I loved canned diced beets with butter when I was a kid. I loathed baked beans and still do. The smell still makes me gag. That scene in Knives Out where she’s shoveling in the baked beans gave me the willies.
Creamed corn, creamed spinach, creamed anything makes me gag just looking at it.
I’m a very picky eater, like kelsmom, I don’t like any condiments either. Don’t like tomato sauce and get my pizzas without sauce. I eat my burgers plain, or with just bacon. Don’t like thick or creamy soup. Hate eating lukewarm food.
I was extremely picky until I was 16. Had never tried cheese or lettuce until then. I like a lot of veggies now, but prefer them raw.
Strangely, my sisters were also very picky eaters as children. Both would throw up if they had to try a food they didn’t like. We all liked fried okra though!
Well, I am not a fan of lumpy cream of wheat, scrambled eggs that are runny and have eggshells in them, any egg that isn’t thoroughly cooked and lumpy powdered milk. Guess who got to stare at these great dishes literally for hours because I refused to consume them? My sibs were smarter and would put them in their mouths and spit them out in a napkin or the toilet. Yes, I was a slow learner about food consumption.
I never forced our kids to eat anything. If they didn’t want what was served they could make themselves a PBJ sandwich.
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We just came back from a lovely dinner out. I’m sure some here will gag after looking at what we ate: fish, mushrooms, and some radishes! 
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That’s it…head cheese. In addition to smelling awful, it looked awful.
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Try cracked wheat cereal made from scratch. My mom used an old 1950s grain grinder. Grind it once for cracked wheat. At least it keeps you regular!
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Pierogies- the look, the smell. My mom never even made these, so not sure how this manifested.
Ham and cabbage - my mom mom made it every Patty’s day and it never touched my lips. Again, the look and smell.
Red meat- people are shocked when I say I’ve never eaten steak. But being a kid and seeing the blood on that white styrofoam at the store - yuck.
I’m a vegetarian by the way!
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That actually looks tasty!
Try well-done steaks drizzled with ketchup! That’s called meat mismanagement!
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Assignment: Ask YOUR kid(s) what food dish YOU or your partner made that traumatized them as a kid! 
I was a weird outlier as a kid as I actually like liver and onions. I remember it being really tender and with a light breading on the outside. I would NOT choose it now.
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I have 3 kids, and I couldn’t keep track of their shifting food preferences! One hated onions for a long time, then suddenly they were ok and he started hating tomatoes. One adored salmon, then after about 10 years didn’t like it any more . . .
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My kid was and is a very “adventurous” eater and would try anything. Plus if she didn’t like something after trying, I never forced her to finish and I wouldn’t make it again for a long while. (I reintroduced foods to try again as she got older).
She takes after her dad in that she actually likes to try things that sound weird and gross. They both will go for things they’ve never eaten on a menu or sound the most exotic. She’s been that way since she was little.
The only foods she doesn’t like to this day are what she calls “crunchy water” - foods like celery and watermelon. And she will eat them, she just doesn’t particularly like them. Bugs, fermented shark stomach, tripe, etc… she’s in 100% : )
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I hate liver straight, but I really like pâté made with liver. When I lived in France liver was the one thing I told my French family I would eat. I got a fried egg on liver days. I also at the time didn’t care for mushrooms, but I’d pick them out of food or take small servings. I eat everything now. We were at a fancy restaurant this week and ordered the tasting menu, the waiter looked so happy when we told him we could eat anything.
It’s funny how many things I really enjoy eating as an adult that made me gag as a kid. I absolutely detested mushrooms, broccoli, asparagus, Brussels sprouts … love them all now (but I don’t boil them until they’re mushy). However, if I never have to eat fried ring bologna, meatloaf/meatloaf sandwiches, egg salad sandwiches or braunschweiger again, I will not miss them. And milk … yuck! Oh, and my grandma’s family dinner go-to, Swiss steak, was just vile. I don’t know what was in it, but I had to hold my breath to choke it down.
Our son would not eat any form of pasta or cereal but was a good eater otherwise. We never forced him to eat anything. Sounds like most of us here learned as kids what a bad idea that is.
Did you ever try to steer your kid away from the expensive foods? A few times, we tried to say things like, “This is sushi. Most people don’t like it. It’s raw fish.” Or, “This lobster is kinda scary looking, right? It’s a big bug that lives in the sea. You won’t like it.” Totally didn’t work.
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Haha. Even when they were still young enough to order from the less expensive childrens menu, our kids didn’t. They always managed to find a pricey regular option. But I have to say…they ate it all!
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I don’t think there was a single food NOT forced to some degree on older S when he was little. He wouldn’t eat anything ever. Even cookies and desserts! milk, juice, nope. He lived on air. He would go days without eating solid food. When he was 4 he asked for a taco and I about fell over. Funny thing is that now he will eat ANYTHING. A complete 180. Well, I take that back. He developed a tree nut allergy around age 20. Very weird since while my family has tons of allergies, we aren’t allergic to any food (or meds). So those are off the table now.
But big nos were any kind of beans. Younger S didn’t like onions (which I LOVE) or barbecue sauce. He eats barbecue sauce now. same with ranch. Neither ate fish for a long time, because I made tilapia once and it was REALLY REALLY bad. Not rotten bad, just blech. I had us all throw it out. Slowly, they are coming around - older S more quickly.
Mine both liked canned veggies microwaved for 30 seconds. If you tried to make anything fancier, they wouldn’t touch them. Fine by me. a million times easier.
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Oh yes- water chestnuts from a can when my mom attempted some stir fry. Yuck!
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My father “tricked” me into giving him my artichoke hearts. I would eat the artichoke down to the heart, but he convinced me it was like organ meat.
My other siblings and I convinced our eldest brother that tapioca pudding was made out of frog eyes, so we got larger portions since he wouldn’t eat it.
When I was in elementary school, I was at dinner at a friend’s house. As their guest of honor, I was given the largest mango for dessert. I’d never eaten one, and unfortunately discovered I don’t like mangoes. But being polite, I choked it down.
I tried mango again later as an adult, and I still don’t like it. I don’t mind it blended in with papaya or other fruits, but I don’t care for straight mango.
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college_query, I vividly remember being at a friend’s house and her mother served a big bowl of lima beans. Ugh! I can’t remember if I ate them, probably not.
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