Unpopular Food Likes/Dislikes: Table for One

[Athena]

I like most vegetables and some I love (most leafy greens). Something I'm not crazy about and don't buy or use often is the American or Italian eggplants. I grew up eating the Chinese eggplant and much prefer it. I've also tried other Asian eggplant varieties such as the Japanese, Indian, Thai, and the white eggplants. They all tend to be smaller and have sweeter, more delicate flavour. See this link for photos.

[ennui]

On 7/28/2017 at 6:11 AM, larapu2000 said:

Then one day, a coworker said, "I don't like cucumbers," and it just dawned on me.  NEITHER DO I.

My mom once made cucumber sandwiches. Small, delicate, very tasty on a hot afternoon. 

I love garbanzo beans but dislike hummus.

[festivus]

I've never met a vegetable I don't love except raw carrots. Love them cooked though. 

[Bastet]

I'm the opposite with carrots.  I like them raw (they're not a favorite vegetable by any stretch, I think because of the starchiness, but they're fine), but I dislike them so much once cooked I won't eat them.

[ariel]

Okra - I tried it may times, but I don't like it.

[auntlada]

Carrots are OK raw, but really they are just a vehicle for ranch dressing.

[ebk57]

Love raw carrots!  They helped me lose a ton of weight a ton of years ago.  Not a fan of them cooked, though, unless they're in tzimmes - totally cooked through with prunes and lots of cinnamon and a bit of sugar and honey.  I know - it sounds weird, but it's really good.  At least the way my bubbie made it.

[mansonlamps]

I was just in the grocery store and they were sampling fried Spam.  I forgot how much I liked it.  I would still not buy it because of fat/salt, but it sure tasted good.

[callie lee 29]

On 8/4/2017 at 5:57 PM, ariel said:

Okra - I tried it may times, but I don't like it.

Mmm,  deep fried okra and pickled okra are the only ways I like it. 

[Mindthinkr]

24 minutes ago, callie lee 29 said:

Mmm,  deep fried okra and pickled okra are the only ways I like it. 

I also had a strong dislike for okra (especially when it's slimey). One day I ordered a Bloody Mary and it had pickled okra in it and I was surprised to learn that I liked it that way (slightly crunchy). 

[callie lee 29]

1 hour ago, Mindthinkr said:

I also had a strong dislike for okra (especially when it's slimey). One day I ordered a Bloody Mary and it had pickled okra in it and I was surprised to learn that I liked it that way (slightly crunchy). 

Yeah okra can get slimy pretty easily (and kinda gross tbh) the pickled is still pretty crunchy though. I may have th try it in a bloody Mary!

[Bastet]

My late aunt made delicious pickled okra; that's the only way I like okra on its own, but she's been gone for some time now and I've never tried anyone else's.  I don't mind okra in a dish like jambalaya or gumbo, but I really only eat those when I'm in New Orleans.  It's okay in a Bloody Mary, but I only encounter that a few places.  So, basically, I don't eat much okra.

[Snarklepuss]

I'm finding this thread interesting because there isn't much I don't like.  I pretty much like anything if it's made properly, save for anything with insects in it, LOL.  No WAY would I ever knowingly eat an insect (and people do).  I've had dreadful store bought hummus but others are wonderful, especially homemade.  I've had horrible okra and okra that surprised me, like the pickled and deep fried kind.  I've had wonderful raw oysters and oysters that taste and feel like someone hacked up phlegm.  Now, Spam was something I ate on rare occasion as a kid but not since then.  Hubbie said the same thing, so one day out of curiosity he came home with a can several months ago.  I fried it up like I remember only to find I HATE the stuff now and can't even remember how I could possibly have ever liked it!  And I'm someone that actually LIKES canned Deviled Ham, too!

Same thing for tripe - I grew up eating it and liking it - my Sicilian grandmother was a culinary genius and hers was awesome.  Somehow she got the "funk" out.  I have NEVER had it since then that I didn't absolutely HATE it even when other people who liked it said theirs was good.  Too much funk.

One thing I've had and never liked is goat.  I went to an African restaurant in NYC a few years back that supposedly had fantastic goat, but somehow to me it tasted gristly with a chewy texture that put me totally off.  Same thing happened at a Jamaican restaurant, so I guess I just don't like goat.

