Are there foods you WANT to like, but just can't bring yourself to eat?

[Shakespeare]

I have a short list, and it actually depresses me that I just can't develop a liking for them:

Soft, rinded cheeses like brie and camembert. These I continue to try, because I LOVE cheese, but the mildew-y taste, no matter how mild, makes my throat close up. Someday, hopefully.

Hummus - I've tried numerous kinds over the years, because I REALLY want to like it, but always end up grimmacing and never making it past the initial taste (and I'm normally bonkers for anything with lots of garlic or roasted peppers).

And, the one I feel worst about, because I really, REALLY want to like it: asparagus. I just can't stand the way the stuff tastes.

I'm also militantly and proudly anti-cilantro, but that's a topic for another thread (one that doesn't involve guilt and regret). :P

[Qanisqineq]

1. Any animal that lives in the water

I can't eat fish, lobster, crab, oysters, clams, you name it. I want to like it because there is such a variety and there are so many different dishes with seafood or fish. In addition to that, it's a pain in the ass when traveling to other countries or even parts of the US where these foods are more prominent. I've tried, just can't stand it. Can't even put it in my mouth without violently gagging.

[babylonsister]

3. Wow. You have my deepest sympathies. I've never heard

of anyone with an aversion such as yours.

Mine is liver and lima beans; nuh-uh, can't go there. The textures gross me out.

[yellowdogintexas]

20. crab makes me gag. Most of the time I can eat the other

crustaceans, scallops are my favorite.

[NMDemDist2]

2. brussel sprouts and cabbage

I just gag at the smell

[Warpy]

4. Meats in general, organ meats in particular

I'm one of those natural vegetarians, I guess. I'm always a little anemic, so I'd love to be able to choke down a piece of liver once a month or so. Forget it, I barf at the smell.

Buckwheat. I can get it down, but I've never had it prepared any way that I've enjoyed it.

Plain tofu. I can prepare tofu in ways that people swear they're eating fish, or cheese, or kickass chocolate mousse. I just don't like it sliced, no matter how many condiments I put on it. It's a texture thing.

Turnips. I can get 'em down, but they're in the same category with buckwheat.

Most "tall" food with carefully dribbled "layered" sauces. I like sculpture as well as the next person, but please, no more tall food that is impossible to demolish and consume without having bits fly all over the place.

Commercial cakes, especially wedding cakes. Pale, bland, flavorless. Good to look at, icky sweet to the point of nausea.

[eyesroll]

5. Re: commercial cakes -- it's the fondant that messes it up for me.

I was raised on buttercream (OK, on the rare occasion we had cake, I had buttercream -- my grandparents owned a bakery). Fondant just tastes like sweet plastic wrap to me.

Marzipan, too, although that's a general aversion to processed almonds -- I'm OK with just regular almonds in a nut mix, or sliced over beans or fish, but any other preparation involving ground, flavored or extracted almonds or Amaretto is gross.

You're right, though, it's pretty.

[lakemonster11]

37. I'm very squeamish about meat.

I'm especially bothered by organ meats, gristle, disparate meats mixed together into one dish, "mystery" meats (sausage, hot dogs, bologna...), and especially what I call "hidden meats"---meats that are concealed inside other things, usually some type of bread, particularly when they're unexpected.

I'm also very much bothered by undercooked meats, which is strange because I like sushi fine. I can eat raw sashimi-grade salmon by the bucketload, but give me a half-cooked piece of salmon on my plate and I'll turn green. On the rare occasions that I eat steak or burgers, they have to be at least medium well.

I'll eat pretty much anything that isn't meat, though. Well, as long as it doesn't involve ketchup or mayonnaise. I love most grains, fruits, legumes, and vegetables, and those that I don't love I can definitely tolerate.

