“I Refuse To Believe A Single Soul Wants To Eat It”: 35 People Share Overhyped Foods
Interview With Author
It's natural for people to have different tastes – taste in music, movies, interior design, clothes. The same goes for food. Different people like the taste of different things. Some people have a sweet tooth, others go crazy for all things savory. But can we say there are foods that almost everyone likes? Pizza, maybe?
Redditor YarnSpectre wanted to know if there are popular foods people just don't get the hype about. They asked netizens 'What's one food everyone seems to go crazy for, but you just don't understand the hype?' And the people delivered – from parsley, truffles and pumpkin spice to olives, kombucha and bacon. Wait, there are people who don't like bacon?!
Bored Panda reached out to the author of this thread, YarnSpectre. She was kind enough to chat with us and tell us more about what inspired the post on r/AskReddit.
This post may include affiliate links.
Aussie here. Oreos….meh, there’s plenty of way better biscuits around
"It was just one of those weird random thoughts," YarnSpectre says when we ask her about the inspiration for this thread. The Redditor explained that her brain just sometimes goes to weird places.
In her opinion, the most overhyped popular food is the croissant. Apparently, not everyone feels this way – 142 million people in the US alone enjoyed croissants in 2020. Their popularity is undeniable, but their haters are plenty as well. And YarnSpectre is not alone in this.
People like how fondant looks, I refuse to believe a single soul actually wants to eat it
Energy drinks like Red Bull or Monster
Blogger Peter Michaels described croissants as "pretentious, overpriced toast." "I mean, they can't decide if they're bread or cake," he wrote on his blog back in 2021. "You can eat them for breakfast? Can't be a cake."
Croissants had some haters among other commenters in this thread as well. User Scherbatskyyyyyyyy wrote: "I eat to be full, so having a bite with [a] paper-like break with lots [of] air inside is not for me, especially [if] it costs $4 and I'm still hungry."
Foie gras. F*****g gross. Texture is rotten, flavor is no better, plus the animal suffers for it?? No thank you.
Zoidberg: "What is this? Goose liver? Fish Eggs? I ask for rich guy stuff and you give me this garbage?"
Hot Cheetos or takis. Anything with the artificially colored spicy powder
People really had a lot of preferences to share – the post got over 13k comments. YarnSpectre says she didn't expect that kind of reaction. "I was very surprised. It was overwhelming," the author admits.
Still, the Redditor doesn't think it's fair to yuck other people's yums. "It's fine to politely say 'I don't care for that', but not ok to criticize or pick apart what you think is wrong with it," YarnSpectre shared with Bored Panda.
Pumpkin spice. It’s fine, but absolutely not anything to make a fuss about
For me, it just signifies the season. I don't eat or drink everything pumpkin spice but it is definitely a favorite and has been since I was little. Pumpkin bread was the first quick bread recipe I ever learned!
Those dry a*s Walmart sugar cookies
For a long time, we believed that our tongues had different taste zones. But today scientists believe that all regions of the tongue can detect different taste qualities. And not just the sweet, the sour, the salty and the bitter. There's also a fifth one – savory, also referred to as umami.
Truffles… WTF?…. Tastes like leaf mold mixed with aged compost and everybody’s like oooooohhh… it’s expensive so I love it…….nobody needs truffle oil on their French fries damn it
Love them. But they aren’t something you could just eat a bunch like other mushrooms, which I also love. Even if you don’t necessarily like it it’s hard to not agree that the taste is unique, and powerful. I worked for a high end catering company in NYC and we would get cases of them in and I would shave this slices for various dishes. If it’s an acquired taste I certainly acquired it then. Mushrooms varieties other than portobello/cremini/button are not commonly found in restaurants in the US. Chanterelle, morel, woodsear, enoki, lion mane, lobster, porcini, oh so many delicious and unique flavors. But, truffles outshine them all in its unique firm texture, aroma and flavor.
Neuroscientist and taste expert at the Monell Chemical Senses Center in Philadelphia, Brian Lewandowski told Brain Facts that the differences picked up in the different zones are there, but are too minute to actually matter.
"All regions of the tongue that detect taste respond to all five taste qualities. There are some mild regional differences in sensitivity for different taste qualities, but these differences are small enough that they do not play a clear role in taste perception."
Caviar
Another instance where there are many different kinds, and the taste varies significantly. Also depends what it is paired with as most of us don't just dig into a bowl of caviar like it was cereal.
Nutella. It’s just ok.
There are way better Chocolate spreads around, especially ones without palm oil
Red velvet cake. I've had ones that were supposed to be excellent but it's just red cake.
