Doing stuff you don't like

I'll try anything once. I ate rooster testicles in Vietnam and rotten shark in Iceland. I won't do either of those things again.

I get what he means.
I don't really like beer, but when I'm in Germany or Austria, I'll have a beer with meals.

I must admit, I found it a bit odd when I heard that Rick doesn't even drink tea, except when he's in the UK. Maybe it's just because I have a cuppa at least once every day.

There are some things I will try. I am more willing to try food - at least once. I may even repeat some food/experiences I disliked mildly, especially if I am with a group that wants to. But somethings are a hard no - like extreme sports - no matter how iconic it is.

Physical activity.
BRR!

-- Mike Beebe

I'll try licorice flavored anything. We did try a horseradish liquor in Gdansk. The host brought us complementary aperitifs (or whatever they'd be called in Poland). I can't remember what I got, "for the lady", it was tasty, my husband got the horseradish, and wasn't a fan, I drank it for him. It was fine, though quite strong.

I'll try many things, but I'm careful to know the words for tripe and blood sausage, in every country I visit. I've had tripe, so been there done that. My next trip will be easy, England.

I don't love beer. I'll probably try a shanty and sips of my husband's selections. I'm guessing I'll find gin, most places. ;)

EDITED TO ADD: And right this moment, I am trying a new trend. Sauvignon blanc with frozen sliced jalapenos. I saw this new trend on tv and mentioned this to my adult children who replied that it was "so last summer".

Allan, Rick's not saying he doesn't like the taste of ouzo. He says he doesn't like the taste of ouzo at home. To him, while in Greece, in the right setting, that glass of ouzo morphs into a whole Greece experience.

I totally get it.

I'm generally a person who doesn't care for offal. But having lampredotto (fourth stomach of a cow) sandwiches in Florence, and braided lamb intestines in Madrid have been a couple of my favourite European culinary experiences ever.

I understand because I never drink beer, but when I am in the UK or Ireland I have it every day. I love English beers pulled up by the tap from down in the basement. And, in the summer I really like a shandy and am so glad you can now get summer shandys in the USA. Maybe they've been here for a long time, but I just discovered them last month. I think what Rick is trying to do is expand our taste horizons and not be afraid to try new things when we're traveling.

My wife once tried a federweisser in a restaurant on the Mosel. It was vile, and never again.

"I ate rooster testicles in Vietnam" - were you cock-a doodle-dooing the following dawn? And what kind of wine do you drink with that?

I don't like seafood. When in Portugal, they have great seafood and I will not touch it, since I do not like seafood. Location is not going to change that for me.

RS could have easily had a different drink. Nothing wrong with an Aperol spritzer. Don't be so desperate to live like a local that you do things not enjoyable.
Ok to try things new and then if you don't like them do not repeat.

To me what he's saying is that somehow ouzo just taste better in Greece.

I get it. I hate red wine here in the US and even the ethnic Spanish restaurants are bad. But when I'm in Spain, I always get a glass of red wine with tapas. It probably tastes about the same, but there is something about drinking it with tapas in Spain that makes it more palatable.

Lane said "I ate rooster testicles in Vietnam and rotten shark in Iceland."

That thought makes my stomach turn. There are limits to what I will try. We all have likes and dislikes; allergies and sensitivities are not uncommon. There isn't enough catsup in the world to hide the taste of liver. And I tried (making) steak and kidney pie once from an English recipe book; the dog loved it.
I'm not a beer drinker but am looking forward to a Smithwick's Shandy in Ireland and I can nurse a Guinness all night.

EDIT: The Ouzo is stored in the freezer. If doesn’t freeze. But is very cold when you pour a shot.

I'll try most anything once but there are hard lines.

Fish is a hard no, and I don't do lamb. I thought Iceland would be difficult and pushing the line. I avoided fish and actually enjoyed the lamb and now blame my dislike of lamb on my mom's inability to cook.. Also enjoyed the horse and whale.

I will never ever have fish and chips in the UK.

I don't drink at home but I do enjoy cider in the UK.

I don't like milk in my coffee, has to be cream, and it's worse in the UK when the sachets are a skim milk. My solution was too learn to enjoy a cappuccino, and only in Europe. Enjoy it anytime and all the time regardless of any pretentious rules on when I should have one.

Ouzo is very like Italian sambuca, having a strong aniseed flavor. Try mixing a splash of it in black coffee (in Italy it would be a "caffè corretto").

It depends where you are and who you’re. You can drink Plonk when you’re in good company and it tastes great. I don’t like beer…ever, but had a shanty on a boat cruise in Berlin on a really hot day. It was delicious.
I never liked lamb growing up. I ate mutton and lamb and loved it when I worked on a sheep station in Australia. The difference? They didn’t use mint sauce, but my Mom did.