[auntlada]

I only like okra in jambalaya or gumbo or coated in cornmeal and fried, but not battered so that it is completely covered. The okra should be cut up and shaken in some cornmeal and then fried.

[MargeGunderson]

You all inspired me to buy frozen breaded okra at the store this morning. I also bought ranch dressing for dipping. That's how we ate it in my college cafeteria.

[Qoass]

I had a salad last week with roasted cauliflower and I didn't hate it but I don't know how much the other ingredients helped make it palatable. I love eating out at buffets because it enables me to try new things with little commitment but now I wish I'd taken notes on what else was in that dish.

[NutMeg]

All the talk about Brussels sprouts has really made me crave them, the way I like them best is steamed to still slightly crunchy, then add fresh butter, nutmeg (dah! :D), salt, pepper, toss and serve. Sorry that for some of you my yummy craving reads like a horror story :(

[Blergh]

All this talk of crunchy reminds me of a food pet peeve of mine: I dislike crunchy cereal and will try to wait several minutes for the milk to turn it just the right 'limp'. No, I don't like it soggy either but even that would be preferable to have to crunch first thing while I'm not quite awake and the caffeine hasn't yet kicked in.

[Zola]

I'm a little fussy with my toast. 

I don't like warm toast because it means the butter will melt and soak into the bread making it a little soggy for my tastes.

instead, I will wait for the toast to cool to the point of being cold, and then apply the low-fat butter; and even the butter has to be straight from the fridge; am not keen on it being too soft.

[callie lee 29]

On 8/6/2017 at 2:19 AM, Snarklepuss said:

I'm finding this thread interesting because there isn't much I don't like.  I pretty much like anything if it's made properly, save for anything with insects in it, LOL.  No WAY would I ever knowingly eat an insect (and people do).  I've had dreadful store bought hummus but others are wonderful, especially homemade.  I've had horrible okra and okra that surprised me, like the pickled and deep fried kind.  I've had wonderful raw oysters and oysters that taste and feel like someone hacked up phlegm.  Now, Spam was something I ate on rare occasion as a kid but not since then.  Hubbie said the same thing, so one day out of curiosity he came home with a can several months ago.  I fried it up like I remember only to find I HATE the stuff now and can't even remember how I could possibly have ever liked it!  And I'm someone that actually LIKES canned Deviled Ham, too!

Same thing for tripe - I grew up eating it and liking it - my Sicilian grandmother was a culinary genius and hers was awesome.  Somehow she got the "funk" out.  I have NEVER had it since then that I didn't absolutely HATE it even when other people who liked it said theirs was good.  Too much funk.

One thing I've had and never liked is goat.  I went to an African restaurant in NYC a few years back that supposedly had fantastic goat, but somehow to me it tasted gristly with a chewy texture that put me totally off.  Same thing happened at a Jamaican restaurant, so I guess I just don't like goat.

Fried spam on white bread and miracle whip... Not quite as good as fried bologna but close. And if your fry the bread up as well... Imagine what Homer Simpson looks like craving donuts and that's me right now. 

For the pickled okra I go Texas Pete all the way. And if you really want to go all the way: Texas Pete pickled okra, Penrose picked sausage, fried baloney sandwich and sweet tea. Your healthy side can be  cottage cheese with pear on top of iceberg lettuce. That's my childhood at grandma's house. 

[Mittengirl]

I don't know if this is unpopular or just not something people admit to -  I love piping hot Pillsbury crescent rolls (the kind in the tube).  Hot from the oven and slathered with butter!  I could eat the whole package at once.  But once they get cold they hold no appeal and they don't reheat well at all.

Edited August 8, 2017 by Mittengirl

[ariel]

1 hour ago, Mittengirl said:

I don't know if this is unpopular or just not something people admit to -  I love piping hot Pillsbury crescent rolls (the kind in the tube).  Hot from the oven and slathered with butter!  I could eat the whole package at once.  But once they get cold they hold no appeal and they don't reheat well at all.

I'm going to admit to liking the buttermilk grands.  I find them tasty right out of the oven with butter.  When they cool, not so much.

[auntlada]

I love those, @ariel. And since I do not make any breadlike substances, they are way better than any I would make from scratch.

