My sister and her daughter (my niece) cannot eat tomatoes - they gag.

NotableM--I used to be in the tomato-gagging group. I attribute this to having to pick off hideous tomato hornworms from my grandmother's tomatoes when I was a child. I've gotten over it--but I still prefer my tomatoes cooked to raw.

People are always surprised when I tell them that I used to have a lasagna phobia. It absolutely made me gag. The strange thing was that I would eat pretty much anything else and I liked all the individual ingredients that went into lasagna...or so I thought.

It turns out that I thought that lasagna was gross because my mom used to make it with cottage cheese instead of ricotta. Once I got to college and had it made with the right cheese I realized that I actually loved it!

I still think that cottage cheese is pretty gross, but I'll eat it if I have to.

Scarton, perhaps your mom's lasagna reminded you of Richard Nixon eating cottage cheese with ketchup--enough to make anyone gag.

My phobia would be mushrooms. When I was child/teenager living at home, my father would boil canned mushrooms. The smell was so disgusting I would almost throw up and would have to leave the house while they were cooking. Hmm, maybe that's why he did it :) Anyway, to this day, I will typically stay away from dishes that have mushrooms in it. However, I will order something if it sounds really good and just pick the mushrooms out if it can not be prepared without them.

For me it's canned peaches and oranges. I've choked many times on the membranes of oranges. Icka.

Mine is Bean Sprouts. I can't stand them in my fried rice, I have to pick them out if they are in there.

I tend to shy away from fried and roasted chicken (essentially chicken on the bone typically with the skin on). I used to refuse to eat it at all but I've gotten better in recent years.

The issue was that as a kid I got increadibly sick after eating fried chicken and the expirience just seemed to stick with me.

I thought Yum Porchetta's phobia was beef stroganoff?

Yeah, Hal, that too.

I have an aversion to jellyfish. I tried Jelly fish salad at Edo Sushi in my quest to try something new each time I went there and it was awful. Not really awful tasting but that texture. blech.

I have a Son In Law that won't eat any chicken off the bone, but will eat "boneless" chicken.

And like Scarton, I had an aversion to my Moms lasagna because of a still standing cottage cheese phobia.

I also can't eat meat that is connected to bones. I can eat boneless portions though. This I attribute to being a vegetarian for 17 years. I still sometimes have to psych myself up to eat animals, and I just can't do it if there are bones.

Also, bananas. I really want to like them. They are good for me. But there is something about the texture and smell that makes me gag every time I try to eat one (and I do try every now and then).

Seconding the bean sprouts and mushrooms.

Sprouts, more for the smell than anything else. No matter what else is on a sandwich, the sprouts will always over power and trigger the gag. Never good.

Mushrooms just...I dunno...get to me. I could insert a hippy joke about the only mushrooms I do like, but you know. This is, after all, The Sun's blog.

I can't stand the smell, which seems contradictory to my assertion that they have no flavor at all, another stumbling block. The first time I went to Woodberry Kitchen we had the misfortune of being seated directly above the grill when they had a steak special involving mushrooms. Every three minutes I was in pure hell.

Most of all, however, I would say that it all stems from a 7th grade science class when some kid brought in 2 "puffball" mushrooms that were the size of rugby balls. Triggered some kinda allergic reaction I have never had before, or since.

I'm not a PETA or vegamatic activist, but I'm afraid of getting sick from burgers because the cattleman's association was so successful bribing the Bush administration to limit USDA oversight. And I'm afraid of Purdue's workaround of banned hormones in feed by growing it into the marigolds they add to the feed. Both corporate beef and chicken so abuse their farmers and workers, everyone's angry at the owners enough to try to hurt them...and us.

I've just changed my lunch plans. EL

Oysters, bananas, & soft-boiled eggs. Texture issues.

My brother-in-law can't get near tuna fish.

One old girlfriend could not eat soup of any kind.

Another friend can't touch any sort of leftover.

Me, I just can't warm up to eggplant. It's got a texture like meat, but grows like a plant. What's up with that?

For me, its most fish, because I don't like the smell of it cooking.

that curried quinoa looks really good! I might make some tonight.

Nothing is worse than the jelly that surrounds Gefilte Fish.

Ditto on the mushrooms - between their texture and earthy flavor, knowing they're a fungus and seeing them growing in my yard, and then watching my wife eating yucky portobello sandwiches, I avoid them.

Ditto as well on the chicken on the bone. Every so often I get a craving for fried chicken, and it seems like every time since I've been a kid I find something spongy and nasty. Most recently was s few weeks ago, eating KFC (which might be part of the problem), and there was some kind of funky little gland with the appearance of brain matter. Dinner was finished for me, but I didn't make a big deal about it 'cause the kids were still munching away. From now on Daddy sticks to the tenders!

SPAM at 12:23. honestly, if you're going to spam you could try to make it "on topic"!

This is me, jumping on the banana bandwagon. Gack!

