I’m with you on both hidden fruit and Coke 
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Me too! One thing I especially like about Southern travel is that Coke is King. Until you get to North Carolina, where Pepsi was invented. Pepsi isn’t an option, and BEWARE friends & relatives who like Coke Zero. They are just closet Pepsi drinkers…
To each their own however. My own DH is a Coke Zero fan & I feel so betrayed at times 
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Thanks!
Weeeeeeelllllll I actually like Coke Zero
It actually tastes like Coke, as opposed to Diet Coke, which tastes like… Diet Coke. But I agree it’s slightly sweeter, which might be your closer-to-Pepsi reaction.
And keep in mind, far be it from me to judge others’ tastes and peccadilloes…
Lol
My one food opinion: I literally have no food I dislike. Literally. The one thing that gives me the heebee jeebies is brain. I have eaten it, and it’s pretty good done right, but it freaks me out. Blood is fine though, I once wrote an article contrasting blood done in three different national cuisines, with examples from two restaurants in each style. Blood is creepy, but since it is so evocative, it can make interesting dishes.
Other than brain, which I might say no to categorically, I have had well cooked and awesome versions of literally everything.
There are foods I may not be in the mood for on a particular day, there are foods that I might suspect aren’t made well in a particular region thus not worth spending a meal on.
It was funny seeing that bahn mi aren’t good. I might say that I have not had a truly awesome bahn mi in quite a few years, and the whole “newfangled” bahn mi is a pale shadow. I got turned on to them in the vietnamese part of the east bay, I think the spot I liked was in el cerrito, and the buns were awesome crispy, the meat was very fatty, and the spicy pickles just brought the whole thing together … and they would be literally two dollars for a huge baguette! There was a window in a place on the peninsula that made righteous ones, also two dollars. The hipster ones… they’re OK and maybe the best thing in a food court, but… another great example is Brie. Brie is a very excellent cheese - spoiled by marketing into those industrial slabs that don’t even ripen properly… but there are still some of the great bries being made, and bloomy rind cheese in general is a food of the gods.
There is no food I dislike.
When I was 4, I disliked milk. I now think it’s pretty great, although I always prefer a little fat ( 2% is a nice balance ). When I was 10, I disliked mushrooms, because they taste like death and decay, now, I like them because they taste like death and decay. In my early 20’s I didn’t like tripe, but I was eating it in the third world where it was really low quality, I have had better tripe now. I still have trouble disassociating the tripe from eastern europe from a decent tripe dish here, but my mind can overrule my “gut reaction”.
I often don’t get people who say that dislike something. It’s more likely they simply haven’t had the good stuff yet.
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If there’s a burger and fries on the menu, it’s American.
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Backlash is certainly a significant part of it. But there’s no doubt that there’s a wide range of things that are being lashed back at. The perhaps interesting thing is the differing range of political & social views that tend to be associated with defining as English or British. The former tend to hold to more conservative views - in favour of us leaving the EU, against gay marriage, in favour of capital punishment, etc. Except when I’m supporting the England cricket team, I define myself as British and am happy to be a citizen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain & Northern Ireland.
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While I’m familiar with the idea of what I believe Eric Hobsbawm was the first to call “invented traditions” you are being so careful here to NOT say some things, that I can’t even tell whether I agree with you or not. Care to explicate?
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Wait, what’s wrong with water…!?! You’re the 2nd person whom I’ve heard that similar statement from the last 2 weeks. 
I drink mainly water because I don’t really like soda, and even juices run quite sugary, so I was quite amused when someone at work said “Ugh water is just gross!” To me water is neutral, so it did leave me wondering - At worst isn’t water just tasteless? How can someone dislike it?
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I do not like bacon with chocolate. I have tried several different ones and it just tasted like greasy chocolate to me. Chocolate already has enough fat on its own. When I see a menu with several bacon spiked dishes I figure I am dealing with a lazy and/or uninspired chef but like you I will eat as much bacon as I make. When I need bacon grease for something I put the cooked bacon aside, crumbled, with intentions of adding it to a salad or something later. It quickly disappears. Many a soup has been made that has a very sad amount of bacon left to use a garnish.
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No need to narrow it down to curly kale. Vile stuff, all of it.
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The boston food scene is doing OK, but I would ask what’s different about the boston food scene compared to western MA, vermont, conn. When I was there I had some very nice food, but very little of it seemed specific to boston — is it really a “local food scene” if you’re laying down the same general plates and ideas as the rest of the country? And yes, I went to Oleana. It’s a good restaurant but it didn’t seem specific to the neighborhood or the area in any way.
My favorite spot in boston is called Corner Bar, they’re near south street station, and when I’m there I feel like I’m in boston. I have a burger and a beer and talk to the other people at the bar, always an interesting conversation, and there’s foreigner on the juke box. I am OK with Aden and Harlow because harvard square does fit the international food vibe and the food is good. I did a walking tour of all the cannoli, and that was fun and local. I also did a minor mission around clam chowder, and there’s that one place in north end that has some good stuff. I hit a couple of south shore grinder shops, that also felt like boston, but one wouldn’t call it elevated in any way. I have had people try to sell me on Japanese, but I am only barely OK with japanese in the SF region, compared to LA, which has far better japanese. I’ve had people tell me about chinese, and sorry, coming from California ( and having rolled my own food tour of China ) I had to say I didn’t find anything exceptional.
Another way to put it — anyone who is tired of being painted as Irish Corned Beef and Baked Beans should have a counter argument of what is their food.
What did I miss?
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Nothing. I love it. Drink several litres every day. I count myself lucky to have high quality and good tasting water straight from the tap.
Some ingredients are either extremely tasteless to me, or too overpowering, and courgette is an example.
I don’t understand what does this means
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I think “brunch” is one of the most loathsome words in the English language (as readers of the Boston board know).
Also, egg dishes (although I am not vegan and don’t mind them in baked goods). The smell, the oozing yolks…big time yuck.
Tuna fish sandwiches brought by classmates made me gag in the chaotic world of elementary school lunchroom. My go-to was PB and fluff sandwiches. For like 10 years. My mom had it good!
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Quiche? Frittata with bacon and veggies? How about rice pudding with whipped cream… “not all eggs are bad…they are just part of eating”
My companion in life has exactly the same view
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I feel for you deprived of the love of runny gooey luscious eggs.
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Another thing that frays my last nerve is upon ordering a Diet Coke and being told by the server " is Pepsi ok ho-on I can put a slice a lemon in there for you" at which point I opt for ice tea. But if tea is bad or pre-sweetened I get something from the bar…
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