but otoro is the only one I would practically be offered.

I strongly dislike octopus (erasers! erasers with suckers!), raw oysters (love them cooked), extremely hot peppers like ghost peppers (painful even in small doses), and truffles (yes I have had really high quality truffles when I was in Tuscany, they taste like pig shit smells), but I could be paid to do it. Ghost peppers, though, I would need a pint of plain unsweetened yogurt to chase it. It HURTS to eat those.

I would be grossed out by brains, eyeballs, and anything that was served to me live, like drunken shrimp, live mice, or fish that are cut up in front of me, but would eat them if I was being paid a LOT. And honestly the aversion to brains has to do with prion diseases and the aversion to eyeballs is because I had to dissect sheep eyeballs in school and I can still smell the formaldehyde when I think of them. And the vitreous humor squirting on my lab coat. Ew. Those are the only things I wouldn't try without money or threat of international incident though.

[michele cindy]

Another one, venison - $35.00 to taste it.

[LorenM]

Some of these answers aren't very CHish. There is NOTHING I wouldn't eat. Especially if I hadn't tried it before, was safe and something people actually ate as food somewhere. There are some things I really choose not to eat because I don't care for them very much (black licorice, for one) but nothing so awful I absolutely refuse to eat it even for free (like if someone said "I have this really good black licorice", I would want to taste it.). I really like almost everything- some things I just like more than others. I would even try that weird maggot cheese and balut if I had the opportunity, some seal blubber- no problem. I have also been known to buy really cheap off-brands of canned gunk from the dollar store at certain times in my life and never really come across anything I wouldn't eat if I was starving.

[jvanderh]

I think the question was meant sort of tongue-in-cheek, the OP asked what you wouldn't eat for $25. I think we'd all eat a lot of things if we were starving.

[michele cindy]

Thanks jvanderh, you are correct. I wasn't looking for anything that would be challenging or fear factorish, that would be a whole other post.

[Phoebe]

I could NEVER eat veal. Not even for $10,000!!! I know many love it, but just can't get past the "ethical" personal issue for me. Not judging...just saying....

[Isobel_A]

Mushrooms. I can't stand them. It's not the taste, it's the texture - if I'm fed them at a dinner party or something I always cut them up small enough to swallow without chewing and try and do it unotrusively. Ick.

[Japanecdote]

I'm a pretty picky eater, but I'm usually able to at least eat a bite of thing before declaring it inedible. There's probably a lot of things that I wouldn't even be able to get close to my mouth without gagging, but one in particular comes to mind...

In Japan it's called Shirako, according to Wikipedia it's also known as milt. It's basically fish sperm. I've never had it, but according to some lady friends, and trying not to be too vulgur... it isn't dissimilar from the human version.

Ugh. I think that would be grounds for vomiting on the spot.

[Sensuous]

My sister-in-law would love Shirako. Trying not to be too vulgar, she's quite fishy herself.

[loveballet101]

tuna. the smell of tuna, especially a tuna salad sandwich (since i hate mayo as well) makes me gag...maybe i'd take a bit for $100, but it would probably depend on my mood at the time

[caseygirl]

skim milk powder - that was our milk when we were kids... still remember mixing it up for breakfast cereal...i think mom could have just bought regular milk, and saved on the sugar...us kids added so much - to kill the taste... the smell even. gack...!

[SeaotterJr]

Raw onions, cilantro, buttercream icing and edamame!

[Ned_Detroit]

Almost any organ meats but especially brains and sweetbreads, tried sweetbreads once and the tast and texture were both horribly gag inducing. I also LOATHE most fungus and especially hate portabello mushrooms. Runny eggs aren't too appetizing nor are oversized beefsteak tomatoes which taste like rot to me. I would enjoy a salad with fresh coriander and goat cheese about now though;)

[woodleyparkhound]

The question is "What's The One Thing You Can't Eat, even for money." There are lots of things I'd rather not eat and a few that would gag me to eat, but if someone was seriously going to pay me to eat something, there is nothing I wouldn't eat! I would just hold my nose so I wouldn't taste it, then drink a lot afterward.

[crowmuncher]

me too... i was just going to ask- How much money are we talking here? Many of the foods in this thread seem quite negotiable.

[mickie44]

Reminds me of the old joke -- we've already established you're a (Chowhound), now we're just negotiating.

