What Makes You Gag?

I don’t consider myself a picky eater at all. There are a few foods that I dislike in general… bacon, marshmallows, eggplant. But even these foods I will eat every now and again if there isn’t another option available, or they are part of another dish and impossible to avoid.

But there is absolutely nothing worse than the dreaded banana. Everything about them grosses me out… the flavor, the slimy texture, the weird stringy things inside the peel, the little black seeds. Sometimes I will order a smoothie and even though I chose a recipe that didn’t contain banana, if the blender wasn’t washed out well enough after a previous banana shake, my own smoothie is ruined. All I can taste is banana and it just sicks me out. Banana bread, banana pudding, banana yogurt… I’d rather starve. I can’t tell you how many brunches I’ve attended where perfectly delicious fruit salads are poisoned by banana.

And don’t even get me started on artificial banana flavoring. It takes me twice as long to get through a box of Jelly Bellies because I have to make absolutely certain I don’t accidentally ingest a banana flavored bean. Runts… I won’t even bother with them. There are always more yellow ones, so I end up throwing about half of them away. Even the smell of a banana flavored Laffy Taffy makes me nauseous. And I can’t tell you how many times someone has offered me a handful of Mike and Ikes that I’ve had to spit out because a strawberry/banana flavored candy snuck its way in there.

However, I get these strange cravings about twice a year. Sometimes I will feel the urge to eat a sliced banana on plain Cheerios, and other times I just need to eat a banana with a little peanut butter on every bite. But lately, my appetite has increased. My boyfriend is constantly buying bananas for his breakfast, and a couple times last week I grabbed one on my way out the door. And somehow, lo and behold, a banana with peanut butter has become my favorite breakfast food!

Someone once told me that your taste buds change every seven years, and that’s why as an adult you begin to like foods you once hated as a kid. I guess I buy that… I can list multiple items I used to hate but now think are delicious: beets, seafood, spicy food, coffee… the list goes on.

So either my taste buds have changed, or I am just finally getting used to the dreaded banana. Thinking of it mixed in with anything still makes me gag, though.

Are there any foods you particularly dislike?