Some foods listed down below I absolutely hate, some I will die on a hill defending, some are in the middle on how I feel. 

SWEET AND SALTY FOODS: OVERRATED 

There is a distinct difference between sweet and sour and sweet and salty. Trolli Sour Brite Crawlers, Sour Patch Kids, Jolly Ranchers, Fun Dip, and many other candies are examples of a perfect blend of sweet and sour. Sweet and sour just works because you aren’t mixing sweet with savory foods. Once you start incorporating sweets with food from the salty and savory side, it gets gross. 

This is exactly why I don’t like pineapple pizza. The mix of sweet fruit and savory pizza just doesn’t sit right with my taste buds. Same thing goes for chocolate-covered pretzels and trail mix. The clash of the two extreme opposite flavors is too much for my liking. It absolutely baffles me that so many people love chocolate-covered savory foods. 

CHERRY-FLAVORED CANDY: UNDERRATED

A lot of people (shout out to my “friends”) will bash cherry-flavored candy for tasting like cough medicine. I’d like to know whatever cough medicine they’re using because my cough medicine at home sure doesn’t taste like that. Cherry-flavored stuff tastes more like maraschino cherries than cherries in their natural state. Everything cherry-flavored has a great sweet and sour taste, like Dum-Dums, Jolly Ranchers, Ring Pops, and more. I have yet to eat a cherry candy that tastes like cough medicine. 

MINT CHOCOLATE CHIP: OVERRATED 

If you enjoy eating what tastes like literal toothpaste with some chocolate chips sprinkled here and there, then mint chocolate chip products are the thing for you! I, personally, like to keep those items separate when eating. I don’t understand the appeal of eating chocolate and mint at the same time; the combo is just bad, plain and simple. 

PICKLES: OVERRATED

I have NEVER understood the hype for pickles. Why, why, WHY do these things exist? Personally, I’m not a fan of super acidic foods, so this only adds to my vendetta against pickles. I didn’t even know pickles were modified cucumbers until this year. Cucumbers are one of the tastiest and healthiest veggies you can consume, so why would you ruin all of that by drowning them in vinegar to the point where they can’t be enjoyable anymore? I experience the most unpleasant sting of “flavor”, aka just the vinegar taste, whenever I consume a pickle. Every bite is painful. Every. Single. One. I’m not sure why fast food companies like McDonald’s or Wendy’s try sneaking a few pickle slices into my burgers. Even if the rest of the burger is bursting with delicious flavor, just one bite into a pickle slice ruins it for me. Pickles ruin everything. Period. 

MAYONNAISE: UNDERRATED

Mayonnaise should be regarded as one of the best condiments ever. It goes down as one of my top three favorite condiments, aside from BBQ sauce and ketchup. I eat mayo with almost every meal involving bread: burgers, chicken sandwiches, any burrito wrap. 

Now, I still have standards. I will never eat mayo with something harder like a bagel; that’s just gross. However, mayo with soft bread and some form of meat complement one another excellently. Mayo’s strong flavor is why it gets the heat from a lot of people. That’s why it needs to be eaten with already flavorful food like fries or meat. 

BLUEBERRIES: OVERRATED 

I think something that holds me back in my food preferences is my sensory issues. I’m super sensitive to foods with interesting textures and blueberries is one of the foods where that issue presents itself. My main issue with blueberries is the little spikes at the top of a blueberry. Whenever I swallow a blueberry, I can’t help but feel those little spikes poking at the insides of my neck. I have to put in extra time and effort to despike the blueberries, which is absolutely not worth it. If not for those spikes at the top of the blueberry, a blueberry’s flavor is still mid, at best. It has so little flavor and I feel like half of the time, the blueberries are super mushy and bitter.

Even a firm, good blueberry can’t compare anywhere to a mid-quality apple or banana, so I’d rather not waste my money on blueberries. 

Now, deserts where there are blueberries baked inside are a different story. For example, blueberry muffins and blueberry bread are delish, but that’s just because the blueberries are melted into the pastry. 

APPLE PIE: OVERRATED

In general, I loathe any pie with a lattice-pattern crust made out of flour and butter. Roasted fruits also don’t sit right with me, which is why I prefer pies with a cooler filling. As you can see, everything is wrong with apple pie: toasty apples that taste like goop and an inevitably dry crust you can barely chew through. The only thing I appreciate about the dish is the cinnamon spicing. I don’t get why apple pie is the source of all these generational family secret recipe things. I bet you think of apple pie when you first hear the word “pie” when so many other pies deserve recognition…

PUMPKIN PIE: UNDERRATED

My disgust for apple pie brings me to my next food, which I have the opposite opinion of. Pumpkin pie is the most delectable pie of all pies ever created. Not only does it have a delicious graham cracker crust instead of that nasty floury crust, but it also has a cool pumpkin filling. The combination of the crust and filling actually goes well so perfectly, unlike other pies *cough* *cough* apple. Graham cracker crust is just superior to the so-called “classic” floury crust because it actually has taste and it doesn’t feel like you’re journeying through the Sahara Desert while digesting it. 

It’s actually interesting because virtually everyone I know who hates apple pie loves pumpkin pie, and vice versa. I think it’s all about your preference for hot/cold fruits (but cold fruit-based pies are better). 

AVOCADOS: OVERRATED

Avocados on their own taste like wet cement and paste. They aren’t as versatile of a food as people make them out to be. You can only eat avocados with super salty foods. That’s why avocado toast is a no for me. Even if you add salt and pepper, eating avocado still just feels like you’re eating paint. It’s like if something flavorless like pure, white milk were turned into a cream; it would taste like absolute nothing. You can only eat avocados with food that is already strongly flavored, like tortilla chips, or you’re not going to have a fun time. 

BACON: OVERRATED

99% of the bacon I’ve ever consumed has been overcooked and burnt to the point of being rock hard, with a few soft and chewy bacon pieces here and there. On top of that, most bacon is excessively salty and oily. Even from the most popular breakfast places, the bacon still tastes like rubber. And yes, I have requested the bacon to be softer and cooked less. You might as well be eating bacon-flavored chips, which are probably way easier to chew than actual bacon. 

TRADER JOE’S INSTANT MEALS: PROPERLY RATED

Obviously, no instant meal can ever measure up to a freshly cooked meal, but Trader Joe’s frozen food comes pretty close. 

I’m not going to say Trader Joe’s food is underrated because everyone already knows their food is good, and some of their dishes don’t exactly hit. However, there are several that do! My personal favorites are the teriyaki chicken, pumpkin samosas, burrito bowls, and curry bowls. Unlike instant meals from Giant, Target, or any other grocery store, Trader Joe’s meals are well seasoned/flavored and the vegetables inside are as fresh as you can get from a preservative meal.