Figs became one of the first foods cultivated by humans, a practice dating to at least 9200 BC. In fact, growing fig trees might be the world’s earliest example of agriculture. Spanish explorers brought them to the New World in the early 1500s. Eventually planted in California where the climate and soil are equally beneficial for figs as they are for olives, the state now grows 98% of America’s figs. By eating one, you’re essentially consuming an inverted flower that is overly sweetened, lacking the acidity of most fruits which causes the flavor of figs to be unbalanced. The texture, much like prunes, is another commonly cited reason for disliking this unpopular fruit.
10.) Deviled eggs (hated by 35.8%)
It’s another food with origins in ancient Rome, arriving in America in the mid-1800s. Preparing this dish involves hollowing out hard-boiled eggs and mixing the yolk with spices, vinegar, mustard, and mayonnaise. While a small group of Americans dislike the acidic taste of vinegar, a more significant 17% dislike mustard and 25% despise mayo (as I’ve already mentioned). So this dish never stood a chance! Deviled eggs are the 10th and final food/dish that is disliked by over one-third of Americans (based on available data).
My favorite of those options
To answer your question regarding my favorite food among these 10 most hated items, I agree that fruitcake, Hawaiian pizza, canned cranberry sauce, celery, figs, and deviled eggs are not enjoyable. I’ve actually enjoyed pizzas with anchovies prepared in Italy, but the overly salty version in the U.S. is of little interest to me.
That leaves three foods I truly love, numbers five through seven: oysters, black licorice, and olives. Some of the stronger black licorice in Europe is way too potent for me, but the tamer version in the U.S. is very tasty. And while green olives are too bitter for me, Kalamata olives on a Greek salad or sliced black olives in sub sandwiches is divine! And there is no way I could imagine enchiladas without sliced black olives and sour cream, two items disliked by more than one-fourth of Americans! I’ll also mention that the olives stuffed with blue cheese from the Temecula Olive Oil company are epic! I cannot imagine why over one-third of Americans hate olives.
Oysters, the answer to the question
Figs became one of the first foods cultivated by humans, a practice dating to at least 9200 BC. In fact, growing fig trees might be the world’s earliest example of agriculture. Spanish explorers brought them to the New World in the early 1500s. Eventually planted in California where the climate and soil are equally beneficial for figs as they are for olives, the state now grows 98% of America’s figs. By eating one, you’re essentially consuming an inverted flower that is overly sweetened, lacking the acidity of most fruits which causes the flavor of figs to be unbalanced. The texture, much like prunes, is another commonly cited reason for disliking this unpopular fruit.
10.) Deviled eggs (hated by 35.8%)
It’s another food with origins in ancient Rome, arriving in America in the mid-1800s. Preparing this dish involves hollowing out hard-boiled eggs and mixing the yolk with spices, vinegar, mustard, and mayonnaise. While a small group of Americans dislike the acidic taste of vinegar, a more significant 17% dislike mustard and 25% despise mayo (as I’ve already mentioned). So this dish never stood a chance! Deviled eggs are the 10th and final food/dish that is disliked by over one-third of Americans (based on available data).
My favorite of those options
To answer your question regarding my favorite food among these 10 most hated items, I agree that fruitcake, Hawaiian pizza, canned cranberry sauce, celery, figs, and deviled eggs are not enjoyable. I’ve actually enjoyed pizzas with anchovies prepared in Italy, but the overly salty version in the U.S. is of little interest to me.
That leaves three foods I truly love, numbers five through seven: oysters, black licorice, and olives. Some of the stronger black licorice in Europe is way too potent for me, but the tamer version in the U.S. is very tasty. And while green olives are too bitter for me, Kalamata olives on a Greek salad or sliced black olives in sub sandwiches is divine! And there is no way I could imagine enchiladas without sliced black olives and sour cream, two items disliked by more than one-fourth of Americans! I’ll also mention that the olives stuffed with blue cheese from the Temecula Olive Oil company are epic! I cannot imagine why over one-third of Americans hate olives.
Oysters, the answer to the question
But I love oysters even more than olives and licorice! Many seafood and upscale restaurants in the U.S. carry oysters just for the 54.6% of Americans who will eat them. And we’re avid fans! Oysters are quite popular in New Orleans, Maine, and along the West Coast among other regions. I’ll literally eat any subspecies of raw oyster, a food with complex flavor profiles including sweet, sharp, nutty, briny, meaty, and creamy. But I also understand why the texture is a turn off for many.
On the other hand, baked oysters have a very enjoyable consistency and wonderful flavor! I’m perplexed that among the 80% of Americans who eat seafood regularly, just over half won’t try a baked oyster. Yet many will consume other mollusks like mussels and clams.
