I can't believe that nobody has mentioned canned tuna, blech!!!!

irisarbor wrote:Oh yeah, I forgot to add zinc lozenges to the list of things I can't stand the taste of-
I'd rather have the cold!
PLUS they change the taste of EVERYTHING else you eat to AWFUL!

To avoid the zinc taste but still benefit from zinc's ability to banish colds, try Zycam. It's delivered via nasal gel, so there's no effect on your taste buds. Just make sure you follow the instructions and don't sniff it up, as it can damage the olfactory nerve. But used as instructed, it's safe -- and stops colds in their tracks.

And for coughs -- another taste you love to hate, but that's effective -- Fisherman's Friend. Strongest cough drops on earth.

Which reminds me of a favorite experience. Friends and I had been in China and Tibet for three weeks and, due to the pollution in China and ubiquitous incense and burning yak butter in Tibet, we had all developed terrible coughs. We reached Hong Kong, but were in an end of town not visited by many Westerners. We popped into a well-stocked pharmacy -- but it was a well-stocked Chinese pharmacy, so 1/3 Western medicine and 2/3 deer antler and bear bile. The aged pharmacist, looking wise and philosophical, with his thin gray mustache and beard, when we asked for a cough cure, squinted at us and asked somewhat accusingly, "Do you want real medicine, or do you want candy?" By this point, we were willing to try anything, so we said, "real medicine," expecting him to grab a mortar and a bunch of bug parts. Instead, he vanished momentarily, and returned with a box of Fisherman's Friend. I was delighted, both because I'd used Fisherman's Friend for years, and because I loved the fact that, even in a pharmacy such as this, it was seen as "real medicine."

Cynthia wrote:...due to the pollution in China and ubiquitous incense and burning yak butter in Tibet...

Mmmmmm...burning yak butter....

Burning yak butter is cheaper than using candles or electricity. Just get a bowl of yak butter, stick in a wick, and light it. It's pretty much the only light inside most Tibetan temples. As a result, everything is greasy, including the air, and the floors are really slippery. But it is picturesque.

But returning to the idea of terrible tastes -- I just remembered the rotted shark in Iceland. It's a Viking delicacy that they even sell at the airport. Bleh.

I always have one answer to this:

Surströmming. I like herring. I like fermented things. I love pickled herring. Fermented, rotting herring? Eh, not so much. It's the foulest smelling foodstuff I have ever had the displeasure to ingest. The worst part is, if you wash it down with some beer like I did, you burp up some of that corpsy stench for hours afterwards. Surströmming is the only food or drink I could think of that I've ever had difficulty gulping down. Well, that and Busch Light.

Still, if I should find myself in the Swedish hinterland being proferred surströmming, as a gracious guest, I would not decline. Maybe it tastes better given the right context.

Binko wrote:...corpsy stench...

Wow. That phrase is so succinctly & perfectly descriptive that I have no idea what surströmming actually tastes like, but now I can't get its taste out of my mouth.

Vegemite.

Only thing I hated about Australia.

Must be something wrong with me, I love the taste of all those cough syrups, and Listerine. I also love the original Halls Mentho-Liptus cough drops.

Although the one time I spent money on actual limburger cheese, I thought I had stuck my nose in a dirty diaper, I LOVE Mohawk brand limburger spread on soda crackers!

One of my least favorite tastes is that old white chalky medicine the doctor used to give me about 40 years ago. I think it was a powdered sulfa or something that the doctor mixed up just before he gave it to me. It tasted and felt exactly like ground chalk in water. It took a lot of drinking to get it all washed down.

It is very hard to separate smell from taste. One smell/taste I cannot stand is frying or cooking sausage that happens to have meat in it from a male pig that was not castrated. YUUUUUK!

I also like the smell of skunk, in small amounts. Go figure!

Rene G introduced me to a couple of tastes that might figure in this discussion. I have no problem with Malort; I like the stuff. But Sen-Sen mints are truly scary - Zest Soap in the guise of licorice. And the taste does not go away for quite some time. I didn't think I'd ever cry "Uncle!" but I've met my match!

http://www.oldtimecandy.com/sen.htm

Let's hope you never have tell-tale breath!

I actually rather like Sen Sen, after picking up a packet at America's Market. I don't seek it out, but I'll eat it if offered.

Mhays wrote::D Let's hope you never have tell-tale breath!

Guilty pleasure: The Music Man