What is the most disgusting food in the world?

[realitytest]

Can't find my list of cool thread ideas, so I'll have to stoop to a lowly one which still fascinates me:  People's taste in food. 

Some foods are so revolting (to me) I have difficulty believing they are actually consumed.  Have you EVER stood behind someone at the check out, who was purchasing brussel sprouts? Perhaps it's all a lobbyist plot.  The foods,  once popular, are held on the market through subsidies and advertising, but never actually eaten!

OK, what foods do you personally find disgusting?

I shall start with beets.  Beets look pretty.  Every once in a while I order them somewhere thinking I must have misremembered - that they are as tasty as they are pretty.  WRONGO! Ptui!  Worse than ever.

Next: succotash.  Suffice it to say that "succotash" is used as a swear word in our house, killing two birds with one stone.  It reminds us never to set it on our plates and gives us a word to help retrain our potty mouths.

Isn't working.  Oh, succotash!     Your turn...

realitytest

[chickering9]

Hominy=disgusting.    I agree that beets are way less good than they look and hardly better than turnips.  Pumpkin ice-cream is barfable.  Most gourd-like pumkin cousins like summer squash and acorn squash aren't good no matter how you fix them.  Eggplant can only be saved by spices that cost more per weight unit than gold.  Iceberg lettuce is one of the most indigestible foods humans regularly consume.  I won't touch it. Blackberries or any berries with those little rocklike seeds throughout are disgusting, but by far the worst fruit is the persimmon.  Crab is hardly worth the work to eat it and the process should probably be restricted to the privacy of one's home.  I won't eat anything I wouldn't want to look at when it was alive and certainly wouldn't want to eat anything that must be cooked live, so I will never, ever touch lobster.  I've had sushi at one of the world's finest restaurants but I honestly don't see the appeal.
 
But I really do like brussel sprouts as a side to a NY strip, lightly buttered and salted.  They're very high in antioxidants that help prevent cancer and aging to some extent.  Maybe part of their appeal is simply knowing I'm doing myself good by eating them.  That's what got me started on them, broccoli, asparagus and a whole variety of things my family never served.  My mother has actually said, "Oooh, ugh" when I've set the table at my house and served broccoli soup to start.  (In spite of the fact my favorite bumper sticker is:  "Eat well, keep fit--die anyway".)

[athykay]

Fish ovaries.    When I was a youngun wandering around Euope, a friend and I were treated to lunch by a crusty old Portugese salt in Porto.  Well, it turned out he had a sadisitic side that he pleasured by presenting us with a disgusting plate of fish ovaries - two of them - each the size of a very large thumb.  He didn't tell us what they were.  When I tried to politely decline, he rapaciously cut one in half, stuck a half on a fork and in front of my nose.  I had no choice but to chomp down, and as the sewerish flavor burst in my mouth,  I did everything I could to stop myself from barfing on the spot.  I can say unequivocally it was the most horrible thing I've ever tasted in my life.

[chozart]

I just really don't like celery
I didn't remember having it until I came to the States, when I saw people at school eating it. I nearly puked. Same thing with bean burritos... that time, I did puke.

Had sushi for the first time last summer.
Out of mere politness for both my Asian friend (who ADORES it) and the others at the party at which I ate it, I kept chewing and remained quiet.. although I did confess to her that, despite its popularity, I was quite averse to it. Obviously there are several different kinds, so I can't say so exactly for ALL of them.. but I feel I'm simply not a raw meat - particularly fish - person.. I think culturally people from my nation are like that, while of course there are exceptions.. but I've just never been raised to eat that stuff (and I hate seaweed ick).. :/

[Etude]

OK, what foods do you personally find disgusting?

 : I absolutely hate the yolk of eggs, especially when hard boiled  
 : Also, I hate the taste of most cheese.  


 Although not food, the most disgusting thing I have ever tasted was a polio
 vaccine last year, which tasted like salty sea water. 

[willcowskitz]

Cheese. Especially melted. 
Boiled cabbage. 
Tofu. 

[Cindysphinx]

Well, let me run down the list of foods that Mom would serve even though no one liked them.  These are the foods that you had to eat if you didn't want to spend the evening at the kitchen table, watching the contents of your plate congeal while everyone else was outside playing hide and seek.

I concur with much of what Chick wrote, but I'll add:

Lima beans. 

