"You're not so bad, mayo."

August 28, 2023 1:34 PM

America's Most Polarizing Foods

(This poll was commissioned by Instacart, last seen cutting staff, slashing pay, breaking labor laws--y'know, IPO stuff.)

posted by box (175 comments total)

Maybe the people who hate mayonnaise just haven't had Duke's. (All other mayo is bullshit.)
posted by DirtyOldTown at 1:39 PM on August 28, 2023 [16 favorites]

Looking through this list, I'm "meh" on anchovies, which definitely have their purpose (don't you people like a caesar salad?!) but are kind of a lot on their own. Looove black licorice, enjoy oysters. Coconut is further down the list and is one of my very favorite flavors on earth, I don't get why some people seem to detest it so.
posted by Navelgazer at 1:43 PM on August 28, 2023 [2 favorites]

Mayo is bullshit. Miracle Whip is a miracle.

I'll be ready down by the oak tree with a brace of pistols before dawn. Bring your second, sirrah.
posted by Abehammerb Lincoln at 1:43 PM on August 28, 2023 [12 favorites]

Hates coconuts? But...but...Mounds Bars? Can I have yours then?
posted by Abehammerb Lincoln at 1:45 PM on August 28, 2023 [11 favorites]

I don't see any mayo on this list, Pre-edit: I found it. It's pretty gross.

And I am pretty much on board with their top 9. I like black oilives. And Coconut is pretty great, but yeah, the list of the things I won't likely eat.
posted by Windopaene at 1:46 PM on August 28, 2023

Mayo makes tuna edible. Tasty even. It used to be Hellmans but they switched to canola oil which is toxic garbage so now it’s whatever has soy oil. Whatever man.

Miracle whip is okay with bologna on white bread but that’s the only excuse for its existence. And I can’t eat bread or bologna (with wheat) any more so it can go away.
posted by seanmpuckett at 1:47 PM on August 28, 2023 [1 favorite]

Our survey found that half of Americans hate anchovies, making the small, oily fish the most hated polarizing food on our list.

I guess having closest-to-fifty-percent-against is one way to measure "polarizing," but to me a better measure would be "If I declare I love (or hate) this thing, how likely is it to start an argument?" I greatly enjoy anchovies, but if someone said "Ugh, can't stand the things," it's not like I'd have a hard time understanding why.

Maybe I'm just inclined to contest the results because my partner and I had a years-long moratorium on the topic of mayonnaise before we decided our relationship was strong enough to openly weather our very different positions on it. We're past that now, even though she is still very, very wrong. (And she has tasted Duke's, so there goes DOT's theory.)
posted by solotoro at 1:47 PM on August 28, 2023 [5 favorites]

I grew up in the south and I absolutely detest Miracle Whip. So there.

I found out that, despite all the recipes saying to drizzle the oil in while making mayo, throwing all the ingredients in together and blending the hell out of it with a stick blender works absolutely perfectly and only takes a minute or two! Which led me to finding out that garlic aioli is greatly enhanced by adding just a drop or two of liquid smoke. It's freakin' magic. Anyway, the point is I don't buy mayo anymore.
posted by Greg_Ace at 1:47 PM on August 28, 2023 [12 favorites]

Mayo is bullshit. Miracle Whip is a miracle.

I'll be ready down by the oak tree with a brace of pistols before dawn. Bring your second, sirrah.

I'll bring sandwiches for the post-duel picnic. They will be made with mayonnaise, because Miracle Whip is for the weak.
posted by solotoro at 1:49 PM on August 28, 2023 [24 favorites]

No a roux makes tuna edible. On a toasted piece of shitty white bread. Lots of pepper.

And needed to edit that pickles are also the best!
posted by Windopaene at 1:49 PM on August 28, 2023

I’m solidly on board with everything on the list. Well, except licorice. Try as I might, I just can’t handle the flavor. But, I throw no shade at licorice fans. My dad was one, bless him.
posted by Thorzdad at 1:52 PM on August 28, 2023 [1 favorite]

I'm willing to be that like over half the people who say they hate anchovies have never even (knowingly) had one.
posted by aspo at 1:53 PM on August 28, 2023 [19 favorites]

I keep black licorice in a quiver.
posted by clavdivs at 1:54 PM on August 28, 2023

shitty white bread

I hope we can agree on this as a solid sandwich base.
posted by Abehammerb Lincoln at 1:54 PM on August 28, 2023 [3 favorites]

I'll bring sandwiches for the post-duel picnic. They will be made with mayonnaise

I eagerly await the blissful embrace of death.
posted by Abehammerb Lincoln at 1:55 PM on August 28, 2023 [6 favorites]

Anchovies: I don’t love them, but they do stop other people from eating my pizza.
Bell peppers don’t even make the list though?
posted by cardboard at 1:58 PM on August 28, 2023 [4 favorites]

I keep black licorice in a quiver.
Now I'm curious. To fire at your enemies?

If they had gone with food combinations they could have had full civil war (e.g. Pineapple on Pizza, Ketchup on Steak, etc.)
posted by inflatablekiwi at 1:58 PM on August 28, 2023 [1 favorite]

I love licorice and Hellman's...just not together. Duke's is just OK. Anchovies on pizza is great.
posted by Czjewel at 1:59 PM on August 28, 2023

salmiac licorice mmmmmmmm
posted by whatevernot at 2:01 PM on August 28, 2023 [4 favorites]

Brussel Sprouts would have been on my hate list as I had only ever had them boiled. Then I tried them well roasted with some EVOO, Salt, and a few other spices. Amazing how good preparation can really take a food from "hate" to "love"
posted by inflatablekiwi at 2:02 PM on August 28, 2023 [15 favorites]

Bell peppers don’t even make the list though?

What's wrong with bell peppers? :O

I don't love black licorice but I don't hate it either.

I understand why people wouldn't like okra if they had it prepared badly. But the same goes for a lot of foods.

Also, Hellman's or GTFO.
posted by Foosnark at 2:02 PM on August 28, 2023

Maybe the people who hate mayonnaise just haven't had Duke's. (All other mayo is bullshit.)

Kewpie Mayo would like a word
posted by Dr. Twist at 2:03 PM on August 28, 2023 [16 favorites]

I understand why people might have Opinions about most of the items on that list, regardless of my own feelings about them. But beets?? They're so mild flavored! If you don't like the pickled kind, try roasting them in the oven for a real taste treat!
posted by Greg_Ace at 2:05 PM on August 28, 2023 [3 favorites]

As I got older, tastes have to be interesting more than, shall we say, pleasant. There is still a part of me that recoils at the flavour of blue cheese but holy moly when you eat it *with* other things? It's just the greatest enhancement ever. Same for anchovies - I don't eat them straight out of the jar but absolutely on pizza or in salad dressing or in an omelet. Licorice, not my favourite but when it's salted it's a revelation. Oysters have this incredible fresh ocean-y taste - I don't know how anyone could hate it, but I understand how someone could be turned off by the look or texture. I think overall my palette is pretty mature and I can can handle a wide variety of tastes - I've even come to appreciate bitter things, but for me the sticking point is texture. I'd prefer eggs not be runny, I don't think I'd like okra... if it's slimy I have problems with it. Boy, I'm getting hungry...
posted by signsofrain at 2:06 PM on August 28, 2023 [6 favorites]

shitty white bread

I hope we can agree on this as a solid sandwich base.

If your white bread is solid, it's gone stale. Time for a new loaf.
posted by Greg_Ace at 2:06 PM on August 28, 2023 [1 favorite]

There's nothing on this list I dislike. I can stop at one pickled okra; that's probably the most dislike I have here. I don't go looking for licorice, but I won't say no if someone offers me some.
posted by Mister Moofoo at 2:07 PM on August 28, 2023 [2 favorites]

Mayo is cthonic evil and must, like Carthage, be destroyed.
posted by doctornemo at 2:08 PM on August 28, 2023 [6 favorites]

I used to like anchovies before I went vegan.
posted by doctornemo at 2:08 PM on August 28, 2023

Also sometimes I get a little tin of anchovies wrapped around capers. That's just amazing and I will happily eat all of them.
posted by Mister Moofoo at 2:09 PM on August 28, 2023 [6 favorites]

I don't hate anchovies, but I don't like them by themselves. That wrapped-around-a-caper thing sounds intriguing though...
posted by Greg_Ace at 2:11 PM on August 28, 2023 [1 favorite]

Maybe the people who hate mayonnaise just haven't had Duke's. (All other mayo is bullshit.)

