There are so many different traditions and cultures in the world, especially when it comes to Food. It's no wonder sometimes we're surprised (not always pleasantly) when we travel to a different country or someone's home and taste food that we might not usually get to eat. Some regions like it more spicy and rich, while others prefer foods that are creamy and delicate, so it might be quite a shock to go to a country or family with a completely different food menu than you are used to.

This online user wondered whether anyone has ever experienced eating something just out of politeness to not hurt someone's feelings - either while they were visiting another country or someone at home. These users delivered interesting, funny, and enlightening answers.

#1

My first serious boyfriend brought me to meet his family and I reallllyyyy wanted to make a good impression. Everything seemed to be going well until dinner was served. I think (though no idea) that it was an attempt at bouillabaisse? It was cold fish soup. With fish scales attached to skin, uncleaned seafood, raw rice at the bottom and, forsaking all gods, an oily residue on top.

I managed to choke enough down to be polite. I couldn’t stop gagging for days, though. His mother’s cooking did not improve, either.

Image credits: Lulu_42

We talked to Brian Wansink (website, Mindless Eating book, Slim by Design book), former Cornell professor and author of “Mindless Eating” and “Slim by Design,” and he shared some amazing ideas on why people might dislike certain foods: “In most cases, it’s for idiosyncratic reasons, like they don’t like the taste or texture of it — largely because they are unfamiliar with it. In its extreme form, even the idea of some foods is repulsive to people. That’s why we don’t see duck tongue or sea cucumber or Rocky Mountain oysters as an appetizer special at TGI Fridays.

What is more interesting are the cases where a person has a subconscious reason why they hate a food. This is generally because they associate a food with a terrible event. Like they had fish once and choked on a bone, or they got food poisoning from potato salad, or they gulped down sour milk. We did one study that looked at some WWII U.S. Marines that hated rice and others that loved it. We discovered the Marines who hated it were exposed to heavy combat and had gruesome associations with it. In contrast, those who liked rice were generally behind the lines.”

We also wondered if Brian Wansink had any tips for getting used to foods we don’t really like: “Two ways you can do this as an adult. You can change your thinking about it, and you can change the way you eat it.

Say you think you hate eggplant, but your partner loves it. First, think of how the food is similar to other foods you eat that you do like (‘eggplant’s pretty similar to zucchini, and I like that’), and then season it and prepare it in a similar way until you grow accustomed to it.

A second way is the paired association method. You pair it with foods you like, and it benefits from the taste halo from the other foods. (‘That was a great meal. I guess eggplant’s pretty good after all.’)”

#2

Fish.

I was in 10th grade and had been vegetarian for a few years at that point. A friend invited me over for dinner, she had moved here from Syria and her mom was really excited she was bringing an American friend over, so the mom made a really big, nice dinner for us all. But she didn't really know what vegetarian was and spoke broken English. She's made this really lovely baked fish dish and a bunch of sides, since fish isn't meat.

My friend was embarrassed, but I ate the whole meal because the mom tried really hard and made such a special meal in my honor.

I'm still proud of how mature I was in that moment at such a selfish age.

Image credits: SnooRobots8049

#3

When I was in college, a friend invited me over to his house for dinner - he'd been raving about what an excellent cook his Turkish mother was for ages, and I enjoy Turkish cuisine.

The first course was a Yayla Corbasi, which is soup made with yogurt. I don't know what she did to it, but it was completely curdled and absolutely revolting, both in terms of texture and taste.

I dutifully suffered through an entire bowl of it, thanked her kindly, and then white-knuckled my way through the next fifteen minutes before asking where the restroom was. I ran the faucet to cover the sound of my puking.

It took me ten years to consider another bowl of yayla corbasi, but I eventually made the leap and had a delightful bowl that didn't make me sick to my stomach.

Image credits: Neener216

Brian Wansink also shared which foods people usually dislike: “The universal formula for hating a food is when two of these three things happen: weird texture, gross, or bitter. This is why most people don’t like organ meats (weird texture and gross) or why they don’t like unfamiliar vegetables and fruits, like bitter melon or durian fruit.”