(Oysters Rockefeller)
I’ve also written on Quora about the baked oysters Rockefeller I make at home with chopped garlic and shallots, Parmigiano Reggiano, coarse peppercorns, white wine, crispy panko breadcrumbs, and other ingredients baked to perfection. I’d bet that if most seafood-loving Americans sampled that dish, they’d barely know they were eating oysters and would truly enjoy the flavor.
But I love oysters even more than olives and licorice! Many seafood and upscale restaurants in the U.S. carry oysters just for the 54.6% of Americans who will eat them. And we’re avid fans! Oysters are quite popular in New Orleans, Maine, and along the West Coast among other regions. I’ll literally eat any subspecies of raw oyster, a food with complex flavor profiles including sweet, sharp, nutty, briny, meaty, and creamy. But I also understand why the texture is a turn off for many.
On the other hand, baked oysters have a very enjoyable consistency and wonderful flavor! I’m perplexed that among the 80% of Americans who eat seafood regularly, just over half won’t try a baked oyster. Yet many will consume other mollusks like mussels and clams.
(Oysters Rockefeller)
I’ve also written on Quora about the baked oysters Rockefeller I make at home with chopped garlic and shallots, Parmigiano Reggiano, coarse peppercorns, white wine, crispy panko breadcrumbs, and other ingredients baked to perfection. I’d bet that if most seafood-loving Americans sampled that dish, they’d barely know they were eating oysters and would truly enjoy the flavor.
Obviously, determining the "worst" foods in America is a subjective matter. But I'm interested in this question and hope to satisfy the questioner's curiosity. American cuisine is some of the best I've eaten in the world (at least in the 80 countries I've visited). But every cuisine has its less popular dishes. So what's the best way to find out what the worst foods in America are? In addition to my own personal opinion, including my disdain for cornbread and cooked carrots, I also assessed the public opinion of all Americans by averaging all the polls and surveys I could find about the most hated foods. I include both single-ingredient dishes (such as tuna) and multi-ingredient dishes (such as tuna salad).
Rules
Obviously, the focus should be on relatively common foods and dishes. It makes no sense to include haggis from Scotland, black pudding from the UK, fried scorpions and durian from Southeast Asia, and many other edible products that horrify Americans. They are not popular enough in the US to generate good enough data to satisfy them. Even sardines, a well-known but often hated food in the United States, have little data on their unpopularity. Similarly, many Americans are said to dislike buckwheat flour, but a large percentage of people have never tried it. Even in the southern United States, where it is most common, one in three Southerners has never eaten buckwheat, making it uncertain how many Americans would hate it if they did. Obviously, my research was limited by the available data. Genetics and Generations
Just because a particular generation doesn’t like a dish doesn’t mean the entire country shares that sentiment. For example, yellow mustard is disliked by 37% of Americans ages 14 to 25, but only 17% of the general population. This is well below the 33% “threshold of disgust” I use for this answer. And for those who have never tried sushi before age 35, there’s a 95% chance they’ll never try it. The data revealed that older adults eat less sushi than younger generations. But only 12% of Americans really don’t like sushi, so it doesn’t quite measure up. While I can’t imagine Mexican food without the delicious flavor of cilantro, since joining Quora I’ve just discovered that some people find the flavor of cilantro soapy, a trait inherited from the olfactory receptor gene. But that rate is just under 20%. Even with strong detractors for sweet potatoes (29% hate them), Brussels sprouts (28% hate them), and mayonnaise (25% hate them), none of these foods are loathed by more than two-thirds of Americans.
Worst Food/Dishes in America
Simply listing five vile foods (as you asked) doesn’t create a large enough resource for me (or my readers) to pick one.
This is well below the 33% “threshold of disgust” I use for this answer. And for those who have never tried sushi before age 35, there’s a 95% chance they’ll never try it. The data revealed that older adults eat less sushi than younger generations. But only 12% of Americans really don’t like sushi, so it doesn’t quite measure up. While I can’t imagine Mexican food without the delicious flavor of cilantro, since joining Quora I’ve just discovered that some people find a cilantro-like flavor, a type of olfactory receptor gene. But that rate is just under 20%. Even with strong detractors for sweet potatoes (29% hate them), Brussels sprouts (28% hate them), and mayonnaise (25% hate them), none of these foods are loathed by more than two-thirds of Americans.
Worst Dish/Food in America
Simply listing five vile foods (as you request) doesn’t create a large enough resource for me (or my readers) to pick favorites. So I've expanded your ideas to include the 10 most hated foods in America. Each dish or cuisine has an average dislike rating based on aggregating all available data. 1.) Fruitcake (88.6%) Hate It

