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@ChefR0bert I've heard that before. I've risen to the challenge. Still don't like tomatoes. Unless, of course, as you suggest, the flavour of the tomato is obliterated by other ingredients.

But, as a person who has no taste for tomatoes, I've noticed that it does deeply offend people who do like them. So much so, that it doesn't matter that I make myself prepare something I've never tried before at least once a week, that I can suggest menu ideas and substitutions that make the neighbours say "wow", that guests never leave my table without a new food experience, that I've tried witchetty grubs; No, simply because I don't care for tomatoes, I need to "stop complaining and get out there to expand my culinary viewpoints".

Try Tastees - they are like Cheetos. People in the UK are loving them!!

Every year, somebody says "Oh, you've just never tried a fresh, ripe beautiful tomato from my garden"

"Oh, yes I have. I try a piece of one every summer due to the intense pressure from people who insist I've never tried a fresh, ripe beautiful tomato from their garden."

"Well, try this one" they say.

So I try it.

"This would be delightful," I say, "if it was mashed up with ground beef, peppers, and a lot of spices and poured over spaghetti. But the ratio of tomato to other ingredients must be such that the tomato provides moisture but is otherwise undetectable."

I like heirloom tomatoes the best because they are weird, more colorful and odd shaped- like me! Now, I have to save my 2 month old daughter from my tomato-hating husband before he corrupts her!

@adam: The graveyard shift is probably pretty rough on fruit vendors, but Levent said it's a cabbie hot spot in the wee hours. Who knew that cabbies were so well-fortified with cherries and pears?!

So i purchased a bag of disappointment for $2.50. The bag was labeled
"Giant Cheetos".
After seeing the awesome and over the top television advertisements for giant cheetos, I was super excited to get my hands on a bag!

I went to my local market and was glad to see bags of them available after seeing the new commercial a day prior.
Since the bag of giant cheetos is opaque, I decided to squeeze the bag a little, to feel how big these "Giant" Cheetos actually were.

They didn't feel giant at all!

After i felt up the bag, proceeded to crush one of the giant cheetos between my thumb and forefinger.
It took quite a bit of effort to bust one of the cheetos, through the bag.
So I thought ," Damn! this stuff is hard as hell.", and then I left the store with out the bag of the Giant cheetos.

Curiosity got the best of me, and i was back in the snack isle the very next day to make the purchase.

So I open the bag of giant cheetos, and it smells nice.
I take a bite of one, and I was immediately put off buy the harsh texture, and lack of flavor.
I tried another one, this time i popped it in my mouth.
BAD IDEA!

Giant Cheetos are worst than Captain Crunch with out milk!

So i tried to pawn the giant cheetos to my dad aka: The human garbage disposer.

After he took a bite, he asked me when the expiration date was, because he flet they tasted and felt stale.

I just had purchased and opened them that day, and the bag said "NEW" !

So yeah..... the idea of a Giant Cheeto was nice, but i wish they were bigger and softer.

I feel Cheeted by the Cheeto Cheetah.
I'm going to write frito-lay explaining my disappointment with Giant Cheetos.

@Cassaendra: They DO make Flamin' Hot Puffs -- I've seen them around!

Thanks for the warning. I had no idea that the Planters Cheez Balls were long gone. I swear I have seen them relatively recently in my mother's kitchen but then a couple of months ago she found a Kraft cheese brick in her basement refrigerator that had expired in the late 70s. (This is the truth, I swear). My brother has taught my niece and nephew (7 and 5) to ask Gamby how old something is if they have any concerns. Constant vigilence is the only defense.

Cheetos Swirls are still being made? I live in Riverside, Ca. (I know, I know not the culinary capital of ....umm, anywhere), and loved those. It's nice to know they're still out there. Jeez, I gotta get out more. I'm reminiscing about Cheetos Swirls...

Cheetos are an inferior cheese snack. The Cheezel is the finest yellow, stainy and mouth-tearing fromage flavoured cruncher on the planet. These rings of snacky wonder have been gracing the fingers of Australian children and party-goers for decades. And they come in a box. Visitors to our shores, once eating a Cheezel never look back.

Tempting as that is, if by some miracle of the culinary gods, I did become rich and famous because of a blog started with such a dish. I could never look my future fellow Food Network associates in the eye knowing I got my start with a culinary joke.

Then again, empires have been started on less.

@chef colin...I read your post 5 minutes ago and I'm still laughing. Hurry up and create a blog with a Ruhlman kinda photo on the top of the page devoted to your giant Cheeto bouche to stake your claim to the idea before Paula Deen or Martha Stewart beat you to it...LOL!