wierd food phobias, quirks and aversions

[nereo]

I don't know if this is simply first world problem, but I'm amazed and have a morbid curiosity at the peculiar reactions people can have to widely available foods.
Feel free to share your stories of very odd food habits.

(my opening story)
My BIL has an almost visceral negative reaction to ... slivered almonds.  Just the sight of them makes him nauseous.  If he's in the supermarket and sees them on the shelf he has to immediately go to another part of the store. Oddly, he can eat whole almonds without any problem.  He even uses an almond-scented body scrub (which I find a bit weird in its own right).

[ketchup]

I used to irrationally dislike (to the point of refusing to eat it at all) most food, and eat an extremely bland boring diet (literally 95% peanut butter sandwiches, noodles, cereal, and skim milk).  In the last few years though I've vastly expanded my horizons (and cooking ability) and will eat nearly anything, but...

I still can't stand the smell of cheese, and especially pizza.  I'll eat it if it's blended into something to the point where I can't really taste it and it just bulks up the meal (like at Chipotle), but otherwise, nope.  Nothing else quite disgusts me as much as cheese.

But then also these days I love other weird smelly shit like fish sauce or homemade kimchi.

[nnls]

I really hate the smell of bananas and have pretty much banned them in my house, and will leave the room if someone in my office eats one. The smell makes me feel sick.

Also as a child I was quite picky and didn't like food touching, so I wouldn't eat sandwiches or pizza or quite a few things. I did though like eating bread, and then a spoonful of vegemite (Australian spread) or eating dry cereal and then a glass of milk.

[Adventine]

I hate the sight and smell of raw meat (chicken, beef, pork, etc.). I actively avoid the supermarket meat section, otherwise I start to gag. I don't have any problems eating cooked meat, though. And I can't get enough of sushi and sashimi. It's weird. I can't explain it either. Really good for the grocery budget and diet, though! I now only eat meat on special occasions or when I get it free from various office events.

I also dislike marshmallows and meringues in any shape or form.

[YogiKitti]

I cannot stand the smell of corn nuts snacks or those sesame crisp snacks. They stink up the entire place and I can't breathe the stench is so strong.

I used to be very particular about breakfast foods only being eaten during breakfast. Dinner for breakfast was ok, but breakfast for dinner was not. I recently got over that though.

Oh, and I love oranges, but hate oranges in anything but pure form. Orange juice- hate orange- love

[HappierAtHome]

I really hate the smell of bananas and have pretty much banned them in my house, and will leave the room if someone in my office eats one. The smell makes me feel sick.

Me too - I gag just from the smell. Banana bread on the other hand is fine! Quite a few relatives are allergic to raw bananas but not cooked ones, so seems likely that's my issue. Maybe we're related?! :-)

Stonefruit and raw apples and pears (cooked is fine!) also make me nauseous and oddly squeamish. The sound of someone biting into an apple is like nails on a chalkboard for me.

Like adventine, raw meat squicks me out. I guess I have a lot of food weirdnesses.

Last night we had a couple over for dinner: she doesn't eat avocado and he doesn't eat garlic. We were at a real loss for what to feed them - eventually made moussaka without garlic. They laughed at our fruit bowl full of avocados and heads of garlic. Those foods are staples in our house.

[rockstache]

Celery! I hate the smell, hate the taste, hate the texture. Gag!

[Bracken_Joy]

Ughhh. Nurse here. So this isn't aversions or phobias, but more on the "quirks" side. The things patients come up with to eat is astounding. Salt on your ice cream, anyone? Saltines crumbled into your soda? Pepper in your oatmeal? It seems common, at least around here, among geriatric african american patients, to soak their bread with water before eating it (and smoosh it up into a ball)... I always wondered if that was a denture thing. Ummm let's see, what else. There was the mom who wanted to give her 9 day old baby ketchup on a bottle nipple.

My conclusion: people are weird =P

[nereo]

I'm surprised to see so many negative reactions to very common fruits & veggies (bananas, apples, celery etc)

More of a OCD food story...
In college I had a roommate who's favorite breakfast food was cereal.  On weekends he liked to eat 3+ kinds.  The OCD part? he needed his spoon to be cold.  Seriously, he'd wake up, pour himself three small bowls each with a different cereal, and then put every spoon we had into the freezer for a few minutes.  As he ate and his mouth and hand warmed up the spoon he'd switch to using a different spoon.  In a single meal he could use a half-dozen spoons.

