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.