Dating back to 750 BC, the ancient Romans enjoyed this mysterious fruit and nut bread with wine. Modern American recipes add raisins and orange juice, and bake it into a dense cake with a frothy, flaky texture. But panettone is now the butt of jokes in the United States, referred to as the odd item an elderly relative brought for Christmas dinner. It became popular in the United States in 1913, but is actually nationally hated in modern times. Only a small percentage of older Americans seem to appreciate it.
2.) Anchovies (60.5% hate them)

Another product of the Roman Empire, the anchovies are hated by Americans. The disdain for this highly salty fish began in the late 19th century, when immigrants brought it with them from the Mediterranean. It is the least popular and most frequently served pizza topping in the United States, with only 0.003 percent of pizza restaurant customers ordering it. They crawl out of the box like slimy, salty worms. They are simply too rich and unappealing to most American tastes, even when baked into pizza. Simply add mashed anchovies to Caesar salad dressing, which is very popular in the United States, and this dish can sneak into the stomachs of most Americans.
3.) Hawaiian Pizza (50.5% hate it)

The so-called Hawaiian pizza was invented far from Hawaii, and was launched in Eastern Canada in 1962. Blends the flavors of bacon.
Food, that doesn't mean the whole country shares this opinion. For example, yellow mustard is disliked by 37% of Americans ages 14 to 25, but only 17% of the general population. This is well below the 33% “disgust threshold” I use for this answer. And for those who have never tried sushi before age 35, there’s a 95% chance they’ll never try it. The data reveals that older adults eat less sushi than younger generations. But only 12% of Americans don't actually like sushi, so it doesn't even qualify that way. While I can’t imagine Mexican food without the delicious flavor of cilantro, since joining Quora I’ve just discovered that some people find the flavor soapy, which is a genetic variation in the olfactory receptor gene. But the rate is just under 20%. Even with strong detractors for sweet potatoes (29% hate them), Brussels sprouts (28% hate them), and mayonnaise (25% hate them), none of these foods are loathed by more than two-thirds of Americans.
Worst Dish/Food in America
Simply listing five vile foods (as you request) doesn’t create a large enough resource for me (or my readers) to pick favorites. So I've expanded your ideas to include the 10 most hated foods in America. Each dish or cuisine has an average dislike rating based on aggregating all available data. 1.) Fruitcake (88.6% hate it)
Dating back to 750 BC, the ancient Romans enjoyed a mysterious fruit and nut cake with some wine. Modern
Only seen at Thanksgiving and possibly Christmas, it's a soft jelly that strangely slides out of the box. The original cranberry sauce, made with cranberries and some sweetener, appears to have been developed in Connecticut in the 1790s. Few people appreciate this beet-colored jelly, and nearly half of Americans hate it. 5.) Oysters (45.4% hate them)

Oyster lovers in America love them! But nearly half of Americans can’t get past the slimy texture of raw oysters. They don’t seem interested in trying grilled oysters, even though the vast majority of Americans love seafood. In addition to fish, the most commonly purchased seafood in the United States includes crab, shrimp, and oysters, which have a texture similar to grilled oysters. However, these seafoods still disgust many people. 6.) Black Licorice (45.3% Hate It)