It's a chocolate cake with red food coloring. I don't like it, either.
We can explain scientifically why some people like a certain food and others hate it. It's apparently in your genes. Research scientist on sensory, flavor and consumer sciences Nicholas Archer writes: "The receptor proteins are produced from instructions encoded in our DNA and there is significant variation in the DNA code between individuals."
Turkey. As a non-American living in the US, it's a f*****g miserable bird. Everyone is like Yeah but if you brine for 37.5 hours in this mixture, dry rub it for 22.7 hours, it tastes so good! Spend that amount of time and effort and any kind of meat is going to taste better than the turkey. Not to mention that people are prepared to destroy their major asset trying to cook it. Lastly, there is no turkey based fast food chain in the US. Y'all claim to love it so much but the market knows the truth.
A 2013 study found that each person has a unique set of genetic variations and almost no two people have the same aroma perceptions. In fact, they claim that any two individuals have genetic differences that translate to differences in 30% of their receptors.
Licorice!! Tried it for the first time about 2 years ago. Gulped it down in front of people, all the while fighting the urge to spit it out. Yucckkk
Black licorice: You either love it or hate it. I've never yet met a person who could go either way. Myself, I'm on the 'Love it' side.
Every time McRib comes back, I’m SUPER excited for it. I bite into one and then…the spongey texture hits me and makes me remember why I don’t need to buy it ever again.
Then, somehow, McRib season rolls around again 2 years later — and there I am in line…
It's just a frozen patty of mechanically shredded pork pressed into a riblike shape. The frozen food companies have been making them for fifty years. The only thing missing is the sauce. Just buy some Swansons and use your own BBQ sauce and bread.
Can it be a beverage? Cause I kind of hate IPAs but everyone else seems to love them - and I like beer, just not IPAs.
Chick-fil-A. I had a sandwich. Is was... okay, but that's about it.
Most red velvet cakes are just sh**ty vanilla cake with red food coloring. Get one (or make one) the correct way with non-Dutch-processed cocoa powder, buttermilk, and vinegar. It's an incredibly smooth, very different type of chocolate cake.
So it's suppose to be not just red cake with the taste of a coloring.
I mean, people go crazy in both directions, but cilantro. There’s the whole “does it taste like soap or not” thing, but it’s usually presented as “people either think it tastes like soap or they find it amazing”. I am neither. It doesn’t taste like soap to me, but I also don’t love it. Meh.
Coriander does taste like soap to me, but then so does rocket. Yuk.
I've never heard of that arugula tastes like soap to some people! Well, now I have!
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So bizarre, I have always read that it is genetic...weirdly though I used to taste the soapiness and hated cilantro for that reason, then years later I tried some again and now actually enjoy it and use it pretty often. I don't taste the soapiness anymore
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Yeah, just don't over do it and I don't mind it.
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Eh, it's fine, as long as it's used modestly. Some salads have entire leaves sprinkled over it, the taste is very overpowering.
It's a genetic thing. Some people have a gene that makes it taste bad, most do not. Receipt- https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&opi=89978449&url=https://www.britannica.com/story/why-does-cilantro-taste-like-soap-to-some-people%23:~:text%3DOf%2520course%2520some%2520of%2520this,flavored%2520aldehydes%2520in%2520cilantro%2520leaves.&ved=2ahUKEwjbgq3EwNSDAxV1CnkGHQhVClEQFnoECBAQBQ&usg=AOvVaw2B3j4qrpUwIBtgFWoS6yLc
You guys eat a lot of soap? You seem to be conisours. Lol 😆
Not normally, no. 😅 It's genetic but yeah, tastes just like you put soap into your food.
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If you think cilantro tastes like soap, then you have a “condition” (it’s not really, but I can’t think of a better word). Some people have something that makes cilantro taste like soap to them, even though it actually doesn’t. My dad has it! I’m not gonna eat it straight, but I LOVE it in salsa, and I love it IN things to add some great flavor.
Love it! It's a gene thing for those thinking it tastes like soap. Love arugula also! Grow both!
My friend hates coriander, I eat it as is. Most times, we visit a customize-your-spice-level hotpot restaurant and everytime the dishes arrive, smack dab in the middle would be coriander. My friend would push all of his to my bowl and tell me "bon appetit" XP
I do a lot of asian cooking, and it's one of my go-to ingredients ... love the stuff.
I think it tastes good in recipes that call for it. Don't understand the hate.
doesn't cilantro tasting like soap indicate an allergy to it or something? i remember hearing something like that before
I'm physically incapable of tasting cilantro at all. It's a bit of a running joke in my family because my mom, brother, and older sister swear by it. They always forget I can't taste it.