[Qanisqineq]

38. me too

I said previously I can't eat seafood and fish but I never even thought about all the other meat I can't bring myself to eat. It's easier to list what I can eat: turkey, beef, pork, and some chicken. No organ meat, no veal, no undercooked meat, no venison, nothing strange. I will eat an occasional sausage with lots of mustard and sauerkraut but otherwise if I can't identify it, I can't eat it.

Once you get out of the meat category (including eggs which I am very picky about), I'll at least TRY just about anything.

Wow, I didn't realize what a picky eater I am!

[ernstbass]

6. I'm with you on the cilantro

I can't bring myself to eat sushi or oysters

[Wordie]

7. Oh yes...asparagus.

I really want to like it, and I can't say I really hate it, but it just doesn't wow me the way it does most people. I feel embarrased about this for some reason, I feel as if I really should like asparagus. I still buy it on occasion when it's on sale, and I suppose it may be that I need to find a better way to cook it (I generally steam it). And I have enjoyed just a taste of it, when it's served in a vegetable medley. But guess I just don't really understand what all the fuss is about.

Goat cheese is another that I really don't like at all. It has such a...what is that taste, anyway? Not good, imo. Those other cheeses though, like brie, I really like.

I also don't care for snails, even when drowned in butter and garlic. But that's more a thing about remembering stepping on them when I was a kid...and that hard exo-skeleton...and the squish....ewww. I remember a party I went to where they were served and the garlic smell was delish, but I just couldn't bring myself to even try one. I'm generally pretty willing to be adventurous with food, but snails are one thing that I don't think I can even say I want to learn to like.

[Shakespeare]

8. embarassed, exactly!

I actually feel ashamed that I can't like these things (especially the brie and asparagus). Down deep, I know I have a sophisticated palate, and think it somehow reflects poorly on me that I can't eat those things.

I'm close to you on goat cheese; I greatly prefer the chevre produced here in Sonoma county, which seems to be a little less musky/gamey than French chevre. And I have much less of a problem if it's cooked as a part of a dish. But the hard cheeses--oh, man...the sharper and stinkier, the better. And fresh mozzarella. Pretty much anything that's hard enough to be gratable (semi-hard?), and I'm all over it.

[Blue Gardener]

9. Yogurt

Just can't acquire a taste for it.

[troubleinwinter]

11. I think a lot of people don't like it....

I am curious if you like or dislike sour cream? Some similarities.

[Blue Gardener]

14. No problem with sour cream or cream cheese

Cottage cheese is out though. I can eat soy yogurt, the taste is much better in my opinion.

[Wordie]

40. Have you usually tried the non-fat type of yogurt?

Because there's a big difference between that and the type made with whole milk. The non-fat type is runnier and much more tart, while the whole milk kind is quite creamy and not as tart (this depends on the brand a bit). It's really quite a noticable difference.

Cottage cheese does little for me either.

[troubleinwinter]

10. Pizza.

Ugh.

Love brie, camembert, asparagus, cilantro.

At least you can get along without coming across them often, and many people to not like them. But "America's Favorite Food"??!!

It is a real drawback in this country to NOT be able to stand pizza! Yer with a group of people and all starving and some idiot pipes up with "Let's go have PIZZA!" And EVERYBODY says "Yaaaaah!!!!!" Ew. Gack. Gag.

Also sodas. Ugggghhh!!!! I can't stand them and drink plain ol' iced tea. Made with a teabag, NO sugar.

Don't like ice cream and avoid it when I can (love cakes, pies, cookies, etc.)

I do like scotch, though.

[murphymom]

12. Menudo (Mexican tripe and hominy soup)

My husband is from a big Mexican-American family and my MIL makes menudo as a nightcap/morning after thing when they have big celebrations. I have tried valiantly for over 20 years to develop a taste for the wretched stuff and I can't do it. There's just an "ick" factor to the look and texture of tripe that I can't get over. Plus, if you ever need to clear a house, forget about tear gas, just cook a pot of tripe - it's some of the whiffiest stuff I've ever encountered. My MIL used to cook it in a big roaster oven thingie in the garage because it stank up the house so bad.

