Food dislikes-as guest, but will politely eat

[Biciclista]

I warned my sons to watch how their girlfriends ate after each of them brought dates home who wouldn't eat right. One girlfriend came to my house for dinner and then ate nothing. (and then later, after she left my house she ate a box of cookies!). Another girl wouldn't eat good food because it was fattening. My son actually lived with her and her mother (who was the same way) for a while, and poor kid was starving. After all, it has been proven that pickiness is hereditary. Picky eaters bear picky eating children.

Taking mother's warnings to heart, both of my sons henceforth have brought home young women who like food. It's not a perfect system, for example, my new daughter in law is obsessed with bacon, but she'll try every veggie I serve and got excited when I bought some goat meat.
Everyone is entitled to a few dislikes (I don't like asparagus, thanks to a traumatic childhood experience with CANNED asparagus) and if someone tells me he's vegan and he's coming for dinner; I will make sure that at least rice or beans is on the table (in addition to lovely veggie dishes).
Reading this thread is mind blowing!

[Jolt]

Just thought of a few more things I don't like: mustard, ketchup, and fake cheese sauces (Cheez Whiz and the like--yuck!).

[shootingstar]

I warned my sons to watch how their girlfriends ate after each of them brought dates home who wouldn't eat right. One girlfriend came to my house for dinner and then ate nothing. (and then later, after she left my house she ate a box of cookies!). Another girl wouldn't eat good food because it was fattening. My son actually lived with her and her mother (who was the same way) for a while, and poor kid was starving. After all, it has been proven that pickiness is hereditary. Picky eaters bear picky eating children.

Taking mother's warnings to heart, both of my sons henceforth have brought home young women who like food. It's not a perfect system, for example, my new daughter in law is obsessed with bacon, but she'll try every veggie I serve and got excited when I bought some goat meat.
Everyone is entitled to a few dislikes (I don't like asparagus, thanks to a traumatic childhood experience with CANNED asparagus) and if someone tells me he's vegan and he's coming for dinner; I will make sure that at least rice or beans is on the table (in addition to lovely veggie dishes).
Reading this thread is mind blowing!

Generally speaking the spouses of siblings are pretty flexible. They each may have 2-3 types of foods they prefer not to have --like dearie who doesn't eat shrimp nor squid (triglycerides need control) and different levels of hot spicy tolerance, but overall potluck special occasion meals are opportunities for family members to cook and try dishes they normally don't have regularily.

Though there is junk food consumed at family events, they are food dishes that within our own extended family, people don't eat regularily. There is real appreciation and effort to prepare dishes that aren't overly rich/fattening nor too sugary. So no real need to "educate" an adult family member to be more health conscious or at least, semi-health conscious.


Jolt: I keep ketchup just for hamburger or hot dog..which i seem to have only 1-2 times annually. Seeing ketchup with scrambled eggs/omelet..on other plates just amazes me. Why cover up a lovely egg dish with that sugary stuff?

[Starfish]

Please don't feed me kidney pie, or put kidneys in the stew.

[GLC1968]

Reading this thread is mind blowing!

No kidding!

I have lots (and lots) of food do's and don'ts that I follow when I am free to make my own choices, but as a guest, I keep my mouth shut unless specifically asked.

[nscrbug]

Oh boy...I have a laundry list of "dislikes", but I'll try and keep it short & simple. My aversion to many of the foods on my list, stems from a "texture" thing. If I don't like the texture of it in my mouth, I simply won't eat it. Yeah, I'm a very picky eater. I blame my (morbidly obese) mom for a lot of it, as she wasn't a very good role model when it came to healthy eating habits. She NEVER ate veggies/fruits, so therefore never pushed me to eat them. I actually didn't taste my first banana until I was 25!!! I'm sure her horrid eating habits contributed to her early demise.

Absolutely will NOT touch:

Fish of ANY kind (can't stomach the smell of it)
Alcohol of ANY kind (I gag from the smell of it)
organ meats (nuff said)
lamb/veal (don't like the smell of it)
asparagus (slimey...ewwww!)
peas (bad childhood experience!)
citrus fruits (stringy texture)
mushrooms (slimey and gross...yuck!)
vinegar and vinegar-based sauces/dressings
brussel sprouts (blech!)
store-bought cream pies (ewwwww...yuck)
Corned beef (shudder)
sauerkraut (double shudder)
hotdogs (mystery meat)

Will "politely" eat/try, but would rather not:

Anything with mayo or Miracle Whip
honeydew or cantaloupe (not thrilled about the smooth texture)
dishes prepared with LOTS of onions and/or tomatoes (I'll pick 'em out)
deep-fried or overly greasy foods (wrecks havoc on my tummy)
white or refined breads (I'm a whole-grains gal)

[shootingstar]

nscrbug:

vinegar and vinegar-based sauces/dressings

If you don't have the above, how do you have your salads flavoured? What type of dressing if you barely can even stand anything mayonnaise-like?