It's a gene that dictates if it tastes like soap or not. I'm one of the soap tasters. And I was a Gen X kid. I know what soap tastes like (≧▽≦)
Cilantro tastes like soap, but in a delicious, fresh way. (I don’t think I have the soaplanto gene).
Not a fan. I could eat this only in a very small amount like in salsa... :D
The dislike is akin to an allergic reaction. Because my dad has this I didn't taste cilantro until I was at a friend's house in 3rd grade, it was life changing
Tbh i think it tastes kinda like what i think stuff leftover from lawnmowers tastes like but i still like it 😅
Cilantro is an essential ingredient in some Thai food, and it does give it more flavor
Thankfully, I don't have the soap gene. I say thankfully cause cilantro is delicious (to me at least)
Cilantro doesn't taste like soap to me... For me, it's rosemary that tastes soapish 🤔🙂😜
My 8-year-old granddaughter loves to sprinkle cilantro on her cupcakes, which I think is just a little weird, but it's her cupcake and if she likes it, it's fine with me!
I love coriander (cilantro) - it is possibly my favourite taste. Imagine my disappointment when it turns out to be flat-leaf parsley, which looks very similar, but tastes (to me) foul.
I first had it in Colombia, and I loved the flavor it added to dishes.
I am a firm believer in the fact that, like beets having a "dirt" flavor, it tastes like soap to EVERYONE, but some people enjoy that particular soap brand. If one considers things like whiskey, raw oysters, lutefisk, Surströmming, and others, the idea that a difficult-to-understand flavor can still be enjoyed is not that far out there.
It positively changes the taco eating experience. Other than that, it's a useless weed :)
I absolutely love cilantro, but my husband can't stand it. He says it tastes like a stink bug smells. The weird thing is, I can see what he means, but I still like it. It. Never tried to eat a stink bug though! Lol
Must have in fresh salsa but absolutely don't too much. I don't use it for anything else
It's a genetic predisposition to taste soap when eating coriander, so if a person doesn't have the "tastes like soap" gene, it won't taste like soap. So does coriander taste like soap? Absolutely yes. And also absolutely no.
It doesn't taste like soap to me but I also don't go bonkers over it. I made a cilantro like chicken bowl yesterday for the meal prep clients and it's fantastic!!!
Is cilantro overhyped? Or even hyped? lmao A lot of these entries are trendy or widespread or whatever so make sense for this article. This is more just a normal ingredient that either tastes good or tastes like soap. Nobody's like "it's cilantro season. HUZZAH!" or "Influencers keep posting pics about that trendy cilantro dish". But it's BP so I'm sure someone will argue with me about it, probably based on something I didn't even say. lool Actual rebuttals welcome.
Sweet pickles/relish
Omg!! Thank you!!! I HATE sweet relish. Mom used to make bread and butter pickles and I liked those but never loved them. I'm a dill pickle girl all the way!
Mint flavored drinks or candy. I like some mint gum or a peppermint but it’s disgusting in actual food
No I love mint with anything. Might be controversial to some people. Some say “tastes like toothpaste”
What about lobster? I can dig it with drawn butter and I ain’t mad at it. But if I’m gonna pay $29.99 for a lobster. I’d rather eat shrimp.
Ranch Dressing.
OMG same and I'm an American! WTF is it with the ranch and ranch flavored everything? I thought I hated salad until I was in my 20s and discovered vinaigrette. I didn't hate salad. I hated ranch dressing!
Nutritional yeast.
It does NOT taste like cheese. It smells like what I imagine an early to mid severity case of trench foot would.
it is amazing on food. I love it. Specially with foods with umami (mushrooms for example).
anchovies
A long time I thought I hate it, but then I was in Italy and my Italian wasn't that good and accidently I ordered a pizza with anchovies. I am a very proud person and I did not want to admit my mistake so I sayed nothing and ate it. Since this time I love it more than it's good for me.
Macarons. I never cared for them either. I had one yesterday at a potluck, homemade ones. They were seriously something else, with some sort of butter cream and jelly inside. Never had anything quite like it. Now I wish I had grabbed a few to take home. Still won't eat store bought ones though.
Depending on where you are buying them, most "store bought" macarons shouldn't be legally permitted to call themselves macarons!
Poutine. Cheese curds are a big nope from me. Especially on soggy fries. I’ve had someone tell me “but they squeak on your teeth!” as if that would somehow change my stance lol
Note: this post originally had 49 images. It’s been shortened to the top 35 images based on user votes.
