Foods that unreasonably gross you out...

[thursday]

Yes, a lot of it's cultural (many cultures eat feet and heads, for instance, while I'm sure most Americans would be grossed out by that) but I'm talking about the ones to which you yourself have an unreasonable response - you know you're being irrational, but you just can't help retch a little.

We butterflied a chicken and roasted it for dinner the other night. The oven rack was too high so the top got cooked but the meat closer to the bone was still quite pink, so we popped the undercooked stuff into the fridge to cook it up in a stir-fry the next night. We feed our dog raw food, so I butcher raw chicken on a daily basis, but somehow, ripping away the half-cooked flesh from the bones was SO much more revolting. I almost had to wait for my husband to get home from work to finish the job as it was making me sick to my stomach. Spam is the other one for me. I literally got sick once because a roommate watched a Dateline special on a man who ate nothing but spam for a year - seeing his pancake-shaped breakfast spam and his turkey-shaped Thanksgiving spam sent me racing to the bathroom to retch. Seeing spam advertised at the Burger King's in Hawai'i instantaneously made me lose my appetite on the way to our restaurant.

Don't get me wrong - I'm not judging someone else loving Spam. I have no idea why I have such a visceral reaction. I've never even tried the stuff! But it got me curious as to what other people's instant turn-offs were. Anyone else out there as crazy as I am?

[Mal_Carne]

Love this thread and I'm glad to know that I'm not the only one that is completely grossed out by certain foods. Here's my list:

1. Soggy bread anything. I find bread pudding and stuffing to be in the same category of evil. I love Reuben sandwiched but I can never order them to go and I have to request that the sauerkraut and corned beef are put on the flattop to dry a little bit so they won't make the bread soggy. Oddly enough, I will use a piece of good crusty bread to get the last little bit of a good sauce. I think it has to do with the bread still having its crunch in the crust compared to completely soggy and tasting horrible.

2. Fish. I can't stand cooked freshwater or saltwater fish. I think it tastes the same way that canned cat food smells, no matter what you do it prepare it. I think that catfish, wild or farm raised, tastes like muddy river water. However, fresh sushi rolls I do like. The fish just has a clean taste to it, no cat food taste. Have to draw the line at nigiri style sushi, too much fish. Love all manners of shellfish though.

3. Creamed corn. Absolutely disgusting with a fake sweet taste that I can't describe. Real ears of sweet corn that have been just picked are great.

4. Lastly, probably my most hated, RANCH DRESSING!!!! This stuff is an abomination to the cooking world. I think that the seventh layer of hell that Dante wrote about has a ranch dressing fountain in it. It may be one of the signs of the apocalypse. Seriously, it has such a strong smell and taste that it kills the taste of whatever food you are eating. Why would you do that to vegetables, or pizza, or fries, or ice cream, or whatever you ranch dressing fans put it on? Why? When I was in school, the cafeteria food was so bad that other kids would drown their pizza or fries in cheap Sysco ranch dressing. The resulting smell? Hot, nasty, ranch dressing.

That's all I've got for now.

[Florida Hound]

During fraternity pledging, if I can give away a long-guarded secret from a disbanded college fraternity, the "brothers" washed my hair with garlic. End of any use for garlic in or on anything. Can't even smell it if the Italian Restaurant or Pizzaria has too much of it in the air.

[Kholvaitar]

I have never tried or ever will try a Cake Pop.

I don't like the idea of them or how they are made.
(Perfectly good cake mashed up with frosting, rolled into a ball and stuck on the end of a stick)--
THIS may be thought of as unreasonable.

I'm serious.

[Sal Vanilla]

Tapioca pudding. BLAH! It is the most vile thing on earth. Maybe even the universe.

The smell of cooking liver actually triggers my gag reflex.

Sea urchin. I refuse.

[iL Divo]

anything called "fries" that are "protein" and ordinarily hang 'lo' I'll pass on......blech

[hill food]

divo - that type does sound weird, but are actually quite good

[Bill Hunt]

Monkey brains, served in the cranial cavity, is one.

Hunt

[Sal Vanilla]

That is not at all unreasonable. I saw that on "Faces of Death" way back when I was a sick and perverted kid (as opposed to my more refined adult perverted self) and it still haunts me.

[BuildingMyBento]

Why does it have to be unreasonable?
Anyway, I've never enjoyed the durian, in any form it takes on. But the biggest shock was my inability to finish a glass of cucumber juice.

[Lyricals]

Oh my. I don't think I have any unreasonable gross-outs, as I'll eat pretty much everything, nothing that raises any mouth-phobias. There is one thing that I'm actually creeped out by in the kitchen though, and that is..

the way a roasted head of garlic looks. All those holes, the pattern, it creeps me out. I hate the way it looks and I never want to touch it. I don't know why. Kind of the way looking at lotus makes my skin crawl. Eww.

[Willa]

A wicked grin is slowly forming......

I know a couple of excellent reasons why you don't like the way a roasted head of garlic looks with the top sliced off. Chuckle, chuckle. I had never thought about it this way.

A roasted head of garlic with its top sliced off looks and behaves like one of two things:

a. I can't say but its initials are P. W. and some people use Compound W to get it off. In other cases, a visit to the podiatrist, possibly surgery, is required.

b. I can't say but it starts with a W and this would be a nasty cluster of them. Teenagers enjoy playing with them before a mirror.

Think about it.

I'm not squeemish and I still love roasted garlic, so I apologize if I have crossed the line for anyone.

Ewwwwwwwwwww! LOL!

Willa

[MaxSeven]

Thus the core reason for food aversion disorder - hallucinations of the senses.

What about fresh figs or pomegranates? All those pockets in the pom and the fibrous vessels of the fig. I'm sure those could be compared to alien organs, or some kind of cancerous growth. The roasted garlic is like puss bulbs? HA ha ha! That is truly crazed.

It's just nonsense. I don't understand why people let their minds wander to the point of being repulsed.

[Lyricals]

It's nothing to do with what it could possibly remind one of. I'm a nursing student and nothing I see grosses me out. It's the cluster of holes that I find strangely weird. Every time I see a picture of it I wince. Like I just don't like it, I can't explain it, but this did ask for unreasonable things, so I did my best :)

[Willa]

Oh MaxSeven, I wasn't repulsed at all, I was laughing at my own juvenile humor and for the first time, I could see the comparisons. I'm sure I'm way off the mark and my comments don't belong in a serious adult conversation. But we were having fun. Or maybe I was the only one guilty of having fun. Sometimes I blurt out things that people only think but then think better of saying. It may be nonsense, but I bet there are contemporary artists who would draw the comparisons and use them as a shocking subject.

[MaxSeven]

True..true.

[RosePearl]

My darling husband loves SPAM. I find it so nasty, that the very smell of it makes me cry.

[gmm]

I actually love spam and egg musubi. Something about the combo of the rice, egg, nori, and sweet/salty fried spam just works. But my dad will just plop the spam right out of the can and slice it up and slap it on bread and eat it cold, and that makes me cringe

[GraceW]

I just tried Popcorn Indiana's Bacon Ranch popcorn--the bacon flavoring really grossed me out.

[glowworm]

I don't like boiled eggs at all--but that is a normal "I don't like the way this tastes/feels" thing. Mayo, on the other hand, I am trying to sneak up on because I actually like it in a lot of things but I just don't like the idea of it. So I've gotten to like aioli and spicy mayonnaises and similar things so I am becoming more tolerant over time. I think it probably stemmed from some super gloppy tuna salad I had when I was little -- whatever, it's irrational.

[hetook]

O.K. It's time to put a CAP on this thread. Who can beat the PLEACENTA or AFTERBIRTH of your friend's 2nd child? Definitely GROSS but maybe not unreasonable. One popped out in front of me, while I was witnessing an AMAZING water-birth a couple years ago. It was like an like an alien being with tons of veins and gushing,reddish,clear fluid. I know this thing is full of iron and to eat such a rare occurance is in some rare (hippy) circles an honour. This is were I'll have to say... pass. p.s. nobody at the birth was about to do this.

[hill food]

that has always seemed to be more symbolic/spiritual than truly beneficial for the immediate witnesses. better to donate it for research if that's an option. ehh each their own (not me thx)

[hetook]

you got it.

[TheHuntress]

I've examined too many placentas to consider this. But people seem to have a bizarre attachment to their placenta - most seem to use them to bury in the garden and plant a tree over.

[hetook]

good one.

[fancynancypants]

Not sure if this has been mentioned yet, but barbecue sauce! I just can't stand the smell of it. As a camp counselor, we eat our meals family style, and my campers know that no BBQ sauce is allowed near Nancy! And BBQ restaurants, I just can't do it. Ick.

[fldhkybnva]

runny egg yolks...I can't stand to watch people sop up that gooey, yellow substance with whatever bread product they happened to have handy.

[Jay F]

+1,000,000. Vile. Disgusting.

[nikkib99]

That's funny. I actually soft boil my eggs - runny yolks and all - to use over a salad... ONLY on salads though. I'm not into dressing so the yolk, drizzle of olive oil and pepper is my version of a dressing over arugula.

[fldhkybnva]

My stomach had an awful instantaneous reaction to the thought of runny egg yolk as salad dressing though my brain admits that that is quite creative indeed. Different strokes for different folks, that's what makes this place interesting.

[hill food]

ehh it's a more hygienic version of a caesar really (the brief boiling)

[sunshine842]

poached/soft-boiled eggs are delicious as a salad "dressing -- or as an addition to a vinagrette -- the egg mixes with the vinaigrette -- yum.

[Tovflu]

It took me a while to think of a really big one but its finally come to me: McDonald's hamburgers. And not for the reasons most people would think...

I decided a while back to buy some bone marrow and try to prepare it. I don't know if I did so properly or not. It was very rich and tasted decent, but it was strange in that one moment I was like 'Okay, the richness is too much.' and I wanted to push it away but I, stupidly, ate a bit more. Long story short: Violently, almost hospital-worthy, ill later on in the night. Puking and tremors and on the bathroom floor for hours. Now, I work next to a Mcdonalds. For whatever reason the smell of those burgers smells -exactly- like the bone marrow cooking to me. Every time I smell it I get a bit nauseous and lose all appetite. And while I'd -like- to try bone marrow again, prepared in an actual restaurant setting, that will most likely not happen.

[Willa]

Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha.....Tovflu, your comments made me want to start comparing food poisoning stories and I immediately thought, hey, I should start a new thread. On July 3, 2001, I got food poisoning eating tiny egg rolls at a great Thai restaurant in Chicago. I knew there was an off taste when I ate them. About six hours later, I was driving home from the city, about 10 miles from home, when out of nowhere I felt sick and started projectile vomiting like a scene in the Exorcist. The only thing I could do (I was on the expressway!) was aim for the floor of the passenger seat. I was a living fire hose! When I had a chance, I called my husband at home, sobbing, and told him to be ready I was unbelievably sick. Somehow, I didn't get in an accident and made it home. I staggered out of the car, crying. My husband, dismayed, was ready with buckets and rags. He took one look inside the car and wanted to drive it into the lake. Ha, ha, ha. I got to get in bed. He cleaned the car. He is one of the few people I know who will end up in heaven, if there is one.
To the chagrin of my family, I tell this story every Thanksgiving when the subject of food poisoning comes up. I never take chances (except that I will eat an unwashed grape in the store and I insist on stuffing the turkey despite the risk).
I still eat Thai egg rolls and I love bone marrow. Sorry you have had such a bad experience, Tovflu.

[hill food]

yeah well, umm at 17 YO in HS, a friend silently puked down the window well of the backseat passenger door for a good 40 minutes as I drove and the others KNEW what was going on. I had no clue.

THAT was a pain to clean, had to pull apart the door panel from the interior. The smell of MD 20-20 repels me to this day. will not even use it as a glaze for a pork roast on a dare.

[sunshine842]

geez. Too bad you couldn't make the others take the door apart. What jerks!

[hill food]

out of the three, one went successfully to rehab a few years later and cut off her trigger friends (understandable), one I maintain sporadic contact, and the guilty party is MIA and can stay there (this is not the place to spell out the whole story).

[sunshine842]

in which case, it sounds like the door was the prize! (the door prize, you might say. ahem.)

[jes7o]

There are a few of things I just don't like much (tomatoes, beets, green peppers, meat)...but the only thing that I just will not put anywhere near my mouth, ever...is Miracle Whip. Semen of Satan.....

[MaxSeven]

I have no unreasonable aversion to any foods that are common in american (and others) culture. Nothing grosses me out, although I obviously have a collection of foods that I don't prefer, but can eat with no problem. If we were to stray into the fringe food arena or different cultures foods, like tree grubs, insects, brains, tripe, etc. then yes, I would have an initial revolt. I think with some training though, I could grow to like these foods over time though.

[PenskeFan]

Chickpeas, and anything that is made with chickpeas. To a lesser extent any food with chickpeas or that has touched chickpeas or has been too close to chickpeas, or that may have been infected with the essence of chickpea.

Never had fresh chickpeas or fried, etc, just the nasty canned ones. The texture reminds me of an earthworm I once bit on a bet as a kid (during the week we were reading the book "how to eat fried worms" in class , or shortly thereafter lol )

[lilpixy]

raw onion, I can eat it all day long when its sauteed or breaded like onion rings but raw is out of the question....cabbage, in ANY form, dehydrated lipton soup mom used to make mugs of it for us to drink when we were sick (uggghhh) bread and butter pickles and anything artificially grape flavored. oh, and miracle whip I'm a mayo girl all the way.

[Burghfeeder]

This is easy...LIVER! Yuk! My girlfriend really likes it, but if she orders it at a restaurant, I have a hard time sitting with her. I know it's silly, but I can't help it.

http://burghfeeding.blogspot.com/

[MRS]

cottage cheese makes me want to vomit...and our dog has to eat it w/ her food every day. it is so disgusting to me. i have felt this way ever since I was a little kid. egg salad- smells like rot to me. can't even handle being near someone eating it. and, chopped liver- can't even go there...

[PenskeFan]

I dont like the smell or taste of egg salad, macaroni salad or potato salad. Turns out they aren't all that good for me anyhow , so that is a win win lol

Also - DO NOT put pickles or celery bits in my tuna salad. I stopped ordering tuna sammiches at restaurants because of this unwelcome addition.

[ellabakes]

There aren't many things that just gross me out; personal dislikes, of course but not much that I just can't be near but tripe. Oh my good and holy God. The look is bad enough but the smell! *retch*

And oysters or any other food that looks like I might've been able to sneeze it. Yuck.

