What's a food you love, but can completely understand other people hating?

Blue cheese.

I love how funky it is. who knew moldy cheese could add so much to a dish?
- I think most cheese is "moldy". Like isn't sharp cheddar aged with the moldy edges cut off?
  I'm not a cheese expert but I'm pretty sure most cheese is aged and has some level of "mold".
  I think blue cheese is just special in that the process just results in chunks of pieces that contain the mold from the aging process?
  Total speaking out of my ass. Correct me please. This is speculation and a question not an answer.
Totally agree especially with fruit cake
- Omg yuck please tell me you didn’t try that
So good with wings. This place near me makes amazing "boneless" wings that aren't just chicken breast. I think it's thighs? It's non white meat boneless wings and I just love the spicy wings you just dunk and eat in some blue cheese. Can't get enough.

Haggis

They're wrong, but I get it

I always heard “haggis is an acquired taste” and “it’s disgusting because of what’s in it”. But the first time I tried it… holy shit it’s awesome.
Haggis is only hated by those who haven't tried it.
Goes great with some neeps and tatties ❤️
Dammit, now I want some haggis.
- There's no kidney!
  It's the heart and lungs with liver.
  Kidneys aren't used, but people often think it's basically all the bits of offal
  I still appreciate that it's not for everyone, but it's definitely worth trying

I got in a huge argument with someone who actually thought they were preserved for 100 years…

Black licorice.

I really like olives, but I totally get how they're not for everyone. I also love capers and seaweed.

- They're a little pop of salt and acid, so go really well with, eg, oily fish. I make a warm smoked mackeral salad which would be a bit meh without the capers.
- they go well in sauces and savory dishes. I'd describe the flavor as a very robust and meaty olive.
- They're great with smoked salmon. Put a little smoked salmon, a squeeze of lemon, a few capers, and maybe a sprinkle of fresh dill on a crostini or cracker. They're also nice in pasta sauce.

Liver and Onion, anchovies, chunchullo, whitebait, blood and tongue sausage... generally these fall in two categories:

Food that has a particularly strong flavor that clashes with what people are used to, and
Food that is made from the parts of an animal that is not "meat" and therefore has an unfamiliar texture.

They're wrong on all accounts - taste is acquired, and people should at least try food out of their comfort zone - but considering that it took 20 years for me to even consider trying shrimp (which still isn't my first choice, but I like it now) I can understand.

Bleu cheese. It's got the funk, and is literally moldy; I can see how that could be off-putting for someone.

Cilantro. Because I know there's people who have a gene that makes it taste like soap to them.

I'm so sad I have the bad genetics for cilantro. Everyone who loves it seems to love it so much! But alas, soap.

tofu

mmm, I could go for some crispy tofu with hot sauce right about now
I used to eat tofu to be vegan. I didn't like it much but I put up with it. 1-2 years later and I've acquired a taste for it. Now I can eat it cold, fried, baked, etc. It does need some sort of sauce to be genuinely good to me, but it requires a lot less effort than it used to.
- My kids who are most assuredly not vegan like tofu, I think because it was never a substitute anything for them, just an ingredient I use. Ma Po tofu, kimchi jjigae, miso soup, they love it. The youngest even loves the soft silken tofu in miso or seaweed soup, I don't like that kind.
- My go-to is usually: cubed, marinate briefly in sesame oil and soy sauce (or brine for neutral flavor), then laid out on a pan and baked for 15 or so in the convection oven, which makes it crispy. I use these in various dishes, but theyre also great as-is.
  Literally everyone Ive prepared it for likes it, even the ones that "hate tofu." Because tofu doesnt really taste like anything.
- I’ve never been vegan but I cook tofu for vegan friends and myself when they come over and I LOVE IT. My first experience with it was super firm, water squished out with heavy weights and a plate, marinated then in soy sauce and sesame oil, and fried in a pan. I overcooked it a little bit but I still thought it was delicious!

Pineapple on pizza.

I only understand other people hating it because so many people have said so. So it's more of an acknowledgement than actually understanding.
Of course, I understand people are different, so there's that.