[crowmuncher]

are you calling me a food whore mickie? ;)

[mickie44]

After thinking of many polite answers in denial of that fact, my final answer is...yup.

[mickie44]

And I can say that in all innocence because I am one too. There isn't anything I wouldn't do...for food.

[pamelak52]

Applesauce. Revolting.

[John E.]

I understand your distaste for applesauce out of a jar such as Mussleman's, but what abkut homemade applesauce? Do you dislike that as well? My mother made the best applesauce. It was chunky with cinammon and nutmeg and not too sweet.

[pamelak52]

Good question - I made applesauce for my daughter sometimes and I find it to be alright. Perhaps it's the canning process that does something - part of the reason I made her baby food is that I find the smell of canned/jarred pureed food revolting. None of this crunchy "no processed food past my baby's lips" stuff...

[Acantha]

It's a toss-up between chipped beef and that awful sausage gravy people eat on biscuits. *gag*

[PantryandFridge]

I haven't really found anything that repulses me yet. Although I have not traveled a lot, so that might be the reason.... I can think of things I would not want to eat, but given the opportunity for money??? Who knows.... a lot of fun things to read on this topic.
Thanks for the post.

[Delucacheesemonger]

natto!

[Pzz]

Raw squid - absolutely disgusting, sort of like fish flavored chewing gum. And it seems like such a waste since cooked squid can be so good.
Tomato Soup - I'll eat tomatoes any other way happily, but tomato soup nauseates me. Sickly sweet with a repellant textural "feel".
Tequiza - yes it's a beverage, but it deserves a mention for being the only alcoholic drink I threw away half-finished. Offensive in so many ways & tastes like really bad, stale beer served from an old tequila bottle.

[Passadumkeg]

Pulque!

[Puffin3]

cottage ch....................................... sorry I had to go throw up even typing out the words.

[Munkipawse]

I'm right there with you Puffin3. My Mom would eat bowls of that stuff whenever she'd kick off a new diet... I used to gag when i'd see it on the dinner table. :-P

[michele cindy]

That brought back a ton of memories. "My Mom would eat bowls of that stuff whenever she'd kick off a new diet" - mine did the same!

[John E.]

My mother used to say only overweight people ate cottage cheese (occasionally she was one of them, although as a kid I never thought she was heavy).

[The Professor]

I felt the same way about it...until my college years, when a raging case of the "munchies" prompted me to actually _taste_ the stuff. ;-)

Been hooked on it ever since! (especially Friendship brand)

[kristina_kim]

Fish and almost all seafood. I can't stand the taste, the smell, or the texture. Whenever I smell raw fish it makes me want to gag, and cooked fish is just as bad, which is a real shame because I love fishing. I can stand being in the sun all day, the salty sea air, and I don't get seasick, but the smell is wretched. Any time I try to eat it I gag really hard.

I never eat mayonnaise and almost every single cream sauce. The last time I had mayo on a sandwich I felt sick for a week.

The worst part about not liking certain foods is that everyone around you is always poking at you and trying to get you to eat it, which I hate.

[MoxieLouise]

I used to work at a deli counter in a grocery store...souse (ugh!). I don't know what it's made of but every time I had to slice it for customers (usually senior citizens) I would get ill. Even the name is gross. Souse.

[vestalis]

Potted meat. My mother used to eat it smeared on white bread with miracle whip, ugh. Smells like cat food, looks like cat food, comes out of a can like cat food. No can do.

[visciole]

People.

[Munkipawse]

Ha-ha Viscole. Took me a minute to comprehend your answer.... I totally agree. I dont think i'd ever be that hungry. When i watched the movie ALIVE thats all i could think about... Having to make such a bleak choice in a horrific situation.

[michele cindy]

Have you tried soylent green?

[dianne0712]

Any kind of fish or seafood and- even worse- raw tomatoes! I once spat a taco over a out 7 rows of people in a movie theater because my friend forgot Ihate them and I couldn't see in the dark.

[huiray]

Even if you detested raw tomatoes, I find it somewhat disturbing you had to spew your taco bits out over 7 rows worth of folks in a movie theater.

