Food can be a very emotional topic. A cozy, home-cooked meal that your mother made for you as a child can immediately fill you with comfort and nostalgia, while a simple, cold sandwich might remind you of your days as a student, forced to eat as budget-friendly as possible.
But regardless of what we like to eat, we all have at least one controversial opinion about food that we might keep to ourselves, for fear of judgment from others. Redditors have recently been opening up about their most unpopular culinary opinions, so we’ve gathered some of the hottest takes down below. Enjoy reading through these opinions that might get you heated, and be sure to upvote the ones that you secretly agree with!
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The "pineapple on pizza is just wrong" argument is b******t. Eat whatever combination of food tastes good to you. I don't like country music but I don't give a damn if YOU do.
Culture war b******t on food is nonsense. I should be allowed to abstain from or add condiments on basic food like burgers or hot dogs. The people who get legitimately angry over this are guaranteed to be a******s in every other aspect of life.
I’ll never understand people who get so up in arms about how other people get their steak cooked. I personally wouldn’t get my steak well done but I sure don’t give af if someone else does…I’m not eating it; it’s not my food. Who cares.
To find out how this conversation started in the first place, we reached out to Reddit user Deathbykoolaidman, who invited others to share their unpopular opinions about food. In their post, the OP noted that they despise pickles and that they refuse to use ketchup as an ingredient in a recipe (though they will eat it as a condiment).
As far as what inspired Deathbykoolaidman to start this thread, they told Bored Panda, "I was just curious. I had been hated on for my pickle opinion by many people and wanted to see what other crazy food opinions the people of the internet had."
I have to admit that I always hated pickles too until I was about 18 years old, so I can sympathize!
Oysters on the half shell are not luscious. They are like eating snot.
And anything you just have to swallow with out chewing seems pointless.
It really is okay to put ketchup on a hot dog.
In Australia its the main thing we put on our snags (sausages,hotdogs etc) we call ketchup, sauce
We also asked the OP if they had any other controversial opinions about food, aside from hating pickles and refusing to cook with ketchup. "I prefer cake with either very little, or no frosting at all," they shared. "It’s sickly sweet, gets stuck in my mouth and makes your hands messy. Perfectly good cupcakes get overpowered when giant dollops of frosting are piled on the top."
Authenticity doesn’t matter. Nothing is authentic. Everything has been and will be adapted to fit local availability and taste. Authenticity is a way for people to pretend like they know something about a culture or place and seem “cool”.
For most dishes you’ll can ask a dozen people in the original area how they make it and you’ll get a dozen answers.
I was going to come on here and say something like "except for recipes handed down from my mother's family" but had second thoughts about saying it. I hate to admit it but this person is right. I've altered or adjusted the couple of recipes I make on a regular basis, mostly the order of adding ingredients or baking time. I've also done the same to recipes out of cookbooks that I've been making for decades (I really need to write down some of these adjustments sometime).
A lot of people massively conflate spicy food with seasoned food and some people who *love* spicy food cannot taste most of what they cook anymore other than heat so their food has no actual flavor other than burning.
If you are miserable for a while because of the heat then what is the point and if that is all you experience what is the point other than bragging rights.
As far as why people are so passionate about their food opinions, Deathbykoolaidman says it's only natural. "Of course you’ll think your opinion is right! It’s like how everybody insists their grandma made the best cookies or apple pie," they explained. "You grew up with it, so you’ll assume it’s the only right answer. However, some people got very angry over other peoples opinions, and it’s like, just let people live!"
Most sweet desserts, especially in the US, actually have far too much sugar which overpowers the complexity of flavours. Icing sugar is particularly nasty in this regard. You don't need it.
I've read somewhere that even American bread is categorized as dessert in some other countries because it contains way too much sugar. Does anyone know if that's true? Edit: typo
The pickle thing was me like 5 years ago.
I went 40 years of my life hating f*****g pickles. No kind of pickled vegetable. It was gross as hell to me. If a pickle was even on food, it ruined it for me, but I accidentally ate them plenty of times. Hated em every time.