#4

I was 16 eating dinner at my then boyfriend's home with his parents. His dad reheated an ice cream pail full of frozen ham and bean soup, which would have been fine on its own. But then proceeded to puree broccoli, spinach, and some mystery fruit and veggies juice from the fridge that mostly tasted like mangos together and ADD IT TO THE SOUP. It tasted like grainy veggie slurry with some random hint of mango and was easily the most unpleasant meal or ever had.

His dad insisted I eat seconds, and I hindsight I'm convinced he was just f*****g with me.

#5

A type of north African Aubergine salad, similar to baba ganoush made by my friends wife.

She had sliced aubergines lengthways in a baking pan with no oil or seasonings apart from salt, then covered the entire pan in ranch dressing and chopped up one Tomato to go over the top. She left the skins on the aubergines. It was like eating warm leather drenched in ranch, it was vile and I had 2 bites then never ate anything she cooked ever again.

Image credits: ragandbonewoman

Brian Wansink shared which food he’d tried and didn’t like at all: “One time I got lost in the Romanian countryside and a kind family invited me to have Dinner with them. They served a drink that was red wine mixed with Pepsi, which was something this family saved for special occasions. I love both red wine and Pepsi, but I held my breath so I could choke it down. Interestingly, I tried it a couple of years ago for fun, and I liked it a lot more because I had come to associate it with this family’s kindness. Also, liver is great if it’s made by a great chef, but not very great at a local diner. I’ve learned that lesson.”

#6

I was ten and went to a family friends house for dinner. They served fried chicken livers and gizzards. Liver was okay but couldn’t chew the gizzards. Stuck them in my pants pocket. Mom saw them floating in the washing machine. Thought that the cat had crapped in the washing machine.

Image credits: WallyZona

#7

Extremely salty stir-fry.

New roommate wanted to cook dinner for me, she was so happy she made something from scratch I didn't want to crush her enthusiasm so I powered through and ate it drowning it in plum sauce. I found out later she used an entire bouillon cube for like 3 tbsp of liquid.

Image credits: BuyTheBeanDip

We also spoke to MD dietitian Edvard Grisin (website and Instagram), and he shared his own insight on the topic: “There are a few reasons why we do like certain types of food or overall like eating it. First of all, we should emphasize that food gives us energy for our daily activities. Without food, a person will not survive for a long period of time. Despite the fact that in developed countries the amount of easily available food is scarce, in other parts of the world with a fear of malnutrition, death is a motivator to eat anything that is available.

Other causes of liking food: Habits: We do know that food is closely related to our environment and the way we’ve seen our parents, or any person we admire, eating. Habits that we are taught in childhood can accompany us for a long time. Our body is very adaptive - if we teach it to eat 6 times a day, it will be hungry 6 times a day.

Environment: On the other hand, some food tastes good only during specific occasions - I believe most of us can reminisce about those pancakes made by mamas or special desserts that only grandmas could make. Food is a part of our positive memories, where we would want to come back more often. Psychology: There are theories of food, particularly carbohydrates and sugars, being as addictive as drugs are. We react to the structure, taste, form, or even the sight of food when it’s in front of us. If we look at the physiology of nutrient sensing [and our] brain or dopamine secretion, we would see many similarities. Sadly, it is not very simple as it is when talking about eating behavior. Because of all my aforementioned reasons for eating, we can’t say that food is addictive in isolation. It is more addictive in special moments like boredom, parties, or is more often alcohol-related. Therefore, overeating should be evaluated in the person’s whole lifestyle picture.”

#8

A very bizarre soup that my MIL concocted that belonged in r/ididnthaveeggs. Granted, I was forewarned that she is a terrible cook. I just didn't expect it to be THAT terrible

She replaced almost every single ingredient in the original recipe with something completely different. Except for water. The most offensive substitution was raisins to replace capers

I ate a very small portion out of politeness and it was one of the most revolting things I've ever eaten (and I've eaten sea cucumber)

... and that's also sort of how we found out she has dementia

Image credits: Duochan_Maxwell

#9

A friend's mom made us burgers for lunch. She formed raw ground beef right out of the package into patties and stuck em in the microwave. Served on plain buns. Grey disgusting meat and plain bread. No toppings no chips/sides. That's it. I ate it but I still think she was either trying to get me to leave or just had zero idea how to cook. It was awful.