I consider the fact that I no longer eat eggplant not be a phobia at all, simply a reflection of the fact that I am no longer in my mother's house, and can eat as I please.

Friends of mine have made noise about their "amazing" eggplant parmigan(sp?) but I keep telling them there's not enough cheese in the world to cover that feel/taste/smell.

Oh, and same with Chicken Livers. Absolutely unsaveable. Don't try cooking them with bacon; that's just insulting to the bacon.

Complete gag reflex to cold picnic salads, i.e. macaroni, potato, cole slaw. Forced to eat them as a kid. The thought of eating them ruins my appetite. Raw tomatoes are a close second, but edible.

Not sure if this counts as a food phobia but someone in my husband's family can not have different foods touching each other on their plate. So the mashed potatoes and carrots can't touch each other or they're 'contaminated' and inedible.

Count me in with the crowd about chicken on the bone. Never did much care for it and now about the only chicken I will eat is boneless breast.

actually, I don't really like any meat still attached to the bone.

My whole family thinks I'm strange, but I can't stand the smell of beef pot roast and shudder at the thought of having to eat any. Stringy, overcooked meat--ewwww. Feel the same way about ham (except with eggs). This is stronger than I just don't like them (like liver). Just the thought of either is shudder inducing.

I feel the same way about tapioca pudding as YumPorchetta feels about quinoa ... I can see why she thinks it looks gross. I once had a guest ask whether there were worms in my couscous, when really I was serving the ancient, trendy grain of the Incas.

But tapioca pudding. It just looks diseased to me ... and the texture is awful.

My tapioca aversion extends to boba/bubble tea, too. I prefer my drinks without lumps.

I actually love tapioca pudding but still cannot take a bite without remembering my Grandmother, who disliked it, calling it "fish-eye" pudding.

Like I said in a previous topic, limburger cheese shall never pass my lips (or even rest in my frig) due to its hideous smell.
Of course Dottie threw a fit back when I posted that by saying she was "taught to eat everything on her plate". But she never did respond to my question as to whether she had eaten limburger, and if so, did she like it.
Where are you Dottie?

Sorry, LL, I didn't remember being asked. I've never been exposed to Limburger, so I don't have an opinion. I like stinky cheeses like Brie and Camembert, but not when they're old and smell of ammonia.

For the record: Yes, our parents told us to clean our plates, but if we were allowed not to eat something we didn't like -- as long as we had tasted it; "funny" looks or smell didn't count. As a result, there aren't may foods I don't like.

My wife will not eat banana's, it's a texture thing.
My brother won't eat mushrooms because as a little boy our older brother explained what a fungus was. He also cannot stand the odor of lamb in any way, shape or form.
Works for me, I get to eat what they won't.

Anonymous, I understand about the lamb--leg of lamb was a favorite Sunday dinner for my grandmother, and it was invariably gray. The mint jelly didn't help much. I can now appreciate lamb cooked in other ways, but it's never my first choice.

I'm not a huge fan of the mushrooms either or cooked hunks of tomato. Tomato sauce is fine. I just don't like those slimy hunks...

My husband is weirded out by those little tiny corn cobs usually in a veggie blend. The first time I made one, he actually said "I just don't understand how to eat it. I'm picturing rabbits eating corn on the cob." He couldn't get past eating the cob and all. :)

My son (5 years old) is going through the food can't touch phase that someone above mentioned. I'm holding out hope that it will pass. But my father is in his sixties and only eats one thing at a time so they won't touch!

Well, OCD definitely runs in families!

Lissa will appreciate this one--I cataloged a book today on hallucinogens and Christian art. You know those medieval representations of stylized trees that look like lollipops? Evidently they really represent psychedelic mushrooms, baby!

Dahlink, I've done some reading in that area. I'm not totally convinced, but for sheer gross out factors, it is difficult to beat what the Sami used to do with fly agoric.

Lissa--I'll just take your word on that one. This is a food blog, after all!

Feel the same way about ham (except with eggs). This is stronger than I just don't like them (like liver). Just the thought of either is shudder inducing.

I have a weird ham phobia too. I like ham, and will eat it by itself or on a sandwich, no problem. But the thought of diced up, warm ham in cheesy or egg things just makes me gag for no discernable reason. Mac & Cheese with Ham...serious gag factor...ugh!

I saw the photo on Friday and combined with Hal's comment, it's taken me this long to recover. shudder

I was wondering if you were okay Yum!

Thanks, Trixie. Lurking but not posting much at all.

I never thought I had a food phobia until last week. I was browsing the meat counter at Giant and saw chicken feet. For some reason it really freaked me out, had to run, not walk, away.

You've been missed!

Welcome back, YumPo! Glad to see you still have your jaunty party hat.

Thank you, Trixie and Dahlink --if you could only see my fabulous champagne glass stilettos!

YumPo, I can see them clearly in my mind's eye!