Salad. Can't eat it. Anyone else?

[Jenthefredo]

As above, really ^
I was born in the 70s into a poor family. Salad wasn't really a "thing" to eat even at school.
Obviously, I know that salad is good for me. And not many calories (I'm trying to lose weight...) but...I just hate it.
I don't enjoy eating it and - as I've aged - I don't seem to be able to digest it properly 🤮
It makes me feel quite sick.
I've tried to make salads more interesting - flavoured oils, herbs, radishes, peppers, homemade coleslaw etc
Even sliced skillet cooked nectarines!
Nothing makes it more palatable to me.
Am I the only one? :(

I feel salads are ok as an accompaniment but not as a main meal. I do like a bit of rocket, fancy radish, cue, tomatoes, red onion, peppers, raw mushrooms etc with a nice rare steak and baby potatoes.

However if I were served that sort of salad with cold ham or beef, I wouldn’t eat it.

I've tried your description of salad and it used to make me feel sick as well. However, during lockdown I came up with this one and i do enjoy it. A bit more effort but I do feel like I have had a good meal and it's still quite low calorie.

Rocket/ Mixed leaves
Red onion finely diced
Cucumber 1 inch chunks
A few 1 cm chunks of mature cheddar
Chunky tomato slices or cherry tomatoes
Boiled egg quartered
Good quality ham
My favourite coleslaw
Salt and pepper.

Lots of flavour.

The only salad I can eat:
Lettuce
Hard boiled egg
Grated cheese
Olive oil and a big squeeze of lemon
Worcestershire sauce

Ice berg lettuce is the devil of foods.

I have a salad most lunch times:
Italian leaves
Mini Tomato’s
Cucumber
Beetroot (from a jar- so slightly vinegary)
Avocado
Sweet corn
Spring onions

Topped with vegetable fingers or falafel and a lime & mango dressing ....delicious! Just about finding a convo for you- usually a good meat/ carb on top can make it palatable

I do wonder sometimes if its psychological?

Salad for me is the food version of Sunday night teatime dreading going back to school next day.... the salads I was given as a child was a slice of bread and butter, slice of spam/corned beef, 🤮a limp lettuce leaf and a quartered tomato.
(Shudder)

Yes, Sweet corn! I forgot sweetcorn sprinkled over the top.

I love raw onion
Sadly it no longer loves me
(Damn you intestines!!)

@Jenthefredo

I do wonder sometimes if its psychological?

Salad for me is the food version of Sunday night teatime dreading going back to school next day.... the salads I was given as a child was a slice of bread and butter, slice of spam/corned beef, 🤮a limp lettuce leaf and a quartered tomato.
(Shudder)

We had salad days at school- grated carrot on lettuce and whole tomatoes, no dressing forced to eat it- I could have been scarred for life!

Born in 70s and don't like salad either.

I do really like salad, but I have to be int he mood for one! I make all sorts of varieties-I love seafood salad, and mackerel or hot smoked salmon. It's a shame you're allergic to cheese, as it's a really tasty addition (I loved grilled halloumi, feta and goats cheese).

Have you tried “blanching” veg - green beans/broccoli etc eating them cooked but crunchy and cold?
Roasted vegetable salad cold?

Limp
Lettuce and squishy tomatoe 🤢

As much as I love salad, I'd give iceberg a miss unless there was no other lettuce.

Nothing at all to do with being a child of the 70s. I grew up in 1970s Yorkshire and I eat pretty much anything, even stuff we hadn't heard of then, or if we did, we didn't know it was food, like the asparagus that grew in our garden or olive oil you could only get from the chemist.

I don’t like salad either. I just don’t really like cold food as my main meal. I’ll eat muesli for breakfast but lunch and dinner has to be hot food if possible. Not keen on sandwiches, salads, or cold leftovers like pizza. I’m also not keen on vinegar and lots of dressings are based on vinegar so that probably doesn’t help.

Give up on it.

Not everyone can like everything.

Eat cooked veggies instead.

I think rocket is poisonous in some way! It tastes like chemicals and gives me terrible indigestion. Even the smell of it gives me a headache and makes me gag.

I'm a child of the 70s and eat lots and lots of salads. We had the usual iceberg, tomato, sliced egg and cucumber type at home. We had mixed bean salads and coleslaw fairly often, but I hardly eat those now.

I feel ill if I don't get at least 5-a-day.

As I pp'ed, find veg you like.

This thread has reminded me how much I like pea shoots!
Perhaps a warm salad? I put in the usual suspects- mixed baby leaves, cucumber chunks, cherry tomatoes, pepper and red onion.
Then I pan fry diced chicken with some garlic and tarragon, put some diced herby potatoes in the oven, and when done I stir it through and put feta chunks on top.
It wilts and softens the leaves slightly, and is good if you have sensitive teeth and find cold stuff difficult.
I do know what you mean though. I'm like that with sandwiches no matter the type. I feel really sick halfway through ( perhaps a flashback to manky warm slimy school lunch sandwiches)

Life is too short to skillet cook a nectarine

There are lots of other veg to eat, and you can always just roast a lot of veg at the start of the week and eat them salad style. Anyway while salad is good etc, it has bigger all fibre - I like it but I find that things like broccoli, runner beans and your basic roasted veg mix are at least as important when you are trying to loose weight as so filling. That and protein.

.... bugger all, not bigger...

Im the same Im afraid. Us Salad Dodgers! Like some things ,Tomatoes ,Cucumber on their own .Just hate Lettuce in particular.Especially Iceberg .So bitter .Like some veg ,Courgettes ,Green beans ,Greens .All fruits .My upbringing was similar to yours I think .Can remember my DGF saying "Salads not a proper dinner!" To my Nan in the Summer months!

I sincerely dislike eating leaves. I like rice salads and love vegetables, but leaves are not nice to eat.

The only leafy salad I ever looked was the Pizza Express Bosco salad 😂 Doubtless very unhealthy and now they've stopped doing it, wahhh.

*liked

I like salad as a side or in a sandwich/burger but there is no way I’ll ever eat a salad as a main meal. It just tastes unbelievably boring unless it’s covered in salad cream or mayo or something extra calorific. Which then defeats the object... I’d much rather eat a plateful of delicious, tasty veg!

I've previously struggled, but found it much easier to eat salad in a wrap.

No idea why, maybe because it's then tucked mostly away out of sight or because it seems to hold the dressing or sauce or whatever I'm flavouring with better, but now most of my lunches include a salad wrap.

With steamed veg, combining them (or even just frozen veg tossed in if they cook quickly) with eggs & some salsa and such made it more enjoyable for me, but I have DD who went though a time where it was only nice if it was mixed/hidden inside mashed potato.

I’ve had salad once in my life that I enjoyed, in Paris- it had roast potato, roast chicken and boiled eggs in and was lush.

I normally find it so drab. The lettuce sticks to the roof of my mouth and I’m allergic to tomatoes.