Image credits: atxbikenbus

Edvard Grisin shared how you can get used to foods you don’t really like: “There are a few techniques that could be worth trying: Visual look: We eat with our eyes. The visual look of food is usually the first trigger that will make us fall in love or, vice versa, dislike what we are going to eat. People seeking healthy eating habits see everything in black or white: if you say chicken breast, they imagine a boiled, unsalted piece of meat on a plate; if you say vegetables, people just put a whole tomato or cucumber on a plate without trying to chop it. When we hear the word ‘diet,’ our brain immediately reprograms to seek for a tasteless diet and 24/7 sense of starvation. But it shouldn’t be that way. What if I were to tell you that chicken breast could be overbaked with lemon zest and basil dressing, and that from a whole variety of vegetables, we could make ratatouille using the same ingredients and make it low-calorie, healthy, and suitable to every healthy diet? The first impression is the most important factor in success or failure. If someone goes on a diet - nutritionists, health coaches, and dietitians should take care of it in the first place.

Motivation: Every new habit takes time to master, and we have to clearly know WHY we are struggling, avoiding, doing things that we don’t like, or eating food that isn’t as tasty as fast food is. Take care of your surroundings. Limit access to high-carb, calorically dense foods, sweets and desserts that you are trying to avoid. Surround yourself with people that have similar beliefs, goals or habits. They will be your motivation, support and destination. Those are only a few things that could lead us on our way to mastering new habits.”

#10

I finished working out at the Gym and my instructor and I went to eat a corn cob snack from some old man off the side of the road.

We ordered our cobs and before handing them to us, the old dude sneezes all over them. My instructor stares at me and goes "don't be rude" and he starts eating it. I had a serious lapse in judgement and joined.

Yup. That experience changed my life and now I never do something I don't wanna. Old man throat germs can change one's life.

Image credits: GooglyMoogly122

#11

My gfs grandmother is a very sweet old lady with dementia and diabetes.

She loves to cook and we eat lunch at her apartment every sunday.

She always has something for dessert but since she is diabetic she doesn't eat it herself. Sometimes she has bought ice-cream or candy but usually she makes something herself.

One time she was very proud because she had made something that isn't from our country; she had made frozen cheesecake.

She was actually extra proud because she had used three different kinds of cream cheese.

But since she's diabetic she hadn't tried it; if she had tried it she would maybe have noticed that since she didn't add any sugar to the cream cheese it had a lot of big ice crystals. She would also have noticed that the three different kinds of cream cheese she used was regular, garlic and chives, and grilled pepper.

So there I was, smiling politely, eating icy cream cheese with garlic, chives, grilled peppers, and a bunch of different crushed cookies.

I always smile when I think of that haha

Image credits: coeurdelejon

Edvard Grisin shared which foods people usually don’t enjoy: “Usually people hate things that smell bad, look unpleasant or are associated with bad memories or life circumstances. It all goes to our memories and emotions. More often, children dislike eating vegetables or olives but start eating them when they get older. Maybe it is because childhood is more about fun, parties, sweet stuff… On the other hand, maybe it is due to changes in the environment we live in, the experience we get tasting food again and again in the same or new combinations. Of course, we can only speculate why we dislike something that other people eat. It’s cultural, emotional, maybe even physical, but there is no one answer to this question.”

#12

I manage to fake it. My friend had never cooked a turkey before. It looked like the cover of a magazine with fruit all around it. But was pink. She said she cooked it a couple hours less than the directions said.

Cue me: sneaking out to the kitchen and microwaving my plate when she was distracted.

