I'm not a foodie, so for me a meal is just a meal, not a religious experience. I don't need to sample wonderous delicacies. And apparently I'm not alone. Everyone does have that line were food just goes a little too far. Like, why would anyone eat a chicken gizzard? This is a thing? I have no words. Thankfully others do.
Death Greens
jim carrey asparagus GIFGiphyAsparagus. It tastes good but my dad choked on it when i was a kid and it was so scary that i've never eaten it since then.
A Hard Chew
I absolutely hate chewing on tendon... whether it be from beef, or chicken.. God dammit, anything with meat and a rubbery chewy feeling just makes me gag. The sensation is god awful for me, and is the best I can explain.
I also dislike papaya because the smell is off putting. The smell coming from that specific fruit triggers memories when I was a kid and tried it and gagged from it. I can handle other fragrant fruits, but papaya - no.
The Bone
I can't eat bone-in meats because of tendons. Not only do you have that feeling of it in-between your teeth, but scraping the bone has a really cringy feeling similar to scratching a chalkboard.
I'm the weirdo that will get every bit that I can off the bone, but only at home. I know to refrain when in public. But it hurts my soul. I knew my husband was my person when he offered me the chicken wing bones on his plate lol.
Soy you Say...
Soy anything, I am deathly allergic to it and they put that crap in everything in America. It's the wax we shine our fruit with, the oils we make everything with from soup to coffee creamers. They inject the isolated protein, my allergen, into random meats and products. Forget soy.
Scrub a dub spice...
I've got that thing where cilantro tastes like soap, so there's that.
I always figured cilantro was some regional American spice but I've only just learned it's coriander lol.
Some spices, sauces and meats are meant to be left OUT of a recipe. Food is really a "to each their own" type of situation. The people who spoke up enjoy embracing "their own." I remember the one time I tried goose liver pâté... the nightmares still reverberate. The next group of people clearly have some edible PTSD.
gross gag GIF by Anime Crimes DivisionAn Ill Slaw
Sauerkraut, I am from south Germany and a total disgrace to my culture and family for this but man forget that dish.
Finally! I'm not alone!
There's plenty of foods that I don't really care for, but there's only one that I literally can't eat without getting physically ill (hell, I have to leave the room if someone is eating that crap).
Seafood Roulette
Oysters, clams, etc. The texture, smell, flavor. A massive no from me.
Eating raw oysters from the Gulf of Mexico is like Russian roulette with better odds. It is not often considering how much get eaten, but every year a few people get viral meningitis from eating them raw.
Bad Oils...
Truffle, it's definitely a love it or hate it kind of thing but it just tastes like feet to me.
The first time I tried truffle was in a macaroni and ammonia was all I could taste or smell
I decided to try it again now that I knew what to expect and I found it MUCH tamer the second go aroun
I tried it again and now I love it, well, at least how a little truffle oil tastes in an extremely cheesy macaroni. I even made my own at home one day with black truffle oil and it was awesome. I then used a small amount on my plate to dip my pizza in and that was also really good. I mainly dipped my crust into it.
With a nice Chianti
hannibal and clarice GIFGiphyLiver.
Whenever my mom makes something with liver I can smell it throughout the entire house, it's so disgusting. It's a weird kinda sweet smell/taste that just reminds me of decay.
Bodies process food differently. Things aren't going to taste the same for everyone. So good luck in life tastings. There are two truths with menus we all must accept... eating is always a game of roulette and pineapple IS good on pizza. The End.
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For instance, Steven Spielberg's Jaws terrified audiences when it was released in theaters in 1975 and it kept people from going to the beach.
What many people don't realize is that humans are not naturally shark-food as they typically avoid food sources that are competitive in size.
And when you think about it, aren't people are the most dangerous species of all?
Curious to hear what strangers thought, Redditor BreachyJoe asked:
"What is something that doesn't deserve its bad reputation?"
"Dangerous" Animals
Most species in the animal kingdom will leave you alone if unprovoked.
Silent Predator
"sharks."
"No kidding. The oceans would be a mess without them. They kill less people per year than mosquitoes, deer and PEOPLE. They're intelligent but so different from us that the bad rep was practically unavoidable sadly"
Nothing To Hiss At
"Black cats."