Kewpie Mayo would like a word

I'll add that I don't one mayo is above all others. having 3 different mayo brands in my fridge, there's room in our hearts for all.
posted by Dr. Twist at 2:11 PM on August 28, 2023 [2 favorites]

(e.g. Pineapple on Pizza, Ketchup on Steak, etc.)

to be fair, Ketchup's not technically food. Is it?
posted by philip-random at 2:11 PM on August 28, 2023

I'm fine with most of this list, but beets taste like dirt to me. I like mayo, but don't have Strong Opinions about brand, so I usually just get what's on sale (not Miracle Whip, too sweet). And, yes, I've done a side-by-side comparison of Kroger, Duke's, and Blue Plate--they're all fine. Oysters fried or roasted with garlic butter, but not raw. I can deal with Brussels sprouts if they're roasted, but mostly they just make me wish I was having broccoli or cabbage.
posted by indexy at 2:13 PM on August 28, 2023

Ketchup's not technically food. Is it?

It's a vegetable according to the school board.
posted by Abehammerb Lincoln at 2:14 PM on August 28, 2023 [5 favorites]

Command-F for yogurt... no results.

This list isn't very adventurous. Black licorice is really the only thing on the list that's not a hell yeah for me, but that's mostly from the horror of black jelly beans, which do not taste like actual licorice at all.
posted by emelenjr at 2:17 PM on August 28, 2023 [1 favorite]

Coconut is further down the list and is one of my very favorite flavors on earth, I don't get why some people seem to detest it so.

From what I've heard it's about the texture of dried flaked coconut.
posted by Selena777 at 2:19 PM on August 28, 2023 [5 favorites]

In my house/family/life you get Duke's or the kewpie with the plastic bag (not the one the sell in US grocery stores, you have to go to the Korea /Japanese store for it!). I'm open to learning about other commercial mayos, but admittedly, and I think understandably, suspicious.
posted by atomicstone at 2:23 PM on August 28, 2023 [1 favorite]

Yogurt is just stuff, with bits in it.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 2:23 PM on August 28, 2023

If they had gone with food combinations they could have had full civil war (e.g. Pineapple on Pizza, Ketchup on Steak, etc.)

Ketchup on pizza. Pineapple on steak.

Apparently I'm feeling chaotic evil today.
posted by solotoro at 2:23 PM on August 28, 2023 [3 favorites]

In my house/family/life you get Duke's or the kewpie with the plastic bag (not the one the sell in US grocery stores, you have to go to the Korea /Japanese store for it!)

Actually, the plastic bag kewpie is good.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 2:24 PM on August 28, 2023 [1 favorite]

Thanks to selective breeding (and the Dutch), Brussels sprouts really do taste better than they used to. So maybe give them a second chance if it's been a long while.
posted by swift at 2:25 PM on August 28, 2023 [12 favorites]

All of these are good except for blue cheese. Slimy! Rotted! Stinky! I do not like it with some wings, I don't like it on anything, I do not like blue cheese with ham, I do not like it, etc etc.
posted by Frowner at 2:26 PM on August 28, 2023 [6 favorites]

Where's eggplant, liver, zucchini on the list? I hate blue cheese, oysters are Nope. I have always loved Brussels sprouts, but roasted or properly sauteed really elevate them. Beets have a sweet blandness, so I understand why some might not enjoy them, but they are also good roasted or doused with vinegar.
posted by theora55 at 2:30 PM on August 28, 2023

In my house/family/life you get Duke's or the kewpie with the plastic bag (not the one the sell in US grocery stores, you have to go to the Korea /Japanese store for it!)

I've never even seen Kewpie in regular super markets, I thought it was just something you had to go to "Asian" grocery stores for. they really made it different for the alternative distribution channel?
posted by Dr. Twist at 2:31 PM on August 28, 2023

I like all of that stuff, so I tried to think of a food that's a non-starter for me. Weirdly I really dislike truffle oil, which is getting popular on middlebrow menus (on fries, and mushroom pizza, for instance.) Not sure if it means I dislike truffles.
posted by anhedonic at 2:32 PM on August 28, 2023 [1 favorite]

Anchovies! The secret of puttanesca deliciousness! The joy of mozzarella in carozza!

If you don't know what mozzarella in carozza is:

get you some ciabatta bread
slice him crosswise so you get little oval slices
get a nice round soft mozzarella cheese & slice him too
get anchovies
make sandwiches: ciabatta slice, mozzarella slice, 1 or 2 anchovies, other ciabatta slice
start your oil simmering
FRY SAMMICHES on both sides. If you used up all the anchovies, add the oil from the tin, or soak bread in the fishy oil beforehand

Voilà, crisp cheesy salty fishy goodness.
posted by Pallas Athena at 2:35 PM on August 28, 2023 [20 favorites]

Not sure if it means I dislike truffles

"truffle" oil is it's own thing, and unsurprisingly it comes with it's own controversy.
posted by Dr. Twist at 2:35 PM on August 28, 2023 [4 favorites]

The kewpie for the US market has yeast extract instead of straight up MSG. Texture and taste is different.
posted by atomicstone at 2:38 PM on August 28, 2023 [2 favorites]

Weirdly I really dislike truffle oil, which is getting popular on middlebrow menus (on fries, and mushroom pizza, for instance.) Not sure if it means I dislike truffles.

It means you dislike the flavor of gasoline.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 2:43 PM on August 28, 2023 [9 favorites]

I'm actually interested in people's "the one true [condiment] is [brand]" recommendations, because I love winnowing things down to the one indispensable winner. I may pay the chatfilter tax and put up an Ask on that.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 2:44 PM on August 28, 2023 [3 favorites]

It used to be Hellmans but they switched to canola oil which is toxic garbage so now it’s whatever has soy oil.

Hellman’s is doing just fine so long as you don’t buy the version that say CANOLA in giant letters on the label.
posted by not just everyday big moggies at 2:44 PM on August 28, 2023 [2 favorites]

The chatfilter-y AskMe on condiment preference is now live.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 2:53 PM on August 28, 2023 [2 favorites]

I like all these things and LOVE some (oysters!! black licorice!!) except I don't like okra. And it's not like I pick it out of food or avoid ordering stuff it's in... I just kinda choke it down. It's slimy in almost everything it's in.

I feel like all my true gross-out foods are things Americans don't encounter enough to have a strong opinion, like natto and huai shan.
posted by potrzebie at 2:53 PM on August 28, 2023

Duke's isn't available on this side of the country as far as I know. I usually buy Best Foods mayo and it is fine, at lease used sparingly as a condiment. I've seen people eat mayo more like a main food item, which makes me queasy to think about. To me, Miracle Whip is disgustingly sweet. I'll eat it when someone prepares food for me, because I'm not rude, but I don't like the taste.

I'm puzzled at how beets scores just as polarizing as blue cheese and okra. I love okra, but can totally understand why someone else might not. But beets are just so mild-mannered. They don't have a strong taste, or a weird texture, so what causes such hate?
posted by Dip Flash at 2:55 PM on August 28, 2023 [2 favorites]

Yummy yummy! All of it.
Except for maybe capers and fennel.
It's not that I dislike them, it's just that I haven't had any particular food that capers or fennel made that much of a difference.

