Order a pizza topped with pineapples at any restaurant in Italy, and you will regret every little step that led you to making this decision. Because if there’s something Italians won’t tolerate, it’s pineapple pizza and cappuccino in the afternoon. But while some of the most controversial food preferences have to do with local culture and its quirks, the rest of it comes from our weird and wonderful personalities.
The same goes with our food opinions. Like, saying that mint choc chip ice cream is gross, tomatoes ruin a burger, or that Greek yogurt is sour cream in disguise. You may not be the most popular person in the room for stating this, but you’re surely not quite wrong either.
So let’s dig deep into the often silenced world of controversial food opinions shared in this viral Twitter thread that will heat up the room temperature and will surely bring out your inner Gordon Ramsay.
This post may include affiliate links.
Bored Panda reached out to Stefan Balkenende, a spokesperson of Greenpan.co.uk, a cookware manufacturer that specializes in ceramic-coated pans for healthier cooking. Stefan shared some insights on food opinions and preferences, as well as of ways we talk about food so that it won’t become a sensitive topic.
“No matter where you’re from or what kind of food you eat, the topic of food brings people together, acting as an easy ice breaker when meeting new people. It’s universally appealing,” Stefan said and added: “In fact, last year Dr. Amber Spry, who is the Politics and African American Studies professor at Brandeis University, went viral as she had asked her class ‘how does your family cook rice’ instead of traditional ice breaker questions, which naturally got the class talking, sparking debate and conversation over something so trivial but relevant to everyone.”
According to Stefan, even if a particular food preference seems unusual now, it could easily become more mainstream as time passes. “For example, the idea of drinking bone broth might have seemed odd a few years ago; in fact, in 2016, Google Trends identified an interest score of just 21. Fast forward to January 2020, and it hit a popularity score of 100.”
Moreover, unusual food preferences can be an exciting challenge for a cook. “Part of creating a great recipe is combining different flavors and textures in new ways, perhaps unimagined. What might seem like a bizarre preference could spark inspiration for an exciting new dish,” the spokesperson of Greenpan.co.uk explained.
Took me years in the USA to find a bread that had no sugar. And then I moved back to NZ. I miss that sourdough so much.
There are lots of recipes for making your own sourdough starter, and it's easy enough. You might enjoy the results.
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I am American, and I approve this message. Have you seen our breakfast cereal that is just miniature cookies?
Miniature cookies for breakfast sounds amazing. Ridiculously unhealthy, but amazing.
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I felt self-conscious about this as an American, particularly one that's vegan and pays a lot of attention to the added ingredients... But, then I saw a post on British food, and it was all cheap meat dripping with fat and surrounded by complex starches... Seems like learning English as your first language makes you allergic to green vegetables.
What gets me? The whole "US eats sugar!" coming from the UK. Two words: Trifle. Pavlova. Sugar, fat, and jam. Yeah, that's just fantastic. The fruit totally eliminates the five cups of sugar in there??? (I have UK in-laws. They really do eat like you described. Ugh.)
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Should say the majority of Americans. This is the first one that annoys me a bit.
Sheesh, way to show you cant be bothered thinking. Plenty of foods Americans enjoy are made without sugar, syrups or other sweeteners. Candied walnuts and other sweet things in salads are not the norm (and if you try an UNsweetened cranberry, then you'll understand why they ARE sweetened). Pie with ice cream is a treat for most, not a daily thing, and if it is syrupy, well, bad pie. Based on your spelling, you are clearly from a Brit country, so you have no room to criticize American food. I've spent months in England, for example, and while I had some wonderful meals, some of it was stunningly awful (vegetables cooked to death, ice cold toast), there is candy everywhere, and finding a decent green salad was a struggle.
Yeah this post is weird. Salads with sweet stuff in (like sicilians orange and fennel salad) and sweet stuff with food is common all over the world, like fruit mince pies from England that used to have real meat. Etc. I agree that candy and sweets are too sweet in the US but cranberries? Really?