It was really annoying to us because we'd find he'd dirtied every spoon in the apartment.  Other than that odd quirk he was a great guy and a decent roommate, so we let it go.

[ketchup]

Forgot to mention in my first post but brought to mind by subsequent posts:

My girlfriend used to be very averse to bananas.  Somehow, for some reason, eating a banana or anything with raw banana in it would literally cause her to choke.  She wasn't allergic; there was no real reason for that.  About 6 months into dropping all junk food and eating healthy (mid-2013) she tried eating a banana and it was fine and has been ever since.  Now she loves bananas.

[GuitarStv]

No matter how they're prepared, beets always taste like dirt to me.  If prepared properly, they're like kinda sweet dirt.  I still eat them because they're supposed to be good for you, but they're always kinda gross.

[nereo]

No matter how they're prepared, beets always taste like dirt to me.  If prepared properly, they're like kinda sweet dirt.  I still eat them because they're supposed to be good for you, but they're always kinda gross.

Curious - there are so many things that are supposedly good for you, why continue to eat something you don't like?

Personally I love beets, and yes I think they have a very earthy (even dirt-like) taste.  Maybe I like the taste of dirt?  dunno....

while we're on the subject, funny story about beets (who ever gets to say "funny story about beets?!").  I was living in California and bought a huge bag of beets at the farmers market.  I made this awesome (to me) salad with beets and feta and ate it for lunch.  Later that day I was involved in an accident where I fell about 8 feet while holding onto a heavy tray of stuff and landed on my butt/lower back.  My supervisor took me to the ER to get checked out and while waiting I went to the bathroom.  I started freaking out when my pee looked like it was filled with blood (a sign of damaged kidneys).  Oops, no, just all the beets I had eaten, and a badly bruised butt.
Very embarassing (but apparently no so embarassing that I'm unwilling to share it quasi-anonymously across the internet)

[wenchsenior]

No matter how they're prepared, beets always taste like dirt to me.  If prepared properly, they're like kinda sweet dirt.  I still eat them because they're supposed to be good for you, but they're always kinda gross.

Curious - there are so many things that are supposedly good for you, why continue to eat something you don't like?

Personally I love beets, and yes I think they have a very earthy (even dirt-like) taste.  Maybe I like the taste of dirt?  dunno....

while we're on the subject, funny story about beets (who ever gets to say "funny story about beets?!").  I was living in California and bought a huge bag of beets at the farmers market.  I made this awesome (to me) salad with beets and feta and ate it for lunch.  Later that day I was involved in an accident where I fell about 8 feet while holding onto a heavy tray of stuff and landed on my butt/lower back.  My supervisor took me to the ER to get checked out and while waiting I went to the bathroom.  I started freaking out when my pee looked like it was filled with blood (a sign of damaged kidneys).  Oops, no, just all the beets I had eaten, and a badly bruised butt.
Very embarassing (but apparently no so embarassing that I'm unwilling to share it quasi-anonymously across the internet)

Heh. Yeah, I'm another one that pees bright pink when I've been eating beets. Beets do taste kind of like dirt. Delicious dirt! But I don't think it's odd that people don't like them.

[GuitarStv]

No matter how they're prepared, beets always taste like dirt to me.  If prepared properly, they're like kinda sweet dirt.  I still eat them because they're supposed to be good for you, but they're always kinda gross.

Curious - there are so many things that are supposedly good for you, why continue to eat something you don't like?

My wife likes 'em, so they're often in the house.

[justplucky]

I don't eat unnaturally blue food; I find it revolting. No electric blue frosting or blue candy for me.

[Elliot]

Can't eat whole kernel corn because it's like popping a zit with your teeth.

Strong aversion to pie, sometimes I can't even eat cheesecake.



Also in nursing, and when I was working at a health department some time ago, a young, rather slow new parent brought their baby in for a well visit (4 or 6 mos maybe?). When we talked about eating, she told me that she was putting cereal in the bottle like I told her she could. Then she told me, proudly beaming, that she used Froot Loops, because "the fruit makes it healthier and stuff."