Now gimmie that black licorice.
posted by BlueHorse at 2:55 PM on August 28, 2023

Oh God, okra. I grew up in a family that adored the shit and I still cannot stand it to this day. When I was little, my paternal grandfather lived with us for a while after he got out of rehab after his stroke. He liked anchovies, so there were always some around. I ate them sometimes. For some reason my adult self finds the idea of eating anchovies whole utterly revolting. Mayo (and miracle whip, for that matter) I can take or leave. I don't particularly care for the flavor, but it is useful at times. Burger buns need a skim coat to keep them from getting soggy with fat and it helps cold cut sandwiches avoid feeling too dry. Still don't need to taste it, though.

I probably should put the giant jar of Hellman's that's been sitting on my desk for the past couple of months in the fridge, though. Georgia just used up the last of the previous jar the other night. (Yes, it's unopened, nobody around here is looking for food poisoning)

I have to say, though, that the most overrated condiment is ketchup, by a country mile. It's not offensive, but I really can't understand why people slather it on everything. It's just not that good. In almost every application I would prefer to not have it. Come to think of it, I can't actually think of anything that I'd want to include ketchup in or on, but surely there is something for which its absence would be missed.

Also controversial in some circles: For many uses margarine (specifically Country Crock) is just plain better than butter. On the toast that goes alongside a plate of eggs is the most obvious, but there are others. A thick layer of Country Crock with some fruit jelly on toast really is delicious.
posted by wierdo at 2:58 PM on August 28, 2023

One true condiments.

French’s yellow mustard
San-J tamari sauce
Lao Gan Ma spicy chili crisp
Korean Soup Soy Joseon/Chosun Ganjang
Datu Puti toyomansi
Squid fish sauce contains no squid

We are not fussy about catsup.

We make a blend of rock salt and basil, oregano and parsley for our flavouring salt grinder. Our pepper grinder has a blend of black, white and pink peppercorn.

That’s about all I can remember without looking in the kitchen.
posted by seanmpuckett at 2:59 PM on August 28, 2023

Made “sea chicken” (spiced-up tuna-mayo mix) onigiri (rice balls w/ dried seaweed) for lunch today and it was damn good! Goes really well with some OJ…
posted by Heywood Mogroot III at 3:02 PM on August 28, 2023

I do wonder how much of my taste for coconut and black licorice comes from being the baby of the family and having older siblings who would all pass over the black and white jellybeans and leave them for me. I never understood the aversion to either one.

That said, I'm also the only member of my family who doesn't flip over cornbread (it's... fine? Kinda mealy but fine, and like clearly not anything to write home about? I don't get it.) So maybe I'm the weird one.
posted by Navelgazer at 3:03 PM on August 28, 2023

I'll happily eat anything on this list, with the following caveats:

• Anchovies should be minced into a sauce, not eaten whole.
• Oysters aren't actually good. Lemon juice and cocktail sauce are good. The oysters are there to soak up a nominal portion of the accompanying martini.

posted by escape from the potato planet at 3:06 PM on August 28, 2023

Mayo makes tuna edible. Tasty even. It used to be Hellmans but they switched to canola oil which is toxic garbage so now it’s whatever has soy oil. Whatever man.

What about canola oil is toxic? I've heard this from friends before but at base isn't this just the oil of a seed in the brassica family?
posted by kensington314 at 3:10 PM on August 28, 2023 [1 favorite]

Once upon a time as a teenager, I was flying alone and I ended up sitting next to an elderly couple. They asked if I wanted some licorice. Thinking it was the red kind, I said that I would love some. One of them said it looked like I needed two pieces. I was secretly pleased. Then they brought out the bag of black licorice...

So, I sat there and politely ate two pieces of black licorice that I despised and tried to look happy and grateful.
posted by skunk pig at 3:12 PM on August 28, 2023 [1 favorite]

Canola oil isn't toxic. There's currently a misinformation-driven panic over so-called "industrial seed oils". Please don't get your health information from TikTok.
posted by escape from the potato planet at 3:13 PM on August 28, 2023 [14 favorites]

Something I've never figured out: why hasn't ketchup been gentrified at all? Like surely there is a market for a ketchup that isn't just primary color corn syrup, yeah?
posted by kensington314 at 3:13 PM on August 28, 2023

I'm "meh" on anchovies, which definitely have their purpose

I love anchovies, but they are hit and miss in the preparation. Here in downtown NYC, Eataly has an Agostino Recca brand anchovy concentrate in little bottles. Amazing in or on every thing.
posted by StickyCarpet at 3:15 PM on August 28, 2023 [2 favorites]

Oh there are fancy ketchups, all your fancies Dijon ketchups!

More seriously, there are "crafty" ketchups, but I still buy Heinz because that reads "ketchup" to me. I just buy the "Simply Heinz" which has Tomato Concentrate, Vinegar, Cane Sugar and spices.
posted by drewbage1847 at 3:17 PM on August 28, 2023 [7 favorites]

By the way, the "beets taste like dirt" thing is because they contain geosmin (the same compound that we associate with the smell of “fresh rain” and “forest soil”), which some people are sensitive to.
posted by Greg_Ace at 3:18 PM on August 28, 2023 [7 favorites]

I like ketchup with fries, sometimes, but that's it. Otherwise it's too sweet for me. The only condiments I want on my burger are a bit of mayo (for the aforementioned bread-protecting reason), Dijon or "brown" mustard, and a couple dashes of a good hot sauce.
posted by Greg_Ace at 3:20 PM on August 28, 2023

Beets do taste like dirt. Delicious, delectable dirt.

Which pairs excellently with goat cheese, which tastes like goats. Delicious, delectable goats.
posted by escape from the potato planet at 3:20 PM on August 28, 2023 [13 favorites]

By the way, the "beets taste like dirt" thing is because they contain geosmin (the same compound that we associate with the smell of “fresh rain” and “forest soil”), which some people are sensitive to.

That explains a lot. Although my wife says "I agree that beets taste like dirt, I just like it anyway."
posted by Foosnark at 3:20 PM on August 28, 2023 [1 favorite]

All of these foods are good to great, except that the texture of coconut flakes is indeed off-putting unless in a caramel delite girl scout cookie and mayo is foul.

My sister-in-law asked if I was interested in her progress pictures after surgery, but warned me there are scars so I might be grossed out. My exact text response:

I am grossed out by mayonnaise but not scars. If you slather yourself in mayo for your progress pics, please do not share.

posted by the primroses were over at 3:23 PM on August 28, 2023 [2 favorites]

I make a Martini that uses fat green olives stuffed with a bit of blue cheese & and anchovy.

It is the best Martini.
posted by chavenet at 3:24 PM on August 28, 2023 [8 favorites]

Roasting the beets removes the geosmin flavor, apparently.
posted by Greg_Ace at 3:24 PM on August 28, 2023 [1 favorite]

Also, it's actually not that hard to make your own fresh mayonnaise.
Which is better than Hellmans, Kewpie, Duke's &c put together.
posted by chavenet at 3:25 PM on August 28, 2023 [2 favorites]

"States that order the most oysters... Montana, North Dakota, Wyoming"

guys, prairie oysters aren't the same thing
posted by zompist at 3:30 PM on August 28, 2023 [16 favorites]

Pretty solid list. I avoid almost half of them regularly, but know many people who hate the half I like, and others who will gladly eat all of them.
I'll eat local pretty much anywhere I am on the planet, but still won't go near Okra (childhood trauma) , black licorice or beets.
I eat Mayo on everything I can put it on, and find I can improve it with vinegar, sriracha or pesto when needed.
Fennel needs to be roasted to make it sweet. Oysters -- just yum.
posted by OHenryPacey at 3:31 PM on August 28, 2023

Duke's isn't available on this side of the country as far as I know

Assuming you mean the west side of the US, most Kroger owned supermarkets carry it
posted by Dr. Twist at 3:34 PM on August 28, 2023 [1 favorite]

I make a Martini that uses fat green olives stuffed with a bit of blue cheese & and anchovy.

