CHAT What was the worst food you had to eat as a kid

[cyberiot]

Today, there are much better books and cooking shows than there were in the late 60s when Julia Child was the rage. Her version of French cooking contained many steps, some of which just weren't doable for unskilled cooks. One of her recipes for duck had a solid two pages of steps, as I recall.

If my mom had been able to watch youtube or even America's Test Kitchen, she would've improved immediately. That was her other problem: she couldn't follow written instructions all that well. Never did her mother. They mostly lived on sandwiches when another cousin wasn't around to cook for them.

I'm guessing that both my mother and grandmother missed the basics in home ec. I know that both went to high school, and that was a required class for women. I'm not sure what happened.

The cooking instruction in Home Ec was less than sterling at my middle school. The rule was that you had to eat what you cooked--if you ashcanned your food, you flunked. I remember making French toast so bad and ugly it was beyond inedible. When the teacher looked in the trashcan to verify it got eaten, she didn't recognize it.

 

[Terrwyn]

I wasn't made to eat anything I didn't like. But for years I couldn't even look at milk without barfing.

 

[NoDandy]

Liver. Mom didn’t make it often, thank goodness. When she did I loaded it with ketchup.

Same here. I hate liver !!! Whenever Mom made it, when she looked the other way, I would give it to my dog. He loved it.

I tried ketchup, etc. Never found a way for me to eat it.

 

[Jackpine Savage]

Sauerkraut, my Mom never made it but Grandma did quite often.

 

[psychgirl]

Sauerkraut, my Mom never made it but Grandma did quite often.

I thought I didn’t like sauerkraut but actually I do, in the right dish

 

[anney]

Liver and onions. Nope, no way.

 

[vessie]

My Japanese grandma feeding us congee with bonito flakes.

I'd rather drive a nail through my tongue than eat that!

It's the Japanese breakfast version of Cream of Wheat, or Grits, but from H*ll. Lol! V

 

[Groucho]

Absolutely... The worst food on the planet

Hang on there, are you implying that lima beans are food? For your sake I hope you're not Catholic, 'cause if you are, you're gonna have a whole lot of "Hail Mary's" to say.

 

[SSTemplar]

Cooked carrots.

 

[Raggedyman]

Polenta - your basic corn meal mush - when we were kids my mother would make a big pot of meat sauce and mix up a batch of polenta . . . they had a big white porcelain kitchen table they'd spread it out on the table and lather it up with meat sauce and Parmesan cheese . . . and you'd BETTER get some and act thankful for it - cuz that's what was for dinner

- PERIOD END -
you ATE what was on the table - or you DIDN'T - your choice becasue there were "no substitutions"​

back in the day polenta was poor folks food - now Ingles sells it in the Italian gourmet specialty area

imagine that

 

[wobble]

Cooked carrots.

Copper pennies! YUCK

 

[willowlady]

Parsnips, Rootabaga, and raw onions. Now I love onion as long as its been cooked enough to dissolve the membrane.

 

[Limner]

Breaded tomatoes. The only blessing is that they slid down the throat, no chewing required.

 

[Freeholder]

My mom made this horrid dessert made with white rice and raisins.

I like rice and I like raisons but each by themselves

My mom made Rice and Raisins, too, and we liked it! Sometimes had it for breakfast. Probably about as healthy as, and a lot cheaper than, any store-bought cereal. (For anyone who has never had it, it's rice cooked with raisins in it, then served like cereal with a little sugar sprinkled on top and milk poured over it. We often had some cinnamon sprinkled on it, too. If you don't like, or don't have, raisins, other fruits can be used, or just plain rice.)

Kathleen

 

[Raggedyman]

Lima beans.

Absolutely... The worst food on the planet

OMG!!!!
a huge bowl of Fordhook Lima's swimming in butter and some salt is counted among GOD's greatest gifts to mankind!!!​

back in the day some fresh caught slab side brim carefully filleted and pan fried along side of a bowl of Forhooks was common fare for a Kollitch kid on a tight budget

 

[Freeholder]

Mother made us lunches to take to school featuring beef tongue sandwiches. The meat was chewy and covered with taste buds.