I do have to say though that it took me a LONG time to get ok with eggs again after I learned what it was I was eating. My daughter devours them like nothing else (especially duck, soft boiled with asparagus dunkers) but sometimes I still can't stomach them. And hard boiled is just beyond evil.

As an aside: for years I've wondered what root beer was, but I think it must be like our dandelion and burdock? It's not bad, but I don't drink lots of fizzy juice. Maybe a 2 litre bottle a year or so? It just gives me a sore belly.

[sunshine842]

it's along the line of dandelion and burdock, but it's not the same thing.

Trying to describe the taste of root beer is sort of like trying to describe dandelion and burdock....really, really difficult.

[cariqunyil]

Malted milk balls. Some things I like less than others, but only these truly make me want to puke. I like malt in beer just fine, or chocolate covered anything for that matter...but malted milk balls have this horrid, rotten putrid taste that I just can't get over. Usually I can taste them for days afterward.

Even ground up and put in a cake, milkshake, etc. I can't handle them. I have hated them from the first time I tried them since I was a kid, and I have tried hard to like them.

What kills me is that people consider these things to be a tasty DESSERT or snack??? I think if they were the only things left on the planet to eat, I would rather starve to death.

I've only met one other person who feels the same way about them that I do. Must be a unique taste bud receptor? I will pretty much eat anything else.

[sunshine842]

do you drink malted milkshakes made with malt powder (not malted milk balls)?

Just curious -- we all like what we like, and don't like what we don't like -- just wondering.

[cariqunyil]

I've only had one malted milkshake in my life...let's just say that I will never have another one. Even the thought gives me the heaves.

[sunshine842]

fair enough - just curious whether it was the malt itself, or something tied to the chocolate-coated balls.

[kubasd]

They taste rotten to me, too. like spoiled milk!

[elenacampana]

Well, while I don't consider it unreasonable, some folks would: I am truly grossed out by artificial sweetener. The only thing I can compare it with is the sick -making smell of Bounce wafting over the neighbor's back fence on laundry day.

[hill food]

in order:
sensuous - I can't wait in line by a rotisserie of which I shall never indulge. it's oppressive like a winter classroom in my 19th c. built elementary school (over) heated by steam. roasting in my own kitchen is one thing. but in the market it just raises the questions of "how long was that on there? and what is on it?" and "can we just get away from here"

asalt - make jerky yourself - it's good. the commercial stuff is well ...that's best left for stoners circa 1985. if it's yours you can even use salmon and play around with all sorts of factors, there are good ones on the recipe boards here on CH I've tried some.

elena - I. too. hate that fake scent and have been known to "disappear" certain oily candles and those auto-misters. or at least turned the electric ones 'off'

[Jay F]

elena: "the sick -making smell of Bounce wafting over the neighbor's back fence on laundry day."

+62,000,000. I think of it as the neighborhood-air-ruining stench of Bounce.

[sandylc]

ME, TOO!

[Jay F]

I've noticed we have some of the same loves and hates, Sandy.

[sandylc]

Twins separated at birth?

[Jay F]

Could be. Who knows?

[asaltandbuttery]

Beef Jerky. Have never even been able to try it.

[Sensuous]

I could never eat a crawfish. They used to crawl up my driveway after a heavy rain and a few would occasionally get stuck in the garage and scare the daylights out of me. This was in South Carolina.
I can't work with a whole raw chicken even though I have no problem with chicken pieces. The whole bird makes me woozy feeling. I don't like to see those chickens in markets riding round and around on a rotisserie either.

[dvsndvs]

Read the whole post, can I really be the only one who is grossed out by bananas?

[sandylc]

Yes. :-}

[Terrieltr]

I don't like them, but they don't rise to the level of grossed out.

[TheHuntress]

You are not alone! My husband thinks it's hilarious to chase me around the house with a banana skin while I shriek and cry for mercy. The smell alone makes me retch, which is interesting really, considering I'm a nurse and am perfectly fine with all of the horrors that can be expelled from a human body. Odd.

[Jay F]

I'm not "grossed out" by bananas; I like them in recipes (banana bread, bananas Foster, recently an Elvis-inspired chocolate/peanut butter/banana bread pudding). But I find a banana difficult to eat unless I have a big glass of water to help me swallow it, as it gets so pasty when chewed.

[hill food]

but what if it was Foster Brooks wearing a pair of Foster Grants chasing you around the house wielding a banana with a greasy black peel? (sorry Dr. Seuss, but hey it's the holiday season and a certain level of 70's revival is au courant)

[Jay F]

hill food: "but what if it was Foster Brooks wearing a pair of Foster Grants chasing you around the house wielding a banana with a greasy black peel?"

Huh?

[hill food]

I should have hit the "reply" tab on The Huntress' remark regarding an aversion to bananas.

would have made far more sense. oops.

[TheHuntress]

No dice. Even with my current disabling crush on Jeremy Renner I wouldn't even let him catch me if he was chasing me around the house, wearing little more than strategically placed tinsel, brandishing a banana peel.

But I get chased around clubs by drunks quite regularly. Had a great time in a Jazz bar last weekend. Or alternatively I'll be the drunk doing the chasing, sans banana peel, of course.

[hill food]

I see I have to get all didactic and spoil the humor intended. not the first time.

Foster Grant - brand name of cheesy, tinted sunglasses.
Foster Brooks - best known as a seemingly intoxicated comedic 'personality' seen mostly on 70's US talk and game shows (Match Game esp.) for drunken commentary.
'greasy black peel' a line from the xmas classic tribute to the redemption of the Grinch http://www.lyricsfreak.com/g/grinch/y...

so it was all about the idea of a nauseated Huntress being chased around the house by a harmless overweight and not very funny alcoholic in bad designer eyewear brandishing rotting produce. who can say what demonstrates 'Christmas' better?

wow people are touchy at his time of year (I am)

[TheHuntress]

Ah, I see LOL I did have to Google him, I'm not sure he's known as a personality in Oz. But now that you explain it he does sound suspisciously similar to my ex.

[Cheez62]

If it helps. I got all of the references, and I thought it was funny :-)

[AnnaBaptist]

Parmesan cheese - smells and tastes like vomit to me
Kale - the texture is revolting to me
Miracle Whip
Velveeta
Coconut - another texture thing
Bread without a crisp crust

[SimplyMarie]

Corned beef has always grossed me out..I admit that I've never tried it..but to me..it looks completely gross, raw or cooked. Ditto for corned beef hash...

[tracylee]

We never had corned beef growing up because when my Mom was growing up she had to fish the beef out of the brine and that grossed her out. Corned beef hash reminds me of canned dog food.

[buttertart]

Tasty canned dog food! When fried nice and crisp. Not keen on a whole corned beef cooked either, dislike the smell as it's cooking.

[Terrieltr]

The canned hash is nasty, but I like home made. It's a totally different dish.

[sandylc]

So true...I had a memorable corned beef hash at a very nice brunch recently. Large, tender chunks of braised corned beef topped with sauteed onions and potatoes, with roasted red pepper strips, poached eggs, and hollandaise. Not at all greasy, but far too large to do justice to!

[EWSflash]

Have I said risotto yet? I gag at the mention. Rice pudding, too. I love rive, brown, white, black, steamed but that's about it.

[Nayners]

Avocado, something about the consistency bothers me. My mom would have me slice them or smash them with a fork. I would have to turn my head while I smashed them. The sight and smell of fresh avocado makes me nauseated.

[alkapal]

i just want to tell you haters of knorr's spinach-veg dip in a bread bowl to…..BACK OFF! some of us out here have a fan club and we might be offended.

ps, once the dip is gone and the bread has absorbed the dip and it is squishy on the inside -- that, my friends, is one of the great things about the whole treat.

yeah…you just picture that……aaiiiieeee -- STUFF OF NIGHTMARES to you! what could be worse? seeing a spinach dip bread bowl on the street in times square, just as the sky is about to break open in torrents. it is WORSE than an impending drone attack. (i think i might write a song about this…or has that been done….oh, no….that was only a cake...and on the other coast).

oooh oooh, then imagine, seeing someone pick up the sodden bread bowl and then take off soggy chunks and drink a diet coke at the same time as he is eating them.

i feel the apocalypse coming on.

[lilgi]

food of the gods ;)

[alkapal]

ah yeah!

[lilgi]

the funny thing is that I grew up with it, it was the thing to have when we got together with friends. Now that I'm slowly trying to phase it out, my kids won't let me. I'm definitely okay with that!

[sandylc]

The wet bread thing puzzles me, too. As for the spinach dip, I think it is delicious, but I don't eat it because I feel like drinking a lakeful of water afterwards. Bad things in there - the deliciousness being the first clue!

[alkapal]

hey…. there ain't nothin' a few glutamates, dried vegetable flakes, mayo and salt can't solve!

[jmcarthur8]

alkapal, I absolutely HAD to read the bread bowl post to DH, and I was laughing so hard I could barely read it out loud.

"a cake.....and on the other coast"

But now I've got the damn song stuck in my head (thank you!), so I'm going to watch a couple episodes of 'The Layover' to get my mind out of the gutter in Times Square.

[nikkib99]

YUCK!!!!!!!!

[nikkib99]

That's hilarious!
I've always said I could never join the army or any group where keeping secrets is required. My God, you don't have to do much to torture me.

Just lay down the bread and liquid and I will sing like a bloody canary,

[FoodFuser]

Might all us experience
carving round loaf of bread
followed by insertion,
of best of our blend
of our dip of the spinach.

Then dredge of the bread
back to filled cavity....

Cain't nobody tell me
That such act
is not ecstasy.

[hetook]

FOUND ONE I've said this before..if i waz stuck on top of a mountain in Chile, I would eat anything but canned chicken?that's nuts. http://youtu.be/3-N1sYTyAMM8

[nikkib99]

Adulterated bread products - I will projectile vomit in less than 2 seconds. What's an adulterated bread product, you ask?

French toast
Bread pudding
Stuffing
Philly steak sandwiches that dip the bread in brown liquid
Croutons in my salad
Sandwiches made with anything that could potentially make them soggy - I'm talking to you, Mr Tomato.
Bread bowl soups - For the love of God, why???

COOKED ONIONS - I'm okay with fresh raw onions but the minute onions touch heat, I'm done. But you need onions to cook? I know, that's why God invented blenders. I pulverize them until I can no longer identify them.

Scallions, green onions, leeks - Any form of these - cooked or not - has no business on my plate.

FRENCH.ONION.SOUP - this belongs in the 7th realm of hell. I hate seeing cooked onions in my food and will always pick out every individual piece of onion. Imagine the horror when I'm presented with a bowl of cooked onions and a disgusting chunk of bread on it.

Anything that takes an innocent piece of bread and wets. I'm about to throw up even as I type this. Don't get me started

I love bread but like mine bone dry.

[hill food]

oh nikki you'd love that late 70's dill and sour cream dip in a scooped out round of rye surrounded by the removed chunks and half of it gets chucked in the trash later. BUT IT'S SO CLEVER!

waste of good ingredients. combined the flavors and textures are OK, however in those proportions?

[FoodFuser]

To speak of the rye bread, embedded with dill dip
Engenders the memories
of those times we had munchies.

[sandylc]

Around here it was spinach dip in the bread bowl.

[small h]

A favorite snack when my friends and I got together for ladies poker night. The gal that brung it called it "road kill," so as far as I'm concerned, that's its name.

[hill food]

I DO remember a spinach variation, you're right.

still a sad waste. appetizers should not be served as a buffet item.

[nikkib99]

You're really trying to kill me, aren't you - LOL. The bread is going to get wet - sour cream leaks liquid and by the time it sits out for a while, it's going to be so gross.

Let me further explain my bread issues.
I never order pre-made sandwiches. NEVER.
Each time I order a freshly-made sandwich, I have to eat it quickly just in case.
Don't be shocked if you see me pull out bits of bread because I think that section is now soggy.
Bread in a trash can? OMG - that's enough to keep me within a 50ft distance from that trash can. What if someone dumps something in there that could get the bread moist. And please, no bread in my garbage disposal.
I don't do breakfast dishes - someone could have eaten bread and left a tiny piece that could get soggy.

LOL

It goes on and on.

[Jay F]

I agree with you if the wet bread is cold. I had a sloppily made corned beef sandwich the other day, and I had to return it because the bread was wet on the outside. How was I supposed to pick it up?

And OMG, have you ever eaten tres leches cake...cold, wet, disgusting?

[sunshine842]

how do I eat Tres Leches? With a spoon and great gusto.

[nikkib99]

Brave soul!

[nikkib99]

I would not even come near it - I can almost imagine the squishy sound as your spoon sinks into a mushy blob of intense grossness.

ugh!

[Jay F]

Cold, heavy, and wet. Like a wet blanket soaked in rum syrup.

[sunshine842]

but it doesn't make a squish. It doesn't drip, ooze, bleed, or otherwise make any utterances, audible or otherwise.

It's just a cake with liquid. Yummy, yummy liquid.

Just make sure you never, ever drink anything the next time you have a piece of cake or bread...I'd hate to think of you having THAT inside your body.

[nikkib99]

"Just make sure you never, ever drink anything the next time you have a piece of cake or bread...I'd hate to think of you having THAT inside your body."

LMAO - the funny this is I NEVER do. If I'm eating a piece of bread or whatever, I can't drink anything with it. I have to finish eating and make sure I tongue-sweep (LOL) my mouth. You would never see a glass of liquid next to my sandwich - just in case the glass tips over and spills on the bread.

I think you're missing the part of the title that reads 'unreasonably.' Of course, I know it's weird, but I can't help it.

[lilgi]

I wonder who specializes in wet bread therapy ;D

[nikkib99]

LOL - amongst other things. :)

[kubasd23]

I absolutely hate water and bread together! If my bread is soggy, I can't eat it! if someone gets water on a sandwich, and then eats it, I have to leave the table gagging. If i'm washing dishes and I see, or worse yet, accidentally touch a piece of bread in the water, it's all I can do to not spew chunks!! That also goes for shredded lettuce in water too. The feeling of it on my hands repulses me!! As to your not drinking while eating cake or bread, I started a post a little while back about drinking WHILE having food in your mouth, particularly sandwiches.... ::shudder::

[lilgi]

I thought of you on Thanksgiving while we were eating stuffing hehe. (Sorry, couldn't resist :D)

[kubasd23]

haha.... ugh

[lilgi]

That was meant for nikkib99 who has a sense of humor.

