Pointless Ramblings of a Verbose Cook w/a Loooong List of Food Aversions...

The only one I take issue with is cumin. If you like mexican food, you like cumin. If it's too strong, it can be over powering and gross but used in the right amount, its awesome! Most taco mixes have cumin, as do most curry mixes. I don't have any recipes for you, jsut advice - stop being so picky! LMAO. Like i have any room to talk! MY list: MUSHROOMS.. pears... olives.... fennel... cilantro... grapefruit... peaches... mangos... papaya... liver or any organ meat ... scallops... oysters ... clams ... mussells... pretty much any cooked veggie. There.. .feel better?

Nope cause you made me remember 1 to add to my list: LIVER!

I wouldn't try to convince you to like something you don't like...and I don't think I could ever cook for you because I put black pepper in everything! LOL! I used to detest cilantro - now I like it in small does (if a recipe calls for a 1/4 cup, I use about a tbsp...), and I never liked cumin until I made taco seasoning - now it's one of my favorites, with or without other stuff. My dislikes - celery (plain - if it's in teeny doses,raw or cooked, with other flavors, I can handle it), papaya, freshwater fish (although I like things from the ocean), sweet pickles, hazelnut flavored anything - but I like hazelnuts, don't like macadamia nuts (well...maybe in a cookie...), bologna/hot dog type substances, bleu/gorganzola cheeses, most "curry" dishes, but again, I've gotten used to adjusting the amount of curry powder in recipes... I even go through phases where I can't eat tomatoes or lettuce.

Your list is funny! I love everything on it...except eggy eggs. I think my only aversions are shrimp and green peppers-allergic to both!

Triple Sec may help with your aversion to oranges. I'm not sure what an eggy egg is (or what a non-eggy egg would be)but I am pretty sure likes an dislikes can come an go, so I suggest you continue trying things occassionally. I have disliked beans, lentils and dried peas forever, but recently was in a position where I had to at least taste black beans or be rude. Much to my amazement I loved them! That led me to try lentils, which I found I can eat now. But I still gag at the thought of pea soup or lima beans.

Your list isn't that bad. I don't eat mushrooms, rutabagas, cherries, organ meats/livers, undercooked meats, clams/mussels/oysters, eggs-I don't eat them on their own or eat souffles but I bake cakes with eggs. I also don't eat anything that is soggy, like sandwiches that are made ahead because the bread is soggy. I won't eat cake with sauces poured over the top because they get soggy.

Celery is eww to me also, I like bananas but not banana flavoring, coconut, ewwwww also and it makes me break out in hives, raw tomatoes ewww also(if DH tries sticking some in food they quick get chucked into Sam the Iguanas dish), huge shrimp (will eat the popcorn shrimp tho), anise also icky I hate black licorice, I could go on and on and write a huge essay on my food quirks lol :P

If you really don't like bananas, try slicing one & dipping it in dark chocolate fondue. My nephew didn't think he liked bananas either until I we made fondue when he was staying with us.

If you can learn to like cucumbers (VILE things!) you should certainly be able to learn to like scrumptious things like cumin, black pepper, fennel, sausage and coffee! It's kind of odd looking over your list because I've always thought I was a pretty darned picky eater, but I love half of the things on your list and really only dislike radishes and olives (though I had some really *good* olives in a tapas bar once almost changed my mind so you might try that). Evin's right re cumin in Mexican food (cumin and black pepper are my two favorite spices with fennel a very close third). But if you're not a fan of Mexican food, throw some cumin in your next pot of chili. Chili just isn't chili without it, IMO. Two other suggestions: throw some fennel into your next batch of spaghetti sauce. Fennel is usually an ingredient in Italian sausage, but since you INEXPLICABLY don't like THE MEAT FROM HEAVEN, maybe it'll work thrown into a different sort of meaty spaghetti sauce. As for coffee, I can tell you how I got over my aversion to it, but you might not want to go this far. I was kept overnight in the hospital when they put a pin in my broken leg 30 years ago and the ONLY thing on my breakfast tray that didn't make me want to hurl was the cup of coffee. Because it was hospital coffee, it was fairly weak, and I was parched so it went down pretty easily and I've been drinking it ever since. So, break a leg! ;)

I wish I could help. I like everything on your list except olives (tried them again recently, still hate 'em, all of 'em) and coffee (I'll drink it with lots of French vanilla creamer, but that's it.) Black pepper is tough because it's in so many things. I'm not sure how to go about getting someone to like a food they hate. I've been just trying to convince my kids to try new foods. They claim to hate things they've never tried. If you've tried the foods on your list, you have every reason to avoid them. I'll bet lots of people (DH for one, his dad for another) have lists just as long or longer. FIL, for example doesn't eat vegetables. That's a LOT of list fodder there, mind you! I did turn him into an asparagus lover, though. I made "Bacon Wrapped Asparagus" and now he loves those.

