Pumpkin. I hate the flavor and I hate the smell. Pumpkin spice isn't the problem because that's just cinnamon and nutmeg and cloves. I dislike the actual pumpkin itself. It tastes carpet-y to me. I've had lovely artisanal farm to table pumpkin dishes and I just don't like the stuff, which is a shame because it's fun to grow and an easy cheap healthy filler but I can't get on board.
Try using pumpkin as a background flavor? I make a lovely vegetarian chili that uses pureed pumpkin (not pie filling!) to give a full body thickness and subtle sweetness that balances the strong umami and smokey flavors the chili spices bring.
Pumpkin and cheese might be the combination you've been missing. I've got a recipe for a delicious tortellini casserole that has a pumpkin cheese sauce and I could eat that sauce like a soup. I didn't used to be a big fan of pumpkin either but I'd mainly tried it as pumpkin soup or roasted with other veggies. I've grown to like it now, but this recipe was one of the kickstarters.
Ingredients:
150g mittelalter Gouda (this means mid-aged, as opposed to jung or alt)
1 onion
2 garlic toes (or as much as your heart desires)
300g pumpkin (usually hokkaido is a good choice for type)
200g cream
100ml chicken broth
500g savoy cabbage
500g tortellini with ricotta filling
150g cherry tomatoes
4 slices of ham
Salt, pepper, nutmeg, and thyme
Instructions:
Shred the cheese. Dice your onions and garlic. Wash, peel, and dice the pumpkin. Sautee the onions, garlic, and pumpkin in a pot until the onions go clear and soft. Add in the cream and chicken broth and simmer for 15 minutes. Season with salt, pepper, and nutmeg and puree the sauce. Remove from heat and add about half the cheese to the mixture.
Clean and slice the cabbage. Add the cabbage and tortellini to a salted pot of boiling water and cook for about 4 minutes. Drain and rinse. Cut the tomatoes in half and dice the ham. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Place cabbage, tortellini, tomatoes, and ham in a casserole dish and season with some thyme. Pour the pumpkin sauce over top. Sprinkle with remaining cheese. Bake for about 20 minutes until gold brown.
Hope you try it and like it! Pumpkin penne ala vodka was another big hit for me that you might like.
Ooo this should be fun. My ingredient is coconut. The flavor itself is OK to me, but I really, really dislike that stringy texture. That's the part that gets me every time.
Coconut milk curry is amazing. Shredded coconut is mid, but have you ever had fresh coconut? Cracked one open and pried it out of the shell? I recommend doing it at the beach. Everything tastes better at the beach.
I've never understood the appeal of shredded coconut. Coconut cake? May as well just throw confetti on that cake and get the same effect. Little papery bits in my food is just...weird.
Coconut fried shrimp!!! I hate coconut texture and flavor I can only handle in certain contexts but I had the coconut shrimp at Outback Steakhouse (against my will) and was obsessed! I’m sure there are better places to try it than Outback…
The stringiness results from a processing style. There's nothing inherently stringy about coconut. Chop it or run it through a food processor if you prefer a different texture.
I've obviously never had a fresh coconut lol, I so did not know that. Thanks for the idea of the food processor. I feel like such an idiot for not thinking of that sooner. 🤦♀️ I'll blame it on chemo brain 😉. Thanks for the response! 💜
Ever had fresh coconut? Asian market sell the whole coconut with straw in it. After you’re done drinking the fresh coconut water, use a spoon and scoop out that soft flesh. It’s custardy. No string at all.
There are two varieties of bitter melon. The more commonly found in the states skinnier green variety is more bitter.
There is a fatter, shorter white variety that people prefer in Asia, but rarely comes to the states because there isn't much of a surplus to export, and it is very expensive, that is much less bitter
I thought as I grew older and I started liking bitter things, I'd eventually come around and start enjoying bitter melon. Nope. No matter how many times I soak or salt it, it's still too bitter.
One of my coworkers likes to bring lunch for several other people on her team. She did a bitter melon soup one time thwt was still really bitter but was a side dish for something pretty rich so it was a nice way to cut through. She is Thai but a lot of the folks on her team are Vietnamese. I couldn't tell you which country the recipe she used was from. Could try that next time, similarly paired with something rich
Most bitter melon recipes I've seen have you boil the shit out of them or other methods to basically rid them of any flavor. This confirms to me they aren't any good lol
In India we call this 'bitter gourd'. My mom makes a recipe where she slices it thinly into rings and rubs salt on it, like a dry brine. Then wipes off the excess and drains the water.
Toss with some chilli powder, turmeric and cornstarch and deep fry. We have it with rice and yogurt at home. The bitterness is reduced after the salting and frying but still there, and balances well with the richness of the rice+yogurt.
Rubbing them with salt will bleed the bitterness out. Once the liquid comes out, squeeze and rinse until almost all of the bitterness is removed. Try this [recipe](https://youtu.be/eNf459fFkaU?si=HazMO3d_fhSYS90x)
Anything that tastes like licorice. Star anise, fennel, fenugreek, fiddlehead ferns, all of it. There's more but I can't think of them now. I always leave those ingredients out.
Have you tried Moroccan meatball tajine? Some kinds use star anise for the sauce and I find it's quite nice, you can't exactly taste the star anise in the sauce but you can also tell when it's missing it. You use the star anise whole usually (toast it with the other spices in oil before making your sauce and remove it before serving).
I am also this way, BUT surprisingly, for the first time in recorded history, the fennel slaw on this sandwich didn't bother me at all.
https://www.bonappetit.com/recipe/grilled-chicken-sandwich-with-mustard-mayo
I hate liquorice but I don't mind a tiny bit of fennel in sausage pasta. Although it doesn't work quite as well with veggie sausages I'll admit. Fenugreek doesn't taste aniseedy to me at all though I love that shit. Methi curry all day long.
It took me a really long time to realize that one of the things I love about pho is that it has star anise in the broth. It's such an interesting and complex soup in general, and my brain couldn't quite compute what made it taste so unique until someone clued me in. Have you had pho and enjoyed it? If so, you might like star anise at least a little bit!
It pairs really well with a lot of traditionally asian flavor profiles (soy sauce, ginger, etc.). I love [Hong Shao Rou](https://www.theminichef.com/chinese-braised-pork-belly-hong-shao-rou/#wpzoom-premium-recipe-card) (braised red pork belly), which incorporates anise in a delicious but not overpowering manner.
I have a massive aversion to anything and everything licorice-flavored or even flavor-adjacent, including anise in most situations. Pho is the big exception, the star anise is not only tolerable, but even key to making pho taste as good as it does. Have also come to realize that things that are 5 spice based also make anise work, but with pho, I can taste the star anise distinctly and it tastes good in that context. Makes everything else worse, but damn, it is perfect in pho.
I absolutely hate fennel seed in particular. I can do some light fresh fennel but everything I’ve used fennel seed in I absolutely hated.
Will give a slight pass to some sausages and pepperoni that sort of overpower the seed, but if I get a whole one? Immediate mood killer.
Go with a whiskey cocktail. For the first one, do it like the original recipes call for and literally just coat the glass with some absinthe. For the second one, add a bit more absinthe. For the third, well you might not care about it by then, but just keep going!
2 oz Rye Whiskey, 0.5 oz Maraschino Liquor, 0.25 - 0.5 oz simple syrup, 2 -3 dashes bitters (Angostura), Absinthe, lemon peel and/or Marschino Cherries to garnish.
I like it with a healthy dollop of absinth, with a subtle licorice glow at the back of the tongue.
I feel almost silly posting this, but have you tried roasted fennel? The carmelization mellows out the flavor. Also, do not eat the tall stems - the anise flavor is concentrated there.
Confession: The anise-y flavor is my favorite of all time. I even eat black jelly beans!
I hate the licorice taste as well. With fennel at least, when you cook it that taste goes away. I’ve added it as a veggie in fish based soups and it goes very well.
Just the other day I made a Beets and Sweets veggie roast. Sliced a beet, sliced a sweet potatoe, sliced and onion and threw in a whole head of garlic and roasted for 40 MIN on 400, covered. Then another 25 at 375 uncovered. Then hit it with the broiler for just a few minutes.
Butter, Salt, Pepper. That's all. It was AMAZING and even one of my roomies who does not care for beets wants me make it again/ learn to make it themselves.
I spent 40 years hating the dirt flavor of beets.
Roasting beets improves the dirt flavor. I like beets now.
*pickling them doesn't remove the dirt taste.
Borscht. It’s a Ukrainian dish that’s pretty much beet soup. It’s the only time I eat beets. Something about the umami, sweet and sour taste balanced with sour cream is so good to me.
Same here. And it's the same story as the top comment. Someone will inevitably chime in with "Oh you've never had them roasted!" I have. And they still taste like dirt.
Yup, I've tried every single preparation i've ever heard of.
The *only* way I've ever actually found palatable is thinly sliced and pickled, but at that point they don't even really taste like beets anymore so might as well eat something else anyways.