[GuitarStv]

When we talked about eating, she told me that she was putting cereal in the bottle like I told her she could. Then she told me, proudly beaming, that she used Froot Loops, because "the fruit makes it healthier and stuff."

That story makes me want to cry.

[act0fgod]

Reactions to food is really fascinating.  It's weird how something in one culture can be normal but universally repulsive in another. 

I lived in asia with a large group of americans.  We had a fear factor food tasting thing and just walked down to the local market and bought things locals ate regularly.  None of the Americans were able to keep the live octopus down (either couldn't bring themselves to swallow or had vomiting reactions) but the locals eat with no problem.

Probably some evolutionary survival thing.  I would guess most people have aversions to food based on past bad experiences.  When I was going through chemo and radiation I vividly remember my parents giving me orange juice (not sure why they thought that was a good idea).  I still really can't stand orange juice.

Personally I don't love eating like so many people seem to and wish there was a low cost, nutritious, healthy liquid diet.

[Elliot]

When we talked about eating, she told me that she was putting cereal in the bottle like I told her she could. Then she told me, proudly beaming, that she used Froot Loops, because "the fruit makes it healthier and stuff."

That story makes me want to cry.

It was a... Challenging moment for a professional.

[nereo]

I lived in asia with a large group of americans.  We had a fear factor food tasting thing and just walked down to the local market and bought things locals ate regularly.  None of the Americans were able to keep the live octopus down (either couldn't bring themselves to swallow or had vomiting reactions) but the locals eat with no problem.

Seriously?  LIVE octopus is a food? Like not just raw, but still living??  I've worked with octopuses (yes, that's the correct pluralization) and those buggers can squirm through anything, not to mention draw blood with their beaks. 
...I'm picturing trying to swallow a live octopus and having it crawl back up my throat.  I'm guessing you chew the heck out of them first?

[FIRE me]

Seriously?  LIVE octopus is a food? Like not just raw, but still living??  I've worked with octopuses (yes, that's the correct pluralization) and those buggers can squirm through anything, not to mention draw blood with their beaks. 
...I'm picturing trying to swallow a live octopus and having it crawl back up my throat.  I'm guessing you chew the heck out of them first?

I think some animals are too intelligent to eat. Dolphins, whales, dogs, monkeys (primates), and octopus all come to mind. I probably shouldn't eat pigs, but if people tasted like bacon I'd be a cannibal.

[GuitarStv]

Seriously?  LIVE octopus is a food? Like not just raw, but still living??  I've worked with octopuses (yes, that's the correct pluralization) and those buggers can squirm through anything, not to mention draw blood with their beaks. 
...I'm picturing trying to swallow a live octopus and having it crawl back up my throat.  I'm guessing you chew the heck out of them first?

I think some animals are too intelligent to eat. Dolphins, whales, dogs, monkeys (primates), and octopus all come to mind. I probably shouldn't eat pigs, but if people tasted like bacon I'd be a cannibal.

There's only one way to find out how people taste . . .

[Taran Wanderer]

I try to avoid anything pickled, but what I can't stand is lunch wraps. Can't take a bite with feeling nauseated and wanting to throw up. I love burritos, enchiladas, quesadillas, and sandwiches of all kinds, but put sandwich stuff in a tortilla and I'm barfing. Yuck.

[turketron]

I'm basically the least picky eater on the planet and will eat just about anything put in front of me. Sure, there are some things I like less than others (water chestnuts, raw celery) and would avoid if I was the one making the food, but I don't hate them and willingly eat them all the time.

With one exception: Cilantro. It tastes and smells overpoweringly like soap to me and automatically ruins anything it's in. Even being in the room where someone was chopping it is enough to make me gag. For those who don't taste it this way, it's apparently the best thing on the planet. I'd love to know what it tastes like to them, and every time I ask no one can offer a good substitute that approximates the taste, so I just leave it out of whatever recipe I'm making that calls for it. I've read that it's a genetic thing and anecdotally this seems to be the case, as both my father and brother have the same problem with it as I do.

[Elliot]

I use parsley and lime and a substitute sometimes, but that's based on scent rather than taste. To me the taste is like eating the waxed paper that a bar of Irish Spring soap was wrapped in.

[turketron]

I use parsley and lime and a substitute sometimes, but that's based on scent rather than taste. To me the taste is like eating the waxed paper that a bar of Irish Spring soap was wrapped in.