Image credits: FormicaDinette33

#13

The problem with this question is: I honestly don't know what it was that I ate. I was visiting a friend in Dalian, China, which is like the capital of seafood (mainly for export to Japan). My host got invited and that means I was invited too to a dinner of a rich businessman retiring from his business in Hong Kong. I ate many seafood things that don't even look like seafood things. Some were delicious, others horrible. Luckily there was some strong alcohol (drinking it made me rise quickly on the ladder of respect of the people present, but that's another story). One of the things I ate looked like it had an eggyolk inside, which, of course, didn't taste like egg at all. At one point I ate a shrimp-like thing, and my friend/host told me "Eh you should not eat the plasticlike thing inside it" but I already swallowed it. And if even the Chinese tell you to not eat something you ate, you know you're in trouble. Heavy diarrhea the next days were my punishment.

We asked Edvard Grisin to share if he’s ever eaten something he disliked: “Actually, maybe I did. I remember clearly my childhood years when I said to my mom that her potato meat-stuffed dumplings were horrible. But it was a 100% emotional expression as I am thinking about it now. Now, even if the food smells differently to what my taste buds are accustomed to, I try to understand the reason why it tastes or is served this way. Every product has its cultural history - if we could know the history behind Napoleon cake or even chicken Kiev, it would change people’s attitudes toward it in a good way. The more we know about food, the more respect we give it. There is always a storyline on our plate I wish everyone could try to read.”

#14

Beef bile soup in Laos, definitely an acquired taste.

Image credits: spaghettischolar

#15

My host mother made fish one night. Two bites in, my roommate (another foreigner) and I exchanged deadly looks. Both of us ate almost anything we were given, but this was something *else*.

The fish had the strangest, most distinct taste of bleach I've ever had. We were also nowhere near the coast. No one else in the family blinked an eye. My roommate and I ate as little as we could but kept up pretenses. I'm not sure if she cleaned it with cleaning fluid, but it was the most horrifying thing I've eaten for politeness.


The other one is Moroccan ker3in (pronounced kera'ain, the 3 is a ʕ sound) It's primarily cow hoof/ cow knuckle that has been roasted to release the gelatin. So it's a very sticky, very thick cow gelatin that gloms onto your fingernails (as you eat usually with your hands), and leaves you with beefy fingers for seemingly the rest of eternity (or until a very thorough scrubbing).

Image credits: yestobrussels

#16

An entire goat brain.

I had never tried brain before, and a coworker had just cooked an entire goat. I told her I would eat some brain if she brought it to work the next day. I was expecting maybe a few little pieces, but no, she brought the whole thing plus the tongue. The tongue was excellent, and I had eaten countless lengua tacos at that point in my life. The brain was not good, but not *terrible*. It just tasted “gray” and soft if that makes any sense. Stubborn old me had to make a point and eat the entire thing. Needless to say, I probably won’t be eating any more brain unless for some reason I can be tricked into it.

Image credits: GoatLegRedux

#17

When my sister was little she wanted to make cupcakes for the family and she forgot to put sugar in. They tasted like unscented soap but we took some bites to make her feel better.

Image credits: NGNSteveTheSamurai

#18

I dated a woman once that said she was an amazing cook.

The first time she cooked for me she put an unseasoned sirloin steak in the over for 30 minutes

Then she boiled a bag of frozen veg and a few potatoes

She served the well done steak, boiled veg and boiled potatoes with her choice of sauces, BBQ and ketchup

I wish I was making it up.

I ate it out of politeness, wasn’t a huge deal because I’m actually a good cook. We dated for a few more months and it fizzled our

Image credits: jackedtradie

#19

My husband put moldy butter on his pancakes AFTER I pointed out there was green mold in the container and growing on the butter. It wasn’t until he saw the black mold on the lid that he decided he had made a mistake. He didn’t want to hurt my mom’s feelings. My mom liked to keep her butter on the counter but would re-use the same container without cleaning it for weeks, maybe even months. I called it her science project.

