What vegetable do you dislike the most? Do you think it’s just because you haven’t had it “prepared the right way”?
Also, I don’t care if technically it’s a fruit or a tuber or whatever, if colloquially it’s vegetable, qualifies for this post. I’m not going to tell any of my friends here that a tomato isn’t vegetable enough to complain about.
I can’t stand turnips. I love other root veggies. I’ve got parsnips and butternut squash roasting with rosemary as we speak. Potatoes are great. Sweet potatoes are great. I also have fennel and lima beans braising right now. (It was a rough day, I needed to cook my feelings.) I’ll eat fennel raw in salads. Radishes? Jicama? Carrots? Bring it.
But turnips? Fuck ’em. Can’t deal with them at all. I don’t even like turnip greens.
Please complain about your vegetable dislikes. Ask for cooking advice if you want.
Has anyone cooked spaghetti or butternut squash in the microwave? I saw online that it’s possible, but I’m also imagining a squash exploding. But also I’m lazy.
Bad take is bad. Good turnips are good.
Ugh they just taste like bitter dirt to me when I roast them.
Chard also tastes like dirt to me, but there are other greens I love.
I would think my turnip issues stem from buying old ones in a grocery store, but I’ve tried fresh ones from farmer’s markets here in St. Louis and in ye olde grad school days in Alabama.
Well, don’t roast them, then.
Peel and slice them super thin and toss raw with soy sauce, rice vinegar and sesame oil.
Peel and boil them with potatoes then drain them. Cook chopped carrots and onions in lots of butter and salt until they’re super soft, then add the turnips and potatoes and mash them all up with more butter.
brighter, next time you’re in the vicinity of the Blue Ridge Mountains, you come see us and we’ll make turnips and chard that will put a smile on your face. And, you can pet my donkey, which I know sounds sexual, but I’m referring to an actual donkey.
In addition to my mouth, my intestines also have a strong aversion to chard. So this is unlikely.
But I’d happily hang out and enjoy the mountains. Some dear friends live near them and it’s lovely. Most years I visit in the fall for a long weekend, sadly covid ruined that in 2020.
Team Turnip
Also I hope you all appreciate my impressive photo artistic skills. That pink writing wasn’t a stock photo from the googles.
Everything in that fucked up turnip-type family of root vegetables are total shit. Including, but not limited to: beets, parsnips, and rutabagas. I used to work at this super high end restaurant and they used these fucking things all the time. I’d never had them before so had no preconcieved notions, plus we were doing the master chef thing on them, so I figured they’d be pretty good. Nope. Fucking garbage–all of them. If I had been a customer and dropped the kind of money we were charging for that shit I would have definitely asked for my money back.
Beets I don’t mind pickled, and I’ve had roasted golden beets that were good. I’ve never actually eaten rutabaga, but it’s because usually it just looks old and crappy in the store.
I’m usually anti-beet but I had a beet risotto at an Italian restaurant that was the best risotto I have ever had. I’m not sure if it is in Mauro’s cookbook but this guy is the real deal w/ Sicilian Italian cuisine
https://www.assaggioseattle.com/cookbook
Correct.
Damn, what’s up with all the root veggie haters here? I can’t say I eat turnips or parsnips often, but when I’ve had them, I’ve enjoyed them (especially mashed). And I used to hate beets, thought they tasted like dirt, but my mom loves them so they were around a lot and I kept trying. There’s a weird point where you acquire the taste and they start tasting sweet and delicious. I’d still describe the taste as earthy, but no longer in a bad way.
My turnip-hatred aside, I am surprised as well.
Especially since root veggies are so convenient to mash with butter and salt!!
All by themselves they’re overwhelming, but in salads they’re good, or the regular deal of beets with cheese and nuts, or mashed in borscht, things that cut the intensity they’re good.
Beets taste like dirt. And don’t get me started on celery and fennel. And if we’re including herbs (is an herb a vegetable?) then dill and cilantro can fuck all the way off. I said what I said.
If you liked dill but not fennel, I’d be very confused!
Wait why? I like dill but don’t really like fennel. Fennel has a black licorice flavor to it that I’m not fond of. I don’t see the two as related other than in looks…
So keep in mind that I love fennel, so my taste buds might be drunk or something.
But fennel and dill have similar sweetness flavors to me. Like fennel is waaaaay more licorice-ey, but I use fennel fronds interchangeably with fresh dill in recipes.
Weird! Probably I’m just focused on the licorice taste that I don’t really enjoy, so I don’t detect other subtler flavors.
O God Cilantro hate again! Avocado hate can’t be too far behind! Green Herbs matter Meg!
People who hate avocados do not deserve to have or share any other opinions.
I love avocados. Therefore I get to have all the opinions, eh?
You know I’m a fellow cilantro hater. I also can’t stand dill.
Disagree on beets, but absolutely agree on celery and fennel. Dill I can take in small doses, but cilantro is horrible except in very specific situations, like on the Mexican food at De Pasada on Taylor Street in Chicago.
Dill has only one purpose: pickles.
Dill is also delightful in chickpea salad (as in mashed chickpeas and mayo, like a tuna salad replacement).
Celery is the worst. I don’t understand why it has to be included in everything. Cooked, it contributes absolutely nothing to flavor or texture. Raw, it’s gross and stringy.
Agree on cilantro as well. I think I have that soap gene.
