@chai2,
1. White Chocolate:
I avoid it, prefer dark chocolate or occasionally a good milk chocolate.
2.Cilantro:
I like it.
3. Eggplant:
I like it, thin slices grilled with a thin layer of good mozzarella; sauteed in a rice, eggplant, tomato, wine recipe; tried a sweet eggplant dish that Diane ordered at a japanese restaurant and loved it, a surprise. Like it in caponata.
4. Coconut:
I like fresh and packaged coconut, hardly ever have fresh. I like it in good candies, old fashioned coconut cakes, love coconut macaroons, less often unsweet coconut milk in savory food; barely remember what a pina colada tastes like, but probably liked it.
5. Tomato:
Eh to most grocery store tomatoes. Yay to good ones from farmers' markets (expensive), yay to my own homegrown. I use a lot of canned tomatoes (which vary) in soups and sauces; I also like green garden tomatoes sliced thin and put on pizza with fontina and mozzarella.
Hate (so far) tomato paste. I can taste the slightest smidge of it, hate pizza with a red sauce that has tp in it. I imagine there can be good tomato paste, say, in Sicily.
6. Sardines:
I've never had a fresh sardine, which I figure can be marinated like they marinate fresh anchovies (as opposed to the salty things in tins).
I like tinned sardines, am eating them more to get more fish into my diet at low cost. I put them in fish soup, and have started putting them with rice or potatoes, breadcrumbs, onions - into homemade fish cakes. (In that case, I used the tins with louisiana hot sauce, so far). I also like anchovies, tinned, usually mixed in food for flavoring/salt, and fresh marinated when I can get them (that seems to involve a trip to california).
7. Black licorice:
I've despised black licorice from childhood on, Good n Plentys being my least favorite candy ever. I do like jagermeister, sambuca, anise cookies, fennel salad, roasted fennel.. hot italian sausage with fennel seeds,
8. Stinky cheeses:
In general I like cheeses. I wouldn't want gorgonzola three meals a day, but I like it fine once in a while. A favorite pizza has mozzarella, not-too-much gorgonzola, and walnuts as a topping.
9. Mayo:
Like mayo, Hellmans or Best Foods, love real homemade mayo.
10. Bell Pepper:
I like green once in a while in a salad. Like sweet red peppers a lot, either uncooked, or roasted; tend to roast my own. Don't know much about orange and yellow, they're usually too expensive.
11. Beets: beets are on my to-learn list. I'm not rushing.