America's most hated candy first appeared in England in 1614, but it didn't reach the United States until 1840. However, licorice has been flavored in sweets since the 13th century AD, and it was a beverage for thousands of years before that. This delicious candy is named after the plant (belonging to the legume family) whose roots give it its flavor. Black licorice is more hated by Americans than the more acceptable red licorice. Twizzlers are a popular candy in America, a type of licorice-shaped candy. The Y&S Candy Company began producing traditional licorice in the United States as early as 1845, and launched Twizzlers in 1929 as a sweeter, milder alternative. 7.) Olives (37.8% disliked)

Humans have been intentionally growing olive trees for 7,000 years and tasting the fruit for even longer. In Portugal, a 3,350-year-old olive tree with incredible longevity is still growing. These shrubs were first cultivated by Spanish settlers in the United States around 1600. California provides the ideal soil and climate for the crop, and more than 95% of America's olive trees are grown there. But it seems that more than a third of Americans despise this food, whether raw or cooked according to a recipe. On the other hand, 62.2% of Americans eat olives.
Celery (36.1% dislike)

Unlike olives, celery was cultivated much later, in the 17th century, and was not cultivated in the United States until the late 18th century. California now grows 75% of the celery sold in the United States. Foods with a specific dynamic effect of more than 100% of calories is the scientific term for burning more calories during digestion than are actually in the food. However, to dispel popular beliefr.
Figs Figs were among the first foods cultivated by humans, a practice dating back to at least 9200 B.C. In fact, fig cultivation may have been the world's first example of agriculture. Spanish explorers brought it to the New World in the early 16th century, and it was eventually cultivated in California, where the climate and soil were as suitable for figs as they were for olives, and where 98% of America's figs are now grown. When you eat one, you're essentially eating an inverted flower that's very sweet, and lacks the acidity of most fruits, making the fig's flavor unbalanced. The texture, which is very similar to that of a plum, is another common reason for disliking this unpopular fruit. 10.) Deviled Eggs (35.8% Hate)

This is another dish that originated in ancient Rome and came to America in the mid-19th century. To prepare this dish, you need to clean hard-boiled eggs and mix the yolks with spices, vinegar, mustard, and mayonnaise. While a small group of Americans dislike the sour taste of vinegar, 17% of Americans hate mustard and 25% hate mayonnaise (as I mentioned). So this dish never stood a chance! Deviled eggs are the 10th and final food item that more than a third of Americans hate (based on available data). I love these options
To answer your question about my favorite foods out of the top 10 most hated foods, I agree that panettone, Hawaiian pizza, canned cranberry sauce, celery, figs, and hard-boiled eggs are not fun at all. I really enjoyed anchovy pizza made in Italy, but I wasn’t too keen on the overly salty version in the US. There are three foods left that I really like, out of five to seven: oysters, black licorice, and olives. Some of the stronger black licorice in Europe is definitely too strong for me, but the milder American version is delicious. While green olives are too bitter for me, Kalamata olives on a Greek salad or sliced black olives on a sandwich are great! And I can’t imagine enchiladas without sliced black olives and sour cream, two things that more than a quarter of Americans hate! I’ll also say that Temecula’s Blue Cheese Stuffed Olive Oil is great! I can’t imagine why more than a third of Americans hate olives.
Oysters, the answer to the question
But I love oysters more than olives and licorice! Many fine dining restaurants and seafood restaurants in the United States serve oysters, which is only 54.6% of Americans who eat them. And we’re huge fans! Oysters are hugely popular in New Orleans, Maine, and along the West Coast, among other places. I’ll literally eat any type of raw oyster, a food with complex flavors that include sweet, sour, tangy, salty, meaty, and creamy. But I also understand why consistency is a deterrent for many people. On the other hand, grilled oysters have a very nice texture and great flavor! What baffles me is that of the 80% of Americans who eat seafood regularly, just over half have never tried grilled oysters. However, many people will consume other types of shellfish such as mussels and oysters.

(Oyster Rockefeller)
I also wrote on Quora about my homemade grilled Oyster Rockefeller with minced garlic and shallots, Parmigiano Reggiano, coarse pepper, white wine, crunchy panko bread crumbs, and other ingredients cooked to perfection. I bet if most seafood loving Americans tasted this, they wouldn't realize they were eating oysters and would actually enjoy the taste.
