Agreed. Corn should never be eaten out of a can, or mixed with food of any kind. It can be eaten occasionally straight from the cob, but that's it.

Salsa or other foods should never contain cilantro. I am not a picky eater but cilantro will never come within a mile of my kitchen.

Ricotta cheese is disgusting on pizza. Off pizza, OK. And all cheeses are awesome except for processed singles and goat cheese.

food cannot touch eachother
no gravy, ever.

There is one exception in my personal casuistry: Processed American cheese food slices (they do last forever in the fridge! ) are both allowed and encouraged on my fresh-from-the-grill homemade hamburgers. However, the cheese-food slice must be applied immediately before eating (NEVER put on the burger on the grill and melted) so that there is a pleasant temperature contrast between the cold cheese and the hot burger.

I'm fickle with meat...Steaks must be medium-rare, except for Prime Rib, which needs to be extra-rare. However, chicken, turkey and pork must be cooked to hell. Last summer I had a cookout and did chicken for about 20 people. I brought everyone else's chicken in, they finished eating before I took mine off the grill). While most fish must also be overcooked (except for tuna), I adore sushi.

I like mustard, I like ketchup (Heinz only, although Hunt's is palatable)...But I hate mustard and ketchup together.

No mushrooms. Why do people assume that everyone loves mushrooms? One time on UA (NRT-HKG, in business), all three entrees were very saturated in mushrooms.

No beets.

No oysters--cooked or raw. (I love every other shellfish even mussels and clams).

I cannot get enough of avocados...If someone found a way to eat them like an apple, let me know.

I'm the opposite of a lot of people. I love raw onions--on burgers, salads, sandwiches, etc. But I don't care for them cooked.

I don't do any organ meat, except for my dad's homemade chicken liver pate...It's to die for.

Iced tea should not have a pre-added syrup to make it sweet. Barf!

If I'm in a restaurant, and lamb is on the menu, there's a 90% chance that's what I'm ordering. My wife doesn't like it, but I always keep a Trader Joe's rack in the freezer, and when she's traveling, like she is this week, I'll pop that in the oven (winter time) or on the grill (any other time of the year).

Beets must be pickled, popcorn DIPPED in ketchup, never spred on top of popcorn, green pepper jelly with cream cheese, wheat crackers, no white bread, ice in beer if it's a really hot day, Miracle Whip only, no mayo, spicy mustard, no packaged lunch meats or red hot dogs, no organ meats.

Or in my case, directly opposite me.

Food should not touch, unless I specificially combine them. Each item should be eaten as a single unit. No going from the veggies to the steak and then back. If items do touch, they should be eaten quickly so that they can be forgotten.

Black pepper is good. Freshly crushed is better. Coarse fresh is best.

No tomatoes if I can tell what they are. That means no raw and no grilled. Only if sundried or turned into a salsa/sauce/paste.

No bananas. I will pick them up at the store, but I will not touch them after that. I will eat banana bread that I make, but my wife has to handle the mashing. The smell of a banana will make me gag.

Cook it in cast iron, and it will just taste better.

When facing a buffet or buffet like event (i.e. Thanksgiving), plates should never be more than half full in a single trip. Get your fat butt back up if you want more.

Water is best, followed by fresh lemonade, followed by a cane sugar soda. Kool-aid is fine, but only if being consumed by the half gallon.

Make your own mayo. Whipped lard is no substitute. Use that real mayo on every sandwich, but only the thinnest possible layer to seal the bread.

Blueberries are God's fruit. Waffles are his bread.

Eating of multi-bute fresh fruit (apples/pears/peaches/etc) should be done in private. I don't want to hear it. If I see a speck of juice come anywhere near me, you will never be forgiven.

I don't know, but as noted up-thread, mushrooms are thoroughly non-food to me and one which will contaminate other foods into being non-food.

Doesn't that depend on how you eat apples? My wife eats avocados (which I can't stand) the exact way I eat apples - cut them into wedges, cut out the core (or pop out the pit, in the case of avocados), and then eat the wedges.

