I am hopeful this thread can be enlightening, while also being respectful. I am not looking to bash other people’s dislikes of certain items, nor do I want to convince anyone that they should like “X.”
Having said that, my oldest friend from HS told me a few years ago that she “did not like vegetables” – not any specific vegetable (which I could understand, there are veg I prefer over others for sure & some I don’t like much at all), but ANY and ALL vegetables.
I can understand someone not ‘liking’ meat, or cheese, or wine, since the differences aren’t that huge within those categories… but “vegetables” present us with such a huge array of textures, flavors, and prep methods.
Eggplant ≠ broccoli ≠ peas ≠ spinach ≠ beets. I simply cannot wrap my head around it.
Perhaps she’s dealing with other issues, as the only thing she ate from an aMAZing wonton soup was the meat filling of the dumplings. Not the noodle dough, not the veg, hardly any of the broth
I do not personally have any real significant picky eating history. My parents exposed me to a lot of varied flavors when I was growing up.
At one time, probably thru my 30s, I had a very short list of foods I do not like. Brain, green bell pepper, figs, chicken egg with a runny yolk and blueberries. The figs were a digestive issue, they unsettled my stomach.
Today, my list is figs and eyeballs. But the brains need to be breaded and fried/pan-fried.
On the pother hand, 14 years of running restaurants and 10 years at Whole Amazon, I learned there is no limit to the I do not eat “X” formulations you will face.
It’s well known in my various food circles that I don’t like cilantro (despise it, actually), but it’s because I have “that” gene. It definitely doesn’t mean I don’t like thyme, oregano, rosemary, parsley, marjoram.
So yeah, if she ONLY ate the meat out of a wonton soup, there’s perhaps a textural issue for her?
I don’t like Brussels Sprouts… I’ve tried them a bunch of different ways, but nope, I just don’t like them.
I’ll eat just about every other kind of vegetable, though.
I tend to eat the wontons and leave the broth. But I like vegetables. The main vegetable I avoid is the green pepper at the moment, and I haven’t been buying bell peppers lately.
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Harters
(John Hartley - a culinary patriot eating & cooking in Northwest England)
6
Natascha - it may be me being stupid but I’m not sure what you want from us with this thread. Are you asking us to comment on your friend? Or explain what and why we dislike something ourselves? Or something else?
Thank you for your input! I was confronted with innards early on in life - calf’s liver, kidneys, brains, and I was expected to at least try everything once (no special “kid meal” either with a working mom). You ate what was put on the table in the evening. Thankfully, my mom was a pretty good cook
I’ve overcome my aversions to several foods/ingredients, with some to the point of absolutely loving them (notably capers, cilantro, blue cheese & very spicy food). Others I can tolerate within context - I’m looking at you, nasty caraway. OK in a Reuben, F off in my sauerkraut or on my breads. Big nope.
Not crazy about sweet veg like squashes (besides zukes) or pumpkin or sweet potato. I can enjoy pumpkin/sweet potato in soup or pie form. If I’m going to eat mushy veg it better be eggplant.
I also cannot do cartilage due to texture. I also absolutely loathe injera. Love everything else about Ethiopian food.
Excellent question, John. You know, I’m not so sure. It’s def one of the ‘chatty’ conversational threads, so people looking for scientific explanations about genetic predispositions to disliking certain things should probably move on.
The diabetes thread reminded me of this exchange with my buddy many years ago, and I realized that I still couldn’t quite grasp the idea. I was hoping for enlightenment from others, but that was perhaps in vain. It’s not like anyone here can read her mind, and when I pressed her on it back then she got really defensive, so… shrug?
People like to talk about what they like and don’t like.
Yes, same here… When I was a kid my mom used to mix salmon with spaghetti (red sauce) – quite often. I hated it. YUK!!
As an adult, I’ll eat salmon and I’ll eat spaghetti (red sauce) but not together. Just the thought of mixing the two together turns my stomach.
@linguafood your description of your friend recalled to me the picky eater self-described in the Guardian article in this thread:
That picky eater actually seemed to have a type of eating disorder called ARFID, that they took treatment for and then got better.
