What foods or dishes do you love, that you are surprised to find out that other people don't like?

Feta cheese, hummus, deer brauts/rabbit/wild game, taco pizza’s, any and all curry’s.

Rocky Mountain oysters.

Deep fried Chicken skins.

Chopped liver and cow tongue sandwiches.

I was a very picky eater when I was a kid. When I hit my early 20’s I got turned onto a lot of new foods, especially certain ethnic cuisines and spicier food. When I got into my later 20’s I became much more aware of how certain foods are cooked (and I thought much more about where my food came from) and wanted to learn how to cook better and more often. In my mid 20’s I became a vegetarian and a whole new world of food and tastes opened up for me, things that I had never even heard of before, were becoming new favorites for me. In my 30’s I got to try a lot restaurants, Indian, Thai, Vietnamese, and of course strictly vegetarian restaurants that I didn’t even know existed, that became new favorite places to eat.

But when I was young and picky, I absolutely loved cottage cheese, and still do. It’s one of the few things I would eat, the others being macaroni and cheese, cheese pizza, peanut and jelly sandwiches and hot dogs. Everybody that I knew liked cottage cheese, especially kids, so now when I hear that a lot of people don’t like it, it seems odd.

Now that I’m older and not so picky, I love spicy food. I love Aloo Gobi! from India and Tom Kha from Thailand, and Garlic Chili Paste from Vietnam. I would say that half the people I know, that I socialize with regularly and who may or may not be my relatives won’t touch any of these items or the cuisines that they came from with a 10 foot pole. It’s kind of a bummer.

Disregarding allergies: seafood. People are grossed out by the texture or look instead of giving it a chance.

Cuy is another dish most people won’t eat, unless they are from Peru.

A lot of people give me looks for eating lemons. I also really like artichokes.
@Blackberry Texture is a perfectly valid reason for not liking a food in my opinion. I don’t think it’s all about taste. The only reason I hate shrimp is because it feels (and looks) like I’m biting into a juicy grub. Yuck.

@Kardamom I’d totally eat all that with you. I love Vietnamese food and coffee. As long as it’s not gelatinous I’m totally in!

Homemade kimchi (not the store bought garbage)

Sauerkraut

Liverwurst

Oysters

Sardines

Blue Cheese

Wild Game

Head Cheese

Horseradish

Sashimi

Raw beef (farm fresh, not off of a supermarket shelf)

Oxtail

Tripe

Rocky Mountain Oysters (beef and pork)

@Blondesjon I like it still moo’ing, too. Blood in the plate grosses everyone out but I hear it’s really good for you, and it’s so much more flavorful!

Gorgonzola cheese.

How many juicy grubs have you bitten into, @dxs? I would imagine them quite less firm than a shrimp.

@dxs juicy grubs are the best kind.

Cooked cabbage. I make a mean creamed cabbage, and most people want to refuse to even taste it.

I too, am amazed when someone claims to hate all seafood. There’s such a wide variety of tastes, textures and methods of preparation.

mayonaise
my husband won’t eat peanut butter
meat, bacon

@ibstubro I can’t say that I’ve ever had creamed cabbage, but I’d probably like it ‘cause I like creamed corn, creamed peas, creamed onions and creamed spinach.

I also love vegetarian stuffed cabbage rolls.

The only seafood I have ever tasted was canned tuna, which I liked a lot, shrimp which tasted OK, but had that creepy crunchy/gelatinous texture and cod in fish and chips, which was pretty good. I became a vegetarian before I ever tasted any of the rest of it, so I don’t miss it ‘cause I never had it. I don’t like the smell of fish either, so even if I wasn’t a veg, I probably wouldn’t want to try it. And then there’s things like mussels, clams and oysters which just look like big blobs of snot to me, I don’t think I could get past that lol.

Sardines, and kippered fish. Avocadoes, dark meat chicken/turkey.

Try it @Kardamom. Boil chopped cabbage and a chopped onion in water (with a bit of veggie bullion) to cover until it’s crisp tender. Drain, saving the broth. Boil to reduce to ½ – 1 cup (depending on how much cabbage you have). Mix the broth with equal part milk then cook enough roux to thicken, then whisk in the liquid, return the cabbage and heat through. Of course, I always have a little garlic in there, as well as salt and pepper. I usually add a little MSG to mine, but not necessarily to the pot. Make more gravy, and you have cream of cabbage soup.

I imagine a little grated carrot would add a little sweetness and some color.

@ibstubro Mmmmm that sounds good. Unfortunately is was about 92 degrees here today. I’ll wait until it cools down a little bit.

Olives and bell peppers.

In all fairness I don’t love bell peppers, but they just seem so inoffensive I am genuinely puzzled by people that won’t eat them.

