Food is one of those things people might find themselves arguing over. Not because it’s akin to politics, religion and music, but because it’s a matter of taste—quite a literal one, in fact.
But sometimes, you have foods that you don’t even need tastebuds to understand that it’s just flat out horrible. Either that, or it begs the question of why? And how? And probably many others. Just like it did this time. Except, it was a question for non-Americans about disgusting American food.
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u/yugosaki replied:
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So, there was an AskReddit question asked of non-Americans about American food. Specifically, food that they thought was disgusting, whether visually, based on taste or didn’t roll well on a conceptual level.
While by Reddit standards the post got a modest amount of upvotes, clocking in at nearly 4,000 upvotes, it generated a conversation of over 6,600 comments, and that’s definitely something.
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u/mostlikelynotasnail replied:
u/TomomiimomoT replied:
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And, you gotta admit, some food is just flat out eww. No, it doesn’t have to be solely of any nationality. Everyone is guilty of it. With no disrespect to anyone, there ain’t many people who genuinely like haggis or surströmming or vėdarai. And these are honestly some of the milder options in the global cuisine.
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u/DonSmo replied:
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Now, it’s hard to draw a definitive line of what food is universally considered disgusting. You can argue that anything with excessive amounts of [insert any ingredient here] or an extreme lack thereof could constitute disgust. Others might argue that if it looks like something you’d fish out of the Mariana Trench. And yet others think eating bugs and fire is probably not something you should do in general.
No, it’s mostly subjective, and there’s actually a test for that.
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In fact, it’s not just necessarily personal experience—like mother forcing us to down fish oil because “it’s good for you” but it has the smell, taste and consistency of used and marinated bathwater—but also cultural.
If you grew up at the seaside, freshly-caught fish and seafood might be commonplace to you. If you were, however, raised vegan from the get-go, you might find raw meat stomach-churning. Maybe you didn’t grow up in a culture that fosters culinary traditions of fermentation and preservation.
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It’s not to say it can’t be particular, mayhaps even more personal, instances where food left a bitter taste in your mouth. Everyone experiences flavors, dishes, and textures in their own unique way. As such, you just might not like how things taste.
And sometimes it’s even deeper than that, biologically speaking. We have a self-preservation mechanism, after all. Because of this, our brain might not let us enjoy food that might make us ill because it contains uncomfortable levels of bacteria, mold or flat out insects.
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Heck, neuroatypical people are often sensitive to certain sensory input. Eating food is no exception. Things like vegetables can even trigger this and ruin them forever.
To top it all off, associative experience might also kick in, and if you got dumped while eating at McDonald’s, then that particular thing might just ruin the McDouble with a large coke and fries for you. Or if you got the kids meal, it’s good-bye to Angry Birds.
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Now, having a heritage or experience that dictates taste, preference, what you have is all fine and dandy. What is not cool, however, is gatekeeping and judging. No doubt, whenever the topic of disgusting foods arises, you’re likely to find folks who go at it in the comments, saying “how can you eat this?” and “you’re disgusting.”
Sure, having the right mindset in terms of food—especially if it’s washing and cooking it properly, avoiding cross-contamination and whatnot, but bashing someone for honoring their culture (and maybe genuinely liking rotten salted fish) leaves a bad taste.
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Now, much to your delight—or disgust—there’s a Disgusting Food Museum in Malmö, Sweden. It exhibits 80 dishes that are by many considered some of the most disgusting in the world. This includes cuy, roasted guinea pigs from Peru, casu marzu, maggot-infested cheese from Sardinia, hákarl, well-aged shark from Iceland, among all of the other iconic classics.
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The museum takes visitors on a bit of an experience, allowing folks to sample some of the “finer” foods out there—and hopefully providing a vomit bucket because a journalist took an adventure there and had to upchuck multiple times.
Currently, there’s also a temporary dangerous food exhibit that includes meals made from naturally toxic organs, containing chemicals like cyanide and which are naturally dangerous to eat unless you let it cook properly. Nobody wants an octopus to come alive whilst ingesting it.
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So, what are your thoughts on any of this? What are some of your disgusting food takes? Share your opinions and stories in the comment section below!
And if you feel like grossing yourself out even more, then bon appétit!