One day, a restaurant gave me the wrong order, gave me a bunch of cheeseburgers extra mustard and pickles, I was already home, and hungry as hell...so I ate them. And they were really, really good. And I've been slowly acquiring more of a taste for pickles since.
Food is weird man.
We also asked the OP what they thought about the responses to their post. "Some of the answers shocked me, although I’m not sure what I expected, as it was meant for unpopular opinions," they shared. "Lots of people noted their dislike for steak, which is my favorite food."
Not every dish is improved by a block of cream cheese. Looking at you, TikTok cooks. .
"Many others said they felt the same way i did about pickles with raw onions, which shocked me because raw is the only way i will eat onions," Deathbykoolaidman continued.
"Others did in fact get personally offended by my pickle opinion, as expected. One user told me to 'stop being a little baby and eat it,'" they added with a laugh. "Never thought someone disliking pickles would garner that strong of a response, but to each their own!"
Truffle flavour ruins food. Truffle fries, truffle oil on pizza. It’s supposed to be fancy and elevate meals but truffle anything tastes worse than without truffle
Chili is just a spice. Like most spices, it works great in certain types of dishes, but can ruin others. Your ability to stomach various chilis or hot sauces is not that interesting, and far from enough to serve as a corner stone of a personality.
We never hear people obsess about sage, nutmeg, star anise, or dill, but with chili it’s a different story.
Don’t get me started on dill. Where there’s a dill there’s a way. 🌿
We hope you're enjoying scrolling through these unpopular opinions, pandas! Keep upvoting the ones you can't help but agree with, and let us know even more of your hot takes down below. Then, if you're interested in checking out a Bored Panda list discussing food trends people hate, we recommend reading this article next!
I don’t understand the hype about avocado.
The taste, the texture, the color. It’s all horrible to me.
I can maybe get behind guacamole, if properly done and there’s no chunks of avocado in there, but otherwise, please just keep it far from me.
I like boring, soggy, steamed/boiled frozen vegetables. There. I said it.
I am a tomato snob, I don’t put them on anything unless they come from my garden in July and August. Otherwise it’s just a mealy red thing that tastes vaguely like tomato water.
I prefer boneless chicken wings. They’re just easier to eat.
Hard tacos are actively unpleasant and a terrible vehicle for otherwise good food.
That they call that fried shells monstruosities "Mexican Food" gives me cringe everytime. Theres nothing like that in Mexico and it would not even qualify as "taco" as it does not envelope the food, it just holds it. This is as Mexican as a California roll is Japanese or a Deepdish pizza is Italian
I love love love candy corn.
Candy corn, Peeps, fruitcake... I like them but after taking a bite I remember why I only eat them once or twice a year.....
I love grating fresh parm for most dishes but sometimes that chump Kraft stuff just hits the spot.
I've said it before: I may be one of the only people on earth who LOATHES Parmesan cheese. I don't care if it's an actual block of it, or the Kraft powdered crud. I hate both. I love nearly every other cheese I've ever eaten, though XD Just not Parmesan. :(
The biggest problem with home cooking is that very few people add enough salt. It's not about making it salty, it's about enhancing the flavours. When I eat in other people's houses or in restaurants I never add salt until I taste it first. I love when I don't need to reach for or add salt and 100% of the times when I think it doesn't require salt, no one else mentions anything about it being too salty but instead raves about how amazing it is. If I do end up adding salt to a dish after it has been served to me,in public, I get nothing but comments from other people about how I eat far too much salt.
There should be enough garnish on a dish to have some in every single bite.
Baking's not that hard and the degree to which it's an exact science is wildly overrated. Unless you're a professional it's just unlikely you'll ever get a comparable amount of baking experience vs cooking such that you can improvise. The major tricky difference is just that there's no trying the product partway through to know if you're on the right track. But there's plenty of reasonable leeway if you know what you're doing.