@Blondesjon I think head cheese is the same as brawn. My mother used to make brawn, I haven’t eaten it for years but used to love it.

Head cheese is, to the best of my recollection, when you boil the head of a pig, then you sit and pick all the bits off of it that might be edible (jowl, brains?) and pack them in a mold. Pour the gelatin/broth over, cool, slice and serve. The cartilage in the ears and snout firm it up, “real good”.

Now, “Blood Sausage” is, as we say here in the Midwest, “A whole nother story!”

I like boiled pork hocks.

Tomatoes & avocados.
I could live on tomato sandwiches and avocados. lol

Believe it or not, for this 44 year old, one of the biggest is plum baby food- no idea why, I just still like it. I also love Lima Beans.

@GracieT Oooh yes, Plum and Apricot baby food. haha
I love the apricot with tapioca Gerbers. Hey, maybe being 107 will have its advantages. Can’t move, walk, see, hear but there’s Gerbers Plum & Apricot. Oh joy! lol

@ibstubro Talk about ruining my projections of you. I am going to have a really hard time knowing this about you now. I will try to not hold
this terrifying revelation against you. :-/

LOL, @Coloma. I used to read cookbooks like fiction novels. I know a lot about cooking that I have not cooked. I have not cooked a pig’s face, nor will I, ever.

Truth told, I have a mental image of someone I knew (in a restaurant) boiling a pig head and bubbles coming from the snout. I was…done. Kaput. Finished.

Probably about #4 on the list of my becoming a (+fish) vegetarian.

@ibstubro Yes, well, shrimp faces are certainly not hogs heads, although, tiny little bubbles probably come out of shrimp nostrils when they are boiling too. haha

^^ But, I’ve never known anyone to eat a shrimp face.

I’m now squeamish, by and large. I ate shrimps last night with the shells and tiny legs still on. I don’t mind the head still being on a fish when I eat it. I’ve sucked the body shell of crawfish and, if I thought it worth the effort, would do so again.

A whole different – shall we say – animal from eating a mammal.

@ibstubro Everyone draws their line at a different place in the sand.

@glacial Yep, my line is I don;t want heads, eyes and legs attached.
In asia all the fish and chicken have heads and feet. Gah…enough to convert this litel meat eater forever. lol

They can’t all still have the feet attached, @Coloma. How else could they make that delicacy, Chicken Foot Soup?? Be rather awkward draping the carcasses over the side of the pot whilst you boiled the feet!

My sister hates the combination of chocolate & peanut butter. No allergies or anything, she just hates that combination.
My friend hates bananas and anything banana flavored

@KNOWITALL, actually I love hummus also. I, however, HATE feta cheese and all citrus fruits. It’s always fun to go to a Greek restaurant with one friend it particular. When we order she always asks to have all of my feta cheese and all of my lemons (plus some) in her water.

@GracieT That’s different! Do you take vitamins or how do you get the nutrients your body needs, especially as a woman? I hate liver and most people in my area think I’m odd for that..lol

Banana flavoring backs up on me, @Aesthetic_Mess. Not pretty.

I always tell everyone, @GracieT, “Don’t tell the ‘no feta’ (or anything), tell them you want it ‘on the side’. Somebody at the table will eat it, and they’re not going to charge you less! I love hummus.

Actually, @ibstubro, I do have it on the side if I’m with someone to give it to, or just to leave it off if I’m by myself. @KNOWITALL, I do take vitamins. I think my dislike of most citrus fruits is based on their texture, which is one of the main reasons of my dislike of coconuts, mushrooms, oysters, and liver. I also dislike the taste of all of these, but some of the taste dislike might mainly be texture related.

Here’s my short list of things people eat that make me gag.

Oysters and clams

Head Cheese

Beets in any form

Bloody rare meats ( I do not get the Prime Rib thing at all, gah! )

I don’t eat a lot of beef as it is, but when I do I want it well done.

@GracieT @ibstubro Hate Feta cheese? What is there about it not to love?

Things that some people eat that leave me cold includes:
Head Cheese
Haggis
Rocky Mountain Oysters and their Ovine relative, Lamb Fries
Escargot
Marmite/Vegemite

@Coloma If, by “head cheese” you mean brawn, I love brawn but have not eaten it for many years, my mother used to make it when I was a child.

@Adagio That’s exactly what I mean. must be an acquired taste based on culture because it is absolutely nasty to me. haha

@sahID I love feta cheese.
I was just saying that if you’re at a table with other people, don’t necessarily tell the waitress ”No…......” but consider order it on the side instead, so someone else at the table can have it. @GracieT could order her Feta on the side if we dined together because I’d love a double portion.