The WaPo started a new forum section called Sietsema's Table with a thread about foods/ingredients people disliked.
High on the list of foods many people dislike are:
Licorice (fennel, anise, Jaagermeister, candies)
Liver
Oysters
Raw fish/meat
Celery
Beets
Brussels Sprouts
Onions
Mayonnaise
"Stinky" cheeses (bleu, feta, etc)
Mushrooms
Olives
Lamb
Tripe
Coconut
This got me thinking about my own dislikes, which was hard because I am a freak who likes all vegetables and is very adventurous with offal (organ meats) and different cuisines. However, a few posters mentioned things I won't eat:
Coffee (99% of the time, I will not drink one. In the last 5 years, I've had 3 of those sweetened cold packaged Starbucks coffee drinks)
Bananas (I have become more tolerant of bananas now, but they really taste like a log of scented body lotion. They are a disgrace to fruits, which should be juicy. I can't squeeze banana juice out of a banana. And that stringy fuzz that coats the banana after peeling it is a really gross texture in the mouth.
Commercially made muffins/banana nut bread (Yuck, yuck, yuck! The horribly oily texture ruins it for me. I especially avoid muffins because I hate raisins. Should a blueberry "stain" the muffin around it? gross!)
Carrot Cake grosses me out so much, I've never even tried it. I love mashed carrots, and other savory sounding desserts like cheesecake, but carrot cake? NEVER. The frosting is always a turn off as well.
Other than those, I can't think of things I won't eat. I love offal. Tripe in a soup is awesome, liver cooked gently is delicious, fish eyes are tasty, crab "mustard" is slurpy goodness, pork blood cubes at dim sum are delicate and interesting. Try a Taiwanese pork intestine soup and I dare you to tell me it's not savory goodness. The heads of shrimps are still attached to the shrimp on your dish because you're suppose to suck the brains out! I've had squab (pigeon), venison, escargot, mutton, ostrich, bison, rabbit, and wild boar. From the sea, I've had sea cucumbers, sea snails, baby squids, blowfish, cuttlefish jerky, and kelp. It's all good. I saw BBQ grasshoppers in Thailand, but did not stop to eat the little buggers. Now i'm curious.
The forum did elicit some strong worded responses about how people should grow up and get over childhood tantrums, or how people are spoiled because they take for granted the variety of foods available now. For example:
Only in a country where we have so much food we have to throw it away would
people be so frivolous about what people have to do around the world just to be
able to feed their family for one day. You make me want to puke. Eat your
licorice and shut up.
(I totally agree, but this is a foodie forum, for food musings, not to contemplate the "big picture".)
Also, people were recounting their childhood eating horror stories. For example being stuck at the table for hours until they "cleared" their plate of brussel sprouts, or being forced to eat whatever was served because of the starving children in _______. All this whining led to a funny disclaimer:
Disclaimer: No children were starved in the making of this post.
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