Ha! Yeah parsley is usually the closest anyone can come up with, and most of the time (in Mexican food, at least) the recipe already calls for lime so there's usually plenty of that already.

[shelivesthedream]

I used to have a ton of "food rules" and I've relaxed a lot now so I almost pass for a normal person! However a few current examples...

- Hot food and cold food DO NOT touch each other.
- I cannot eat eggs without bread. I love the taste of eggs but the texture makes me feel sick, so I always have to have accompanying bread. (Omelette being an exception sometimes if I'm feeling brave.)
- I also dislike eating soup without bread but will do it.
- I don't, as a rule, like sauces. I'll take a small amount of gravy (a tablespoon or two) but anything like parsley sauce or custard are just not happening.
- Utensils that are dirty with one food do not touch utensils that are dirty with another food unless you would eat the two together. (E.g. The spoon with bits of rice stuck to it touching the curry spoon is fine; the curry spoon touching the ice cream spoon is just unthinkable.)

But believe me, I pass for normal now! I'm just careful about what I order in restaurants and prefer to serve myself at home or with friends so I can arrange things properly. Though there was that one time we were at some friends' house and they served peas and sweetcorn mixed together. I did actually refuse it when offered, saying "I do not eat mixed foods". Thankfully they are good friends!

[MsPeacock]

I am mostly extremely unpicky. There are things I don't want to try - my boyfriend likes to order things I regard as too gross to try when we are out to eat (lamb's face salad - sorry, there were EYEBALLS in it - I would not try it; duck blood pudding - nope and nope).

But, as for the usual stuff I would say it only goes as far as dislike: beets and bananas. Cooked into other things both are more or less "ok" (e.g. not my first choice, but acceptable). In their unadulterated form I prefer to avoid them, but eating it won't make me gag or anything.

As a psychologist I have occasionally seen adult patients with food aversions that aren't related to eating disorders. They are just super super picky. Usually they come to treatment because it is impacting their relationships - can't go out with friends, frustrating to spouse, etc. Treatment is usually adjusting their expectations - e.g. Yes, nachos may be a "10" in terms of deliciousness, but not everything you eat needs to be a 10 - you can enjoy things that are 5-9 quite well. And, exposure. Almost all of us do not like unfamiliar foods - we like the foods to which we have regular exposure. So, if you want to start liking something you don't like, you have to start eating it. I would only bother with this if your list of foods you will eat is extremely short. Otherwise, why eat things you don't like?

 In younger children there are sometimes problems with swallowing, perceptual sensitivities (particularly to smell and texture), and general obstinance. Most kids are picky at some point and grow out of it (there are evolutionary reasons for this - won't bother going into it here). One of my son's best friends basically eats crackers and egg whites... that's about it. He is 9 and has managed to grow at a reasonable rate. So, *shrug*

ETA now that I have had time to think about it, I find guava to be absolutely disgusting. When I was a child my mom always fed me jello when I had the stomach flu and I most certainly prefer not to eat it now (not that it tastes bad, but it is gross).

[Doubleh]

I'll eat pretty much anything. When I was in Tokyo I found natto (soy beans fermented to the consistency of snot) and uemi boschi (sour pickled plums) were something of an acquired taste but would eat then now if given to me. The hardest thing I found to eat were crickets and meal worm - I recognise that was 100% psychological and the taste was actually pretty reasonable but I disliked the experience and would be happy not to repeat it.

My mother on the other hand cannot stand the taste of cucumber, which she claims is overpowering and ruins anything it touches. I can only laugh as it seems the mildest, most innocuous flavour but hey, each to their own

[turketron]

...

But believe me, I pass for normal now! I'm just careful about what I order in restaurants and prefer to serve myself at home or with friends so I can arrange things properly. Though there was that one time we were at some friends' house and they served peas and sweetcorn mixed together. I did actually refuse it when offered, saying "I do not eat mixed foods". Thankfully they are good friends!

Without trying to diminish your achievements that got you to this point, this still seems (maybe it's all relative because I'm on complete other end of the spectrum) picky to me! Do you mind sharing what some of the previous "food rules" were that you've since overcome?

