cubbie

I do appreciate, as much as I am able to, the suggestions about ways that I might enjoy Brussels sprouts, but I can't help thinking, all these replies are making me feel a bit like I felt when I wrote my earlier post on the subject, i.e., I get tired of defending my dislike of them and tired of people telling me it's because I haven't been cooking them the right way. Can't at least the "foods you don't always want to admit you don't like" thread be a "you're doing it the wrong way"-free zone?

darthbimmer

There are a variety of foods I don't like and won't eat. Eggs, for example. I can't stand the taste of them. I don't know why, I just can't. And I've tried. Last time I tried I almost hurled. Same with pickles.

I have no trouble telling people I won't eat things. I'm an adult so I get to make these choices. Of course, I don't try to start a fight about it.

Step 1 is I don't choose these foods. At breakfast, for example, I'll order a dish that doesn't involve eggs. "OMG you ordered french toast, not an omelet, WTH is wrong with you?!?!" said no-one ever.

Step 2 is if a dish I want contains an item or two I don't want, I ask for a substitution or to leave it out. No-one, since childhood, has argued with me about not wanting pickles on my hamburger.

Step 3 is if someone does challenge me, I make my explanation brief. "I just don't like eggs." I can't remember the last time, since childhood, I had to say that more than twice to end a pointless conversation.

Interestingly, DW has a different experience with her food dislikes. Some of hers stem from digestive intolerance/allergies; others are simply things she doesn't like the taste of. The difference is when she tells people, "I don't eat X," she frequently gets an earful of disbelief. Perhaps that's because some of her "X" foods are things people assume everybody loves, like chocolate and bacon. Or perhaps it's because she's a woman and people feel her dietary choices are fair game for public debate, in a way that a man's choices are not. I don't know. The sad net result is that her ordering food all too often turns into an adversarial encounter.

cubbie

Interesting comments about your and your DW's different experiences. I am tempted to wonder to what extent it's a male/female thing, or, somewhat or completely independently, if I just seem to people like someone who's easy to boss around. But that doesn't explain getting such pushback from total strangers.

Remember when George HW Bush finally put his foot down about broccoli? He basically said, I didn't like it when I was a kid and my mother made me eat it, and now I'm President of the United States, and I don't have to eat broccoli if I don't want to!" This from a very mild-mannered man. The Broccoli Board didn't like it, but I thought, good for him!

wrp96

I hope you didn't take mine as a you're doing it the wrong way. It was rather intended as an I understand, I've managed to find a way I like them, but understand if you haven't.

teddybear99

To my knowledge, French Toast is basically bread dipped in raw egg, then placed in a pan and fried, so to me you are still eating eggs, just not straight eggs only.

Is it that you don't like the consistency of eggs when cooked or the lack of any flavor? I say that because a lot of things are made with eggs, just not a finished product by themselves. This includes cakes and other baked goods, dressings, salads, etc...

How about hard boiled eggs used in egg salad or potato salads?

JBord

That's the interesting thing with food likes and dislikes. My brother "hates" onions, except when they're so small he can't see them and doesn't know they're in something.

You can't use logic, which makes a logic-driven person like me crazy, when it comes to what people like and don't like, but it doesn't make it any less true.

bensyd

I have a friend who won't eat tomatoes unless it's in sauce form (ketchup or pasta sauce etc) and won't eat cheese unless it's melted.

cubbie

Don't worry, wrp96, I understood and appreciate your comments.

kipper

Mr. Kipper will only eat raw tomatoes in salsa.

darthbimmer

That's why I wrote that I don't like the taste of eggs, not that I am medically allergic to eggs and will die of anaphylactic shock from even trace amounts. Eggs as a minor ingredient in a dish don't taste like eggs, so things like cake, bread, and even french toast are fine with me. Boiled eggs, scrambled, fried, etc., as well as omelets, frittata, quiche, etc. are not okay.

Ironically DW is hard to boss around, much more so than the average person or me, and anyone who knows her is well aware of that. Yet strangers routinely attempt to push her around-- usually just verbally but occasionally physically as well. To explain this behavior one quickly runs out of alternatives to the hypothesis that wide swaths of society stereotype her as less deserving of respect based on superficial characteristics such as her gender and perceived ethnicity.

I literally had the Bush Broccoli Brouhaha in mind when I wrote, "I have no trouble telling people I won't eat things. I'm an adult so I get to make these choices." By literally I mean that I looked up video from 1990 to see if Bush used any particularly witty turn of phrase I could quote instead (he didn't, IMO). ABC News video from 1990: http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/video...ccoli-28278899.

Fragola

Raw broccoli but steamed is okay.
Shrimp of any type but I love shrimp chips.
Carrot cake but raw or roasted carrots are fine.
Icing of any kind.
Egg nog but I love eggs scrambled, fried, hard-boiled, deviled, etc.

Badenoch

Bacon.

stevechin

Cherries, whether bottled maraschino (like on top of a sundae) or fresh bing cherries, I can't stand the taste of them, nor do I like grenadine. My friends love cherries, they buy them all the time, sometimes they offer them to me, knowing I'll politely decline. Absolutely disgusting to me.

AlexanderRae

Same actually,I hate tofu and vegan/vegetarian meat alternatives.
I also don't like to say I'm a vegetarian most of the time because I have to explain why I'm a vegetarian over and over again.

CMK10

Oysters. Everyone in my life especially the fancy people seem to love them. There are some great restaurants in Raleigh with raw bars too that focus on oysters. I personally think they taste like salt water and snot but try telling them that.