Do you like olives?

LaunchesKayaks@lemmy.world to Ask Lemmy@lemmy.world – 93 points –

I need to settle an argument I started. My argument: olives are gross.

I will die on this hill.

185

I will take all of your olives

Right? I am personally anti-many types of olives, but there is always someone happy to eat them. I've started friendships this way. I wish I liked them.

This is the way. If OP doesn’t like olives, that just leaves more for the rest of us. It’s a win-win for everyone.

I will die on this hill.

Do it. Leaves more olives for the rest of us.

Also may make good bonemeal for an olive tree to grow there

OP, your sacrifice means more olives

Clearly not a martini drinker

I've learned that I don't give a shit if a martini is shaken OR stirred. They're all fucking disgusting. I love gin, but who the fuck thought super salty gin would taste good? The olive is the only good part of the whole thing.

Except for espresso martinis, those are good.

I will fight you.

Kidding, I know a lot of people that feel the same as you haha. And espresso martini’s are my fave

Mmm, filthy martinis

We used to make “Whore’s Martinis”.

Same as a regular one, you just hand pour over a single cube of ice and toss in an olive, onion, lemon, whatever. Stir with your finger and go. No straining, no stir stick, no measuring, one cube of ice.

I would have died on that hill with you for most of my life.

But it always seemed odd to me; I wasn’t a picky eater so what was different about olives?! I would try them from time to time but still gagged on them.

Then I tried some while I was living in the Middle East. They slowly be came more and more palatable until now I love them.

Those shitty canned black sliced olives are still awful though 🥴

So you're saying that I need to travel to where olives are made?

Or just to a middle eastern grocer.

Also - Castelvetrano are the olives that non-olive people often like. The flavor is mild and buttery, not as sour as most but without the metallic edge the black olives have.

Thank you for the recommendations! I might see if the super fancy grocery store by my work has those olives. If they don't, then I'll try to find a middle eastern grocer. I don't mind taking a minor road trip to find legit olives. I wanna know if I just don't like the ones I've been exposed to.

Of course. Otherwise they're just sparkling kalmatas...

I’m in a similar boat. Manzanilla olives are the only ones I like! Pit-in or bust.

You are supposed to fill the black ones with easy cheese.

I used to hate olives, along with a lot of other things. Peppers. Beans. Blue cheese. And I used to tell everyone about how much I disliked stuff.

But then I grew up. You don't have to eat olives if you don't want. But if you restrict your life to your little pre-approved list of acceptable foods, you're missing out.

Life is short. Way too short. You don't want to discover how delicious a dirty martini with blue cheese olives is when you're old.

If you are going to Die on this hill, what's the point of opening it up an argument.

To each their own, you hate olives, I like them.

I guess I'll also die on that hill

I would guess you have a palate more used to high fructose corn syrup than high tree foreign shit

You haven't specified what types you've tried so I have a feeling you've a shaky basis for disliking them

I realize now that I've only tried black and green olives, I wonder what worlds of flavor I'm missing out on.

Also unrelated, but as a kid I thought olives just naturally had pimentos in them.

Kalamata! The best, according to me and several others in this thread.

Love them to bits. They are the best.

... just get the nice marinated deli ones, not the disgusting chalky-felty sliced O-rings you get in jars.

There's no comparing the two. If all you've tried is those little abominations, I can't blame you in the slightest for hating them.

Please try the good ones.

Love. I love olives. But I don’t buy those cheap garbage I grew up on. I get much better ones

I'm not a picky eater at all but I loathe olives. If they're in a dish I can't taste anything else.

For me olives were an acquired taste.

The first time I ate in a restaurant I was about 12 I think. It was a fancy Italian place. When I saw the dishes of (green, pimento-stuffed) olives on the table I was excited to try one. I'd only ever seen pictures of them in American magazines - this was mid-60s New Zealand, Coca Cola was exotic. I put one in my mouth, and almost gagged, the flavour was so completely awful. I spat it into a napkin.

Fast forward to today, and I would gladly hoover up the whole dishful and ask for more. My favourite olive is a big fat juicy Kalamata. I also love tapenade made with black olives. The only olives I dislike are the flavourless cardboardy lumps sometimes passed off as olives.