Horsemeat sashimi in Japan (quite tasty), grasshoppers in Oaxaca Mexico (anything tastes ok crisp fried with chile and lime, washed down with tequila), and tarantula in Cambodia (could eat the little legs, not the bodies, although the guide said it was just like a land based crab).

I get it, especially something like alcohol, the setting makes all the difference. I only drink Gin and Tonics in the heat of summer, same with an Aperol Spritz. In Europe I drink red wine, rarely at home. Red Stripe beer taste great on a beach in Jamaica, a poor substitute for beer here.

Same with many dishes, but that has as much to do with the quality and preparation here, compared to there. Calamari, Chopitos, Octopus, all of the cephalopods, just not as good here, as in Spain and Italy.

They always say, you eat with your eyes first, but you experience food with your back side, as in where you happen to be sitting, influences food greatly.

Had some Rocky Mountain oysters that were juicy. Well, one bite. Never again. Disgusting. The texture alone was horrible.

Not eating anything exotic or weird any more. Not worth risking GI issues, I pay enough for travel without ruining a day or two.

I am pretty squeamish, but was quite proud of myself recently for trying chocolate with ground beef in it in, and also a bowl of warm freshly made unstrained ricotta in salty whey that looked just like a bowl of baby spit-up. Both this spring in Modica, Sicily.

It's weird the way that, although neither of these foods tasted bad at all, the THOUGHT of them makes me feel a little sick even now. So much of taste and distaste is mental.

Case in point: when my very picky younger son was in daycare they were all happily eating ice cream one day when a teacher commented that the ice cream was really frozen solid. My son started to spit it out, moaning "This is FROZEN SALAD????"

But, yeah, no, I am definitely not a "try anything once" type.

"Go with the flow"

Yeah, right. Anthony Bourdain said that's how he ended up eating this dish. And yes, the URL is accurate:

https://www.culinaryschools.org/blog/warthog-anus/

Yes. I have experienced this. I can’t stand olives, but during a group dinner on the VFR tour, we were served fresh olives as an appetizer. I decided to try one, because when in Rome and all that. To my surprise I actually liked it, but I still don’t eat olives on this side of the pond.

Was on a fun, food tour in Iceland and we had tried some really delicious items. Then we went to the place where everyone was supposed to not only smell the rotten shark, but eat it. They really wanted to force people to do this, but I refused. Why should I try something that I know I am not going to like. Not a single person has tried this and said Yummy, may I have some more.
You can keep your offal. I was pulling a shift in the mess hall, while some of the KP were cleaning pig intestines to make chitlins. The whole place smelled like a very stinky outhouse. So, yeah, no thanks.
On the other hand, have tried rattlesnake, armadillo, shark, and alligator.

I even remember that scene with the ouzo. And no, I would not do that. Not even out of politeness I would try alcohol. I've made Italian waiters cry because I didn't drink the recommended wine. Since I don't drink alcohol, there are no exceptions. I used to not like it and now it's for health reasons. But otherwise, I do dare to step out of my comfort zone. I mean, uh, I have colleagues from Malaysia who drag me to authentic Chinese restaurants in Munich... yes, that's a very big step out of my comfort zone sometimes :-) :-)

It strikes me as “traveling by stereotype”.

Here at home I am not a fan of lamb. Once I tried it in Iceland though, wow!!! Such a difference in taste. Same with their hot dogs. I won't touch them here at home, but theirs are made with lamb and so good. We have brought them home many times so have some in the freezer.

VAP--LOL, I think it is the same with me, my mom aways made leg of lamb for easter with the mint jelly. Ick!!! Mom was not a cook though either, so maybe that was it?

I don't understand doing stuff one doesn't enjoy. Doing stuff one hasn't done before is another matter. The latter is one of the greatest joys of travel. Sometimes we find we didn't enjoy it, in which case it seems irrational to repeat the experience.

Short answer: NO!!

If I do not like something, just because I am "somewhere else," does not mean that I will like it there.

My husband cannot stand ouzo, and when we were in Greece, as part of group dinner, little glasses were put in front of us. He took a sip, thinking maybe it would be better.........nope! His comment was: "I still do not like ouzu.

I do not eat fish.............end of message......no "give" on that.

Please fellow Rick fans (and ETBD staff) do not take his as meaning to be offensive. But, I see Rick Steves as a bit of an actor, "playing the part" in his videos, etc. So, my guess is that he "does the local thing" to reinforce/remind himself of what "he is selling." I met him in person once, and he came across as an actor waiting for his next scene to start..........left me with a hollow feeling that I have never forgotten, especially since I was so very excited (at first) to meet him, since I had spent years and years and years "singing his praises" and recommending his products. He came across in my 1-minute interface as "I cannot be bothered." He was speaking at Vanderbilt University, and my very short interface was after his talk.

