Some people also try to convince me that adding tons of lemon will make it better. Why do I have to add it to make it taste in the first place?

AMEN, Thank You!

I cannot stand seafood in any form. My strong aversion to seafood isn’t some psychosomatic response, I WANT to like seafood. I’ve seen plenty of seafood dishes that look appetizing and were crafted by skilled chefs. I’ve tried lobster, crab, shrimp, salmon, tuna, mahi-mahi, swordfish, cod, anchovies, trout, etc. Though they are of course different in flavor and texture, there are enough similarities to classify them together. It is that baseline that the seafood-averse like myself cannot get past. And no, I don’t care for the smell of fish, even in its freshest form.

The same arguments you presented could be used against those who don’t like blue cheese (which I love). Oh, well there are actually many different types of blue cheese with so many different flavors and textures! There’s gorgonzola, roquefort, stilton, point reyes, cabrales, cambozola, and so on! And yet, they’re all still classified under the umbrella of “blue cheese” – which many people cannot stand. Though there is plenty of variation, they are all underpinned by being blue cheese.

Despite not liking seafood, I nevertheless have a very diverse palate. I enjoy most everything else, and despite what your writing suggests, I haven’t been put off by a pig’s face staring back at me as I carve delicious cuts from it’s cooked carcass.

The bottom line is that there ARE a raft full of reasons (what you referred to as “excuses” in your commentary) why people like or dislike things ranging from genetic to environmental. Nature and nurture.

While you celebrate gastronomic diversity, you don’t appear to accept the diversity of the human palate. Just as there are a variety of flavors, and nuance to those flavors, the same is true of an individual’s palate – there is variation to how one *perceives* those flavors and textures. Since we cannot swap out tastebuds to perceive food the way that others do, what we’re left with is something entirely subjective – something that cannot be quantified objectively.

Imagine the arrogance of telling someone that their own perceptions (which is the thing that really matters) are invalid. Indeed, something does smell fishy here.

You don’t really have to try every kind of fish to know that it all tastes like fish. It’s not closed-minded to assume so. Especially when your fish-loving friends tell you “this isn’t fishy” and then you try it and it is. We’re just speaking different languages when we say it tastes like fish and you reply that it’s not fishy. There’s some baseline “this is fish” taste that those of us who react badly to it call “fishy.” There’s another flavor of not-so-fresh fish that the rest of you call “fishy.”

(Also, I believe the previous commenter was using a bit of hyperbole. He listed a laundry list of the kinds of fish he’s tried, because the most common objection to “I don’t like fish” is “well, you haven’t tried X.” We usually have. And it tastes like fish. Which is yucky.)

Total agreement here. All fish and seafood has a particular taste in the background that I think those who like fish don’t even taste. For me the flavor is so similar to the smell of rotten meat that it triggers my “that’s not food! abort!” reflex.

Even the freshest seafood (I grew up in Alaska, so it’s not like I haven’t been exposed to it) smells fishy. That baseline level of fishy is what turns my stomach. I’ve tried and tried, had samples of the best seafood my friends and family rave over. It all tastes like Not Food. I don’t like mushrooms, but they taste like food. I can eat them without gagging. Not so with seafood.

And I’m not even picky. I like basically everything in the produce aisle (except cilantro) and the meat counter. I’ll eat organ meats and game without hesitation. But the entire category of fish and seafood is a no-go for me. (Even seaweed has that certain special flavor that triggers gagging from me.)

I get not posting offensive or aggressive comments. It’s just that it’s pretty condescending to assume it’s not about the smell or flavor when it is totally about the smell and flavor.

I think your comment is refreshingly honest Amanda, and it actually illustrates what the overall point is. Sometimes it is simply that people are picky eaters, that’s all, but try to mask this with a raft of excuses which simply don’t hold up to objective and rational scrutiny. Thanks for this.