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american food does tend to the sweet, but so does a lot of other food, particularly in Asia. I'm not sure that all of this US bashing lately isn't just the other side of american exceptionalism. It's a crappy culture, just like all the other cultures.
I think most Asian food are spicy and savory. If I find it sweet, because that's the dessert
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Its the daily "dump on america" post. I'm starting to believe that most Americans wanna be European. 🙃
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Hidden sugar is a killer for a diabetic or prediabetic. I had a favorite Italian restaurant I loved where I moved from. Authentic wonderful food. I moved here and they had the same restaurant. Went in and got my favorite dish only to see my numbers spike real high when I got home. Chicken Cacciatore! What sugar is in that? I called the restaurant and the chef said they put sugar in the sauce because people like it that way......???? (I didn't eat the pasta-another can't have with diabetes)
Most of us who work in the food service industry actually have "american food" as the line we won't cross when cooking. For example, if you ask for ketchup to put on your pasta, you'll be ignored, at best. Laughed at or even yelled at is the usual answer, though
A couple of million or so shy of 330 million. So, on top of those who are actually toddlers, how many do you really think fall into your categorization Janet?
Brownies. From Costco and other places they are just sugar flour and a bit of chocolate. My friend brought me a few from the bakery near her house and the REAL brownie tastes amazing, without the sugar.
Chocolate without sugar or other sweetener is too bitter to eat.
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Agreed! Whoever invented High Fructose Corn Syrup should be beaten to death on National TV in Prime time
ever been to Singapore? Sugar...literally in everything...bags of it!
What singaporean food have you tried? If it's kuih or ice-kacang, yes they're full of sugar - becuase that's desserts. But Laksa and Chicken Rice I usually have, doesn't have sugary taste. Maybe you went to wrong restaurant or just cooked wrong recipe
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Growing up in America I never noticed this until I visited other places, coming back was a bit of a shock
It is everyone's right to eat food as thy like it and nobody else can say them nay.
Even in such an article as this there must be the usual bp anti USA propaganda
As an American, while I agree with this, and it is a problem we should rectify, I resent other countries being smug and acting superior. Don't like it - don't eat it.
Judgement much??? Not ALL of us eat that crap, we just have tons more options than you
Not all of us do but the majority do. Sometimes there’s not even another option.
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This is not a "controversial food opinion." It's just more uncalled-for bullshit USA bashing.
God, I hate these overgeneralizations. Americans are not a monolith. First of all, America is much more than the US. "United States citizens" would be more accurate, but that's a whole other discussion...Secondly, we are a huge melting pot of so many different cultures and tastes. That's kind of our claim to fame.
I've avoided most processed foods for more than a decade now. In prepping for dental surgery a couple years ago, I bought six cans of canned soup. Each and every one of them was nearly flavorless, except for the tastes of sugar and salt. From clam chowder to beef stew, their tastes barely varied. I would have failed a blind taste test.
American here, just wanted to say that banana bread is totally fine as a favorite dessert item. Spread some butter on there if you're feeling indulgent.
I have to agree. I don’t like a whole lot of sweet food without a savory food to balance it out.
The American corn and sugar industry is part of it. I personally am not big on sweet and sugary.
American and some of that is correct I once had someone hound me about my cabbage recipe..wouldnt believe it was just salt and pepper...so used to people overcooking or adding meat they had never actually tasted cabbage...i dont do any of those mentioned things &absolutely hate cereal..but candied walnuts omg so good with cheese plate fruit and a nice dry white wine..
The irony of this is that toddlers have more sensitive tastebuds than grown ups*. So less sugar would be necessary. *That's why they dislike bitter food, it tastes much more bitter to them and shall prevent them from eating poisonous food.
Agreed and it’s disgusting. That’s why it’s so hard to just go to the store and buy something simple like bread or drinks or even things like cookies. All painfully overloaded with sugar. And even more disgusting that this is considered a child’s diet. Maybe if you’re a horrible parent.