I want to love limoncello, because I love the IDEA of it. It is bright, and yellow, and sunny, and lemony, so what's not to love? Like ouzo in Greece, it is part of southern Italian culture - a little shot of limoncello after a meal. And I'll sip at it to be polite but to me it is like drinking perfume right out of the bottle. Not that it tastes BAD exactly, it is just way too intense and I don't really enjoy it. I brought a small bottle home after my last trip to Italy a little over a year ago and still haven't finished it (I palm it off on guests who want to give it a try.). Wonder if it ever goes bad? ;).

Stella, I find a limoncello spritz delightful and it cuts some of the cloying sweetness.

Somebody once told me you haven't really been to San Francisco unless you've had a drink at the Top of the Mark. That makes about as much sense as saying you can't really experience Greece without drinking ouzo.

I would expect to read such a comment in a newsletter from Trafalgar Tours - not in a newsletter from Rick Steves.

"I would expect to read such a comment in a newsletter from Trafalgar Tours - not in a newsletter from Rick Steves."

Regression to the Mean* hits even Marketing.

(*also called "reversion to mediocrity" from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regression_toward_the_mean )

As far as I’m concerned, Rick is free to do as he chooses. I approach travel as a way to push my personal envelopes. But sometimes they push back. Trying a new food and enjoying it are two different things. Hating it is a third. Twice in my life I have walked away from a meal I paid for…Florentine pasta with squid ink, which smelled like Dad’s bait can of childhood days on a hot summer day off the shore of Lake Erie, and Andouillette around Champagne, which the Telegraph writes "looks, smells, and tastes as if it should be in a lavatory”. Ms Jo, I felt your pain. Nuff said. To each their own.

I think we have to be careful about judging other people by a one minute meeting. I met two famous authors at book signings and both times I was the last person to meet them. Both signed my book but were obviously tired and didn't do the chitchat that I had hoped-I did get to say I loved their book. However, I also have a distant relation in the entertainment industry who in TV and Magazine interviews always seems to be "on". But again, that isn't their personality in private. People in the public eye have an image to sell and yet they are humans who get tired and can have bad days.

All this to say that don't always take Rick's word as gospel. I think his intent is good and he's using his popularity to help bring change to our government, but he is human and has foibles.

I tried horse in Sicily. It was actually good, but I couldn't bear the thought of it. Then I found out it was really donkey. That made it worse because I had just taken my grandson to meet some donkeys and the donkeys were so sweet and affectionate. I'm told they are quite smart, too.

I couldn't bring myself to try puffin in Iceland. I did try Andouillette in France and it tasted about as awful to me as the description.

I do understand that what shapes an area's food culture relates to economics and climate, etc. and while there are somethings I cannot bring myself to try, I hope to never sound judgemental.

Nancy, "baby spit up", that's a vision that just doesn't go away.

@VAP, loved the cider in Portugal. Also loved that it was about a buck or two a bottle!

Here at home I am not a fan of lamb

That's interesting, because the question would be what you don't like about it at home. For example, I absolutely don't like the way German butchers cut lamb chops, so I always buy them from Turkish butchers. And when I eat lamb in Germany, it's either at home (from a Turkish butcher) or in restaurants that don't serve German cuisine. Perhaps for you, it's also a question of the preparation and the way the butchers cut the meat.

I’m not a fan of beer, but I had fun trying various beers in Belgium. I enjoyed the rich dark beers and many of the fruit flavored beers. However, I never drink them here at home. So perhaps the setting can make a difference.

I think it's true that many things Rick posts are all about the sound bite, or to challenge people to think differently about how they travel. And that's ok with me. I also agree he's an actor, and in public he is "on" as opposed to being a relatable, down to earth person you can make a genuine connection with. That's fine with me too. Living in the RS area, I've met both Lisa Friend and Cameron Hewitt, and found them to be lovely, personable people. I don't expect that from Rick. I want him to run an excellent tour company and produce interesting travel material, and he does those things very well.

My vacations are to enjoy myself. I am not doing something on vacation I don't want to do. I have to do enough of that in my real life.

(And to be honest, on vacation too: I am not able to fly first class or stay in the hotels that I would love to, so most of the time I am already doing things I don't want to) -- but I am not adding to it by eating or drinking things that I don't want to or seeing a site that I am not interested in.

Kim, right there with you.

On another note, I feel bad for repeatedly failing at vegetarianism. Lamb and horses? I know eating horses is not allowed in many states for cultural reasons.

Mignon—It is the difference in taste.

I've heard people on this forum raving about the taste of chicken in Greece. Swear it doesn't taste like that here.

I've heard other issues about the UK (and Europe?) not letting US meat in because of how it is sanitized (Chlorine wash?). There very well may be taste differences as well as experience differences with food/drink of other countries.