[kubasd23]

ah, sorry. missed that. I have a sense of humor as well, hence the haha.... It was an amused response...

[lilgi]

ah well, the holidays make me silly - it's the only way I know of to deal with the insanity :)

[nikkib99]

LMAO.

[nikkib99]

THANK GOD!!! I'm not the only one.

Last week, I had an almost mini-incident. I was walking down the street and noticed a sizable slice of sandwich bread. It was a thick marble rye slice. ...As I type this I almost gag. I had to look away quickly in case it had moisture.

The funny part is my thought was 'what kind of savage throws a slice of bread on the street. I mean, it could rain!'

I had a messed up mind for the next hour or so.

[guilty]

Sometimes I think I'm a nutcase, then I come to the CH boards and feel totally normal. Thanks, guys! ;)

[kubasd]

HAHA!! I just read this (Thanks guilty for bringing it to my attention!) I love that reaction... ugh... gagging a bit just thinking of it....

[Passadumkeg]

The canned bread eaten in c-rations in 'Nam was nick named John Wayne bread, because it was sooo tough, tough, but not wet! We'd light up a can of peanut butter to heat our chow. Not a great fan of peanyt butter either.

[Terrieltr]

So... how do you gather up tasty sauces? I'm honestly curious, because I love me some tasty sauce and think carbs, in general, were designed to help make them easier to eat.

[sandylc]

Whoa. My mom would have chopped my head off if I'd done such a thing. Especially if company was over.

[sunshine842]

that's one of the things I love about Europe -- not only is it allowed to mop up the gorgeous sauces with bread, it's half expected!

If company is over, you break off a small piece of bread and drive it round your plate with your fork. If you're at home -- fingers rule.

[Terrieltr]

I learned it from my dad. My mom only insisted that I not pick up his habit of only using half the last slice of bread and leaving the other half in the bread basket.

[hetook]

If hungry enough, you don't might not gag over spam...ever see the movie 'Alive' ?

[Passadumkeg]

I had to eat SPAM, 3 meals a day, for 3 weeks straight in '67. I have not eaten it since '68, but if I was hungry enough or even served it as a guest, I'd politely eat it.
'Mericans need live in the 3rd world for a while and come back to the good ol' US of A w/ a newly developed attitude toward food.

[FoodFuser]

Of the Nam and the Spam:

We have canned up pork shoulders
and also young soldiers

The first of which serves as a suitable food
The second of which show of men made to fodder.

I love my good slice of fried Spam.
It is much better fodder
Than sending our youth
To guns and to cannons.

Much better considered
is salted canning of shoulders
instead of the sending of youth.

[MarkG]

a friend will not eat cheese in any form including pizza. I am an alleged jew who is repulsed by gefiltre fish and matzoh balls.

[MarkG]

another aquaintance cant stand the thought of eating pasta.

[hill food]

Mark - I'm an alleged goy that really likes Gefilte fish, Matzoh balls, Borscht etc. (OK I can skip the brisket - what I've had so far anyway)

maybe it's just the central Euro (and some assimilated J a coupla generations back there, 1880?) heritage in me. never had that food growing up.

[littleflower]

I will not eat any cheese unless it is the following: parmesan and romano shaved/sprinkled on spaghetti, mozzarella cheese on pizza, feta, and doritos/cheetos "fake" cheese. I will send any sandwich back at restaurants if it has cheese on it, even if it is not melted because I can taste it on the other ingredients. The worst is melted american, cheddar, or nacho cheese since it really just stinks to me. This is the only food that I just cannot eat, and it appalls quite a few people because I am a huge foodie who simply will not eat what many adore - cheese!

[MarkG]

a friend of mine is cheese phobic and wont even eat pizza

[sandylc]

I once knew someone who hated cheese and wouldn't eat pizza unless we told him it didn't have cheese on it. Of course, we always lied when we said it didn't have cheese on it, and he always happily ate it, cheese and all!

[Jay F]

Interesting. How could someone not know a pizza has cheese on it?

[sandylc]

Astonishing, isn't it? Poor guy, he was (and still is) great guy, but we really had a lot of good laughs at his expense over this. It was almost forty years ago....should I contact him and apologize, or at least find out how he eats his pizza these days?

[Jay F]

I've had mixed luck dredging up people from the past.

[sandylc]

Boy, you have that right! My mother has maintained a relationship with this guy, so it wouldn't be that big of a deal - not that I'm actually going to ask him....just an interesting thought....

[sandylc]

Reading this and various other threads, I have to wonder if there is a difference between just disliking something and having an extreme psychological aversion to it. I mean, really, there is a huge difference between, "I don't care for that taste/texture", and "OMG, I can't be in the same room with it, I just want to vomit if I think about it!"

One is a tastebud configuration, the other is.....well, something else.

[hill food]

I think both are valid, just don't call either an allergy.

[Willa]

I know about the difference between not liking a food, such as the disappointing honeydew melon or Spam, in my case, and HATING a food item irrationally.

THE EVIL ONION.

My twin sister and I despise onions. Over the years, we have grown out of all of our other food dislikes from childhood. We love vegetables. We eat brains, sweetbreads, whitefish livers, lobster tomalley, brussels sprouts, the hottest of chiles.......we are excellent cooks. We hate that we hate onions! Why?

I ask myself all the time, what is wrong with the onion? Why can't I look at it as just another vegetable, like garlic? But I JUST CANNOT.

Oh we will cook with them because we recognize the flavor value, but we must not be able to see evidence of the onion in the finished product. Indian food requires onion, but either Sally or I will be in charge of the knife work and that baby will be minced as finely as possible short of a paste, then slowly cooked in butter until it dissolves. Onion must go in Ragu Bolognese, but only three tablespoons and again, minced beautifully so that it disappears.

I cannot stand the slimy cooked onion pieces in a dish. Spaghetti cannot be ordered in a restaurant unless I first ascertain the noticeable presence of onion pieces. I hate the evil lines in the translucent, slimy cooked onion. Oh, disgustiing.

We fear ordering spinach on a pizza because more often than not, onion is in there.

Raw red onion? Oh dear God. It cannot touch anything on my plate. It reeks. You cannot fix a salad with raw red onion simply by removing the onion. Once it hits the plate, the food is RUINED. How can people eat it? And those beautiful fruit chutneys with avocado and cilantro -- look so delicious until they are ruined with chopped onion.

Potato salad ALWAYS has onion in it and must be avoided even though it looks good and we would like to eat it.

We have to be wary of cole slaw. Onions might be hidden in it.

Tabbouleh has onions in it. We love it but cannot eat it with the onions, so we make it at home.

Meatloaf is out of the question. Those ugly, slimy lined pieces of onion always stick out of the meat slices. For some reason, people who make meatloaf like the onion pieces nice and big -- how can anyone eat that stuff?????

So we are foodies who hate onions. Nobody can believe it. And it paralyzes us. We know it limits our ability to experience food. We know most of the world loves onions. Why do we view them as evil, nasty things?

We do not like the flavor of raw onions. But even when they are cooked and the flavor is largely gone, if I accidentally take a bite of stew with a big slimy onion, I want to gag. Were my eyes shut, I would never have known the onion was there.

When Sally and I were kids, our parents ordered a pizza. I remember taking a slice and a big bite. It tasted terrible. I picked up the cheese and there were translucent, lined pieces of onion all over the pizza hidden under the cheese. Still a little --- gag me --- crunchy. Why did they do that???

When I went to Senior Prom with my boyfriend in high school, I was younger and it was my first date like that. French onion soup was on the menu. I was so nervous that I didn't know what to do. I tried to get through it by swallowing the onions whole. O M G. Bad memory.

When I was in college, a new roommate made breakfast for me once. It was, I kid you not, an ONION omelet. I shudder to remember that. Couldn't be rude. Again, swallowing whole. I felt like I was in a torture chamber. He used PILES of onions. Not just one or two. Enough to choke a horse. Who chooses to make an onion omelet? Why?

This year, my sister told me of a Halloween party where the "trick" rather than "treat" was a platter of CARAMEL ONIONS. I was stunned. Speechless, as I contemplated what it would have been like to take a BIG BITE of a caramel RAW ONION. OMG. It was funny in a sick way but just horrifying.

We twins have an onion phobia. It goes way past simply disliking a food -- like pig eyeballs, for example. I am sure it would be hard to eat an eyeball. But I don't have the same aversion to the thought of eating an eyeball as I do to eating an onion. Even a tiny piece of raw onion. I can't do it! It is a problem that we cannot overcome. We have considered treatment to get past this extreme hatred of onions. I think the only treatment would be to put us on a desert island with no food other than onions. I'm sure everyone in the Donner Party would have been thrilled to find onions.

[tracylee]

Willa - I am completely in agreement with you about onions! I'll cook them down for use in soups and sauces, but my immersion blender is always at hand to make them disappear. I always ask about xxx-salad sandwiches, and at least 80% of the time, there's onion in it. I remember diving into a dish at a Greek restaurant, after carefully perusing the menu. A huge layer of onions hiding under lettuce - it was the only item not mentioned! Arrrgh. Now I make sure to ask about it, and if possible as to have it left off the plate. Not on the side of the burger even, so it doesn't touch anything else. And I do remember a pizza that a red onion slice had been placed on and removed. Really ruined it for me.

[sandylc]

Actually, Willa, I am VERY picky about RAW onions. I love well-cooked ones in most situations. There are one or two very specific things that I will eat that have raw ones, prepared well. But for the most part, I cannot understand what would possess someone to just throw raw onions into a salad or onto a hamburger. The flavor is justs too harsh and overwhelming. So, we do somewhat intersect here!

But you are likely right when you call yours a phobia - it must be difficult to have to be on the lookout for onions all of the time.

[CupcakeCoquette]

I will go out of my way to put caramelized onions in a meal, I just love them. However, you have my full support when it comes to red onion hatred. Red onions are the equivalent to someone passing gas in an elevator...it just permeates everything. Cooked or raw, red onions are always a bad idea.

My other gross outs are: cottage cheese- just horrid...... and chicken. Chicken always seems slimy to me, even if it's fresh and a good quality (aka not pre packaged crap from the store), and the smell. Not the smell of rotting chicken, but the smell of a perfectly fresh chicken being baked/fried/etc. I have to leave the room if someone is eating chicken and I can smell it.

[Jay F]

I have never knowingly eaten cottage cheese except once. That once was enough. What a disgusting substance it is. As far as onions go, caramelized is their most perfect state. I have always been able to cook with onions, but they have to be softened to the point where their inherently crunchy texture doesn't give them away.

I started using sweet onions instead of red onions years ago, and it has been a major life improvement. Also, I buy enough onions that I can peel them down to the second layer, so I don't have to deal with the skin.

Chicken grosses me out some of the time, not other times.

[Lillipop]

Willa..you could write or do stand up comedy..that is how hilarious you are:)

[hill food]

Willa - I understand and respect your onion position, while I love them, I grew up with a mother who never took that last layer of tough skin off (had dad ever cooked it wouldn't have been skinned at all).

always something there to a chew on.

[nikkib99]

Onions! I feel extra proud of myself when I buy onions because I can't stand the way the look. For some reason, I can only eat raw red spanish onions - just a little and must be sliced thinly - but the minute they cook I JUST CAN'T eat them. This goes for anything in the onion family (scallions, green onions, shallots, etc)

I have a food processor - the mini prep - that gets a whole onion when I cook to be sure the onion is completely obliterated. If I have to cook with them for flavor, fine. But I can't bite into them.

[akt22]

I did a read through hoping to find my main food. Does everyone like popcorn?!?! It reminds me of cardboard, and with butter it's even worse because then it gets soggy. Those flavored popcorn stands at malls make me gag big time.
Green bell peppers, tomatoes in winter, mayo, potato chips I try to avoid as well, although none of these are comparable to my feelings toward popcorn...
Oh and I am aware that this is a strange one, but I don't like cheese or butter on sandwiches, unless the cheese is melted. It makes it taste greasy to me.

[GraceW]

I agree about cheese and mayo.

I also think oil is disturbing.

And egg yokes. Cooked yokes smell like a stinky-dog to me.

[Fungiphile]

Anything Vegan...after all, are we not omnivores?

[small h]

I'm not an omnivore. I'm a multivore. I eat a lot of things, but not all things. And you probably eat vegan things yourself, unless your user name is inaccurate and/or mushrooms are meat.

[guilty]

So you never eat fresh fruit or a ripe tomato with salt? No salad with vinaigrette? No PB&J?

[mateo21]

I would assume Fungi is referring to foodstuffs that are originally non-vegan being made into vegan -- e.g. veganaise, tofurkey, etc.

[FoodFuser]

Good moniker there, Fungiphile. It wafts of good meals that were had with the shrooms.

[vorpal]

I have a very strong constitution and do not get turned off of food easily, even from most things that would normally gross people out. There are really only two foods I can think of that I am unable to eat:

1. Canned tuna. The smell is enough to make me vomit. My husband adores it, and when he eats it, I cannot be in the same room as him, nor can I smell his breath / cooking afterwards or I feel ill.

2. Egg salad, as in egg salad sandwiches. This probably ties back to when I was eight years old and we were forced by our teacher to eat our lunches sitting at our desks. The kid in front of me would eat every day, without fail, egg salad sandwiches, which would give him tremendously disgusting flatulence that carried the egg salad sandwich smell through him. To this day, I will visibly pale at the sight of an egg salad sandwich wrapped in plastic, much less at the smell of one.

[saacnmama]

Husband? It's been a while since I was in here. Last I knew was you were dating someone. CONGRATULATIONS!

I assume deviled eggs were not served at the reception?

[vorpal]

How did I miss this comment? I don't want to get far off topic, but actually, we've been married for some time! (We met online Aug 2003, in person Jan 2004, and got married less than five months later, in May 2004.) And ha! Certainly no deviled eggs were served at the reception! The entire wedding cost less than $1500 including rings: the reception was just a big dinner at Ottawa's only (and very amazing and well-known) Sri Lankan restaurant. (They have a lovely deal where, for $15 / person, they will just continue to bring out a selection of food until everyone is satisfied.) Afterwards, we returned to my house for drinks, music, and conversation. All in all, very low-key, low-stress, and enjoyable without requiring lots of money. Our friends and family (only 17 people were invited) are mostly the type of people who detest things like traditional weddings, so they were greatly relieved. (We instead splurged on a honeymoon in Hawaii where we ate loads of good food!)

[Passadumkeg]

KFC mashed potato bowl will never pass these lips.