"THIS ONE. I was absolutely floored this past October when I read somewhere that some animal shelters will not allow anyone to adopt black cats for fear that people will abuse them and/or sacrifice them ritualistically because we All Know that black cats bring BAD LUCK. LOOK. We own a black cat and he's Just A Cat. About the worst thing he does is drag his ass across the carpet because he has a sticky piece of sh*t sticking to his fur!!! 🙄"
Creatures Of The Night
"Bats. Some of the best insect control/pollination help out there (depending on species). Plus they can give you good fertilizer. 'But they carry rabies.....' you know what else can carry rabies? Raccoons, rabbits, foxes, dogs, opossums....pretty much mammals. 'But they can carry cross species diseases....' So do pigs, chicken, primates, and now with [the virus] dogs & cats. I mean don't go hug them- but they are very useful & unfortunately on the way out."
They Make For Good Pets
"Snakes. Majority of them are harmless. I understand if you live in an area with deadly snakes. But snakes are always represented as pure evil and villainous when most are just typical reptiles going about their little snake lives. They don't want to bother you, they just want to survive the next day and reproduce."
At Subways Near You
"Rats."
"They make great pets. Very smart and quite easy to train, very loving and loyal, inquisitive, and always up for playing with you."
"Rats are actually very clean animals, groom themselves a lot and don't like being filthy."
Eight-Legged "Freaks"
"Spiders. They just chill in their webs and eat annoying bugs that nobody wants around. They are scary looking but mostly harmless if you leave them alone. Those giant ones need to stay out of my house though."
– Lanky240
People
People can easily be persuaded by the opinions of others, especially on the internet.
Misunderstood?
"Guy Fieri. What the heck did he ever do to anyone?"
"Dude is a bro! He's raised millions of dollars for grants to restaurant workers who have been hammered by [the virus] closures. He does tons of charity work for food security, and even performed marriage ceremonies for 101 gay couples in honor of his sister when that was still super controversial. His signature style may be Backstreet Boy-reject, but it also makes him instantly recognizable and helps in bringing attention to good causes."
Requires Discipline And Hard Work
"Fast food workers. I don't get the 'anyone can do it' argument. Through my time as a manager I've turned down applicants for not being up to our standard and watched all age groups quit because the job isn't as easy as they expected. It's a fast paced work environment with lots of memorization due to food safety standards. I've worked production, construction, warehouse, and others but working in fast food isn't easier than the others, just different."
Honest Living
"Garbage truck man, why does all people look them bad, they just want to live and take our trash away, like seriously."
"Work super early in the morning, no matter the weather, and handle the grossest sh*t in society. They deserve good money."
– 05110909
Productive At Night
"Being a night person and sleeping late"
"Believe me we work better at night and we can be twice as productive."
"As someone who likes to build a lot in minecraft and writing the night is my best hour of creativity In the end, I also do all my tasks between midnight and 2 AM, the rest is to watch Netflix, YouTube, and Reditt."
The Rocker
"Joan Jett."
"Yeah, but she don't give a damn about her bad reputation."
joan jett youre living in the past its a new generation GIFGiphyHealth
Some of the things we put in our bodies are stigmatized for various reasons.
But these people believe the following should not be blackballed.
Let It Flow
"Tap water. People have been manipulated by bottled water companies to believe that drinking tap water is somehow bad for you. Water quality standards for tap water in most 1st world countries is extremely high."
It's In Everything
"Monosodium glutamate (MSG). It's just the sodium salt of glutamic acid, and it naturally occurs in many foods. There is literally nothing wrong with it if used in appropriate proportions, same as regular salt. But sadly it was demonized as part of the whole racist 'Chinese restaurant syndrome' that convinced people Chinese food was out to kill us all. The myth prevails to this day."
Eat Your Veggies
"i know i'm late but, fkn veggies bro. when your little its such a stereotype that toddler wont like broccoli but i love em and i have since i was a little kid."
– ajs3136
Culture Cuisine
"Taco Bell does not give everyone diarrhea."
"Honestly, my theory is that is not Taco Bell specifically, but that some people have the notion that Mexican Food gives you diarrhea. If you think about the people who say Taco Bell gives you diarrhea, it's largely the same people who think any ethnic food gives you diarrhea, black pepper is spicy, and that Taco Bell is Mexican food. They say the same thing about Indian food, for instance. South Park even had an episode where a running joke was that blood in your underwear was a natural result of eating Chipotle. So I think it's less about Taco Bell specifically than it is about people who think Taco Bell is Mexican food, and that any kind of "ethnic" food gives you the sh*ts."
– livious1
Chemical Reaction
"Chemicals. 'Chemical-free' is marketing crap. Everything is a chemical."
"Bacteria automatically gets a bad rap. But most are harmless and some are even beneficial to us. There's both good bacteria and bad bacteria."
Not The Singer
"Meatloaf is awesome."