(i am one of those americans) but the rest of my family has a very wide palette, example: last night we had shrimp curry for dinner, i had the rice. my brother has the widest, he enjoys eating raw sheep liver🤢
They do, but not in any salad bar I've seen. And, as a vegetarian sinnce the early 1970s, I've seen dang near every salad bar possible.
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As an American, I am offended by this. No, not the tweet, the fact that she's right.
I totally agree - except the candied walnuts - I'll be a "Karen" for candied walnuts.
English milk tea and iced tea is usually sweetened and has milk. I drink unsweetened tea but idk where you come from but unsweetened ice tea is not the norm in Australia and parts of Asia. They have the option of unsweetened tess in Japan but they even sell milk tea in Japan. It's sweet.
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US sweets/chocolate/biscuits (what they oddly call cookies) are absolutely vile. Most taste like chemicals, rather than food!
Please, don't put sweetened things in dishes that are not supposed to be sweet. It is... Unholy.
All yeasted bread has sugar. It won't rise without it. Granted, American rolls have too much, especially things like Hawaiian bread (though it's intentional) but the 'real bread has no sugar at all!!' claim is a fallacy perpetuated by 'healthy' food police that have no idea how food chemistry actually works. It's the same kind of people who tell me they prefer flour tortillas to bread because they're 'lower calorie' .... tortillas are made with butter. They are literally the same calories as two slices of bread.
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Oh, is that why when Krispy Kreme opened in Ireland they nearly shut the place down because they got so overwhelmed because of so much business? Must have been all those American tourists, huh? Surely no one outside the US would subject themselves to sugar.
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I wouldn't quite say "toddlers", but yes everything is too damn sweet here. Also salty. I cook from scratch and even picky eaters clean their plates and I usually add no salt or sugar.
Except my BBQ sauce. But even that is probably not enough sugar for most.
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Sugar and fat, fat and sugar and some sugar on top... But beeing obese is a health issue, not a food issue. And talking about it is "fat shaming".
Being obese is a food education and mental issue. Talking about it isn't shaming but acting like all sugar and fat and salt is 'bad' doesn't help people make better choices. If fat shaming even worked there'd be no fat people. There's no point to it.
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And the cereal... oh the cereal... can your tongue be blinded? cause that happened to me
well when you buy mass produced non-organic cereal with cartoon characters on the front what do you expect? you're buying the wrong product.
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Um....America is not even 300 years old. OF COURSE there are no foods eaten for "thousands of years" here...other than Native American cuisine. We are a country made ENTIRELY out of immigrants and the descendants of slaves...our "culture" is not monochromatic, but a hodge-podge of dozens of cultures from around the world. We are quite different from Old World Europe, so no, you are not going to see the exact same foods or culture...and you should not expect to.
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When asked whether a chef could refuse to cook a very unusual order made by a client, Stefan said that “unusual food preferences can be a tough pill to swallow as a chef, but it can be a positive challenge.” “That being said,” the spokesperson continued, “customers should be aware that professional kitchens will have prepped their menus and food orders in advance, so last-minute changes can be difficult to overcome. Likewise, some chefs may find it hard to deviate from what they’re used to, as their menu is an art and experience.”
“Depending on how obscure the food order is, chefs can use it to their advantage and make use of existing ingredients they have and try and incorporate what they would have served in a slightly different way,” Stefan concluded.
Actually all the differnt pasta shapes each have their own specific purpose. They are each speciallised for a particular task, and cannot be interchanged if you are after the best result. E.g. if you cook lasagna with farfalle (butterflies) the result will be wierd (or actually a wrong interpretation of pasta bolognese), as the plates are what holds a lasagna toghether, so it can be cut into blocks. Some of them, like the shells and cannelloni (large tubes) are actually meant to be stuffed. Each type of pasta will interact with the sauce diffently, which will have an effect on the experience of eating the dish. So yes diffent pasta shapes makes the pasta(dish) taste differently, but the shells are not always the best.