The Goya anchovy olives are the one product of theirs I still purchase, for this exact purpose.
posted by aspersioncast at 3:36 PM on August 28, 2023 [1 favorite]

Also the older I get the less time I have to shit-talk other people's food. People like different things. I happen to like salty, funky, spicy, umami-laden, and bitter things, and generally don't care much for sweet things or most pastries. But people who don't like e.g. olives or cilantro seem to do this whole "ew gross" thing that actually just makes me assume spoiled brat.
posted by aspersioncast at 3:41 PM on August 28, 2023 [4 favorites]

The only one I don’t get is beets. Who hates beets? They’re just … sweet … and a little tangy … and … kinda bland? I’ve never heard anybody talk bad about beets. Especially not compared to mayo, which is inexplicably much further down on the list. Maybe people don’t like beets because they turn your poop red?

Also, I’m convinced Americans hate anchovies because they’ve only had the super salty kind, and not the cool pickled kind you get in Europe. Also, unless they’ve had a Caesar salad at a really nice restaurant, they may have only encountered anchovies on pizza — which is a terrible use of anchovies. Seriously, a salty and a salty? I like anchovies and even I don’t like them on pizza.
posted by panama joe at 3:52 PM on August 28, 2023 [2 favorites]

And my most requested dish for parties is my mayo and anchovy paste HEAVY one. Shaking my head.
posted by lextex at 3:55 PM on August 28, 2023

Miracle whip is okay with bologna on white bread...

Miracle Whip...Not mayonnaise, no matter how many southerners interchange the two.
posted by Thorzdad at 3:57 PM on August 28, 2023 [1 favorite]

Weird that Utah is #1 in black licorice. Must be the heavy Scandinavian population. I do remember buying salty licorice coins at ZCMI when I was a kid. That's the department story that was started by Brigham Young.
posted by ShakeyJake at 4:00 PM on August 28, 2023

Perhaps worth making some distinctions when discussing anchovies?

There are three rather different preparations:

- Salted and packed in olive oil (or possibly just in salt) after being filleted with the skin removed, sold in tins or jars.

- Lightly brined, pickled, possibly packed in oil after being filleted with the skin still on, and sold in jars, what some people call white anchovies and the Spanish call boquerones.

- Fresh from the fishmonger, then typically gutted, dredged in flour and pan fried.

The first are what I believe most people here are referencing when they say 'anchovies.' The later two are nothing like the first and both preparations need to be experienced.
posted by Insert Clever Name Here at 4:06 PM on August 28, 2023 [7 favorites]

Team Miracle Whip here. Can’t stand other mayo, as a rule. I love a bacon sandwich with Miracle Whip. There’s a restaurant in St. Louis that does the Heart Stopping BLT with Miracle Whip and it’s glorious. (But so much bacon, even when I lived there I only indulged a few times a year.)

I’m about 50/50 on the other foods, but the ones I don’t like are usually easy to avoid. Mayo is the exception because it’s stealth added to many sandwiches unless you are careful. That’s the only reason I have any strong feels about it.
posted by jzb at 4:12 PM on August 28, 2023

I favor Log Cabin "Maple" Syrup, even if its flavor is artificial - I find the real stuff too runny.
posted by Rash at 4:16 PM on August 28, 2023 [1 favorite]

Canola oil isn't toxic. There's currently a misinformation-driven panic over so-called "industrial seed oils ". Please don't get your health information from TikTok.

“Seed oil” being categorically bad is dumb - “seed oil” as a category is dumb. There are maybe kernels (or should I say seeds) of truth around things like an excessive omega-6 intake ratio being unhealthy but it’s based on fairly speculative interpretations of the actual science (which I suspect your video addresses but… hour-long video). But in any case “canola oil is bad but soybean oil is good” is a new one to me.
posted by atoxyl at 4:17 PM on August 28, 2023 [1 favorite]

From what I've heard it's about the texture of dried flaked coconut.

Nope, I don't like the flavor. I have a sweet tooth but can eat nothing with coconut.

A couple times in my life friends have asked if I just dislike coconut or am actually allergic. Just dislike, I say. Then they try to feed me something with a little coconut the next time I visit, only without telling me. And I take a bite and stop eating. They didn't think it was even at a level I could taste, but I do.

I may actually be a coconut super-taster! It's well established that some people who dislike stinky cheese actually have better receptors for some specific chemicals in it, and what to most of us is a pleasantly complex mixture of notes is to them, quite literally, the smell of death and decay.
posted by mark k at 4:18 PM on August 28, 2023 [2 favorites]

I do my best to understand other people, and that people's choices don't have to be my choices etc, but I don't understand mayo hate. It's pretty bland and inoffensive? It's a bit of a nice pop from the vineger/lemon, and it adds a little richness. And I get it, I don't have to understand why someone hates something, my sister hates celery and that one I don't get either, but at least there's a flavor there to hate.

I've talked to a few folks who hate it and they mention texture, which, like 1, how much are you spreading on a sandwich that it's a texture thing? Two they also eat and enjoy yogurt and sour cream, both of which can have a very similar consistency.

All of which is totally fine of course! But it's one of those things I puzzle about in my own head.
posted by Carillon at 4:21 PM on August 28, 2023 [1 favorite]

We only keep Duke's mayo in the house -- Miracle Whip is concentrated evil -- but the best mayo (no pun intended) I ever had was food service "heavy" mayo made with extra yolks. But the smallest I've seen it in is 1 gallon containers, and I just can't go through it that fast.

Coconut never bothered me much flavorwise, but the texture is like the sound of fingernails on a blackboard. Which is odd, because nails on a blackboard doesn't bother me.

I haven't tried it yet, but for the okra skeptics out there, ATK had a very simple recipe for roasted okra that comes out crunchy and not slimy.
posted by Fiberoptic Zebroid and The Hypnagogic Jerks at 4:24 PM on August 28, 2023 [1 favorite]

I don't mind mayo--I will even eat it on fries, Pulp Fiction style. But I don't like it on sandwiches. Something about it turns me off, and yes it is texture related there. (I'm talking genuine yummy deli sandwiches, so the amount is the amount a talented professional would put on it.)
posted by mark k at 4:26 PM on August 28, 2023

I've talked to a few folks who hate it and they mention texture, which, like 1, how much are you spreading on a sandwich that it's a texture thing? Two they also eat and enjoy yogurt and sour cream, both of which can have a very similar consistency.

I like mayo, in reasonable quantities on sandwiches, in tortas, and as an admixture to tuna, things like that. But even though the flavors and textures are related, I find ranch dressing to be totally gross. There's no rhyme or reason to personal preferences.
posted by Dip Flash at 4:38 PM on August 28, 2023

I was a Hellman’s guy growing up in the north east of the USA. When I wound up in the south, Duke’s became the thing. And then my boss discovered Duke’s Heavy Duty Mayo. Sold in one gallon jugs, usually to restaurants, it is extra thick because it contains extra egg yolks and is thicker and more tasty. My boss occasionally will buy a gallon and then portion it out so that we can all take some home. My boss is awesome like that.
posted by kabong the wiser at 4:45 PM on August 28, 2023 [6 favorites]

When I first dated my wife, I erroneously thought she came from a Miracle Whip household. It made me question if we were compatible.

When it comes to store-bought mayo, I buy the cheap stuff but if I want really good mayonnaise, I make it myself.
posted by Big Al 8000 at 4:47 PM on August 28, 2023

Sorry, but Japanese Kewpie mayo utterly obliterates Duke's.

ATK had a very simple recipe for roasted okra

So, growing up I only had dry-fried Indian okra, charred on the edges, nice masala, bit of tomato in there as well. The first time I had slimy okra in The South at a meat-and-three type place I very nearly accused the waiter of intentional sabotage because what the fuck was this hideous mass of glutinous horror?
posted by aramaic at 4:53 PM on August 28, 2023 [3 favorites]

I know from friends that celery, which I would have categorised as beet-like in its innocuousness, is also oddly divisive.
posted by How much is that froggie in the window at 4:54 PM on August 28, 2023 [2 favorites]

I'm fairly certain the venn diagram of people who hate anchovies and people who have never had anchovies is nearly a perfect circle.
posted by chasles at 5:01 PM on August 28, 2023 [1 favorite]

I certainly came from a Miracle Whip/Cool Whip/margarine upbringing. Am now a nope/OK actual whipped cream but Cool Whip still appeals/why not butter person.