Cauliflower rice is the same mealy mouth feel as a red delicious apple.
I can’t stand the flavor of Hershey syrup or its imitators. Anything chocolate made with chocolate syrup, it’s very obvious and not good at all.
I don’t care for tomatoes on sandwiches only because it makes the bread soggy and there is nothing worse than soggy bread for your sandwich
I think raw onions are disgusting. Eating raw onions in the office is a sign of hostility, IMO. I love them cooked, though. It's weird.
The entire 'no such thing as too much garlic '
But maybe that's cause I cannot digest garlic and onions so I have a reason to be grumpy about it.
I don't dump on others about it though! I'm jealous I miss garlic cheese bread!
A little garlic goes a long way... if it's used properly you don't need much.
Deep fried anything is better with malt vinegar.
How about deep fried Mars bar? Was popular in Scotland and for a while in some parts of England.
Picky eaters shouldn't be coddled. Especially adults whose diets are similar to what you'd find on a kid's menu at a restaurant.
If people can figure something for themselves to eat and not make it other peoples problem, then it's fine. Leave us alone
I hate bow shaped pasta! It pisses me off! It’s so stupid! There I said it! God I feel so good now, I’m off for a swim with my new found ability to breath after I got that off my chest!
Soda is overrated. Carbonation is annoying. Its not even a top 10 beverage.
Mint chocolate chip ice cream is one of the worst flavors out there. That is a hill I WILL die on.
When pancakes, waffles, or French toast get saturated with syrup, the texture is disgusting. These foods are far better topped with something less likely to absorb, such as peanut butter, jam, whipped cream, or Nutella.
Everyone ive ever met gets REALLY upset when i say i dont like peanut butter. its not entirely true, as i like peanut butter in a single application: peanut butter and pickle sandwiches. which they think im unhinged for. apparently its a common pregnancy craving. i think i just crave it because i have a chronic salt deficiency, unless ive been pregnant for (checks notes) 8 years. i also dont like chocolate very much at all. white chocolate is better.
anyway, as someone who is a fiend for pickles, i never get upset when someone doesnt like pickles. it just means more for me!
I only get mad at my husband because he's very dramatic about his hatred for peanut butter, calling it the devil's axel grease among other things. I get it, you don't like it, nobody is forcing you to eat it. LOL
I refuse to cook anything that includes ketchup in the recipe. I can use ketchup as a dip for many things. but as soon as it's listed as an ingredient? can’t stand it
Pancakes, waffles, and french toast aren't meant to be a regular meal, They're a dessert.
pickles ruin food for me. to me, they’re just crunchy vinegar and i can’t even stand the smell of them, let alone taste. they ruin burgers and sandwiches for me, because it makes everything else taste like pickle. if i order something that has pickles i have to order it with no pickles. i can’t even just take them off myself, which i do with other food i don’t like that come on my orders. i’ll still get the essence of pickle on my taste buds
This! Any other solid ingredient I can remove. I can take bell peppers out of my salad. I can take the tomatoes off of my burger. Pickle juice just stays and soaks in. Yuck! You all pickle lovers are welcome to my share!
I don't understand why people are obsessed with pasta and bread. I'll eat it, but I don't lose my mind over it.
I feel the way you feel about pickle about tomatoes *specifically* on sandwiches. I like tomato. I can pop cherry tomatoes as a snack. But NOTHING ruins a sandwich for me more than sliced tomato on it. Now it’s all I can taste, none of the meats, cheeses or spreads; just wet overwhelming tomato flavor.
I can’t stand macaroni and cheese.
Melons ruin everything they come into contact with. Everything smells and tastes like the melon and I will refuse to eat any fruit that touches it. Watermelon on the other hand is delicious. Unless, of course, it comes into contact with cantaloupe or honeydew. (Those are the 2 types I'm familiar with, maybe another variety would taste better to me).
Melon has always been my favourite fruit. I have to eat it really quickly now though as otherwise my cats will be taking it out of my hand.