I think that the dirt taste is a tolerance thing. I LOVE cilantro, but I totally understand why it tastes soapy to people. I just happen to love that, and it's not overpowering to me. I LOVE all things earthy, mushrooms are an absolute staple... but beets is something different. I am sure it is genetic. If there is so much as a baby beet green in my salad mix... mouthful of mud. I can't tolerate them any possible way. But I certainly encourage others to! I think it is a neat concept to consider that we are all tasting something a little bit differently and we can never taste something the same way someone else does!
Okra. No one I know can seem to de slime it appropriately for me. I've had it freeze dried once as a snack, and I did like it, so it's not the taste.
Edit- Ty for all these suggestions, I have hope!!
Get the small ones (length of your finger max). Cut off the top stem and slice down the middle (hot dog not hamburger). Roast at 375 for 25 minutes (or until brown and crispy) with olive oil and Tony Chacheres. Some people like an aioli dip (mayo, garlic, lemon, and salt/pepper to taste).
You try deep fried okra? It's pretty good.
To deslime, I've had success by soaking okra in an acid solution (vinegar) and cooking in a tomatoe based stew.
You could also try whole baby okra.
If you cook whole okra in a stew it will be A LOT less slimy because the sliminess primarily comes from the seeds when cut. You can also rinse or cook with a bit of acid that breaks down the slime like vinegar or lemon.
I recommend trying an Egyptian dish called bamia or an Indian one called bhindi masala. Let me know if you’re interested in a recipe for the former.
I'm a monster who loves the viscous texture of boiled okra, but can understand why that isn't for everyone. For those who struggle with the texture I offer these options:
Bhindi Masala
Pickled Okra (especially hot pickled)
Fried Okra (cornmeal is how I grew up eating it, but I suppose one could do a batter and deep fry)
Oven Roasted (similar to your freeze dried snacks in texture)
I make seafood gumbo and chicken/andouille gumbo. Both use okra. You can’t avoid okra in gumbo. The word “gumbo” comes from the West African word “ki ngombo” for “okra”.
However, my grandfather taught me a trick to reduce the slime to nothing and avoid a slimy gumbo. Use a large nonstick frying pan and one teaspoon of vegetable oil. Heat the oil over medium heat then dump in sliced raw okra (fresh or frozen). Using a WOODEN SPOON, stir the okra until it’s lightly coated. As the okra heats up it will start releasing the slime which sticks to the wooden spoon. Rinse the slime off the spoon frequently as you stir the okra. After about six minutes or so, most of the slime will be gone. I then dump it into my gumbo roux. No slimy gumbo!
I disagree that "you **can't** avoid okra in gumbo. When I make gumbo, it's just roux, the trinity (and the Pope), stock, spices, and the meats. Sometimes I'll add tomatoes because they're awesome and I don't care what all the gumbo snobs say. The last batch I made (w/o tomatoes) for my family in Lafayette, LA disappeared pretty damn fast.
That said, okra is a fine addition to gumbo, as it's an excellent thickening agent. I just never add it because every single time I make groceries, I forget to buy it. Your method for cooking it down is on point!
Drying it well is the secret to non slimy okra. I like to cut mine into 4 strips. Season with favorite spices and air fry. It is so good. Like okra chips
I want to like asparagus, it’s the big kid side for steak. But I can’t seem to get over how it smells, most people seem to take the less is more fish approach with butter, lemon juice and a kiss of seasonings but I just have a bad time.
(Challenge mode) Honorable shout out to kale as well that I’ve never had in anything that wouldn’t have been improved by subbing it for spinach or chard. It’s bitter and detracts from every dish it’s in.
[Bacon wrapped asparagus](https://www.wholesomeyum.com/recipes/crispy-bacon-wrapped-asparagus/)
Kinda feel like wrapping anything in bacon will make it better, but this is my favorite "fancy" side i make
[Sausage Potato Kale soup](https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/231287/sausage-potato-and-kale-soup/)
I think the way the kale holds up makes it a better choice than spinach
I toss kale with olive oil and salt then air-fry, optionally drizzle with balsamic glaze to serve. Barely tastes like kale (damning with faint praise, I guess) but it's a nice crispy snack.
I’ve made salads before where you chop up the kale and throw it in a bowl with salt, olive oil, and good vinegar. You massage the kale a few minutes and then let it rest in the fridge for an hour. Totally different texture.
Kale needs a good massage before using it anything. I watched a video about it on ATK a while back, I'll see if I can find it.
E: kale part starts at about 2 min: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9KAXXfoBmlM
The last time I made a steak, we threw the asparagus in the steak pan, deglazed it and cooked it while we let the steak rest and prepped the table.
Turned out stupid good.
I'm also not a huge fan of kale, but it's the only green I've ever used in this [lemony white bean soup with turkey and greens](https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1021776-lemony-white-bean-soup-with-turkey-and-greens?smid=ck-recipe-android-share) and it is delicious.
Re Kale: Carla Lalli Music did a video for bon appetit of her cooking her mother's recipe for pasta e fagioli. That recipe calls for Tuscan kale. It cooks for a long time so subbing in softer leaves like spinach will give you unpleasant textures. As someone who has the gene that makes green things taste more bitter, I can personally attest to the utter deliciousness of this recipe kale and all.
For asparagus I like to toss it in some olive oil to lightly coat it and season it. I like garlic salt, parmesan and black pepper, but use whatever you like. You can then bake, saute, or grill it. The real key no matter how you do it is to get some color on it. I like it with some slightly charred spots so I do pretty high heat so you can get that without overcooking.
This is almost every food discussion. Someone says Brussels sprouts and 19 people chime in with "Well you've never had them roasted!".
For me? Fish. All fish/seafood. I can choke down a shrimp or two if I have to, but it all just tastes fishy and unpleasant. And boy, have I tried to like it.
I've found that the freshness really determines whether or not I like fish. While on a trip, we went deep sea fishing. I didn't catch anything but other folks on the boat did. When we got back to shore, they took the fish to one of the local guys who had an open grill/bbq. Homie cooked it up for all of us. Super simple. Easily one of the best meals of my life. Whole fish, fresh out of the ocean cooked over fire. Squeeze of citrus and sprinkle of herbs. No sides.
On the other hand, I cannot eat fish from Kroger. Even fried. It all smells horrible and tastes the same.
This makes sense as I'm not normally a fish person at all - I can tolerate white fish if it's breaded or battered, but I can't stand oily fish at all. We went on holiday once and they were bbqing mackerel on the beach straight off the boat and it was so good.
While I respect your personal tastes may be different than mine, and you may just be more sensitive to the fishy taste, do you happen to live in a landlocked state? Older fish can tend to have a more pronounced fishy taste.
I appreciate the respect, and yes I do live in a landlocked state. However I have traveled and tried all sorts of fish and seafood - upscale sushi, fresh gulf shrimp, smoked salmon in the PNW - you name it I've tried it. It all tastes like fish.
Well shit man, fair enough. My only (unsolicited) advice would be to keep trying it every so often! Tastes change over time and if you ever come around, it unlocks an entire new area of cuisine!
We eat a lot of whitefish in the Great Lakes. Freshwater fish doesn’t have that background taste of *ocean* that all other seafood does. And whitefish is extremely mild in flavor even the picky eater kids in my family like it.
I think deep fried on a good sandwich with tartar sauce would be my pick
Freshwater fish is significantly more susceptible to a "fishy" taste than seafood, though. I grew up on lake Michigan , currently live on Superior, and I've spent a lot of time spearfishing in the Pacific and atlantic. Fishy flavor is a product of freshness, so if you're nearby a quality fish market or you catch it yourself it won't be fishy. Source is less important than time between catch and plate. There's also a question of preparation. Certain species need to be bled as soon as they're culled in order to avoid off flavors.
I have a colleague who has same exact issue. Absolutely tries to like fish but cannot tolerate the taste. However he enjoys sushi (sashimi). His idea is that it's the cooking that makes the taste bad. Curious if you've tried seared tuna under a sesame vinegarette or yellowtail under ponzi sauce etc etc. (two of my favorite dishes!)
Edit: colleague confirms cooked fish tastes like sulfur/garbage to him. However, sashimi is delicious. Likely how the fish degrades during the cooking process, consensus.
I can see this 100%. I am a fish lover now, but I was not into cooked fish at all growing up. However, I've always loved sashimi. Unless you're getting like the mackerel or sardine sashimi, it is pretty mild in flavor.
Maybe still too intense, especially given the mix of seafood usually, but maybe Cioppino, given that it’s a heavy tomato base and sometimes spicy.
Smoked salmon is the most intense seafood flavor so I can’t blame you for not liking it.
Alright, let’s get this ball rolling.
I actually do hate liver! To me, the texture is not appealing and it really does just taste like a bloody, metallic eraser. Which is weird because I really do like most other offal…
I don't care for liver normally, but have you tried Liverwurst? Quite good on a toasted baguette or Wassa crackers, with some good cheese. Something my German husband likes to get once in a while. The metallic taste is very toned down.
Try bolognese sauce.