Bored Panda also talked to Alex Gunz of "Gourmand Gunno," a London-based professional food reviewer and the winner of Square Meal's 'Critic of the Year' 2014 award.
When asked whether talking about food, especially if one has unusual opinions when it comes to eating, can sometimes turn sour, Alex Gunz told us that it should not and does not need to be a sensitive topic. “The more people are open and willing to discuss their opinions, the less sensitive the topic becomes,” he added.
This person is mightily confused. And need to read up on dairy products.
Yeah... I asked a Mexican friend of mine who lives in USA if Taco Bell was authentic when it comes to tacos and he said no, because Tacos aren't supposed to be in a hard shell
Moreover, “Everyone will have their own view on what constitutes 'unusual.' Always important to make a distinction between what preferences might be a function of either religion or health relative to just more personal reasons,” Alex explained.
When it comes to chefs preparing very unusual orders, Alex said that whether the chef would agree to make a special order or not “totally depends on the circumstances (type of restaurant, price point, and expectation of the consumer).” Having said that, he added that “menus exist for a reason, in most cases.”
Love a deep dish, but I love pizza. Even those greasy crackers that are NY style slices are good if you put one on top of another like a calzone.
You're eating it wrong. Change your bread to something like toasted ciabatta.
Yes, I do love tea. But uuuuuh, I used to work as a baker and when you wake up at 4 in the morning tea isn't enough to wake you up
On the fence. Maybe they are too sweet, but they are so soft! They are literally air and sugar.
Note: this post originally had 52 images. It’s been shortened to the top 30 images based on user votes.
LOL!! I can't even see them anymore! RIP to those opinions.
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Funny how half of those opinions are highly upvoted and the other half is highly downvoted. There's no middle ground in that article.
You can eat what you want and I can judge those foods all I like
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Why are people downvoting opinions....on a page for unpopular opinions?
Why do people get downvotes for their opinions. Even if their opinions are gross, it's still their opinion.
Ever tried a bratwurst they’re amazing
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I'm with you. Unless is in the 80%-90% range, I don't even bother. Of course, I got dowvoted for commenting that up there
Load More Replies... I'm certain I'll get downvoted for this but my controversial opinion on food is......most pizza isn't very good. I have had a few decent one's but most of the time it's greasy dough overloaded with greasy cheese and greasy meat thrown on it. The best pizza's I've had usually have a limited amount of cheese and other toppings.
Agreed on this - about american-style pizza, anyway. Italian pizza is a different beast. The worst pizza I had in Italy was still better than 99% of the American style pizzas I've ever had.
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What's the point of down-voting something that answers to the articles description? You knew it was supposed to be controversial, so why not up-vote them instead for being an actual controversial opinion?
Taste in food is totally personal. It doesn't nor should it ever matter to me or anyone else whether you do or do not like a food. I like anchovies, SO WHAT. The only legitimate response to that is OK fine whether you like them or not.
You can say "I like anchovies" or "I don't like anchovies", that's your problem, your taste, and noone can criticise it. But if you yell "ANCHOVIES ARE TRASH" like that other guy did with cheese, it is a normative statement and it's normal that the people feel attacked
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Too much dark chocolate tastes like coal, and too much white chocolate tastes like snorting the entire sugar output of Cuba.
Here's mine. Brisket is way overrated. People spend all day cooking it and at best it tastes like a run of the mill roast with some kinda stuff on it. And yeah, I've had every version known to mankind.
Most of these people haven't tasted proper prepared food! Or they are lacking taste buds i don't know!
Taste buds that people have do vary. I'm what's called a 'super taster' as I have more taste buds than average.
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Hmmm, let's see: I don't particularly like stew, mild cheddar, I haven't eaten spaghetti bolognese since I was five, I get carbonara when my family does spaghetti dinner instead. Also, I dip Mc Donald's fries into my Mc Flurry occasionally.
Wendy's fries in their chocolate shakes. SO GOOD.
