13 professional chefs reveal their least favourite food

While they spend their working hours creating dishes to delight the most discerning palates, even the most accomplished chefs have foods they can’t bear to eat. Do you agree with their verdict?

Truffle oil was the darling of chefs and high-end restaurants two decades ago, who often charged a premium to customers for dishes with the treasured ingredient. However, it slowly faded out of the spotlight, and some chefs refuse to cook with it today. “I absolutely hate truffle oil,” says Zac Cates, executive chef at Sonder in Bakersfield, California. “I never understood it, and it’s hype. It’s not even made from truffles.” He adds, “Adding truffle oil to a dish is like squirting tomato sauce on wagyu beef.” Here are 13 foods you should never eat past their expiration date.

Chef Brandon Carter from FARM in Bluffton, South Carolina will try just about anything. But don’t try to get him to order boiled eggs in any form or fashion – they’re “a big NO” for this chef due to the “farty smell” that hits him before he can take a bite. Check out these 10 “facts” about eggs that are an absolute yolk.

Coconut milk is added to many soups, curries, and stews for light creaminess and a delicate sweetness for savoury dishes. But you won’t find this ingredient in the dishes of Edward McFarland, chef/owner of New York City-based seafood restaurant, Ed’s Lobster Bar.

“I dislike coconut milk, specifically in savoury dishes and especially when combined with curry or used in rice,” he says. “I do not like the overwhelming flavour or sweetness that it gives to the dish. For me personally, it is just too overpowering.” Find out the 49 things nutritionists never eat… and you shouldn’t either.

It’s a darling of the culinary community, a stand-apart ingredient that many love to boast, but for some chefs, it’s not going near their plate. “I find the overall texture of it to be extremely unpleasant. I like to eat food with texture, especially those with a crunchy component, and sea urchin absolutely does not provide that,” says Danielle Marelli, pastry chef at Travelle at The Langham in Chicago. “It’s slimy and kind of gooey. If I were to pluck something straight from the sea, this is what I imagine it to taste like!” Find out the 10 things you shouldn’t touch at an all-you-can-eat buffet.

“There isn’t much I won’t eat and not much I don’t enjoy eating, except for one thing – chocolate ice cream,” says Yankel Polak, head chef at ButcherBox. “Chocolate ice cream is just plain garbage. Even calling it chocolate is a blatant lie. It’s just brown awful tasting frozen cream.”

He continues: “We used to get the Neapolitan ice cream in a box when I was a kid. Strawberry was my favourite, vanilla was acceptable once I’d finished the strawberry, and then I’d throw it away once there was only chocolate left. I have this wonderful anticipation that I’m out to get a decadent mouthful of chocolate and then bam! Garbage.” Find out the nine foods Queen Elizabeth II would never, ever eat.

“Capsicums have an overpowering taste that covers up the subtleties of other ingredients,” says Elana Horwich, author of Meal and a Spiel. “[Many] cooks tend to add them as ‘cheap flavour’ to everything from eggs, sandwiches, pizzas, stir-fries, roasted veggies and tacos.”

However, in Italy, where Horwich learned to cook, “they respect the powerful flavour of capsicums, and use them only as the highlight of a dish like Pollo ai Peperoni (chicken with peppers), or serve them grilled and marinated as an antipasto.” Find out the foods that skinny people eat here.

Some chefs like one version of a particular food (fresh tomatoes, for example). But they detest another version of that food (tomato sauce). That situation is true for Chef Robert Gomez, lead chef at Fresh n’ Lean. He says he has “love-hate” relationships with oats.

“I love oats in things like granola and oatmeal cookies but I hate [porridge],” Gomez says. “For me, it’s more of a texture thing. It’s just too mushy and slimy in a sense. I’ve tried it many different ways, from extra sugar to an array of fruits and flavours, but underneath it all, it’s still the texture that gets to me.” Discover the top 53 comfort foods that are guaranteed to make you feel better.

“The one food that I do not like is eggplant. And it’s not because I don’t like it, it’s primarily because it is never prepared properly,” says Jeremy Abbey, director of culinary programs, American Culinary Federation, and chef/owner of Detroit Underground Omakase.

“Nothing is more delicious than a properly prepared baba ganoush in the Israeli style; nice roasted flavour, not metallic tasting, light and creamy. But the odds of me being able to find that from a restaurant are slim to none. Chefs tend to overlook the delicate nature and uniqueness of vegetables. Eggplant is just as delicate as cooking octopus or squid and should receive the time and attention it deserves.”

You may think of onions as the backbone of many dishes – and it is – but that doesn’t mean every cook likes or even wants to eat them. Johnny Ulloa, executive chef at Manhattan rooftop bar, The Sky Room, sure doesn’t. While he cooks with them in his restaurant, the soft texture is off-putting. He even likes the taste that it gives to food, but he can’t overcome the slimy texture of cooked onions.