I cannot stand ziti. There’s zero texture, nothing holding the sauce on, nothing to make it interesting. Its just a slimy noodle that slides around.
Berries and chocolate don't belong together. Strawberries dipped in chocolate for example. The one is fresh and juicy the other has to melt in your mouth be enjoyed.
Pepperoni does not belong on pizza. The flavor overpowers all other flavors so that you only taste pepperoni.
Most of these boil down to "you do you", except those who want to pontificate about how horrible one thing or another is. We get it, Blanche, you only like one kind of pasta, cool off.
Ha. These were cute. Interesting takes on personal likes and dislikes that go against the popular opinion.
Load More Replies...Yes! It's like a mild vinegary taste. Gross. People pimp it out because it's supposed to be healthy and so many people act like it tastes good and I'm like... no it doesn't you weirdo! I'd rather just drink water.
Load More Replies...My wife and I don't like onions. For me it goes back to my mother using way too much in her cooking. If a recipe calls for onions, we either leave them out or use a bit of garlic instead.
I'd give onion powder a go. It's a gentler flavour with none of the onion texture.
Load More Replies...I don't like coffee, or beer, or dark chocolate - they are all extremely bitter to me. I tried to force myself to drink in college and I just assumed everyone else was too and that eventually I would get used to it; I'm still perplexed that anyone likes the taste
Some types of bitterness are palatable to me and some are not. I think maybe there are other mitigating factors involved. I love chocolate, but dark chocolate is too bitter. But the after-bitterness of stevia is always too much.
Load More Replies...Yeah kind of funny. I have the "tastes like soap" gene. Can eat it when it's blended in very fine as a seasoning, but if there's leafy chunks you may as well have shaved irish spring into my food.
Load More Replies...Cooking is art. You do what you want with it. 🍳👨🍳👩🍳 Baking is science. You must be precise with the measurements 🎂👨🔬👩🔬
I mostly disagree. I've been baking for 40 yrs and worked at a bakery for my first job. The Pastier gave me simple tips that helped me gain confidence. Here's the biggest mistakes I've seen in baking: 1) There are 2 types of measuring cups, liquid and dry. This is where the falsehood of being precise arises because recipes typically call for ounces or grams to combat this. 2) ALWAYS sift flour into a separate bowl (unless told not to do so) and lightly spoon into dry measuring cup. 3) "Pack" brown sugar where it maintains the shape of the measuring cup. 4) Baking soda and baking powder are not interchangeable, but both cause rising. 5) Butter and oil cannot be substituted in all recipes and not at the same measurement. I could go on... but if you follow those steps, you'll be baking edible baked goods.
Load More Replies...Anything sweet these days is too sweet. Chocolates are way too sweet to the point where I avoid most of them. Indian sweets are also getting too sweet as I’m not able to taste the saffron or elaichi or any of the other flavours because the sweetness overpowers them.
For me, it's sushi. I like it, but it's expensive when I'm hungry an hour later. Then there's crab legs. Stupid expensive for the small amount of food AND it's work. Even if I had endless crab legs, I can't eat them fast enough to satisfy my hunger. Then, there's buffalo wings... Smells like dirty feet and a lot of work for little reward. Lol. I generally don't like food you have to eat with your hands.
For me, it's green beans. I can tolerate most things but green beans? I'll start gagging.
Which preparation? Fresh ones Steamed with butter and salt are amazing, but cafeteria style overcooked with soggy bacon are disgusting
Load More Replies...Most Mangoes you get in the US are a pale imitation of the flavors, varieties and textures that are found in India. Just returned from a trip there and it was Mango season there. Astounding varieties. Ate Rasalu, Dasheri, Banganapalle, Alphonso, Kesar, Totapuri, Jawahar, Malgova... Unfortunately no Langda as it was too early for that.
lol, most mangoes you get in the US are from India. India is the leader quantity wise. But their quality doesn’t even come close to those produced in SE Asia. The best mangoes in the world come from the Philippines, Vietnam or Malaysia. Forget about India.