[FIRE me]

I think some animals are too intelligent to eat. Dolphins, whales, dogs, monkeys (primates), and octopus all come to mind. I probably shouldn't eat pigs, but if people tasted like bacon I'd be a cannibal.

There's only one way to find out how people taste . . .

I hear that it varies from person to person.

[Astatine]

Unfortunately if I don't like a food, I retch so I can't force myself to eat it even if I wanted too. There aren't too many things luckily and are relatively easy to avoid.   

Mangoes are disgusting. They smell like a rotten chemical factory. Luckily DH has a similar opinion of them so I don't have to suffer having them in the house. A friend has a theory that a small proportion of the population can smell a chemical in them that most people are blind to (well, the smell equivalent of blindness).

I also have a strong dislike of fennel. It's both the taste and texture that gross me out.

I also don't like roasted onions. Onions in any other form is fine, but the texture and the taste are gross. DH loves them though, so if I happen to get served any, I just give them to him.

I can't handle overripe bananas. It's the smell and texture that are the problem. I prefer bananas that are slightly underripe.

Okra is also disgusting. Again, it's textural. It tastes like slimy felt. Luckily nobody I know cooks it so it's easy to avoid.

Vaalia yoghurt. This one is entirely because of dental surgery about 5 years ago. Codeine makes me vomit, but the post surgery pain was bad enough that I chose vomiting over pain. I was also on a restricted diet of soft foods only and I was eating a lot of Vaalia yoghurt. My brain now associates Vaalia yoghurt with nausea and vomiting even though intellectually I know it was the codeine (and I have no trouble making myself take codeine if I need it, eg post surgery).

My sacrificial chemo foods (see below).

Probably some evolutionary survival thing.  I would guess most people have aversions to food based on past bad experiences.  When I was going through chemo and radiation I vividly remember my parents giving me orange juice (not sure why they thought that was a good idea).  I still really can't stand orange juice.

Yep. I've just been through chemo and was very deliberate what I ate on chemo days. I did not want to develop lifelong aversions to yummy healthy foods. So I came up with a list of sacrificial foods - unhealthy foods that I didn't particularly enjoy and didn't care if I never ate again. Stuff like sausage McMuffins for breakfast, meatpies for dinner, KFC (but that was so gross I could only do it once), Chiko rolls, chicken schnitzel - that kind of thing. Pretty unhealthy but better to eat unhealthy for a couple of days each chemo cycle than to permanently lose a key part of your usual healthy diet for years and years. It's worked. I'm now back eating all my usual foods but some of my sacrificial foods are now UGH off limits.

[nereo]

Mangoes are disgusting. They smell like a rotten chemical factory. Luckily DH has a similar opinion of them so I don't have to suffer having them in the house. A friend has a theory that a small proportion of the population can smell a chemical in them that most people are blind to (well, the smell equivalent of blindness).

I also have a strong dislike of fennel. It's both the taste and texture that gross me out.

I also don't like roasted onions. Onions in any other form is fine, but the texture and the taste are gross. DH loves them though, so if I happen to get served any, I just give them to him.
...

Man, one of my favorite dishes to make when I lived in the tropics was a mango salsa with roasted onions and fennel.  Seriously.  We'd use it on pork, or in burritos or just as a salsa for chips.  Guess I won't make that if you're ever around ;-)

I certainly understand your aversion to vaalia yoghurt.  I actually have something fairly similar with Tuna - when I was younger (about 6 years old) I got so violently ill shortly after eating tuna that I had to go to the hospital for two days and get an IV drip and anti-vomiting meds.  Later on the doctors surmised that it probably wasn't the tuna at all but a much worse intestinal infection. To this day just the smell of tuna (and many other fish for that matter) is associated with vomiting.

[shelivesthedream]

...

But believe me, I pass for normal now! I'm just careful about what I order in restaurants and prefer to serve myself at home or with friends so I can arrange things properly. Though there was that one time we were at some friends' house and they served peas and sweetcorn mixed together. I did actually refuse it when offered, saying "I do not eat mixed foods". Thankfully they are good friends!

Without trying to diminish your achievements that got you to this point, this still seems (maybe it's all relative because I'm on complete other end of the spectrum) picky to me! Do you mind sharing what some of the previous "food rules" were that you've since overcome?

