There are things I don't like and choose not to eat, but no phobias.

Comments on other posts:

Food not touching - not an issue.

Eating one thing at a time - confused here. Does that mean eat all your corn, then eat all your potatoes, then...etc or "one bite of this, then one bite of that"? I'm mostly the latter, but corn niblets were meant to go with mashed potatoes.

Green Beans - love 'em. My youngest won't touch them. Used to love them when she was a tyke. Mashed one apart one day and spied the actual beans inside. "What's THAT?" When she was told that was a bean, she gagged and hasn't touched them since. She's in her 50's now...

Beets - I don't care for plain cooked beets either, but pickled beets? Lemme at 'em! The cinnamon, ginger and cloves in the pickling solution make it a whole new ball game.

I have a good friend I used to hang out a lot with when single and we'd get takeout and watch movies etc.

His thing was the spaghetti from this local place; they made a really good spaghetti and meatballs or chicken parm or eggplant parm.

This guy would get his spaghetti to go container, dump it into a large bowl then take his knife and fork and LITERALLY MINCE THE LIVING SHIT out of the poor spaghetti until there were only bits left. Almost spaghetti puree.

I would tell him: "You know, if you went to Italy and did that, they'd hang you by your BALLS!"

V-Tail:

Outstanding sir! That is exactly the reply I was hoping for!

Pickled anything - I don't care for vinegar - I've been trying to make myself eat pickled foods my whole adult life. I just don't enjoy the taste of vinegar.

Pretzels of any kind or any amount. I ate a pile of the big pretzel sticks as a kid and ended up puking them all up about 10 min later. To this day just the smell of pretzels gives me the mouth sweats.

I understand that that there are things people don't like. I have my own preferences.

But when people say things like, "I can't eat . . . " or have a long list of inoffensive foods that they won't eat, I begin to think that is more about something in their head that mere preferences.

This also applies to people who won't try new things. My wife is a little like that and it drives me crazy. "I won't like . . . " That is pretty much a self-fulfilling prophesy, isn't it? Give it a try. The worst that could happen is that you taste a bite or two of something.

quote:

Originally posted by cslinger:
I can eat RAW beef. I have at times told the waiter just bring me the cow, I’ll eat what I want and ride the rest home later.

I would sell my first born for a proper plate of Carpaccio, yummmmmmmmmmmmm

Cannot be in the same room with cream cheese--the smell gags me. Same for sour cream, milk, and liver. Repulses me.

And no Mayo, ever!

Tim

quote:

Originally posted by blueye:
Okra.

Boiled - yuck

Deep fried? Eat it like popcorn

I hate eggs. I hate the smell, I hate the taste, I hate the texture.

When I was younger, I refused to eat tomatoes and eggplant. I think it was a texture issue as a youngster. Today, I can eat just about everything, I don't eat a lot of offal parts but, if the specialty of the restaurant is an offal dish, I'll order it, since that's what they do well.

As I got older and my friends became parents, two things became obvious as they raised their kids:

1. Introducing new foods, is reflected in how the parents and other adults around the child react. One of my friends, like myself will eat everything and anything, no hang-ups; his wife however is unbelievably picky and would rather starve or, eat snacks rather than eat a meal made of whatever she's not liking. Thier kids pick-up on this attitude and instead of trying the new item or, dwelling on it, they instead reflect her reluctance and fear. Other friends, will eat anything and the infant/toddler see's their parents enjoying whatever they're eating and they'll eat it as well.

2. How that item is prepared and cooked. If your hesitation or fear of seafood is due to smell and/or how it was made, I get it. Middle America is notorious for being fearful of seafood, much of it has to do with smell association, not eating fresh, smell-less product or, not being cleaned properly. Burnt vegetables like brussel sprouts or, broccoli will leave a lasting impression.

quote:

Originally posted by mark123:
I hate eggs. I hate the smell, I hate the taste, I hate the texture.

OK, I get the smell and taste thing - they are all the same. But texture? An over easy egg is miles apart from a hard boiled egg or even a hard scrambled egg.

Not questioning your hatred of eggs - but ALL textures of eggs? Just curious.

quote:

Originally posted by corsair:

2. How that item is prepared and cooked. If your hesitation or fear of seafood is due to smell and/or how it was made, I get it. Middle America is notorious for being fearful of seafood, much of it has to do with smell association, not eating fresh, smell-less product or, not being cleaned properly. Burnt vegetables like brussel sprouts or, broccoli will leave a lasting impression.