Tapenade is the nectar of gods. I'm from Marseille so you opened the door to my heart

most olives are delicious, I have had certain "fancy" olives that were just awful though

Hearing you hate olives makes me think you probably only like Mountain Dew and Chicken Nuggies.

Mountain dew sucks. Nuggies are okay but only if they're dino shaped. Rn, I'm really digging fresh mozzarella with pesto.

Are we talking original or Code Red or what?

I mean, whenever I hear picky eating, especially pickiness about a savory food, I imagine a person who lives on hostess, mountain dew (any kind), fried foods, and formed meat pastes (Hamburgers, hot dogs, chicken nuggies).

In general, the food that I was raised on, before I learned how to cook and eat a variety of foods.

I absolutely die for Kalamata olives lightly dressed in olive oil and Italian spices.

I'm not a super picky eater, tbh. I've been exploring a lot with food recently, even. I just don't like olives despite trying my best to. Olive oil is fine. But olives themselves are nasty to me.

Are you just talking about the cheap green pomento olives in jars suspended in brine?

Or does your aversion go through all of the greek/italian versions too?

I slot those green olives in the same "I love!" place as pickles.

Also, cant beat black olives on a pizza or Italian style (Italian sausage, meatball, cold cut) sub.

Kalamata have such a hearty umami, when I crave a Greek Salad, 90% of that is craving the Kalamatas. Castelvetrano are so buttery yet refreshing. Picholine (especially with Pomento) are such a satisfying tart salty savory fix.

I mean, if you don't like em, you don't like em and you can have that, but every flavor that I have ever disliked (Bananas, Brussels Sprouts, and Sushi are the big ones I remember for me) was just an invitation to "acquire the taste" and has become a flavor I savor.

I still struggle with caviar, but even still, every once in a while I just get hit with the craving.

Only food thing that I can think of that I haven't tried in ages and I might still hate is black licorice.

I should get some black licorice and acquire that taste...

Love kalamata, then black. Green are ok stuffed with garlic or blue cheese.

I would add green stuffed with jalapeño to that list, although I'm more enthusiastic about them than you are. I've never had an olive I didn't like.

As a longtime olive hater, this is where I ended up too.

What kinds of olives have you had? Have they been those cheap canned olives that sit on shelves for years? Then yeah, they're not great, more and at giving an olive flavor to dishes. If you've had fresh olives, those can be amazing. That said, black and green olives taste different and you may have a preference between the two (like some people prefer red or green apples), and there are a bunch of different varieties as well.

I always wonder how many people don't realize that olives aren't supposed to taste like a tin can and have the texture of wet cardboard.

My brother-in-law always "hated olives", and then he came over for a party where we had set up an olive bar, which he vehemently and repeatedly declined. But we were hanging around afterward and, as you do when you're not really thinking and there's food hanging around, he absently ate one. He then made his way down the entire bar - I think we had like 20 different types (some were stuffed). Now he gets pouty if we have a party and there aren't any olives, lol!

Yes, I do. Olives are great on pizza and in salad. You're wrong, but there's still time for you to see the light.

I fucking love olives. Green, black, big, small, as long as they're not stuffed with onions I'm down.

Same. I'll even eat them stuffed with onions. The only ones I've run into that I didn't like must've been improperly prepared (very, very bitter).

As someone that loves just about everything pickled, I hate olives.

High quality olives stuffed with jalapeño or feta cheese is chefs kiss.

Kalakaua olives on a salad. Are you kidding me? The best.

This isn’t worth dying over, and olives are great so just relax a little bit.

I hated olives when I was a kid, then I grew to love it. Same with ginger. Red beets and celery I will never like though.

A side effect of aging for me is that now I like olives.

I eat green olives straight out of the can for lunch sometimes.

Love them. Just the thought of them makes me salivate. Prefer kalamata but green are perfectly fine "daily drivers". Won't touch black ones.

Black, sliced olives are something that I really like on pizza and some other savory foods.

