How picky are you ?

[Xringshooter]

Love the smell of liver and onions frying up, but can't stand the taste of liver. Pickled beets took awhile to grow on me, I like them but my wife really likes them (I really like the pickled eggs we do in the same jar as the beets. Organ meats just aren't my style or taste. Love seafood - except oysters, just can't get into them. Tried over the years, fried, in stew, raw, whatever and just never cultivated a taste for them. Mussels, clams, abalone, seafood in general, everything else is great, but not oysters.

Spent 26 years in the USAF and traveled a good bit and would try most things once. Somethings absolutely not. Was stationed with a special team in Egypt to help them open a base that was getting F-16's for a night fighter squadron. Got invited to one party and they passed around a huge bowl of (you just reached in and popped them in your mouth like grapes).... sheeps eye balls! Nope, did not do that.

Also won't eat eel, it might be a great delicacy in Japan, but not for this kid, had it once, will; never eat it again.

[Thundarstick]

I will sit down at the table with you and eat just about anything you will, but I draw the line at high risk dangerous foods. It's the medical training, I know what you can get from it, and most of it isn't pretty!

It comes from eating my Grandma's terrible cooking, hospital food, and working with people from all over the world. I've discovered an Indian fried okra dish I could eat every day, I just have to order the spices to make it with. Bhindi fry yummy!

[AggieEE]

Xringshooter; When I was growing up my grandmother would make oyster stew. I liked the broth but not the oysters. Skip forward way too many years and I got hungry for oyster stew. Got the oysters, milk and butter. Just brought the milk up to a simmer not a boil. Put in the oysters and didn't cook too long 5 min. or so. The oysters ended up really good without the strong taste my grandmother's had.

[Xringshooter]

Xringshooter; When I was growing up my grandmother would make oyster stew. I liked the broth but not the oysters. Skip forward way too many years and I got hungry for oyster stew. Got the oysters, milk and butter. Just brought the milk up to a simmer not a boil. Put in the oysters and didn't cook too long 5 min. or so. The oysters ended up really good without the strong taste my grandmother's had.

Well, it's been a good 10 years since I last tried them, maybe I'll try this and see what happens. Maybe my taste buds will have changed

[Hickory]

Just remembered something else that I have a hard time getting down, that is octopus, it's chewy like a marshmallow, but it just doesn't go anywhere. And when you swallow it, it always seems like the wrong thing to do.

[Pipefitter]

My Belgian grandmother would cook one meal that brought out all of the aunts and uncles from "The Old Country", that none of us kids would touch. Chicken feet and pigs tails boiled together, took one look in the pot and said "I would like peanut butter and jelly please.
Also could never stand the blood sausage either.
Now, beef tongue soup, or the chocolate cake that grandma made with spoiled milk stood no chance of lasting long.

[MT Gianni]

I eat almost anything. I don't care for pumpkin in any form, as a desert, side or fake flavoring. I will choke down a piece of pie to be polite every 4-5 years if someone gets loud about their wife's being the best ever. I love fresh peaches but have a tough time swallowing any type of canned. It hits my throat slimey and jumps right back out.
I have eaten a lot of different foods with and with out knowing what they were. If it tasted good it didn't matter what it was. I've enjoyed octopus and squid when I have had it, if it was tough it was overcooked. Horse is dark, rich and reminds me of antelope. I was raised where we grew our own food and animals were either our's to eat or sold for the same. I have never been served dog or cat but if I was in a position where I had to eat them I can't see any problems with it.
I see no need to eat poisonous food for the thrill of it. You can keep your puffer fish, absinthe and any other deadly so called delicacies off of my table.

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

some won't eat beets ???
You missed out, if you never tried roasted beets...on the grill...indirect heat...and little bit of wood smoke.
I do them right along side a beef roast on the grill.
done when tender, then peel the skin, slice like your slicing the roast...let the meat juices from the roast get on the sliced roast beet.
GOOD STUFF !

I'm not picky, back in the days, I would eat anything. These days, I avoid lots of processed foods and simple carbs...but that has nothing to do with being fussy about what I'm willing to eat.

