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Post by Deleted on Dec 2, 2009 20:37:03 GMT
Are there any foods that are totally taboo in your home? The reason isn't important -- something that was force fed to you as a child, something that made you so sick you wanted to die, something that you just find utterly disgusting for some reason?
When I was little, raspberries were out of the question. My mother had a horrible aversion to them because raspberry was the flavoring they put in castor oil when she was a little girl in France (it was funny that years later, I discovered that my stepfather had an aversion to root beer for the same reason). I don't think I ever ate a fresh raspberry until I was about 22. They are not at all my favorite berry, but there's nothing particularly wrong with them.
My mother utterly scorned corn ("cattle food" to the French at the time, although they have changed, well, most of them), but she didn't refuse to serve it to her children. I don't think that any ever passed her lips for at least 30 years, though. Strangely enough, my French grandmother absolutely adored corn on the cob (which I don't -- too much trouble to eat!) and had to have it whenever she visited us. I don't know how she ever got any the first time -- the family must have been invited by some barbarians somewhere -- because it wasn't something that my mother would have normally given house room (as the expression goes).
Also, living in the region of grits, I never even knew what grits were for about the first fourteen years of my life, except that they were something horrible (I trusted my mother). I would see the word in books or on the menu, but I couldn't imagine what this item might be. I finally discovered them on a high school trip to Jackson, Mississippi. And you know what? My mother was right.
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Post by cristina on Dec 2, 2009 21:32:50 GMT
Liver and onions (together). Yuck. Falls into the force-fed as a child category. Strawberry ice cream. When I was about 10, we were on an extended-family vacation and one night all of the kids had strawberry ice cream for dessert. One of my cousins threw up immediately afterward. In front of everyone.  Broccoli can not be cooked in my presence or I will die from nausea. |
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Post by Deleted on Dec 2, 2009 22:05:59 GMT
I would like for Hog's head cheese to be taboo in our home  .Can't think of any others except yes,canned peas and Spam. |
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Post by komsomol on Dec 2, 2009 22:38:58 GMT
No rice ever.
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Post by hwinpp on Dec 3, 2009 5:45:01 GMT
My mother has not eaten sweet potatoes since the Japanese time in Malaysia. They had it three times a day.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 3, 2009 6:03:39 GMT
My grandmother felt that way about rutabagas.
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Post by bixaorellana on Dec 3, 2009 6:04:21 GMT
I tend not to like strawberry flavored stuff for a similar reason, Cristina. My experience involved a skiing vacation where everyone got the flu. The last thing I ate before it hit was strawberry pancakes.
HW, your mother has negative associations with sweet potatoes for a really good reason!
I am stringently keeping myself from pronouncing on other people's food dislikes in this thread, but must comment on corn on the cob being "too much trouble to eat". ??!wtf!!?!?? Almost everything having to do with feeding oneself involves some trouble. Or maybe you just lick at stuff in the freezer until you feel nourished.
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Post by existentialcrisis on Dec 3, 2009 12:21:38 GMT
My grandmother won't eat lamb or mutton. I think that's all she ate in Scotland during WWII. Personally, I can't stand creamed corn... the smell makes me cringe. Also don't like polenta, and I'm assuming I don't like grits. Must be a corn thing. Though I like corn on the cob and corn bread and other types of corns. I too, had a bad experience with strawberry flavoring. My particular problem was with strawberry cream cheese. I was in a soccer tournament and we grabbed some breakfast at Tim Horton's... I had a blueberry bagel with strawberry cream cheese. A little later I threw up for the first time in probably 10 years (well... when sober - a very different experience I might add). Anyway, I've never had strawberry cream cheese or a blueberry bagel since that day (but I've had lots of liquor, strangely enough).  |
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Post by traveler63 on Dec 3, 2009 12:41:08 GMT
I have a few. Liver and onions! My mom and dad loved it and even at 5 years old, I would go out and sit on the front porch. the smell of it made me want to retch. Okra, yuk! Slimy !! Coconut in any form! It is the texture of it that gets me. Also, believe it or not, cilantro and I live in the Southwest!!! It is just a nasty taste for me and believe me I have tried.
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Post by Don Cuevas on Dec 3, 2009 21:02:00 GMT
Black walnuts. Malted milk powder. Urrkkk!
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Post by bazfaz on Dec 3, 2009 21:58:00 GMT
I have noticed a great age difference in attitudes towards food. People of my generation largely will eat anything given to them.