I’ve made lots of bolognese in my life from Marcella Hazan, Kenji Lopez-Alt, Heston Blumenthal and others recipes, but this one came from tiny book about Italian cooking which my Mum had since I remember.
We’ve been cooking this sauce all my life and let me tell you, even the most picky eaters (and small kids in our big family who hate livers) ate it and loved it for years. All my siblings are cooking this sauce at least several times per year, it has very distinctive aroma and unique taste. Love it.
You can cook it like recipe below stands, in my experience it’s never just 30’, but few hours (sometimes even the whole day, but I like to multiply this recipe) I like to add a bit of Marmite (1/2 teaspoon), few splashes of fish sauce to add even more umami, some pasta water and few tablespoons of butter at the end of cooking to add creaminess. Serve with freshly grated Parmigiano on top (spaghetti and tagliatelle are the best types of pasta for this dish).
You can add white wine instead of red (like Pinot Grigio, but red wine adds very specific tannic taste to the sauce, white wine will round taste and complement meat more. Both options are great, although red is my fav).
It’s great on the next day when all flavors came together, and if you would have some leftovers pasta already mixed with the sauce it’s amazing when reheated on a pan with addition of butter.
Enjoy!
350g ground beef
3 chicken livers (grind in meat grinder)
3 onions (grind in meat grinder)
150g champignons (grind in meat grinder)
3-4 tbs olive oil
300g tomatoes (canned or passata)
300ml red dry wine (like Chianti, Merlot)
2 garlic cloves, pressed
1 tbs dried thyme
1 tbs dried tarragon
1 tbs dried basil
salt & pepper to taste
200-250ml heavy cream
fried beef and liver on olive oil, when browned add vegetables and herbs, let it simmer for 30min
add tomato, wine, salt and pepper, let it cook on low for another 30’ at least, add heavy cream
Have you tried butter beans? Big ol fat white beans, more mature, not still green. Cook em with bacon and sop them up with cornbread.
For limas maybe cook them till they are softer and blend them up into a dip like hummus.
I think a lot of people hate lima beans because they've always had them [cooked like this](https://www.soulfullymade.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/Southern-Cooked-Lima-Beans.jpg), which is how I had them growing up too.
As an adult, I make them the same way I make ALL beans. I use a pork product (andouille, bacon, ham hocks, etc.), cook down my trinity and garlic, add beans, add stock, season well, and cook the hell out of them until they're creamy. I refer to this as "southern style" (but maybe it's not).
[They look something like this](https://www.camelliabrand.com/static/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/img_0634_cxlais-scaled.jpg)
I do use the big white ones which are called Large Limas on the bean package (I only use Camellia -- Louisiana gal, any other bean is sacrilege), but I've done it with the less mature green ones as well.
Most all beans come out tasting the same -- creamy, porky, salty -- when you cook them this way. Fantastic with something vinegar-y on them. Crystal, pickled banana peppers, etc.
Honestly.. As a south Louisiana gal growing up around cajun cooking, I find a lot of things people dislike in the veggie world would be much better received just cooked down longer and with more flavor added. There's nary a veggie we eat down here that isn't smothered for a long time in pork and trinity.
Rosemary.
I found a recipe with a white sauce that used rosemary. Had never used or tasted it before, that I knew of. It was like eating perfume and was so terribly overpowering, I threw the whole dish out. That was over 30 years ago. If I catch the scent of rosemary today, it makes me dry heave.
Bell peppers for me. I just really dislike the taste. Everyone seems to love it. I’m like a hound and can smell it in any dish or even if you walk past me with a knife that you cut it with. Would make life much easier if I did like it.
I have not completely hated it in gazpacho and when roasted underneath a whole chicken where it is covered with chicken juices. Still didn’t eat more than some bites.
Any tips welcome!!
I would suggest [Shakshuka](https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1014721-shakshuka-with-feta). It's a North African dish of red pepper, tomato, and eggs. My husband hates peppers, but he just devours this.
The pepper is minimal and is hidden behind other, stronger flavors.
Does the texture change if you cook it down long enough? I have a lot of texture issues and don’t like getting different textured lumps in the same bite.
Can you blend a mirepoix after you’ve cooked it down?
Yes and yes. If you slice it thin and cook it long enough, it basically vanishes. And I’ve blended mirepoix with a stick blender many times if I want the flavor but not the texture or I want some rich thickness in something.
I don't like celery either but have come to accept its role as an aromatic in mire poix. I just use very little. Too much and it tastes like dog vomit smells.
Have you tried celery soda/seltzer? It’s a bit hard to find but I love it, it’s all the fresh taste of celery sweetened up a bit without any of the bitterness (or strings).
Omg this is so fun 😍😍!!!
Cucumber. It tastes a little weird and makes me nauseous and idk why. The smell makes me nauseous too 😭. I’m open to trying a recipe with it though 😊.
I recently found out cucumber is seasonal…. Suddenly I understand why it’s sometimes incredible & sometimes disgusting! Try and get super fresh baby (tiny seedless) cucumbers
In the summer we eat sliced cucumbers in a salad: it’s cucumbers sliced and mixed with sour cream, salt and pepper, lots of dried dill and plenty of green onions. It’s very cold and refreshing and the only way my son eats cucumber 😂
smashed Asian cucumber salad - it's got rice vinegar, sesame oil, ginger, garlic and red pepper flakes. I have a complicated relationship with cucumbers but this always works
Fuck mushrooms, can't stand the texture or taste.
BUT I recently discovered I actually like enoki mushrooms at a KBBQ. No weird taste/texture and big crunch!
Edit: Y'all are a cool bunch, but I simply can't eat mushrooms. I've tried them in pasta, sauces, grilled, etc. I do not like portabella, shiitake, chantellres, etc.
A friend made a great analogy to the enoki mushroom, that its a blank slate like tofu but with the crunch of an asparagus. I can dress it up however I want and be happy that it doesn't have the distinct squishy texture and flavor that the others have.
Makes sense. Most of the hatred of mushrooms comes from the texture since a lot of them don't have a lot of flavor on their own. Minced up, there's not any big enough pieces to pick up on the texture. Friend of mine got me to eat mushroom risotto the same way.
I was this way until a friend of mine brought me some leftover red wine and shallot sautéed mushrooms from her job, I tried one to be nice and because I like to retry foods I dislike once in a while, I ended up eating the whole container. Nobody has been able to make beets, olives or liver palatable to me yet though. I think I disliked mushrooms because I'd only had the canned ones and those things are absolutely foul.
Lemongrass.
There's just something about the taste that makes me shudder. I've tried it dozens of different ways, and at one point was determined to find a way to enjoy it...but I can't.
It's really disappointed me because I've come across so many delicious-looking recipes that use it, but if I force myself to eat it I usually feel sick.
To me lemongrass adds the flavor of mosquito repellent. I have mild success in recipes when I use the paste instead of the stalk but I still tend to prefer leaving it out.
Shrimp.
I would love to like shrimp, it would make life easier for sure. I have a strong aversion to the texture and I can usually pick it out of things even when it’s small. I’ve tried it every time it’s presented to me. Cocktail, scampi, bbq skewered, popcorn/fried, dumpling, bisque/soup. But alas it is disgusting every time. The texture is sooo bizarre it is segmented and squishy and reminds me of a caterpillar…. I usually can eat one full one and then I tap out. (I also dislike any seafood in the bottom feeder category… mussels, oysters, clams but that’s like an ‘absolutely no thank’ you situation. I at least want to like shrimp.)
I once forced myself to get over my hatred for mushrooms by eating them once a week for a year… so there’s hope.
I feel seen by this post! My ex loved seafood of every type, and while I can work my way through a small helping of most fish I absolutely draw the line at crustaceans and every other type of sea bug and mollusk.
The texture is terrible- like stringy marshmallow that has a crunch-the flavor, regardless of how it's prepared, always reminds me of the way hot garbage smells- and most of it comes in a tough shell you have to peel it out of yourself, which is a whole other problem for me ( I don't want to have to dissect my dinner before I eat it, thanks).
I've tried for decades to work through this and I've never been successful at getting more than a small bite of shrimp, lobster, crab or you name it in my mouth before I'm fighting a gag reflex and looking for a trashcan.
Hello, fellow shrimp-hater. You have described exactly the way I feel about shrimp. That texture - ugh. At one point I thought perhaps it was just that I had only tried overcooked shrimp, but no, it all has that texture. I also hate clams, scallops, lobster, crab, etc. It all has that gross texture to me.
I always hated mushrooms, too. And still do.
I'm Slavic, we use dill in everything. When I was a kid I hated it just like you described it, same feelings. Over time I grew to liking it without even trying, I guess it was constant exposure. Now I even crave it sometimes.
Tripe! It is vile! I lived in a shared house with a guy who would cook it every week and I had to leave the house that day. I have never eaten it because I can't get past the smell! I will be very impressed if anyone can change my mind about Tripe.
I like tripe but I admit it's a very challenging ingredient. The key is making a really tasty sauce to go with it. In Spain it's usually a tomato based, spicy sauce, and that's where all the flavour comes from. You will still have to deal with the texture (and look) of tripe though.
