Taste buds are mystifying things. How is it possible that I could gobble up fresh steamed beets like candy, while they disgust my colleague Jeanne (and a lot of other people I know)? Or that for many food lovers mushrooms are a delicacy, while for others like my colleague Betsy, they are repulsive?
Sure, we all have certain foods that we love or hate with a passion, but in my 12 years of creating and sharing recipes, I have found that certain foods really send seemingly calm and rational people scurrying to the other side of the table.
Here is my list of the Top 10 Divisive Foods and Polarizing Herbs:
- Beets
- Brussels Sprouts
- Eggplant
- Tofu
- Okra
- Mushrooms
- Peppers
- Gorgonzola/Blue Cheese
- Cilantro
- Fennel
Strangely, I enjoy all of the above foods (well, maybe not okra, but I tolerate it). I’d love to hear from you Scramblers about what foods you hate with a passion. Please add your comments about what foods you loathe or you have noticed are very divisive here!
HA! I hate beets, brussels sprouts, okra, cilantro AND fennel! (also bananas, which were not on your list)
However, I love blue cheese, peppers and eggplant. Eggplant is my favorite vegetable. And I do agree that they ARE very divisive!
I have noticed the cilantro phenomenon. People seem to either love it or hate. I’m a lover; my mother is a hater. I feel like we must have different senses of smell or something, because for the life of me I can’t find anything to hate in cilantro (unlike other polarizing foods on the list: I love mushrooms and okra and gorgonzola but I *get* why others don’t like them). With cilantro, I just totally don’t get it.
Diane, I’ve heard there is a tastebud gene that makes cilantro taste like soap to some people, so that may explain it.
I love lists! Even lists of things we don’t love. Another top divisive food has to be olives. We can’t stand them or the flavor they impart on pizzas, sandwiches, pasta salads, etc. but others seem to love them. Have tried to like them, but just not happening.
I love everything on your list except beets (tho as a kid I would have also said brussel sprouts too). While I am mostly in the category of running away when I see/smell beets, my sister-in-law found a way to make them that even i can enjoy: She coats the beets (and other root vegetables) with olive oil and rosemary the roasts them in the oven and serves with a dipping sauce made from yogurt and horseradish.
I’d add coconut & its milk to the list. I love it and my husband hates it, so our kids haven’t had much exposure to it. We are planning to try your eggplant sub sandwich recipe in hopes of finding a more palatable use for eggplant, but we’ve put off making it for over a week now! Cilantro divides us, beets unite us, and neither of us like fennel (or anything that tastes like licorice). How could people not like peppers?!
I would add ruhbarb to the list - and when people tell me how good strawberry-ruhbarb pie is, I say why ruie a good strawberry pie with ruhbarb!
From subscriber Jen G via email: I can’t stand black licorice (Jeff loves it) and I love tomatoes (Jeff hates them)!
I think your list is right on although I love all 10 foods. I agree that olives should also make the cut and perhaps anchovies. I wish more folks liked anchovies, or more specifically, I wish my husband did so that we could order anchovy pizza. Your recent pasta dish with anchovies was great though because he didn’t even know they were in there.
So funny - I can’t get enough cilantro and my husband can’t stand it.
Aviva, last time you had beet salad on the plan, I started cooking them, and my daughter (who eats and loves EVERYTHING else) came running into the kitchen crying because she hated the smell so much. She begged me to stop cooking them! Needless to say, we didn’t make it this time around.
A weird divisive food in our house - pineapple. I have tried so hard for so long to like it, and I just can’t stand it. My husband and daughter gobble it up.
Heather, sorry about the beets! I didn’t like pineapple for a long time but I’ve finally come around to it (my husband and daughter love it and my son doesn’t like it either). Good divisive food suggestion! It does go to show us that our tastes can still be maturing, even in adulthood!
Hands up who likes anchovies? Apart from me…
I have an uncommon aversion that leaves me dodging menu items whenever I eat out. Peppers (particularly red ones) can spoil any dish for me. I only wish they weren’t so trendy right now!
Great list of love it or hate it sort of foods. I love mushrooms and hate peppers. My husband loves peppers and hates mushrooms. However, some of the foods on your list have become favorites over the years because I finally had them prepared in a way I liked, including beets, fennel and okra. I’d add pickles to your list - half our family loves them and the other half can’t even smell them.
I have to post again after reading about people not liking pineapple. This is oddly one of the only four fruits my son will eat and is my husband’s favorite fruite. Now that we have it in the house EVERY week, I find that I like it less and less. The aftertaste is metallic and stays with me for hours. ??? On the flip side, I still don’t understand how beets or peppers can be offensive to people, so I imagine my increasing aversion to pineapple is equally bizarre to pineapple lovers.