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It is a really weird concept to me that if someone doesn't like something they assume everyone else must be lying about liking it. I hate lima beans, I've never once considered that everyone who says they like them must be faking it for some odd reason. I just assume people have different tastes.
It was the opposite way for me. I always wondered why I was such a weirdo and hated mint when everyone else loved it. Turns out, I'm allergic! Lol. But have you ever tried pressure cooking Lima beans in a dish for the cooker? I hate them too, cannot stand them, unless I put them with a dish that goes into the pressure cooker. It's like all those flavors get crushed into the beans and it actually makes them edible!
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THAT should be on the list! Half of the stuff on it is delicious... marzipan tastes like fraud.
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I love how through these people reply "well if you add half a pound of bacon and some cheese to it it's delicious". I mean, yeah of course it is. You could add those things to red velvet cake and it would be delicious.
I mean, salt and fat are the things to typically make things taste great. It's why restaurants are terrible except for every once in a while. They load every dish up on the sodium and fat. Ever taken a look at IHOP's chicken sandwich? It has over half the DV of recommended sodium.
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I'm English. I hate tea. (As in the drink). You can imagine how well that goes down here...😬🤣
I'm American, and the idea of putting milk into tea makes me gag. Love Twinings Earl Grey, but with no sugar and no milk, and it has to be Twinings because no one else gets the bergamot right. Also love Chinese black tea with Chinese takeout, also unadulterated.
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A lot of people in these comments are saying that you can't dislike something since it's a category under which a lot of things fall, but usually there's a lot of common taste, texture, ingredients, etc. that is used as a defining feature for most of the category. And when you reference the exceptions to this conformity as reasons why someone can't dislike something, then you're mostly just picking holes in what we define as being in the category, not what they dislike. When someone says they dislike or like food, such as sushi or alcohol, we well know what they mean, trying to nitpick doesn't really get us anywhere (I'm just giving my view on things here, I may be wrong but this is how I see it)
Right after the holidays and no one mentioned my favorite — fruitcake!
It's very near sacrilegious in my part of the country, but I just don't understand why people make such a big deal about boiled crawfish. That's too much work for that little bit of meat that doesn't taste all that good anyway. I'd rather have shrimp any day of the week.
Newsflash: not everyone likes every kind of food. That doesn’t make any food “bad,” it just means we have different tastes.
Pickled onions. It' started becoming trendy maybe 10 years ago for "house made" pickled stuff to appear on menus, especially at BBQ places. Then it became a side, and you'd have a small, sad, and sour pile of slimy purple onions taking up space on your plate. Bleah. Oh - and any "house made" ketchup. You just know it's going to be chunky, unpleasant, and taste nothing like ketchup.
I am a super adventurous eater. My parents said that I had to try everything once, but I never had to eat if again if I didn't like it. I've had a lamb's eyeball in Morocco. I've had snake 3 ways (eggs, stew, jerky) in Cambodia. Lutefisk in Sweden. The only food that I ever refused was BALUT (a fertilized developing egg embryo that is boiled and eaten from the shell.) My friend bit into one and it looked too gross. Still, I find olives are the worst.
For me, it's any type of carbonated drink. How do people drink that stuff? It's awful!
I thought this site is supposed to be European? How come nearly everything on here is so US centered? Americans probably don‘t even realize this. Most of these foods are very US American. Red velvet cake, pumpkin spice, Walmart sugar cookies, ….. I wish there would be less articles about the US. It‘s like an obsession here.
The site may be based in Europe, but the internet is worldwide and there are loads of American Pandas, including me. Personally, I'd rather see more articles about the rest of the world. Most of the American articles get nearly everything wrong and almost always take one person's opinion and extrapolate to a ridiculous stereotype.
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I wouldn't eat most of the things on this list, but I wonder why boiled peanuts didn't show up here. I love boiled peanuts but they are usually frowned upon by people who didn't grow up in the southeastern US.
What's with the byline, "I refuse to believe a single soul would want to eat it?" I understand the hype angle, but only a couple are truly unusual! You really can't believe anybody likes Oreos or Cheetos?! I can't believe people who say they like pizza but will only eat plain cheese, but it's still good! I expected more stuff like cat/dog/horse or other things that are popular in some regions but not most!
Sushi. Well. it looks nice and is a lot of work, but - whatfor did we invent fire? I do not want to eat raw fish
Try California rolls. It's cucumber, avocado, and cooked crab meat. Yummy. Philly roll is also good its same thing except instead of avocado it has cream cheese.