Texture yes, that it what is wrong with Okra. Just so slimy.
And it is mushrooms that taste like dirt. Those stained red beets just taste like nasty fake sweetness, never got a dirt taste from beets back when my mom served them.

Black Licorice? Just, no. Why?
See also: Oysters. Do you chew them up? Or just swallow them whole? That's just about the sauce.

Had Fennel in our yard at our last house. It is a demon plant. Will never seek it out as a foodstuff. Am seriously anti-mold, so Blue Cheese is RIGHT OUT! And am overwhelmed by any amount of Cilantro, so also out.

Agree that liver should be on this list. OMG, so liver-ey
posted by Windopaene at 5:04 PM on August 28, 2023 [2 favorites]

The only foods that are typically a no-go for me are the ones with an ammonia component like lutefisk (a truly polarizing food in the part of the US where I grew up) and things like salty licorice or certain overripe cheeses. Even this rule has an exception now and then, though -- I had a gorgonzola that smelled uncannily like the barn on my grandparent's farm and kind of tasted that way too. But I absolutely loved it and wish I could find it again.

Oysters are excellent, especially with a good beer. And yes, you chew them. Just don't cook them, please.
posted by theory at 5:11 PM on August 28, 2023 [2 favorites]

Coconut: I avoid the dried bits in muesli or trail mix. But I'll eat a coconut macaroon or a Lamington cake. And I love the liquids: coconut water, milk, cream.

If I find coconut ice cream though, it had BETTER not have the gross grainy bits in it. Just coconut cream... please.

For your singing-along-in-Swedish pleasure: Father, I Cannot Open My Coconut (Far jag kan inte fa öpp min kokosnöt)

I couldn't find a translation, but the video shows more or less what the lyrics are saying.
posted by Pallas Athena at 5:15 PM on August 28, 2023

I react badly (big flareups of autoimmune issues) to all plant based oils I’ve ever tried — maybe ~20? — except rice bran oil and corn oil, which I actively avoid because I want to continue to be able to eat brown rice and corn based products, and celiac disease has already knocked wheat and oats out if my hands.

It would be surprising if plant seed oils did not have some deleterious consequences for animals that eat them, since a toxic effect would be highly selected for should it ever arise. Domestication could and probably has ameliorated and perhaps eliminated that in many cases, but my xperience and that of other people like me . . . generally means almost nothing to the nearly solipsistic community of skeptics, apparently.
posted by jamjam at 5:23 PM on August 28, 2023

The trick to pineapple on pizza is to balance the sweet and salty flavours with heat and sour. Pickled hot peppers are the perfect way to do this. I prefer the red/yellow ones, but the green jalapeno ones work pretty well too.
posted by bonehead at 5:27 PM on August 28, 2023 [2 favorites]

Agree that liver should be on this list. OMG, so liver-ey

When traveling in a country where I spoke very little of the language, I accidentally ordered a meal that turned out to be mostly a single large piece of liver. The people who cooked it were right there, and everyone was very friendly and attentive. So I put a big smile on and ate the whole thing, but yes, OMG, so liver-ey.
posted by Dip Flash at 5:35 PM on August 28, 2023 [4 favorites]

these licorice are amazeballs. especially the #1 black original.
posted by j_curiouser at 5:37 PM on August 28, 2023 [2 favorites]

Black Licorice? Just, no. Why?

Because the correct answer is salmiak, not merely black licorice, and the reason is that life is suffering, and it is for us to understand the nature of that suffering. Other creatures cannot understand the nature of suffering, and cannot seek it of their own accord. It must be inflicted upon them, but we, WE, can choose to suffer.

Through our active choice to suffer, leading to understanding of suffering, we can transcend it, and achieve enlightenment. With ammonium chloride, because obviously plain black licorice by itself does not inflict sufficient suffering to transcend our limitations.
posted by aramaic at 5:40 PM on August 28, 2023 [10 favorites]

Life is suffering.

Yes, that is Black Licorice.
posted by Windopaene at 5:45 PM on August 28, 2023 [1 favorite]

The secret to slime-free okra is to cook it with something acidic. Problem solved. A traditional southern okra stew of okra, tomatoes, crumbled bacon and browned onions is quite tasty.

And slime free. Completely. It's wet, because it has to be with all those tomatoes, but no slime.
posted by los pantalones del muerte at 6:23 PM on August 28, 2023

I grew in Texas eating okra. We grew it in our yard. I love it and eat it frequently when I can get it fresh (not this summer nor last, alas). Most people enjoy it if it's deep fried in corn meal. I will happily eat it boiled and slimy. Nowadays I stir fry it in a tiny amount of oil with lots of salt and lots of black pepper; it's not at all slimy and the flavor is very mild.
posted by neuron at 6:27 PM on August 28, 2023

I can like okra in ways other than fried, but fried okra might be my favorite food. It's the one I'll basically always order when I see it on a menu, even when I know it's going to be only okay not great.
posted by Bulgaroktonos at 6:52 PM on August 28, 2023 [2 favorites]

Okra will grow in the heat. It a a good one to know how to eat.

Surprised that there s not more dishes like Cá Kho Tộ, or mentions of fish sauce on this list. In my experience, recipes with a lot of fish sauce are polarizing. You either love it or can't stand it.
posted by eustatic at 6:53 PM on August 28, 2023

Amazing how good preparation can really take a food from "hate" to "love"

So, oysters. For most of my life I've considered them horrid, brackish, mucousy abominations. And then, one year at Oysterfest (low-key annual community fair held in Shelton, WA) I came across a booth that was serving oysters split, on the half shell, grilled over an open fire, and lavishly basted with garlic butter. They were glorious. So yeah, some of these items are just great/horrid in and of themselves (e.g. black licorice, which I love, but really fundamentally is what it is) but preparation can make a huge difference for many (e.g.brussel sprouts, as noted upthread).
posted by Kat Allison at 7:01 PM on August 28, 2023 [1 favorite]

Also, for the first time ever, I recently found Duke's mayonnaise at some local store, bought a jar, and had a taste-off of Duke's vs. Hellman's, straight, licked off of a spoon. I could detect no difference whatsoever.
posted by Kat Allison at 7:05 PM on August 28, 2023 [2 favorites]

Thank you for the anchovy sandwich recipe, Pallas Athena. I'll definitely try it, perhaps tomorrow.

Oh, and beets are one of very few foods I intensely dislike (and I've tried them in every variation). Also, not a fan of cherry and grape tomatoes—the skin to pulp ratio is like nails on chalkboard for me.
posted by Scout405 at 7:28 PM on August 28, 2023 [1 favorite]

lavishly basted with garlic butter

Nothing is not good with garlic butter! I mean, garlic! and butter!!

(in fact "nothing" with garlic butter, i.e. straight garlic butter pour it into my damn mouth, is also excellent)

I was once served liver, unbeknownst to me who thought it was like some sort of batter-fried steak, and thought it tasted weird - sort of "flat" and mealy with a metallic aftertaste. That's where I learned I'm not a fan of organ meats in general. I don't hate them, but I don't enjoy them. Though I have to say I'm on the fence about chicken livers, prepared properly (prepared how though I don't know; I had them once in a Russian/eastern-European style restaurant).

I like okra in gumbo, where it helps thicken the liquid but doesn't seem slimy in that context. I went through a period where I made a bunch of gumbo, before I got tired of preparing the roux, plus no matter what other ingredients I put in it it all sort of tasted the same.

Absolutely cannot stand licorice, or fennel, or anise, or anything remotely like any of those. Not a fan of dill either, for that matter, outside of kosher dill pickles.

