We all have one: that one food we HATE more than anything else. No matter what we do, how many times we try it, how shocked our friends are that we don't like it, this food remains our culinary archenemy. And we're not talking commonly hated eats like liver or durian, either. These are everyday items that somehow, certain people just can not oblige.
Since most of us avoid said foods like the plague, we wanted to see what people really look like when they take a big bite of whatever it is they can't stand. Maybe it's not as bad as they thought? So, we asked R29 staffers to volunteer for a photo shoot where they'd have to eat their least favorite food (in many cases, for the first time in years) on camera. Their faces are priceless. Not pictured: the trash can into which almost all the sample bites were immediately spat.
Name: Sam
Enemy Food: Celery
What is it about celery that you don't like?
"I hate the smell, consistency, taste, flavor, EVERYTHING ABOUT IT."
Do you remember the first time you tried it?
"My uncle and cousins used to eat celery with that canned spray cheese on it. I remember always hating the smell. The first time I ever tried it was in tuna salad. It made me gag, and I never want to eat it again."
Photographed by Tory Rust; Hair and Makeup by Andi Yancey.
This is not the face of a happy woman.
Photographed by Tory Rust; Hair and Makeup by Andi Yancey.
Name: Gabriel
Enemy Food: Peanut butter
What is it about peanut butter that you don't like?
"I hate the flavor of peanut butter. It's very pungent and overwhelming to me. I actually love the texture. But, I hate how the flavor then sticks to my entire mouth after I've eaten it."
Do you remember the first time you tried it?
"Peanut butter was a fixture of most childhoods, so I can't remember the first time I tried it, but I was rather young. I always had a very negative reaction to it."
Photographed by Tory Rust; Hair and Makeup by Andi Yancey.
Still making him gag, decades later.
Photographed by Tory Rust; Hair and Makeup by Andi Yancey.
Name: Mallory
Enemy Food: Goat cheese
What is it about goat cheese that you don't like?
"It's the taste. It's so powerful and it ruins the taste of anything it touches. It's like eating sour mud. I don't mind food with that texture, but when it's goat cheese, it does bother me. This is because it attaches to everything it touches and you can't avoid it if it's on a cheese plate with one knife. Its taste will stick onto everything."
Do you remember the first time you tried it?
"I was staying with a friend's family in France. I was really excited to have a cheese dish at their dinner; I didn't think it was possible to not like a cheese, but after my first bite, I realized that it was! I didn't want to be rude or offend them, so I politely continued to eat it. "
Photographed by Tory Rust; Hair and Makeup by Andi Yancey.
Sometimes one bite is all it takes...
Photographed by Tory Rust; Hair and Makeup by Andi Yancey.
Name: Elliot
Enemy Food: Avocado
What is it about avocado that you don't like?
"I am the kind of person who loves a spectrum of flavors from sugary sweet to dangerously spicy. However, I feel like the flavor of avocados is like clay."
Do you remember the first time you tried one?
"I grew up in Texas, where avocados are like the state fruit (not really, but you get the idea). It was most likely in guacamole. I also don't like onions (I know, I know, I'm a picky eater), so the combo of avocados and onions in this guacamole probably turned me off after the first bite."
Photographed by Tory Rust; Hair and Makeup by Andi Yancey.
Elliot would like to note that he was the only person in the shoot who managed to avoid spitting out his hated food — but he still doesn't like it one bit.
Photographed by Tory Rust; Hair and Makeup by Andi Yancey.
Name: Deb
Enemy Food: Kombucha
What is it about kombucha that you don't like?
"I hate the taste. It's horrible! I usually LOVE carbonated beverages, too, and kombucha manages to screw that up!"
Do you remember the first time you tried it?
I was at a health-food store in college and saw a bottle of strawberry kombucha. Thinking it was strawberry soda, I purchased it, took a big gulp, and nearly vomited. I remember yelling, 'THIS TASTES LIKE STRAWBERRY FOOT!'"
Photographed by Tory Rust; Hair and Makeup by Andi Yancey.
No no no no no no.
Photographed by Tory Rust; Hair and Makeup by Andi Yancey.
Name: Victoria
Enemy Food: Pickles
What is it about pickles that you don't like?
"The flavor is just foul to me. They smell gross and taste even grosser. I gag every time!"
Do you remember the first time you tried them?
"I can't remember the first time I tried it and didn't like it, but I do remember throwing up in a restaurant once when I ate one as a bet. That was the final time I tried one."
Photographed by Tory Rust; Hair and Makeup by Andi Yancey.
Never again.
Photographed by Tory Rust; Hair and Makeup by Andi Yancey.
Name: Collins
Enemy Food: Carrots
What is it about carrots that you don't like?
"Honestly, raw carrots just taste like dirt to me. It's one of those dense flavors that once I start to eat, it just lingers in my mouth for WAY longer than I'd like. The super crunchiness of it really doesn't help their case, either. No thanks, the ground can keep them."
Do you remember the first time you tried them?
"I'm not exactly sure when I started hating them but it was definitely as a child. I probably had them in some salad my parents were trying to make me eat at the time. I hated most vegetables when I was a kid, but I'm quite the opposite now (with most)."
Photographed by Tory Rust; Hair and Makeup by Andi Yancey.
Collins and carrots are never, ever, ever getting back together.
Photographed by Tory Rust; Hair and Makeup by Andi Yancey.
Name: Eliza
Enemy Food: Olives
What is it about olives that you don't like?
"I hate olives primarily because of their taste. Texture doesn't really bother me, but why are they so goddamn salty?! Can someone explain? Also, their smell. There's one exception, though: I love martinis. But I never, read, NEVER, eat the olives. My friend and I jokingly call them poison."
Do you remember the first time you tried them?
"I think I had a black olive first before anything, and on pizza when I was really young. Same reaction — why, why, why are you so salty? I started picking them off my pizza."
Photographed by Tory Rust; Hair and Makeup by Andi Yancey.
Eliza says she's like a garbage can; she'll eat anything... except for olives.
Photographed by Tory Rust; Hair and Makeup by Andi Yancey.Like what you see? How about some more R29 goodness, right here?
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