16 Childhood Meals That Still Traumatize Us to This Day
Mercy KamburaThis post may contain affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.
When adults reflect on their childhood, it’s rare to escape memories of something they genuinely detested. Unpalatable foods and meals invariably claim a prominent spot on that list, imprinting lasting recollections from the past.
Adults recalled the meals that traumatized them in an online discussion.
1. Cantaloupe
No two tastebuds are the same, and one girl particularly hated the taste of cantaloupe. Her sister, however, loved the fruit. Their grandmother made the hard-to-understand decision to torture the sister who hated the cantaloupe by forcing her to eat it.
She narrates, “My grandma knew I hated cantaloupe, but my sister loved it, so when we would visit my grandma when we were kids, she made me eat a piece of cantaloupe for every piece my sister ate. To this day, I do not know why. I f***g hate cantaloupe.” That a new level of mean.
2. Liver Pancakes
There are many awesome things to put in pancakes, but one dad settled on raw liver. Blended, raw, liver.
“My father would put raw liver in a juicer and make liver pancakes, no bacon, no onion.” A user explains.
This puts the E is ew, there’s no way to recover from this.
3. Mayo Sandwich
Let’s be honest: mayonnaise is a little on the disgusting side of life. Imagine having to eat a mayonnaise sandwich and having to finish it by force!
One online user narrates, “I was forced to eat a mayonnaise sandwich at a sleepover once. It was so disgusting, and I wasn’t allowed to leave the table until I was done.”
4. Haricots Verts
Green beans taste a lot like regrets unless they have been baptized in some salt and seasoning. One online user says they loved all things green—except haricot verts, yet they were always forced to eat them. They’d throw everything up afterward.
They ask, “As a kid I would eat literally any green vegetable you set in front of me but I hated green beans/haricots verts. They made me sit at the table until the portion was complete and I would gag them down and throw them up. I loved spinach, broccoli, snap peas, kale. You’re not allowed a preference? What does forcing food upon your kid accomplish?”
Good question.
5. Boiled Hamburger Meat
It’s unfortunate that a good thing like a hamburger would be ruined by boiling it with spaghetti and ketchup, but bad culinary skills know no limits.
An online conversation contributor says they had an “American spaghetti” with ketchup and a tube of boiled hamburger meat” at a sleepover.
That’s one way to make someone hate hamburgers.
6. Boiled Fish Heads
In what sounds like a scene out of the torture chambers in a horror movie, an online user recounts a harrowing experience of being compelled to consume boiled fish heads.
The lingering query remains, “What could possibly be the motive behind such an ordeal?”
7. Left-over Single-pot “Buffet”
Most parents had one kitchen rule—nothing gets wasted, Some parents would take everything left in the fridge and toss it all in one pot to make a concoction of whatever came out of the pot.
One user says her Mom once made a meal with “some old spaghetti sauce (not a bad start…) some baked beans (kinda weird, but okay…) some leftover tuna-noodle casserole (getting weirder…) some peas (gotta have a vegetable) and, I kid you not, the leftover cherry Jell-O.”
Why does all that have to go into one pot?
8. Peas and Mayo Salad
There needs to be a rule against what can be made with mayonnaise, many parents seem to have gone overboard in their mayo experiments.
An online contributor says, “This “salad” my mom would make that was literally just frozen peas and cheese chunks coated in mayonnaise. I couldn’t even be near it without gagging, and they’d then beat me for being “disrespectful” and “ungrateful.” There’s a lot of underlying violence related to food habits that also needs to be addressed here, it appears.
To this day, they can’t sit in the same room with Mayo.
9. Meatloaf
Meatloaf can be a delightful dish, but its appeal hinges on the flavors you incorporate into it.
As one user lamented, “My mom would force me to sit at the table and eat a bland a** meatloaf with no seasoning whatsoever.”
10. Baby Potatoes
A child with a strong aversion to potatoes resorted to a common tactic employed by many kids—concealing them beneath the couch cushions. She managed to keep her secret for a few weeks, but as the house began to emit an unpleasant odor reminiscent of compost, her mother thoroughly cleaned and uncovered the hidden stash of baby potatoes.
What was her punishment? “That day, for dinner, my dad made an extra portion just for me. Apparently, when I saw the plate, I went pale.”
11. Bread and Ketchup
You can only have too much of one meal before your body has enough.
One online contributor says, “Bologna and ketchup on white bread. My babysitter gave it to me for lunch every day until one day, I started gagging out of nowhere, and haven’t been able to have bread and ketchup together since.”
12. Beets
Beets may be excellent for their iron content, but not everyone can eat them.
A user says their traumatizing meal was “Beets. I threw up and haven’t been able to look at them since.”
13. Boiled Chicken
Many people love chicken, but more people dislike the smell of boiling chicken; sometimes, the chicken just smells too “chickeny.” One online contributor shares her mom’s favorite chicken recipe.
“My mom would take a package of chicken thighs (skin on/bone in), dump it into a pot of boiling water, cook it like that, then serve it up. We were allowed to add salt and pepper after, though, don’t worry.”
Very creative, Mom.
14. Okra In Anything
Many people acquire a taste for many foods, but others never acquire the taste for okra. How does eating okra feel?
One user says, “It felt like chewing an endlessly large ball of snot.”
We can’t unsee that.
15. Brussel Sprouts
Many kids struggle with vegetables, and Brussel sprouts were the breaking point for one such kid.
They narrate, “[I] gagged [with] every bite. Then I just outlasted my stepdad until he got mad and sent me to my room.”
16. Asparagus
It’s not a very bad meal unless, as one grandmother did, you ” put it in a pressure cooker on a steam tray and cook it at pressure for 3 minutes.”
How was that served?
She’s put slices of hard-boiled egg on top, salt, and pepper. It was hot mush in a stringy tube with cold egg and no real seasoning or flavor left. Just a miserable symphony of textures that would stick in your mouth and teeth.”
We understand the subsequent hatred for asparagus.
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