Put someone’s—anyone’s!—eating habits under the microscope and you might realize just how picky they are. Even if they say that they aren’t. For some folks, tomato juice is a sin that’s been unleashed onto the world. Others absolutely detest celery sneaked into dishes. Others, still, can’t stand it if the salad they order comes uncut.
Redditor u/ahfansaerdet started a discussion on the r/Cooking online community after asking everyone about all the things they dislike in dishes. Things that most people seem to love or that’s been accepted in the cooking world. And they spilled the beans! We’ve collected a list of everyone’s biggest culinary turnoffs, so scroll down to read what they had to say.
Bored Panda wanted to learn about picky eating, so we reached out to Dana Harron, Psy.D., a licensed clinical psychologist and the founder of Monarch Wellness & Psychotherapy. Dr. Harron is the author of Loving Someone with an Eating Disorder and runs a blog on Psychology Today called Living with Eating Disorders. Read on to see what she told us.
#1
Tails on shrimp that aren’t meant to be eaten by hand.
Image source: Classic-Salamander29, Megan Bucknall
#2
Cherry tomatoes just dumped into a salad whole so that they roll around your plate as you chase them with your fork. Halve them, people!
Image source: amydiddler, micheile henderson
#3
Those super huge sushi rolls that have like 4 layers of c*ap on top of them. Do I attempt to stuff this entire thing into my mouth at once and hope I don’t choke? Do I try to take a bite out of it and have the rest of it completely fall apart and become impossible to eat? Fancy sushi has caused way too much anxiety in my life.
Image source: zstream34, Mahmoud Fawzy
#4
When lettuce isn’t bite size – unless it’s *deliberately* served whole and meant to be cut up (say a grilled lettuce salad). But something like romaine or something in a classic Caesar, etc, I really shouldn’t have to cut it up more.
Image source: 114631, Kai Pilger
#5
Whole olives (with pit) on pizza … just why??
Image source: vinamiu, Carissa Gan
#6
When there’s a crispy coating on a protein, but then when plating for aesthetics they cover it with a wet salad or sauce so that by the time it gets to the table it’s soaked through. I get that it looks nice, but I want maximum crunch from the breading and not soggy bread party seconds into my meal.
Image source: drinkahead
#7
When you order a meat dish and half of it is fat. I had pork adobo yesterday and at least half the meat was pure fat. Immediately ruined the meal for me.
Image source: kitteh_pants, Alexandra Tran
#8
Uncut lettuce as salads. Just, for the love of all that’s good, just cut the damn leaves so they fit on the fork then in my mouth without getting dressing everywhere.
Image source: animoot, Dim Hou
#9
Cilantro, I have the damn gene
Image source: DGentPR, Tomasz Olszewski
#10
Getting a salad that’s not chopped is infuriating to me. I don’t have a chef’s knife at the restaurant table. This is especially egregious when the salad is served on a small plate and I have a dull butter knife. It’s no wonder so many Americans don’t like salads. They’ve never had a well balanced, chopped salad and instead get a plate of full leaves, giant rings of raw onions, and huge tomato slices on a freaking tiny plate. I’ll even order, “can I get this salad chopped please?” And they will stare at me like I’m crazy and tell me that’s not possible. Ok, then can I go back there and chop it myself? I know you have a knife!
Sir, calm down we are definitely not getting you a near a sharp knife.
Image source: jsmcb
#11
Caribbean jerk places in my area all seem to just chop their jerk chicken with a cleaver in the most brutal way possible. While I love the flavor, I’m not fond of chicken bone fragments embedding themselves in my gums.
Image source: Obstinate_Turnip, Omar Mahmood
#12
Truffle oil. I’m so glad the big truffle oil fad has mostly died down. Everything smelled/tasted like a stale armpit for a while.
Image source: what_the_a, Addilyn Ragsdill
#13
Chicken stews/sauces/casseroles with bone-in chicken pieces. Why the F**K would I want bones in something sticky that I’ll have to either awkwardly pick away at with a knife and fork, or have to pick up to eat, which will make my fingers all nasty. Also cartilage seems to fall off and/or somehow always make its way into your mouth so you’ll have to chew it and spit it out.
Image source: ahfansaerdet
#14
Calling something “triple chocolate” and one of them is white chocolate. I’m sure white chocolate has a purpose but I just cannot stand it personally. It tastes like sickly sweet fat to me.
Image source: LLSquaredtimes2, Diliara Garifullina
#15
Big slices of onion in my salad. I’m going to have to pluck it all out to chop it up to distribute the flavor.
Just put chopped onion in a cup on the side.
Image source: Runbunnierun, Chan Walrus
#16
Ocra… vile slimy weed.
Image source: weelluuuu, Pietro Jeng
#17
Raisins in anything savory. I just can’t do it!
Image source: CarissaMag
#18
The amount of mayo used at a lot of sandwich and burger shops, I typically just go without. Nothing worse than a big glob of mayonnaise. (And especially if it’s hot, even worse).
Image source: drumgirlr, Rajesh TP
#19
Raw onion. I realize that I am probably on an island on this one but for me, raw onions are one of those things that I just really, really dislike. I find the texture off putting and find once I bite into it, it just takes over completely and that is the only thing I can taste. I have the same reaction to green peppers (cooked or raw) as far as taste goes. Not sure if it’s a genetic thing (like people who think cilantro tastes like soap or people who have asparagus pee) but something about raw onions and/or green peppers is just repugnant to me.
Oddly, cooked onions I am fine with as I am with yellow/red/orange peppers.
Image source: monkey_monkey_monkey, mali maeder
#20
I don’t like the taste or texture of chicken fat
Image source: chocolatepoppy, Streets of Food
#21
Chicken and waffles. Chicken, I get. Waffles I get. But the two of them together make as much sense as to me as serving baked beans on lemon icebox pie.
Image source: TableTopFarmer, Hamza Bounaim
#22
My big one will always be using celery in a dish or cuisine that doesn’t normally use celery.
Yes mom, it adds crunch. It also makes the whole damn dish taste like celery.
Image source: Bunktavious, Karolina Grabowska
#23
Nuts in bread. I like bread, I like nuts, but don’t put them together, please. Bread is soft, it’s weird to have crunchy bits floating around in it.
Image source: EvilDonald44, Taylor Kiser
#24
Raisins in oatmeal cookies, carrot cake, stuffing. All my favourite things I end up spend half the time digging raisins out
Image source: CautiousTranslator79, Denisse Leon
#25
Celery. I hate the stuff.
Image source: Prince_Nadir
#26
Lavender, roses, and orange blossom in food- save that stuff for the potpourri bowl, please. Also weird additions like chilis and basil in chocolate- chocolate is delicious, it doesn’t need some savory spice horning in, that’s just weird.
Image source: InterabangSmoose
#27
Fennel. I think it tastes awful and ruins otherwise well flavored dishes
Image source: HackTheNight, Pixabay
#28
Artichokes. What a pain in the a**. And also a pain to cook for little payoff. But they’re so delicious!
Image source: 114631, Kim Daniels
#29
Tarragon. Marzipan or other almond flavoured stuff. I can handle almost anything else but those two items, ugh, even the smell makes me feel bad.
Image source: Slowshrinkingwoman, Lars Plougmann
#30
Green peppers. To me, they taste like dirty feet smell. So gross.
Image source: AshDenver, Mark Stebnicki
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