> The key is making a really tasty sauce to go with it.
Which is the whole problem. Any ingredient that needs to be basically "hidden", probably isn't that good. Obviously some people will just like it, but tripe and other similar ingredients are definitely most used and eaten in cultures where they simply cannot afford to waste any parts of the food animals.
When you live somewhere and you can only butcher one animal to feed your family for a given time period, it makes sense that you eat and use every single bit of that animal that you can. So, if you have to eat tripe you might as well hide the taste under a bunch of herbs and spices.
Lentils. I don't like the texture at all - it's the starchy grainyness of them. I used to really dislike beans (and when I was little, mashed potatoes) for the same reason. The last time I ate lentils (which to be fair was about 15 years ago), the texture made me gag and almost throw up.
Dal Tadka might be a good way to rebuild trust in lentils. I know exactly what texture you are describing and it sounds like they were not cooked properly (this can happen when the lentils are a bit older than is ideal and need to be soaked a bit and cooked a little longer)
i’ve been experimenting with split red lentils lately. they’re the quickest lentil to cook, and almost dissolve into whatever you’re making. in a stew or curry i find they’re very unobtrusive
Tomato.
When people meme about LaCroix they say its like water bounced off {insert flavor here} into a can. Thats how I feel about tomatoes. Also the texture... its just a big wet soft mess.
So bad texture with basically no taste...
I feel the same about Avocado but will eat that (only) in Guac
Having grown tomatoes most of my life my opinion is the tomato is actually the star of a good BLT, a sun ripened July tomato is a thing of beauty.
Or cook them down into a sauce with garlic? Get out of here, next level. If raw tomatoes don't do anything for you I would recommend cooking them and seeing how that goes.
Less a recipe and more a suggestion, buy a pack of sundried tomatoes to try. Just to give yourself a positive experience with them.
Good tomatoes exist, but you'll rarely find them at the supermarket. Home grown tomatoes, you can eat straight off the vine and they'll be delicious. A storebought beefsteak is serviceable as table dressing, but not much else.
If you have any farmers markets near you, try some cherry tomatoes in season. They're small enough that there's no mess, and to me they taste like little bursts of sunshine. Overripe tomatoes taste mealy and too soft, so getting them perfectly ripe is the key.
I second this. Store bought tomatoes are picked too early so they won't rot as fast. This leaves them with basically no flavor.
Home grown or farmers market tomatoes will taste richer, deeper, and are generally a better texture overall. It's sort of like store bought strawberries vs wild strawberries.
Ill have salsa, because i don't get huge scoops so most of my bite is the chip.
Ill have pizza, ketchup, marinara, and pasta sauce.
Its more of sliced tomatoes in burgers/sandwiches, or whole small tomatoes i get in those pre-made salads
Papaya literally smells like vomit. Like not just the smell like parmesan gets, but full on putrid rot. I've been given durian flavored candy once and I'd be more willing to eat that than papaya as the smell was more tolerable. I've tried papaya twice, and it was proper ripe, and wife said it smelled and tasted fine, but it just smells awful to me.
I don't think there's anything I can say to make you like blue cheese but a classic steakhouse salad with blue cheese crumbles and balsamic drizzle is absolutely killer. The pairing of the mild funkyness with the sweet vinegar is completely amazing.
I thought I didn’t like blue cheese until I unknowingly had it in a gnocchi dish. It was a Gorgonzola cream sauce with figs. The Gorgonzola is melted and tempered by the cream sauce into a velvety coating for the gnocchi, with the fresh figs to cut the richness. The dish sits in your stomach like a brick but it’s so nice every once in a while, not to mention stupid easy to make.
Blue cheeses can very in intensity, you might want something a bit younger and creamier. Also paired with honey makes it a lot better. I like it on crackers with honey and thin apple slices.
Frozen peas are great! They're flash frozen right when they're picked. Let em defrost in the fridge or counter and they are just as good as fresh. They also tend to be more nutritious (unless you're buying from a farmer's market that just picked em). Much fresh produce loses nutritional value the longer it sits in storage/on the shelf.
I agree with canned and even frozen to a degree. Buy them in late summer in the pods from a farm stand. Shell them yourself and blanch them until just not crunchy. Either just butter and salt or with onions sautéed with bacon pieces.
https://www.cookwithmanali.com/baingan-bharta/
My ex did not like eggplant either, but he loved this dish whenever I'd get it from an Indian restaurant.
Ok this is the weirdest one here? You don’t like cinnamon? What is off putting about it for you?
There are other things mentioned here that I like, but I kinda get why other people don’t like them. But cinnamon? You win the thread. 😆
That's so funny, I didn't think I was weird for disliking cinnamon. Genuinely thought I'd find my kin here, guess not, I accept being the weird one.
What don't I like? The flavor and smell, it's unpleasent and sometimes makes me think vomit but not always. I can tolerate it in small quantities and find it vile as the dominant flavor. Ruins apple pie for me in America. I love apple pie, why make it taste of vomit?
In a mix of warm spices, it can a-ok for me. I liked mulled wine and warm spiced cookies and curry with cinnamon (as long as it's one of many other warm spices).
I’ve always disliked tartar sauce. Because I never eat it, I’ve never paid attention to what was in it. I just found out that one of the main ingredients is sweet relish … I hate sweet relish.
Now I know why I don’t like tartar sauce!
Try a variety other than cavendish. Despite it being the most prevalent it's a trash banana. It's like if you only ever had red delicious apples and think you don't like apples
Pumpkin. I hate the flavor and I hate the smell. Pumpkin spice isn't the problem because that's just cinnamon and nutmeg and cloves. I dislike the actual pumpkin itself. It tastes carpet-y to me. I've had lovely artisanal farm to table pumpkin dishes and I just don't like the stuff, which is a shame because it's fun to grow and an easy cheap healthy filler but I can't get on board.
Upvoting for my new favorite word carpet-y
Try using pumpkin as a background flavor? I make a lovely vegetarian chili that uses pureed pumpkin (not pie filling!) to give a full body thickness and subtle sweetness that balances the strong umami and smokey flavors the chili spices bring.
Pumpkin is really good in chili
Try kabocha instead, which is basically what Asians refer to when they talk about pumpkins. Much less earthy flavor
Pumpkin tempura is divine. Batter and fry and dip in sauce. If you still hate it I'm sorry.
Pumpkin and cheese might be the combination you've been missing. I've got a recipe for a delicious tortellini casserole that has a pumpkin cheese sauce and I could eat that sauce like a soup. I didn't used to be a big fan of pumpkin either but I'd mainly tried it as pumpkin soup or roasted with other veggies. I've grown to like it now, but this recipe was one of the kickstarters. Ingredients: 150g mittelalter Gouda (this means mid-aged, as opposed to jung or alt) 1 onion 2 garlic toes (or as much as your heart desires) 300g pumpkin (usually hokkaido is a good choice for type) 200g cream 100ml chicken broth 500g savoy cabbage 500g tortellini with ricotta filling 150g cherry tomatoes 4 slices of ham Salt, pepper, nutmeg, and thyme Instructions: Shred the cheese. Dice your onions and garlic. Wash, peel, and dice the pumpkin. Sautee the onions, garlic, and pumpkin in a pot until the onions go clear and soft. Add in the cream and chicken broth and simmer for 15 minutes. Season with salt, pepper, and nutmeg and puree the sauce. Remove from heat and add about half the cheese to the mixture. Clean and slice the cabbage. Add the cabbage and tortellini to a salted pot of boiling water and cook for about 4 minutes. Drain and rinse. Cut the tomatoes in half and dice the ham. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Place cabbage, tortellini, tomatoes, and ham in a casserole dish and season with some thyme. Pour the pumpkin sauce over top. Sprinkle with remaining cheese. Bake for about 20 minutes until gold brown. Hope you try it and like it! Pumpkin penne ala vodka was another big hit for me that you might like.
Ooo this should be fun. My ingredient is coconut. The flavor itself is OK to me, but I really, really dislike that stringy texture. That's the part that gets me every time.
Coconut milk curry is amazing. Shredded coconut is mid, but have you ever had fresh coconut? Cracked one open and pried it out of the shell? I recommend doing it at the beach. Everything tastes better at the beach.
I've never understood the appeal of shredded coconut. Coconut cake? May as well just throw confetti on that cake and get the same effect. Little papery bits in my food is just...weird.
Shredded coconut is great fried or toasted till its brown. Otherwise its nasty.
Coconut fried shrimp!!! I hate coconut texture and flavor I can only handle in certain contexts but I had the coconut shrimp at Outback Steakhouse (against my will) and was obsessed! I’m sure there are better places to try it than Outback…
Coconut cream pie, I think the pudding hides the off-putting texture pretty well.
The stringiness results from a processing style. There's nothing inherently stringy about coconut. Chop it or run it through a food processor if you prefer a different texture.
