Food likes and dislikes

Every so often, someone asks me what foods I do and don’t like, and I usually have a hard time coming up with answers on the spot.

So it occurred to me that I could write up a list and post it here, and then just point people to it.

I always feel awkward about asking other people to accommodate my food needs and preferences, but some people like to make food and like to accommodate their guests’ needs and preferences. So this document is for such people. This document is not a set of demands or requirements. If you’re not someone who is trying to accommodate my needs and preferences, then this probably isn’t relevant to you.

The categories below are in order from won’t-eat to favorite foods. The category boundaries are not absolutely firm. The items within each category are in no particular order.

This is not a complete list.

Short version

I don’t eat mammal meat, and I prefer not to eat other kinds of meat, and I don’t like bitter flavors or alcohol. I’m fine with eggs and milk and some kinds of cheese, and I don’t have any allergies that I know of.

Longer version follows.

Won’t eat

Some for moral reasons, some for flavor reasons.

  • Mammal meat.
  • Mollusks: clams, mussels, scallops, snails, octopuses, etc.
  • Blue cheese, brie, other stinky cheeses.
  • Goat cheeses.
  • Caraway seeds.
  • Licorice, anise, fennel.
  • Beer.
  • Most other alcoholic beverages (beyond a sip or two).
  • Tempeh.
  • Cilantro (except when its flavor is thoroughly disguised, as in salsa and such).

Won’t generally eat, but can eat if necessary

Things that I dislike (for flavor reasons), and actively avoid when possible, but that I’ll eat if it’s all that’s available or if it unexpectedly appears in food that’s provided to me.

  • Bitter salad greens, especially raw radicchio. (Arugula is fine; it doesn’t taste bitter to me.)
  • Other particularly bitter things.
  • Caramel.
  • Custard, flan, crème brûlée, etc.
  • Most tropical fruit: mango, passionfruit, kiwi, guava, lychee, papaya, etc.
  • Other fruit: grapefruit, pear.
  • Coffee, coffee-flavored things, caffeinated soda, other caffeinated drinks.
  • Wonder bread.
  • Raw fish.
  • Milk chocolate.
  • Dark chocolate with more than about 80% cacao.
  • Seitan.

Generally prefer not to eat, but will for convenience

Things that I don’t actively dislike, but for various reasons don’t normally choose to eat, but will sometimes eat to avoid (for example) making someone make me a separate meal.

(Chicken and turkey and cooked fish are things that were on my happy-to-eat list until sometime in the 2010s or so, and I still occasionally have bites of them, or once in a while entire meals of them, even when it’s not for convenience. But mostly these days I don’t eat them.)

  • Chicken, turkey.
  • Cooked fish.
  • Dark chocolate made with slave labor.
  • Textured vegetable protein.
  • Impossible or Beyond fake beef (such as hamburgers).
  • Peaches with skin on.

Happy to eat

Things that I actively like eating but that I wouldn’t put on a favorite-foods list.

  • Most vegetarian dishes from the following cuisines: Ethiopian (but not gomen), Indian/South Asian (but not paneer), Thai, Greek, Chinese, Japanese, Mexican.
  • Most vegetarian pasta dishes, including spaghetti, ravioli, and lasagna.
  • Fruit: Bananas, plums, pineapple, peaches without skin, rambutan, blueberries.
  • Eggs, preferably scrambled or over medium.
  • Most forms of potatoes and sweet potatoes
  • Bell peppers, preferably green.
  • Vegetarian chili.
  • Mushrooms.
  • Mycoprotein (Quorn etc).
  • Impossible fake chicken nuggets.
  • Most veggie burgers, especially Amy’s brand frozen veggie burgers.
  • Coconut.
  • Some dried fruit: dried apples, dried apricots, dried (black) figs, raisins, dates, prunes.
  • Boba.
  • Peanuts-and-raisins trail mix.
  • Deep-fried cheese curds.
  • Very small amounts of mead or tej.

Particularly like

Favorite foods.

  • Asparagus.
  • Artichokes.
  • Avocados. (But not from Mexico, due to cartels.)
  • Bagels. (Plain, sesame, or onion.)
  • Peanut butter.
  • Cheddar cheese, preferably made with vegetarian rennet.
  • 70%–80% dark chocolate, slavery-free.
  • Sourdough (from San Francisco Bay Area) or whole wheat bread.
  • Fruit: Granny Smith apples, mandarins, nectarines, pluots, grapes, cherries, raspberries, blackberries, apricots.
  • Lentils.
  • Kik alitcha.
  • Thick-crust or deep-dish pizza, ideally without toppings other than cheese.
  • Vegetarian burritos.
  • Vegetarian hot and sour soup.
  • Corn on the cob.
  • Falafel.
  • Chow fun.
  • Vegetarian Indian dishes: Tikka masala, samosas, naan, chana masala, dal makhani, sweet lassi (not mango or salty or plain).
  • Tortilla chips. (But not the very thin kind.)
  • Fresh tomatoes.
  • Scallions (green onions).
  • Garnet yams. (The sweet kind with the orange flesh.)
  • Latkes.
  • Fresh-squeezed orange juice.
  • Carrot juice (without anything added, and without bitter parts of the carrot included).
  • Cow milk.
  • Inari.
  • Brown rice.
  • Cheesecake.
  • Pumpkin pie, apple pie.
  • Ganache.
  • Scrambled eggs with scallions and cheddar cheese, with sourdough or whole wheat toast.
  • Shave ice.