I also like the brown and serve rolls with the lines in the top that allow you to split the roll apart when it is done. I like them a little crispy on the outside, not burned, just firm. My grandmother always had them for Thanksgiving. I prefer them to the rolls that my mother-in-law makes that have to sit and rise and are way more complicated and probably are supposed to be better.

These: https://www.google.com/search?q=brown+and+serve+rolls&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&hl=en-us&client=safari#imgrc=J3GL2dMIynG00M:

[annzeepark914]

I can't stand cauliflower.  There is something in its flavor that is nasty to me (I can even detect it in creamy cauliflower soups that are seasoned well).  The only other horror is Spam. In my early childhood my mom would stick cloves all over it and add pineapple slices. Ugh.  It's so OTT salty I can still "taste" it many decades later.  Once I reached an age where I felt bold enough to say I would never eat it again, she stopped serving it (altho' my dad loved it).  One cooked veggie I learned to like is carrots and that's because I began to slice them the Asian way--on the diagonal.  If they're cut across and cooked? Blech.  But on the diagonal--stir fried or very briefly boiled...they're quite good.

[garnet207]

  I have an aversion to these foods cold:  eggs (ex. hard boiled), pasta , and soup, but am willing to eat all of them hot.

  Due to getting sick after eating them as a kid (not necessarily as a result), I don't like eating ham or chocolate and mint together.

[Spunkygal]

On August 8, 2017 at 7:54 PM, ariel said:

I'm going to admit to liking the buttermilk grands.  I find them tasty right out of the oven with butter.  When they cool, not so much.

I buy the buttermilk Grands which are frozen in a bag. You can bake as many or as few as you need. I don't like cold, leftover biscuits either and refuse to buy biscuits in the tube. The frozen ones are so convenient and pretty darn good!

[Cherry Bomb]

I actually like Brussel Sprouts as well especially when they are roasted in a Red Wine Vinaigrette sauce. My dislike is Red Beets.

[ennui]

I happen to love deep fried artichoke hearts, and I don't understand why they aren't available frozen for us lazy people. Frozen artichokes are available, but not coated in batter and ready to cook. 

Ergo, they must be unpopular, and I am relegated to restaurants and food trucks.

[vavera4ka]

I'm the only one in my circle of friends/relatives who doesn't like honey.

I really dislike the taste and flavor.

We just went to this winery in Utah and their wines are very honey-y (lol) Everyone loved it and I'm like, I feel like I'm drinking pure honey that's not even that sweet...  no, give me my regular wine!

[callie lee 29]

3 hours ago, vavera4ka said:

I'm the only one in my circle of friends/relatives who doesn't like honey.

I really dislike the taste and flavor.

We just went to this winery in Utah and their wines are very honey-y (lol) Everyone loved it and I'm like, I feel like I'm drinking pure honey that's not even that sweet...  no, give me my regular wine!

It has only been very recently that I've developed a taste for honey, and only tupelo honey, nothing else. I have found it helpful for allergies, so I use to just put it in hot tea. I have now expanded to yogurt and granola.  Adventurous. 

[Mellowyellow]

I tolerate honey but it's not all that. I will eat it if it's in something served to me and there are no other options but I wouldn't go seeking it. 

[Mittengirl]

Fresh tomatoes.  This time of year, when everyone is raving about the tomatoes they are scarfing down fresh off the vine, all I can think is EWW!   The only way I will eat tomato is if it is cooked down in a smooth sauce as in pizza or pasta sauce.   Cannot stand lumps of tomato in sauce, nor too much of it.

Edited August 24, 2017 by Mittengirl
Big difference between can and cannot

[Bastet]

I'm the opposite: I'm one of those who delights in this time of year when I can walk into the backyard and pick a delicious tomato to make a BLT sandwich, a caprese or other tomato salad, or just slice, season, and eat, but I don't care for tomato-based sauces on my pizza or pasta, marinara as a dipping sauce, etc.  Or for cooked tomatoes in general, really.  (Hmm, I just thought about the fact tomato is botanically a fruit, and I hate cooked fruit.)

[Smurf]

I do not like fish. Not any type of fish. I think they are all smelly. Even the ones everyone say are mild.

[ariel]

I love a big ugly heirloom tomato, fresh from the garden.