Ha ha, not at all! I know I'm still a bit of a weirdo, but I am now fine with most eating situations. Most people don't notice unless we eat together often. Weirdly, there are only a few foods that I really hate as foods and won't eat at all (the only ones that spring to mind at the moment are swede and turnip). I've tried liver, oysters, black pudding, octopus balls... I didn't particularly love any of those but I tried them once and would eat them again if I were served them. Most of my "food rules" are related to serving methods.

- It used to be that different foods could not touch each other. There had to be little clear channels between food sections on the plate, like a DIY TV tray dinner. Now they can, unless they're really really different (like pudding and meat, or hot and cold foods). But the sausages nudge the peas? Hey ho, never mind.
- It used to be that I would eat each food type on the plate individually - all the sausage, then all the mash, then all the peas. Now I'll have a bit of sausage, then mash, then peas, then back to mash again... whatever. I don't tend to have more than one kind of food on my fork at once but that's a preference these days, not a RULE, and I definitely load up on mash and peas in a single forkful.
- Stuff like disliking sauces is more of a strong preference than a rule these days. It used to be that the accidental addition of gravy ruined an entire meal and I could barely gag it back. Now I'm just a bit miffed and always refuse a sauce if offered, but if it was on the plate already I would just cope with it (except for pudding drowning in a lake of cream or custard... this is still hard. A little drizzle is OK, though.)
- For a while I would only accept one ingredient in a sandwich. E.g. a cheese sandwich involved two slices of bread, some butter, and some cheese. No lettuce, no tomato, no pickle, nothing. Now I enjoy a well-composed sandwich. I won't eat toasted sandwiches that involve salad, though (hot & cold foods...), unless I can extract all of the salad and leave it on the side.
- When we have stuff like curry with rice or halloumi with couscous, I prefer them to be served side by side rather than the curry on top of the rice (the way my husband likes it), but I'll eat it if they do end up on top of each other. It used to be that I would eat the curry that hadn't touched the rice and the rice that hadn't touched the curry and leave the bits I regarded as having had contact.
- No bits in anything ever. Now I will happily drink orange juice with bits and will cautiously eat other foods with bits such as yoghurt.

So, to summarise, it was basically no touching/mixing of foods and no slimy or lumpy textures. That's why I have to eat eggs with bread, to mitigate the slimy with some crunchy. And it used to be super-intense FOOD RULES and now it's mainly preferences (strong or weak) and a very few remaining ACTUAL RULES.

[cube.37]

The two that I can think of are not really phobias but strong aversions:

I hate green peppers. The texture is just gross.

Fish. I try to avoid eating non-fillet fish (fish with bones). I'm afraid I'll accidentally swallow a bone that will pierce my throat and kill me. Irrational, but I can't get over it.

Other korean ethnic foods that I could not get myself to try is ox-blood soup (coagulated ox-blood in broth), silkworm larvae, and jejudo black pig courses that serve the grilled pork with its body hair...Chinese ones are duck tongue and chicken feet

[soccerluvof4]

I like hot food HOT! and cold food COLD!

I will not eat food that wiggles like Jello or raw like Sushi and I hate Chop Suey. Other than that I love food!

[Rightflyer]

Seriously?  LIVE octopus is a food? Like not just raw, but still living??  I've worked with octopuses (yes, that's the correct pluralization) and those buggers can squirm through anything, not to mention draw blood with their beaks. 
...I'm picturing trying to swallow a live octopus and having it crawl back up my throat.  I'm guessing you chew the heck out of them first?

I think some animals are too intelligent to eat. Dolphins, whales, dogs, monkeys (primates), and octopus all come to mind. I probably shouldn't eat pigs, but if people tasted like bacon I'd be a cannibal.

Yes, I think I would be a long pig convert!


+1 to the cilantro sufferers.
I have tried and tried and just can't get to like it.


Other than sweet stuff in general, there's nothing I don't enjoy or wouldn't at least try. Well, maybe tilapia now that I think of it. Any of the species I've tasted always seem to taste like mud!

[act0fgod]

Seriously?  LIVE octopus is a food? Like not just raw, but still living??  I've worked with octopuses (yes, that's the correct pluralization) and those buggers can squirm through anything, not to mention draw blood with their beaks. 
...I'm picturing trying to swallow a live octopus and having it crawl back up my throat.  I'm guessing you chew the heck out of them first?