"A friend of mine at work is Hispanic. He told me the story of growing up, they never had meatloaf. He said the only thing he knew of it was television shows where kids would say things like 'Aww, meatloaf again?' so he assumed it was terrible."
"Then one day, he had the opportunity to try it. He loved it!"
"This came up because the company we work for was giving out free lunches last year for those of use who had to work through the early part of the quarantine. One day, they had meatloaf. We both got the meatloaf and then he told me about growing up and thinking it tasted bad."
"This is one of my favorite stories."
– will477
At the end of the day, a good or bad reputation should be about a personal experience and not generalized off of someone else's opinion.
Unless of course you're a consumer reading Yelp reviews and looking for the best products and services available.
But unless you had a limb swallowed by a shark, or gotten food poisoning from eating at Taco Bell, don't go hating on them.
I certainly do not love cooking, but I appreciate the sense of accomplishment the task gives me.
I tend to enjoy the fruits of my labor when they are of the baked good variety. After all, isn't a slice of coffee cake with a gooey, cinnamon-glazed center a reason to get up in the morning? I'll speak for myself. It absolutely is.
However, motivation is my biggest obstacle when it comes to food prep.
Curious to hear about preferred menu options from strangers on the internet, Redditor CodFishGaming asked:
"What is your go-to 'I don't want to cook, but I have to cook.' meal?"
No Prep Time
Some people do not consider this "cooking" per se, but you can't argue over the convenience of adding hot water or nuking your meals.
Instant Convenience
"Instant Ramen."
"When I want to get fancy, I crack an egg in it."
Usually it is a frozen Stouffers Lasagna."
It's Not A Kitchen Without These
"Microwaves are on some next level sh*t. Like these things have been around for decades and they seem like they're from the future. How the f'k you expect me to believe this box on my counter cooks things hotter and faster than a big f'kin metal block that takes up a whole section of counter with the sole purpose of being hot??"
Who Doesn't Love Pasta?
You can have a hearty Italian dish with some basic ingredients every kitchen should have – like pasta and a jar of Prego.
These Redditors even found that making their own sauce was not that difficult. Plus, they could store the leftovers.
Pasta Mania
"Pasta, a little butter, garlic and some seasonings."
– AdOk9471
"I make a gallon or so of tomato sauce when I do feel motivated and freeze it, so all I have to do is boil water and microwave a measured serving of sauce for 1 plate."
"Even making the sauce is hardly any work. Throw sh*t in a pot, simmer for 2 hours. Put into tupperware."
Delicious Italian In Minutes
"Toss chunks of onion, peppers, and cherry tomatos, a can of chickpeas and fresh gnocchi in olive oil and whatever spices you want. Then roast them in the oven. Gnocchi get slightly crisped on the sides and roasted veggies are always delicious."
"Takes about 5 minutes (or less really) to prep and maybe 30 min to cook? But very little labor involved, and it's very tasty. I try to plan to have supplies for it if I know I have busy day ahead of me."
Piling On The Carbs
"For other people? Carbonara. It's quick, minimal ingredients and impresses people who don't know anything about cooking. For myself? Microwave a hotdog for 20-30 seconds and wrap a slice of bread round it."
Recipe For Success
These may require more time than desired, but based on these Redditors' preparation descriptions, it doesn't seem like it involves that much effort to get tasty results.
Snacks That Are Meals
"Hummus and pita, boxed pasta (like Annie's white cheese shells), crackers and boursin and jalapeno jelly (sometimes I'll add a little pre-sliced turkey from the package, too). All really simple, basically snacks not meals, but they get the job done and they're so fucking easy to make. They've got it all calories, fill you up, taste pretty good, ready to eat in 11 minutes or less with minimal (if any) effort. It's amazing. I don't love them always but they're good enough (a good salad or something is miles better but who has the time or the energy or the motivation?!)."
Requires Skillet
"Ground beef with whatever frozen veggies I have, with whatever bottle of sauce/marinade I have with whatever container of spices/herbs I have. Plus a skillet."
Stew It
"Shredded chicken tacos. Just put some chicken in a crockpot with some seasoning.... 6 hours later you pull it apart and you have dinner."
Stuff The Spuds
"Loaded baked potato: Clean and slice skin of a potato, microwave for 5min on normal 2-3 time fliping in between, potato is done when soft and pliable. If you do prep beforehand this is a lot easier, cook/reheat cubed or sliced ham in a pan (Add chopped onions and garlic for flavor) In another pan (if needed) Steam broccoli."
"Place the cooked potato on a plate, slice in half and mash out and butter. spread broccoli on top of the potato, spread ham on top, spread shredded cheese on top. microwave for 1-2 min to melt the cheese. sourcream on to and enjoy!!"