[noodlepoodle]

Cantaloupe. I can't stand the smell or the cloying taste;

Sardines. My mother used to love them right out of the can. Her breath would smell fishy sardininess and I would bolt from the room;

Any raw seafood or raw fresh water fish. Mom..yes, Mom again...made the mistake of enjoying raw quohog clams on the halfshell (once) that were not refrigerated properly, and watching the result of her wretchedness afterwards left me as an adult to walk away from sushi, and that citrus-cooked fish makes me gag too. I grew up on the east coast and love all forms of cooked shellfish and seafood...just don't serve me raw. Rrrrrr.

[hill food]

after bad clams? then that is your earned prerogative. the recent cantaloupe listeria threat? I say (with sympathy for anyone affected) is fine. never liked 'em anyway. yes too cloying, why I hate apricots.

[buttertart]

That whole musky/aromatic fruit thing is one of my husband's relatively few food aversions. No canteloupe, apricots, peaches (at least most of the time) or the dread banana shall pass his lips. Honeydew, however, he loves. Go figure.

[hill food]

oh I love honeydew, in an afterlife episode of the Simpson's once, Homer explained to someone who regretted never having tried cantaloupe "eh you didn't miss much, now honeydew - that's your money melon" I think it's the more citric/acidic quality of it. same for nectarines, hate peaches, but love nectarines.

[buttertart]

Good point, and he likes to put lime juice on them. Nectarines he's not keen on, though.
Homer...I love Homer...the arbiter of all matters food. "Your money melon", indeed.

[laliz]

LOL.
Love peaches, hate nectarines

[ferventfoodie]

Raw liver! Not that I eat it that way. I love foie gras and enjoy sauteed calves' liver and chopped
chicken livers. But I don't want to see it or handle it raw - somebody else has to prepare it for me.

[laliz]

#1 food that grosses me out unreasonably is Miracle Whip (biting into tuna salad, or potato salad, or a sandwich or a deviled egg and encountering sweet where sweet absolutely does not belong just makes me literally spit it out. ugh ugh ugh ugh ugh (I was raised on MW BTW). I did not discover mayonnaise until my early 20s and it was like "OMG where have you been all my life"

My list of foods that absolutely skeeve me is extensive. I have read everyone's responses and am very impressed with the descriptive narrative(s) and reasons.

Oysters (aka snot)
Crawfish (ugh ~~ mudbugs indeed!)
Cornbread (texture)
Okra (texture)
Pickled beets, I like roasted beets, just not pickled (I don’t like pickled anything) (except pickles, I like pickles) again, its that unexpected sweet where it definitely does not belong
mint ~~ any kind of mint. puts my teeth on edge.
Marshmallows ~~ ucky OMG too sweet. I can't do a s'more either
Cilantro = soap
Pork Rinds ~~ crunchy greasy fat. no thanks
Fresh water fish (trout, pike, perch, etc) ~~ I was forced to eat w-a-y too much as a child. probably very poorly prepared and I was terrified of choking on the little bones.
Mussels ~~ just don't enjoy the texture or the taste.
Black licorice ~~~ gah
Kidney beans ~~ forced to eat in my father's "chili" and I just hate them. please, no beans in chili
Black eyed peas ~~ just everything about them. I love petite green peas and split peas
Caviar ~~ texture and fishiness
Liver (although I do like chicken livers) I was forced to eat a POUND of liver before I was allowed to take my driver's test when I was 16. Because my evil stepfather knew I abhorred it. I gagged and retched and drowned it in ketchup, but to no avail. child abuse as far as I'm concerned.
Duck gah. gamy and greasy
Old Bay Seasoning what a SHOCK
Capers no no no no no no no
Ginger too strong, too hot
Smoked meats
Smoked poultry
Smoked cheeses
Smoked nuts
Smoked fish there's a trend here
Indian Food I have tried and tried and tried
Grits texture and what-is-the-point?
Dr. Pepper a great game my kids would play when going through the drive through is telling me they are handing me my Diet Coke ~~ and it would be THEIR Mr. Pibb, or Dr. Pepper, or bad rootbeer. A&W served in a frosty mug was good, but its gone
Pepsi ~` friends don't let friends drink Pepsi
Guava ~~~ gives me skeeves
Manhattan Clam Chowder ~~~ the bay and the tomatoes ruin it
Pearl Onions -- the texture. ucky.
Dill ~~ so that is what is ruining this ___________________ (fill in the blank)
Curry ~~ any curry, but please especially no goat or lamb
Anchovies ~~ should be illegal
Goat Cheese ~~ stinky horrid and BAD texture
Feta Cheese ~~ see above
Chipotle ~~ oversold and overserved
Jalapenos, stuffed poppers ~~ see above
Prunes !~~ nothing need be said, these are being sold as dried plums, but they're prunes
Sardines ~~ my father ruined even the idea with his sardines and cracker snacks
Catfish ~~ no. I have thrown up after eating. So hideous, I don't need it
Orange/chocolate combination -- mystifies me why people like this combo
Milk (whole or low fat) ~~ like mucous in the mouth (feel) I grew up on whole milk
Ranch Dressing !~~ ubiquitous and bad ranch is bad ranch, can't get that taste out of your mouth
Pepperjack Cheese ~~ ruins otherwise good cheese
Anything cooked with or containing wine and/or alcohol ~~ I'm a recovering alcoholic and the alcohol does NOT burn off
Cajun spiced anything ~~ why?

[EWSflash]

I must say, I've not seen that big a hate list here before. Not judgin, just a big one..

[babette feasts]

"encountering sweet where sweet absolutely does not belong"

Amen to that. Sometimes even the natural sugar in some vegetables is too much for me. Tonight I threw together a quick pasta sauce with cherry tomatoes from my garden. WAY too sweet, wish I'd just eaten them straight with salt. I avoid the 'super-sweet' varieties of corn and sometimes carrots can be too sweet too. Recently had a ceasar salad that must have been dressed with some sort of miracle whip based concoction, if there was lemon or anchovy in there it would have surprised me. AWFUL!

[EWSflash]

miracle whip caesar dressing- that should be an arrestable offense. It's just so anti-caesar. Please please please call it something else. Have the courage of your convictions.

[babette feasts]

It was nasty. It was also in a beach town on Bali, so they are semi-excused from knowing what a proper caesar should be.

[The Professor]

Miracle Whip in ANYTHING should be an arrestable offense.

[laliz]

I agree 100%

[Acantha]

I'm with you on orange and chocolate. lemon with chocolate is nasty as well.

[Terrieltr]

"sweet where sweet absolutely does not belong" describes my response to sweet pickles.

[speakhandsforme]

Do you... like ANYTHING?

[laliz]

sure I do
that is not what the OP asked
but slam me if it fulfills you

[hoffam]

"Cilantro = soap" You are being kind. Truffle infusions hijack flavor as well.

[Cheez62]

Wow.

[al b. darned]

For me it's blueberries. I can't stand the taste, texture or anything about them, especially raw. I can take a few cooked into something, but if there are other choices available I will take those. Maybe it's an aversion to blue food in general.

Since the title of the thread is, " Foods that unreasonably gross you out", I can't mention such things as Spam, potted meat product, or Vienna sausages. Being grossed out by those things is perfectly reasonable to me. The same goes for anything made with blood.

[suebeehoney]

+1 on the stuff made from blood. Simply can't do it. Love to watch the food shows, but when they do the blood sausage, etc. - I have to change the channel or walk away.

My biggest issue is head cheese. My grandmother would make a HUGE roaster pan full of the quivering, nasty stuff whenever we'd visit, and my dad would smear it on toast in the morning. Ugh. Just the thought makes me shudder. I can't abide any sort of broth/fat combo that has congealed.

[Nayners]

Ahhh, head cheese. I like it but I cannot think about what it really is or I can't eat it. My mom (a southerner) used to make it and eat it on saltines.

[lilgi]

I thought I was the only one in the planet that dislikes blueberries.

[Acantha]

All things egg-white. As someone else mentioned, runny egg whites are the worst, but I don't like them cooked, either.

I think meringue is the most disgusting thing on the planet.

Spam and chipped beef are a close second and third. Ew. The color, texture and taste of spam are nasty, and chipped beef on toast has to be something they serve in hell.

[speakhandsforme]

Bell peppers. In any form. Cooked, raw, whatever. And their flavor permeates everything they're cooked into, so you can't even pick them out. It's not to the point of gagging for me; if someone serves them to me at a dinner party, I'll soldier through. But they're just about the only thing I really hate.

Oh, and peanut butter cooked into things (peanut butter sandwiches/on apples/etc is fine), the smell just somehow bugs me. Again, I'll eat it if I have to, but I'd really rather not.

And as to mushrooms, I've loved them for NEARLY all of my life... except the one time I've ever been to Golden Corral, I was 12 and ate a ton of plain sauteed mushrooms, because they were delicious back then. And then I threw them up. All night. ALLLLLLLL night. And couldn't eat them for years, much to my dismay. But after forcing myself to eat raw ones bit by bit, now I love them again in any form, so it's okay. :) moral of the story: avoid Golden Corral like the plague

[EWSflash]

I love red peppers, but green ones on anything really take over the dish. I like them raw by themselves, though.

[Terrieltr]

I don't mind red peppers, though I'm not exactly a fan, but green peppers are NASTY. And you're right, they taint everything they touch.

[JenJeninCT]

+1 on peppers(not chile peppers, I love those) of any kind- and they don't like me back- they repeat on me and are ALL I taste for 3 days

[gmm]

Warm or limp lettuce just about makes me gag. I'm fine with it in a salad, or if it's freshly placed on a sandwich and still crisp and cold, but if it's warm or wilted it just grosses me out. I hate it when Mexican restaurants have that little pile of iceberg lettuce shreds that gets mixed into the beans or sauce on the plate.
I like natto, but I'm sure it's only because I grew up with it. I can totally understand anyone not being able to deal with the texture.

[plf515]

Cream of mushroom soup. It grosses me out completely. I like other mushroom soups, I like other cream soups. But cream of mushroom - ick

[mikey031]

The only thing I've found so far that it hard to stomach for me is baby duck egg.....yeah, the partially developed duck fetus still in an egg that looks like it should cook up off white with a yellow center. I'm not fond of seseame oil or saffron, but have found they have a place here and there. Spicy and saffron work well, and seseame oil in amounts that add a nutiness without.full seseame flavor are ok.

[sunshine842]

Paella. Yellow Rice.
Saffron=Good

[jnk]

Egg white in any state but completely solid!

[crowmuncher]

I prefer runny yolks to runny eggs that's for sure...

[crowmuncher]

that's i prefer runny egg yolks to runny egg *whites*- sorry i was on my phone again...:)

[pinehurst]

Amen (shudder).

[al b. darned]

I don't understand why this would gross you out.

[Laurenjo28]

Mustard. The smell is absolutely revolting.
I don't like condiments in general. Scold me all you want for my "dry" salads and sandwiches but if it is anything but barbecue sauce, it is a no go!
I will only eat mayo when it is mixed in a casserole or chicken salad.

[ptrichmondmike]

I once ordered quail in a New Mexico restaurant near Taos -- the tiny little things looked so tender and...helpless, when they arrived -- I exchanged them with a colleague for his innocuous enchiladas. I just couldn't.

[crowmuncher]

brussel sprouts because they taste like sh*t to me; how do I know you ask? U know why Hounds- it tastes like sh*t because it smells like sh*t to me

it seems unreasonable to me that I would be “grossed out” by a vegetable- it’s not like it’s chicken feet (my apologies to chicken feet munchers)

[jujuthomas]

aside from my strong aversions to root beer and coconut, mentioned up thread, I do not enjoy aged beef! we went to Mortons a few times, and I just couldn't enjoy it because the meat smelled rancid to me. blech.

DH will NOT eat mushrooms - "THEY'RE FUNGUS YOU KNOW!!!! would you eat the sh*t growing in your shower??? Why should I eat mushrooms!!!" heehee.

[small h]

Your husband is entitled to eat or not eat mushrooms as he damn well pleases, but if he's going to claim that what grows in your shower (which is probably mold anyway, and not fungus) is the same as a shiitake mushroom, he may as well refuse to eat pork because it's the same as his four-year-old niece. Both are mammals, after all.

[jujuthomas]

he's joking, of course. I told him last night about this thread... particularly the comment upthread about baby octopi... he said "did you mention mushrooms??? no... that's a perfectly reasonable gross out" I have NO idea why he finds them so disgusting, his reaction is so visceral you'd think he'd been attacked by one. ;)

[tracylee]

As I say when people ask if I eat them: "Mushrooms are lower than vegetables". I have an aversion to most vegetables, and even moreso to mushrooms. Yeah, when I was overweight, dieting was almost impossible.

We did take Mom to the Joel Palmer House in Dayton, Oregon for her birthday and the 'shroom menu is the creation of the Czarnecki family. It's been awhile, but I do remember enjoying dinner, as the flavor and texture in the dishes I chose were subtle enough for me.

[masha bousha]

Swedish Meatballs. My mom made them once, my sister indicated that she'd throw up if she ate them and indeed she did. They are completely ruined for me now.

[Avalondaughter]

Peas. Ever since I was a toddler the smell has just revolted me. If someone in my office puts peas in the microwave and the smell lingers I just start to gag. I will pick every last pea out of any stir fry or paella or any other pea-studded dish. I hate peas that much.

[biondanonima]

Oh, and I forgot to mention my weird food aversion - cereal. ANY kind of cereal. It disgusts me, especially if it's in milk (I can eat things like Chex if they are made into salty Chex mix, but NEVER a sweetened cereal or anything in milk). My mother says that even as a baby, she was unable to get a single spoonful of cereal past my lips. Looking at the leftover milk in someone's cereal bowl makes me want to vomit (that Momofuku cereal milk ice cream is my worst nightmare). Oatmeal ruins every dessert it touches!

Oh, and even though I don't have a sense of smell, I SWEAR I can smell the cereal aisle in the grocery store. I sometimes get what I call "phantom" smells, where I sort of taste the smell, and that happens every time I walk down the cereal aisle. Ick, ick, ick.

[TheHuntress]

I always agreed with Roald Dahl's assertion that cereal was made from curly pencil shavings.

[hill food]

I love Roald Dahl and now that you mention it, food does play a big part in a lot of his work.

[TheHuntress]

I always loved the crazy food ideas he came up with. All the Wonka Bars and the sweets described in "The Giraffe, The Pelly and Me" and the fantastic frobscottle from "The BFG". Oh and for a bite of that glorious peach!

