Oh, and natto. {double Blech} Looks like dog vomit and smells like it, too. DH loves the stuff...

Eggplant. Horrid to the touch and the eyes. Like if you slaughtered an alien and ate its digestive tract. Tastes alright but lots of stuff does. I’ll allow eggplant tempura, though.

Mushrooms. I just can't. The texture is all wrong.

A very well known uninhibited outspoken lady friend was a guest invited to a big family holiday dinner.

Fresh oysters were served for appetizer.

The lady gasped loudly ,"Yuck! Two slimy things I can never swallow; oyster is one of them!"

Everyone around the table was in shock, when the small kid sitting next to that lady asked, "What's the other slimy thing you wouldn't swallow?"

"Oh, that limp and slimy thing---------- Okra !!! Double yuck!" The lady responded.

dcarch :-)

HAH! Loved it dcharch. I once had a guest proclaim that the only food she wouldn't eat was fennel. Guess what was a side dish?

I guess mine would be fish... anything. I'm allergic to fish and never developed a taste for it. Anything that tastes or smells like fish is a total turnoff.

Not much ick with me...raw oysters, egg plant and okra are all lovely, but I don't want to drink anything with "things" in it....no pulp in juice and thatt apioca drink? Just NO! Also some things with preservatives....canned soup, sara lee products....any of them, mostly things made with a mix....but not all by any means.

And I love cilantro!

The single worst thing I ever put in my mouth was banana pudding--the texture, the flavor. Simply disgusting. I also can't stand foods, almost always someone's store bought dessert, with artificial flavoring. Maple may be the worst, but then there's strawberry or grape.

Escargot is about it. Too closely related to the prolific garden slug in the PNW that I've spent my life poisoning, slicing, flinging, cursing, chopping, drowning, etc. The thought of one of those in my mouth makes me gag.

Meat fat. Any globs of white, bouncy, greasy fat on meat. Makes me gag. I trim off all edge fat also. Most bacon is inedible.

All offal except lambs liver or chicken liver as a pate. I used to eat snails up until I was about 25... now I just could not.

I will eat pretty much anything but I found durian hard to swallow. It stinks, is slimy and the fruit looks like dead rabbit embryos.

We clean shrimps carefully to take out the digestive tracks.

What about raw oysters?

dcarch

I'm with Elizabeth on meat fat, but I'm fine with crispy bacon. I love okra and raw oysters, but I'm not crazy about sea urchin.

As a child, I would not eat mayonnaise because of the ick factor.

70% of our groceries and markets. Isles of junk and processed foods. Vegetables so old and tired days from the fields grown.

Balut is always top of my list. Then 'alive' servings.

DH orders often one of the appitizers in our favorite Sushi restaurant. From the 'seasonal' special menu.

One small plate was tiny three inch noodles. Looked like rice noodles. I leaned forward and focused. "they each have two eyes and are wiggling", lol.

So-- 'live' foods i'll pass. 😂

A dozen other things i'll try once/twice. Just don't want to try so hard to make them edible.

I did crack the code for eggplant. Always a favorite from the same sushi restaurant. I can now make the same. Once/twice a year.

I grew a trombone italian squash one year. 25 pounds+. Never found a recipe we liked.

It was mealy with no flavor.

Balut is cooked. But sold in various stages of development from the chicken embryo. Watching a y-tube food traveler trying Balut turns my stomach. Especially when they turn and puke.

Liver and onions. Actually just liver, period. ICK, ICK, ICK!!!.

I had to look up what balut is. Oh YUCK. I'd turn and puke, too. I'd eat natto topped with sea urchin and roe before I'd eat that!

I love rolled oats. Bob's is my favorite.

Try these cookies. They'll change your mind.