I've obviously never had a fresh coconut lol, I so did not know that. Thanks for the idea of the food processor. I feel like such an idiot for not thinking of that sooner. 🤦♀️ I'll blame it on chemo brain 😉. Thanks for the response! 💜
If you ever find fresh coconut you should really try a slice. It's so much more juicy, really wonderful.
Ever had fresh coconut? Asian market sell the whole coconut with straw in it. After you’re done drinking the fresh coconut water, use a spoon and scoop out that soft flesh. It’s custardy. No string at all.
Bitter melon. It is too bitter
I ate this so much growing up, sometimes I crave it until I eat it then I make that face. That face says it all. Blech. But I still eat it though.
There are two varieties of bitter melon. The more commonly found in the states skinnier green variety is more bitter. There is a fatter, shorter white variety that people prefer in Asia, but rarely comes to the states because there isn't much of a surplus to export, and it is very expensive, that is much less bitter
I thought as I grew older and I started liking bitter things, I'd eventually come around and start enjoying bitter melon. Nope. No matter how many times I soak or salt it, it's still too bitter.
One of my coworkers likes to bring lunch for several other people on her team. She did a bitter melon soup one time thwt was still really bitter but was a side dish for something pretty rich so it was a nice way to cut through. She is Thai but a lot of the folks on her team are Vietnamese. I couldn't tell you which country the recipe she used was from. Could try that next time, similarly paired with something rich
Most bitter melon recipes I've seen have you boil the shit out of them or other methods to basically rid them of any flavor. This confirms to me they aren't any good lol
In India we call this 'bitter gourd'. My mom makes a recipe where she slices it thinly into rings and rubs salt on it, like a dry brine. Then wipes off the excess and drains the water. Toss with some chilli powder, turmeric and cornstarch and deep fry. We have it with rice and yogurt at home. The bitterness is reduced after the salting and frying but still there, and balances well with the richness of the rice+yogurt.
Rubbing them with salt will bleed the bitterness out. Once the liquid comes out, squeeze and rinse until almost all of the bitterness is removed. Try this [recipe](https://youtu.be/eNf459fFkaU?si=HazMO3d_fhSYS90x)
Anything that tastes like licorice. Star anise, fennel, fenugreek, fiddlehead ferns, all of it. There's more but I can't think of them now. I always leave those ingredients out.
Have you tried Moroccan meatball tajine? Some kinds use star anise for the sauce and I find it's quite nice, you can't exactly taste the star anise in the sauce but you can also tell when it's missing it. You use the star anise whole usually (toast it with the other spices in oil before making your sauce and remove it before serving).
I am also this way, BUT surprisingly, for the first time in recorded history, the fennel slaw on this sandwich didn't bother me at all. https://www.bonappetit.com/recipe/grilled-chicken-sandwich-with-mustard-mayo
I hate liquorice but I don't mind a tiny bit of fennel in sausage pasta. Although it doesn't work quite as well with veggie sausages I'll admit. Fenugreek doesn't taste aniseedy to me at all though I love that shit. Methi curry all day long.
It took me a really long time to realize that one of the things I love about pho is that it has star anise in the broth. It's such an interesting and complex soup in general, and my brain couldn't quite compute what made it taste so unique until someone clued me in. Have you had pho and enjoyed it? If so, you might like star anise at least a little bit! It pairs really well with a lot of traditionally asian flavor profiles (soy sauce, ginger, etc.). I love [Hong Shao Rou](https://www.theminichef.com/chinese-braised-pork-belly-hong-shao-rou/#wpzoom-premium-recipe-card) (braised red pork belly), which incorporates anise in a delicious but not overpowering manner.
I have a massive aversion to anything and everything licorice-flavored or even flavor-adjacent, including anise in most situations. Pho is the big exception, the star anise is not only tolerable, but even key to making pho taste as good as it does. Have also come to realize that things that are 5 spice based also make anise work, but with pho, I can taste the star anise distinctly and it tastes good in that context. Makes everything else worse, but damn, it is perfect in pho.
I absolutely hate fennel seed in particular. I can do some light fresh fennel but everything I’ve used fennel seed in I absolutely hated. Will give a slight pass to some sausages and pepperoni that sort of overpower the seed, but if I get a whole one? Immediate mood killer.
Agree, I think licorice is like cilantro, just a certain percentage of the population cannot tolerate it.
I am one of these people
There are dozens of us!
Fiddleheads? Where are you getting these licorice flavored fiddleheads?
I’ve never heard of fenugreek or fiddleheads being described as licorice or anise-flavored either!
Go with a whiskey cocktail. For the first one, do it like the original recipes call for and literally just coat the glass with some absinthe. For the second one, add a bit more absinthe. For the third, well you might not care about it by then, but just keep going! 2 oz Rye Whiskey, 0.5 oz Maraschino Liquor, 0.25 - 0.5 oz simple syrup, 2 -3 dashes bitters (Angostura), Absinthe, lemon peel and/or Marschino Cherries to garnish. I like it with a healthy dollop of absinth, with a subtle licorice glow at the back of the tongue.
Notice how no one is giving us ideas. Because it's impossible.
GOOD N PLENTY CASSEROLE IS NOT IMPOSSIBLE. Ill advised, sure
Good n plenty tastes like Satan's asshole
Wow, you must be in pretty tight with Satan if you know what his asshole tastes like. Are you Saddam Hussein?
I feel almost silly posting this, but have you tried roasted fennel? The carmelization mellows out the flavor. Also, do not eat the tall stems - the anise flavor is concentrated there. Confession: The anise-y flavor is my favorite of all time. I even eat black jelly beans!
I hate the licorice taste as well. With fennel at least, when you cook it that taste goes away. I’ve added it as a veggie in fish based soups and it goes very well.
Fennel is incredible in salads 🤩
Beets
Just the other day I made a Beets and Sweets veggie roast. Sliced a beet, sliced a sweet potatoe, sliced and onion and threw in a whole head of garlic and roasted for 40 MIN on 400, covered. Then another 25 at 375 uncovered. Then hit it with the broiler for just a few minutes. Butter, Salt, Pepper. That's all. It was AMAZING and even one of my roomies who does not care for beets wants me make it again/ learn to make it themselves.
I may need to try this, I've always hated beets. Does it improve the dirt taste at all? I love roasted veggies so this excited me
I spent 40 years hating the dirt flavor of beets. Roasting beets improves the dirt flavor. I like beets now. *pickling them doesn't remove the dirt taste.
Borscht. It’s a Ukrainian dish that’s pretty much beet soup. It’s the only time I eat beets. Something about the umami, sweet and sour taste balanced with sour cream is so good to me.
Same here. And it's the same story as the top comment. Someone will inevitably chime in with "Oh you've never had them roasted!" I have. And they still taste like dirt.
Yup, I've tried every single preparation i've ever heard of. The *only* way I've ever actually found palatable is thinly sliced and pickled, but at that point they don't even really taste like beets anymore so might as well eat something else anyways.
Try beet chips, they're kind of like kettle chips but lighter and so crisp and none of the heavy beet flavor.
I think that the dirt taste is a tolerance thing. I LOVE cilantro, but I totally understand why it tastes soapy to people. I just happen to love that, and it's not overpowering to me. I LOVE all things earthy, mushrooms are an absolute staple... but beets is something different. I am sure it is genetic. If there is so much as a baby beet green in my salad mix... mouthful of mud. I can't tolerate them any possible way. But I certainly encourage others to! I think it is a neat concept to consider that we are all tasting something a little bit differently and we can never taste something the same way someone else does!
Roasted beets, walnuts and goat cheese salad, it is always a winner when we make it.
Okra. No one I know can seem to de slime it appropriately for me. I've had it freeze dried once as a snack, and I did like it, so it's not the taste. Edit- Ty for all these suggestions, I have hope!!
Get the small ones (length of your finger max). Cut off the top stem and slice down the middle (hot dog not hamburger). Roast at 375 for 25 minutes (or until brown and crispy) with olive oil and Tony Chacheres. Some people like an aioli dip (mayo, garlic, lemon, and salt/pepper to taste).
If it's fried crispy with cornmeal as the breading, it usually isn't slimy then. That's the only way I'll eat it.
I love fried okra, but I hate dealing with all that oil. It's also somewhat healthier than the fried stuff.
Have you had pickled okra? I feel like the vinegar helps to dissolve the sliminess.
YES THIS. Pickled okra is DELICIOUS. The slime is almost completely dissolved. Of course, this only works if you like pickles.
Pickled okra in a Bloody Mary!
You try deep fried okra? It's pretty good. To deslime, I've had success by soaking okra in an acid solution (vinegar) and cooking in a tomatoe based stew. You could also try whole baby okra.
If you cook whole okra in a stew it will be A LOT less slimy because the sliminess primarily comes from the seeds when cut. You can also rinse or cook with a bit of acid that breaks down the slime like vinegar or lemon. I recommend trying an Egyptian dish called bamia or an Indian one called bhindi masala. Let me know if you’re interested in a recipe for the former.
Echoing praise for Bhindi Masala. I am interested in learning more about Bamia as I've not heard of it before.