Liver. 

Peas.

Any vegetable cooked in a pot all dang day long.

The guts of any animal.

Soup containing lima beans, liver, peas, overcooked vegetables and animal guts.

Mom never served the latter, thankfully.

Cindy -- who finds McDonalds food rather disgusting nowadays, but who loves much sushi

[ehpianist]

Haven't had it but I hear Scottish Haggis is pretty awful.

Then there's flipper pie, available in lovely Newfoundland.  That would be SEAL flipper. Haven' t brought myself to eat that yet but up there they say you're not a Newfounlander until you've had it.

I've had whale, very bland and tasteles and I don't ever want to eat it again.

And the only spice I dislike is Anis.

Other than that, if you put it in front of me I'll eat it.  Sushi, brains, liver (only duck and goose), tartares, I'lm even happy to try crickets and bugs at least once.  Just as long as the food isn't moving (with the exception of oysters, muscles and clams, which I'll eat alive).

Elena
https://www.pianofourhands.com

[chickering9]

I concur with much of what Chick wrote, but I'll add:

Lima beans. 

Liver. 

Peas.

Any vegetable cooked in a pot all dang day long.

The guts of any animal.

Soup containing lima beans, liver, peas, overcooked vegetables and animal guts.

Hey!  We're truly compatible.  I thought about all of those myself after I'd posted.  If dh ever kicks the bucket, I want your number!

EDIT:  Aw, heck!  That sushi comment I missed ruins the deal!

[Hmoll]

Haven't had it but I hear Scottish Haggis is pretty awful.

 

Trust me. It's pretty bad. Why do you think they invented single malt?

Other bad food:

Black pudding - Irish.

Lutefisk - Norwegian

[Cindysphinx]

Tell ya what, Chickering.

If dh kicks the bucket, I'll serve sushi at the wake and then no more sushi for me. 

Cindy -- who is not crazy about sweet potatoes but who recently learned an excellent way to bake them in spices and can tolerate them now

[realitytest]

I have some winners in reserve, but I must say, I think it's more interesting (I suspect these things are at least 50% inherited), to hear objects of disgust that YOU  have actually consumed - or been forced to.

Having said which, I loathe big fat slightly yellowish green peas with thick detached skins.  Puked in grade school after tasting. 

Once in my dysfunctional childhood family, my younger brother was asked "what one thing - anything - if you could, would you change to make our family better?"

After much pondering, he finally came out with:  "Mandy would eat her peas" (not that, that's my name or anything). 

reality

[realitytest]

OK, Etude if we're going to include medicines, I'll add Milk of Magnesia.  Another childhood recollection...Once when sick, my father brought me a full glass .  Eyeing it suspiciously, I asked - "what does it taste like?"

"Oh, pretty much lke milk", he  answered looking at the ceiling.

After a brief inner scuffle I took it and swigged it down.  Most of it, that is...before spitting it out in horror.  Perhaps it was the betrayal of expecting one taste and finding another that revolted me most.  Whatever.  Blech!

Rt

P.S. Say, what is it FOR,  anyhow?

[Cindysphinx]

Pepto Bismal.

I think that stuff probably cures Ebola, but even Ebola sufferers won't drink Pepto Bismal.

[Edgar]

Tripe. Only tried it once -- when I was a child. Have no inclination to try it again.
Blood Sausage. My mother would prepare it once in a while, hated it, absolutely hated it.
Calamari. Might as well chomp on rubber bands.

P.S. I had grits for the very first time in my life this past weekend. They weren't bad.

[donjuan]

To me, mayonaise is probably the most nastiest thing I can imagine eating...I compare it to drinking stomach bile to be completely honest.

[chickering9]

Tell ya what, Chickering.

If dh kicks the bucket, I'll serve sushi at the wake and then no more sushi for me. 

Cindy -- who is not crazy about sweet potatoes but who recently learned an excellent way to bake them in spices and can tolerate them now

Sounds like maybe we have a deal? 

I could say the same about yams myself.  I considered them but left them off of my yuck list because I agree that they can be done up to be tolerable.  (And for what it's worth, I didn't find sushi repulsive or anything.  It was interesting with a fine wine and good company, but it just wasn't satisfying in the way some other meals can be, so you could have your sushi as long as I could have a peanut butter and jelly sandwhich.)

[chickering9]

...Calamari. Might as well chomp on rubber bands....

