To me the quality of the ingredients is foremost. And I cannot stand artificial flavoring in anything--fake maple syrup probably the worst--even the smell disgusts me.

I'm taking some kids hiking Saturday and it will be cold and they'll have mac and cheese in a thermos, a favorite lunch. I asked the mom what their preferred brand is, they are super picky, thinking it would be Kraft or Velveeta, ah, Easy Mac and Cheese already premade. Gross!!

I go by the theory that everything tastes good if you are hungry. I can eat bad food if I am hungry enough.

There are things I don't have a taste for in the morning, but have a craving for before I go to bed.

dcarch

Revenge never seems as sweet as the poets tell us.

I never considered revenge to be sweet, from any point of view. I must have missed that poem.

I love Brussels sprouts, but they have to be cooked the right way, as discussed in other threads.

I dislike salt in chocolate or candy and will not buy any chocolate or candy that lists salt as one of the ingredients. This is one of the reasons that I make my own candy, although I do this only seasonally.

The assumption that salt is a flavor-enhancer is very often wrong IMO. Sometimes it is, such as in the case of meat and vegetables, but rarely in the case of sweets, unless flour is a major component. For me, salt mainly enhances umami foods. Sometimes sugar is a better flavor enhancer, in small enough amounts.

I like for chile sauce to be very simple - that is, the main ingredient should be chile - no tomatoes or other vegetables, except perhaps for a small bit of garlic. I made a large batch of chili sauce last night (for me to use today), and it consisted of three Ancho chilies, three Pasilla chilies, six chilies de Arbol, three cloves of garlic, and a tablespoon of oregano. (I am using the Spanish spelling of "chile" to identify it as something different from what is often referred to as chili sauce in American English.) I did make the chile sauce with chicken stock, since I will be using it to make chicken enchiladas, but I usually make it with water. Sometimes I add tomatoes to the sauce afterwards and something I do not. Tonight I will be adding achiote paste to make Yucatecan style enchiladas.

I agree that the aroma of some things like coffee and bread is far better than the taste. I don't have a particularly sensitive palate, but I am sensitive to the taste of salt and use it sparingly when cooking. I'd rather use an acid of some sort as a flavor enhancer.

The texture of food is almost more important to me than the taste. I detest mushy, slimy or gritty food. Blech!

"The texture of food is almost more important to me than the taste."

I can relate to that. I've never had a tamale I liked and have been served what were supposedly "the best" over the years. It's not the flavor but more of a texture issue from the masa.

We have friends who are on the "soapy taste" side with cilantro. As much as I get that, I adore it and certain dishes just aren't the same without it, starting with salsa.

There are just certain things people either like or don't. I smiled at plllog's comment regarding the rare meat..."Recently, I've encountered such horrors, and I promise, I still hate it." I get it!

A scent one is roasting beef or veal bones and pincer- the smell of that process straight up makes me ill. I loathed the few days as week when the school roasted them up for stocks.

It still drives me out of the kitchen and sometimes house when I do it at home. But the results are so worth it when I eat the results.

A taste one is some mints- as in processed mint. Pepto pink mint and cough drop mints triggers heaves. So do some alcohols and most decanted cooking mints like extracts used in candies. But I do have a small garden of various flavors of fresh mints that are great.

I had to look up "pincer". It's a process I know, but a new word for me! (I love learning new words.) Interesting how the smell gets to you. I get it. I think if I had to keep my nose in it for a long period, I might too, but I have an overpowered vent hood.... :)

Chloebud, the cilantro thing is genetic. I know you get it, but it's really impossible to avoid one's genes. You're right about the distinctiveness of cilantro in certain flavor profiles, which are just wrong without it, but I'm perfectly happy with salsa that never saw any. I can tolerate it because I grew up with the prevalence, but I don't like it. My father wouldn't eat it, ever, so I probably have one allele of the gene from him and merely dislike it rather than reviling. I don't think my mother hates it, but all those years eschewing it for my father probably changed her attitude about it.

Today, my mother was complaining about something in the salad mix that she really didn't like. I was trying to figure out, over the phone, what it was. Which made me remember frisée. Does anybody enjoy frisée? In a fancy restaurant, I've picked out the frisée and put it on my bread plate, it's so bad. So I wonder if the bitterness is one of those supertaster things, and people just don't mind munching on lettuce with the texture of carpet underlayment. BTW, I'm fine with regular endive. It's also bitter, but in a contrast kind of way, not an eewww poison way.