Image credits: ToastedMarshmellow

#20

I was lucky enough to grow up with a mom who was a good cook. Nothing fancy, but everything was fresh and well seasoned. The first time I went to my boyfriend’s house for Sunday dinner I found out not everyone’s mom was handy in the kitchen. We had roast beef that his mom had put in a pan, covered it with water, stuck it in the oven and boiled it to the consistency of the bottom of my shoe. It was served with instant mashed potatoes made with water, not milk. Our beverage was lukewarm Carnation instant milk. I ate and drank it, but I hugged my mom tight when I got home. After that we mostly ate at my house, thank goodness.

Image credits: Bitter_Comparison959

#21

I was in a small rural town for work and ended up meeting a man who invited me over to meet his wife. I went by on an afternoon with my coworkers, and she asked me if I’d like a piece of homemade cake.

Even though I’m choosy with food I buy, my mindset is that I’m always going to respect the food that people make for their friends and families. I’ve had things before that didn’t quite strike right the first time or were an acquired taste, but I considered those learning experiences.

The cake, though, was just pure sugar. She gave me a whopping slice and I literally couldn’t detect any other taste but sugar. I would have just nibbled and out it aside but the couple were both watching me closely and asked me repeatedly if it was okay each time I slowed. It was sooooo gross and I ate the whole thing.

#22

Gefilte fish… both my grandmother and my great aunt used to make it - to say it was awful is an understatement. Whenever we’d go over to either of their places when I was a kid (which was unfortunately often), it’d be there, on the dinner table, and I’d be forced to politely eat it while my mum would be giving me a very hard stare from across the table and silently mouthing the words “don’t you *dare* spit that out”

I know some people like it, I know it’s a cultural thing for a lot of folks… but I don’t care dammit, gefilte fish is one of the nastiest foods known to mankind. 100% don’t recommend.

#23

A vegan cheesecake that tasted like half a bottle of Dawn was dumped in it. Literally NO idea how she got that flavor into it, unless she had soap on her utensils or pan.

#24

Having dinner in the home of a local family while in Iran with about six other people. We were served homemade rose water which can be ok but this was very intense. The hosts left the room for a bit and the rest of the group refused to drink the rose water as they didn’t like it. This would have been such an insult to our hosts. So I had to quickly scull seven glasses of it. When the hosts returned they were so proud and honoured we liked it that they asked if we wanted more and started to pour - I shut it down immediately insisting we were saving ourselves for dinner but thank you so much. Ridiculous.

#25

Crepe square with raw egg white. (The idea is that you fold a fried egg in a round crepe so that it forms a square with the yolk at the centre, very pretty, but she didn't cook it long enough and the egg white was raw.)

#26

F**K YEAH I GOT STORIES! In 2016, I spent a month in Vietnam with my “homebase” being with a family in HCMC. After like 2 weeks of eating fish cakes, boiled chicken, and other regional delicacies, I was feeling a little homesick (I’m from New Orleans). One of the sons of the family I was staying with was about my age and had been to the US a few times so he went out of his way to get me “American” food. It was Pizza Hut. He arrived home and knocked on my bedroom door and walked in with a small personal pizza for me. I was so excited! And thankful! This was so kind he really didn’t have to go out of his way for me but he could tell I was sad. After he left I opened the box to find the Vietnamese version of pizza. It had shrimp, ham, clams…some weird cheese and sweet red sauce. And in Vietnam, they eat shrimp with the shells on. Soooo I ate the crust. It was really weird and not at all good but I wasn’t about to turn down such a thoughtful gift from my host family.

Vietnam, what is you doing to pizza?

#27

As a child of about 12 IIRC, I went over to a new friends house for dinner. Her mother served salt – cured Virginia ham. Was the saltiest thing I’ve ever eaten in my life. I cleared my plate, to be polite because that’s what you do. My friend’s mom took that as a sign that I adored her dinner, fed me another helping… And another… And another. I have literally not been able to eat ham since, that was ~30 years ago. Can’t stand the smell of it either.

#28

at 8 years old my fancy uncle took me to Le Cirque a famous NYC restaurant and had us all order the 12 course tasting menu. It was a lot of new very rich foods (lobster, pigeon, foie, a swanky as f**k dessert cart etc).