A German friend of mine gave me some dried calamari in a bag once.  I thought when she handed it to me that it was a bag of rubber bands.  And eating some didn't convince me otherwise.

[donjuan]

Calamari. Might as well chomp on rubber bands.

hey hey hey now - Calamari is ok, but it has to be cooked absolutely perfectly.  even if it's just slightly overdone, well yeah it's like eating a tire..

and about all this talk about sushi...Im too afraid of getting a tapeworm from eating raw food..  hey face it, it happens

[Floristan]

Real bird's nest soup, prepared traditionally.   

[Floristan]

I take that back...gefilte fish, followed closely by lutefisk.  Disgusting.

[Troldhaugen]

lutefisk.......it's one of the traditional Norwegian dishes....which I had in Oslo a while ago. It's basically a mushy dried fish...maybe cod? Even though I'm a huge seafood lover, but even I couldn't handle the taste of it......yuck!

[galonia]

Olives.

I'm pretty brave with food - I've eaten all sorts of stuff, including kangaroo, dog, snake, snails, turtle, and all sorts of other bizarre stuff.  I dislike most shellfish (except prawns) and I have other personal dislikes.  But I quite like things a lot of people find disgusting, such as tripe, liver, tongue, yes, even blood sausage, and I love vegetables (including broccoli and brussels sprouts).  And I acknowledge a lot of foods are an "acquired taste" (I used to dislike eating duck, and drinking port, but those things have changed!)

But olives I cannot stand.  I won't go near them, or any dish that has been cooked with them, and my family knows my abhorrence so they're not even allowed in the house.  I just cannot learn to like them, even though I've tried.  I've now given up and they're banned from my life forever.

[chopinetta]

hey calamari--one of my fave dishes. hehehe... if you come to the philippines, you'll find the most bizarre food! if you like to eat sewer rats, worms, tortoise, etc. name it, it's all here--from duck eggs (with grown embryo inside) to all the insides of a pig! havn't tried them, just the snake (some really big python) which tastes like chicken. the most disgusting for me are bitter melon, and water spinach... talk about rabbit food...

[Cindysphinx]

Olives = awesome.

Calamari = awesome if fried.

Kangaroo = thanks so much, but I really couldn't.  It's nice of you to offer, honestly.

[Hmoll]

lutefisk.......it's one of the traditional Norwegian dishes....which I had in Oslo a while ago. It's basically a mushy dried fish...maybe cod? Even though I'm a huge seafood lover, but even I couldn't handle the taste of it......yuck!

Lutefisk is dried cod cured in lye. Hungry yet??

[ehpianist]

Olives.

Does that also mean olive oil?  It doesn't really taste much like olives...

Elena (who has only recently acquired a taste for olives whilst living in Spain)
https://www.pianofourhands.com

[realitytest]

Escarole

rt

[brewtality]

Olives.

I'm pretty brave with food - I've eaten all sorts of stuff, including kangaroo, dog, snake, snails, turtle, and all sorts of other bizarre stuff.

i could never eat dog. 

[dlu]

I think I ate whale once in Japan...don't ask. And, I detest sour cream. And cubed cheese, I can eat it in sticks or in slices though. I also don't like soggy vegetables, burnt cookies, overcooked rice krispy treats, rice krispy treats made with multi-colored rice-krispies, leafy vegetables, those mini corc cob thingies, and kind of miniature vegetable for that matter, almonds, and finally low-carb "mashed potatoes" made from cauliflower...yuk...

[Troldhaugen]

Anyone here watches Fear Factor? I wouldn't eat any of things shown there no matter what...not even for a million dollars....

[galonia]

 
i could never eat dog.

Hahaha... it's quite funny, because if I saw the dog at the market, I probably wouldn't want to eat it either - but in China, people eat dog, and it's a very specific breed of dog that no one keeps as pets.  Like you wouldn't eat your darling pet poodle or labrador.

So it's actually a lot less shocking than eating the chickens or lambs from school (I went to an agricultural school - we kept the animals, then they got sent to an abbattoir [sp?] and came back frozen packed in plastic bags and were sold in the canteen the same way you can buy your frozen meats at the supermarket).

[ehpianist]

Galonia, I like your school!

I think everyone should have to kill what they eat, it would make us much more aware of what it is we are eating and much more appreciative of the life of that animal and the whole food chain (no I'm not a vegetarian).