Load More Replies...Coffee and alcohol are ridiculously overrated. There, I said it and I’ll say it again if I have to.
coffee tastes and smells like vomit to me. I've literally almost barfed in coffee shops before because the smell is so rancid yet my friends adore it for some reason
Load More Replies...I loved this post. People are more passionate about food than anything else. It was very enjoyable
Brussels sprouts in the air fryer tho ! My new fave and isn’t Canadian bacon just ham ?
Load More Replies...My nope is crab boil. Doesn’t matter what is in it, if there’s corn. The whole pot tastes like corn and I can’t stand it
Boston cream pie is a cake and the mislabelling makes me so mad. How did this happen?
Stinky Tofu. It smells offensively bad yet so many people tell me it is nice once it's past your nose and in your mouth. I have tried it once because I had to show my wife, who was them my girlfriend, how serious I was about something. All I remember is the hesitation, making the stench worse and the cold, soggy, gelatinous texture that was underwhelmingly spicy. All in all that single mouthful I had was more than enough to know never again. The aroma is best described as 🤔 sour diarrhea leaked from a rusted sewer on a hot day after a typhoon with hints of congealed vomitty capsaicin and notes of stale sweaty onions.
I'm also so tired of matcha being in everything as a healthy alternative that people are trying to convince me tastes good. No it doesn't. Stop lying, you lying liar. Matcha is disgusting.
for some reason, I can't taste bitter things that strongly so normal teabag tea tastes like water to me no matter how long it's brewed. matcha is the only way I can enjoy the taste of tea, so maybe I'm biased
Load More Replies...I'm going to add one I know I'll get stabbed over, but spaghetti. I don't understand how people eat spaghetti with meatballs or whatever. I just find the texture to be really strange. I'd rather eat lasagna and get the same flavor profile. I just hate spaghetti noodles and any tomato sauce out of a can/jar.
I believe the reason so many people hate fruits and veggies is because they're tasting all the bug poison in them. Try organic versions - they really do taste better.
I thought this was why I hated bananas. When I switched to organic, it was nice that my tongue didn't swell up, but after a few trial days I found I still hated bananas.
Load More Replies...Most of these boil down to "you do you", except those who want to pontificate about how horrible one thing or another is. We get it, Blanche, you only like one kind of pasta, cool off.
Ha. These were cute. Interesting takes on personal likes and dislikes that go against the popular opinion.
Load More Replies...Yes! It's like a mild vinegary taste. Gross. People pimp it out because it's supposed to be healthy and so many people act like it tastes good and I'm like... no it doesn't you weirdo! I'd rather just drink water.
Load More Replies...My wife and I don't like onions. For me it goes back to my mother using way too much in her cooking. If a recipe calls for onions, we either leave them out or use a bit of garlic instead.
I'd give onion powder a go. It's a gentler flavour with none of the onion texture.
Load More Replies...I don't like coffee, or beer, or dark chocolate - they are all extremely bitter to me. I tried to force myself to drink in college and I just assumed everyone else was too and that eventually I would get used to it; I'm still perplexed that anyone likes the taste
Some types of bitterness are palatable to me and some are not. I think maybe there are other mitigating factors involved. I love chocolate, but dark chocolate is too bitter. But the after-bitterness of stevia is always too much.
Load More Replies...Yeah kind of funny. I have the "tastes like soap" gene. Can eat it when it's blended in very fine as a seasoning, but if there's leafy chunks you may as well have shaved irish spring into my food.
Load More Replies...Cooking is art. You do what you want with it. 🍳👨🍳👩🍳 Baking is science. You must be precise with the measurements 🎂👨🔬👩🔬
I mostly disagree. I've been baking for 40 yrs and worked at a bakery for my first job. The Pastier gave me simple tips that helped me gain confidence. Here's the biggest mistakes I've seen in baking: 1) There are 2 types of measuring cups, liquid and dry. This is where the falsehood of being precise arises because recipes typically call for ounces or grams to combat this. 2) ALWAYS sift flour into a separate bowl (unless told not to do so) and lightly spoon into dry measuring cup. 3) "Pack" brown sugar where it maintains the shape of the measuring cup. 4) Baking soda and baking powder are not interchangeable, but both cause rising. 5) Butter and oil cannot be substituted in all recipes and not at the same measurement. I could go on... but if you follow those steps, you'll be baking edible baked goods.