I can't remember if she eats the skin, though, which on apples is by far a necessary part.

Chocolate chip or other cookie dough eaten as if it were a food.

No.

Please bake the dough into cookies, making sure that there is appropriately high edge-to-center ratio.

It was anecdotal comment meaning I'd eat avocados like a hand fruit if I could--I enjoy them that much. But since there's an inedible skin and they're so messy once peeled, yes, you're reserved to cutting them up...Tougher to do when driving down the road. But they are always better with a splash of lemon and salt, so I guess the wedges are just fine. ^

Many people in my life don't eat them either...My wife, my brother, my brother's wife, most of my friends. Although those that do like them tend to REALLY like them. It's funny, but the post upthread about them being the same thing that grows on your feet is almost my exact line about 'shrooms when asked..."No, no mushrooms for me...I don't eat things that may also grow on my feet or causes jock itch".

Around where I live, a common breakfast is to spread avocado on toast and then sprinkle sugar on it.

This is wrong on so many counts.

In my case, I blame my dad. I can't explain most of my picky-ness (and indeed, even some of the stuff where I have a "reason" now, like shellfish, is retroactive) but in the case of mushrooms I distinctly remember that sometime around when I was starting school at 5 or 6, my dad explained what caused my athlete's foot and I have NOT eaten one (and prefer to avoid touching them) since.

1. Ketchup should never be on french fries, ever. Always with mayonnaise.
2. No fish, ever, except salmon and/or tuna. Even then, I'll only eat salmon that's been soaked in milk before cooking.
3. Nothing that ever performed a function other than being a muscle on an animal is to ever be eaten. That includes all organs.
4. I prefer prosciutto with my eggs, almost never bacon.
5. An omelette is always to be consumed with butter and balsamic vinagrette. Always. And it shall NEVER be filled with anything other than cheese. And it shall never be salted.
6. Salt is not a flavor. It is only to be used when it will enhance the flavor of the dish.
7. Toppings do not a pizza make. Cheese, tomato and basil. That's as far as I'll go.
8. Steak is always to be served with red wine jus. Never with A1, B2, C3 or any other letter-number combo steak sauce. Ever.
9. Eggs, when fried, are to have a soft yolk but are to be flipped before service.
10. Basil is a welcome addition to almost everything with tomatoes and eggs.
11. I shall never bake. Baked goods are to be bought, always.
12. I love mushrooms. They're welcome on almost every dish, breakfast (with eggs-but not IN an omelette, EVER), lunch or dinner.

I have more, but I can't think of them.

Under no circumstances must ice be ever put in a glass of beer. Infact, unless the beer is being pulled from a tap, it must be consumed straight from the bottle/can thus eliminating any scope of adding ice to it.

If its a really hot day, put beer in ice... whack it in an esky full of ice.. but ice in beer... blasphemous

Okay, I lied. I just thought of more.

13. Hot sauce is NOT a flavor. If it's spicy, I refuse to touch it unless it's covered up in some form of dairy. The only spicy food I'm willing to touch is kimchi, but only when stir-fried in butter and when served with tofu.
14. The recipe may be law, but they're still my groceries. As the cook, I reserve the right to include/exclude/modify the proportions of/substitute/improvise ingredients in any way I see fit.
15. Cilantro shall never be allowed anywhere near my kitchen.
16. As the cook, I also reserve the right to taste as much of the food I'm cooking as I want. I exercise this right prudently.
17. Tuna salad must always have more ingredients than tuna and mayo. Lemon or other citrus fruit juice is a must. Leek, pineapple, and others is always welcome.
18. Avocado must be served with lemon juice, lime juice or other citrus fruit juice.
19. Food that renders me unable to taste its accompaniments is always to be excluded.
20. Lemon juice, lime juice, or other tropical fruit juice is always a welcome addition to almost every dish.

Yesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyes! It is the Devil's weed! Why someone wants to add soap flavor to food is beeyond me!

And no anchovies, please.