I woke up at 2 in the morning and puked it up. My regards to the chef because it tasted good in and out.

#29

I liked this girl who was a little crunchy. She decided to throw a little party at her apartment and I came early to help her set up. She prepared a really large bowl with just hunks of raw beet and fennel bulb - no salt, no oil, just big, raw, hunks.

Needless to say, no one touched that bowl. But I didn’t want her to feel bad, so every time her back was turned, I ate those raw hunks. It was awful. I felt so sick by the end, but I finished the bowl and she was really pleased that her dish was popular.

At the end of the night, she kicked everyone out, including me, so she could have sex with my boss :(

#30

I’m the chef at a high end private school in NYC. I took the job 13 years ago for the hours and time I’d have with family. Eventually, it became more about the kids and exposing them to foods they may never have tried on their own.

Anyway… every year it’s inevitable that one of the younger grades will bake something as a class project and I’ll be brought a plate or piece to eat. I know the banana bread is probably 10% boogers and that little Asher and Imogen didn’t wash their hands before they added the chocolate chips to the cookie dough.. but they always wait to see me take a bite.

So I choke it down, force a grin and an enthusiastic “So Yummy!” because when I do, they’re so happy they could s**t.. and because after all this time seeing their hyperactive little faces go all googly-eyed with glee makes me so happy that I could s**t. I love those little f*****s.. well, most of them.

TLDR, I eat grade school student’s classroom made baked goods which are sure to be full of boogers and poop particles cause I don’t want to break their hearts when I say, no thank you.

#31

Went to a friend’s house for dinner and his girlfriend, who I didn’t know well, made spaghetti with tomato sauce. The spaghetti was so overcooked it had kind of disintegrated into tiny pieces so it was more like a tomato soup with flecks of mushy noodle in it. I was shocked that anyone would eat pasta this way but I ate it.

Can I add a bonus terrible meal that I made? I had a stage of experimenting with healthy deserts and I made a friend zucchini chocolate cake (good) with chocolate avocado icing (disgusting). She politely ate it and now, 15 years later, she doesn’t remember it. So I’m pretty sure she blocked it out.

#32

I used to live in Madagascar, where it's really common for strangers to invite you into their home for a meal. I loved doing this because it was a great way to meet people but it also led to a fair amount of less than desirable meals. The first one, angivy (sorry, no idea in English), is the most bitter thing I have ever eaten. If you've ever chewed an aspirin tablet, imagine that flavor but mushy. The second, anamalao (Schezwan Button), makes your mouth go numb. So, I'm in the middle of nowhere pretty sure I've just been poisoned but I just kept eating it. And the third- important aside, I've been a vegetarian most of my life and haven't had many kinds of seafood- a very kind woman gave me mashed cassava with tiny shrimp in it. I didn't want to be rude and figured I could just eat around the shrimp. Once again, my entire mouth went numb. But this time my throat also burned as I swallowed. This is how I discovered I'm allergic to shrimp.

#33

My neighbors and I cook for each other almost every weekend and rotate between homes, but one of our neighbors is a pescatarian. So we have tried to adapt our dishes to fit their dietary restrictions.

Another neighbor is Filipino and wanted to make us a traditional dish, pancit palabok, but it usually has pork in it. Idk if they just didn’t make it right or they left out some ingredients or steps but it tasted like rubbery shrimp drowning in flavorless orange goo. It was so hard to choke down especially as it got cold bc it took so long to eat.

#34

Bat soup in Palau. A whole a*s bat just plopped into a pot of broth and served to me still 100% intact in a bowl. It was my first time meeting my Palauan Uncle and it was a big deal for me to come visit the island so I felt obligated to try their local foods, especially in front of 20 of his family members. It wasn’t all that bad though.

#35

Back home (Hawaii) I came "this close" once to eating a Filipino balut. I held it in my hand, smelled it, and that is one of the few things I simply could not put into my mouth, no matter how polite I wanted to be.