Uni:

I've had sea urchin once, at a fishmarket in Tokyo. It's definitely an acquired taste.
I can barely remember what it tasted like, just that my friend and I each had one and immediately concluded that we didn't need another. Very different from most sea creatures at least. I expected a mussel, but it was much softer in texture and much stronger in taste.
We ate them plain, but I kinda want to give them another try with some other stuff to dampen the impact.
- Tried it once. Reminds me of sea water flavored Jell-O.
I really want to try uni someday! I've yet to see it on the menu where I live
- If you ever fly into Vancouver bc, you are like 10 minutes away from some of the best Asian food in North America(or so I'm told)
  Richmond BC(where the airport, pretty much) is where you will find many good sushi places. You can take a train right from the airport and be there in a few minutes.
  I'm not crazy about seafood, so i can't personally recommend any particular places, but if you want a really interesting(and expensive!) experience look for omakaze places and make arrangments MONTHS in advance
- It tastes like the ocean… feels. It flavors the rest of your meal, it’s wild! It’s best reeeally fresh, so it’s tough to get around here, but some nice restaurants do have fresh stuff. Very spendy.

Cauliflower soup. It tastes amazing to me, but it really does smell like farts

Durian. Apparently it's absolutely disgusting for some people.

I love durian stuff... gf refuses to kiss me for 2 days afterwards but its worth it every time
I had heard about it, so of course I had to try it when visiting Malaysia. It was alright. Durian chocolate carries a whiff of fart when you open it, but the taste is OK.
To me it tastes good but I cannot enjoy it because of the smell.
- The smell is interesting, I've had it once and it initially smelled like rotting fruit or compost.
  Now, it's the other way around. Rotting fruit smells like durian to me.

Grilled liver and onions and jarred Gefilte Fish. Both I grew up eating as an Ashkenazi jew with a working mom who didn't have time to make her own Gefilte Fish haha. I do understand that both are an acquired taste though.

Never ate liver and onions until I was married. My own mother was grossed out when I told her I ate liver. But it is so flavorful! I'm sad I missed out as a kid because my parents thought it was gross. I promised myself I will not do the same to my kids.
Liver is still a fave of mine but there's next to nowhere that serves it restaurant-wise and no idea where I'd be able to pick it up locally to try cooking it myself. I'm not even sure what seasoning would be good on it as well if I were to get a hold of it.

Oatmeal. Yes, it's the texture and temperature of boogers, but I never ate my boogers growing up. What I ate growing up was a lot of oatmeal.

- I've had all three througout my life and I prefer the rolled oats.

Sushi. Steak tartar.

I like my meat raw if I can eat it without dying.

Spaghetti with sugar.

Absolute heathen.
- I was bullied so bad in school when I said I like sugar in my spaghetti 😅
Philippines?
- Nah, just black.
not too bad. I used to think dipping my ritz crackers in apple juice was the bomb until other kids looked at me funny for it.

Goat cheese, lamb/mutton, truffle and any kind of mushroom, spicy foods

Once I had this dark chocolate with chile pepper and pop rocks in it, no one else wanted to try it but I really liked it

Espresso with tabasco.

my god
ಠ⁠_⁠ಠ
I have to know more. What ratios are we talking here? Assuming just a few dashes.
- 3 generous dashes for a shot of double espresso.
Of everything here this has me laughing. I can't even imagine what you do to the toilets you frequent, holy shit.
- Always striving for minimal bloat. Be that on my machines, or my tummy.
You've got me curious! I've always enjoyed eating spicy foods along with coffee, so this sounds like something I'd like.

Sea Oysters! Back when I lived by the coast, I would tag along for a ride with my fishermen uncle; we would cut some oysters with a knife from the side of the port and snack on them through the day; Just opening them up with a knife, add chopped purple onions, avocado, tomatoes, lemon and hot sauce and slurp em' off the shell!