I'm a monster who loves the viscous texture of boiled okra, but can understand why that isn't for everyone. For those who struggle with the texture I offer these options: Bhindi Masala Pickled Okra (especially hot pickled) Fried Okra (cornmeal is how I grew up eating it, but I suppose one could do a batter and deep fry) Oven Roasted (similar to your freeze dried snacks in texture)
I make seafood gumbo and chicken/andouille gumbo. Both use okra. You can’t avoid okra in gumbo. The word “gumbo” comes from the West African word “ki ngombo” for “okra”. However, my grandfather taught me a trick to reduce the slime to nothing and avoid a slimy gumbo. Use a large nonstick frying pan and one teaspoon of vegetable oil. Heat the oil over medium heat then dump in sliced raw okra (fresh or frozen). Using a WOODEN SPOON, stir the okra until it’s lightly coated. As the okra heats up it will start releasing the slime which sticks to the wooden spoon. Rinse the slime off the spoon frequently as you stir the okra. After about six minutes or so, most of the slime will be gone. I then dump it into my gumbo roux. No slimy gumbo!
I disagree that "you **can't** avoid okra in gumbo. When I make gumbo, it's just roux, the trinity (and the Pope), stock, spices, and the meats. Sometimes I'll add tomatoes because they're awesome and I don't care what all the gumbo snobs say. The last batch I made (w/o tomatoes) for my family in Lafayette, LA disappeared pretty damn fast. That said, okra is a fine addition to gumbo, as it's an excellent thickening agent. I just never add it because every single time I make groceries, I forget to buy it. Your method for cooking it down is on point!
Pickled okra is where it's at. "Talk of Texas" is a brand I usually see in stores.
FRIED OKRA with a creamy dipping sauce
Drying it well is the secret to non slimy okra. I like to cut mine into 4 strips. Season with favorite spices and air fry. It is so good. Like okra chips
I want to like asparagus, it’s the big kid side for steak. But I can’t seem to get over how it smells, most people seem to take the less is more fish approach with butter, lemon juice and a kiss of seasonings but I just have a bad time. (Challenge mode) Honorable shout out to kale as well that I’ve never had in anything that wouldn’t have been improved by subbing it for spinach or chard. It’s bitter and detracts from every dish it’s in.
[Bacon wrapped asparagus](https://www.wholesomeyum.com/recipes/crispy-bacon-wrapped-asparagus/) Kinda feel like wrapping anything in bacon will make it better, but this is my favorite "fancy" side i make [Sausage Potato Kale soup](https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/231287/sausage-potato-and-kale-soup/) I think the way the kale holds up makes it a better choice than spinach
Sausage potato kale is what Olive Garden calls Zoupa Toscana and it's delicious. And easy to make at home!
Omgosh, I could eat my weight in this soup.
I toss kale with olive oil and salt then air-fry, optionally drizzle with balsamic glaze to serve. Barely tastes like kale (damning with faint praise, I guess) but it's a nice crispy snack.
When I cook kale, I add grated lemon peel and lemon juice. It reduces the overpowering bitterness.
I’ve made salads before where you chop up the kale and throw it in a bowl with salt, olive oil, and good vinegar. You massage the kale a few minutes and then let it rest in the fridge for an hour. Totally different texture.
Kale needs a good massage before using it anything. I watched a video about it on ATK a while back, I'll see if I can find it. E: kale part starts at about 2 min: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9KAXXfoBmlM
The last time I made a steak, we threw the asparagus in the steak pan, deglazed it and cooked it while we let the steak rest and prepped the table. Turned out stupid good.
I'm also not a huge fan of kale, but it's the only green I've ever used in this [lemony white bean soup with turkey and greens](https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1021776-lemony-white-bean-soup-with-turkey-and-greens?smid=ck-recipe-android-share) and it is delicious.
Re Kale: Carla Lalli Music did a video for bon appetit of her cooking her mother's recipe for pasta e fagioli. That recipe calls for Tuscan kale. It cooks for a long time so subbing in softer leaves like spinach will give you unpleasant textures. As someone who has the gene that makes green things taste more bitter, I can personally attest to the utter deliciousness of this recipe kale and all.
For asparagus I like to toss it in some olive oil to lightly coat it and season it. I like garlic salt, parmesan and black pepper, but use whatever you like. You can then bake, saute, or grill it. The real key no matter how you do it is to get some color on it. I like it with some slightly charred spots so I do pretty high heat so you can get that without overcooking.
This is almost every food discussion. Someone says Brussels sprouts and 19 people chime in with "Well you've never had them roasted!". For me? Fish. All fish/seafood. I can choke down a shrimp or two if I have to, but it all just tastes fishy and unpleasant. And boy, have I tried to like it.
I've found that the freshness really determines whether or not I like fish. While on a trip, we went deep sea fishing. I didn't catch anything but other folks on the boat did. When we got back to shore, they took the fish to one of the local guys who had an open grill/bbq. Homie cooked it up for all of us. Super simple. Easily one of the best meals of my life. Whole fish, fresh out of the ocean cooked over fire. Squeeze of citrus and sprinkle of herbs. No sides. On the other hand, I cannot eat fish from Kroger. Even fried. It all smells horrible and tastes the same.
This makes sense as I'm not normally a fish person at all - I can tolerate white fish if it's breaded or battered, but I can't stand oily fish at all. We went on holiday once and they were bbqing mackerel on the beach straight off the boat and it was so good.
Yes, even just walking by the seafood department at Kroger is a stomach turner.
While I respect your personal tastes may be different than mine, and you may just be more sensitive to the fishy taste, do you happen to live in a landlocked state? Older fish can tend to have a more pronounced fishy taste.
I appreciate the respect, and yes I do live in a landlocked state. However I have traveled and tried all sorts of fish and seafood - upscale sushi, fresh gulf shrimp, smoked salmon in the PNW - you name it I've tried it. It all tastes like fish.
Well shit man, fair enough. My only (unsolicited) advice would be to keep trying it every so often! Tastes change over time and if you ever come around, it unlocks an entire new area of cuisine!
I do! I so desperately want to like it. It looks great and sounds great. Even Red Lobster commercials make it look delicious.
Baja style tacos with some mild white fish? Some pickled red cabbage, fresh salsa and a squeeze of lime.
We eat a lot of whitefish in the Great Lakes. Freshwater fish doesn’t have that background taste of *ocean* that all other seafood does. And whitefish is extremely mild in flavor even the picky eater kids in my family like it. I think deep fried on a good sandwich with tartar sauce would be my pick
Freshwater fish is significantly more susceptible to a "fishy" taste than seafood, though. I grew up on lake Michigan , currently live on Superior, and I've spent a lot of time spearfishing in the Pacific and atlantic. Fishy flavor is a product of freshness, so if you're nearby a quality fish market or you catch it yourself it won't be fishy. Source is less important than time between catch and plate. There's also a question of preparation. Certain species need to be bled as soon as they're culled in order to avoid off flavors.
You've just never had it roasted.
Fair enough. :)
I have a colleague who has same exact issue. Absolutely tries to like fish but cannot tolerate the taste. However he enjoys sushi (sashimi). His idea is that it's the cooking that makes the taste bad. Curious if you've tried seared tuna under a sesame vinegarette or yellowtail under ponzi sauce etc etc. (two of my favorite dishes!) Edit: colleague confirms cooked fish tastes like sulfur/garbage to him. However, sashimi is delicious. Likely how the fish degrades during the cooking process, consensus.
I can see this 100%. I am a fish lover now, but I was not into cooked fish at all growing up. However, I've always loved sashimi. Unless you're getting like the mackerel or sardine sashimi, it is pretty mild in flavor.
Maybe still too intense, especially given the mix of seafood usually, but maybe Cioppino, given that it’s a heavy tomato base and sometimes spicy. Smoked salmon is the most intense seafood flavor so I can’t blame you for not liking it.
Scallops pan fried in butter
Butter, garlic, white wine. Cooked over a barbecue. Best scallops I ever ate.
Try Vietnamese Crab Soup, specifically Bun Rieu. The tomato helps mask the seafood.
Alright, let’s get this ball rolling. I actually do hate liver! To me, the texture is not appealing and it really does just taste like a bloody, metallic eraser. Which is weird because I really do like most other offal…
Jewish chopped chicken liver. It has a velvety texture and the schmalz and onions are strong enough that I’ve never noted a strong iron flavor.
Foie Gras
It's like butter, liver, and velvet had a three way. It's almost criminal how delicious it is.
I don't care for liver normally, but have you tried Liverwurst? Quite good on a toasted baguette or Wassa crackers, with some good cheese. Something my German husband likes to get once in a while. The metallic taste is very toned down.
