Anyone else suddenly put off a food after an unpleasant association?

[CrowsInMyGarden]

A few years ago my friend had this weird thing where she saw a dead thing (mouse? bird?) in her garden covered in maggots and ever since then she can't bring herself to eat rice or orzo as it reminds her of the maggots. I thought this was a bit weird but a few weeks ago I was eating a curry that I had made and whilst eating a chewy mushroom my brain just screamed "snail!" I spat it out but could not eat any further mushrooms. I've not been able to eat one since. Has anyone else got the ick (can I use that expression here as it is about food and not a man?) with food they usually like? If so, have you managed to get over it and eat that food again?

I haven’t eaten chicken since October 2024. Campylobacter. It’s not that I think I’ll get sick again from it but it’s like the association with alcohol you r been really ill off
just the thought of chicken makes me turn green

I’m squeamish when it comes to blood and can’t eat anything ‘bloody’ like steak, tuna etc. Bleugh. Fine with white fish and white meat.

I became vegetarian after getting food poisoning from a shop bought chicken sandwich. I was ill for about 6 weeks afterwards and needed 2 courses of antibiotics. That was about 20 years ago.

Not an unpleasant association, but when I was 9 months pregnant with DC1, we got a Papa John's Pizza. I went into labour soon after dinner and threw the whole thing up. I haven't been able to eat one since. DS is 18!

I once watched a cat give birth while I was eating a stuffed marrow. For about 3 years afterwards I couldn’t see a marrow or a courgette without retching, let alone eat one. I like them again now.

A few years ago I ate mushrooms in a pasta sauce that were past their best. The texture of them more than the taste was just so revolting I've never eaten mushrooms since. The thought of eating them turns my stomach.

I was ill after a courgette pasta (not the cause but the last thing I ate) and courgettes are a no go now. But I have a few food aversions. Sometimes the aversion seems permanent and sometimes it doesn’t, tomatoes are a temporary one for me - a bad tomato will put me off for a few months but I will eventually eat them again. Try it in a different format, so finely diced and as a sauce thickener or fried like a steak, see if that helps.

Those honey and lemon Lockett throat lozenges that melt in the middle.
If i just say I didn't realise thet had a laxative effect and I thought I'd let out a fart....you can guess the rest.

I’ve had really severe sickness in all three of my pregnancies. Even though I wouldn’t have been consuming smoked salmon or wine whilst pregnant, just the sight or even thought of them made me want to curl up and die. I am no longer pregnant and my eldest is five and I am still weirdly grossed out by smoked salmon and wine. I see them and I feel instant morning sickness. It’s a real shame, especially at Christmas or at weddings! 😂

When I was 6 a spider dropped off the ceiling over the dining table and landed on a mushroom on my plate. After that I didn't eat mushrooms for about 20 years 😂. Love them now though.

Really bad pregnancy sickness and had eaten strawberries that day that were quite apparent on their reappearance and had a nightmare featuring rancid strawberries. Couldn’t face them for a very long time!
Absolutely love strawberries! 🍓

I used to LOVE Walkers sweet chilli Sensations. One night after having snacked on them earlier that evening I woke up with that ‘I’m going to be sick’ feeling and brought the whole lot up, and, sorry if tmi, but the vomit burnt in my chest and mouth.
I haven’t touched those crisps since!

Years ago we went through the fruit bat exhibit at the zoo with the kids. I came home and took out the raw whole chicken I was planning on roasting... that was the last whole chicken I have cooked.

I have ARFID so this happens quite a lot!

If I connect feeling ill to a particular food - whether that food was what caused the illness or not, that can do it.

Textures tend to do it too, so I can be easily put off things like mushrooms (sliced slug anyone)...

Unexpected textures do it too so finding a piece of bone in a burger or piece of bacon or even just a sudden solid something in a soft thing..

I think to a degree, this is normal, your brain should stop you eating things you link to illness or non-edible items. But for some of us, its a bit over-sensitive!

The last meal I ate before my Dad died was gnocchi. I can’t stand the thought of it now.

I also went completely off fish when I was pregnant and it took years for me to enjoy eating it again.

Not food, but once when I was on a medication that made me nauseus, and because I had to inject it, the smell of the hand soap beforehand would trigger the nausea even before the medication was injected.

I used to love nothing more than a Prawn Mayo sandwich had a dodgy one once and have never stomached them since.

I also can’t eat cold egg, and that goes back to vomiting off a hard boiled egg in childhood

I once got sick after eating a kiwi (nothing to do with the kiwi) and haven't eaten one now in about 30 years.

Around 17 years ago I was on holiday with family, had a little (ok a lot) too much to drink, leading to my first ever handover. Next morning my uncle made his usual full English with the runniest egg ever, I looked at it and ran straight for the bathroom. Haven’t been able to eat fried eggs since.

I was once violently sick after eating tinned spaghetti in tomato sauce when I was seven.
I still can’t think about it without feeling nauseous.
I’m nearly 67

I used to love Yop drinking yoghurt, had it a lot. Then I got one out of the fridge, necked it and realised it was off. They’re not supposed to fizz 🤢. That was 30 years ago and I’ve not been able to have one since.

Haven’t eaten noodles since watching The Lost Boys. I’m ok with rice though 😂

Also left a bag of prawn cocktail crisps in my car on a hot day years ago, ate them later and threw up. No one on the house is allowed them now.

I had a few things that triggered morning sickness when pregnant with DS1 that put me off eating them for a good few years. Burger and Buffalo Hunky Dory's were the main two, they are not pleasant to be vomiting up whole...

I only drink instant coffee because I temped at a company that sold and serviced those big coffee machines that take up half a cafe counter. I spent a day job shadowing an engineer. Seeing maggots in the milk section of a machine put me off drinking anything made in one of those things.

You haven't missed much 😂