I don't, I can't, I won't

[Les Mains]

I don't, I can't, I won't...a wimp's veni, vidi, vici? Often people don't eat certain foods, or foods prepared in a particular manner and I thought it might be interesting to open a thread on the subject. It's not for anyone to tell others what to talk about but might I suggest that for this thread we specifically exclude vegetarian/vegan, religious/cultural such as halal and kosher and mainstream medical issues such as gluten, shellfish, egg and nut intolerance?

That gives us a huge range many of which are really personal preferences, the way we were fed as youngsters, odours and flavours that we don't like maybe because of past associations? I hate tapioca because as a very little boy at kindergarten one of the older children, a girl (all girls are bossy, eh, lads?) told me to eat up my tapioca because it would make my hair go curly! What baggage some of us carry though life Anyway, to get the ball rolling....

Doneness of meat. If you use top chefs' and food critics' opinions as your guide, practically all meat is served rare or even blue. That even includes pork in the case of the Spanish delicacy from black acorn-finished pigs called Cerdo Iberico (an appellation). There used(?) to be issues with pork - parasites, I believe - and chicken - pathogenic bacteria? - but the French serve wild food, game, practically raw. You don't see paramedics rushing to the best Parisian restaurants so presumably it isn't a health problem? Should we all try to acquire a liking for very rare meat (aside from vegetarians and vegans )?

[Les Mains]

I've just noticed that this thread is rather similar to the 'foods I used to hate' thread....sorry for any conflict.

[Bababoom Profile]

I find it impossible to eat large pieces of sashimi or meat which is just seared on the outside, but completely raw apart from that. I think it tastes nice, but I can't seem to chew it properly and it makes me gag - I do have a strong gag reflex, which might explain it.

I can't eat cottage cheese after once having it when it was going off. Gag!!

[Stokey Sue Profile]

For years I have disliked tarragon - really disliked it, my friend put a drop of tarragon vinegar in the green salad without telling me, and I nearly spat a piece of lettuce into her face, I was so shocked

It has been a pain in the neck, tarragon creeps into restuarant food all over the place

So last year I bought a tarragon plant, intending to eat a leaf or two every day until I got the hang of it. And discovered that not only don't i eat tarragon, but I can't - it leaves my mouth unpleasantly numb, with a vile taste, the whole effect can persist for hours

Almost a realief - now I can say firmly, and truthfully, in restaurants "I can not/must not eat tarragon", knowing I am not just a wimp who won't eat tarragon

On the rare meat thing - most meat is safe if cooked to 70deg C or above (which is fairly rare for anything but beef), I use a digital meat thermometer now, and have discovered tha i have been overcooking pork for years, and it it is much nicer if I don't - I do not cook it rare (about 75 dg C), but I am very careful not to overcook it, I really don't like the texutre of overdone meat - dry & very hard to swallow in my view.

Also, if you cook a slab of meat, like a roast or a steak, most bacteria are on the surface, so will be blasted by minimal cooking, parasistes amy lurk within but are now rare in UK/EU. Only chopped or minced meat is liekly to have bacteria mixed through

I also don't like the fashion for slow-cooking lamb "to rags" (that used to be a term of scorn, someone should tell Jamie) I much prefer the flavour & texture of lamb cooked just pink at the bone

Don't think I'll ever take to turnips though - (I mean the white fleshed ones, navets) - a veg that exists only to annoy in my view. And i loathe dumplings and doughnits, in both cases something to do with the texture.

[ordinarygull Profile Website]

For me it's cooked celery - I can eat it raw no problem, and I don't mind the flavour in stocks etc, but my idea of hell would be a dish of braised celery - wrong in every way I can think of!
Also not keen on lamb at all - it's to do with the smell of it roasting, and the fat on it if it's served cold.
The only other think I can think of, is melon of any variety - can't bear the perfumed taste of it.
On a roll now, I've remembered some tripe sausage my brother made me try in France last year - it smelled like dog poo, and tasted pretty unpleasant too - not trying that again in a hurry!

og

[Joanbunting Profile]

I love lamb both ways Sue - pink if it is a leg or chops, slow cooked if shoulder or neck - I had some lovely neck of lamb slow casseroled in red wine with haricot beans and herbs last night. A real treat after what seemed like ages without lamb in the US. I have calve's liver for tonight, something else I have missed.

I have never been able to face steak tartare or beef carpacio though I am fine with raw fish/shellfish.

My two real can'ts are , as I think you know,tea and coconut. I aslo dislike undercooked green beans - you know the sort, when they squeak as you eat them.

I won't eat fish, poultry or meat if I don't know the provenence unless it is completely unavoidable e.g. if I am someone's guest.

I have just been watering my herbs and my tarragon is really flourishing - I was thinking of you Sue!

[Tatihou Profile]

Sue, perhaps tarragon is like coriander - some people think it tastes foul because of some chemical in their mouths (iIrc)... actually, no, if this website is to be believed, it may be genetic:
http://theobligatescientist.blogspot.fr/2009/03/why-some-love-or-hate-coriander.html

Perhaps the same is true of tarragon only it's a rarer "condition". Do you dislike anise as a flavouring generally?

My can't or won't eat / drink are:

- proper tea (bleugh!) though tealess infusions are fine.
- sprouts (along with a large proportion of the population )
- rice pudding - cannot abide it. My gag reflex would kick in if I tried to eat it. Love savoury rice, though and risotto, paella... but never milky rice pudding
- swedes, turnips, parsnips
- cheddar cheese - not keen on plasticky mild but can eat it but I have to spit out "mature" if I take some by mistake

No allergic reactions to any of these - just dislike them intensely.

