People Weigh In On What Single Ingredient They Believe Completely Ruins Any Dish It's Added To

We all have at least one "hard no" food that simply cannot be tolerated, ever.

Elana

• Published in Funny
• April 27, 2022

What do you think is easier: to talk about your all-time favorite food or talk about the food you hate with every fiber of your being? Perhaps you feel they're equally easy to ramble on about?

Either way, if someone asks you a question as simple as what you hate or love the most, you probably find it pretty easy to answer. After all, we tend to be pretty set in our ways and have strong opinions, especially when it comes to food.

For example, when it comes to savory dishes there isn't much I wouldn't gladly add onions or at least powdered onion seasoning to. In contrast, my best friend hates onions so intensely that she actively reads ingredients and won't buy anything that has onion in it if she can avoid it.

I suppose for her, answering the question posed by Reddit user "CertifiedAnus" would be really easy. He turned to the r/AskReddit community to inquire: "What single ingredient spoils an entire food dish for you if it’s included?"

Over 12k comments later a fascinating conversation revealed that quite a few people would agree on at least 15 ingredients that are a "hard no" in their book. Check out the highlights below:

1. Warm Radish

2. Coconut Oil for Breakfast

3. Beans

4. Cilantro / Coriander

Fun Fact: Some people have a gene that makes cilantro taste like soap.

According to Brittanica.com:

"This genetic quirk is usually only found in a small percent of the population, though it varies geographically. Interestingly, places where cilantro is especially popular, such as Central America and India, have fewer people with these genes, which might explain how the herb was able to become such a mainstay in those regions.

East Asians have the highest incidence of this variation, with some studies showing that nearly 20% of the population experiences soapy-tasting cilantro."

5. Caraway Seeds

Writing for NPR, Domenica Marchetti described caraway seeds as such:

"In flavor, it lacks the Mediterranean perfume of its cousin fennel or the allure of cumin, another close relative. Its aroma is sharp and slightly aggressive, and if you bite into a seed on its own, there is, at first, a certain soapiness to its flavor."

6. Jello

7. Miracle Whip

8. Celery

9. Fennel

10. Fish on pizza

Oh no.

11. Gristle / Fat

12. Anise

Wikipedia explains:

"Anise, also called aniseed or rarely anix, is a flowering plant in the family Apiaceae native to the eastern Mediterranean region and Southwest Asia. The flavor and aroma of its seeds have similarities with some other spices and herbs, such as star anise, fennel, licorice, and tarragon."

13. Belnded Cauliflower

14. Eggplant / Aubergine

Fun Fact: Depending where you live, you'll call it either eggplant or aubergine.

TheCookful.com explains:

"Aubergine is a French word, and it is how Europeans refer to what Americans would typically call an eggplant. We call it eggplant because the original aubergine that was brought to North America by immigrants looked like white eggs."

15. Cloves

You have to admit, this is a fascinating conversation to have. What ingredients, seasonings, herbs, and foods may be commonplace to one person can be detestable to another, especially if those two people live on opposite sides of the world.

Still, there's a reason these 15 responses had the most upvotes! A whole lot of people must concur with these assessments.

What do you think? Are there foods you expected to see on this list but didn't, or did you find your own "hard no" on the list already?

Elana