I've learned that I like fish sauce used properly, although any time I smell it in the bottle or happen to taste it straight I can't believe I like such a thing.
posted by Greg_Ace at 7:36 PM on August 28, 2023

lavishly basted with garlic butter

Like those escargot I had in Paris. What was I eating, exactly? So delicious, try not to think about it.
posted by Rash at 7:43 PM on August 28, 2023 [2 favorites]

i'm amazed that no one has mentioned tomato juice - i can't stand it - it gives me the willies - i just can't - that goes for v8, too

i can't eat whoppers (the candy), either - they make me violently ill
posted by pyramid termite at 7:54 PM on August 28, 2023 [1 favorite]

Roasting the beets removes the geosmin flavor, apparently.
As a person who hates the taste of geosmin I can tell ya...no. Beets taste like licking a fresh row of turned earth. Roasting covers up 30% of the dirt flavor. Thin slicing and making into very browned chips covers about 65%. Both just replace the bad tastes with different ratios of crispy/salty and caramelized/chewy. We eat it to be polite at your houses. But it's still a bit of a dirt milkshake regardless, to adapt a MeFi trope.

For the record,my favorite controversial foods include vegemite, juice made from tomates de arbol, blue cheese, and all kinds of mayo and miracle whip! So I'm not some kind of philistine with flavors, just, beets. Urgh.
posted by holyrood at 8:11 PM on August 28, 2023 [1 favorite]

oddly, bay leaf tastes gross to me. i always leave it out of soups and stews.
posted by j_curiouser at 8:37 PM on August 28, 2023

As if I needed more evidence that 50% of Americans are fucking cops.
posted by brundlefly at 9:06 PM on August 28, 2023

50% of Americans are fucking cops

I beg your pardon, neither I nor anyone I've ever known personally has ever fucked a cop!
posted by Greg_Ace at 9:17 PM on August 28, 2023 [13 favorites]

*eyes Greg_Ace suspiciously*
posted by brundlefly at 9:23 PM on August 28, 2023 [2 favorites]

I wouldn't hate beets if they weren't so, so disappointing. The problem is that they resemble food that I would far rather be eating. I see a purple beet and the color says "blackberry pie!" and then I take a bite and it turns to lies and ashes in my mouth.

Black licorice, on the other hand... Oh my god it's awesome. Did you know it can kill you? The FDA recommends not eating more than a couple of ounces a day, which isn't much if you like the stuff. That only makes it better.
posted by surlyben at 10:11 PM on August 28, 2023 [2 favorites]

Who hates beets?

I have never forgiven beets for impersonating delicious slices of canned cranberry jelly, many Thanksgivings ago.
posted by bink at 10:26 PM on August 28, 2023 [5 favorites]

Sounds like the bitter resentment formed when mistaking an oatmeal-raisin for a chocolate chip cookie.
posted by Rash at 10:30 PM on August 28, 2023 [5 favorites]

I wish I could turn off whatever it is that makes all brassicas taste like watery farts unless I roast or fry them. They're so good for you! But they are little sulfur bombs with weird textures that I cannot cope with raw.
posted by emjaybee at 10:32 PM on August 28, 2023 [1 favorite]

That list is a shopping list for a feast. I'm specially intrigued by the idea that one could sprinkle oysters with black licorice. I have some Italian licorice that tastewise would be great for the purpose, but it is very hard, and I worry I could break my blender while pulverizing it. Any ideas out there?

Our favorite mayo is a Dutch organic brand, but to be honest, it is not ideal for everything. It is the best for tomato sandwiches and for anything eggs which are our main uses. For many other things, make your own.

In general, there are only a few foodstuffs I actively dislike. I can't remember any right now, though I feel there must be some. BUT, I can't eat any food that has too many contrasting ingredients, like a sandwich with layers of different stuff, or a jambalaya, or that thing where you get three or more different salads in one container at a salad bar. Or pizza with a lot of toppings. I feel there is a trend towards complex, layered food right now, so I rarely eat out.

Being a picky eater myself, if I invite people over, I usually make a big spread of several different foods, so everyone can pick what they like, and I often notice people eating stuff they claim not to like, such as liver or Brussels sprouts or okra. So I feel preparation is important. My kids didn't like beets when they were small, and now they are eating so many it's a bit over the top even for me (beets are one of my favorite foods). Maybe they are catching up?
posted by mumimor at 11:12 PM on August 28, 2023

The only things I don't like on the list are olives and coconuts.
posted by brundlefly at 12:47 AM on August 29, 2023

I don't eat oysters any more for kashrus reasons but I have eaten every food on this list.

My own list of things I will not eat that other humans do consider ok is very short:

- natto
- cold pickled chickens feet
- tree tomatoes/tamarillos
posted by i_am_joe's_spleen at 1:52 AM on August 29, 2023

To my mind, the main uses of mayo are a) as a binder (e.g. tuna salad and b) as a moisture barrier in sandwiches to protect the bred from more artery ingredients (e.g. lettuce, tomato). It’s an engineering material with a little flavor, sometimes preferable to butter, sometimes not.
posted by GenjiandProust at 4:49 AM on August 29, 2023 [1 favorite]

....I notice that this is a food list compiled by Instacart, and that's really making me give it the side-eye about the oysters. Because: we're talking about a food delivery service that a) usually shops at your local grocery stores, and b) may not get your food to you for a couple hours.

Think about that a second. I would not in my wildest dreams ever trust the oysters you buy that way. I wouldn't be getting any seafood that way. Not only do you run into food spoilage if your oysters may have been sitting around in someone's car for an hour, they just plain don't taste as good as the oysters you get from a local fish market where the guy goes to stock up on Today's Catch At The Fulton Fish Market every day at like 3 am. So I'm not as convinced that this is a case of "Oysters are controversial", it's a matter of "some oyster fans have access to quality fish markets and DON'T have to use Instacart to get them".

As for the rest of the list - I'm pretty much an omnivore, only a couple things on that list are no-go for me and in one case it's only because it gives me massive indigestion (I miss brussels sprouts). Not really a blue cheese or licorice fan, but I'm not violently opposed to either; it's more of a live-and-let-live kind of thing.

The only foods that I would be all "nope, I'm outta here" about are things like balut or that cheese that has actual live maggots in it.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 5:01 AM on August 29, 2023 [2 favorites]

I don't understand mayo hate. It's pretty bland and inoffensive? It's a bit of a nice pop from the vineger/lemon

I don't hate it, but I generally dislike it to the point where I don't ever buy it for myself and will often ask for it to be left off of sandwiches & subs & burgers or whatever.

And your comment made me realize why - I don't taste any vinegar/lemon pop. To me mayo just tastes sweet, which is fine in various potato/pasta/egg salads which have other flavors to balance the sweetness, but IME very few restaurants will add just a skim of mayo on the bread or roll, they'll squirt it on like we've got a National Mayo Surplus that we have to get rid of ASAP, so there's like a pile of sweet glop on my sandwich that is just too much sweetness for the sandwich, and it oozes out the sides and makes eating the thing really messy.

Also I had An Incident with bad egg salad when I was 8 or 9, so I was turned off mayo-based salads and mayo in general for years.
posted by soundguy99 at 6:11 AM on August 29, 2023 [2 favorites]

Re: anchovies -

Yeah, I think the general dislike is largely because in the US we mostly know the anchovy as fillets preserved in salt - King Oscar anchovies as one common brand - which admittedly have a strong flavor.

But I've seen an increasing number of offerings of anchovies as just "regular" canned fish - Wild Planet is one brand easily found in groceries in my area - and they're entirely different and delicious. IMO they're noticeably milder in taste than sardines. Coupla tins of those plus a salad-in-a-bag and some other easy side is one of my go-to "too hot/lazy to cook a real dinner" meals.
posted by soundguy99 at 6:24 AM on August 29, 2023

For me, this is one of those lists where brands are important. I like mayo, but it has to be Kewpie or Nandos. I like yoghurt but only the thick Greek style like Kri Kri or Fage.

In general I like licorice especially Pontefract discs.

