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He doesn't like tomatoes, avocados, casseroles, mexican food or pasta which are all my faves. What does he like? Fried chicken and french fries. He's 30 going on 13.

I was raised vegetarian (for the most part) and spent a number of years in my early twenties as a vegan. Now I eat fish, but only a limited amount of dairy. My boyfriend, on the other hand, grew up eating not only lamb stew and pork chops, but whale meat and offal and blood pudding. He is the sort of man who eats a lamb shank, then gnaws through the bone and sucks out the marrow. I am the sort of person who observes this kind of behaviour and experiences the most accute sense of revulsion. Well, I guess you can't have everything.

I love coffee, she hates it, drinks tea. I like bitter tasting things like broccoli rabe, she hates them. I love red wine, she only drinks white. She likes offal, I don't.

Girlfriend is a vegan (who will occasionally for protein reasons eat fish). I work in kitchens, I like bacon, I like tacos with tongue, I like to smoke meat and occasionally kill the source of said meat.

No problems really whatsoever except occasionally when I want to cook something in butter, for some reason not getting to do this makes me really upset. I have great respect for her eating choices and she eats a more varied and seasonal diet than pretty much any one I have ever known. She does not proselytize, nor does she in any way oppose my food choices, and is not defensive about hers when confronted. If anything, it is I who get very angry with all the vegetarian/vegan bashing and she has to calm me down or keep me from starting an argument. Go figure.

After racking my brain for an answer to this question, I asked my husband. His response: "You like to eat with a fork and I like to eat with a spoon. That's a serious food difference."

I love sushi!! The bf doesn't. Sometimes he will get chix teriyaki but most of the time i have to eat sushi at home (prefer it at a restaurant) or with friends. The biggest difference is that he can eat whatever he wants, mostly candy, doesn't gain a pound. He is so skinny. My metabolism is a little slower so exercise it is.

Wow. It would probably be easier to say what things we do have in common. We both like raw spinach, sauteed green beans, grilled shrimp and salmon, homemade oven fries, rice, pancakes, pasta and pizza. That's about where it ends.

He likes chick. parmesan from Olive Garden, pizza, fried chicken, salad with Olive Garden dressing, tacos, Chinese food, burgers, sausage, mashed potatoes, ground beef, pasta and meatballs, and Cuban food. That's about it. While I like all those things, I also like variety! He doesn't like beans, and I like them a lot, especially in a pot of chili! I like spicy foods, fish, crab, shrimp, pork, stir-fries with seasonal veggies, and a whole lot of other things he doesn't like. So, cooking for us is challenging, and sometimes I make myself a separate meal just so I can have something other than tacos!

I finally found someone who will rack his brain and drive across town for the perfect meal--for every single meal. We met 3 months ago, and he's gained 8 pounds since then. We seem to like all of the same things, he just eats more of them.

She hates tomatoes, I like tomato sandwiches.
She feels that all food should have tobasco or some such hot hot pepper added to the mix, the mere thought of hot peppers right now is making my mouth burn right now is how much I can't handle spicy hot food.
Otherwise all is wonderful and we share the same tastes for pretty much everything.
Indian food buffets are on a moratorium right now for me for reasons that I will not get into here.

Our biggest difference is that when he wants a 'snack' he means something along the lines of a hamburger. When I want a snack I just want some crackers or a slice of cheese.

And he loves sausage, I don't. Good thing you can get 1/2 toppings on pizza!

I am a lucky wife; my husband will eat almost anything. But that can be a problem, too, as his mother cuisine - Philippine, to be specific - includes some things this Jew can't fathom - blood stew, pork lung, etc. He also thinks Brussels sprouts are delicious, and I just can't get into them. Even roasted.

But when I made disgusting mashed cauliflower, all watery because my good kitchen tools were in storage at the time, he ate it with a genuine smile.

My wife and I have had arguments over this... I do all of the cooking at home, but she only eats a few things -- chicken, well-done beef, broccoli, rice, and potatoes. Yes, I can season them up a little different from night to night (not too wildly - her taste in seasonings is narrow, too), but I sometimes grow frustrated by her range of possibilities. One time, I even told her I was like a painter who was asked to paint with only one color -- sure, you can manage a nice piece of art, but it gets terribly boring after a while!

Anyway, at least once a week I make two dinners to satisfy my creativity and bored palate. Despite these differences, I love her like mad :-) Every once in a while she'll surprise me and try something, though she usually spits it out. That's love!

Dominic
the zen kitchen

My previous boyfriend, with whom I lived for 14 years, had one of the most limited palates I've ever come across. Nothing even remotely spicy (black pepper was sometimes too hot for him); no seafood whasoever (except boring old shrimp); no strong cheeses; no beets; no cold soups; and highly allergic to nuts (though not peanuts, which are a legume). And I passionately adore ALL of that! We had a very amicable separation, and are in touch daily by e-mail (he now lives in Minneapolis), and now he's decided that he LOVES seafood. In land-locked Minneapolis, he eats sushi all the time! So he is living proof that a person's tastes can continue to change all life long.

He can't get enough of bad pizza, red meat, and major carbs. He also never eats vegetables, unless it's a salad, and even then he won't eat the tomato or cucumber. He hates rice and couscous, although he'll eat a little if I serve it to him. He prefers processed foods to natural (velvetta, hot dogs, white bread), and it drives me a little nuts. His tastes have matured (believe it or not) since we started dating (he was 19). He wouldn't eat mexican or chinese! So I guess I've rubbed off and will keep on trying!

My boyfriend hates the smell of garlic- what great cuisine does not abundantly use garlic? (asian, italian, french, middle eastern, etc). This is so problematic for almost 80% of the dishes I cook- if I slip in some garlic, he can't (won't) kiss me for a day because his nose is so sensitive. When he hugs me, he turns away or at the least, crinkles his nose in disgust. Luckily he travels a lot and then I binge. But when he is home, I have to choose- hugs & kisses or great food. It's a close tie!

any tips on how to get rid of garlic breath?

My ex-boyfriend was from Colombia, and had never tasted most ethnic foods beyond Italian and the globalised versions of North American cuisine. I love eating food from all over the world, and to have no options for curries, sushi, thai food, vietnamese, or korean all off limits when making plans was difficult. He usually gamely tried different foods when I made them, but I knew in his heart was craving some chorizo, rice and plantain. Which I love, but I'm not ready to commit to Latin American cuisine for life... ha ha

B
Hand to Mouth
Making Stock of the Situation
A blog for the penniless gourmet

OMG, I see we need to do a BUNCH of partner swapping. My dh was seriously and negatively influenced in his childhood and it has taken me absolutely eons to get him to eat "casual" things like pizza, spaghetti, and drink beer...... When I met him he could eat fish, rice and steamed veggies all the time. I finally got to the shrieking point and told him I was forming gills and needed red meat...LOL. I enjoy cooking ethnic foods and he is pretty good about trying them out, guess he trusts my cooking instincts by now.

We do have separate things in the frig....I only do kosher dill pickles, he does sweet pickles, he drinks milk, I almost can't look at the stuff but I drink fruit and veggie juices.

I do very well with eggs, potatos, cheese, mushrooms, yoghurt and onions (learned it from my grandma). I could live on these, he just flinches. We are both older than dirt and pretty disgustingly healthy, good cholesterol levels etc., so I guess we are ok.

He is good at ANY dessert offered and is skinny as a rail no matter what.