#36

My Moms High School friend invited her over to her palatial Italian estate in Main Line Philly Burbs. Her hubby was a big construction magnate. They had 2 kids. My mom for some reason always made me go places when I had the Flu. I had a high fever. But i sat there and ate this Fusilli dish made be a real Italian and it had CHOPPED SWEET GHERKINS in it. Chopped sweet Gherkins in meat sauce! GROSS. 3 days later my mom told me our hostess ran away with her boyfriend and left the kids and estate.

#37

Balut - boiled, fertilized duck egg embryo. In the shell.

#38

A friend of my spouse, who I had always known to be a good cook, invited us over for a "special family recipe." It's easiest to write it as a recipe:

Boil 8 large potatoes in plain water until mashable. Mash them and spread in a casserole dish. In a separate pot, pour one bottle of Sweet Baby Ray's and turn on low heat. Dice 1 green bell pepper and add it to the sauce. Pour the sauce over the potatoes. Butterfly 8 hot dogs and put them on top of the sauce. Bake for 15 minutes. Remove. Makes 8 servings.

It was absolutely vile.

#39

Not questionable really because I don’t have an issue with it, but we recently stayed with family in Bosnia who were feeding us delicious meal after delicious meal. Sujuk sausage featured heavily at breakfast time, along with another type called Kulen.

One morning after being asked what we preferred for breakfast, I said ‘damn if I had to choose, I think I like Sujuk way better than Kulen’

They replied ‘it’s because our Sujuk has a lot of horse meat in it!’

I still ate it every morning, they were correct, it made it extra delicious.


Another time in a village outside of Sapa, Vietnam I was starving and grabbed some mystery meat off a grill on the street. They weren’t able to tell me what meat it was. Definitely was not pork, beef, chicken or lamb. I don’t think I want to know.

#40

I used to teach an English class for low literacy adults, most of whom were older folks from Bhutan. One day, one of my students offered me something that looked like an eraser and, without thinking, I accepted it. He then encouraged me to put this unrecognizable object in my mouth. It turns out it was chhurpi, which is a preserved cheese made of yak's milk that's popular in Nepal and Bhutan. It is as hard as a rock ? I'm pretty open to new foods, but without any warning or context, it was pretty unpleasant.

#41

Handkase mit musik. It's a regional dish in Hessen, Germany. Imagine a rancid cheese-flavoured neoprene hockey puck marinated in vinegar. It was like a tramp's a**e Feta. 30 years later it still turns my stomach.

#42

Sea Cucumber.

I was in China and our host bought one for everyone at the table. I was told it was a delicacy and expensive. So I ate the whole thing, despite the disgusting taste and texture.

#43

I used to hate bell peppers. I mean I used to say if they were even in the kitchen I could taste them in food. I despised just the smallest amount of them.

One day I was at my brothers house and my sister in law invited me to stay for dinner. Then she said she was making pepper steak. Oh, no.

I figured I’d eat the steak and rearrange the peppers around the plate. Nope. She cut them into quarters. No way to politely do it. Just eat it and smile.

I took a bite and it was nasty. Next bite wasn’t as bad. I s**t you not, by the end of my dinner I was beginning to like them!!!

I’ve been eating them since. I grow them, I eat them raw, I eat them cooked. Amazing.

#44

Overworked, 1/8” thick hand-rolled pasta with a tomato sauce the main ingredient which was literally vinegar. It’s a “secret recipe” for a reason

#45

It was a gyro. Normally I love gyros.

I had been in Athens chatting with the guy who ran the shop and he asked me if I missed home. The answer was "not really, I'm very happy to be here'. But I guess he didn't believe me. He said he was going to make one special for my friend and I. He ended up just drowning it in ketchup and mustard. I don't like ketchup all that much but he was so proud of it for some reason, so we just ate it.

#46

Served glasses of wine at a friend's house. It was dark (leaning towards brown), a little dense and tasted pretty meh - something was definitely off. While passing through the kitchen later, I saw the bottle - it was a rose! That's some serious oxidation.