I am with whoever likes the smell but not the taste of coffee. I like cooking with wine but not drinking it.

I eat meat but I am not fond of dealing with it. I dislike the smell and texture of raw meat. I will make meat dishes regularly for awhile and then suddenly dislike and avoid it for months.

Frisée - I used to go to a restaurant that made a frisée salad with big chunks of crunchy bacon that I loved. Elsewhere I have never enjoyed it.

In Maine there is a large brown particularly clumsy beetle that is called a June Bug. When they emerge they fly into whatever is nearby. As a child I made a visual connection between that dates - and by extension any brown dried fruits. I can use dates in say a nut milk but I still won’t voluntarily eat them.

Where to start? SALT! I know it enhances flavors in many things, but many years ago I got a bug while on a cruise and my taste buds got fried, resulting in EVERYTHING tasting salty for about a year or more. This resulted in eliminating salt from my diet and not enjoying eating out much (until I started telling them no finishing salt on my meal!) I enjoy using my home grown herbs and Mrs Dash. I will occasionally add a pinch of salt to some things. It drives me nuts to watch RR show and she literally uses handfuls of salt in her dishes! What's her BP like?

Texture. Ripe bananas! BLEAGHT! Slimy okra! Over ripe pears or avacados!

Otherwise I'm pretty good about most stuff.

plllog, yes, I'm aware of the connection of olfactory-receptor genes and cilantro. I'm more than happy mine blend well.

Salt lover here, but not overly salty things - a happy medium. And I like it on chocolate. I always put some flaked sea salt on my brownies and chocolate nut bark.

I like frisee and chicory in a salad with sweet peppers, walnuts and feta, dressed with lemon juice, salt & pepper.

I like meat, but the smell of cooked beef fat is kind of stinky, IMPO. I hate the way it makes my house smell.

Do not care for fresh cilantro at all, but very much like coriander - which has an orange-y aroma, IMO.

And I also appreciate simple cooking/foods. I tend to avoid recipes that have long lists of ingredients and many steps.

I grew up eating matzohs and they definitely have a flavor - which I guess it is best described as toasty wheat flour.

And I like medium rare beef & lamb. I can't think of any other meat I'd eat less than fully cooked. I used to prefer beef very rare, and would even eat raw beef occasionally, but not for many, many years now.

Not sure if you consider it meat, but I cook Ahi tuna steak medium rare. I don't do that with other fish, however, and tend to cook swordfish to 130-135°.

Chloebud, how old were you when you had your first tamale? I had mine as a small child, and I've always loved them.

I do like cilantro and use it a lot - more than I use parsley, and I have tons of parsley in my back yard right now. I used to grow cilantro, but it does not go wild the way parsley does. I should plant some more, however, as this is a good time for it. I will say that I like cilantro more now than I did when I was much younger, and so I think it could also be somewhat of an acquired taste.

I do not like the smell of roasting beef bones (or lamb at all), and I loathe the smell of roasting coffee. I do like the smell of coffee brewing but not the flavor of brewed coffee, although I like coffee ice cream and Kahlua. I've had some shortbread cookies from TJ's that had a coffee-flavored icing that I liked also.

Nancyjane, you might like dehydrated bananas.

No one likes overripe avocados, but I do love okra. It's not slimy if you cook it properly, but then it's another food that I started eating as a small child.

Tamales... I had my first ones this past December (I made them). I loved them, and thought the masa texture just fine.

Textures I can't abide: cottage cheese, gummy candy, fruit leathers, most dried fruits (dehydrated strawberries are a notable exception).

But I love okra!

The aromas in a bakery are nearly always better than the actual taste.

The one food aroma I can't stand the stench of, is hazelnut. (Loathe the taste as well.) I will note I have yet to smell or try durian.

I love the lingering aromas of nicely cooked meals that remain well after the meal is finished. I find myself not comprehending why others are eager to have said aromas dissipate. They remind me of a dinner well-enjoyed.

Too many people over assault, er over-salt food. Good steaks are ruined that way. I brined a turkey once. Never again!

Sweeteners are over-rated. Use on occasion.

Stevia doesn't taste remotely sweet to my taste buds. In fact, it tastes nearly as bad as hazelnuts do. Another inedible food is the date, even fresh.

I enjoy trying new foods. Last December, tamales. Just today, oat milk. Finally, a non-dairy milk that actually tastes good! (I like coconut milk, but the Thai canned variety for cooking.)