Not to make this whole thread overly negative, I will say I have acquired and now enjoy the following after broadening beyond Chinese home cooking:

Vinegar, vinegar-based sauces /dressings. That includes vinegared sushi rice- acquired taste and began to like it from mid 20's onward.

Sushi & sashimi- from late 20's onward

Strong mustards (not just French's), all types of olives- mid 20's onward

Anise- from early 30's onward. I used to dislike it because it reminded me of Old World fustiness. But being part of dearie's family and exposed to his mother's great baking, changed that.

I've always enjoyed sauerkraut. Come one, I grew up in a predominantly German-Mennonite area. Oktoberfest in our area, is the biggest version in North America outside of Germany.

I listed my preferences not to have, if given a choice alot earlier in my thread. But for sheer survival, I WILL eat the stuff if there's not much choice in the area. This is why I do believe developing a broad palate...so it's not a hassle travelling internationally nor ...across ethnic neighbourhoods.

So I will eat deep fried fish....because no other choice. Like I did several times when cycling in rural Maritime Canadian provinces. To feel abit better about it stomach-wise, I told myself: I cycled 80-100kms. that day too. It helped..

[nscrbug]

nscrbug:

If you don't have the above, how do you have your salads flavoured? What type of dressing if you barely can even stand anything mayonnaise-like?

I can tolerate a ranch or honey-mustard flavored dressing (on the side)...but that's about it. I definitely don't like the oil & vinegar varieties.

[OakLeaf]

nscrbug:

If you don't have the above, how do you have your salads flavoured?

I'm surprised that you'd be the one to ask that question Shootingstar, because vegetables, including salad vegetables, actually taste good.

Two of the things I'm allergic to are yeast and corn, and that means that when I'm being strict about my diet (rare these days), I can't trust any salad dressing I don't make myself (vinegar, corn oil, corn sugar).

Eating salads with no dressing for 3-4 months when I was first diagnosed and learning to manage my food allergies, really taught me to appreciate the flavors of foods. Most of the time now I do indulge in salad dressing, but a teaspoonful is more than enough for a large salad bowl. As an acquaintance of my father's once said, "Dressing is to flavor the vegetables, not to water them."

[Eden]

Seems like a lot of people maybe are not suffering from actual dislike of so many foods, but from exposure to bad cooking.....

I'll never write something off the first, second, probably even third time I've had it. You can get foods prepared poorly and *think* you don't like them.

I had octopus quite a few times and thought it was not too good before I found that if it is prepared correctly it is wonderful. I'm not crazy about a lot of cooked fish dishes, but I loooooove sushi. I used to think a lot of vegetables were nasty - probably because I'd never had them from any source that wasn't a can - Yeah, canned (or jarred) asparagus is awful, but fresh asparagus is yummy with a capitol Y. I don't care to use many veggies that are not fresh - okra, artichoke hearts and corn work frozen, but I don't care to buy other veggies frozen.

There are definitely things I don't eat regularly for health reasons, some things I avoid for ethical/philosophical ones, but I've definitely learned that no matter what I ever thought in the past, always try a food if offered it, especially if its prepared in a way I've never had it. I would have missed out on so many absolutely food experiences if I closed my mind and my mouth to things. I really believe that one of the things that makes people open up the most is sharing food. Food is a huge part of a culture - eating with someone and eating what they eat is sharing their culture with them! People love to talk about their food - it makes them happy!

Maybe I am unusual, but I definitely have a broad palate - I love to cook and I love to cook foods from all sorts of ethnicities. I cook a lot of Chinese, Thai, Indian, Spanish, Italian, Japanese, Middle Eastern. People often ask me which of your parents is "X" after talking about cooking food from that place??? Nope - sorry I just have a lot of cook books and access to the internet...

[Kimmyt]

I won't eat liver or kidneys. I've tried heart and tripe and I like them both, so it's not just general organ meat. I think it's because I work with both of those organs and their roles in the body and can't get over that. Or maybe it's the texture. I'm not sure I could eat tongue.

But, if I was at someone's house and they made any of those above things, I would freely admit that I had never eaten it and am somewhat afraid to, but would give it a try.

Also, this year I joined a CSA. It was a good opportunity to broaden my vegetable experiences. I told myself I wouldn't write off any vegetables I hadn't eaten or 'liked' before. I discovered that I enjoyed cauliflower, and other items I had previously thought I disliked. I can even tolerate (or enjoy!) eggplant given the correct preparation.