"I keep packets of cubed ham ready so I can usually cook this up in 15-20 min. wash your pots and pans on the final microwave cooking and you'll just have the plate left at the end."
Rice Magic
When it comes to accompanying a main dish, rice plays nice. But sometimes, rice can be the star of the show.
Such is the versatility of this cheap staple food, as these Redditors can attest to.
Just Add Sausage
"I'll just put white rice in the electric cooker and then when the rice is done I'll drop inside the cooker with the rice these chinese sausages for like 5 minutes. When did I cut them in slices serve myself rice and I'll eat that with soy sauce and meal ready. Honestly it's so good."
Fry It Up
"Fried Rice - always make more rice than you need, because refrigerated rice is what you want for this. Garlic, ginger, whatever veggies you have and whatever sauces you have."
Make It Spicy
"Kimchi fried rice assuming I have planned ahead by making the rice the day before."
"Super easy, toss some garlic into the pan, followed by some kimchi, then rice and kimchi juice and soy sauce. I have a simple ground beef topping I make and then fry up a couple eggs and chop up seaweed snacks into strips."
"When it is leftovers all I have to do is fry up two eggs while it heats up in the microwave, then grab some of the chopped up seaweed."
Food Fight Cooking GIF by CBCGiphyMy go-to dish is scrambled eggs, regardless of time of day.
I sprinkle some salt and pepper and cut up some avocado, and I'm comfortably satisfied with a healthy meal.
If I'm feeling adventurous, I heat up some chopped onions and green pepper.
Whatever you decided to whip up, besides motivation, cooking is not that arduous once you have momentum going.
One Reddit user asked:
What's the absolute worst food you've ever eaten?
... it's pretty safe to say these people won't be coming back for seconds ... except maybe the accidental garlic butter pancake person. Savory pancakes could totally work as long as you're expecting it.
Surprise, It's Savory!
My wife would say...
Pancakes that I accidentally cooked in garlic butter. She hated them.
I liked them.
Savoury pancakes are the norm where I grew up. But we have big thin pancakes (Europe) and I'm not sure cheese, mushrooms and bacon would translate to American pancakes.
That being said, when we do have sweet pancakes it's generally just sugar and lemon juice which wierded the hell out of some friends from Hong Kong.
The Bog Of Eternal Stench
season 6 episode 22 GIF by SpongeBob SquarePantsGiphyYears ago Starbucks did a green tea latte. My Mom and I got one to try cause we like green tea.
It was toxic!
We were emitting fumes that should never come out of a human body! We were riding with the windows down in the middle of winter it was so bad!
When I got to a bathroom, when I was done, what I left behind looked like lawn mulching after being out in the rain for a week straight with a smell on par with what I imagine the bog of eternal stench smells like!
As a former Starbucks barista, I can confirm that the green tea latte is so yuck! And it's even worse when you realize that it's doused in so much sugar and STILL tastes like wet grass.
You'd have to REALLY like matcha to like that drink. And even then, it's not even good matcha at all.
Grease Holding Hands
A brand of frozen pizza. It was just grease molecules holding hands.
Yup. The brand I'm thinking of tasted just like grease. I didn't know anything could be that bad.
Pizza is one of the best foods ever. Even when it's bad, it should still be good, or at least edible. They managed to totally f*ck it up.
That pizza tastes like it's topped with failure and grease... so much grease.
Can those grease molecules hold my hand?
- qdust
Curry (?)
Am Indian. Had a curry at someone's house who was not Indian. Straight up did not use any spice but salt. Died on the inside. Ancestors physically manifested to voice disapproval.
Man - don't go to France. 'Curry' or extra-spicy 'picante/mexicaine' flavour is, at best, bland tomato with the merest hint of vinegar, and two molecules of mild chilli. I'm convinced the French are only comfortable with four flavours; buttery, very buttery, cheesey, garlicky (with cheesey and buttery undertones).
- heurrgh
How can it be called curry when it has no spices at all? Here I am laughing picturing diced chicken in basically the water it cooked in and being served as curry.
It Causes Chemical Burns?!
The infamous 삭힌 홍어. Sometimes, when the fermentation is overdone, you can actually get chemical burns in your mouth. But some folks absolutely love it, kinda like marmite.
Many years ago I was reading about non-lethal weapons and one of them was smells that would make people nauseous. And the article was saying they seem to work on most people except Koreans who culturally eat a lot of fermented food.
Not sure what it says about your culture when vomit-inducing smells are met with "mmm tasty!" Weird how flexible the human mind and body is all based on how we are raised. Although Koreans do have a high prevalence of stomach cancer so there are downsides.