Cook's Illustrated recipe.

https://www.melskitchencafe.com/thin-and-crispy-oatmeal-cookies/

https://www.americastestkitchen.com/recipes/4036-salty-thin-and-crispy-oatmeal-cookies

I pride myself in being a fairly adventurous eater. Avocados aren't my cup of tea but about everything else is. We went to a party of my DH Cambodian coworker. They always have egg rolls and fried foods and one time they had what had to be offal. It was marinated and cooked so I took some to try. I put it in my mouth and started to chew and my body immediately rejected it. My hand was up to spit it out before I registered what I was doing. I was so embarrassed and hoped they didn't notice.

This isn't really what you are asking about but all I have to do is see a loose hair near food and my appetite is immediately ruined, heaven forbid one is in my mouth!!!!! My husband thinks it's the funniest thing but it's REAL! HAHA! My mom was exactly the same.

I'm not a real picky eater but some mentioned meat fat, I cannot stand to get that in my mouth...yuck! I won't eat a raw oyster but fried are delicious!

There is always the Italian cheese Casu martzu for you to enjoy.

dcarch

Arkansas Girl, it's ICK, related to food, and exactly what I was asking about. It's not my issue because long ago, when friends were in the hairnet brigades, I studied up and found out that hairs, especially regularly washed (i.e., American standards) hair, doesn’t transmit disease, and the nets are for the ick, not health. That loosened me up a lot. Still some ick, but small compared to cross-contamination. I try not to look in restaurants.

Judi, I'm sure your cookie recipes are great, but that's flour, butter and sugar! Not oatmeal. I don't need cookies. :) Wet rolled oats, at leastt Bob's and Anthony's, are just mushy and nasty and ICK. I like oatmeal. Just oats, water and a little salt. I like oats in muesli with a bunch of other stuff and yoghurt. But the oars can't be mush! They have to have integrity and flavor. It occurs to me that perhaps it's those vinyl like bags, though they've been fine for other products, and the oats were transferred into canisters. Icks are very personal. I can't abide mushy oatmeal.

Pickled herring 😝

And I can relate to the hair thing - even when it's my own. I see women with long loose locks cooking on TV and wonder how many hairs are in that food - I don't care if it's clean, I don't want it in my mouth!

LOL! I was talking about relative ick, I don't think anyone is happy about hair in their food. It just doesn't creep me out as badly as some other things.

Not just cooking, I'm also dismayed every time I see people sit down to eat without washing their hands first.

Just recalled a scene in an old movie I can't recall the name of, but it was a family wedding and the caterer licked his fingers between every canape he handled as he laid them on a tray 😖

CA Kate, OMG!!!! I'm not a germophobe but that's just gross! I have, upon occasion, forgotten to wash my hands after doing something and grossed myself out..HAHA! I think I must wash my hands 50 times a day!

I'm not a germophobe and don't wash my hands that often, but I do so after using the toilet and always before handling food or eating.

However, after a long battle of various flues one winter, I am a big user of sanitizing wipes on public-used things.... like the handle bars on shopping carts. This was way before COVID, and things got pretty dirty and never washed. I would give the grands a wipe and have them wipe-down the restaurant table to give them something good to do while waiting for their food. Their little "rag" was always dirty when they were done. COVID cleaning helped some, but I'm sure things will go back to what once was.

Cats in the kitchen.

Oh yes, Bumblebeez! Seeing cats walking/sitting on kitchen counters and dining tables grosses me out. Hubby says it makes him think about their paws having been in the litter box, not to mention the fur...

Ever wonder why dogs and cats never need to use toilet paper?

dcarch

Foods/edibles that are unappealing:

raw critters. I do not choose to eat raw critters. Maybe it was that invertebrate biology class….

Foods that are prepared unhygienically:

I was going to say, any served food with a hair or bandaid in it. But then I recalled seeing this a few days ago. (A good reason not to eat ”street food.”

Another 'ick' for me is any food served at a restaurant on bare tables with no placemats or tablecloths - and I've been with people who put their eating utensils down on the bare table too.