[hill food]

not to mention the lamb leg / blunt instrument murder weapon...

[TheHuntress]

Oh that was brilliant! And the bet over the claret in "Taste".

[hill food]

yeah, good times...

[Passadumkeg]

And in Witches, boys smell of dog droppings! And a candy shop was the center of evil.

[Astur]

I abhor the sight of cereal with milk. You are not the only one! I don't like milk but can use it in baked good, white sauce etc. Can't drink a smoothie with it but I can eat yogurt. My parents made me drink the stuff as a child and I have never gotten over it. I couldn't stand it then and can't now. We had a fight twice a day when it was required and I couldn't leave the table until it was gone. This lasted until the day I left for college. My parents enjoy power struggles.

I didn't like the cereal in milk in the before but refused to eat them together ever again after "the incident." My parents were determined that they would never lose on anything. I had cereal with milk for breakfast one morning because that was what I was told to have. The cereal became softer than I could stomach. i can't deal with things that I believe should be crunchy when they start becoming soft or mushy. I refused to eat the cereal and eventually had to go to school. When I got home it was there for dinner and I refused to eat it then until my parents went to be and took it away. It was there again in the morning, then lunch, then dinner. This lasted for three days until I finally ate the pile of disgusting mush. I have never forgiven them for this. It was actual child abuse.

[Jay F]

If I ever eat dry cereal with a liquid, it is apple juice. I hardly ever eat dry cereal, with or without liquid, but when I do, it isn't with milk. Gross. I don't even want to be in the room when someone else is eating it.

[pikawicca]

That's a very disturbing story, and I feel for you.

[sandylc]

My parents also pushed the milk. I am sorry yours tortured you over it. I no longer drink milk at all, but will cook with it. Reminds me of the old joke....

Who first looked underneath a cow and said, "Let's pull on those things and drink whatever comes out"?

[buttertart]

You and my husband are 100% on that page together.

[sunshine842]

while I realize that you're joking -- I'm guessing that someone in a time of not much food realized that calves were getting *something* from those things...

Much as I love oysters, I still can't figure out how somebody reckoned that these ugly rocks held something edible.

[nikkib99]

The only cereal I can eat are grape nuts - guess why? They're hard as hell and take a while to get mushy. I don't eat cereal with flakes - EVER Disgusting when they get soggy.

The most disgusting thing my sister used to do was fill up a bowl with cereal and milk and microwave it. That awful stench was enough to make me puke.

I sometimes eat muelix - but only if it does not have flakes.

Captain crunch, coco puff, rice krispies, cheerios, krispix, - DO NOT EAT. On the rare chance that I eat those odd-textures cereals, it's always dry - BONE DRY.

Thank God for grape nuts. But you can't mess around and let it sit too long because it will eventually soften. I just do small bowls at a time with cold milk and life is good.

[hill food]

yeah but mix that with Astur's story and let me tell you, day-old grape-nuts in milk (truly) smell like a neighborhood around an Anheuser-Busch brewery.

[JenJeninCT]

A friend of mine gave me a bowl from Brookstone- it has separate compartments for cereal and milk!

My personal food aversions are:
Tamales- blecccchhhh, the texture and taste of the masa skeeves me ( I love grits and polenta, so go figure)

Cilantro-tastes like soap

Prosciutto- unless in very tiny amounts cooked with an alfredo sauce, mushrooms and peas over pasta- it always tastes spoiled to me- I think it's the sweetness

What I call "pseudo-cheese" sauces- like whiz, or what they give you on "nachos" at theaters and such- just gross and pointless, and I adore cheese of all types and fondue

Beets- I have tried them 8 million times, and they always taste like dirt

a non- veined cheese(cheddar) that has mold on it- I don't care how much I cut off, I can still taste it

anything I think I can taste the chemicals in- packaged pudding cups, lunch meat

Indian Food- I'm sorry! I love the people and have tried and tried and tried to like the food, but it's just not happening!!

[biondanonima]

Water chestnuts for both DH and me. We can't stand the texture. I always say "no water chestnuts" when I order Chinese food, even if the entree I'm ordering wouldn't normally include them, because you just never know - and I don't want to have to pick out every last one before I eat. DH has a whole host of other food aversions, including any mayonnaise-dressed salad (although he likes mayo well enough on sandwiches, etc.) and mustard. He is actually afraid of mustard, I think - if I put some on a plate for myself he won't even touch the plate.

[babette feasts]

The smell of waffle cones. I can eat and enjoy a cooled waffle cone, but something about the smell wafting outside an ice cream shop is gag-worthy. Also the smell of Cinnabon wafting through a mall - horrible. I don't much care for sweet yeasty things, and after 15years of baking the smell of cinnamon has acquired an association with my own dirty laundry. Double-yuck. I can eat granola and other things with cinnamon, as long as it's not too much.

[goodhealthgourmet]

+1 on that Cinnabon aroma - i thought i was the only one! it makes me sick to my stomach every time. oh, and that putrid stench from the bread they bake at Subway...

[Laurenjo28]

Wow I love Cinnabon lol.
If only I had that aversion. It would save me a few thousand calories a year ;)

[yesmanandy]

i'm not the kind of person who's very picky about food, particularly regarding seafood. octopus, squid, fish, oysters clams mussels and urchin, they're all a treat to me from raw to deep fried. but- i cannot stand the idea/smell of canned tuna. in my apartment i can tell within 30 seconds if my roommate opens a can and i get mad. the smell is so pungent and fishy, in a bad way. in seoul i ordered some kimbap and did not realize it was tuna, ate half of it, and then remembered what "chamchi" meant. the rest went in the trash.

[alkapal]

yeah, maybe you need to turn your roomies onto "ortiz" tuna. luscious!

[Passadumkeg]

My only food aversions were inflicted on me me by the Department of Defense, in Vietnam. Do I have grounds for a law suit, he types w/ a grin. We used to laugh about eating C-rations that were older than we were! Ham Muthas:
http://www.leatherneck.com/forums/arc...

[alkapal]

.

[goodhealthgourmet]

just remembered another one: crunching down on an errant piece of eggshell, whether in egg salad or from a hard- or soft-cooked egg...unfortunately i remembered this one because i just did it. {{shudder}}

[buttertart]

That is truly nasty.

[Terrieltr]

For me, the worst part is the noise it makes inside your head. It's so LOUD.

[goodhealthgourmet]

for me, it's the the noise *and* the sensation. i have the same reaction to sweetened shredded coconut - i actually gag if i bite down on it. blurgh...

[suebeehoney]

I was just browsing through this thread and saw your post about eggshells. Those things are my food nemesis. I refuse to order any whole egg product that I don't fix myself - scrambled are usually ok, but an egg sandwich for breakfast, or egg salad? I'll get the shell - every dang time. And once I bite down on it, I'm done - I don't care if it's my first bite of food or my last - I can't eat anymore after that. I seem to have inherited the uncanny knack from my dad of finding the shell in the egg product, the pit in the pitted cherry and the bone in the boneless fish.

[tracylee]

I could always tell when Mom shelled nuts for desserts, there were always pieces of shell in them, and I always found them.

[DunkTheBiscuit]

Fresh tomatoes. The inside slimy bit with seeds. I don't do slimy. Also, they remind me too much of the tinned plum tomatoes my gran used to do for breakfast - the way they'd sit there on the plate until you cut into them, then the liquid and seeds gushing out as they deflated... no. Just... no. These days, tomatoes have to be processed or chopped.

The skin that forms on top of custard or rice pudding used to be a treat for the kids at school and they could never work out why I'd refuse it. I'm not sure now, but I think the word 'skin' was dreadfully offputting to a small over-imaginative child.

Most jellies but especially savoury jelly or aspic. See above re: slimy. But I love the jellied stock just under the crust of a good pork pie. I don't understand me, either.

Tiny shrimp. I cannot bear the curled up shape and think they look like mouse foetuses. The feel of an unexpected mouse foet - uh - shrimp on my tongue when I'm sure I ordered the -vegetable- spring rolls can ruin an otherwise wonderful meal for me.

Mushy peas. No idea why because I'll eat dhal until it's coming out of my ears.

[LeoLioness]

Thought of another one: papaya. Unless it's in shake form at Papaya King, I can't eat it. It tastes like it's rotten to me.

[buttertart]

Beautifully described as tasting "vaguely unhygienic" in a swell book, "The Fruit Hunters" by Adam Leith Gollner.

[Passadumkeg]

Papaya, when I cut on in half and look at all those little black seeds, one word comes to mind: fecund.
In Bolivia, when in season, we'd have big slices of papaya, w/ boiled eggs and freshly delivered, still warm, baguette. Papaya in the US tasted different. So does ours befouled chicken.

[buttertart]

The papaya in Taipei was wonderful too, it must depend on the variety and handling.

[Passadumkeg]

I think they are shipped here under ripe.

[Terrieltr]

I'll only eat papaya in a green papaya salad.

[kubasd23]

Same here! Green papaya salad is delicious, regular ripe papaya tastes rotten to me... I shudder to think of it!

[nycgal31]

Cheese and mushrooms.

[Terrieltr]

Together, or just in general?

[iamtheeiceworm]

I read through the entire thread hoping I would see my food, but no luck. What I really, really can't stand is melon, especially watermelon. This aversion is due to a "fruit punch" with melon made by my dad when I was younger. He sent it in my thermos to school where it sat in a warm locker. I tried to drink some, and it tasted terrible. Then, the puking started.

What is more unfortunate is that my daughter LOVES watermelon. She looks forward to summer just for the fruit, but I can't stand the smell one bit. I make my husband cut it for her, and wash the plate she eats from.

Just thinking about this is making me queasy!

[hill food]

eiceworm, - I can't stand anything about cantaloupe, texture, flavor, taste, wrap it in prosciutto all you want and I'll just lament the waste and wonder "can I rinse this off?". not crazy about watermelon, but it's ok except for the sticky feeling after (oddly I like the smell, in the 90's Issey Miyake had an aftershave that smelled like a cross between Midori and Jolly Ranchers that I liked a lot).

now honeydew - there's your money melon

[TheHuntress]

Ya, I'm, not good with melon either, but not quite to the same proportions. I once tried to eat cantaloupe that was served to me at a dinner party. I didn't want to be rude, but sadly the sheer effort and expression on my face gave me away. Thankfully the hostess was a wonderful woman and whisked my plate away before anything too terrible happened.

[woodleyparkhound]

Watermelon is my hot button too. I can't be in a room with someone who is eating it because of the smell. I remember being in Italy where I'd pass carts with huge piles of it on them. I'd have to walk on the opposite side of the street and hold my nose/breath. I hate all types of melon - but especially watermelon. I love all other kinds of fruit.

[k_hack]

Shredded mozzarella and cheddar cheese, if they've gotten old to the point of stinking, are the most vomitlicious nasty foodstuffs known to mankind. I don't care if they're "still good"-- I can and will dispose of the package immediately.

It's irrational of me, I know, because I love other, intentionally stinky cheeses. Just not mozzarella or cheddar! Ick!

[kpaumer]

Any Marshmallow product, especially that marshmallow fluff stuff in the jar, call me crazy but you could not pay me to eat a Smore, yuck! Creeps me out. like death by suffocating on marshmallow fluff. Also that black corn smut, Huitlacoche, is totally gross, makes my mouth water and not in the good way.

[Florida Hound]

During a prolonged "bug" of endless coughing, I got my first bit of relief after I had coincidentally eaten a few marshmallows as a snack. From that moment, for weeks, my wife encouraged me to stuff in the marshmallows every chance I could, and it did seem to help a little, whether coating the throat with stickiness or whatever. I have no aversion to marshmallows at all, and my wife just recently added the bonus round to my marshmallow "medicine" routine when she whipped up a cookie sheet's worth of Marshmallow Krispy Treats from the original Howdie Doody recipe.
kp, you just pressed some positive buttons with your post, but I won't try for a second to win you over to a food that isn't your thing.

[Terrieltr]

Smoked oysters. My dad used to buy them in tins of oil, and they smelled AWFUL. And they looked like little zombie brains. Just typing this is making me queasy.

[k_hack]

My dad would eat sardines and oysters this way-- the memory alone makes me want to hurl!

[debs20]

Canned peas. My dad used to make me eat them, even if they made me vomit, and I'd have to sit at the table until I finished them. When he wasn't looking Mom would send in our dog, she saved me from many a late night at the dinner table. I didn't eat a fresh or frozen pea until I was 40. Also, sauerkraut, still can't eat the stuff.

[meatn3]

I had the same experience with what sounds like the same father and peas. Unfortunately we did not have a dog and cats aren't too helpful with this situation. I had peas for breakfast several times.

I have had fresh ones which were ok, but the memories keep me from ever seeking them out.

[Isolda]

Canned peas smell like dirty gym socks.

[jmcarthur8]

Ditto on the canned peas. I had to stay at the table, too, until I finished them. One time I finally got smart and stuffed my mouth with 'em, headed for the bathroom and spit them all out into the john.
The thing I never understood about having to eat all the peas was that I ate every other vegetable happily - broccoli, spinach, brussels sprouts.... so why make a fuss if the kid doesn't like peas?
I never made my boys eat anything they didn't like. But then, they had a pretty wide range of healthy foods that they did like and that we served regularly, so if they passed on the veggies one day, they'd have whatever I was serving the next day. They still have likes and dislikes as adults, and no post-traumatic food disorders.

[cleobeach]

I never made my boys eat anything they didn't like. But then, they had a pretty wide range of healthy foods that they did like and that we served regularly, so if they passed on the veggies one day, they'd have whatever I was serving the next day. They still have likes and dislikes as adults, and no post-traumatic food disorders.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I am the same way with our son. Encouraging a child to try new foods and appreciate a broad range of items is great but I grew up with forced-feeding and I think it is more of a parental control issue than anything else.

My post-traumatic food disorder food is brussel sprouts. I wept for hours (literally hours) at the table because if it took to hell froze over, my dad was going to make sure I finished the amount he thought I should eat.

[EWSflash]

Nobody should feed a child canned peas, it's inhumane.
And it will deter them from trying the lovely frozen, or better yet, fresh lightly steamed peas, which are one of God's greatest gifts to us.

The same goes for spinach, beets, and a bunch of other things.

[Tripeler]

Heck, as a little kid I LOVED canned peas, frozen ones, too. Still love them, along with spinach, beets, and okra.

[sunshine842]

I still love canned peas and will eat them right out of the can -- cold.