She didn't know how to cook it. Tongue has to be skinned (easier after it's cooked), and it needs long, slow cooking, until it's so tender it's soft. I love the stuff, if it's cooked right.

Kathleen

 

[TxGal]

Lemon jello. I was at a friend's house and was given a small bowl of it. They had a rule that you eat all the food you're given, kind of a clean your plate rule. It must have been the texture, it just would not go down without me gagging. Thankfully, an older brother intervened and finished my portion...I think he knew what would happen if they tried to force the issue. To this day, I hate jello.

I could add fritos to the list. I can't even stand the smell of them.

 

[somewherepress]

Kidneys...

 

[Groucho]

OMG!!!!
a huge bowl of Fordhook Lima's swimming in butter and some salt is counted among GOD's greatest gifts to mankind!!!​

back in the day some fresh caught slab side brim carefully filleted and pan fried along side of a bowl of Forhooks was common fare for a Kollitch kid with on a tight budget

As long as you remember that for every pound of those..... those.....beans you consume, that's a pound of bacon that passes you by.

 

[Freeholder]

Worst food as a kid? Chicken guts!

We were poor, Mom would buy whole chickens as a Sunday treat. She'd give me the heart, gizzard, neck and wings and tell me how good they were. My older brother would sit there and snicker as she told me this. Mom would say this practically every time we had chicken, one time the brother laughed so hard tears came to his eyes. Finally I asked him what was so funny, he said I was eating the chicken guts and other parts no one wanted. I've never eaten that nasty stuff again, including giblet dressing.

I LIKE the heart and gizzard, cooked until tender...even like the livers, fried just until done.

My mom was, and is, a good cook. There were a few things I didn't like, growing up (come to find out later, there were probably food intolerance issues that we didn't know about back then -- corn, processed meats, and Velveeta cheese all made me sick to my stomach), but not much that I wouldn't eat. The one exception was on a hunting trip when Grandad fried up some caribou brains. None of us kids would touch them, and we really weren't that squeamish. I did try whale blubber when I was at college (small school in Alaska, had a Native Foods Day, and the native kids sent home for stuff for us all to try). That was disgusting -- tastes like rancid rotten fish.

Kathleen

 

[oops]

I’m sorry, guys...but this thread has had me in stitches on what some have trouble with...I shouldn’t laugh...know I shouldn’t...but in all fairness...when ya can choke down squirrel brains or pork brains with scrambled eggs...tongue...gizzards...n such...welllll...someone having trouble with a veggie...causes me to snicker...heh

 

[ioujc]

Yes I had to eat everything on my plate too>>>>if you didn't you got it the next meal and even the one after that>>>then the dog got it>>>>most of the time HE didn't even want to eat the charred mess!!

I don't understand ANYONE who would serve beef tongue with the taste buds still on it!!!! You are SUPPOSED to skin the tongue after it is cooked!! Personally, I think it is delicious! Always enjoyed sandwiches made from it!! Also had brains and eggs, and many other BIZZARE things that were old country cooking from the backwoods of Arkansas!! Fried green tomatoes, pickled peppers, grits, mincemeat pie and rhubarb pie and cornmeal mush>>>GOOD stuff for the most part. Could not handle tapioca pudding>>>>made me barf! Looked like fish eyes!! But the only one who liked was my mother, so we very seldom had it!! My Dad hated it too.

 

[PghPanther]

Speaking of grits...........

I'm from the north and never ate them............

.........but used to eat cream of wheat cereal and loved it...........

So when I first came down south I was at a breakfast buffet...........and I see them on the buffet and think.........I'll take a bowl of this cream of wheat cereal......

I put maple syrup on it and chowed it down.

Someone at our table who is a native of the South looked at me and said "so you like grits?"

I said "huh?........what are grits?..............this is cream of wheat cereal".

