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Original poster

Food which makes your heart sink

272 replies

GnomeDePlume · 31/10/2023 07:46

Do you have a meal/food which when suggested just makes your heart sink?

For me it is boiled bacon. It just sounds so dreary. Whenever DH suggests it for dinner I am instantly thrown back to childhood and salty boiled bacon cooked in brine served up with boiled to death sliced carrots and fallen boiled potatoes.

DH actually cooks it really well, he rinses the joint thoroughly and cooks it with apples and sometimes cider as well. He serves it with crushed roast potatoes and peas or beans.

But the words 'boiled bacon' take me back to childhood and the dreary, salty meal.

Does anyone else have similar instant responses to certain foods?

I know this is a first world problem and I am lucky to have choices and a DH who cooks most meals.

OP posts:
Luckymeluckyme · 31/10/2023 08:13

In this house it’s fish pie…

When the DC ask what’s for dinner, it’s always a wind up “Fish Pie!” met with a lot of groaning, vomit simulating, fake tears.

Interestingly I’m not sure I have ever served the DC fish pie as also fills me with dread so maybe it’s genetic.

I also can physically make myself gag if anyone suggests a dish that has chicken that isn’t breast in it…

It takes me back to my childhood and being served things like Chicken stew, pie when you would be having a really nice time and then all of a sudden you would be contending with a huge bit of chicken fat!

My mum still says now if we are round for dinner, I’ve just taken the breast meat off, didn’t believe her 30 years ago and don’t believe her now!

Original poster
GnomeDePlume · 31/10/2023 08:14

RampantIvy · 31/10/2023 08:06

We used to get boiled bacon and pease pudding for lunch at primary school. I hated it.

That is worse!

@SallyWD DH likes it and doesn't have the dreary meal associations I do. Also he does the lion's share of cooking, shopping and meal planning. He does cook other things but boiled bacon for him is something tasty to be looked forward to. He has to sneak it up on me.

OP posts:
StopStartStop · 31/10/2023 08:15

My mother-in-law's fish pie. Made with flaked frozen fish, powdered mashed potato. It actually made me vomit. Which turned out to be a good thing because I wasn't forced to eat it again.

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General food
Luckymeluckyme · 31/10/2023 08:17

Another note on Fish Pie, it always shocks me that so many people have it on Christmas Eve…why when you’re in the season of fine foods and delicious decadent treats would you choose to have something as awful as fish pie!

PartyFearsTwo · 31/10/2023 08:21

Mushroom risotto as the only vegetarian option - I eat it, but my heart does sink.

LovelyDaaling · 31/10/2023 08:23

Red cabbage served with roast dinner. Sweet and looks like a road accident on the plate.

Original poster
GnomeDePlume · 31/10/2023 08:24

Oh lord, fish pie! DM would add a lot of boiled egg to it. I don't eat egg . DM knew this perfectly well but chose to ignore it. Also, no leaving food so it would have to be eaten.

DM's catering style was 'economical' and aimed at DF who liked stews served with over cooked potatoes. I think DPs could have afforded better but DF didn't care very much and DM liked the economy to be visible.

DH often jokes that I had an early 50s childhood which is strange because I was born in 67.

OP posts:
CurlewKate · 31/10/2023 08:29

@Thatsshallot1967 "Jackfruit as a burger option. Just give me a veggie burger with vegetables in."

One of my culinary party tricks is to make a fake Greggs Steak Bake that is genuinely indistinguishable from the real thing. The key ingredient is jackfruit!

Prescottdanni123 · 31/10/2023 08:29

Mashed potato. Can't stand the texture of it.

Coastalcreeksider · 31/10/2023 08:33

Crikey, I like quite a lot of what's on here and I love gammon joint, hot or cold, it's lovely.

The only thing I really won't eat at all is kidney. My mum used to make steak and kidney pie when we were kids, I loved the pie but would pick all the bits of kidney out of it. Yes, it does taste and smell uriney.

My dad doubly put me off years later when he told me that when serving in the Navy, they used to have kidneys on toast for breakfast on board ship and the usual name for it was "shit on a raft"! 😱

CurlewKate · 31/10/2023 08:34

Kidneys.