Since I have very little sense of taste (well before COVID), anything in the cabbage family comes off as very bitter. I can't do rutabagas, or cauliflower without tasting that part. I guess there's nothing to offset the flavor for me. Oh well. I'd love to learn how to bake brussels sprouts like restaurants do.

cooper, if you wanted to try mushrooms differently... I fiddled around with crisping up mushrooms. I found I liked them seared and as a garnish. Quite tasty, and changed the texture enough. However, I don't despise mushrooms, only find them to be meh. That might matter

I think the bare table probably gets cleaned more often than the tablecloth or placemats.

I don’t like oysters. Every so many years I try one to see if my feelings about them have changed (I didn’t used to like olives, anchovies or blue cheese either but now I love them), but they haven’t. I did once have a mussel I liked but it was an unusual recipe at a degustation restaurant so I’m unlikely to enjoy another. Clams are OK in chowder. No fish roe for me thanks, or really strongly flavoured fish like herring etc.

I love most offal, but gizzards, no (too gristly) and brains no (don’t want to eat anything someone’s been thinking with 😁). My mother used to like that long pointy bit of gristle on the keel of the chicken, yuck.

Eggplant in baba ganoush and a Vietnamese recipe that uses very small eggplants, yes, otherwise no. My mother always raved about eggplant Parmigiana but I never could see the appeal.

Cucumber is one of the few things I won’t eat even to be polite. I’ve never liked it and don’t even like the flavour left behind when I’ve removed it from a sandwich, for instance (a lot of sandwich shops here include cucumber as a matter of course on sandwiches with salad on them).

Mangoes I don’t care for either. It was a struggle smiling and choking down a mango mousse dessert my now MIL made for dinner when DH and I were dating.

Most other things I like or at least will eat if I have to.

Okra, snails, roe, raw oyster, game meat to name a few.

I've love all cheese, but really strong blue cheese can make me retch. Especially when it overpowers everythign else and lingers in the mouth (and the only thing that will work is a lot of strong coffee to bleach out the taste). As a child, I got an even stronger gag reaction to tuna noodle casserole -- but that went away (tuna salad was fine, sashimi was great, tuna steaks aok).

There are a two things that I can't get over the appearance: uni and balut. But no retching, at least for now.

new food words

FWIW, judging by the nasty-looking rags used by staff to clean casual restaurant tables here, I prefer at least a paper placemat. And then there's a lot of outdoor dining here as well as seagulls and other birds.

Another 'ick' factor: carrion flies walking on dishes, tables, food when eating outside 😕

Dried fruit (with a few exceptions - dried strawberries and dried tomatoes are fine). Toffee. Jellybeans. They all have a similar repulsive texture to me. I probably wouldn't want to try natto.

But okra, oysters, that sort of thing - can't get enough of those! I might even try balut - given a good solid drink ahead of it.

As dad aged, he suddenly developed the habit of dipping the serving spoon in the food, licking it and putting it back. It wasn't that we were living in the same space either, where one could think, oh, the germs are being shared anyway. I learned to take a share first... and not taking seconds.

Bumblebeez, since I have no kitchen door, the cat goes in the kitchen. But he can't jump high enough to get to the counter. So I have no problems with him being on the floor.

Ketchup, Raisins and Carrots.

I guess carrot & raisin salad's out then...?

Carol, yup that would be double ick.

ROTFL! Ann, I've got to wonder if it's the sweet you dislike or a bad memory or what. Not asking, but you're welcome to elaborate. I get the ketchup thing, but have a hard time imagining carrits as ick. They seem so harmless and unassuming. Unless, like some in this thread, you just mean dislike?