They said "nope.............those are grits"

So I said............"then grits are cream of wheat cereal to me because I can't tell the difference.........."

Does anyone else notice this or have I not see when all grits are like?

 

[cetansa]

Absolutely... The worst food on the planet

Fava Beans ... Lima beans on steroids.

 

[ShadowMan]

Canned beets and canned pureed yellow squash which my brother and I dubbed Baby Poop. If any of the juice from the canned beets touched some other food on the plate it was a no go. The pureed yellow squash was a total no go from the get go! Nasty stuff.

Now both baby beets and yellow squash, fresh from the garden, sliced, lightly steamed and buttered are pretty darn tasty but my mother was of the BOIL IT TO DEATH school of cooking. All meat had to be WELL DONE and yes we also had to have overcooked shoe leather liver at least twice a month....UGH!!

However, on her plus side my mother was an AWESOME, totally from scratch, baker! Her pie crusts were PERFECT and I've yet to find better. Her cakes and cookies were to die for and she would decorate a cake better than all the fancy bakers on the Food Channel. I don't think there was a flower she could recreate with icing....utterly amazing. Cooking....not so much, but then again, her fried chicken was exceptional!! Go figure.

So you win some and you lose some.

 

[db cooper]

I’m sorry, guys...but this thread has had me in stitches on what some have trouble with...I shouldn’t laugh...know I shouldn’t...but in all fairness...when ya can choke down squirrel brains or pork brains with scrambled eggs...tongue...gizzards...n such...welllll...someone having trouble with a veggie...causes me to snicker...heh

I was never fed this. but my grand dad loved scrambled pork brains. Also made hog blood sausage. To this day I still gag at the thoughts of this. This old Russian lived to be 95 and maintained his mental health up to the end, which shows his diet was good for his immune system.

I agree, this all makes the worst veggie very appetizing! Today, any veggie the garden grows is eaten, and we try all sorts of stuff, it's all good.

 

[psychgirl]

My mom made Rice and Raisins, too, and we liked it! Sometimes had it for breakfast. Probably about as healthy as, and a lot cheaper than, any store-bought cereal. (For anyone who has never had it, it's rice cooked with raisins in it, then served like cereal with a little sugar sprinkled on top and milk poured over it. We often had some cinnamon sprinkled on it, too. If you don't like, or don't have, raisins, other fruits can be used, or just plain rice.)

Kathleen

We had this too! I love it!

 

[flowers]

oysters--yuck

 

[DazedandConfused]

Liver and onions..went to bed hungry on the days that was on the plate..

 

[WalknTrot]

My mom made Rice and Raisins, too, and we liked it! Sometimes had it for breakfast. Probably about as healthy as, and a lot cheaper than, any store-bought cereal. (For anyone who has never had it, it's rice cooked with raisins in it, then served like cereal with a little sugar sprinkled on top and milk poured over it. We often had some cinnamon sprinkled on it, too. If you don't like, or don't have, raisins, other fruits can be used, or just plain rice.)

Kathleen

Rice pudding. Pretty much the same as bread pudding only with rice. Had both tons when we were kids. I still make it, especially when I have stuff to use up, like bread, rice or eggs.

Spiced lightly with cinnamon and sweetened with sugar. Has to have milk in it, with egg so it raises/fluffs up nice when baked. Custard-y. What's not to like. Good, cheap, scratch food. Best served warm out of the oven with milk or cream.

Haha. Again, gotta know how to cook, and how things work in the kitchen.

 

[Freeholder]

Rice pudding. Pretty much the same as bread pudding only with rice. Had both tons when we were kids. I still make it, especially when I have stuff to use up, like bread, rice or eggs.

Has to have milk in it, maybe with egg so it raises/fluffs up nice when baked, spiced lightly with cinnamon and sweetened with sugar. What's not to like. Good, cheap, scratch food.

Haha. Again, gotta know how to cook, and how things work in the kitchen.

