‘Tomato ketchup makes me shudder’ Tomato ketchup, and the tomato sauce that comes with canned baked beans and spaghetti hoops, make me shudder. The sweet, vinegary smell is something I can’t seem to get over. It makes my every nerve seize up and I end up holding my breath. I won’t make a fuss about it, but I don’t like holding ketchup bottles or holding plates with leftover ketchup on them. When I was younger, this aversion extended to mayo, barbecue sauce and other condiments, but I am happy to eat most of those now. I have a vague memory of someone smushing a sandwich with ketchup into my face as a child and the feeling of it being around my mouth and cheeks. While I’ve occasionally eaten some accidentally, I’m pretty sure I’ve never dipped a chip or a nugget into ketchup in my life. Becci Wood, 31, London ‘When we had fruit salad at school, I used to put the oranges in my sock’ Can’t even be in a room with the smell of oranges – and definitely not in a train carriage. I’ve moved carriages on the tube more times than most people have had hot dinners. Also can’t abide the look of that skin around the segments. When we had fruit salad at school in the early 70s, I used to put the oranges in my sock. My mother was delighted with this on wash day. I don’t feel entirely the same about lemons, limes or grapefruit – I’m happy around the juice, zest, flavour and smell of those, though still wouldn’t even entertain eating a whole segment. Just the thought of it is making me nervous. Jayne Pearson, 59, Cornwall ‘My maths teacher put me off coffee’ I’ve survived so far without letting coffee pass my lips. I think it stems from having to see my A-level maths teacher first thing in the mornings to get some help. I would walk into the office to be greeted by an overwhelming stale coffee smell and then his coffee breath. I even went to Ethiopia and frequented coffee shops with coffee grinds on the floor, but couldn’t bring myself to drink any. Although I don’t drink it, I am able to discern between cheap coffee and freshly ground coffee. I feel like retching when I smell cheap coffee; freshly ground coffee is only a tad more bearable. It goes without saying that I don’t eat anything with coffee in it either (tiramisu, coffee cake, etc). Not succumbing to the coffee craze over the years has saved me a fortune. AJ, 36, Surrey ‘I hated carbonated drinks as a child, and that hasn’t really let up’ I’ve never had a sip of Coca-Cola or Pepsi, despite them being on offer at every birthday party or restaurant. I hated carbonated drinks as a child, and that hasn’t really let up in early adulthood: I prefer beer flat and find that tonic detracts a good deal from gin. Soda just wasn’t in my childhood home growing up, in the same way that network TV or fast-food packaging or the Bible weren’t. I never realised that my upbringing was odd or unusual (or un-American). Now, it’s a fun story for my Dutch and other international friends: they have an American classmate who’s never had Coca-Cola or watched an episode of Friends, and is possibly less “American” than they are. I don’t know if I’d try it. It’s not something that would make me retch, but between the carbonation and the sugar content, I’d probably find it unpleasant. Jan, 20, Groningen, American living in the Netherlands ‘I don’t like squishy foods, like banana’ I haven’t had a banana since I was about six months old. I went off them and I have no intention of ever revisiting them. It’s the smell; it makes me feel ill. Then there’s the texture – I don’t like soft and squishy food. I used to hate meatloaf for the same reason. I had some in Tennessee in 1990 and I found it dry and rather like eating sawdust. Then I met the woman who became my wife. I gamely tried her meatloaf for supper one night and realised that my first experience of meatloaf had been appallingly bad and that it was possible to have lovely tasty meatloaf. So I changed my mind on that, at least. Marc Jones, 52, London ‘Milkshake makes me gag’ The concept of a milkshake is not a problem, but the thought of actually sitting down and drinking one leaves me in a cold sweat. In my postwar early schooling, when school milk was compulsory to “build us up”, I was forced to drink a small bottle of milk for the first few days. Having thrown up over myself, the teaching staff, the desk and the classroom floor, I knew a glass of milk wasn’t for me. The thought of thickened, flavoured milk makes me gag. And no, I wouldn’t – couldn’t – ever try it. Joan Baker, 81, York ‘Cucumber sandwiches are just not going to happen’ I was always picky with food as a child and have really grown into liking lots of different types of food. My biggest issues are raw tomato, iceberg lettuce and cucumber. So most side salads in the world, which is really annoying. But something about cucumber sandwiches just screams out to me. I love a tea party and they seem very fancy, despite being very simple, but isn’t that part of the elegance? I would love to be able to serve them, with friends over with a pot of tea, scones and other treats, but it’s just not going to happen for me, sadly. Thom French, 34, Hackney, London ‘The thought of kiwi makes my face ache’ I love all fruit and veg – except, for some bizarre reason, kiwi fruit. The very thought of them makes my face ache and I get the same aversion sensation as fingernails scraping on a blackboard. I’ve no idea why. Seeing an unpeeled kiwi fruit gives me a much worse sensation than a peeled and sliced one. There is something about its skin that makes my skin crawl. I can’t imagine what the poor kiwi fruit has ever done to make me react in this way. I might be persuaded to try a piece but only if someone else has peeled it for me. Cathy Elder, 61, Cardiff