[troubleinwinter]

23. Hahahahaha!!!!!!!

Last night I treated myself by taking a favorite book to the local low-rent restaurant in order to relax with a bowl of the BEST (restaurant) MENUDO in the world!

Speaking of divine texture, betcha don't look at pickled pigs' feet? Mmmmm. Nearly bought a jar the other day.

[murphymom]

35. Good for you!

You can have my share of all the menudo in the world with my blessing! And you're right, I don't like the idea of pigs feet, either. I think a lot of times it's a matter of what you grew up with. I remember a relish that my Polish grandmother made with grated beets and horseradish that we always had with ham or kielbasa around the holidays. Some non-Polish friends/family thought that was unusual - we always had to warn people that it wan't cranberry sauce before they took a big ol' bite.

[FuzzySlippers]

13. Tofu. I love the idea of tofu,

but the experience of eating it has always been unpleasant. The texture is just so yucky.

[troubleinwinter]

24. So funny to me...

... how different people have different tastes.

I often enjoy plain chilled cubed tofu with a little chopped green onion and soy sauce for lunch in the summer for a light and refreshing dish.

But I am also the person who likes pickled pigs feet & tripe, but won't look at pizza!

[Stinky The Clown]

15. For me, the better question would be what foods I'd like to NOT like

I eat too much. Well, not really, but I love damned near everything. To be sure there are a few things I can live without, but nothing, except cocoanut, that I just can't eat. And for me, the cocoanut is not anything I've ever felt a need to want to like. I don't feel like not eating it is a reason to want to eat it. I can live the rest of my life quite happily with never have enjoyed a Mounds Bar.

[troubleinwinter]

27. But have you ever had really well made haupia?

[Stinky The Clown]

31. Funnily enough, I like cocoanut milk ... and concoctions like Pepe Lopez

I like piona coladas and anything sweet marked as pina colada flavor.

I even like fresh cocoanut. Its only the dessicated stuff I don't like.

[calico1]

16. Tartare.

I have seen Jacques Pepin make it several times and the finished dish looks good, but I just don't think I could eat it knowing its raw!

[Tab]

22. I had that growing up

Very yum.

It's weird how we're conditioned against things raw. Yes, some are dangerous, but others are quite good. Tartare has to be made from fresh ground steak, so it hasn't had the opportunity to pick up anything bad once ground. Sushi and sashimi are wonderful, but if you go at it thinking "raw fish" you'll never get there.

And I've not always been this way - Sushi/sashimi is new for me from about age 30+. Before that, it just weirded me out, not because it was bad but because I was brought up to equate raw=bad. It's fresh and good. Heck, it's what the polar bears eat.

[troubleinwinter]

25. My mother made the best. She also used the best meat...

It is difficult these days. She had "Lenny" the butcher, and she would let him know what she wanted it for tatare, and he'd grind it. Most of us don't have a good and trusted butcher anymore.

It was a very light and delicate dish. There is a popular dish served these days that is the shaved raw beef with a bit of olive oil (forget the name), capers... It is light and delicate, but nowhere near as delicious as properly made tartare.

[Tab]

33. I think they took a top cut of steak

had it fresh ground, mixed in egg and salt and pepper. I can ask - I haven't had it since I was 12, but I think it was something like that.

[politicat]

17. Oatmeal, turkey, garbanzo beans, "greens", molded cheeses...

Oatmeal has a texture thing that I can't get past. It reminds me of wallpaper paste or library paste. I like oatmeal in things - breads, cookies, muffins - but as a breakfast food, I'll pass. I'd rather have Cheerios.

Turkey just bothers me. I have problems eating anything that stupid, I guess. It's like it's not fair to take advantage of their utter imbecility. (Which is funny, because sheep are just as stupid, but I don't mind lamb or mutton.) I don't like the taste much, either. I'll eat it if there's nothing else, and I don't really mind processed turkey (like the turkey roll that 3rd rate cafeterias serve - think dorm or elementary school) but the bird or parts of the bird just weird me out.