I'm less-enthusiastic about green olives. I used to really dislike them as a kid. I'm okay with them now -- I think that as you grow up, your sense of taste becomes weaker and some things that were just overwhelming become more-palatable -- but it's still not a favorite food.

The first time I tried an olive as a kid, I thought I grabbed a grape.

Needless to say, I hate olives.

Your loss, buddy. Olives taste great and go great on several foods, like pizza, rice, spaghetti, tacos, salad.

Weirdly enough, I didn't like them back when I was small, like up to 10yo or so.

I hate them and agree, my wife loves them and 100% disagrees. She once had her olive privileges rescinded at a local bar.

I like black olives. I don't know about green olives. I haven't had any since I was a kid and they always had pimento in them and I know I don't like the pimento, but I don't remember what the olive itself tastes like.

Even the smell of Olives causes me to gag. I absolutely cannot eat them. Olive oil is fine. But actual olives, no. Doesn't matter if they're old, new, canned, fresh. They're absolutely disgusting. One of the few foods I outright cannot and will not eat.

I will never understand people calling your palate uncultured just because you don't like olives. I am with you on this one though, the taste just is not to my liking.

Because it feels akin to disliking onions, garlic, or tomatoes. Admittedly those things wipe out larger swathes of food options but olives go with those so that's probably why it comes off as uncultured

Still feels wrong because there are so many food options without olives. I like all of the options you have liste except for raw tomatoes.

I'm not saying it's "right". I have the opinion that not liking olives is "uncultured" too and I'm trying to figure out why. It might be because I associate all the roman and Mediterranean foods and drinks with an older "Roman" lifestyle? Not sure exactly.

My brother hates wine and olives across the board and he says "wine is for pussies" so that probably colors my attitude. I like those things even more when he hates on them probably 😂

Probably. But a lot of mediterranean food is made without olives as well. Don't get me wrong olive oil slaps but the olives themselves... Nuh uh.

I think it's because they are old foods that civilizations grew up around, and also they have complex and strong flavors. People who shy away from strong and complex flavors are seen as less cultured with foods, right? I have a very "cultured" palate for foods but have trouble liking wine, so I say my palate for drinks is uncultured - I do like cocktails a lot, but wine I just usually tolerate, some is ok, none do I find delicious.

Usually people who dislike olives are picky eaters in general. Not always, but if you don't like them you probably just get lumped in with the picky eaters.

None of it matters, eat what you like, or grow your palate if you want. I have a challenge this year with my coworker who loves wine but is a ridiculously picky eater - I will try wine and he will try foods. We are challenging each other to expand our palates.

No, but my oldest son(6) loves them. There used to be an olives stand at the farmer's market near us and we surprised them by bringing a toddler who wanted olives. We let him try a bunch of different kinds. I will eat olives if I'm drunk and someone gives me a slice of pizza that has them, but otherwise they're a no for me.

Olives are gross as a food/garnish. Their oil, though, is not. I will put olive oil, Parmesan, and basil on literally anything, and it comes out delicious.

Agreed, and I hate how many olives they tend to put in something.

It's funny you ask. I used to hate them. But over time, I was determined to overcome my food phobias.

I can take 'em or leave 'em. Mushrooms on the other hand can fuck right off.

I like mushrooms but I'm not having any of that undercooked gray crap. Add plenty of oil and turn up the heat. Mushrooms should be golden brown.

Butter, salt, sliced mushrooms. Sautee in a pan until they get down to about 1/2 their original size. Garnish with a steak. Heaven on a plate.

In my experience they don't brown as well in butter. I suspect it may have to do with the water in it getting absorbed, so they don't get as hot.

Use a little butter to keep them from sticking, once they start browning, add butter to the desired butteryness

All mushrooms ? even fresh pinins grilled with garlic and parsley ?

Not the same guy but yes, all mushrooms. I once had pizza with some mushrooms (took them off of course) that left enough of a taste on the pizza itself I almost puked from eating one slice. I cannlt stomach the taste

Same here, mushrooms are the one thing I never grew out of hating. Everything about them is disgusting to me from the weird texture, the way they look, and the mouldy/dirty taste they have. Mushrooms are pretty much the only food I 100% refuse to eat no matter what.