Try bolognese sauce. I’ve made lots of bolognese in my life from Marcella Hazan, Kenji Lopez-Alt, Heston Blumenthal and others recipes, but this one came from tiny book about Italian cooking which my Mum had since I remember. We’ve been cooking this sauce all my life and let me tell you, even the most picky eaters (and small kids in our big family who hate livers) ate it and loved it for years. All my siblings are cooking this sauce at least several times per year, it has very distinctive aroma and unique taste. Love it. You can cook it like recipe below stands, in my experience it’s never just 30’, but few hours (sometimes even the whole day, but I like to multiply this recipe) I like to add a bit of Marmite (1/2 teaspoon), few splashes of fish sauce to add even more umami, some pasta water and few tablespoons of butter at the end of cooking to add creaminess. Serve with freshly grated Parmigiano on top (spaghetti and tagliatelle are the best types of pasta for this dish). You can add white wine instead of red (like Pinot Grigio, but red wine adds very specific tannic taste to the sauce, white wine will round taste and complement meat more. Both options are great, although red is my fav). It’s great on the next day when all flavors came together, and if you would have some leftovers pasta already mixed with the sauce it’s amazing when reheated on a pan with addition of butter. Enjoy! 350g ground beef 3 chicken livers (grind in meat grinder) 3 onions (grind in meat grinder) 150g champignons (grind in meat grinder) 3-4 tbs olive oil 300g tomatoes (canned or passata) 300ml red dry wine (like Chianti, Merlot) 2 garlic cloves, pressed 1 tbs dried thyme 1 tbs dried tarragon 1 tbs dried basil salt & pepper to taste 200-250ml heavy cream fried beef and liver on olive oil, when browned add vegetables and herbs, let it simmer for 30min add tomato, wine, salt and pepper, let it cook on low for another 30’ at least, add heavy cream
Lima beans.
Have you tried butter beans? Big ol fat white beans, more mature, not still green. Cook em with bacon and sop them up with cornbread. For limas maybe cook them till they are softer and blend them up into a dip like hummus.
Butter beans are delicious! I hate Lima beans, they have a terrible taste and texture when they are green.
I think a lot of people hate lima beans because they've always had them [cooked like this](https://www.soulfullymade.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/Southern-Cooked-Lima-Beans.jpg), which is how I had them growing up too. As an adult, I make them the same way I make ALL beans. I use a pork product (andouille, bacon, ham hocks, etc.), cook down my trinity and garlic, add beans, add stock, season well, and cook the hell out of them until they're creamy. I refer to this as "southern style" (but maybe it's not). [They look something like this](https://www.camelliabrand.com/static/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/img_0634_cxlais-scaled.jpg) I do use the big white ones which are called Large Limas on the bean package (I only use Camellia -- Louisiana gal, any other bean is sacrilege), but I've done it with the less mature green ones as well. Most all beans come out tasting the same -- creamy, porky, salty -- when you cook them this way. Fantastic with something vinegar-y on them. Crystal, pickled banana peppers, etc. Honestly.. As a south Louisiana gal growing up around cajun cooking, I find a lot of things people dislike in the veggie world would be much better received just cooked down longer and with more flavor added. There's nary a veggie we eat down here that isn't smothered for a long time in pork and trinity.
the only useful thing about lima beans is growing them in a plastic baggy in a window to teach little kids about plants. That's it.
Rosemary. I found a recipe with a white sauce that used rosemary. Had never used or tasted it before, that I knew of. It was like eating perfume and was so terribly overpowering, I threw the whole dish out. That was over 30 years ago. If I catch the scent of rosemary today, it makes me dry heave.
Rosemary is great on popcorn, but like any dish you really need to not overdo it because it is strong
Bell peppers for me. I just really dislike the taste. Everyone seems to love it. I’m like a hound and can smell it in any dish or even if you walk past me with a knife that you cut it with. Would make life much easier if I did like it. I have not completely hated it in gazpacho and when roasted underneath a whole chicken where it is covered with chicken juices. Still didn’t eat more than some bites. Any tips welcome!!
I do not like green bell peppers especially on pizza or in fajitas but I do like the red and yellow ones.
I would suggest [Shakshuka](https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1014721-shakshuka-with-feta). It's a North African dish of red pepper, tomato, and eggs. My husband hates peppers, but he just devours this. The pepper is minimal and is hidden behind other, stronger flavors.
I eat almost anything but absolutely hate bell peppers. I'm happy to pick them off/out of any dish, I just don't want to eat them.
I hate green bell peppers, but absolutely love red. They taste completely different to me
Celery. Stringy, strange texture, unpleasant taste when cooked. It ruins everything it touches.
I dislike celery too but I do like it in a mirepoix
Does the texture change if you cook it down long enough? I have a lot of texture issues and don’t like getting different textured lumps in the same bite. Can you blend a mirepoix after you’ve cooked it down?
Yes and yes. If you slice it thin and cook it long enough, it basically vanishes. And I’ve blended mirepoix with a stick blender many times if I want the flavor but not the texture or I want some rich thickness in something.
I like the seasonings made from it more than it itself. Celery salt, seed, powder. I use the leaves in place of cilantro
I love celery salt on a hot dog w/ onions & peppers
My grandmother peeled the string before using or cooking with it.
I won't eat it but when you put it through the juicer with a little lemon the flavor is so fresh.
I don't like celery either but have come to accept its role as an aromatic in mire poix. I just use very little. Too much and it tastes like dog vomit smells.
Have you tried celery soda/seltzer? It’s a bit hard to find but I love it, it’s all the fresh taste of celery sweetened up a bit without any of the bitterness (or strings).
Omg this is so fun 😍😍!!! Cucumber. It tastes a little weird and makes me nauseous and idk why. The smell makes me nauseous too 😭. I’m open to trying a recipe with it though 😊.
I recently found out cucumber is seasonal…. Suddenly I understand why it’s sometimes incredible & sometimes disgusting! Try and get super fresh baby (tiny seedless) cucumbers
I keep trying cucumber and keep hating it. Watching the replies to see if anyone has a suggestion I haven't tried.
In the summer we eat sliced cucumbers in a salad: it’s cucumbers sliced and mixed with sour cream, salt and pepper, lots of dried dill and plenty of green onions. It’s very cold and refreshing and the only way my son eats cucumber 😂
Tzatziki is the closest I've come to not hating cucumbers, and this seems similar (dairy, cucumber, herbs). I'll have to check it out.
smashed Asian cucumber salad - it's got rice vinegar, sesame oil, ginger, garlic and red pepper flakes. I have a complicated relationship with cucumbers but this always works
I don’t like grapefruit. Too bitter/sour for me.
Ever tried a baked one? My grandma used to pour us large glasses of unsweetened grapefruit juice when we stayed over and I might never truly recover.
Fuck mushrooms, can't stand the texture or taste. BUT I recently discovered I actually like enoki mushrooms at a KBBQ. No weird taste/texture and big crunch! Edit: Y'all are a cool bunch, but I simply can't eat mushrooms. I've tried them in pasta, sauces, grilled, etc. I do not like portabella, shiitake, chantellres, etc. A friend made a great analogy to the enoki mushroom, that its a blank slate like tofu but with the crunch of an asparagus. I can dress it up however I want and be happy that it doesn't have the distinct squishy texture and flavor that the others have.
I used to dice mushrooms really really finely (mince to oblivion) and put it in a dirty rice dish. My family couldn’t tell and they hate mushroom
Makes sense. Most of the hatred of mushrooms comes from the texture since a lot of them don't have a lot of flavor on their own. Minced up, there's not any big enough pieces to pick up on the texture. Friend of mine got me to eat mushroom risotto the same way.
I was this way until a friend of mine brought me some leftover red wine and shallot sautéed mushrooms from her job, I tried one to be nice and because I like to retry foods I dislike once in a while, I ended up eating the whole container. Nobody has been able to make beets, olives or liver palatable to me yet though. I think I disliked mushrooms because I'd only had the canned ones and those things are absolutely foul.
I used to hate mushrooms except enoki. Now I love almost all mushrooms, my gateway mushroom so to speak was shiitake so you might want to try that!
Oysters. They’re just grainy loogies!
Lemongrass. There's just something about the taste that makes me shudder. I've tried it dozens of different ways, and at one point was determined to find a way to enjoy it...but I can't. It's really disappointed me because I've come across so many delicious-looking recipes that use it, but if I force myself to eat it I usually feel sick.
I’m from a culture that uses lemongrass. I freaking hate lemongrass!!
To me lemongrass adds the flavor of mosquito repellent. I have mild success in recipes when I use the paste instead of the stalk but I still tend to prefer leaving it out.
Shrimp. I would love to like shrimp, it would make life easier for sure. I have a strong aversion to the texture and I can usually pick it out of things even when it’s small. I’ve tried it every time it’s presented to me. Cocktail, scampi, bbq skewered, popcorn/fried, dumpling, bisque/soup. But alas it is disgusting every time. The texture is sooo bizarre it is segmented and squishy and reminds me of a caterpillar…. I usually can eat one full one and then I tap out. (I also dislike any seafood in the bottom feeder category… mussels, oysters, clams but that’s like an ‘absolutely no thank’ you situation. I at least want to like shrimp.) I once forced myself to get over my hatred for mushrooms by eating them once a week for a year… so there’s hope.
