Um, no peas please! Students' peculiar aversion to common foods

Everyone has a food they would rather not have on their plate; sometimes we can grin and bear it out of pure politeness, but other times our hatred for a particular food an be so strong, or deep-rooted that we cannot bear to even look at the thing that people actually choose to put in their mouths. We heard from a few of our writers about their personal food afflictions.

Mushrooms

I will never understand the appeal of mushrooms. Although there’s many varieties, I am also yet to find one that I like. It’s not the way they look, even when cooked, that makes them unfavourable, but much what they are like when they pass the lips. 

People like to say mushrooms soak up the flavours they are cooked in, but honestly, no matter how hard you try to conceal it, I will always find them in a dish. They have a sort of squishy texture that neither seems substantial nor appealing, only limp and slimy, and in some cases a little rubbery when cooked. The taste to me is also totally unplaceable, which I think is what makes me dislike them so much.

Let me also add, mushrooms are literally types of fungus. Do you know what else is a type of fungus? Athletes' foot. Somehow, that will never leave my head and sadly impairs my ability to eat them. 

Although a very versatile ingredient, mushrooms are just strange to me. Maybe one day I will find a dish where mushrooms form some type of delicious element, but for now, there’s not much room for mushrooms in my meals. 

Celery

Let me tell you about the time when my pen burst in my mouth. It was year 8 French. I had a nasty habit of chewing on my pens. The French teacher decided to come talk to me. She would go on for hours on end and whilst she was on one of her long methodical lectures, my pen burst in my mouth – black ink if I remember correctly. I had to sit for what seemed like eternity with ink in my mouth until she stopped talking. 

It's this moment that is best way I can describe the taste of celery – it tastes like ink in a French class.To be perfectly frank – celery is awful. I picked up the habit of calling them Satan sticks. They are vile. 

I’ve always considered myself to be a foodie – I’ll eat most things. But celery absolutely not. Tell me, why would I optionally eat a food that has no calorific value whatsoever. I could MAYBE get past it if it was in a sauce – a cheeky base for a spag bol. But I draw the line at eating it whole. It’s rhubarb’s estranged, ugly, cousin. I want nothing to do with it!