I'm really having trouble thinking of a flavour I can't enjoy. The only veg that I can think of is okra. Some things I've never tasted as I can't bring myself to put it in my mouth...snails, sea urchins, insects...

Well on the rare beef....I do think a lot has to do with the sight. I've told before about having the young couple next door for steaks for dinner....and eating by my candleabra in the dining room. They wanted their steaks well done and I complied but mine was rare...not blue rare but rare. I couldn't finish all mine and offered half to the man....he accepted and said..."Wow! this much better than mine, what did you put on it?"...and i told him I hadn't cooked it to death.
I love cilantro and salted caramel, and I salt grapefruit and melons. But I can't stand even the smell of canned soup, and artificial flavors of any kind set me off. That's why I can't stand jello.

Pumpkin pie. It’s not at all known here, unless you have an American friend who makes it. It’s my favourite pie so I’ve always made it for my family, DH and DD love it too even though both dislike pumpkin. For her husband’s family Christmas dinner (which DD and husband were catering), DD made pumpkin pie as one of the desserts. Everyone looked sideways at it and said, “yeah, no.” DD said, try a bite and if you don’t like it, fine, but if you do, then you can have a whole slice. There was only one piece left 😁

And for years I’ve been buying liverwurst because I love it, and DH has steadfastly refused to try it, because...liver. Last weekend we were having sort of appetisers for dinner as it’s been so hot here, so we had salamis and cheeses and olives etc, with crackers...and liverwurst. Finally I got DH to try it (“it’s German for ‘pate’, silly!”) and he scarfed it down and came back for more until it was finished off.

I often ate liverwurst as a kid and can clearly recall the taste and texture, and also have zero interest in it now.

Tamales are yummy, but I haven't had them in years either. Once, long ago when I was young and ambitious, I made a batch of homemade bean tamales and they turned out so good - very satisfying, stick to your ribs food. I like polenta too.

I used to love canned tamales - Hormel? But that's something else I haven't had in decades. I enjoy the firm yet mushy texture and savory-ness - is toothsome the right word?

And I love okra, tho I didn't grow up with it. When it's very fresh it has a floral flavor.

Also like cottage cheese and have it for breakfast most days. I prefer it plain. The idea of mixing cottage cheese with sweet fruit just does not appeal.

The things I don't like today are the often the things I didn't like as a child. I can't stand avocados, both the taste and texture put me off. Cottage cheese, pumpkin, liver and any organ meat, are all a definite no for me. A few things I didn't like as a child I have grown to like with the right preparation - tomato, salmon, mushrooms and brussel sprouts. I grew up on good quality meats prepared extremely well done. Over my adult life, my preferences slowly shifted from "well done" to "medium well" to "medium" ending up at "medium rare".

Well, Linda, the recent beef in question looked appetizing, was good quality, well seasoned and well prepared, and tasted disgusting in the normal undercooked beef way. Chewing it rather than spitting it out was a challenge. Accept it.

Come to think of it, it might be one of those supertaster things, where certain genes have one tasting things others don't. I've had the argument with people about the flavor of stainless steel. Some say it tastes like nothing. To me it has a very noticeable and specific flavor, I have no issues using stainless flatware, but I sure can taste it.

Colleen, your "liverwurst" should be called "Braunschweiger"....just don't mention that it's liver sausage.

Forgot to mention I do like liver, just not liver sausage any more. I had the best pan fried liver & onions ever at Musso & Frank's in Hollywood a few years ago - it was perfectly cooked and wonderfully tender!

Linda, possibly so, but the German immigrant butcher who makes it labels it “liverwurst”, and I’m not going to argue with him 😁

I will eat bananas but I cannot stand the smell of the peels in the trash. I put them in the freezer in a ziplock bag. My family gives me a lot of grief about it.

Ha - bbstx, I have a compost container next to the sink and when hubby puts banana peels in it, they smell really gross. I put them directly into the compost bin.

I hate stinky garbage - all wet food refuse goes either in the compost or the outside trash can right away.

Plllog i know what you mean about stainless. It tastes 'electrical' to me 🤯

Food scraps go into the freezer here until it's time for the compost to be picked up by the city. It is double bagged and never gets near anything so my family has no objection. We used to get instant fruit flies when we kept it on the counter.

My parents used to cook some form of beef in a skillet and the smell would drive me out of the house with its vileness. I don't eat red meat at all and haven't since I was in my twenties so I've never tripped over whatever version of meat it was that they cooked.