[MaryB]

Cooked beets BLECH but pickled? Love them! No raw seafood or raw meat from an unknown source, absolutely HATE liver(mom made us eat it once a week, sit there until it was gone even if it took until midnight!). Otherwise not that picky. I have eaten muskrat(nasty), mud duck(coot) which was beyond nasty, snake is tasty stuff, racoon is tasty, beaver is great eating, squirrel and rabbit were a staple growing up and I still go sit in the woods and try to get a few each fall. Not a huge fan or crab, lobster, mussels, oysters... will eat it if put in front of me but if I have a choice pass.

[Boaz]

Wow ! Had no idea so many hated beets . I eat fresh ones in season and pickle the canned ones all the time . Never cooked em on the grill Jon ...I'll give it a shot . Thanks !

[Boaz]

I think it's odd but I constantly run into younger checkers at the grocery store that literally don't even know what vegetables are . They ask ..What are these ? I'm talking about turnips , squash , common stuff . They were raised on Mc Donald happy meals . Yesterday I was asked and told her...It's an acorn squash .
About a month ago a lady about 40 years old checking me out rung up a bag of red beans and said she wanted to cook some one day . Asked me how you did it . How does someone 40 years old not know how to cook a pot of beans ?

[William Yanda]

I'll eat anything but beets, tried them many times, I'm to the point now that I consider any beet crop a failure.

A gal I used to work with claimed beets tasted like dirt. I never asked how she knew.

[Hickory]

A gal I used to work with claimed beets tasted like dirt. I never asked how she knew.

I am here to tell you, she is right, they do taste like dirt.
You might be asking how I know what dirt tastes like, I've been down in the grit & dirty many a times, even wrecked a dirt bike and came up with a mouthful of it. Yep, beets taste like dirt.

[gwpercle]

There is one thing I haven't seen any comments on like and dislike. And for some reason the folks around here don't prepare them. We generally don't waste much meat . Back in the day we would have a gathering of family and friends for a boucherie' (a hog killing). Used up just about all of the hog, the normal stuff bacon , roasts , hams etc. but also used the head (hogs head cheese ), fried the hog skins (cracklins) , sausage , the liver and heart , rendered the lard out, feet, lips and ears get pickled, hocks get smoked even the stomach was stuffed (Chaudin).
But there was one part that wasn't ...the testicles ! They seem to be eaten in other areas, rocky mountain oysters...isn't that bull, hog or sheep testicles ? Anyone ever try them and what do they taste like.
Mom used to say we use up every part of the hog but the squeal....but there was one part I don't remember getting used....maybe there's a reason ?
Gary

[Harter66]

I don't care for domestic liver , wild liver is much better .
Tongue , hagas , basically entrails are of my menu , heart and liver are the only organs ....... No fowl liver , yuck .
Bulb onions don't like me , mix them with chili powder and you have a guaranteed recipe for a catastrophic gastric purge . Lots of things I don't care for , a few things I'd pass over if there were another choice .

I was out with a friend and had some calamari alfrado . I flipped a last bite over and the legs tripped the gag reflex before my fork got even close to picking it up . Sushi is pretty far down my list .
No sugar cured pork ! Sweet n sour is ok .

[am44mag]

I have preferences, and there are certain foods that I either won't eat at all, or won't eat unless it's prepared a certain way (because I can't stand the taste otherwise), but for the most part I don't consider myself picky. I'll try anything once.

[DerekP Houston]

Eh, I know some people favor liver but in my mind, the organ was designed to filter out all the bad stuff in the body. I don't really wanna eat an oil filter either . I get along fine with any vegetable I can think of just depends on how it's prepared. I'm *NOT* a vegetarian or vegan but I'll confess to liking the sides as much as the main course some times. grew up over seas during the madcow scare and whatnot so we mainly had chicken or turkey growing up.

[am44mag]

A gal I used to work with claimed beets tasted like dirt. I never asked how she knew.

I've eaten dirt, sand, mud, dust, and even some grass. None of it was voluntary. Between the farm machinery, the ATV, and just being out in the country, it tends to happen.

[CastingFool]

I grew up eating stuff like pigs feet, oxtail stew, beef tongue and thought nothing of it. Recently went to a local meat processor and asked for pigs feet, and I was told they could not sell them.

[kfd518]

I will eat nearly anything except organ meats. As to the comment about testicals, Calf fries (rocky mountain oysters) aren't bad at all actually pretty good. That's about the only organ meat I'll knowingly eat l, I've only had beef though. I tolerate fish but its not my favorite. Prep can make or break any food item though as to weather it's good or just something to fill the stomach.