I love beans, but I hate garbanzos. Weird texture compared to other beans, and if they're canned, there's a smell that pintos or northerns or blacks don't have. I am a bad girl - I make my hummus with canned Great Northern Beans and no one has ever complained.

Greens - mustard, collard, kale - just squick me out. Anything that has to be cooked for several hours in several changes of water to be edible is NOT EDIBLE. The reason you're changing the water is to wash away the toxins. Duh. (I have the same problem with tripe.) I know greens are supposed to be good for you, but I'll stick with cabbage and the other cruciferous veggies.

No molded cheeses, either. Blue, roquefort, stilton, brie, camembert, gorgonzola, teleme... yuck. I know they're supposed to be fabulous, but mold is for penicillin.

Any leftover more than 3 days old. My husband can eat things in the fridge that are capable of talking back to him with no qualms, but for me, if it's more than three days old, it's gone.

[wakemeupwhenitsover]

18. Omelets.

I've posted before that I just can't eat eggs. Even the smell makes me hurl. But omelets can be filled with things I absolutely love: cheese, asparagus, mushrooms, onions, tomatoes, more cheese, salsa, herbs -all kinds-, more cheese, & on and on. :sigh:

[troubleinwinter]

26. How 'bout trying crepes for all the goody fillings? Would it work?

[wakemeupwhenitsover]

28. Oh, yes.

I make crepes all the time. They're one of my favorite for leftovers, first courses, etc.

[troubleinwinter]

29. Cool! Phooey on omletes then! I love omletes, butttt...

only with strawberry jam, which makes purists hurl, so WTF. CREPES IT IS!

[yellowdogintexas]

19. crab, sushi, sweet potatoes,

there are other foods that I don't like and don't ever want to like.

[Tab]

21. Eggs

I should be able to like eggs, but I just can't. The only format I can handle is hard-boiled. I can cook eggs (scrambled, omelettes, etc) for others, but eating them - no way. And I doubt I ever will.

There are other foods I think I should be able to like, but have no interest in - mainly slushy, soft foods like mashed potatoes, squash, etc.

[kestrel91316]

30. I CANNOT eat, and don't EVER want to like:

- the parts of meat that are fatty or gristly
- real Italian sausage, with the big chunks of gristly fat
- mackerel
- octopus
- brains and eggs (or brains and anything else) - I like most other organ meats, like liver and heart and sweetbreads
- poultry gizzards
- seedy tangerines

[troubleinwinter]

32. Well now, I am embarrassed to say...

that I have been known to enjoy octopus. But it's only cuz I grew up in Hawaii. It is the texture and rubberiness of a tire, but less flavorful.

[mandyky]

34. I can't do fresh ginger root

and thyme gives me headaches.

I like liver, brussel sprouts and all the normally "hated food". I don't feel bad when I can't eat certain foods because it isn't becuz I am picky.

[jeanarrett]

36. Placenta Soup or Stew. Sorry, I just can't acquire a

taste for it! (No I'm not trying to steal this thread. . . really!)

<Tab is going to beat me up!>

:evilgrin:

[mike_c]

39. seriously, I can't think of anything that I really don't like....

:shrug:

[japple]

41. Liver, calamari, caviar

Has something to do with the texture.

[japple]

44. Oh, and I don't eat fish either, although I'd really like to.

I've had a couple of allergic reactions to it, though not to shellfish, which I love.

[Lefty48197]

42. Melons and salmon

they both just gross me out. Hell add coffee, if that's a food.

[anitar1]

43. Cauliflower and broccoli are 2 that turn me off.

The ONLY way I can eat broccoli is to toss in it olive oil and garlic , add a bit of water and red pepper flakes.Cook and eat. Forget cauliflower, to me it is the worst.

[blue neen]

45. Soy milk

I know it's supposed to be better for you, but I just can't make myself drink that stuff.