I started out hating cilantro. But then I got to like it. So maybe it's not always genetic; It didn't taste soapy to me. I thought it smelled like, well, armpits.

Texture is a huge thing. One time in my life I tried a raw oyster. I was at a wedding reception and couldn't very well spit it out. Having to swallow it was awful.

I don't like in-between textures either. Like chiffon pies, for instance.

Oh, I forgot to add, I cannot stand the smell of ground turkey being cooked. I don’t mind the taste or texture but because of the smell, I don’t eat it unless someone else has cooked it.

I can't figure out the liking of tamales, tried several times and just not something I have cared for.

Tamales are like hamburgers and fill a similar niche. It's cheap, mass producible, filling and fairly nutritious. Some are divine. Many are edible. Some are nasty. Making a really, really good tamale is harder than making a pretty great hamburger, and unless you're used to eating tamales, a meh tamale is less acceptable than a meh hamburger. Crumbly tamales are usually awful, whereas falling apart burgers are mostly just messy. If you don't like corn (cornbread, corn pudding, polenta, grits, etc.) you're not going to like tamales, to start with. Most people like the fillings well enough.

Dry tamales aren't nice, but overly fatty ones are gross. Slightly dry "healthy" tamales, low fat, really, and low salt, can be improved with a little salty butter, but that's definitely a "hack", not the approved way of eating them.

Sweet tamales, like with sweet corn or pumpkin (winter squash) filling, are perhaps an easier entree into tamale appreciation, than savory ones, which often have some kind of stringy meat and acerbic chilis, which can also be challenging to the unfamiliar palate.

Still, it's perfectly okay not to like them! Some people also don't like hamburgers.

pllog, you are probably right about the corn issue, I do like corn and I like grits swimming in butter but never really cared for cornbread. All that I have had has been stringy meat with a firm textured filling which i didn't care for, I always thought they could use some kind of sauce with them, I am sure that is an option but never served that way

Oh, no, sauce is always a possibility. "Wet." But that's for plated, not street food. One can always add salsa into an opened tamale, but that's where it gets messy, and requires the hunch. But while the meat is usually stringy, the filling is usually saucy not "firm". Firm doesn't sound nice at all. If you're curious and they're available near you, you might want to try Salvadoran tamales. They're bigger, and wrapped in banana leaves rather than corn husks. They tend to be moister and more delicate. But if your preferred grits are swimming in butter, you probably just don't like tamales just on the corn basis, as you said. :)

I wouldn't know a tamale if you slapped me round the head with one. It's funny what is an staple for one person is exotic to another!

Just the thought of milk makes me gag. I have despised milk from my earliest memories.

I can't even smell it or touch it without feeling repulsed. Anything that mimics it gets a pass, too. Do love cheeses, though, and use buttermilk exclusively in my cooking and baking.

White sauce, pudding, ice cream are all a no go for me.

Tamales! Now, that sounds so good! I won't make them because of all the lard that goes in to them. But, if someone else makes them and I dont see it..............yum!!!

Unfortunately, they are quite elusive around here.

FWIW, I've found olive oil to be a good substitute for lard and vegetable shortening in many things. I've never used lard in my life.

Don't knock it til you've tried it.

DH is one of those people who thinks cilantro tastes like soap. I grew some culantro this summer and he really liked it. It tastes very similar and also will tolerate growing in the heat.

I've never used lard in my tamales. A co-workers mother grew up in Mexico City. Moved to the US for University. Has never used lard.

Seafood needs to be researched and purchased carefully. Never from a common grocery. Most often the shrimp comes in 5lb frozen blocks, thawed in the back room from who knows where. All our seafood,... scallops, shrimp, salmon, halibut, cod, oysters, etc are US Atlantic/Pacific wild caught. Good friends are commercial fishermen. (think DeadliestCatch). Heavily regulated. Quotas, etc. I've been out with them a number of times over the years.

Sleeve, Your comments are always erudite and add much to the discussion. However, I must respectfully disagree with the one above. For those of us who live many many many miles from a coast, if we want to eat fish, it is frozen fish. In my small town there is only a “common grocery.“ Granted it may not have the same taste as something bought at the dock, but it is adequate and it is what is available.

Oh, I should have explained better. It has been discussed so often over the years here I did not want to write a repetitive boring book.

Frozen is fine. Most markets have a frozen seafood section where you can source where it is from. One the package. Like your purchases. I meant I would not buy from the counter where the seafood is thawed. Who knows where any of it is from or if previously frozen. Or how long it has been thawed. Most shrimp, not all, is frozen at sea or iced and flash frozen immediately.