Supermarket purchased butchery is so easy, so antiseptic, and in my opinion so much more inhumane.

Elena (who has hunted food but also buys at the supermarket)
https://www.pianofourhands.com

[dlu]

Anyone here watches Fear Factor? I wouldn't eat any of things shown there no matter what...not even for a million dollars....

Sure you wouldn't...don't tell me you wouldn't eat a bull's testicle for a million dollars...

[realitytest]

Yes, now that you mention it I DID once watch "Fear Factor"  when I was recently hospitalized (we have no TV at home, so I was transfixed by all these weird shows).

I was holding that item in reserve, in fact,  for the coup de grace at the end of the thread (after all I didn't eat it myself)

They had the team - down to four - sitting, challenged to eat a live worm "cocktail."  And  (you know how the host does, to make it extra putrid) - he described the "special" food challenge over and over, to gross out the contestants and audience as much as possible.  These worms were  very slimy and  had kind of odd circles banding them.  Not earth worms which would, I imagine, go down relatively easily. 

The requirement was that they be chewed too - not merely swallowed.  You should have seen the face on one kid as he watched the first contestant get to work. His eyes got bigger and bigger and finally he dry retched a few times  in anticipation.

According to the contestants, they were "kind of crunchy" and left a horrible aftertaste,  One pitiful looking post-worm consumer,  asked in a small voice  if he might have a breath mint but no one even answerd him. 

Quite a show!  A nice break from the Tsunami coverage,  frankly.  Of course, I guess those poor folks were eating more than a few earthworms and the like,  to ward off starvation...   (And no one was promising them $50,000 if they were the last one left standing either . 

Rt

[realitytest]

DLU

  Sure you wouldn't...don't tell me you wouldn't eat a bull's testicle for a million dollars...

It depends on whether it was still attached to the bulll!

RT

[pianonut]

giveltafish.  exactly what is it?  it tastes like cat food. 

ps.  a lot of these foods mentioned are probably the very things we should eat if we are studying to be concert pianists.  you know, like broccoli, carrots, tomatoes, yams...i like cabbage when it is in cabbage rolls.  but, theres the catch.  will i be in class after i eat it or not.  no one should be bothered by what i eat.

[Hmoll]

Hahaha... it's quite funny, because if I saw the dog at the market, I probably wouldn't want to eat it either - but in China, people eat dog, and it's a very specific breed of dog that no one keeps as pets.  Like you wouldn't eat your darling pet poodle or labrador.

 

 Offensive joke deleted.

[pianonut]

it wouldn't be kosher.  are you serious?  anyway, it was a new experience.  i wondered why people were looking at me and smiling.  i was trying to be polite.

[Troldhaugen]

I'm pretty much adventurous when it comes to food, but still there is one absolute requirement: the food item must be dead. Imagine trying to chew up a live giant cricket crawling (maybe even jumping?) around in your mouth.....don't even want to think about it....just see the looks on the contestents' faces on the show......grrrrrrr making me wonder a million bucks worth that much?  

[donjuan]

Hahaha... it's quite funny, because if I saw the dog at the market, I probably wouldn't want to eat it either - but in China, people eat dog

lol wow, so THATS why none of my asian friends have dogs.. 

[Daniel_piano]

Galonia, I like your school!

I think everyone should have to kill what they eat,

Yes, but to be honest humans should do it with their bare hands like any other meat eating animal do
Feeling superior and think of going back to natural eating by shooting what you eat is simply dishonest
Primates in nature (except when they go crazy or are in captivity and polluted condition) eat a plant based diet supplemented with few fish and bugs
There's no real big animal meat in our heritage
And it has been proven that Cordain was completely wrong, we have never been good hunters, we were more scaravenger than anything and would eat fish and bugs basically as animal food source, but it is clear that the human ego nurtured the myth till today
So there's no hunter-gathere human superior beast that kill them all in our past just an humble gatherer-scaravenger primate race suited for a plant based diet thriving on a 20% animal foods

It would be funny to see a scaravenger by nature person trying to rip the skin and meat off of a hare with his bare hands and humble teeths

Daniel

[Daniel_piano]

The most disgusting foods to me are:

1) Escargot

2) Liver

3) Tripe

4) Bitter lupins

5) Feta

6) Carube


Daniel