It seems like a lot of your yucks tend to be bitter or at least bitterish. I bet I could make you a coffee you'd like, but not possible :( Try a mochachino next time you are near a GOOD coffee shop (cappacino made with hot choc). I kinda aggree on liver and pepper. Love liverwurst and pate, but straight liver - no way. Love fine ground pepper on anything, but keep those chunks of fresh ground way away from me -- I will get the tweezers and pick those nasty bits out.

well let's see: olives - hate them myself bananas - i like banana cake, but am no fan of the fruit themselves oranges - no yuck! although i sometimes get a yen for home pulped orange juice... go figure celery - used to hate it, but now use it in soups and sauces, no in salad black pepper - no problems with it cilantro - ew. cumin - smells weird but love to use it coffee - my absolute FAVORITE drink! how can you not love this!!! coconut - depends... i like coconut cake anise - idk... i had anise liquer, that was good fennel - no thanks, even though it smells like liquorice, which i love raisins - not in cookies, yes in pie walnuts - sign, i know they're so good for you, but can't stand them eggy eggs - dont know what that is sausage - as in hotdogs? yum! liver is gross too.

Virginia Mom: everything is tasty if you coat it with chocolate. i also don't like to eat lettuce, only a little bit at a time, because i feel like a rabbit... i once had to move my salad to my mom's plate because i couldn't stand the chewing anymore...

You crack me up! Sometimes I do a plate of raw veggies and a ranch dip but if celery is on it, out comes the PB. We love PB on celery. The kids like it when I add raisins (frogs on a log?) I try not to let the little guys see the adults going ewww over anything so I try to keep our dislikes hidden from them. However, I cannot tolerate cilantro under any circumstances and garlic only in moderation. I can't survive the walk from door to end of driveway to get the AM paper without a cup of coffee! You are not a freak. A little weird maybe, but no freak!!

Let's see...I won't touch an open container of guacamole or a cut avocado...I cringe at horseradish, hearts of palm are just slimy and ewwww...I also don't drink milk, or eat anything with poppy seeds, or liver (even veggie liver), or raisins, most cheeses, soggy bread. I will only eat raw olives (unless it's on pizza), raw mushrooms (I make a MEAN mushroom-barley soup...and then I pick out all the rubbery cooked mushrooms before eating it), cooked broccoli, cooked onion, and I will take thirty minutes to peel off the outside of the orange 'cuz I only eat the pulp. But I won't touch pulpy juice.

CHRISTINE-I'll have to give cumin another try; I really can't *remember* what it tastes like. I'm not a fan of sweet pickles (what a disappointment when you think it's dil!), but I'll eat them and I LOVE LOVE LOVE blue cheese! The best is a salad w/a homemade Italianish dressing topped w/crumbly blue cheese..YUM! Not a curry fan, either (but I WANT to be!). BARBARA K-I'm glad you get my *eggy eggs*! That's a bummer to have food allergies! BSM-Nope, don't like Triple Sec, either! *Eggy eggs* are when scrambled eggs (the only type of eggs I'll eat and they have to have ketchup, but I don't really like ketchup on anything else) taste strongly *eggy*...yep, that prob doesn't help explain it any better, does it? HEATHER-I never tried a rutabega, so I don't know about that. I'm not a sandwich fan/eater, either, esp if they are wrapped in plastic wrap; won't touch it! GROSS! ARIYANNA-I guess size does matter, huh? :) VM-I'll try it (I got fondue stuff & a choc fountain 2 bdays ago and I still haven't busted them out...), but I'm not sure....DEBORAH B-you crack me up! Nope, that's when I really don't like fennel seed, IN spaghetti or pizza sauce! And sausage IS gross. Not only do I not like the taste of coffee, I also don't like to drink ANY warm beverages...3BM-everything is better wrapped in bacon (but I do LOVE asparagus!)...GOODEATNZ-yep, it would seem bitter is def NOT in my flavor profile!....EVACOOPER-sausage is like breakfast sausage or Italian sausage and I can't believe you drink pulpy OJ!!...SGA-That's great that you keep you aversions from the kiddos, no sense in biasing their food preferences! And how can you not like garlic?!! OMG :)....YKW18-I just went back and edited my list after reading yours-had to add avacados, horseradish, and milk....

I agree with walnuts, eggs, celery, anise, and fennel. The rest I pretty much love! I don't like breakfast or Italian sausage but like smoked sausage? Weird. I love bananas but hate banana flavoring? Makes me gag. Don't care for mushrooms or oysters. Oh, and broccoli makes me want to harm myself. Great blog!

Oh, I also prefer my food and drinks to be room temperature. I'll let a salad sit out to get "warm", I microwave ice cream, and let hot dinners cool off. Now who's a nut??

Broccoli is one of those things I used to not care for (except raw, doused in ranch dip, of course), but I really really like it all ways, now. Mushrooms seem to be a popular dislike; I love them, but only if they are FRESH (is there anything quite so gross as slimy canned mushrooms?) and I prefer portabellas. Thanks for reading & commenting, Boooschmoo!

I can't say I much like cilantro either. I used it in a calzone once, but I thought I was going to gag by the time I'd eaten half of it. I also can't stand black pepper. Not sure that it would convert you, but Picadillo is a great green olive and raisin dish.