Update on the oat ick: The Anthony's aren't nearly as icky as the Bob's, and for all I know, it could have been that particular bag of Bob's. Meantime, I've picked up some McCann's and an organic brand to try. Something else that helps mightily is leaving it in the fridge longer. I thought shorter time would be better for making it less gooshy—though fresh and hot those oats were gooshy, flavorless and even nastier. More than 24 hrs. helped the texture a lot, and didn't make the nuts and seeds any softer. Also, the flaxseed meal really helps it taste better so I add a little more, and the quinoa really helps the texture, so ditto. And I just got some popoy seeds. I love poppy seeds, so I hope they'll be good with the oats as well. The keeper part is the grab and go. Even the somewhat-less-icky-oats are worth it for that. I can fill a bunch of jars dry, when I'm awake, then just add the berries and nutseedmilk and put one in the fridge to replace the one I take out, at leisure. But the gooshy oats are still ick!

Ketchup is near the top of my 'dirty-dozen-dislikes'. If i'm handed a free ShakeShake burger at work,with ketchup, no issues. It is fine. But not at home. We don't care for shrimp cocktail sauce either. Too cloying sweet with seafood. We prefer a remoulade with seafood...cod, crab cakes, shrimp, etc.

I can juice a pound of carrots and chug it. Best with celery, ginger ,beets, greens, etc.

Roasted carrots and parsnips...yum. And why i always roast a sheet pan of many mixed veg and root crops. Family or just the two of us at home. I like this, he likes that. Some we both like.

I keep two small glass cookie jars in my pantry. Work kitchens have those bags of various sugars and packets of ketrchup, yellow mustard, relish, malt vinegar...etc. (we like the malt ). Bags from take-out lunches. I've got the sugars, ketchup and such for house guests. A couple small cans of evaporated milk for those that like it in their coffee. No judgement. It is available for those that prefer it.

FWIW, I make my version of muesli with rolled oats, chopped almonds or walnuts, raisins, chopped fresh apple and whole milk - all organic. I think it's deliciously simple, not too mushy and very satisfying.

After making a pot roast with parsnips recently, I decided I don't like parsnips any more. I found the flavor overpowering and rather cloying.

I do like carrots, tho - and make lots of things with them - even carrot & raisin salad 😃

Stew/pot roast carrots are the best. I used to make meusli and use yoghurt, but McCann's steel cut, not rolled oats. It's the Bob's rolled that were the worst ick, but Anthony's may be better because I've gotten better at it all, rather than really differentl I like the oatseedmilk because it keeps well, doesn't take up a lot of space and is made out of stuff already in the jar. Love yoghurt, but have a similar, if weaker, reaction as to liquid milk, plus the good stuff comes in big, glass jars. So I'm at, like, 1/4-1/3 jar oats (using the up!), about 3/4-1 tsp. each quinoa, hemp hearts, flaxseed meal, and sprinkles of pepitas, sunflower seeds, raisins or currants, pecans, almonds, pistacchios, maybe hazelnuts, and maybe a quarter cup of fresh blueberries. Enough oatseedmilk to fill the air pockets. About a cup total all in. A nice, substantial and filling breakfast. Even if tye oats are gooshy and ick. :)

FWIW, the organic rolled oats I buy are from the bulk bins - I think maybe Arrowhead Mills...?

I used to get mine from bulk too. They were a lot better. I'll give Arrowhead a try... :) Thx.

I've got a problem with texture, but I've learned to eat things like mashed avocado, peanut butter and even pudding. I still can't eat a banana (too mushy) or yogurt (icky slimy), and just thinking about jello makes me gag. Okra is far too slimy for me to ever put in my mouth and oysters are just mucilaginous, so obviously not happening. So, I guess, lots of "ick".

I don't like olives, but I'll eat black ones in salad or on pizza, I won't pick them out any more. I follow Renee's 7 year rule, I try things at least once every 7 years. Sometimes I learn to eat things that I wouldn't before, like scrambled eggs.

Definitely no balut, though, and I intensely dislike wine, beer and alcohol. I tried to like it, I really did, but I just don't, and putting alcohol in anything ruins the taste of the food for me.

Annie