ARFID is a psychological disorder that is recognized in the DSM-5, and is much beyond just picky eating, and is based in a phobia, or anxiety, or texture/taste aversion, or extreme lack of hunger cues, around entire broad categories of food, not just a few things. It can make the person’s life pretty miserable and put their health at risk. Many would like to eat better but are unable to do so without a lot of help.
Not sure if this describes your friend, and I am certainly not a medical professional. But the comparison crossed my mind so I thought I would share.
This triggered a memory I have from years ago. I was attending a wedding and making small talk with a fellow seated at my table. The dialog turned to food and I remarked that avocado was probably my favourite fruit. He returned a subtle scowl and followed with “I don’t eat green food”. Knowing I couldn’t possibly pursue any further conversation, I slowly backed away, never to encounter him again.
I remember being on a 2nd date, at a Thai restaurant, and my date declared he hated all curry. He ordered some odd long skinny ham filled spring roll- which I haven’t seen anywhere since then- which I didn’t try since I was pescatarian back then. The no-to-all-curries turned me off. I didn’t go on a 3rd date. Other reasons as well, but the no curry felt like a flag that he was inflexible, intolerant, and not open to trying new things. He had also irritated me on the first date by taking a spoonful of my mushroom risotto without asking first.
Then, a year later, on a first date, the guy said he hated all raw fish and sushi. Again, some other reasons contributed to me deciding I didn’t want to go on another date, but hearing this didn’t help.
That’s an interesting one, and points to a mental issue. Unless they were trying to make a point about how they don’t like to eat ‘healthy’ food (like vegetables) as some sort of misguided personal rebellion.
Peeps be weird, which makes life so very interesting and entertaining at the same time
Keep in mind that it may be more than an aversion. I often ask if something has raw onions. Unfortunately if I eat them, even in a small amount, I immediately throw up. It is a great sorrow to me, especially since I have no problem with well cooked onions or pickled red onions
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Harters
(John Hartley - a culinary patriot eating & cooking in Northwest England)
16
Thanks.
I’ll try and give you a chatty answer. I will try any food once. Most I’ll return to although with different levels of enthusiasm. And some with no enthusiasm at all - I will eat it if, say, we are at someone’s house for dinner and it’s on the plate but would not prepare it for myself. There are a handful of things that I have tried and will not voluntarily eat again - andouilette de Cambrai is one such. But,as a general rule, I am not keen on eating things that are fiddly to eat - boney fish would be the prime example.
This kind of reminds of an interview with Richard Dawson (Match Game, Family Feud, etc.) where he said when he met his second wife, he made her dinner. She didn’t really eat much of it. Turns out, she wouldn’t eat any food that began with the letter “A”. At 5:19 into this video, he talks about it. Any who, that struck me as the most odd food refusal I had ever heard.
But is that what you are asking? That is, will you eat something?
Or are you asking “Are there things you do not eat because you don’t like the way they taste?”
Or are you asking “Are there things you do not eat because you find them unhealthy”?
Like I said up above, I will eat just about anything, but there are definitely things I will not eat because I don’t like the way they taste and/or because I (note, the “I”) consider them unhealthy.
I am not sure about your topic. Is it about odd, total exclusions from major cats of food, or just about the things I/we don’t like? If it is the latter…
Veggies: Squash and Eggplant… not a fan of the taste or texture.
Meat: Steaks (whole). But make burgers, pastrami, or a cheese steak from it and I am a fan. Same for pork… chops are not an option, but ground is great for sausage/meat loaf, and shoulder for things like carnitas and pulled is wonderful… as are BBQ ribs.
Seafood: Raw. Just don’t get sushi, especially how good fresh seafood is cooked… so short of a California Roll (which ain’t raw) it is never ordered/made. I do like a good ceviche… but I am not sure I envision that as raw.
Guts: I used to be ok with beef liver, and have had some chicken liver recipes that were OK, but haven’t done them in decades… nor will I going forward.
Fruits: Can’t think of anything I dislike, but there are many exotic ones I’ve never tried.
