Basically the post title. If you are going to say you do not like something because it contains some ingredient you don’t like, without trying it, you probably would benefit by having a more open mind about food and you’re doing life wrong.
Obviously, valid exceptions would be if you’re allergic/sensitive to an ingredient. And there may be some other valid exceptions outside of that, but in general, I think this is true.
What’s an example of what I mean? I HATE eggs generally, I almost always strongly dislike their texture as a dish unto themselves. They smell like sulphur, they’re often oozing liquid or they are are plasticky/spongey. What’s that you say? I just haven’t had them made the right way? Au contraire, because therein lies my point. I have had eggs made the right way. Or rather, not the eggs themselves, but the structural or textural qualities they add to a dish. I normally don’t like omelets because of this egg aversion, but if an omelet is well made by my standards, the egg is just the wrapper. A thin, barely noticeable container in which to stuff other delicious ingredients. I absolutely do not care that omelets contain eggs, I care that they taste good, and don’t make me notice the qualities I hate about eggs. I also of course enjoy around a bazillion other breads and desserts made using eggs.
I recently posted here about my hate for crunchy vegetables and heard that my opinion is garbage from many users. Ya know what though? I’m not an extremist. If you tell me “oh sorry you wouldn’t like this, it has crunchy vegetables in it”, you’re jumping the gun. Because if I try it (and I likely would), and the crunchy texture does not outweigh the good qualities of the dish, I’m probably not going to dislike it.
I have known plenty of people who literally judge food constantly by what’s in it. “Oh falafel is made of chickpeas? BARF I wouldn’t like it and I won’t try it!!” It doesn’t matter to them that they literally may have never guessed that chickpeas are in there if I hadn’t mentioned it, now they know and their minds’ made up. “But I don’t like mushrooms, so I won’t try that pizza :(” … this idea makes me sad. I’m both a slightly picky and very non-picky eater in different ways but I can promise you one thing: if I based my food preferences primarily on the ingredient list, I’d be picky as hell and much less into food. I’d probably be borderline malnourished because I’d have never matured beyond 10 year old me, thinking most foods are “yucky”. And that would be sad (and unhealthy).
I’m guessing a lot of users won’t admit they judge food by what’s in it, but I’m confident that if people were honest about what people actually do, they’d consider this opinion unpopular af. Think about it: I bet a large percentage of you don’t like eggplant (or some other specific vegetable) and would refuse to try some new dish because it contains eggplant.
Prior experience is a hell of a drug though
There’s a few things that I learned to dislike as a child that I instinctively avoid today - despite having tried and enjoyed them again as an adult. It’s weird because I know from recent experience that they’re not so bad, yet it’s hard to shake something that you’ve carried with you for so long.
Trauma’s a fun one. I got food poisoning from an improperly stored sandwich once, and it was years before I’d touch mayonnaise again. Now I enjoy it enough to use it again, but sometimes I look at it and the memory turns my stomach.
Sometimes it’s something that I had enjoyed, but then learned something about its production that icked me out. I used to love salami, but I read about how it was made and something about fermented meat is just viscerally totally wrong for me. You might also be surprised to hear how often fermented fish comes up in condiments. That doesn’t make the food worse, but there’s definitely some kind of psychological component for me.
Enoki are a variety of mushroom that I’ve tried several times to get into because I see them at the grocery store I think they’re neat. Then when I prepare them I look at them and see… I don’t know, some alien creature or insectoid or something horrible. Even though I know they’re nothing more than mushrooms that millions of people eat every day. I guess that’s more presentation than preparation.
Preparation definitely matters though. I’ve never in my life enjoyed a raw tomato, although I can see in some dishes where they make an impact. As soon as you cook that tomato it becomes immediately better. Based on what I eat, you might not even be wrong to say that tomato must be one of my favorite foods. Still can’t stand raw ones though.
I feel like I’ve complained a lot about food. It’s funny, because I generally think I’m pretty open-minded about it. I might even go so far as to say adventurous. But there are just some things that are hard to get over - once bitten, twice shy
I don’t think we are on too terribly of different pages here. I guess it’s not as an unpopular opinion as I thought. I just differ in how much I’ll let past experience guide my judgements. I got severe food poisoning to the point I was wondering if I might die once, from sushi. I didn’t eat sushi for like 4 months, then resumed lol. I try to assume I’m missing out on at least some things I actually like if I don’t try them again and that is true more often than not for me. Worst case I end up eating a meal that wasn’t great, but 95% of the time I enjoy it and also learn more about that dish/ingredient.