I order salmon from Alaska twice a year. Flash frozen at extremely low temps that is sushi grade. Cryovac'd, in nice small portions. Sent with dry ice and arrives rock solid. By researching, you might find ordering from a reputable company might even be cheaper than something farmed overseas.

Some farmed is fine. Lots of research groups do the leg work.

That’s one of my biggest frustrations buying seafood. I’m fine with the “frozen” part but not the “previously.”

All sushi fish is previously frozen. Freezing kills the tapeworms and other baddies. :D

My sushi fish is always previously frozen. My local provider is excellent and will ship fresh or frozen throughout the US - https://www.sbfish.com/ 

All of that is way too much effort to get seafood! If there is not a fishing boat nearby loaded with a fresh catch, I will do without it. There are so many good things to eat. Seafood and any fish has other issues, as well. The combination of supply issues and other issues makes it an easy thing to leave off the menu, for me.

I do buy a bit of fresh salmon and make hubby salmon cakes to keep in the freezer and he likes to fix them for his lunch. He was buying that awful canned salmon and I told him just buy some salmon from the meat counter and I will make them for you. That canned salmon smelled like cat food.

Traditional tamale dough does use lard. It is essential to authentic tamale dough. Often it is a ratio of about I cup of lard to 3 or 4 cups of masa. Just give it a quick search or read the recipe on the back of the bag of masa. But I have seen where some will take a more modern approach and use shortening.

I have made them and substituted oil for the lard and they were OK. But lard has properties that vegetable oils dont.

I dont mind having some lard once in a while, but dont' buy it or keep it as a staple, or shortening, either.. it is the amount of fat in a tamale that is the deterrent , as a nutritional issue. It is not the type of fat that is of concern. Cookies and pastries are much the same in that regard.

Man, I am still thinking of tamales. Cant' get them out of my head! If only I could get some fresh masa. I might even buy some lard to make them with.

Once in while, moderation, right?

No, lard is not necessary ever. Similar fats from roasted pork shoulder is enough. Also in moderation.

I don't eat pork, but I save chicken and duck fats - they would work too, I'm thinking...

People of Mexican heritage stand in hours long lines, starting before dawn, in the days before Christmas, at the two or three restaurants in the area where they have the “good” masa. They buy it by the bucket for the Christmas tamales. The tamales have to be just like the ones Abuela (Grandma) made, but the “good masa” isn't something the once a year tamale maker messes with. They make the fillings, they prepare the husks, they get together and have a party, smearing, filling, folding, wrapping, tying, and steaming the tamales, all with expertise and devotion, and they make paper plates full to distribute to the whole family and friends. I've been the lucky recipient from a couple of different families.

You can make the masa yourself, of course. Just don't expect that a drive by, especially with replacement ingredients, an untested recipe, and inexperience, you're going to get “good masa” except by blindingly good luck.

When you smoke/roast a pork butt, your are naturally rendering lard at the same time. It exists. There it is. No need to add it from a purchased container. And who knows where that is from.

"All of that is way too much effort to get seafood! If there is not a fishing boat nearby loaded with a fresh catch, I will do without it...."

I research my food even more than household appliances. I want my money to go where it is deserved. I don't want my earned dollars to go to non-transparent practices. Not much effort reading a package. Reading the copy, researching the supplier. Click of a button. Holiday shrimp was from Carolina, next order is from NovaScotia/Maine.

To dismiss endlessly that shrimp and salmon, any seafood, that is flash frozen at deep temps, is inferior, for a better product on boat and dock...markets are thawing in the back room and selling it on ice thawed. Many groceries are thawing in the back room and calling it fresh. Even those 'butchers' are just stocking shelves, not butchering. Foam trays of chicken with the 'panty shield' absorbers. They come in packaged and frozen. Then thawed in the grocery as fresh.

A 'common' grocery is a deceitful recent grocery practice that is horribly not at all transparent in selling to the public. They are strangled by big AG and Kraft, or whoever the 'big kids' are. (they keep buying each other). So not my interest.

Bullies at getting prominent shelf space.

With DNA, Oceana tested dozens of seafood and found most were fraud. OCDavis tested vinegars, olive oils, and recently avocado oils....most are fraud practices. Not at all what was on the label. (Costco avocadis pure, phew. but the do extensive research for the most part)

I know a jerk, not a friend, that admitted taking crap oil and fancy labeling, then selling as fancy olive oil...