Load More Replies...Anything sweet these days is too sweet. Chocolates are way too sweet to the point where I avoid most of them. Indian sweets are also getting too sweet as I’m not able to taste the saffron or elaichi or any of the other flavours because the sweetness overpowers them.
For me, it's sushi. I like it, but it's expensive when I'm hungry an hour later. Then there's crab legs. Stupid expensive for the small amount of food AND it's work. Even if I had endless crab legs, I can't eat them fast enough to satisfy my hunger. Then, there's buffalo wings... Smells like dirty feet and a lot of work for little reward. Lol. I generally don't like food you have to eat with your hands.
For me, it's green beans. I can tolerate most things but green beans? I'll start gagging.
Which preparation? Fresh ones Steamed with butter and salt are amazing, but cafeteria style overcooked with soggy bacon are disgusting
Load More Replies...Most Mangoes you get in the US are a pale imitation of the flavors, varieties and textures that are found in India. Just returned from a trip there and it was Mango season there. Astounding varieties. Ate Rasalu, Dasheri, Banganapalle, Alphonso, Kesar, Totapuri, Jawahar, Malgova... Unfortunately no Langda as it was too early for that.
lol, most mangoes you get in the US are from India. India is the leader quantity wise. But their quality doesn’t even come close to those produced in SE Asia. The best mangoes in the world come from the Philippines, Vietnam or Malaysia. Forget about India.
Load More Replies...Coffee and alcohol are ridiculously overrated. There, I said it and I’ll say it again if I have to.
coffee tastes and smells like vomit to me. I've literally almost barfed in coffee shops before because the smell is so rancid yet my friends adore it for some reason
Load More Replies...I loved this post. People are more passionate about food than anything else. It was very enjoyable
Brussels sprouts in the air fryer tho ! My new fave and isn’t Canadian bacon just ham ?
Load More Replies...My nope is crab boil. Doesn’t matter what is in it, if there’s corn. The whole pot tastes like corn and I can’t stand it
Boston cream pie is a cake and the mislabelling makes me so mad. How did this happen?
Stinky Tofu. It smells offensively bad yet so many people tell me it is nice once it's past your nose and in your mouth. I have tried it once because I had to show my wife, who was them my girlfriend, how serious I was about something. All I remember is the hesitation, making the stench worse and the cold, soggy, gelatinous texture that was underwhelmingly spicy. All in all that single mouthful I had was more than enough to know never again. The aroma is best described as 🤔 sour diarrhea leaked from a rusted sewer on a hot day after a typhoon with hints of congealed vomitty capsaicin and notes of stale sweaty onions.
I'm also so tired of matcha being in everything as a healthy alternative that people are trying to convince me tastes good. No it doesn't. Stop lying, you lying liar. Matcha is disgusting.
for some reason, I can't taste bitter things that strongly so normal teabag tea tastes like water to me no matter how long it's brewed. matcha is the only way I can enjoy the taste of tea, so maybe I'm biased
Load More Replies...I'm going to add one I know I'll get stabbed over, but spaghetti. I don't understand how people eat spaghetti with meatballs or whatever. I just find the texture to be really strange. I'd rather eat lasagna and get the same flavor profile. I just hate spaghetti noodles and any tomato sauce out of a can/jar.
I believe the reason so many people hate fruits and veggies is because they're tasting all the bug poison in them. Try organic versions - they really do taste better.
I thought this was why I hated bananas. When I switched to organic, it was nice that my tongue didn't swell up, but after a few trial days I found I still hated bananas.
Load More Replies...