That sounds like the best ceviche imaginable

Vegemite on toast

I've never tried vegemite, but I'm very curious to try it
- The trick, if you ever do, is to ignore the way Aussies have it. It really is an acquired taste, and Aussies lather it on thick. But when first starting out, the best way to do it is to spread a large amount of butter (or margarine) on toast, and then over the top of that spread a very thin coating of Vegemite.
- I use miso these days. It's a similar salty umami flavour to Vegemite. Miso and butter on toast is tasty.

It’s not about the food but about the time of enjoying the taste of it

I like big dishes in the morning. Like really salty, savoury and messy

I routinely wake up, smell an imaginary scent of a whole dinner (hallucinations) and proceed to eat it as first thing in the morning

Mustard

I can't look at a bottle of mustard anymore without saying MUSTAAAAAAAAARD!

What is Sushi Bake?
- Pretty much any of those rolls you would see at Western sushi places with sauces and toppings, usually cooked. Unrolled and made more like a casserole.

Meat, cheese and dairy

Waiting on the balut comment... 🤢🤮

Button Mushrooms / Cherry Tomatoes - my friend once commented that it felt like chewing eyeballs.

Idk, tomatoes overall I can't get behind. There was ONE time I enjoyed eating a tomato. They were huge, and served as a single slice with salt and bleu cheese. The tomato itself was actually flavorful and sweet. I feel like tomatoes in the south are just gross and flavorless, and when in the context of a burger add nothing but sogginess.

Boiled Peanuts. I love 'em, but they're salty and sodden and messy, and they can range from a disconcerting pop texture to a disconcerting slimy texture, all in the same batch.

I love them!!! I make my own in the crock pot then I can get them Cajun style.

Most of my lazy dishes are pretty terrible on paper but are really tasty imo.

For example I sometimes make a fried noodles and tofu that as a sauce has a fuckton of sriracha and nutritional yeast. It's basically a super spicy ans super umami dish, but you kind of need to let it grow on you.

Ive made nooch, Sriracha and tofu with toast and with rice, I'll try it with noodles next, thanks for the idea!

Marmite

Mochi

Olives

Pickled ginger

Fried Blood Sausage.
It looks like actual, coagulated blood.
But it's really tasty (to me).

Dobradinha: Brazilian caipira stewed beef intestines with beans. Really goes all the way with emphasizing the jelly texture
Chicken hearts: we eat them by the dozen but IME gringos don't like them much
Chicken feet: love them plain caipira style but dim sum style is even better, especially the more spicy ones

I had a friend turn me on to chicken hearts when I was heavy into grilling and love introducing people to them. Super easy to grill too. Season, skewer, throw them on, done. Chicken feet though??? Idk, hard for me to get behind knowing they've been treading through dirt their whole lives, or worse.
- Marinating the hearts with limes and herbs is super good, too.
  Yeah, feet turn a lot of people off because of the dirtiness and how messy they are to eat. Here's more info: they are basically pure gelatinous skin with some juicy tendons, you eat them with your hands (at least in my family) to really get in there, and they taste however the broth as a whole tastes (I can't imagine having them roasted)

Beer. My partner doesn't care for it but I love it. I know tons of people love beer but I totally get the people that don't. It's kinda very different from most drinks!

I mean, even within beer there's a huge variation in flavors.
- Fair! I guess I mean traditional old school "beer" when I say it, but even that has some variation too

Lamb brain sandwich

Never heard of this but now I'm intrigued? What is the flavor / texture like??
- Kind of bone marrow mushroomy.

I don’t understand people not liking lentils. I think they do not know how to cook it 🤔

Parsnip.

Black licorice

Anchovies

Cantaloupe

I love each of them, but all have such unique flavors it's easy to imagine not liking them.

Quince cider. It's tart in just the right way.

There's a related plant whose name in Estonian directly translated to English would be something like "unquince" (as in undead). It's so sour and I just love the juice they make of it. Makes cider too dry imo though

Bean chili on waffles the look of disgust on people's faces but then they try it.

Blue Cheese

Cannibal sandwiches

Sprouts, THEY ARE AMAZING

people are bitches, so I understand 😒

Boiled sprouts is the worst food on the planet. Roasted sprouts is the best food on the planet.