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How about this.. everyone should respect what other people like and don't like to eat. You should never s**t on someone for their preferences. I get crap all the time because I don't like raw veggies or chocolate. It takes all the fun out of eating.
FFS, Bored Panda. Don’t give me notifications of replies if your ass-garbage web-code isn’t going to take me TO that damned reply!!! Every time I come here and participating, I end up regretting it, firstly because of bad web code.
for some reason the website refuses to do that, but the app usually takes you to the reply. yeah they really need to fix that
Load More Replies... So, we have a little of everything here: personal choice, sweeping generalizations, bad experiences, racism, cooking critics, societal failures, undeniable certainty and a lot of bad manners.
So, just a bunch of stupid statements and opinions regarding taste? Yawn.
Don't understand why it's so important to some people, what other people eat! After all, what they eat is their business............you don't have to eat it/
I have an opinion... Those weird sweet pickles are disgusting.
There’s way too many people in the world to start criticising personal food preferences! LOL. I’ve had some seriously weird ones that only my closer family can understand; like taking sliced ham (the processed kind), cutting it into smaller pieces & letting it soak in malt vinegar for as little as 5 minutes before tasting. Maybe it sounds nasty, but I have already had one older sister & my 2nd eldest niece (who is in her 3rd year of med school) try it voluntarily & they now enjoy it as an occasional snack, so I do think it’s worth trying. I think the best kind of ham to use (if you know this UK brand) is Denny’s Pork, Onion & Tomato, but you can try it with all sorts, I guess. I wouldn’t advise using crumbed ham, though. 😅
I'm italian, I don't know what half of those people eat normally, meatloaf isn't good? Mac and cheese is trash? Artichokes are bad? You need me to come there and cook for you a proper dish?
The pancakes topped with ketchup nearly turned my stomach. Sorry to folks that like that.
Guacamole is lame. Just weird green stuff with little taste and a weird texture.
I was going to come and say how we shouldn’t downvote people for their opinion - but that would be ironic because I’ve been downvoting people that I don’t agree with.
There are A LOT of things I will never serve in my restaurant, mainly stuff that not only ruin the ingredients (like overcooked steak), but things that disrespect the cultural value of some food (like adding ketchup to pasta).
My grandma taught me one rule on food: If you need sauce (or frosting), then you didn't cook it right. Rare exceptions being pasta with a sauce, obvs, and we made our own, thanks.
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Chocolate tastes horrible and I don't like the way it squishes around in my mouth and it's just gross. Cheese is disgusting too. It tastes like old snot and the glue you borrowed from your friend in second grade. I'll wait for the downvotes to roll in haha
I wish I could figure out how to report you because people like you are getting annoying just stop reading bored panda
Load More Replies... LOL!! I can't even see them anymore! RIP to those opinions.
Load More Replies... Funny how half of those opinions are highly upvoted and the other half is highly downvoted. There's no middle ground in that article.
You can eat what you want and I can judge those foods all I like
Load More Replies... Why are people downvoting opinions....on a page for unpopular opinions?
Why do people get downvotes for their opinions. Even if their opinions are gross, it's still their opinion.
Ever tried a bratwurst they’re amazing
Load More Replies... I'm with you. Unless is in the 80%-90% range, I don't even bother. Of course, I got dowvoted for commenting that up there
Load More Replies... I'm certain I'll get downvoted for this but my controversial opinion on food is......most pizza isn't very good. I have had a few decent one's but most of the time it's greasy dough overloaded with greasy cheese and greasy meat thrown on it. The best pizza's I've had usually have a limited amount of cheese and other toppings.
Agreed on this - about american-style pizza, anyway. Italian pizza is a different beast. The worst pizza I had in Italy was still better than 99% of the American style pizzas I've ever had.
Load More Replies... What's the point of down-voting something that answers to the articles description? You knew it was supposed to be controversial, so why not up-vote them instead for being an actual controversial opinion?