Beets do taste like earth but if they're roasted or picked then they're pretty good!
posted by Ms. Moonlight at 6:51 AM on August 29, 2023

In the "people contain multitudes" arena: I loathe yogurt. Plain, with fruit, with sprinkles, you could pour the best chocolate sauce on it and I would run the other way. BUT. I love...LOVE LOVE LOVE...tzatziki and raita. WHY.
posted by cooker girl at 7:14 AM on August 29, 2023

Anchovies and Oysters in a blue cheese-black licorice reduction with beet slivers, got it
posted by jscalzi at 7:50 AM on August 29, 2023 [5 favorites]

cooker girl, I'm with you. Yogurt in savory situations is fine. It's the parfaits and the smoothies and the bowl of just plain yogurt that my wife loves that are a nope for me.
posted by emelenjr at 8:24 AM on August 29, 2023 [1 favorite]

Anchovies and Oysters in a blue cheese-black licorice reduction with beet slivers, got it

No no no, that's a horrible idea! The delicate flavor of the oysters would be overwhelmed by the other ingredients. Save the oysters for dessert, with a dollop of mayo on each one.
posted by Greg_Ace at 8:39 AM on August 29, 2023

One of those fave meals I cook for me and no one else is sauteed/browned onions, lota of shaved zucchini, sliced mushrooms, chopped okra (fresh or frozen), and diced tomatoes (fresh or canned). Add some vinegar of your choosing and let that shit simmer. Shred some sharp cheddar and once it's all melted eat it. Anyway, without okra it's trash.
posted by atomicstone at 8:41 AM on August 29, 2023

Mayo, for me, is lubricant allowing me to swallow sandwich food. It is also useful for gluing leaves in place. I don't like Miracle Whip. Never even heard of Dukes 'til now. Use Hellmans/Best/Unilever.

However! A great substitute for mayo is tzatziki.
posted by Goofyy at 9:18 AM on August 29, 2023 [1 favorite]

Save the oysters for dessert, with a dollop of mayo on each one.

I'm not a true mayo hater, but my grandmother used to serve a pineapple ring with mayo with a cherry on top. I ate that, but with a big drink of soda to wash it down quickly. Mayo on a sandwich is fine, but a big dollop on a pineapple with a cherry, it's poison.
posted by The_Vegetables at 9:20 AM on August 29, 2023

A regular dessert option for us during the late 70s/early 80s was half a canned pear with either cottage cheese or mayo dolloped on, and a slice of American cheese on top.

I never ate it and my mother was constantly frustrated by that. Sorry mom, it's disgusting.
posted by cooker girl at 9:26 AM on August 29, 2023 [2 favorites]

Yes, pears too! I forgot about that. The pineapples were worse, and the mayo worse than the cottage cheese, in that type of desert. Granny didn't add the slice cheese too, thank god.
posted by The_Vegetables at 9:32 AM on August 29, 2023

My grandmother's version was a "salad" of a leaf of iceberg lettuce under a bed of cottage cheese, half a canned pear or peach, and mayo on top. I remember thinking it was okay as a kid but I'd pass on it now.
posted by Greg_Ace at 9:40 AM on August 29, 2023 [1 favorite]

If they had gone with food combinations they could have had full civil war (e.g. Pineapple on Pizza, Ketchup on Steak, etc.)

Ketchup on hot dogs can lead to an acquital on grounds of justifiable homicide in Chicago, or so I have been told.

As for licorice, I am not a fan but
...offering the red variety to anyone should be the equivalent to putting ketchup on hot dogs in Chicago. It is the loathsomest of loathsome flavors.
posted by y2karl at 10:25 AM on August 29, 2023

A regular dessert option for us during the late 70s/early 80s was half a canned pear with either cottage cheese or mayo dolloped on, and a slice of American cheese on top.

Cottage cheese has always been a hard no for me. The texture is, to me, incredibly vile. My parents were always trying to serve it back then but I just couldn't do it, even a small bite. Nixon reportedly loved it, which says something about both cottage cheese and Nixon.
posted by Dip Flash at 10:31 AM on August 29, 2023 [2 favorites]

A couple of years back, Heinz did some A-level trolling, releasing a batch of ketchup labelled Chicago Dog Sauce.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 10:31 AM on August 29, 2023 [1 favorite]

I love cottage cheese, by itself or with black pepper. Put me in the says something about cottage cheese and Nixon category as long as you don't put fruit with the cottage cheese.
posted by cooker girl at 10:43 AM on August 29, 2023 [2 favorites]

Ctrl-F "Dill"

Huh? Of all the things on this list one and not - Dill is by far the worst.
posted by Ashwagandha at 10:45 AM on August 29, 2023

people who don't like e.g. olives or cilantro seem to do this whole "ew gross" thing that actually just makes me assume spoiled brat.

To be fair, cilantro is unlike many other foods on this list because how it tastes to you can be genetic.

Some people taste it as a parsley-adjacent herb and others taste it as something soap-like.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 11:18 AM on August 29, 2023 [1 favorite]

I'm baffled.

Who is ordering oysters from Instacart in North Dakota and Wyoming?

That seems like a mistake you make once and only once.

(Unless we're talking Rocky Mountain non-oysters...)
posted by yellowcandy at 11:30 AM on August 29, 2023 [1 favorite]

Big fan of cottage cheese and pears. Cottage cheese is so fucking expensive right now though, it's in the "special treat" category rather than a staple.
posted by seanmpuckett at 12:07 PM on August 29, 2023

soundguy99 makes a good point. I mean, I loathe mayo anyway, but why must people just blop so much of it on everything??? so glorpy and bland and gloopy.
posted by supermedusa at 1:52 PM on August 29, 2023 [1 favorite]

incredible fresh ocean-y taste

Counterpoint: If it swims in it's pee, it's not for me.
posted by CynicalKnight at 4:31 PM on August 29, 2023 [1 favorite]

I won't spit beets out or refuse to eat them or anything, but they for sure taste distinctly dirt-like to me. If I'm cooking for myself, I'd much rather replace them with, like, parsnips or turnip or kohlrabi.

I have no idea what other preparations of liver taste like tbh, but in Istanbul, I had some of the best kabob I've ever eaten, and it was made of liver. I wouldn't have been able to eat multiple skewers of it or anything, it was even heavier than other red meat is to me, but it was absolutely delicious. I've also very much enjoyed chicken liver yakitori, so I guess the lesson to take away here is to skewer liver and grill it?

I do wonder about the general dividing line for people re hated foods. Are there some people for whom it's more about a bad taste, and some who are more about bad textures? Just thinking of my most hated foods, it's the ones with a texture I can't abide that I straight up will not eat. Like, I can probably eat something that tastes bad to me (though anything that's too vinegary or ammonia-y or funky smelling might turn my stomach too much to manage it), but if it's a bad texture, then I might not even be able to swallow it and I'll gag.

Like, peaches are my favorite fruit, but if they're a particular kind of soft, I can't bring myself to eat them. Also, I enjoy the taste of watermelon, but ripe watermelon sometimes has an almost...mealy? texture that I can't stand. Mealy's not the right word, actually, it's like rubbing velvet against the grain (also an awful sensation!!!) only in my mouth and I hate it. I'll only eat very firm watermelon. (A quirk my family is thankfully happy to enable, they'll always give me the part cut closest to the rind.)
posted by yasaman at 5:01 PM on August 29, 2023

Except for maybe capers and fennel.
It's not that I dislike them, it's just that I haven't had any particular food that capers or fennel made that much of a difference.