So a number of the foods mentioned here was used during the contest thing (dried blood, chicken feet, silkworm larvae).  The octopus was purchased live and kept in a little box in one of our offices while the first few rounds were going on.  After the second round we went back to prepare the next round and I noticed the octopus was gone.  It somehow crawled out of it's box, got under a desk and started to crawl up the wall between one of the desks.

Only the tentacles are eaten so I guess it's not really live, but freshly raw and still moving.  People said they could feel the suckers trying to attach to their tongue.

[Elliot]

The two that I can think of are not really phobias but strong aversions:

I hate green peppers. The texture is just gross.

Fish. I try to avoid eating non-fillet fish (fish with bones). I'm afraid I'll accidentally swallow a bone that will pierce my throat and kill me. Irrational, but I can't get over it.

Other korean ethnic foods that I could not get myself to try is ox-blood soup (coagulated ox-blood in broth), silkworm larvae, and jejudo black pig courses that serve the grilled pork with its body hair...Chinese ones are duck tongue and chicken feet

One of my father's cousins died at the dinner table because he choked on a fish bone.

[pbkmaine]

I'm basically the least picky eater on the planet and will eat just about anything put in front of me. Sure, there are some things I like less than others (water chestnuts, raw celery) and would avoid if I was the one making the food, but I don't hate them and willingly eat them all the time.

With one exception: Cilantro. It tastes and smells overpoweringly like soap to me and automatically ruins anything it's in. Even being in the room where someone was chopping it is enough to make me gag. For those who don't taste it this way, it's apparently the best thing on the planet. I'd love to know what it tastes like to them, and every time I ask no one can offer a good substitute that approximates the taste, so I just leave it out of whatever recipe I'm making that calls for it. I've read that it's a genetic thing and anecdotally this seems to be the case, as both my father and brother have the same problem with it as I do.

YES

[johnny847]

I can't stand gooey cheese. Makes me nauseous.

And sour cream. I will throw away food if it's been contaminated by sour cream.

[GuitarStv]

And sour cream. I will throw away food if it's been contaminated by sour cream.

How are you with plain yogurt?  Because plain yogurt is incredibly close in texture, colour, and flavour to sour cream.

[turketron]

And it used to be super-intense FOOD RULES and now it's mainly preferences (strong or weak) and a very few remaining ACTUAL RULES.

Wow, you definitely have made some solid progress, good for you! I think recognizing the difference between Preferences and Rules is the biggest step. Preferences are fine, but too many hard "Rules" and you come across as overly picky and high-maintenance.

[swick]

Really finding this thread fascinating!

I have an (irrational?) hate on for anything "Funfetti" It irks me that something as pointless as sprinkles gets such attention by anyone. It is a food fad I wish would die already.

Tinned baby corn. Use to love the stuff, got a horrible case of food poisoning, can't even stand looking at a can in the grocery store. Ditto for commercial eggnog.

Thyme - This one is genetic, I think?  Most thyme (unless the Turkish variety, or otherwise grown in the Med or somewhere hot with lower moisture levels) tastes like mold to me. As is, a tiny bit in a mixed seasoning will ruin an entire dish for me, and I can immediately taste it in everything.  Mom and sister are the same way. I love Turkish Thyme though!

[cube.37]

Seriously?  LIVE octopus is a food? Like not just raw, but still living??  I've worked with octopuses (yes, that's the correct pluralization) and those buggers can squirm through anything, not to mention draw blood with their beaks. 
...I'm picturing trying to swallow a live octopus and having it crawl back up my throat.  I'm guessing you chew the heck out of them first?

So a number of the foods mentioned here was used during the contest thing (dried blood, chicken feet, silkworm larvae).  The octopus was purchased live and kept in a little box in one of our offices while the first few rounds were going on.  After the second round we went back to prepare the next round and I noticed the octopus was gone.  It somehow crawled out of it's box, got under a desk and started to crawl up the wall between one of the desks.

Only the tentacles are eaten so I guess it's not really live, but freshly raw and still moving.  People said they could feel the suckers trying to attach to their tongue.