People of their late 30s/40s come right out with things they won't eat. Strangely mushrooms often get mentioned. But it is a whole lot of other foods that need to be enquired about: aubergines/peppers/fish/pork/offal/seafood/red wine/rice/chillies/coconut and on and on. And once it gets to their children - 4 to 15 year olds - I give up.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 3, 2009 22:02:33 GMT
I completely agree that younger generations have become finicky almost to despicable levels. In today's newspaper there was an article about school lunches in France and how much of the food goes to waste. It was mentioned that teenagers will eat pizza, quiche and frites, but you can pretty much forget the rest, particularly vegetables.
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Post by lagatta on Dec 4, 2009 0:06:36 GMT
The taboo foods bazfaz mentions are among my favourites!
kerouac, so much for "French women don't get fat" (which was rather bs to begin with, though obesity lowers were lower than in North America and in many other European countries). Most won't get fat as teenagers, but they will later on, and whether they do or not, will have nasty stuff going on inside.
Right now I'm preparing a chicken paprikasch - it includes peppers, mushrooms and other vegetables. And a dash of wine, but it is white (this is homemade wine produced by a relative - and yes, it is quite drinkable).
I'm trying to think of taboo foods hereabouts; there are certainly things I don't particularly like but haven't found any true taboos. Rice, now that is downright weird.
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Post by hwinpp on Dec 4, 2009 5:08:31 GMT
Same for me until I was 25 years old. Then I was introduced to okra in Turkish food. Have loved it ever since.
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Post by bazfaz on Dec 4, 2009 8:31:09 GMT
My son-in-law refuses to eat rice. Since that family comes to spend a fortnight with us (and have lots of other fads) I decline to indulge him. We have a Thai or Indian meal with rice. He makes his own mashed potatoes.
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Post by auntieannie on Dec 5, 2009 15:30:52 GMT
I will eat what I am served; although I don't like tarragon, any soya-based produce, any overly-processed food.
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Post by bazfaz on Dec 5, 2009 16:04:29 GMT
No soya sauce?
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Post by auntieannie on Dec 5, 2009 16:53:25 GMT
a few drops, but I am not good at cooking with it. I find it is mostly "liquid salt", though.  |
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Post by bazfaz on Dec 5, 2009 21:45:09 GMT
Annie, when you come to visit, just a few drops it will be.
The soya sauce I use is in any case not meant to be used in cooking, just as a flavouring at the end.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 5, 2009 22:37:18 GMT
Oh, what I would give from some fresh tarragon! My grandmother would send me out to grab a few twigs of it from the bush that grew against the sunny garage wall. It made so much difference in a fresh garden salad.
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Post by cristina on Dec 5, 2009 22:57:25 GMT
I love the smell of tarragon.
I have a fabulous recipe for tarragon chicken in a very light cream sauce. Easy, delicious and smells great.
Too bad I don't really eat chicken anymore...
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Post by Deleted on Dec 6, 2009 17:22:21 GMT
The only problem with tarragon is that it can indeed become overpowering.
Why don't you eat chicken, Cristina?
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Post by cristina on Dec 6, 2009 18:37:25 GMT
The only problem with tarragon is that it can indeed become overpowering. Why don't you eat chicken, Cristina? I really don't think the mass produced chickens in the grocery stores are especially flavorful (or healthy). Unfortunately, I don't find it easy to obtain heritage, true, free range or organic chickens in my area. And when I do, they are so expensive I have a really hard time justifying the price.  |
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Post by Deleted on Dec 6, 2009 18:40:36 GMT
But the beef and pork are just as industrial, no?
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Post by cristina on Dec 6, 2009 19:08:55 GMT
I have easier, fairly economical access to less industrial beef and pork. Not so much to poultry.
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Post by bazfaz on Dec 6, 2009 21:47:05 GMT
I would never buy a chicken that had spent its short life in a cage or shed. The supermarkets here sell chickens that say they are raised in the open air. I haven't been to check. And if they are Label Rouge there are certain standards of feeding.
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Post by lola on Dec 8, 2009 5:38:03 GMT
My mother grew up near Boston during the Depression, so she never wanted to look at another bean when she grew up.
My husband got his medicine mixed with grape jelly, so none on our shelves.
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Post by hwinpp on Dec 8, 2009 9:45:11 GMT
It's not exactly a taboo food in our home, but my girlfriend seems to like the duck embryo eggs. She squats outside with the neighbours to eat them even though I'm away all day. Dunno why.
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Post by bixaorellana on Dec 8, 2009 16:08:58 GMT
You may get a look on your face of which you are unaware, but which shows your true feeling for the yolky treat.
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Post by lagatta on Dec 8, 2009 19:33:26 GMT
Intercultural food taboos are always really interesting, including many not as obvious as an average Westerner's aversion to the duck embryo eggs. This was important when planning foods and meals for international groups, schools and seminars etc (mostly young adults).
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.Can't think of any others except yes,canned peas and Spam.