- soline
Topped With What?
I attended a wedding of my cousin a few years back. They were part of this cult-like "Christian" sect. The food was not made by a catering company, instead the whole affair was organized by church members.
For dessert they had a mango icebox cake that barely had any cream and was dyed pink for some reason. It had been sitting out for hours under the sun. It was warm and smelled a little funky.
When I got closer I realized it stunk because it was topped with roasted garlic peanuts.
Since whoever made it used it as toppings, I would say either they ran out of/can't find the plain ones and used those instead; or just bought the wrong ingredient.
If I was them I would've just left it out altogether. The garlic taste and smell was overpowering.
We only ate it to be polite and because my siblings and I were daring each other to eat it. My brother managed to eat an entire slice, and yes he's fine. My sister spotted a small sliver of fried garlic in her slice.
It tasted just as bad as it sounds. I almost threw up after taking one bite.
Hot Dog Soup
Hot Dog Girl GIFGiphyHot dog soup.
My dad was in a rehab/assisted living facility. They served it to them as a meal. It was definitely just leftover hotdogs from the day before that they were trying to use up. It was hot dogs, with chunks, but also with pureed hot dogs for the base.
He had both me and my sister taste it.
We were all super grossed out.
Roasted Eye
Goat eye.
I was an "honored guest" at a Bedouin camp and the chieftain honored me by letting me have one of the eyes of a roast goat as he ate the other eye. It truly is an incredible and rare honor ... but my stomach does somersaults just remembering it...
- Malruhn
I have eaten a pig eyeball from a pig roast. You just leave them in when you roast a whole animal so they're fully cooked, they're tougher than bad calamari on the outside and as soft as cream on the inside.
They don't taste terrible, they have the moisture content of 2 deep fried breaded mushrooms, and that fluid stays just as hot as it does in a breaded mushroom.
It didn't taste bad, it tasted like pork - the texture is something that's hard to get past.
As the guest of honour at a dinner in Hong Kong, I was served up both the 2" eyes of a very large, cooked, cod type fish with about 50 people watching me eat them.
Horrible, fishy, gelatinous balls of foulness!
The Dip Oil Incident
A piece of what would otherwise have been a tasty bit of beef, dipped in way too much numbing oil (think anbesol).
Okay, so. I went to my friend's family's house for Christmas a few years back. They are Chinese, I am not, and they were having hot pot.
My friend was really worried that I wouldn't like it, but I was super excited and was decently sure I'd love it.
Before we sat down to eat, he helped me make a dipping sauce. It was mostly sesame oil, with some soy sauce and a few other things. We mixed them, we sat down, and got ready to eat.
There were a bunch of different meats, and my friend also pointed out the spicy side and the non-spicy side of the hotpot. I decided to start with the beef, as it was most familiar, and the non-spicy broth.
Took a piece, put it in the hot pot, waited until it cooked. Dipped it in my oil dip, and ate it.
Immediately I knew something was wrong. I couldn't feel my mouth.
I was sure I was having an allergic reaction, despite never having had a food allergy to anything before. I started internally freaking out, and basically trying to figure out how I could get away without making a big scene, because it was a lot of people that I did not know and this was also a friend that I had only recently gotten close to.
Also, it's just gross.
Eating meat when you can't taste it or feel your mouth is awful, especially when you aren't expecting it, and think you're probably dying. I also think that the numbing oil has a quite bitter taste (or maybe that's what your taste buds shutting off tastes like?)
After maybe a minute, which felt like an hour, my friend turned to me and mentioned that there must be a lot of numbing oil in the spicy side of the hotpot.
Oh my gosh. Relief. I'm not dying.
His cousin then pointed out that she saw us putting numbing oil (Sichuan peppercorn oil - which is apparently a Chinese culinary thing, though it's supposed to be used sparingly) in our dipping oil rather than the sesame oil.
My friend mixed up the bottles and the cousin didn't tell us because my friend is kind of weird and cousin assumed we just liked it that way.
I had essentially coated a piece of beef in a mixture that was like 90% numbing oil.
Clean Your Pans
Last year I was on my high school's robotics team, and they were hosting a potluck type thing and one of the desserts was a big donut cake. So I think "dang, that looks delicious! I wonder why it's almost entirely untouched?" and I take a bite. What do I taste?
It tastes like onions.
Not kidding.
The person who baked it must've used the same pan they made some savory dish in and never cleaned it. Honestly just the shock of it all pushed it to the top of my disgusting foods list alone. I felt super rude but I ended up just throwing it in a garbage can.
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