When fresh peas are in season, my bunch know that they'll be on the table as often as possible -- stir fries, steamed with butter, in pasta with bacon and cream sauce (yum).

They even show up on the appetizer tray -- wasabi peas rock.

[buttertart]

Canned peas are one of the very few vegetables I'd eat as a child. And put salt on. Things don't get much saltier than that!

[EWSflash]

Good! I admit the canned peas and spinach are childhood horrors and my own bias.

[Tripeler]

Yeah, I can understand the horror of canned spinach. But personally I would still eat it.

[EWSflash]

Okay, Ipeople must think I really feel that canned peas and spinach are child abuse- I don't. Just don't tell me to buy or eat them.

On the other hand, I fondly remember the Rosarita folded dog food mini tacos and crave them to this day. Not like I'm trying to be snobbish here

[al b. darned]

>>>
....people must think I really feel that canned peas and spinach are child abuse- I don't....
<<<

I'm one who *does* consider them to be child, and adult, abuse. I envision the cafeteria in Hell serving Spam, canned peas, and American cheese food product.

>>>
...Rosarita folded dog food mini tacos...
<<<

Best. Laugh. Of. The. Day!!

[cgarner]

my grandmom used to make orrichette with canned peas, garlic olive oil and chick peas and grated pecorino romano on top, it was delicious
(though IMHO you can put good olive oil and fresh garlic on most anything to make it delicious)

[hill food]

cg - even the Geneva commission would allow your Grandmother's treatment as humane. if the experince of others reflects mine the objection to LeSeuer is it just being plunked and MW'd. as canned peas go they are the ones to bet on. (granted I'd rather use frozen or I'll shuck fresh, but for some time is an issue.

[Florida Hound]

The old "sit at the table til you're finished..." routine. The classic punishment can (almost) be a good memory. My wife was also someone who would soemhow get the dreaded food (I don't know if it was canned peas) to the family dog when no one was looking. I don't think her mother was in on it in her case.
I probably recruited the dog a time or 2 as well. But I could out-sit anybody, and at least once, just sat at the table through the whole night, and if I recall, sat through breakfasttime with no breakfast, and then they had to send me off to school.

[sandylc]

I hope you're punishing them in their old age.

[anakalia]

Mayo. I think it's due to the smell? I'm not really sure, but opening a jar of it almost makes me sick. I once thought that if I made it at home, from scratch, that it would cure me of my disgust -- but nope. It actually made it worse. Something about the concept of eggs and vinegar or lemon, the sourness mixing with the creamy eggs.. blech!!!! It even looks disgusting! And the FEEL of it, as your eating it -- it's what I imagine eating a glob of lard would taste like...

[Laurenjo28]

Due to a back-to-back vomit episode between my sister and my Dad over a bad batch of clam chowder, I can't stand the smell.
Tuna is another one. The smell plus the texture gives me the heeves!

[goodhealthgourmet]

