America's Least Favorite Foods

by Slashfood Editor, Posted Feb 2nd 2009 @ 6:35PM

We asked our readers which foods hit their yuck button and the response was overwhelming. Over 78,000 folks voted in our Slashfood poll and others, well -- they shared some mighty colorful words about the meals that make them squeal.

We don't have room to list every single food with which our respondents took issue, but we can't resist sharing some choice quotes about a few that didn't quite make the cut.

The gallery after the jump.

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Food Fouls

Spam

"Spam. Need I say more?" --Powerkats

"I also have a problem with Spam. We were very poor when I was a kid and we lived on it for several years and I cannot stand to eat it nearly 50 years later." -- Jflu1961

Toby Talbot, AP

Food Fouls

Celery

"Nothing is as horrible as celery." -- BMartin7512

"I would add celery to this list. Celery is disgusting." -- Padme x AmidaIa

"Celery, it smells bad, it tastes bad, and its so stringy. It's like a ton of strings put together its so disgusting!" -- cheyenne9392

Food Fouls

Chitterlings

"Well I forgot about chitterlings, nasty." -- ASSORTEDPAST

"Has anyone had the pleasure of having chit'lin's on the table? They smell just like a baby's dirty diaper; since they are the intestines of a pig, there's a reason for that. They are the all time gross-out item!" -- Samsonsmamma

"Chitterlings, fried or boiled. The smell of both makes me want to puke, big time." -- DebHolderness

"If you really want to hurl, try some boiled chittlins, if you can get by the smell." -- Raymo1937

Food Fouls

Tofu

"I hate tofu." -- SuzyQ1225

"Tofu.....need I say more." -- Wild4birds

Food Fouls

Cottage Cheese

"Cottage cheese reminds me of baby barf and Jello." -- CHEYNINA

"Cottage cheese, so nasty!" -- Originalbadgirl1

Food Fouls

Fish

"Fresh fish smells like dead bugs because that is what some fish are eating." -- River98x

"Most fish needs all sorts of foul sauces, lemons and other flavorings to make it edible." -- Blackdog420666

Food Fouls

Parsnips

"The smell of Parsnips cooking actually makes me physically sick." -- GreyhoundBabe

"I dont like parsnips, they are woody and taste like nothing at all." -- Nancydeery

Food Fouls

Blueberries

"Blueberries taste a little like aluminum to me." -- Sharon

"Many people eat handfuls of blueberries without actually looking at them. I used to do that until one time I stared in the bowl I'd been eating from and half were shriveled or rotting. It made me wonder how many nasty ones I'd eaten in my life." -- VW

"I hate the smell of blueberries and it makes me nauseous. Anything that even remotely taste or smells like it." -- Stephanie

Food Fouls

Maple Syrup

"Just a whiff of maple syrup and I get nauseous. I am from Maine! Problem: I ate a 2lb box of maple sugar candies when I was 6. I was violently ill for 3 days. The experience has ruined dining out for breakfast for me ever since as most places abound with the aroma of maple syrup!" -- Daryl

"Every Sunday night my Dad would make supper and the only thing he knew how to make was pancakes. And he always had "Meet The Press" on the TV. Could there be a more boring show for a kid to have to endure? Now whenever I smell maple syrup, it makes me think of suffering through "Meet the Press" and knowing the weekend was just about over and there would be school the next day." -- Lesley

Food Fouls

Cilantro

(Note: There is evidence that a genetic influence can cause cilantro to taste like soap to some people.)
"First and foremost for me is cilantro. Just the smell and taste make me ill. If I go to a Mexican restaurant, I repeatedly tell them make sure no cilantro touches my food." -- Kathleen

"Cilantro absolutely makes my stomach lurch! Just smelling it will trigger tummy wobbles!" -- Marianne

"I will eat anything and everything under the sun, as long as there is no cilantro involved." - Lemmiwinks

Food Fouls

More Food Fouls:

Blue Cheese
"How can you tell when it goes bad? It's already moldy." "I also will not touch anything blue cheese / gorgonzola related. We were served this gorgonzola pizza in Italy with the exchange family I stayed with, and I had to choke it down. Literally, my jaw was clenching and my stomach wanted to refund. But I ate it, so as not to offend. Pungent things aren't my thing."

Buttermilk
"No one mentioned the grossest in the world -- buttermilk. I have eaten buttermilk pancakes, buttermilk ranch dressing and even buttermilk cookies and cake and like that stuff a lot. But plain buttermilk, I got sick once after drinking milk and the after taste was very much like buttermilk, so I have tried to hold my breath while trying to drink it, but even the texture -- uggggggh.

Okra
"Okra and its accompanying snot makes me gag, just thinking of it."

Anchovies
"They're very salty and make me feel as though I'm chewing on somebody's eyebrow."

Durian Fruit
A friend of my thought it would be fun to try a durian fruit, so she brought one to my BBQ. She said it is supposed to smell bad and taste great. She wasn't kidding. It smells like rotting flesh. Once we got it open with a machete it ran off neighbors all over the block. A few adventurous people decided to try it. It tastes like onion pudding. No one else wanted to try it and since I hate wasting food, I thought I would put it out for the raccoons. I know they were cussing me. The raccoons ran off and didn't come back for a month -- the length of time it took for the smell to go away.

White Chocolate
"That's not a food, that's an abomination!" (Editor's note - we don't totally disagree.)

Is there fare you just can't bear? Sound off in the comments below.

Filed Under: Features
Tags: blue cheese, durian fruit, food fouls, least favorite food, spam

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Reader comments (Page 1 of 1)

6-19-2010 @12:08AM no_spamola@yahoo.com said... Celery foul?, Cottage cheese foul?, Fish foul? Parsnips foul? For pete sake's Blueberries foul!?
What juvenile imbicile picked these foods as foul!? Maple syrup, cilantro?
Onions!?
This has to be a prank...
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6-06-2010 @9:07PM gabby rose said... 1. spam is amazing.
2. cottage cheese is amazing.
3. blueberries are my fav fruit in the whole world.
4. you have to be crazy to dislike maple syrup!
5. Not all eggs are gross, it depends on how you cook them.
6. Gelatin is awesome! No party would be complete without it!
7. Sauerkraut is truly DISGUSTING!!
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6-29-2010 @9:10AM joy said... Most of the list seem to be made by whiny teenagers.
BUT
I would have to agree that celery and cilantro are very difficult food to get used to. I've been known to eat anything but I still can't eat them without wanting to barf a little. Genetic, I guess.
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7-25-2010 @11:59PM Lorrie said... I think the most DISGUSTING i mean absolutely revolting food on the planet is beets. They tast like the dirt they grew in how can anybody stomach them ewww.
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8-14-2010 @11:02PM SnapDragon said... I absolutely hate mayonnaise!!!!!! I don't like the way it looks, smells, or tastes. It's truly disgusting!
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8-15-2010 @10:10PM Sally said... Blueberries are such a crapshoot. The last time I had a handful of them, half were fine and the others made me physically heave. I have a problem with cilantro also ever since my mother was generous with it once on a pizza. Cottage cheese is too odd of a texture for me to stomach, though the taste is fine.

But the absolute bane of my existence? Rice. Can't stand the stuff. But at least it's a nutritional wasteland.
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3-04-2011 @11:37PM pumpmar said... um, probably mayo is the worst, after that anything pig. i dont particularly like cow but ill eat it if i have to. i suppose any kind of organ or insides of something. ive never heard of the genetic thing about cilantro, i wonder how they figured that one out? tuna is awesome, not the canned type though, the sushi type, which is red, and not white, or in a can.
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