My mom is from NOLA & while I love most of that cities cuisine I never liked collard greens or okra. Especially when okra gets slimey! She made some amazing things but those are two I couldn’t handle.
Okra is great if it’s fried correctly and nice and freshly fried. Otherwise, it’s disgusting.
What about gumbos?!
If the gumbo is good, I can overcome the okra but I’m not putting it in my own.
Gumbo is not gumbo without okra. Collard greens are amazing when cooked right.
My mom is also from (right outside) NOLA.
I don’t need the okra mucilage that much for a spicy stew, no thanks.
😧
I’ve got a mess of stewed okra and tomatoes in the fridge. It’s great in Indian food too. Needs spices, though.
Also pickled.
Turnips are amazing! I like them raw best. Have you tried that? I swear they can even actually be sweet sometimes! I love veggies. I have been called a rabbit many times in my life… ( 👀 lookin at you, @k2bdamansaysineedalongername ). The only veggies I can say I dislike are cilantro and Jerusalem artichokes. I really can’t think of any others. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Only really good turnips are the Turnip Stampede
So I eat a ton of fiber, drink lots of water, eat either yogurt or drink kombucha regularly. What I’m getting at is that very rarely do foods cause me to get bloating or gas, etc.
When I’ve had Jerusalem artichokes oh holy fuck did my digestive system get angry at the fiber and whatnot. It was a very odd experience that I do not care to repeat.
Yeah, those things are deadly.
Jerusalem artichokes taste like moldy dirt to me. I’ve tried them several times in case I just got bad batches. I just can’t like them. I tried
@k2b-damansaysineedalongername
sigh. No edit button. Trying again.
🐰
I do not care for sweet potatoes or yams. Especially when baked with crushed pineapple and baby marshmallows. Or is that only a local county thing? Sweet vegetables are confusing to me.
I don’t either.
When things are added to sweeten them, I’m not happy.
I love sweet potatoes roasted with olive oil and pepper/salt or baked/microwaved with a little butter. They don’t need anything else to sweeten them!
Have you had sweet potato and black bean tacos? Roast the sweet potatoes with taco seasoning… yum.
They’re definitely way better savory, but I don’t object to the occasional marshmallow sweet potato abomination.
I can do baked sweet potatoes like a regular potato, or sweet potato fries. I make a sweet potato and leek soup which is good, but I can only have it a couple time a year before I get sick of it.
I like turnip as they are but for those who dislike turnips might I recommend roasting with olive oil, a few (or more) full garlic cloves, chopped onion, a bit of maple syrup and some crushed walnuts?
Damn Canadians!!! Maple syrup is not the cure for all the world’s problems!
Democratic countries need things everyone agrees are awesome
For example:
and most importantly, MAPLE SYRUP!
You lost me at hockey!
😂🥇
Particularly grade B syrup. I know they changed the classification system to varying types of grade A for marketing but I don’t remember which one is the old grade B.
I mean, I’m not a hockey fan, but the rest of your argument is infallible.
Huh. Maple syrup? I never would’ve thought of it even. I will remember to try this next time I have turnips in the house.
Usually I do it with carrots and butternut squash but it works the same for turnip and sweet potatoes as well. Or all or some together.
If you’re really feeling adventurous, toss in a few cloves and a sprinkle or two of cinnamon.
I roast carrots with a drizzle of maple syrup, a dash of cayenne, and a sprinkling of tarragon. It’s surprisingly tasty.
That’s not surprising at all, sounds similar to how I do Brussels sprouts sometimes. Though I haven’t tried with tarragon. Should I own tarragon?
I actually really like tarragon. I add it to chicken soups and baked chicken, omelets/scrambled eggs, and roasted carrots, parsnips, and rutabaga.
I try not to be picky about vegetables as a vegetarian, but I have some textural issues with veggies that get slimy. That usually means I’m not a fan of mushroom dishes, though it depends – white button mushrooms in a salad or on pizza are just fine. I only like okra if it’s fried, and big pieces of roasted peppers are not my favorite. So I don’t think I have any veggies that are always a no-go, but several that I’m wary of.
Also I hate bananas with a fiery passion. They’re not a vegetable, but I still feel like that statement belongs here. I can detect the slightest hint of banana in something (especially smoothies that don’t list them as an ingredient) and it ruins it.
Oh that banana hatred must be a pain. They end up in so much, and the flavor is so distinct!
It’s so distinct! And I’ve really tried. I’ve managed to acquire a variety of tastes with repeated exposure, because I don’t like being picky, but honestly the taste of banana makes me gag.
I love turnips in a beef stew or roasted.
I just got my misfits market report for 2020 and the vegetable I ordered most often was celery. MIRE POIX, baby, that is the essence of life.
Zucchini is the worst. Tasetless and mushy and everywhere. ugh
I made zucchini pickles last summer and they were fucking delicious. But that’s been it for zucchini I really enjoy.
Oh, I forgot to mention zucchini and summer squash (they’re the same thing). I’m not opposed to eating them, but they’re pointless, tasteless, and usually mushy. If you slice them thin and grill them, they’re fine, but at that point you’re just tasting barbeque.
Hate mushrooms. I don’t care for the taste or texture. I have never met a brussel sprout I liked. They are little green farts (no I am not interested in roasting them with bacon or whatever, that’s a waste of bacon – save these for people who like them). I also don’t like red/green peppers, which also seem to be in EVERYTHING. I get it, they’re cheap and they add color, but they taste like burnt garbage.