Rice pudding is good, too, but it's not the same thing as rice and raisins -- rice pudding is baked. Rice and raisins is rice cooked on top of the stove (or in a rice cooker) just like you were going to serve rice as a side dish. I like the rice pudding with egg and milk best (it makes a custard). And definitely good, cheap scratch food!

Kathleen

 

[nomifyle]

pominto cheese, and I still dispise that stuff. I'm old and my spelling is getting worse.

God is good all the time

Judy

 

[NoDandy]

I thought I didn’t like sauerkraut but actually I do, in the right dish

I did not like sauerkraut, and still do not. However, I do like hot dogs cooked in it, along with soup beans and cornbread. Strange I know, but so what ?

 

[Cabinfvr]

Milk on toast with cinnamon. I can't stand soggy bread.

 

[psychgirl]

I did not like sauerkraut, and still do not. However, I do like hot dogs cooked in it, along with soup beans and cornbread. Strange I know, but so what ?

Mom that too when we were really young.
Looking back, I now know it was when she was running super low on grocery money before dad got paid.


I’d go back and eat a bucket full of that now if they were still here....

 

[Satanta]

When I was diagnosed as Diabetic around age of two, my Dad went thru a Divorce, fresh back from the 'Nam and trying to work and support a Diabetic infant. The Docs had me on a special diet- X number of Proteins, Fats and Carbs and so forth.

Invariably breakfast consisted of a boiled egg or two-not that I did not like them but the Yolks were too dry for my taste so the Dad decided to mix theYolks with Mayo.

BLAAARRRGGGHHHH!!!!

Of course, him being the Dad and me being the Kid, I got the "You won't leave the table until you eat it all!"

So, at the age of 2.5, maybe 3 I learned one could chew up a mouthful, go to the Bathroo and spit it in the toilet and flush it away or, simply hide it under other stuff in the trash.

 

[bassgirl]

Sweet potato’s. Those two words should not even be in the same sentence.

 

[Doc1]

Speaking of grits...........

I'm from the north and never ate them............

.........but used to eat cream of wheat cereal and loved it...........

So when I first came down south I was at a breakfast buffet...........and I see them on the buffet and think.........I'll take a bowl of this cream of wheat cereal......

I put maple syrup on it and chowed it down.

Someone at our table who is a native of the South looked at me and said "so you like grits?"

I said "huh?........what are grits?..............this is cream of wheat cereal".

They said "nope.............those are grits"

So I said............"then grits are cream of wheat cereal to me because I can't tell the difference.........."

Does anyone else notice this or have I not see when all grits are like?

As a Son of the South I've always loved grits ... but not with syrup! The only way to eat grits is with butter and a bit of salt. For many years now, my DW makes me the same breakfast every morning: Buttered and salted grits (in a bowl) topped by a lightly fried egg. It's so good I never suffer food fatigue.

Best
Doc

 

[Satanta]

As a Son of the South I've always loved grits ... but not with syrup! The only way to eat grits is with butter and a bit of salt. For many years now, my DW makes me the same breakfast every morning: Buttered and salted grits (in a bowl) topped by a lightly fried egg. It's so good I never suffer food fatigue.

Best
Doc

You forgot 'Pepper'. Salt and Pepper.

Every once in a while I add some suger.

Never bit on Grits. Don't Dislike them but I do not wake up and go "MMMMM!!!!! Grits today!" nor will I order some with a meal but I will eat them.

 

[anna43]

I like most foods, tolerate a few and hate hominy, oysters and soggy bread i.e. bread and milk or french toast. One of the ironies of life is that although I love veggies most are on lists of food to avoid due to a couple of health issues plus another long list of foods I'm allegeric to. The lists are so inclusive that there isn't a whole lot that isn't on one list or the other, so I try to do "all things in moderation".

As kids we were supposed to clean our plates but I was a skinny sickly child so it was more coaxing me to eat and giving me foods I would eat than threatening me for not eating. My sister was a glutton over foods she liked and what she hated she wouldn't not eat period. To this day she thinks its horrid for anyone to eat what she doesn't like.