Tuna is another one. The smell plus the texture gives me the heeves!
~~~~~~~~~~
just the canned stuff? because the aroma & texture of fresh are completely different.

[lilgi]

So true, I'll eat a can of imported tonno in olive oil, but it's like I have to race to get the can out of the kitchen. Salmon, different ballgame for me, can't stand it in anyway. I'll tolerate it in sushi.

[EWSflash]

I have a couple of different brands of canned salmon that i love, one is totally lovely with a beautiful smell, the other tastes wonderful but smells like cat food. They're both from Alaska.

[chefathome]

It takes a lot to gross me out. No concerns handling raw meat, fish and poultry but when it comes to eyeballs it is a different story. The squeaky texture gets me. And cottage cheese repulses me. Velveeta and Cheez Whiz are nasty but they do not gross me out.

Oh - just thought of the thing other than eyeballs that grosses me out a bit to cook and that is geoduck. I still manage to do it because I like it but it just doesn't look quite right somehow.

[Fromageball]

Eggs...I don't mind them in things, or things like custards, but for some reason I go through "phrases" where boiled eggs, scrambled eggs, or any other preparation where the egg is prominent grosses me out. I really like them otherwise, when they aren't completely grossing me out. The idea of eating eggs also grosses me out, but I still like and eat them. Sigh...

[small h]

I have never met a cheese I didn't like, but I hate biting into those crystals in aged gouda. It's like eating sand.

[goodhealthgourmet]

it's not just gouda. many aged cheeses develop tyrosine crystals - Parmigiano-Reggiano, cheddar, Gruyère, Grana Padano...

[small h]

Very true. But I don't usually eat Parmigiano-Reggiano without grating it and throwing it on something hot, which magically makes the problem disappear.

Tyrosine sounds like a substance that would useful on the Starship Enterprise. The dilithium crystals are shot, but we might be able to get the engines to run on tyrosine!

[goodhealthgourmet]

ha! that's hilarious :)

FYI, tyrosine is an amino acid found in casein - the primary protein in milk. the crystals are just a result of protein breakdown during ripening/aging.

BTW, this is clearly a case of "to each her own." i love getting those lovely bits of surprise crunch in good aged cheese!

[small h]

This whole thread is a "to each her own" fest. I love mushrooms, cottage cheese and runny eggs, although I'm still deciding whether natto is a) disgusting or b) an acquired taste. (I tried this with poi and concluded it is, in fact, disgusting.) Meanwhile, I have a Dutch friend who thinks I'm nuts for eschewing crunchy cheese.

[goodhealthgourmet]

i'm with you on the shrooms, CC and eggs (in fact, i can't *stand* hard/rubbery eggs or chalky yolks).

never had the chance to try natto before i had to give up soy, but i haven't lost any sleep over it ;)

[meatn3]

I love them too - it's pure bliss! Just close your eyes and savor...

edit- this seems to have lined up funny - I was responding to the crunchy bits in aged cheese

[cleobeach]

Count me in as a crunchy bits in aged cheese lover! My mouth is watering just thinking about it.

[sunshine842]

oh, how I love an old Comte with crystals

(the CHEESE, folks, not some dried up old aristocrat, although maybe I wouldn't turn down an aging aristocrat if the crystals were diamonds!)

[hill food]

or at least Swarovski crystal anyway

[mariacarmen]

as a kid i was forced to sit at the dinner or lunch table until i would finish the soggy, bumpy, undercooked chicken skin my mom would inadvertently make. gagged and puked, right at the table. it think they finally let me stop eating it after that. love crispy chicken skin. but now, i don't even think chicken skin that's a little bit soggy truly grosses me out enough not to eat it, or gag from it. i can't think of a single other thing.

[Passadumkeg]

Pollo diablo? How appropriate.

[mariacarmen]

? Nah, nothing fancy with a name. just chicken with rubbery undercooked skin.

[EWSflash]

Pollo elastico, sounds like.

[Tripeler]

Is that the Mexican version of your standard rubber chicken?

[EWSflash]

That, or chicken with rubbery undercooked skin.

[Tripeler]

Me, I like the comical image of the rubber chicken. In a Mexican setting.

[hill food]

but only if served to Bumblebee Man or Cantinflas and we get to see his reaction.

[EWSflash]

:-)

[LoBrauHouseFrau]

Anything at all with a face still attached. Fish, lobster, octopus, duck, roast pig... *shudder*

[kathleen221]

Yes. I don't want my food looking at me while I'm trying to eat it.

[cmztrav]

Sadly, my problem is everything and anything that comes out of water. Fish, shellfish, seaweed, anything. I grew up fishing with my Dad, and we never ate the fish (I guess my parents don't like it much either). It was fun, but dirty, smelly, slimy, you get the picture. To this day I haven't been able to free myself from the gut-twisting revulsion of eating fishy things.

I had to unceremoniously race, gagging violently, to a restroom in a sushi place once because I tried to "blend in" by having some no-fish-included sushi. Unfortunately, it was wrapped in seaweed and I had no idea it would taste like that. It was horrible, lol. At least I made it to the bathroom before heaving.

[PotatoPuff]

ditto on anything from water. i don't even like saying the word "fish". i don't even like looking at it (dead, or g-d forbid, alive)....

[Isolda]

White chocolate. I hate everything about it. White chocolate curls on a cake make me gag. I can't even eat the stuff if there's one single curl left.

[thursday]

I love reading everyone else's foibles! It makes me feel so much less nutty... =)

Right after posting this, I discovered another one: peas cooking. I like snap and snow and split pea soup, but I loathe traditional shelled peas, as does my husband - it really is one of the things that brought us together. =P

But my 1-year old won't eat any vegetables he can't feed himself, so I had to buy my first bag of peas ever to get some greens into him. Absolute gag reflex just at the smell of them coming out of the microwave. The stench, the pasty texture...shudder. It's like eating little eyeballs. I guess I feel the same way about tapioca and boba drinks as well.

[Passadumkeg]

We ARE a nutty country.

[Isolda]

I hated green peas until our CSA gave them to us last year and I tried them raw.

[laliz]

don't microwave vegetables; that's setting up for failure

gently saute until warmed through ~~ no pasty texture and they are sweet (only buy petite frozen peas, there is a difference)

[EWSflash]

With you on the peas, laliz.

[Passadumkeg]

Dr. Brothers, I suffer from SPAM trauma.
Twenty-eight days straight, 3 meals a day and no medal.

[OCEllen]

Mint. The smell, the taste. Yuck!

[cgarner]

Lima beans and sea urchin
Traumatic childhood experience with lima beans, my mom used them to make "baked beans" which was a mixture of ketchup, mustard and brown sugar.... I was forced to eat what was on my plate and tried to wash a mouthfull down with milk... it didn't stay down and ever since them I couldn't even look at a lima bean

I've only ever tried sea urchin once, the texture literally made me gag.... I get queasy thinking about it to this day

[hill food]

sea urchin did that to me the first time and it took me about 10 years to give it another shot (and then at a better regarded place) and now I like it, but I would never try to force it on anyone else, it DOES have an odd texture.

[hill food]

and dang I've told that story twice now. (different thread)

[lawkitty]

I second this... I tried uni twice and hated it, but was determined to figure out just what it was that made people swoon over it (in a good way!) and on the third try I found out just what they meant. Ocean-y salty buttery heaven on a bed of rice wrapped with nori.

[arktos]

Arktos #1 grossest 'food': SOFT BOILED EGG- I have such revulsion toward it, I can't find the proper words that describe what I feel.

OATMEAL- I've been in situations where it was the only thing to eat, and I preferred to go hungry. Must be bad childhood memories.

CARROTS- That are Overcooked chunks. With the mushy outer part and the woody, fiberous, spindly center, just can't eat it, gets thrown into the leaves for mice to devour.

BLOOD SAUSAGE- I can still taste the ferrous content of the blood which I simply cannot stomach.

BEETS- Cooked, raw, doesn't matter.

COTTAGE CHEESE- Just the look of it stops me right there!!

CREAMED CORN- OH NO!!

CHICKEN POT PIE- The only proper destination for it is the chamber pot, IMO.

BOSTON BAKED BEANS- That cloying molassess and unsually oversoftened beans make me wish Boston was still under British rule.

CANNED POTTED MEAT- Should be renamed 'potty meat', cuz that's what it tastes like.

VIENNA SAUSAGE- The mere contemplation of the origins of the meat contents make it a 'NO GO' area for me,

EGGS- Sunnyside-up with the runny yellow yolk crap, the hideous grey pad inedible thing-from-Hell underneath the yolk and the weirdly textured frilley egg white. Just an abomination from start to finish.

BANANAS- Mushy, smooshy crap that usually has brown areas that portend things that can't possibly be good.

Lastly:

GRISTLE- Has the ability to make me contemplate becoming a vegan whenever I'm unfortunately exposed to it.

[LoBrauHouseFrau]

"BOSTON BAKED BEANS- That cloying molassess and unsually oversoftened beans make me wish Boston was still under British rule."

For your personal safety, make sure you don't say this out loud anywhere in the state of Massachusetts, lol.

"EGGS- Sunnyside-up with the runny yellow yolk crap, the hideous grey pad inedible thing-from-Hell underneath the yolk and the weirdly textured frilley egg white. Just an abomination from start to finish."

While I completely understand how someone can be skeeved out by eggs(I'm VERY picky about mine), this description sounds like an improperly cooked egg. There should be no gray if the yolk is runny, and if you cook the egg at a slightly lower temp, the whites don't get all lacy and rubbery.

[scarsdalesurprise]

I get very grossed out by the little pools of grayish fat you sometimes get on a hamburger...ugh.

[uwsister]

I don't get grossed out easily - I'm not a fan of some foods (like natto, for instance) but if I am served, I can eat it without heaving or other extreme reactions. The only thing that makes me literally want to throw up is - bunched up sauteed spinach or other leafy vegetables. Does anyone else know what I'm talking about? There's almost always a "chunk" of bunched up ones in sauteed spinach, and it really makes me nauseous trying to get it down. I have to dissect it leaf-by-leaf.

[monavano]

Eating chicken salad and getting a piece of cartilage in my mouth. That's it. Sandwich over.

[FoodChic]

Me too! I hate chicken for that very reason. That nasty cartilage has made me lose my meal on more than one occasion.

[monavano]

Some cured meats give off a formaldehyde odor to me. Soprassata comes to mind. The smell goes up my sinuses and it grings me back to gross anatomy when that smell permeated my every pore.

[jmcarthur8]

Yep, I had to throw away the Soprassata that I got awhile back. Ick.

[alliegator]

I've seen a few mentions of mayo. For me it's mayo based macaroni and potato salads.
And 'tis the season for those behemoth bowls of "special recipe" salads. They all taste the same to me, and they're not good. But I get really freaked out about things like this being kept at the right temperature, and if you're eating outdoors this time of year, it's not going to happen.
And the fact that a lot of people make such huge quantities makes me think that they make a batch, serve some, scrape the rest into another bowl, serve it the next weekend, etc.
yuck

[sherriberry]

Me too. People are always telling me I just haven't had a good one. In my mind, there is no such thing. Also, my sense of smell if very acute-I can smell your perfume from across a crowded room. The scent of hard boiled eggs and coleslaw are among those that completely oog me out.

[babette feasts]

Oatmeal. The one thing from childhood that I would be left at the table until I ate it. Ugh. I find the smell of ketchup really off-putting, try to avoid diners and cheap brunch places that smell like ketchup before you even get in the door. I like my fries with dijon.

I had a coworker once who was truly freaked out by rice, couldn't look at it. Something about resemblance to maggots, maybe? Not sure.

[Dee S]

Partially cooked egg whites. They must be firm with no gloppy or jiggly bits. Can't eat sunny side up or over easy eggs. Over medium is fine.

And if I get an omelet with partially cooked eggs, I might lose it at the table. The meal is OVAH!

[kmcarr]

Are you really Gail Simmons in disguise? :-)

[Dee S]

:-D

Nope but I can empathize. I like a properly prepared soft scrambled egg but don't give me those nasty jiggly bits. I also have an aversion to fat, as someone else posted previously. There are some foods I don't like because of texture. Those foods don't provoke the same response as partially cooked egg whites/scrambled eggs though.

Someone told me it's because I could be a super taster. Never been tested or anything.

[monavano]

Undercooked egg whites. The worst.

[biondanonima]

+1. I don't like runny yolks either, but undercooked whites are revolting.

[Isolda]

Ditto. Don't mind the slightly runny yolks (and I mean very slightly), but those whites better be cooked.

[tcamp]

Soft shelled crabs sort of gross me out. So do frosted donuts.

I read this entire thread and nothing resonated. Love spam, scrapple, tomatoes, mushrooms. Don't mind raw birds.

[rainey]

Seitan! That stuff should be spelled s-a-t-a-n. The texture is just gross. Close second: tofu.

I know this stuff is healthy and, for some people, essential but can I just say ewwwwwwwwwwww.

[Jay F]

Tofu is the most disgusting thing in the world that isn't boiled or fried eggs. And for some reason, there's a class of tofu-eating douchebags who find it necessary to threaten to sneak it into your food "and you won't even realize you ate it." Nobody else does that. It makes me hate tofu lovers as much as I hate tofu.

[FoodFuser]

As gentle as tofu is, gift from the bean, it's hard to find hateful. Such strength of your feelings is your own cross to bear.

[Tripeler]

An old pal of mine, Charles J. Waggon from Cuello Rojo, Texas, once said of tofu...

"Heck, yer tofu's just beans for people what got no teeth."

[FoodFuser]

I really, really like that.

All praise to them have-nots who lack proper dention.

Tofu dressed with tamari is God's gift from Heaven
A slurp of them beans for the toothless.

Yep, I really do like that,
And somehow extra points since it came outa Texas.

[Jay F]

FoodFuser: "As gentle as tofu is...it's hard to find hateful."

Unless, like me, you find it hateful.

[alkapal]

fuser, you are hilarious.

[hill food]

I dunno I used to HATE tofu with almost as much vehemence, then I learned a technique of rolling cubes in seasoned cornstarch and frying it and it's really good. other tofu-haters snarf it down.

but I would never sneak it in or claim it was anything else.

[tracylee]

I did that recently, marinated them in soy, ginger, garlic, rolled in rice flour and fried, ate over red curry sauce. Yummy!

[alkapal]

i have some extra firm cubes in the fridge now. and i love them fried. i like your idea, tracylee.

[EWSflash]

I just love the extra firm, and it's hard to find, for me. The Asian stores seem to never have it (like it's a hissing and a byword?) and I can't remember where it was that I did find it.

[hill food]

in the Ozarks only Kroger seems to have (weird place otherwise - well that could be read many ways)

[buttertart]

Jay F, you make me sad. I love tofu but would never foist it on anybody.

[Jay F]

Buttertart, you are cool on so many levels, I believe you.

As for the rest of you, I guess I should have known better than to actually answer the OP truthfully.

[hill food]

no you were right to say it Jay. the sad one is the person you quote - "you won't even realize you ate it." now there's an attitude the grosses me out.

[EWSflash]

Yeah- yu hould know what you eat, whatever itis. Fooling people with food is a shamelessly horrible trait (although I did it once)

[Jay F]

The first posts I ever had removed here (I think) were my reactions to people who were actually proud that they had snuck things into their family's food. I find that kind of behavior sociopathic.

[Tripeler]

Sociopathic, definitely. To that I would add "criminal."

[NellyNel]

Really?
I think that's a bit harsh.

I have a friend who is really closed minded about food.
To the point of - if he doesnt like the *sound * of the name of the food, he won't try it. Ever.
He loves most beans.....but has never and will never (knowingly ) eat a "Kidney bean"

Another example of his ridiculousness was how shocked, appalled, and disgusted he was by my eating and enjoying a jar of banana baby food.
I tried to explain it was just :Fully Ripened Bananas, Citric Acid, Ascorbic Acid (Vitamin C). Big deal. It tastes delicious, smooth and sweet!

Nope, he would not hear of it!
The thought of eating *baby* food is equal to eating puppy chow in his mind.

One day, I am planning to concoct some kind of dessert using banana baby food, and feeding it to him without him knowing. Just to prove how silly he is being! I'm sure he will find it palatable!
It's not like the guy doesnt like bananas - he eats one a day, in fact.

Do you think this would be "criminal" of me?
Really?

[ErnieD]

Well, I didn't make the original comment, but FWIW I think that of course that's not criminal. But it is kind of a jerk move. It doesn't hurt you that this guy doesn't want banana babyfood, so what do you gain by sneaking it by him? Even the kidney bean thing, which I agree is ridiculous and childish assuming it's based ONLY on the name, isn't fair game to disrespect someone by trying to get them to eat it against their will. It's unkind and smacks of one upsmanship.

[NellyNel]

It may be silly and sneaky, but I don't think it's a *jerk* move either...

I actually told him I was planning to do this, so it may not even be sneaky.

What do I gain?
I wouldnt gain so much, but maybe my picky friend would gain an openess that would benefit him in the end~ he'd gain a new perpective

[EWSflash]

Thank you, Nellynel, that's the kind of person I have a short fuse with. The guy needs some banana baby food foster.

[NellyNel]

LOL!

Thanks EWSflash, I agree!
It really is frustrating!
Anyone would have thought I was eating baby vomit, with the way he reacted.
He is a 31 year old, lawyer, so not a child either...
Great friend, but never *partner* material! I'd go bonkers!

[Jay F]

I would probably end our friendship if you snuck tofu into my food. What gives you the right to do that?

[NellyNel]

As I stated, the guy eats bananas...loves them in fact.
His aversion is only to the name "baby" food.

Its not like I want to sneak some food that he is really disgusted by into his food.
lighten up.

[Jay F]

I wouldn't want to eat baby food, either. Pureed, processed stuff-in-a-jar kind of grosses me out, too.

I'll "lighten up" if and when I want to "lighten up."

[NellyNel]

oh brother!

:)

[NellyNel]

Just an update on my friends *quirky* eating -

I made some salted caramels for V day, they taste prett darn good -
but I found out he doesnt like *chewy* food...

Also asked him to try my famous tiramisu recently, (I've been told it's the best EVER)...he also doesn't like *soggy* food.....

OYe Vey.

[Passadumkeg]

"tOO MANY FISH IN THE SEA...."

[NellyNel]

LOL!!

[sandylc]

Ha to the "chewy" and "soggy" ..... my hubby doesn't like "dry" food - except his definition of "dry" is a bit different: He says that peanut butter is too dry, for example.

[NellyNel]

lol

so, would PB w wet jelly be ok?

[sunshine842]

Oy vey, indeed.

I'd have stopped cooking for this one a LONG time ago. I'd cook what I want to eat, and if he can deign it edible, great -- if not, I'll program his GPS to find McDonald's for him.

doesn't like salted-butter caramels? That's like saying that you don't like breathing because it's just sooo repetitive.

[NellyNel]

lol

Thanks...
I think at first I did want to make it my mission to introduce him to new things, but at this point, I just want to make things that he likes better than he's ever had before...but even that it a struggle, because - even if it's way **better** than his version, he will still like his version, because that's what he likes.
**sigh**

I thought salted caramels were a sure bet because, well, they are F*ing delicious!!
And because i have made salted chocolates and cookies, and he has always said he likes the salty sweet contrast...
Darn, I really thought it was a shoe in!

I will say that even though this situation is annoying and frustrating - it is still less so, than when I was married, and my hubby had NO reaction to food...no dislikes..but no LOVES either...just quiet "This is fine" all the time..UGHH

THAT was worse.

[sandylc]

Ugh. The word "fine". Hubby learned long ago that the answer to "do you like my new dress?" is NOT "it's fine."

[NellyNel]

Hee Hee!!

..yup...

[sunshine842]

heh -- even better. Then he can make 'his version' and you can make yours -- and see who's hungry and snitching the other one's leftovers first.

[NellyNel]

Hee hee -

To be clear, we are just really good friends...and we work together.

A few of us single ladies started a cooking club..we each take turns cooking for each other. It works out great!
He sort of got involved, making some fab lentil soup for me one day...it's kind of evolved from there..

I had a little think after what I wrote about my ex earlier, and I sure if I had to live w this guy - it would resort to violence!!

[Jay F]

I've never had salted butter caramels, though I like salt, butter, and caramel (one of my favorite dessert flavors--I like caramel more than chocolate). But I definitely didn't like the texture of the caramels you could buy at candy counters when I was a kid. They stuck to my teeth, which I thought was kind of gross.

But salted butter caramels? I think I need to try those.

[NellyNel]

They really are delicious...
As a matter of fact, I'm kinda annoyed about it today!

Everyone is RAVING about them- I mean RAVING.