This is incredibly important. When I was growing up we only got pork chops from the commissary - and they were thin and crappy. My mom always overcooked them in the frying pan and so I hated pork chops. Fast forward 20 years and I'm on a date and the girl orders a pork chop. I think "Who the hell pays for a thin dry piece of meat?" and then her pork chop shows up and it is amazing.

The problem is trying to bring every food to every place. Shrimp in Barcelona is amazing because it was caught that day a mile from the restaurant. Shrimp in Iowa is never going to be the same.

I've done the same thing with friends from Europe and Asia with Texas sweet corn. I just hand them a piece a of corn (grilled in the husk) and they are confused. Eat it, I tell them. They are confused, because corn on the cob is not a thing. But after one bite their eyes light up - it's so sweet! Yes, that's the point.

Cucumbers...... are only good for target practice down range. Now I do love a good home made old school bread and butter pickle or a good crisp dill pickle .. if at a resturant and order a salid I will tell the waiter/waitress if I can even smell a cucumber where someone picked out the cucumbers then somebody Would be wearing the salid. ........................ drill sgt.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: drill sgt,

I have a whole list of things don't eat, but I'm not afraid to try anything (within reason).

My oddity is fried food, not the food itself, but the smell. If I'm in a kitchen long enough with food frying then I completely lose my appetite, if the smell is strong enough I will get nauseous. I eat fried food, just can't stand the smell especially if it's brought past it's smoke point.

When I started dating an Italian girl, her family started having me over for dinner every weekend.

Her Mom would say she was cooking various things, tell me what they were and asked if I liked them. There were a bunch of things I didn't like and wouldn't eat.

When I told her that, she said I'd never had them cooked properly and would cook some of the things I didn't like every week.

She was right, I'd never had them cooked properly. Now there's nothing I won't eat if it's cooked properly.

Okra.... it can be freeze dried and still taste slimy to me

That’s more a food dislike not weird food behavior

I had a coworker years back who would put his forearm on other side between his plate and anyone else as to protect it. Often while working we would have a plate off to the side we would nibble on as could be, we were bartenders, same coworker, if anyone took a French fry off the plate he would refuse to eat any of it and give whole plate away, sometimes going so far to toss whole plate in the trash. I have no idea where this behavior could come, he didn’t grow up in a family with many siblings, he had 1 other sibling growing up

Cant stand white or yellow American cheese if you could even call it that.

Asparagus from a can, totally disgusting. Now fresh and wrapped in bacon, its so good.

Not a fan of Scrapple.

I can eat anything.
I love trying new and exotic foods. If it's something I don't like I don't feel the need to spit it out like a child but rather add it to my list of things I would pay for a second time.
I don't have a very high tolerance for adults who act like toddlers and feel the need to share their opinion on what I'm eating.

All you guys saying you won't eat fish because it's "fishy"...guess what? You have been eating or smelling OLD or BAD fish all your life.

Good, fresh fish is sweet and NEVER "fishy".

quote:

Originally posted by furlough:

quote:

Originally posted by corsair:

2. How that item is prepared and cooked. If your hesitation or fear of seafood is due to smell and/or how it was made, I get it. Middle America is notorious for being fearful of seafood, much of it has to do with smell association, not eating fresh, smell-less product or, not being cleaned properly. Burnt vegetables like brussel sprouts or, broccoli will leave a lasting impression.

This is incredibly important. When I was growing up we only got pork chops from the commissary - and they were thin and crappy. My mom always overcooked them in the frying pan and so I hated pork chops. Fast forward 20 years and I'm on a date and the girl orders a pork chop. I think "Who the hell pays for a thin dry piece of meat?" and then her pork chop shows up and it is amazing.

Food is one of the few items that can trigger childhood memories...good and bad. The older I get the more I've come to realize that there was a lot of parents, during the 50-70's, so the era's of the beatniks, hippies, early angry feminist, where understanding how to cook was lost while all the social causes were apart of the zeitgeist; they told their parents to eff-off. Canned food, microwave meals, packaged food, fast-food, mega-supermarkets, junk food; all these things also came into popularity which accelerated the decline in home cooking skills. Gen-X kids, born roughly '65-'80 were subjected to a lot of shitty home meals.