Food dislikes-as guest, but will politely eat

[OakLeaf]

Pork. For me that's not religious, it's just the combination of my general reluctance to eat m**t at all, my especial reluctance to eat factory-farmed m**t, and the high cognitive and emotional sophistication of swine. As I put it in another thread a while back, slaughtering something that's capable of forming a close emotional relationship with an unrelated animal - even an animal of another species including a human - just repels me. Call it hypocritical, but if someone offers me a vegetable lightly flavored with pork that I can serve myself a portion that doesn't contain any actual meat (like bean soup or boiled green beans, e.g.), I usually will still have some.

Veal and lamb. Pretty irrationally in the case of lamb I suppose, but really a gut response in both cases.

I'm allergic to a long list of foods, but not the life-threatening kind of allergy, just the kind that makes me congested, fatigued and edematous. So unless it's the peak of pollen season and/or I'm already sick - or maybe if I have a big event in the next couple of days - the only thing I completely refuse because of my allergies is ice cream. The combination of the dairy and the cold temperature just kills me. Passing on dessert isn't a big deal in any case - even if it's the only thing that's served, rather than ice cream with cake or pie as it usually is - so I don't feel I'm being rude.

Other than that, I'll have a taste of anything, to be polite (including tongue and sea cucumber, which I just can't abide the texture, and konnyaku, which is on the same list). Is sea cucumber served raw as sushi? That might be interesting - although honestly, with the exception of amaebi, I'm not a huge fan of shellfish sushi. (And yes, I relish the tempura shrimp heads! ) I haven't mustered the courage to order natto yet, although I enjoy other fermented East Asian foods like kimchi and Chinese preserved tofu. But if I were a guest and someone served me natto, you bet I'd try a small bite - as much for the adventure as for the etiquette.