I kind of thought the same thing; they are generally used with combinations of ingredients where their individual flavors aren’t generally strong enough to objectionable to most people. I like them though. What’s strange to me is foods that have been left off the list; things like tripe, sweetbreads, chitterlings (chitlins),frogs legs, and pickled pigs feet. Of which the last is the only one I don’t care for. And what about foie gras? That is certainly controversial.
posted by TedW at 5:09 PM on August 29, 2023

if it's a bad texture, then I might not even be able to swallow it and I'll gag

My son was like that when he was young (maybe still, but I'm not making his dinners anymore); he couldn't stand zucchini/summer squash or raw tomato. He was clear that it was the texture that bothered him; and he liked, for instance, tomato sauce (even salsa!) and zucchini bread. Fortunately working around that issue was no problem - I could leave the tomatoes off of his salad, and it was easy enough to steam some broccoli as well my zucchini/squash when making dinner. So nutrition was maintained, arguments and difficult dinners were avoided, and there was joy in the household.
posted by Greg_Ace at 5:58 PM on August 29, 2023 [1 favorite]

if it's a bad texture, then I might not even be able to swallow it and I'll gag

I had that really strongly as a kid with mushy textures. I remember being totally grossed out by cooked tomatoes and cooked carrots, for example, and tofu as well. These days I'm a lot more ok with those textures -- I love okra, for example -- but a few things like cottage cheese or baked bananas just have way too mushy a mouth-feel for me. Soggy bread, too.
posted by Dip Flash at 6:23 PM on August 29, 2023

Are there some people for whom it's more about a bad taste, and some who are more about bad textures?

I feel i like react more to texture than taste. Anchovies, bring them on. Blue cheese? Yes, please. But mealy apples, no, I just can't. There are a few varieties of apples I like (Black Arkansas, looking at you). Yet I love gushy, soft, truly ripe peaches, but they can get mealy, too, and then they are no good. Mayo has always evoked a strong texture reaction from me, as well. Beets I don't like for both flavor and texture reasons. They're too sweet, weirdly corny tasting, and the texture does not please me.
posted by mollweide at 6:30 PM on August 29, 2023

Oh, and not to abuse the edit window, canned green beans should be shot into to the nearest black hole. Taste and texture both. I literally gagged on them as a kid, and my dad made me try them all of the time. We didn't part on the best terms. I can tolerate fresh green beans now, but that's about as far as it goes.
posted by mollweide at 6:33 PM on August 29, 2023 [1 favorite]

Americans hate anchovies

That’s just silly. There are a lot of us, and plenty of us love anchovies. I’d be interested in seeing the per-capita consumption compared to Portugal or Spain.

cilantro is unlike many other foods on this list because how it tastes to you can be genetic.
Sure, but the “ew gross” response still screams entitled little shit. It’s perfectly fine to say you don’t like something without turning it into fucking vaudeville. Honestly even saying you don’t like something is a bit prima donna, just turn it down politely if it’s offered and otherwise keep it to yourself.

Like describing your dreams or who you fuck, most people’s food hangups are frankly pretty dull.
posted by aspersioncast at 8:02 PM on August 29, 2023 [2 favorites]

Like describing your dreams or who you fuck, most people’s food hangups are frankly pretty dull.

This is an FPP entirely about food hangups, it's going to be the main topic of discussion.
posted by Dip Flash at 8:22 PM on August 29, 2023 [2 favorites]

Then I have issued my referendum on the topic 😀
posted by aspersioncast at 8:28 PM on August 29, 2023 [1 favorite]

I was a super-picky eater as a kid, but the only things on this list I'd refuse are oysters and Brussels sprouts. I wouldn't seek out licorice, but nothing on this list makes me wonder how someone could like it. (Oh, I get the genetic aspect of thinking cilantro tastes like soap.)
posted by The Wrong Kind of Cheese at 11:14 PM on August 29, 2023

Yeah, on the "people contain multitudes" thing - I love large curd cottage cheese, and can go through a pound in 3-4 days no problem. But I can't stand small curd cottage cheese. The curds aren't big enough to be texturally interesting, the dressing is just sort of insipid, bleh. To be fair, I think it's also because large curd is more likely to just have full fat cream as the dressing, which I mean how can you say no?

But guess which one there's only maybe 1 or 2 varieties of in the store, and which one fills the rest of the refrigerator case? Double bleh.

And yeah, beets taste like the tin they came in. Even if they never saw the inside of a tin. Done right, well prepared, roasted with goat cheese as a small plate, sure. As a side vegetable, though? Hard pass.
posted by Kyol at 6:54 AM on August 30, 2023

Cilantro and parsley both taste soapy to me. But it's only parsley I dislike; I quite appreciate cilantro.

Beets taste of earth. I want to like them, and I can enjoy, for instance, a small amount of grated beetroot scattered through a leafy salad; but a whole bite of beet is too much. Also, beetroot juice is like drinking muddy puddle water. No.

As for cottage cheese... both the appearance and the smell (yes, it has a smell) are so offputting to me that I've never been able to even contemplate putting it in my mouth. One of very few foods that I really can't engage with at all - I mean, I don't even like seeing a sealed tub of it in the fridge, as if I think it's going to contaminate everything in there by its mere existence. Brains are weird.
posted by ManyLeggedCreature at 7:13 AM on August 30, 2023

Ah, cottage cheese. The only brand I can tolerate is Friendship, and it's got to be the full milk fat variety. Without the full fat, it's grossly chalky, and all other brands that I've had just taste like the chemicals they use to preserve it. Friendship uses carbon dioxide as a preservative, if I recall correctly.
posted by mollweide at 7:20 AM on August 30, 2023

To me, cilantro has a strong bright flavor that's nothing at all like parsley, though there's no way I could call it "soapy"..I never have figured out how to adequately describe the flavor. On the other hand, both curly and Italian parsley have almost no flavor at all.

All of the brassicas just taste like faintly sour/bitter cardboard to me - apparently that's a genetics thing too. I always marvel when people wax rhapsodic about cabbage. (I do like kimchi, but that's entirely because of the seasonings and umami from fermentation.)
posted by Greg_Ace at 9:25 AM on August 30, 2023

re both GenjiandProust and Goofyy:
Guy Fieri calls mayonnaise "Food Lube"
posted by ElGuapo at 7:58 PM on August 30, 2023 [1 favorite]

I like literally all of these foods, I must be missing some genes.

I do think Krispie Kreme donuts aren’t very good, and don’t care for wheat beers much. That’s all I’ve got apparently.
posted by aspersioncast at 9:12 PM on August 30, 2023 [2 favorites]

Guy Fieri calls mayonnaise "Food Lube"

That's...not necessarily the positive endorsement you may think it is... :)


I do think Krispie Kreme donuts aren’t very good, and don’t care for wheat beers much.

The flavor of KK donuts is boring, underdeveloped, and overly reliant on the sugar glaze. Wheat beers are on the bland side and have an odd aftertaste I don't care for.

FWIW.
posted by Greg_Ace at 9:54 PM on August 30, 2023 [3 favorites]

On the other hand, both curly and Italian parsley have almost no flavor at all.

I think the problem here is what we can buy in stores, not the herbs themselves. At least where I live, supermarket parsley is absolutely tasteless, with the curly having a tiny bit more flavour than none and cilantro a tiny bit more again If I buy at a farmers market or a roadside stall, all three are mighty vegetables, suitable for standalone preparations like in Iran and environs. And then it is the flatleaf parsley that is tastier.
posted by mumimor at 3:01 AM on August 31, 2023

The flavor of KK donuts is boring, underdeveloped, and overly reliant on the sugar glaze.

I tend to agree... unless you're at a location that bakes on site and you get one right off the line. Holy shit, that is a different experience texturally.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 7:55 AM on August 31, 2023

Where I live, self sown Italian parsley has become an invasive species in one planter. I just cut the whole stand way back. It smells like chopped Italian parsley now. A very strong, very green sharp scent.
posted by y2karl at 8:57 PM on August 31, 2023

I love a little mayo, anchovies, caper and tomato sandwhich.
posted by OsoMeaty at 7:34 PM on September 1, 2023 [1 favorite]

My favorite candy as a kid was Blackjacks, now known as Black Taffy. Pink, white and black saltwater taffy with mild black licorice flavor - still love it. Not a fan of ordinary black licorice, but add a ton of sugar and I'm happy. Just realized I need some Good and Plentys.
posted by Sweet Dee Kat at 2:05 AM on September 2, 2023