They are soft, buttery, salty sweet - really delicious!
Here is the recipe - they were easy too!!
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/in...

He, on the other hand, actuall told me last night "They are king of gross, stick with what you know"
:(
LOL - Jay - he did say add that he doesnt like things that stick to his teeth!!

[alkapal]

"stick with what you know" -- he actually SAID THAT to you?!?!?

i'd be wanting to "stick" something…where the sun don't shine. and i sure as heck would NOT be COOKING anything for the dolt.

have some self-respect, girlfriend!

[NellyNel]

Ok, so -
Yesterday, I made mini Baily's Irish Cream choc. chip cupcakes, with Irish Cream buttercream, for the office.

Everyone was loving them.
Big hit.

Said picky guy ate one while standing at my desk...
There was no comment. Silence. Ouch.
I sent him an e-mail saying "Not impressed?"
He calls me and says: "Not my thing."
(I said I knew it when he didnt say anything and he said "Well, i know if I don't have anything nice to say, I won't say anything"

What a charmer!

Oh dear lord!
Whats not to like?
He said he didnt like the taste of the Baily's...

Here's the thing -I'm kind of a determined type - the more things he doesnt like, the more it makes me want to make things he does like.
Am I just fighting a losing battle here?

[sunshine842]

yes.

What did you want him to do? Lie? That's not an answer.

So be glad he has enough social graces to not tell you that he didn't like them -- and no, you shouldn't have chased him down via email to get confirmation of what you already knew.

And yes -- quit trying to please someone who has made up his mind to not like anything you make.

Never try to teach a pig to sing - it wastes your time and annoys the pig.
-Robert Heinlein

[NellyNel]

oh, I hope my rants don't come across as serious..
I am just venting my frustration, but it's really, all in good fun.

We are very close, indeed, and our relationship is such that it's ok that I chased him down to get an opinion...and it's okay for him to tell me he thinks my food sucks. It's all good humored indeed.
I would never really want to cook for someone sour about it!
He claimed today, that he finds most of my food to be "delightful". So with that, I will keep cooking and baking for him..

[sandylc]

Just as a tiny point....I really don't like Bailey's because it tastes too sweet and very artificial to me....could that be his problem with it? Just in case you really are wondering....

[NellyNel]

He said he didnt like "the taste"
They definitely taste like Baily's!

But he drinks Irish car bombs - which is Bailys and beer or some such crazy combo!

[hill food]

sheesh Nel, what's left in that texture spectrum? a polenta cheesecake? hmm that idea cant be original, but maybe that would be too 'grainy'

ehh I'd eat it.

[NellyNel]

Oh yeah, I'm sure grainy is off limits too!

[sandylc]

What is with the "texture people"? There are a lot of them out there......is it psychological, or what?

[NellyNel]

Yeah, I don't know!

I can say that I do enjoy certain textures, but not that any have ever put me off...

[EWSflash]

All I can say in my defense is
- it was in the 1970s
- it was my mother's idea, and the person involved was incredibly oblivious to food. My mother was a complex individual, and not in a nice way. but a good cook
- it was a pathologically (seriously) picky eater that 'hated all vegetables' although tomato based pizza or spaghetti sauce wasn't considered a vegetable. snuck him a finely diced eggplant in the sauce and he thought it was great.He never knew. Hed never eaten eggplant before.

[Jay F]

No one has ever said this to me this except tofu lovers. I have never had anyone say "I'm going to sneak cooked cabbage or hard boiled eggs into your food." Just tofu. It makes me want to lie about cake ingredients to vegans.

[hill food]

well I never will, and if my point is you won't notice, well then what's the point of adding it except for that "sociopathic" edge? Sometimes I do urge some odd side dish (not a main) for trying. but I always describe in full and say "oh just take a small bite and if you hate it then spit it into your napkin, no offense taken"

anyone who "knows better" is a tiresome bully. I think that is a thread somewhere here.

[plf515]

My mom used to try to do this to me with fish, of all things, which I hated as a kid. Like I wouldn't know.
These days I like fish

[EWSflash]

Understandable. My mother was a 'trickster' in general, all of it geared toward making her look good even at the expense of others. Yeah, it's definitely a 'sociopathic edge'.

[hill food]

mine did it with liver. alkapal has a thread on that sort of thing where I posted in detail (sorry no immediate link)

[sunshine842]

does this include hiding vegetables to get toddlers to eat who otherwise screech at the merest suggestion of consuming plant-based food sources?

Not mine, but I have plenty of friends who had to resort to that to get their kids to consume veggies (pumpkin bread, zucchini bread, veggies pureed into pasta sauce)

[hill food]

good question. I've been successful feeding friends toddlers all sorts of veggie things, but I don't dumb anything down and we eat at the same time, so I suppose maybe there's a trust issue with the kiddos (I'm s'posed to eat this but you're not?)

[sunshine842]

could be, but these same friends ate the same food at the same time.

[hill food]

horrible children, they only get a card at HS graduation.

ehh maybe they'll grow out of it (good luck)

[Tovflu]

That's interesting. I love both. I can see how tofu's texture is polarizing, but I'd never have thought so much for seitan.

[BeeZee]

Fat. I have skills of a surgeon when trimming meat. If I get a piece of fat in my mouth I gag, can't stand the oogly texture.

[inaplasticcup]

I'll take that oogle if you don't want it. :)

[jmcarthur8]

What a great word! ....oogly.....love it.

[redfish62]

I am the same way about fat. I really like beef but rarely eat steak cause the grocery doesn't trim them well enough and I don't like having to perform surgery on my dinner.

Also the gobs of fat on Publix chicken breasts gross me out. The Perdue ones don't have as much fat.

[sjahns]

My husband is positively rediculous when it comes to any kind of fat or gristle. You should see the sorry excuse of a "steak" when he is done hacking away at it. He also blames the aversion for him not liking meat on the bone-any meat-because the probability of feeling fat and/or/ gristle touch his teeth is exponentially higher if he is eating meat directly from a bone. I'm really glad to see he is not alone in this thinking-it drives me up a wall!

[jmcarthur8]

We could get our husbands together to finish off dinner. Mine looks longingly at any fat that's set aside on my plate, and I won't let him eat it. Sooner or later, that stuff will catch up with his arteries. He loves all the gristley oogly stuff.

[cleobeach]

I completely understand your husband's feelings. I was the same way. It took me quite some time to "prep" steak before I could eat it. I would inspect the entire piece over and over again and trim away any suspect area. My dinner would have been ruined if I chewed a piece of fat. Honestly, I am getting a little uncomfortable typing about it.

I am much better about it now. Once I had a child, I became very aware of some of my food issues and in attempt to set a good example for him, I keep my fat trimming to a reasonable level.

[jessyratfink]

Mushrooms. I want to like them. I do. I feel bad that I love food so much and that also I hate them.

I had a terrible experience when I was little though... a Dairy Queen around where I grew up serves fried mushrooms. (Pretty sure they just fried the ones out of the can. Yeuckugh.) My mom LOVES them. They look yummy from the outside, like a cheese curd! I begged for one, and when I bit into it, it was the most awful rubbery squeaky earthy soggy thing I've ever putty in my mouth.

I've tried them so many times. I am persistent. I have stopped gagging for the most part, but I have never had one that will make me want to eat another. :P

Also, mayo. It is disgusting beyond words and the smell or it makes my stomach to flips.

[pitagirl]

Molasses! I can eat it when baked/cooked into something but when I open the jar I just heave. Mayo is just nasty. I also don't eat any fish - I just find it repulsive.

[LeoLioness]

I cannot look at a fiddlehead without flinching. Those things scare me!

Whenever I order softshell crab I have to kind of deconstruct it before eating. Otherwise, it's just to....literal.

[Georgia Strait]

another great topic - interesting too
i cannot eat that slimy deli ham from those pkgs at the supermarket -- goes way back to boating and seasickness.

also - the idea of hardboiled egg and the cooked poultry meat in one dish (like a chef's salad) is too much for me.

anything that looks like what it did when it was alive is gross too (like fish w/ heads on)

[EWSflash]

Rice pudding. Don't even point it in my direction, risotto, too. I love it steamed, in pilaf, maybe it has to do with trying to "creamy" it up being an abomination to my palate, but it's about as close as I get to gagging.

[Sydneyeats]

Meatloaf. I will make it for my dh but when it comes time to take it out of the oven, slice and serve....I'm outta there.

[lawkitty]

I totally agree with you on the meatloaf! My mother used to make us finish our plates of her nasty meatloaf and I will never forget the horror. I can cook it for others, and I am told I do it well, but I can't stand eating it myself.

[redfish62]

Turkey legs ... I have no idea why ... maybe cause they are so big.

[lyri]

I am seconding the cottage cheese.

I'm also repulsed by ketchup, mayonnaise and mustard. I can EAT mayo if it's mixed into something, and I've handled ketchup in a burger, but if it's very visible and I can SMELL it I start gagging.

My number one things, though, have to be olives and pickles. If I find a pickle in my sandwich, I can't just take it out and eat the sandwich. That sandwich is done for me. And if I find an olive in literally anything it's worse. I start gagging and spitting things out and I have to wash my mouth and it's a huge turn off the whole meal. I'll eat it, but I have to remove the few inches that were around the olive because the flavor permeates everything. I like strong olive oil and I like kalamata olives, but regular green olives are probably the grossest thing ever in my mind.

[biondanonima]

+1 on ketchup. Utterly foul.

[sunshine842]

mine is, bizarrely, baby octopus. I like octopus sushi, and have no problem with any of the other cephalopods (and would walk a mile for grilled cuttlefish) -- but I have a bizarre mental hangup with whole baby octopi. Even *I* laugh about it, but I can't shake the thought that they'll somehow grab my tongue and never let go.

(Cut 'em up, though, and I'll wrassle ya for 'em!)

[cheesymama]

Cutting up a ripe, juicy tomato. Must come from a childhood experience, but I can't bear to watch my hubby eat a really ripe tomato, I just gag a little. It's that juicy/jelly stuff that holds all the seeds that I have a problem with. I am trying my best to get over this by starting with cherry and grape tomatoes, less offensive stuff in those due to their size!

[Axlsgoddess]

Baby corn makes me want to heave. I love chinese good but anything with baby corn is off my personal menu. Even reading that it is part of the dish makes me sick. Something about baby corn looks alien and other worldly to me or as if it were some sort of insect centipede you would find under a rock. Also, for months now I cannot stomach eggs all I can think of is baby fetus. That and I read somewhere that scrambled eggs taste like brain. Ugh baby scrambled brains!

[JerryMe]

Sorry Axls - I just had the thot of Tom Hanks in 'Big' trying to eat the baby corn row by row in the movie. Then he had to wipe the caviar off his tongue, leave the party and go get a milkshake. Sorry you don't like baby corn and eggs.

[TheHuntress]

This might sound odd and most likely heathen to many chowhounders, but I cannot do fresh tomato. I can maybe slice one up, if under duress to do so, but the smell and texture just do something terrible for me. I have an exceptionally strong stomach (I have been known to go and happily eat lunch after some, ahem, interesting things have occured during bowel surgery in theatres) but somehow tomato does something terrible to me. I still have traumatic memories of being forced to cook a tomato pie for my family and vegetarian cousin who had come to say with us. I was a young teenager at the time and I dutifully did my best, but that was the most revolting thing I have ever cooked in my life. What made it even more insulting was I was so focused on getting the damn thing made and on the table that I didn't even realise I'd forgotten to make myself something to eat until I'd sat down at the table with the family. Awful, just awful.

[hill food]

it took me years to get OK with raw tomato (god bless you Caprese with balsamic vinegar)

[TheHuntress]

Yeah, my mother tried to get me into raw tomato when I was 8 by telling me that cherry tomatoes tasted just like cherries. I knew she was lying (for some reason she always thought I was and still am stupid), but she forced me to eat it. I then got in trouble for retching at the table (I don't know what it is, but it actually sets that reaction off in me. And as I said I can stomach some of the nastiest things you will ever see at work) and had to wait for permission to spit it out. No wonder I turned out the way I did...and I don't think I can ever be ok with raw tomato. But good for you for giving it a go.

[Firenzilla]

Ha, same here. I've just recently come around to raw tomato... I think I can credit Caprese with balsamic too. And finding out the HUGE difference in flavor between an organic, in season tomato compared to anything else. The snotty part still grosses me out a little though =x

[alkapal]

you mean the part that josé andres celebrates -- you call it snotty?

>>>"""One final note about tomatoes and their humble seeds: Most people discard them when cooking tomatoes. But trust me, they are a hidden treasure. To harvest the "filet" (as the cluster of seeds is called), take a sharp knife and slice off the ends of a ripe tomato. You'll see there is an exterior wall of tomato flesh around the circumference of the tomato and interior walls running into the tomato's center that separate it into segments. Gently cut through the outer wall of the tomato and one of the dividing walls. Carefully peel back the outer wall of the tomato to expose the seeds. Slide your knife underneath the seed mass and remove. Your aim is to keep the pulp of the seeds together to create tomato-seed "filets."

This seed mass, or what we sometimes call "tomato caviar," can be a new way of adding tomato flavor to a dish. It offers small, bright bursts of pure tomato flavor encased in an amazing natural gelatin and is super refreshing. I like to use them in salads or as a garnish for gazpacho."""<<<< http://www.npr.org/templates/story/st...

[FoodFuser]

Agreed, of the gelatin enwrapping the seeds.

[sunshine842]

y'know, tomatoes seem to trigger some of the most seeming-irrational reactions -- and no, I'm not laughing at you.

I used to work with a woman who would NOT eat a slice of tomato on a sandwich -- but she's happily tuck into a plate of tomato salad with onion and basil.

My son wouldn't eat a tomato if his life depended on it...but you'd never believe it if you saw him suck down tomato sauce on pasta, or chili...

I'm kind of fascinated by seeing how people will follow a "this, not that" with tomatoes.

I'll eat them however -- up to and including devouring them in the garden with the juice running down my chin.

[hill food]

ok 842 - I'm getting an image from Stephen King's short story basis for "Lawnmower Man"

[TheHuntress]

You're completely right, tomato does provoke interesting responses. I am one of those weirdo's who will happily eat tomato based pata sauces, pizza sauces etc., but I cannot do fresh tomato. If it's served to me in something I just pick it off, but I am fortunate enough that I actually live in a tomato free household. Even the dogs won't eat them, which just makes them even more awesome in my mind :D

[beachmouse]

My 'not on a sandwich' food is lettuce. I like salads quite a bit if the lettuce is fresh and of good quality. But if it's trapped inside a hot sandwich, it gets slimy by the time it gets to the table, and for cold sandwiches, it seems to kill the flavor of everything around it.

[beccaelf1478]

beachmouse,

I'm exactly the same way with lettuce.

[Firenzilla]

me too!

[jlhinwa]

I am also weird about tomatoes. Love tomato flavor and tomato-based sauces, even love ketchup. The more whole it is, the less I like it...no doubt a texture thing again. The seeds also are very unappealing to me. Salsa typically needs to be more on the liquid side of things than chunky and I am not a pico de gallo fan because of the chunks.

I have been experimenting with tomatoes again and am introducing them in smaller chunk, trying to work up to bigger pieces. It's slow going....

[tracylee]

I also dislike the texture and flavor of raw or tomatoes cooked in slices or served raw. I had them once in Ecuador where I liked them, and I don't remember how they were served that I actually enjoyed them, even though I was just being polite when I ate them. Sauce, pureed salsa, etc. are just fine, and the flavor is benign enough that I can pick it off of things and the food isn't ruined, unlike onions or bell peppers.

[ptrichmondmike]

Me, I love raw tomatoes -- assuming they are direct from the garden, not store-bought chunks of red wood -- but I worked for a guy once who couldn't handle tomatoes, or indeed any red-colored food. He was especially disgusted by strawberries, and believed that their tiny little seeds could choke him to death. He was 6'5"...lol.

Tomatoes, mushrooms olives...many of the things some people are averse to are among my favorites.

Some people like their fried eggs over easy, or even sunnyside up. When I see runny egg whites I nearly pass out with disgust. Liver in any form -- same thing. Uncooked flesh, whether sushi, steak tartare or what have you -- yecccch!

And as Axisgoddess says below -- BABY CORN! The horror, the horror...

[kathleen221]

+1 for runny egg whites. I love runny egg yolk for dipping toast, but undercooked egg whites make me lose my appetite.

[thursday]

+1 on the runny egg whites for me too.

[FoodChic]

I separate the white and yolk and lightly poach the yolks for toast. I toss the white since it smells like a dirty chicken coop.

[EWSflash]

+2 on the clear runny white

[sjahns]

ahahahaha I love your expression of "BABY CORN" it made me laugh so hard I nearly choked on my tea. I agree-if it is in a dish-even when I can pick it out easily, I just CAN NOT eat the dish. *shiver* blechhh.

[Terrieltr]

I love tomato sauce, and diced tomatoes on a pizza, but raw tomatoes are things that should not be eaten. They should be turned into tasty things, like sauce.

[pikawicca]

Are you talking about supermarket tomatoes (which are crap)? Can't imagine anyone sinking their teeth into a Brandywine and not loving it.

[Terrieltr]

The idea of biting into a raw tomato gives me the heebie-jeebies. It's a texture thing, not a taste one. The skin, the firm flesh, the goo. Combined, it's disgusting.

[fryerlover]

I agree and totally understand. Love then in salads, burgers, sauces, cooked with cheese........but sinking into a whole one give me the goosebumps too. I have figured it is the seeds and the gooey stuff they are attached too. I am getting better at eating them.......I just have a lot of disecting to do when I do eat them.

[onceadaylily]

My boyfriend is the same way with raw tomato. A month or two ago, I was slicing tomatoes in the kitchen when he came home from work. He gagged from the smell, and left the room with his forearm covering his nose and mouth, with muffled curses aimed in my direction. It's funny though, he can eat them cooked (he loves my tomato pie), and even barely cooked if I marinate them first (which I have to do for his favorite pizza). This is a man who will eat almost anything, and politely refuses the rare things he doesn't like . . . but a raw tomato undoes him completely.

[orangebloss]

canned cream corn. Sure it seems harmless enough but I was force fed it once by a mean babysitter and I still gag just thinking about it.

[hill food]

and you STILL possess your liver? (there's a reason why I don't work child care)

[Janet]

Most fish makes me gag when I smell it cooking. I will not allow it to be cooked in the house. I eat shellfish, tuna tar tar I know not logical. Other fish I gag. I can get it down if at a friend's and they serve it. But I have a hard time. I grew up eating liver and onions. When I married and had to cook it myself I gagged looking at it. It was like something still aIlive. I can't eat liver now.

[tracylee]

I can't stand cooked fish, but it's because my Dad always grills it until it's dry, dry, dry. Now, any cooked fish takes on that flavor/texture to me. I love raw ahi tuna and other sashimi, but unless I cook it myself, I won't order seared tuna in case they've cooked it too far.

[amyzan]

It's been funny reading this thread, because many of the foods mentioned are ones I disliked as a kid. Mayo, mushrooms, cottage cheese, grits, cream of wheat, salmon, and organ meats. Luckily, none of them traumatized me enough not to try them as a teen or adult, and I like or even love almost everything I once abhorred. Except liver when cooked and cold. I cannot deal with the combo of firm texture and liver flavor. Yeesh. Don't know why, but the last time I tried, I had to suppress the urge to gag right there in the restaurant. Embarrassing.

[GraceW]

Sweetened Condensed Milk... I have no idea from where this originated. All I know is back when I was in high school, I was using it in a recipe, pulled a jar off of my mother's shelf, found that it was really thick and slightly orange-brown in color, and believed that it must be old. I dumped it. I drove all the way to the store for a new jar. I got home and opened it and found that was the 'real' consistency of Sweetened Condensed Milk... gross.

A