Taste in food is totally personal. It doesn't nor should it ever matter to me or anyone else whether you do or do not like a food. I like anchovies, SO WHAT. The only legitimate response to that is OK fine whether you like them or not.
You can say "I like anchovies" or "I don't like anchovies", that's your problem, your taste, and noone can criticise it. But if you yell "ANCHOVIES ARE TRASH" like that other guy did with cheese, it is a normative statement and it's normal that the people feel attacked
Load More Replies... Too much dark chocolate tastes like coal, and too much white chocolate tastes like snorting the entire sugar output of Cuba.
Here's mine. Brisket is way overrated. People spend all day cooking it and at best it tastes like a run of the mill roast with some kinda stuff on it. And yeah, I've had every version known to mankind.
Most of these people haven't tasted proper prepared food! Or they are lacking taste buds i don't know!
Taste buds that people have do vary. I'm what's called a 'super taster' as I have more taste buds than average.
Load More Replies... Hmmm, let's see: I don't particularly like stew, mild cheddar, I haven't eaten spaghetti bolognese since I was five, I get carbonara when my family does spaghetti dinner instead. Also, I dip Mc Donald's fries into my Mc Flurry occasionally.
Wendy's fries in their chocolate shakes. SO GOOD.
Load More Replies... How about this.. everyone should respect what other people like and don't like to eat. You should never s**t on someone for their preferences. I get crap all the time because I don't like raw veggies or chocolate. It takes all the fun out of eating.
FFS, Bored Panda. Don’t give me notifications of replies if your ass-garbage web-code isn’t going to take me TO that damned reply!!! Every time I come here and participating, I end up regretting it, firstly because of bad web code.
for some reason the website refuses to do that, but the app usually takes you to the reply. yeah they really need to fix that
Load More Replies... So, we have a little of everything here: personal choice, sweeping generalizations, bad experiences, racism, cooking critics, societal failures, undeniable certainty and a lot of bad manners.
So, just a bunch of stupid statements and opinions regarding taste? Yawn.
Don't understand why it's so important to some people, what other people eat! After all, what they eat is their business............you don't have to eat it/
I have an opinion... Those weird sweet pickles are disgusting.
There’s way too many people in the world to start criticising personal food preferences! LOL. I’ve had some seriously weird ones that only my closer family can understand; like taking sliced ham (the processed kind), cutting it into smaller pieces & letting it soak in malt vinegar for as little as 5 minutes before tasting. Maybe it sounds nasty, but I have already had one older sister & my 2nd eldest niece (who is in her 3rd year of med school) try it voluntarily & they now enjoy it as an occasional snack, so I do think it’s worth trying. I think the best kind of ham to use (if you know this UK brand) is Denny’s Pork, Onion & Tomato, but you can try it with all sorts, I guess. I wouldn’t advise using crumbed ham, though. 😅
I'm italian, I don't know what half of those people eat normally, meatloaf isn't good? Mac and cheese is trash? Artichokes are bad? You need me to come there and cook for you a proper dish?
The pancakes topped with ketchup nearly turned my stomach. Sorry to folks that like that.
Guacamole is lame. Just weird green stuff with little taste and a weird texture.
I was going to come and say how we shouldn’t downvote people for their opinion - but that would be ironic because I’ve been downvoting people that I don’t agree with.
There are A LOT of things I will never serve in my restaurant, mainly stuff that not only ruin the ingredients (like overcooked steak), but things that disrespect the cultural value of some food (like adding ketchup to pasta).
My grandma taught me one rule on food: If you need sauce (or frosting), then you didn't cook it right. Rare exceptions being pasta with a sauce, obvs, and we made our own, thanks.
Load More Replies... Chocolate tastes horrible and I don't like the way it squishes around in my mouth and it's just gross. Cheese is disgusting too. It tastes like old snot and the glue you borrowed from your friend in second grade. I'll wait for the downvotes to roll in haha
I wish I could figure out how to report you because people like you are getting annoying just stop reading bored panda
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