[karadekoolaid Profile]

The only way I can eat most meat is (a) minced (b) carpaccio. I think the problem stems from preparatory school, when I was forced to sit in front of a greasy slab of meat until I ate it all. Just thinking about the texture makes me throw.
Consequently, I've virtually eliminated meat from my diet.
I'll eat any vegetable,herb,spice or fruit in the world, no problems there, although I'm not particularily fond of allspice!

[Bababoom Profile]

This is a great thread!

[Mrs Vee Profile]

I had to think really hard about foods that I really can’t get along with; I could only think of quite a short list:

Okra – slimy (yuk,yuk,yuk!)
Radishes – they’re just…wrong; I always feel they should be food for animals not humans
Honey – it has a very distinctive smell to me; if I could get past that I might like it. I always put a spoonful in a stir-fry sauce though, where the other ingredients drown out the smell
Bagels – I love bread so why can’t I like bagels?
Macaroni cheese – nope, just can’t eat it

Pretty much everything else (as long as it's veggie!) is fine.

[Tatihou Profile]

On a roll now, I've remembered some tripe sausage my brother made me try in France last year - it smelled like dog poo, and tasted pretty unpleasant too - not trying that again in a hurry!

Andouillette... mmmmm.



I'm lying...

Sakkarin, we need a projectile vomiting smilie...

[karadekoolaid Profile]

Sakkarin, we need a projectile vomiting smilie...

[Joanbunting Profile]

Tatihou

Another tea hater eh? I bet your French friends think you are odd.

M loves andouilettes though he is not all that keen on tripe - I am not so keen, prefer my tripe long cooked!

The only cheese I can't stomach is that Norwegian one that looks like brown Kendal mint cake.

Mrs Vee. Macaroni cheese (and pizza) are officially counted as vegetables in the USA (well the school meals "service" in Virginia anyway!)

Re honey - the smell really depends on the flowers the bees "use" I think Tatihou keeps her own bees, so she may explain more. The mildest honey I get here is accacia. I used to love heather honey and i use a lot of lavender now - but that can be an acquired taste I know.

I was reunited with okra on our travels and really enjoyed it, especially bettered and deep fried or stewed with tomatoes.

[MagicMarmite Profile]

I'm trying okra for the first time tonight!

I won't eat celery, jam or rice pudding, anything else I can manage, even if I'm not hugely fond of it.

[Stokey Sue Profile]

Sue, perhaps tarragon is like coriander - some people think it tastes foul because of some chemical in their mouths (iIrc)... actually, no, if this website is to be believed, it may be genetic:
http://theobligatescientist.blogspot.fr/2009/03/why-some-love-or-hate-coriander.html

Perhaps the same is true of tarragon only it's a rarer "condition". Do you dislike anise as a flavouring generally?

Now I don't think tarragon tastes of anise at all. I love anise - preferring star anise (badiane) to true anise. Mine's a Ricard please! I also don't understand why people think fenneal tastes of anise - fennel and true anise ARE (botanically) related, but not very similar to me, though I can see an affinity between the flavours

I'm not allergic to tarragon - I suspect I am just very (over) sensitive to estragole, the distinctive aromatic compound in tarragon, which is mildly toxic, and perhaps more so to me than other people - funnily enough I am fine with the other members of the artemisia family (absinthe, wormwood) so estragole, unique to tarragon, stands out as the likely candidate

I am not keen on tea or tripe - perhaps I just don't get on with the letter T.

[jeral Profile]

I love lady's fingers (okra), esp in Indian spices. Tricolour rice fascinated me, still does. It looks so pretty. Soggy rice on the other hand, no thanks.

Coffee, and slushy porridge, made with milk - no thanks.

[BornVeggie Profile]

Hi all,

Apart from the obvious, there aren't many things I won't/can't eat.

I went out for a drink with a chap last night who had a long list of things he wouldn't eat from tomatoes to mushrooms to brown bread - I can't do with fussy eaters, so won't be seeing him again!

No tomatoes? really?

[Mrs Vee Profile]

Mrs Vee. Macaroni cheese (and pizza) are officially counted as vegetables in the USA (well the school meals "service" in Virginia anyway!)

Good grief - I know vegetables come in all shapes and sizes, but how on earth are Macaroni Cheese and Pizza classed as a vegetable?

[Joanbunting Profile]

I nearly forgot about my loathing of things milky - porridge, milky drinks and yogurt. I like cream in moderation, love cheese and oddly, milk puddings and custard. Ooh could just fancy rice pudding tonight.

[DotCom Profile]

The only foods that I refuse to eat are :

rabbit - because before it is chopped into joints it resembles (IMVHO) something else, which I don't think I'll mention

crab - don't like the flavour, lobster - don't like the texture,

milk straight from the bottle, I'm ok with it as an added ingredient though.

poached eggs - when I was a child dad would make us poached eggs on toast for 'tea' on the evening my mum worked late, the eggs were stringy and the toast wet and slimy from the wet eggs YUCK ! !

I'm ok with liver + kidneys, I'm not overly fond of sweetbreads but would eat if put in front of me, but I don't think I'd bother with heart/lungs etc (although I LOVE haggis) and certainly would not touch brains.

Veg wise I'm ok with most and unlike the poster above I adore sprouts and could quite happily eat them with every meal, not sure others around me would appreciate it though