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It is a really weird concept to me that if someone doesn't like something they assume everyone else must be lying about liking it. I hate lima beans, I've never once considered that everyone who says they like them must be faking it for some odd reason. I just assume people have different tastes.
It was the opposite way for me. I always wondered why I was such a weirdo and hated mint when everyone else loved it. Turns out, I'm allergic! Lol. But have you ever tried pressure cooking Lima beans in a dish for the cooker? I hate them too, cannot stand them, unless I put them with a dish that goes into the pressure cooker. It's like all those flavors get crushed into the beans and it actually makes them edible!
Load More Replies... THAT should be on the list! Half of the stuff on it is delicious... marzipan tastes like fraud.
Load More Replies... I love how through these people reply "well if you add half a pound of bacon and some cheese to it it's delicious". I mean, yeah of course it is. You could add those things to red velvet cake and it would be delicious.
I mean, salt and fat are the things to typically make things taste great. It's why restaurants are terrible except for every once in a while. They load every dish up on the sodium and fat. Ever taken a look at IHOP's chicken sandwich? It has over half the DV of recommended sodium.
Load More Replies... I'm English. I hate tea. (As in the drink). You can imagine how well that goes down here...😬🤣
I'm American, and the idea of putting milk into tea makes me gag. Love Twinings Earl Grey, but with no sugar and no milk, and it has to be Twinings because no one else gets the bergamot right. Also love Chinese black tea with Chinese takeout, also unadulterated.
Load More Replies... A lot of people in these comments are saying that you can't dislike something since it's a category under which a lot of things fall, but usually there's a lot of common taste, texture, ingredients, etc. that is used as a defining feature for most of the category. And when you reference the exceptions to this conformity as reasons why someone can't dislike something, then you're mostly just picking holes in what we define as being in the category, not what they dislike. When someone says they dislike or like food, such as sushi or alcohol, we well know what they mean, trying to nitpick doesn't really get us anywhere (I'm just giving my view on things here, I may be wrong but this is how I see it)
Right after the holidays and no one mentioned my favorite — fruitcake!
It's very near sacrilegious in my part of the country, but I just don't understand why people make such a big deal about boiled crawfish. That's too much work for that little bit of meat that doesn't taste all that good anyway. I'd rather have shrimp any day of the week.
Newsflash: not everyone likes every kind of food. That doesn’t make any food “bad,” it just means we have different tastes.
Pickled onions. It' started becoming trendy maybe 10 years ago for "house made" pickled stuff to appear on menus, especially at BBQ places. Then it became a side, and you'd have a small, sad, and sour pile of slimy purple onions taking up space on your plate. Bleah. Oh - and any "house made" ketchup. You just know it's going to be chunky, unpleasant, and taste nothing like ketchup.
I am a super adventurous eater. My parents said that I had to try everything once, but I never had to eat if again if I didn't like it. I've had a lamb's eyeball in Morocco. I've had snake 3 ways (eggs, stew, jerky) in Cambodia. Lutefisk in Sweden. The only food that I ever refused was BALUT (a fertilized developing egg embryo that is boiled and eaten from the shell.) My friend bit into one and it looked too gross. Still, I find olives are the worst.
For me, it's any type of carbonated drink. How do people drink that stuff? It's awful!
I thought this site is supposed to be European? How come nearly everything on here is so US centered? Americans probably don‘t even realize this. Most of these foods are very US American. Red velvet cake, pumpkin spice, Walmart sugar cookies, ….. I wish there would be less articles about the US. It‘s like an obsession here.
The site may be based in Europe, but the internet is worldwide and there are loads of American Pandas, including me. Personally, I'd rather see more articles about the rest of the world. Most of the American articles get nearly everything wrong and almost always take one person's opinion and extrapolate to a ridiculous stereotype.
Load More Replies... I wouldn't eat most of the things on this list, but I wonder why boiled peanuts didn't show up here. I love boiled peanuts but they are usually frowned upon by people who didn't grow up in the southeastern US.
What's with the byline, "I refuse to believe a single soul would want to eat it?" I understand the hype angle, but only a couple are truly unusual! You really can't believe anybody likes Oreos or Cheetos?! I can't believe people who say they like pizza but will only eat plain cheese, but it's still good! I expected more stuff like cat/dog/horse or other things that are popular in some regions but not most!
Sushi. Well. it looks nice and is a lot of work, but - whatfor did we invent fire? I do not want to eat raw fish
Try California rolls. It's cucumber, avocado, and cooked crab meat. Yummy. Philly roll is also good its same thing except instead of avocado it has cream cheese.
Load More Replies...