[Blythe spirit]

Organ meats ( though I'll eat a pate that has lots of cream cheese mixed in
Escargot
Rabbit
Pale flabby chicken skin
Any soup with unidentified bits of mystery meat
Papaya ( the smell does me in)
Uni - a college boyfriend offered me $200 in cash to eat some and I said 'no'
Eggnog
It's funny how tastes change though. As I child, I loathed raw tomatoes and cilantro ( which I thought tasted like burned plastic) - now I love both.
Any banana 'flavored' candy etc.

[John E.]

If someone offered you $200 cash to eat a banana popsicle, would you eat it?

I would eat everything on your list for some amount of money. But I loathe cilantro, don't often eat raw tomatoes, never had the opportunity to eat uni (I would), have often eaten soup as you described, try to avoid flabby skin, chicken or otherwise, I eat rabbit and if I had any gumption I would go shoot some snowshoe hares in the winter and have never eaten escargot, but in the right French restaurant, I would try themas well.

[huiray]

Have you (and Blythe spirit) ever had Hainanese Chicken Rice? :-)

[John E.]

Is this a trick question because it is a great dish that has flabby chicken skin? If so, I'd try it and would likely enjoy it.

[huiray]

Yes, it's a poached/boiled chicken with flabby skin. When properly done, it would also have a thin layer of gelatin between the skin and the flesh, with the skin separated from the flesh. The chicken is accompanied by rice cooked using chicken broth and chicken fat, as well as various specific sauces. A popular dish in SE Asia. Considered by some as the 'National Dish' of Singapore. Available in various Malaysian/Singaporean/"SE Asian" or "SE Asian"-influenced restaurants in the USA and the UK amongst various Western countries. Decent/reasonable versions readily achievable by home cooks anywhere.

Google "Hainanese chicken rice" for more.

[John E.]

I did the search before I wrote my reply. I would still likely enjoy the dish better if after the preparation the skin is removed from the chicken and put onto the flat top with a back press to make it crispy and then returned to the dish. Of course, that would be violating all kinds of rules and traditions in Singapore. A restauranteur in Singapore would probably get 50 lashes with a cane for cooking such a dish however.

[huiray]

Yes, that restauranteur would get raked over the coals. Still, one of the Malay versions makes it into roast chicken, which you probably would like better. (Note: "Malay" refers to one of the ethnic groups in the region; and is not the same as "Malaysian") Hainanese chicken rice within the Chinese communities in Malaysia and Singapore and elsewhere would expect the chicken to have the rubbery/flabby skin and the gelatin layer. If you had the chance to eat this dish, it might be an idea to try it as-is - you might find you like it after all, and find the totality of all the parts including said flabby skin to be the appropriate combination.

Oh, if you did what you proposed with the chicken skin you would get a flavorful dish too, but it is no longer "Hainanese Chicken Rice" (and the chicken also could not be alternatively thought of as "pak chit kai" or "pak cham kai")

[Blythe spirit]

Never even heard of that..

[huiray]

See above.

[Blythe spirit]

I could probably tolerate a banana Popsicle for $200. But that would be the least objectionable thing on the list. I wouldn't eat Uni for $2000.

[John E.]

Is it because uni is often eaten raw or because it is gonads?

[Blythe spirit]

Because of the unappetizing yellow brown color, , the sqiggly gelatinous and slimy quality -AND the fact that it is a weird, raw sea creature.

[John E.]

I have never eaten uni but I have seen so many TV chefs eat it and rave about it on television that if I were in the right location, meaning where it is harvested, I would like to try it at least twice, once raw with just lemon and then sauteed with scrambled eggs.

(I thought maybe the fact that uni is actually gonads and not roe as most everyone assumes is what skeeved you out).

[RUK]

Re uni - I had picked up some uni at the Sushi counter ( Hmart) and didn't care that much for the texture. Then we were on vacation in Iceland last Summer and took a Dinner cruise to see Puffins. At one point a basket was lowered into the water and scraped over the bottom. The whole stuff was dumped on a table- unedible/not suitable creatures were thrown back into the water and then mainly Scallops and Urchins were opened and cleaned on the spot. Never mind Dinner later, these Appetizers were the most delicious seafood bites. ( Dinner was yummy too...)I include some pictures - the red Urchins were thrown back and we ate the greyish ones.
There is no comparison between that stuff one can pick up at a Sushi place and this incredibly delicious uni fresh out of the cool waters. (And the raw scallops were the best I have ever eaten, truly.)