DXBtoDOH

I've only had a kebab once in the UK.

Was out for the next week with food poisoning.

Something rather rank about kebab shops. Always look like greasy pits with suspect staff who look like they'd be quite happy to rob you and leave you half dead in a darkened alley on a darker than black coffee night if they could get away with it. And the smell! Takes away any appetite I have.

jam25mack

DXBtoDOH

When you've been sick it's hard to go back. Breeding grounds for bacteria.

scrubbedexpat141

I agree with that, but kebabs are fundamentally wonderful.

If a fine, delicious steak had made you as sick as one at the Meat Co here made me, would you have steak again?

I do, I eat steak all the time and that one I ate made me almost shit the bed. In fact, you could argue that I actually shit my pants whilst in bed so I did shit the bed. But I don't hold it against all steaks. It's not fair on the steak world to punish them all because of one bad fillet.

DXBtoDOH

As with anything food related, it's psychological. It's a combination of the smell and the bacteria breeding ground meat turnstile and sight of raw meat barely cooked on the spit (including chicken) plus the frequency of people who have suffered food poisoning from eating kebabs AND the often grubby staff in the often grubby premises that keeps me away, even though I'm pragmatic enough to know millions enjoy kebabs daily and survive to tell the tale. Just not my thing.

jam25mack

Nah. Same thoughts as Scamp on this. Got food poisoning from some seafood years ago. Felt truly awful for a full week. Full on both ends. Love seafood tho, so put it down to just that, dodgy seafood. Kebab places have to adhere to the same hygiene standards as everyone else.

Certain booze on the other hand does leave a lasting impression. Took me years to be able to drink dark rum after overindulging once as a teenager..... and probably the only reason I persevered was because its something of a family drink so sometimes needs must rather than staying sober.

DXBtoDOH

So... what are the foods you cannot or will not eat?

Me:

Doner kebabs (already explained)
Bananas
Okra
Meat that is not: chicken, beef, lamb or pork
Fat from any meat
Peanut butter
Salad creme
Licorice flavoured anything
Anise / fennel

Not wild about and rarely ever but still can eat when obliged to:
Indian food
Spicy food in general with one or two rare exceptions
Potatoes that aren't chips or crisps
Aubergines
Green capiscums
Sweets
Macaroni and cheese

Do not / will not drink:
Ouzo
Anything Greek
Chardonnay
Irn bru (any soda that is not regular / diet coke)
Most apertif liquours. Sticky, nasty stuff
Vodka
Whisky

Just a short selection. What about yours?

Bahtatboy

Won't eat:
Double-fermented Korean soya soup (genuinely smells like vomit)
Aged/fermented Korean fish, about 20% ammonia
Clams (they induce panic-like symptoms)

Tolerate but not keen:
Chickens rectums

Won't drink:
Chinese high-alcohol spirit (tastes like I imagine rocket fuel tastes, I can still taste it 3 days later)
Non-diet fizzy drinks (except Tonic when there's no Diet Tonic available and the gin's beckoning)

That's about it. The list of loves is too long -- provided someone's put their heart into cooking it, I'll gladly eat it. Everything else is just fuel.

jam25mack

And I thought I was picky!

Me:

Most vegetables, although I'm trying (and failing)
Baked beans
Bananas
Aniseed anything
Marzipan
Sweet corn (whats the point?)
Coffee
Lard
Most Filipino food

DXBtoDOH

You can add most of the above to my list, except vegetables and coffee.

As for Filipino food, this is the one legitimate area where it's safe to use without looking like an immature teenager.

scrubbedexpat141

Will not:
Shellfish
Tomatoes
Mushrooms
Tuna
Mash Potato
Non-white fish

Try not to:
Fish in general to be honest.
Boring veg (cauli etc)


That's a lovely sentiment. I'm going to use that. Next time someone cooks for me and has tried hard and prepared it carefully and done it out of the goodness of their heart I'll enjoy it even more.

UKCityGent

Try not to eat pork or turkey or stews/casseroles (I think its the idea of cooked flour that puts me off!) - other than that I am very adventurous for food


I think my last meal would be a slab of medium ribeye (using butter) with blue cheese and proper chunky chips fried in goose fat (sod the obligatory salad !!)

Pica

All this talk of MEAT is making me feel quite nauseous. I do cook it for my OH but something deep in my psyche recoils somewhat and I don't know why!!!! During one of my pregnancies just walking past a butcher's window or whatever would have me gagging. There IS a smell to all meats & I suppose it can be offputting to sensitive souls who associate it with killing, chopping & eating what was once a live creature- there's always carrots

jam25mack

Racist.

Miss Ann Thrope

And there, just when I thought we had gone full-on expatwomen.com, the usual suspect (and the one who led us down this dangerous path) pulls it back from the brink...