[ennui]

On 8/22/2017 at 4:57 PM, callie lee 29 said:

I've developed a taste for honey, and only tupelo honey, nothing else. I have found it helpful for allergies

It's not easy to find local honey, which is the type that helps with allergies. If you read your labels carefully, often the honey is sourced elsewhere.

However, please buy honey. It's the best way to help the bees. If you haven't heard about the afflictions that bees face, please read up -- buying honey helps the people who want to help the bees. 

[Bastet]

Local honey (either from individual beekeepers or from companies that buy and produce from several local beekeepers) is a staple at my farmers markets, and the local Trader Joe's carry honey from one of those local producers (just the most-popular of their several varieties, but at least it's there in store for people who don't go to the market).  Hopefully other TJ's do as well.

[Jac]

On 22/08/2014 at 1:03 PM, Jac said:

As for my odd likes and dislikes, I love bubble tea and plain crackers with nothing on them and fruit in savoury salads and mayonnaise with my bacon and eggs. I hate mushrooms, olives and corn.

Update: I now eat corn in certain circumstances, mostly in Mexican food or in a quiche that my sister eats. I actually love the flavour of corn and have always eaten things like polenta, corn tortillas, corn bread etc. My major issue with corn is the texture. I still can't stand olives (though I love olive oil) and mushrooms, which is both a texture and a smell thing. I go home most summers for at least a few weeks to spend time with my parents and the ducted air-conditioner runs pretty much all the time because it gets hot in regional NSW in the summer, my dad will sometimes cook mushrooms for breakfast and the smell permeates the entire house via the ducting, there is nothing like waking up gagging because the whole house reeks of mushroom. I also strongly dislike hard-boiled eggs and hard-fried eggs though I love scrambled eggs and omelettes and pretty much every other way of preparing eggs. I dislike cream sauces on pasta and adore red sauces.

[DeLurker]

9 hours ago, Jac said:

my dad will sometimes cook mushrooms for breakfast and the smell permeates the entire house via the ducting, there is nothing like waking up gagging because the whole house reeks of mushroom.

I don't care for mushrooms so never cook with them.  I had no idea they had a smell - eek!

[festivus]

On 8/24/2017 at 4:40 PM, Bastet said:

I'm the opposite: I'm one of those who delights in this time of year when I can walk into the backyard and pick a delicious tomato to make a BLT sandwich, a caprese or other tomato salad, or just slice, season, and eat, but I don't care for tomato-based sauces on my pizza or pasta, marinara as a dipping sauce, etc.  Or for cooked tomatoes in general, really.  (Hmm, I just thought about the fact tomato is botanically a fruit, and I hate cooked fruit.)

I love tomatoes and I'm fine with any tomato based sauce, but I also hate cooked fruit. No pies, cobblers, or tarts for me. Yuck. Unless it's cooked citrus fruit which I like.

[Bastet]

4 hours ago, festivus said:

I also hate cooked fruit. No pies, cobblers, or tarts for me. Yuck. Unless it's cooked citrus fruit which I like.

Citrus is my exception, too - the only pies I like, other than a strawberry pie where the strawberries are raw, are lemon meringue and key lime.

[BW Manilowe]

On 7/19/2017 at 4:32 PM, Giselle said:

My teeth were sensitive to cold when I was a kid so they never appealed to me because of the cold factor. Plus I've always hated the flavor of punch and that is what I figured they tasted like.

The thing is, Slurpees/Icees/Slushes/Whatever they call them come in way more flavors besides fruit punch variations these days; they come in pretty much every flavor you can imagine, including sodas like Coke. But yeah, back in the day, about the only flavor you could get was some variation on fruit punch... which I didn't like either.

@auntlada: I suppose you may be aware of this but, if you aren't, you can buy Coke flavored Icees at Burger King. They've been available there for a long time; they also have the original/traditional fruit punch type flavor.

[mamadani]

Pickles, which I'm not sure is that odd but my husband's family loves them and treats me like I'm crazy for not liking them. I think it's the vinegar? 

Uncooked tomatoes, I can eat them cooked into stuff but no matter how much I try I do not like them raw.

[Mellowyellow]

Hubby and kidlet both hate pickles! They don't like the vinegar or fermenty things in general. 