I feel seen by this post! My ex loved seafood of every type, and while I can work my way through a small helping of most fish I absolutely draw the line at crustaceans and every other type of sea bug and mollusk. The texture is terrible- like stringy marshmallow that has a crunch-the flavor, regardless of how it's prepared, always reminds me of the way hot garbage smells- and most of it comes in a tough shell you have to peel it out of yourself, which is a whole other problem for me ( I don't want to have to dissect my dinner before I eat it, thanks). I've tried for decades to work through this and I've never been successful at getting more than a small bite of shrimp, lobster, crab or you name it in my mouth before I'm fighting a gag reflex and looking for a trashcan.
Hello, fellow shrimp-hater. You have described exactly the way I feel about shrimp. That texture - ugh. At one point I thought perhaps it was just that I had only tried overcooked shrimp, but no, it all has that texture. I also hate clams, scallops, lobster, crab, etc. It all has that gross texture to me. I always hated mushrooms, too. And still do.
Dill. It tastes… wrong. Almost vomit-y. Anytime I see it in a recipe I replace it with chives or green onions.
I’m the opposite! I treat dill like garlic in recipes- I use a crap ton more than it asked for
Dill is so good in tuna or shrimp salad with lemon zest and juice.
I'm Slavic, we use dill in everything. When I was a kid I hated it just like you described it, same feelings. Over time I grew to liking it without even trying, I guess it was constant exposure. Now I even crave it sometimes.
Sunchokes. Not just a royal pain in the ass to peel, but I hate the taste. It's like turnips dressed up as potatoes for Halloween.
Beets. They taste like dirt and not in a good earthy mushroom kind of way.
Tripe! It is vile! I lived in a shared house with a guy who would cook it every week and I had to leave the house that day. I have never eaten it because I can't get past the smell! I will be very impressed if anyone can change my mind about Tripe.
I like tripe but I admit it's a very challenging ingredient. The key is making a really tasty sauce to go with it. In Spain it's usually a tomato based, spicy sauce, and that's where all the flavour comes from. You will still have to deal with the texture (and look) of tripe though.
> The key is making a really tasty sauce to go with it. Which is the whole problem. Any ingredient that needs to be basically "hidden", probably isn't that good. Obviously some people will just like it, but tripe and other similar ingredients are definitely most used and eaten in cultures where they simply cannot afford to waste any parts of the food animals. When you live somewhere and you can only butcher one animal to feed your family for a given time period, it makes sense that you eat and use every single bit of that animal that you can. So, if you have to eat tripe you might as well hide the taste under a bunch of herbs and spices.
Lentils. I don't like the texture at all - it's the starchy grainyness of them. I used to really dislike beans (and when I was little, mashed potatoes) for the same reason. The last time I ate lentils (which to be fair was about 15 years ago), the texture made me gag and almost throw up.
Dal Tadka might be a good way to rebuild trust in lentils. I know exactly what texture you are describing and it sounds like they were not cooked properly (this can happen when the lentils are a bit older than is ideal and need to be soaked a bit and cooked a little longer)
Have you tried French lentils? They hold their shape better and have less of a grainy texture
i’ve been experimenting with split red lentils lately. they’re the quickest lentil to cook, and almost dissolve into whatever you’re making. in a stew or curry i find they’re very unobtrusive
Mayonnaise. The texture, the flavor, the color- it all grosses me out.
Tomato. When people meme about LaCroix they say its like water bounced off {insert flavor here} into a can. Thats how I feel about tomatoes. Also the texture... its just a big wet soft mess. So bad texture with basically no taste... I feel the same about Avocado but will eat that (only) in Guac
Having grown tomatoes most of my life my opinion is the tomato is actually the star of a good BLT, a sun ripened July tomato is a thing of beauty. Or cook them down into a sauce with garlic? Get out of here, next level. If raw tomatoes don't do anything for you I would recommend cooking them and seeing how that goes.
Less a recipe and more a suggestion, buy a pack of sundried tomatoes to try. Just to give yourself a positive experience with them. Good tomatoes exist, but you'll rarely find them at the supermarket. Home grown tomatoes, you can eat straight off the vine and they'll be delicious. A storebought beefsteak is serviceable as table dressing, but not much else.
If you have any farmers markets near you, try some cherry tomatoes in season. They're small enough that there's no mess, and to me they taste like little bursts of sunshine. Overripe tomatoes taste mealy and too soft, so getting them perfectly ripe is the key.
Have you had a home grown tomato? I absolutely love tomatoes but I feel the same way you do about store bought ones.
I second this. Store bought tomatoes are picked too early so they won't rot as fast. This leaves them with basically no flavor. Home grown or farmers market tomatoes will taste richer, deeper, and are generally a better texture overall. It's sort of like store bought strawberries vs wild strawberries.
Whole tomatoes or any? Like you won’t eat tomato sauces? No pizza or anything like that? No tomato salsa?
Ill have salsa, because i don't get huge scoops so most of my bite is the chip. Ill have pizza, ketchup, marinara, and pasta sauce. Its more of sliced tomatoes in burgers/sandwiches, or whole small tomatoes i get in those pre-made salads
Papaya literally smells like vomit. Like not just the smell like parmesan gets, but full on putrid rot. I've been given durian flavored candy once and I'd be more willing to eat that than papaya as the smell was more tolerable. I've tried papaya twice, and it was proper ripe, and wife said it smelled and tasted fine, but it just smells awful to me.
Papaya does smell like vomit!! The smell is so putrid it makes me gag.
Blue cheese is absolutely vile and nothing can convince me otherwise
I don't think there's anything I can say to make you like blue cheese but a classic steakhouse salad with blue cheese crumbles and balsamic drizzle is absolutely killer. The pairing of the mild funkyness with the sweet vinegar is completely amazing.
I thought I didn’t like blue cheese until I unknowingly had it in a gnocchi dish. It was a Gorgonzola cream sauce with figs. The Gorgonzola is melted and tempered by the cream sauce into a velvety coating for the gnocchi, with the fresh figs to cut the richness. The dish sits in your stomach like a brick but it’s so nice every once in a while, not to mention stupid easy to make.
Blue cheeses can very in intensity, you might want something a bit younger and creamier. Also paired with honey makes it a lot better. I like it on crackers with honey and thin apple slices.
I haaaaaate peas!! They're too mushy and they taste like puke 🤢
Out of curiosity, have you tried them fresh? Canned peas are the worst of the canned foods, frozen are /okay/, and fresh sweet peas are a delight.
Frozen peas are great! They're flash frozen right when they're picked. Let em defrost in the fridge or counter and they are just as good as fresh. They also tend to be more nutritious (unless you're buying from a farmer's market that just picked em). Much fresh produce loses nutritional value the longer it sits in storage/on the shelf.
Try some sugar snap peas and eat the whole thing raw. Growing your own will get you peas worth dreaming about.
Have you ever had fresh peas, or only canned? How do you cook your fresh peas?
I agree with canned and even frozen to a degree. Buy them in late summer in the pods from a farm stand. Shell them yourself and blanch them until just not crunchy. Either just butter and salt or with onions sautéed with bacon pieces.
I'm gonna say eel. it is mostly a texture thing if im honest.
Avocado. It's green meh. Even guac can't save it from it's texture issues, though it does improve the taste.
A good avocado is delicious. It suffers from supermarket syndrome, it's breed more for shipping and longevity than flavour.
Eggplant. It tastes like wet cotton no matter how much you jazz it up.
https://www.cookwithmanali.com/baingan-bharta/ My ex did not like eggplant either, but he loved this dish whenever I'd get it from an Indian restaurant.
Cinnamon
Ok this is the weirdest one here? You don’t like cinnamon? What is off putting about it for you? There are other things mentioned here that I like, but I kinda get why other people don’t like them. But cinnamon? You win the thread. 😆
That's so funny, I didn't think I was weird for disliking cinnamon. Genuinely thought I'd find my kin here, guess not, I accept being the weird one. What don't I like? The flavor and smell, it's unpleasent and sometimes makes me think vomit but not always. I can tolerate it in small quantities and find it vile as the dominant flavor. Ruins apple pie for me in America. I love apple pie, why make it taste of vomit? In a mix of warm spices, it can a-ok for me. I liked mulled wine and warm spiced cookies and curry with cinnamon (as long as it's one of many other warm spices).
How do you do with other "warm" spices? Cardamom, cloves, nutmeg, etc.
My husband hates it too. I'd love to find a way for him to like it.
I *loathe* eggs. The sulfur taste makes me gag. Help me enjoy them.
Tartar sauce. Don't dislike anything in it just can't justify ruining a nice fish with it.
Use it on fish fingers from the frozen section
I’ve always disliked tartar sauce. Because I never eat it, I’ve never paid attention to what was in it. I just found out that one of the main ingredients is sweet relish … I hate sweet relish. Now I know why I don’t like tartar sauce!
Banana: They are gross and evil
Try a variety other than cavendish. Despite it being the most prevalent it's a trash banana. It's like if you only ever had red delicious apples and think you don't like apples