But looking forward to the Mumsnet food tropes appearing!

Catsmere · 31/10/2023 08:36

I must be the only person here who loved steak and kidney pie! Lived on it when I visited London in '89. Can't get it in Oz these days.

MaryJanesonabreak · 31/10/2023 08:38

I don’t get risotto at all, it’s like a savoury rice pudding, as a meal. Even when it’s nicely done I find it revolting to have exactly the same bite of food for the whole meal. It should be a side with plenty of other tasty veggies with it, and hopefully a protein as well.

RicherThanYews · 31/10/2023 08:38

@StopStartStop does your MIL abuse you in other ways or just with instant mash? Bleurgh.

MajorBarbara · 31/10/2023 08:39

kokotheguerilla · 31/10/2023 08:03

And the smell when they cook. Revolting. I’ll eat just about any other part of an animal except kidney.

Show quote history

When my daughter was 10 she was disgusted when I bought some lamb's kidneys. Some time after she had her tea I started frying them sliced up with a dash of Tabasco added. When the smell hit her she went quiet and eventually said 'Can I try a bit?'. We ended up sharing them half each. With some nice fluffy rice, green peppers and shallots.

Lorrymum · 31/10/2023 08:40

Anything with fat on it. The texture makes me gag.

twattydogshavetwattypeople · 31/10/2023 08:42

Anything with pastry. It's just tasteless, pointless carbohydrate.

Catsmere · 31/10/2023 08:42

MaryJanesonabreak · 31/10/2023 08:38

I don’t get risotto at all, it’s like a savoury rice pudding, as a meal. Even when it’s nicely done I find it revolting to have exactly the same bite of food for the whole meal. It should be a side with plenty of other tasty veggies with it, and hopefully a protein as well.

That's interesting - I like chicken and mushroom risotto, and like rice with chicken chow mein, for example. Rice in desserts really isn't my thing!

kokotheguerilla · 31/10/2023 08:43

MajorBarbara · 31/10/2023 08:39

When my daughter was 10 she was disgusted when I bought some lamb's kidneys. Some time after she had her tea I started frying them sliced up with a dash of Tabasco added. When the smell hit her she went quiet and eventually said 'Can I try a bit?'. We ended up sharing them half each. With some nice fluffy rice, green peppers and shallots.

Show quote history

I’d happily do that with liver, but not kidney! Good on her for trying them.

SandraButtock · 31/10/2023 08:43

Bread and butter pudding
Liver
Goats cheese

NashvilleQueen · 31/10/2023 08:43

I am thinking of things that I will eat but give me no sense of joy or happiness. So not things I won't ever eat (eg offal).

I will go with fish pie. I'm sure there are amazing ones but if someone says come round for tea and I get there and it's fish pie my heart sinks a little

Witchesdontburn · 31/10/2023 08:43

Burgers, dry rounds of mechanically retrieved animal product.

dicedicebaby · 31/10/2023 08:43

twattydogshavetwattypeople · 31/10/2023 08:42

Anything with pastry. It's just tasteless, pointless carbohydrate.

Omg...you surely can't beat a really good pie with gravy that soaks into the pastry? (Calories out of the equation)

Original poster
GnomeDePlume · 31/10/2023 08:44

Luckymeluckyme · 31/10/2023 08:17

Another note on Fish Pie, it always shocks me that so many people have it on Christmas Eve…why when you’re in the season of fine foods and delicious decadent treats would you choose to have something as awful as fish pie!

  • penance?
  • something dreary before the excitement of Christmas to balance life out?
  • a chance to get the indigestion started early?
OP posts:
Cropcycle · 31/10/2023 08:44

Goats cheese. One of the only things I can’t eat even to be a polite guest. Just the smell makes me want to hurl. x100 if it’s warm .

Any offal.

Chips with gravy or curry sauce. It’s a big thing in the North and to me goes against everything that should happen to a chip. They need to be crispy and brown on the outside and soft and fluffy inside. Drowning them in thick brown yuk, is chip abuse imo.

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