[DeLurker]

My son cannot stand the smell of boiled eggs once you take the shell off. 

[Mellowyellow]

I'll admit there is a smell to it. I boil my son's eggs so that they are just set for school but I can still smell it. I kinda feel terrible sending it to school but he loves it. 

I hate cream cheese! Ick! To me it's neither cheese nor cream. Tastes like rotten dairy! It's why I can't eat cheesecake. 

ETA: Also have a very tense relationship with yoghurt. Certain fruit and sugar loaded brands are ok (I'll eat it but I don't love it) but I can't eat any savoury food made with yoghurt. Makes me think there's off dairy in my food. Don't fancy any yoghurt cakes or yoghurt panna cotta either! Blergh!

Edited October 21, 2017 by Mellowyellow

[Bastet]

I don't like most fermented foods, other than pickles and beer -- most vinegars, yogurt, sour cream, sauerkraut, and many others are on my "no thanks" list -- but I do like kimchi, so go figure. 

@Mellowyellow, I hate cream cheese - and thus cheesecake - too. 

I also hate a lot of blue cheeses.  I lump them in with yogurt and sour cream as dairy gone bad.

[mamadani]

@Bastet completely there with you on the blue cheese and sauerkraut, I can't stand either, especially the smell. 

I also really dislike mushrooms, I have never had them made anyway I like. My husband thinks I just haven't had food I dislike made the "right way" but he doesn't understand that I have tried to like these foods, and I've tried them many different ways.

[Lovecat]

Egg yolks.  Scrambled eggs and omelettes are fine, where the yolk and white are all mixed up, but anything where the yolk and white are separate in the finished product, no thanks.  I am, however, quite fond of cooked egg whites.  I eat the white part of hard boiled eggs, and I particularly love a fried egg white on a buttered bagel.  Mmmmm.  Needless to say, egg salad is off the table.  Horrrf.

Sour cream and cream cheese.  IN things, as an ingredient, is fine.  ON things, as a garnish, no thanks.  No cream cheese on my bagel (unless it's the whipped kind with veggies or something in it, and even then just a thin schmear), and no sour cream on my baked potato or Mexican food.

Cheese sauce.  I know, this is a weird one.  I like cheese, but just the thought of cheese sauce makes me gag.  If I get nachos, I'm good with sprinkled shredded cheese, but if it's a ladlefull of queso?  Hard pass.  It smells like feet.  I do, however, eat macaroni and cheese.  I can't even explain it.

Cottage cheese.  Horrrrrrrrrfffffffffffff.  Looks gross, smells gross, feels gross in the mouth.

Moving on from dairy products...lima beans.  When I was a kid I'd pick them out of the mixed vegetables and line them up on the rim of my plate.  It looked like I was readying them for execution.  In fact, outside of baked beans, I'm actually not much of a bean person.  When I have chili, I eat around the kidney beans, and when I make it myself, I use a mixture of cannelloni beans and corn.

I don't eat any sort of fish or seafood except for tuna in a can/pouch.  Oddly, I do get the occasional craving for a fish stick, but I think that has more to do with the breading :)  I know fish is very good for you, and I have tried and tried to like it, but I just can't do it.

We all have our things :)

[Bastet]

2 hours ago, Lovecat said:

Egg yolks.  Scrambled eggs and omelettes are fine, where the yolk and white are all mixed up, but anything where the yolk and white are separate in the finished product, no thanks.

You're ahead of me -- I won't even eat the yolks that way.  My omelettes and scrambles must be egg whites only.  I was so happy when people started freaking out about egg yolks and cholesterol, because then it became the norm for restaurants to offer egg dishes made with the whites only.  My preference was solely about taste, not any health concerns, but it was that period of widespread health concern that made my tastes easy to accommodate; as a kid, I pretty much had to only eat eggs at home, because I got tired of servers and cooks being confused by what I wanted. 

Same with when people got hyper-conscious of the carbs in bread.  I'm not a big bread person, so it can easily overwhelm the good stuff in sandwiches -- I like them made as a wrap or a pita pocket instead.  Again, easy at home, but not offered in a lot of restaurants.  Cue carb freak-out, and I could go just about anywhere and request that my sandwich be made as a wrap instead.

Edited October 26, 2017 by Bastet