A new debate about food that is supposed to be loved by almost everyone has flared up on social media again. The author of the post, nasta7ia, asked her followers to name one such item whose hype, in her opinion, people simply don't understand, and the comments quickly turned into a list of unexpected gastronomic 'antitrends.' The Styler project from RBC-Ukraine gathered the most interesting answers from Ukrainians on Threads about popular dishes, drinks, and products that the participants of the discussion simply didn't appreciate.
The 'antitrend' list: from pelmeni to coconut
Some dishes have become so firmly established in the menus of many Ukrainians that a dislike for them can be quite surprising. However, the commenters proved that even the most popular products have their opponents. One user, without further explanation, added that they don't like pelmeni. In addition, the comments mentioned onion, olives, avocado, coconut, and crab salad. Drinks got their share of criticism too: one participant of the discussion confessed that they don't like coffee, emphasizing that they 'honestly don't understand how it can be drunk' and that they have never drunk it.
Whole dishes and desserts among the rejected
Among the answers were not only individual ingredients but also whole dishes and desserts. One participant of the discussion named okroshka, cream soups, and liver cake all at once. The Kyiv cake, Coca-Cola, and a bean burrito were also mentioned separately. Notably, some of the answers concerned products that have long remained genuine favorites of a wide audience. As a result, the list turned out to be maximally diverse — from traditional home-cooked dishes to products that have remained popular for years.
Why we reject food: what science says
Interestingly, in such lists completely different things end up side by side: for some it's a matter of taste, for others of texture, smell, or a specific combination of ingredients, and sometimes a person simply doesn't understand why a particular food has become so popular. Food behavior researcher Adam Drewnowski, a professor at the University of Michigan School of Public Health, notes in his review that the taste, smell, and texture of food play an important role in shaping food preferences, but sensory sensations alone are not enough to fully explain why people choose or reject certain products. Robert Pellegrino and Curtis Lakett from the Department of Food Science at the University of Tennessee found that texture can be at least as important a reason for rejection as taste: people may dislike a slimy, porridge-like, or too hard consistency.
There is no 'default' taste
Tastes formed in childhood can indeed have a long 'tail.' Food behavior researcher Andrea Meyer-Nok in her review notes that early experience with tastes and textures can influence later food preferences, and repeated exposure to foods in childhood can gradually change one's attitude toward food that was initially disliked. So a love of olives, avocado, coffee, or sushi is not some universal 'correct' taste: it is influenced by what we feel while eating, how a product looks and smells, what its consistency is like, and what experience we have already had. What one person adores can quite easily be a 'never again' product for another.