Oh yeah. I've eaten octopus several times. The way I've had it, the freshly chopped tentacles are often served in 1-2inch long pieces seasoned with sesame oil. All you can really taste is the sesame oil, but you eat it for the texture - super crunchy. It's very difficult to pry it off the plate with the chopsticks, and once you do, the tentacles wrap around them. You've got to chew it well though to make sure it doesn't hold onto your throat. Makes for a very very dangerous drinking food, which coincidentally is where it's most commonly found.

Edit: So to answer the question of whether the octopus is live, I guess it's debatable? Kind of like eating a chicken with its head recently severed - it's still moving, but is it dead?

Also, I'm just remembering that there are places that serve the small octopus whole, so truly alive. Think old boy, octopus scene.

Below is wikipage on the dish:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sannakji

[Bracken_Joy]

And it used to be super-intense FOOD RULES and now it's mainly preferences (strong or weak) and a very few remaining ACTUAL RULES.

Wow, you definitely have made some solid progress, good for you! I think recognizing the difference between Preferences and Rules is the biggest step. Preferences are fine, but too many hard "Rules" and you come across as overly picky and high-maintenance.

You definitely have made progress. I will say though, you used extremely British examples! I had to google several things, and only knew many others because of Anthony Bourdain's shows. =P Also, had no idea people did butter on cheese sandwiches. I've always seen mayo done. Food culture is so cool/odd!

[Simply827]

I can't eat cheeseburgers, but enjoy cheesesteaks very much. I had a bad experience as a child relating to a cheeseburger. I also don't like mayonnaise, but I love aioli. Most of the dairy food group is polarizing to me, and I'm sometimey about cheese. Okra makes me shudder.

[Shinplaster]

Seriously?  LIVE octopus is a food? Like not just raw, but still living??  I've worked with octopuses (yes, that's the correct pluralization) and those buggers can squirm through anything, not to mention draw blood with their beaks. 
...I'm picturing trying to swallow a live octopus and having it crawl back up my throat.  I'm guessing you chew the heck out of them first?

So a number of the foods mentioned here was used during the contest thing (dried blood, chicken feet, silkworm larvae).  The octopus was purchased live and kept in a little box in one of our offices while the first few rounds were going on.  After the second round we went back to prepare the next round and I noticed the octopus was gone.  It somehow crawled out of it's box, got under a desk and started to crawl up the wall between one of the desks.

Only the tentacles are eaten so I guess it's not really live, but freshly raw and still moving.  People said they could feel the suckers trying to attach to their tongue.

Oh yeah. I've eaten octopus several times. The way I've had it, the freshly chopped tentacles are often served in 1-2inch long pieces seasoned with sesame oil. All you can really taste is the sesame oil, but you eat it for the texture - super crunchy. It's very difficult to pry it off the plate with the chopsticks, and once you do, the tentacles wrap around them. You've got to chew it well though to make sure it doesn't hold onto your throat. Makes for a very very dangerous drinking food, which coincidentally is where it's most commonly found.

Edit: So to answer the question of whether the octopus is live, I guess it's debatable? Kind of like eating a chicken with its head recently severed - it's still moving, but is it dead?

Also, I'm just remembering that there are places that serve the small octopus whole, so truly alive. Think old boy, octopus scene.

Below is wikipage on the dish:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sannakji

This whole discussion is playing like a horror movie in my head.  No, no, hell no!

[MandalayVA]

I think some animals are too intelligent to eat. Dolphins, whales, dogs, monkeys (primates), and octopus all come to mind. I probably shouldn't eat pigs, but if people tasted like bacon I'd be a cannibal.

I remember from my anthropology classes in college that the Aztecs and Mayans, after being discouraged from ritual cannibalism by Spanish conquerors, started eating pork because it tasted the most like human flesh.  One of my college-era friends who was in the same class never ate pork again.  In the 1930s a New York Times reporter got hold of a piece of human flesh from someone who'd been killed in an accident and cooked and ate it.  He said it tasted like veal.

[stlbrah]

processed lunch meat and hotdogs scare me

This sounds stupid but I once put lunch meat ham on a skillet to eat with my eggs hoping it would be similar to canadian bacon. The meat literally disintegrated into a clear layer and thing left was an "O" from the edging of the meat. I was so disgusted, and I have eaten crickets and even tarantulas without issues.

I just picture the meat being made, as a liquid paste going through a machine, and then solidified like a cookie. While this mental picture isn't 100% accurate, it is not too far off either.