I don't like the pits on olives, but cut up they are alright.

I'm strange but my favourite pizza topping combo is black olives and pineapple.

There's dozens of us! Hello fellow person of culture!

Olives - at least as you usually buy them, in brine, often with pepper strips in them - I find delicious. But every person has their own tastes, you can't argue with subjective preferences.

Love them. So much. Nearly every kind. One of the oldest cultivated foods. Die on your hill, or just realize that you have an uncultured palate!

Farther down you say you like pesto, which is like half olive oil. From olives.

Olive oil is fine. It's just olives themselves I don't like. Idk if I just don't have access to good olives or what. I've tried so goddamn hard to like them. I've tried so many. I just don't like them. I also live in a poverty-stricken part of the US, which may explain the lack of quality food around.

Black canned olives are a totally different beast to eg small green tart ones. I struggle to eat cold green olives by themselves sometimes. Black canned olives are salty beauts with the best texture of all time and I could eat fistfuls of them any time of day or night please

I love them. But they can vary significantly in taste, quality, and texture. I definitely like some better than others.

And olive oil is fundamental to cooking. (Though it's often overused and a cheaper oil would be a better choice).

Mostly I think they are gross, but once in a blue moon I'll have something with olives that have been prepared in a way where they actually taste pretty good. It's rare though

Love them. Especially the green ines. Sometimes i oick up a jar as a mivie snack.

EDIT: No edits! It stays as it stands!

I'm picturing you trying to type this with a green olive stuck on the tip of each of your fingers.

Let's say this is the truth, otherwise I'd have no excuse for being such a shitty writer when on my phone.

I was a bit of a picky eater when I was younger, but I've become much, much less so over the years - one of the few things I've never come around on is olives. The taste and texture combination just don't work for me

I like olives, but not all olives. There's some nasty olives out there.

Olives are delicious, olive oil is ghastly. What's up with that?

I don't think you're supposed to drink the oil

I don't think so either but I hear some people do. Apparently, if it's genuine olive oil and not a phony then it tastes sublime. Haven't tried it though.

Heard all of this from a YouTube/Nebula video though so take it with a grain of salt. Wait no, that might ruin the taste...

Edit: found the video on Nebula and on YouTube - Your Olive Oil is (probably) a Lie

A little bit of salt makes just about anything tastier.

canned olives are disgusting. Real ones you get in the mediterranean are amazing. I also hate the green olives but LOVE kalamata olives

I use to love black olives but idk what changed every single time I get them now they're brownish and taste spoiled. It doesn't matter where I go they're all the same now.

I don't like em, but not to the level of gross. Pickles are gross for me, olives I can either move to the side or ignore as a mildly worse meal.

I think olives are gross but I like them anyway. Only green olives though - black tastes bad.

I am a straight up menace when there's a jar of blue cheese olives around.

blue cheese olives ? gotta admit I never tried that combination

They're common for martinis, but you can find them premade in jars at the store usually in the pickled section. I like em by themselves

I like them stirred with gin and vermouth and served in a cocktail glass. Alcohol makes everything better.

So, a martini.

I do like an olive now and again.

Not sure what kind they are, but Pearls Olives are great.

Dont like things like Greek olives.

Green olives are gross most of the time, but I dont mind them on a pizza with a bunch of other toppings.

I agree with you. Olives are some of the most gross food I know. I will literally gag if I eat them.

The great thing, for most people, about a food being gross is that you don't have to eat it. Is someone forcing you to eat olives? I mean, maybe you've just not tried fresh olives?

I know I've never had fresh olives. Nobody has forced me to eat them. My one friend and I argue (in a joke way) about things we have opposite opinions of lmao. We have different opinions on olives

I think olives in brine are not nice, but a life changing way to eat olives is to marinate them in an olive oil/rosemary/garlic kind of marinade over several days and they are truly a game changer.

Hated every kind, had some actually great ones in Greece, now I can sorta kinda get behind black olives. Greens are still a bit too bitter for my preference.

No, I do not like olives. I can enjoy them in some dishes, but those are few and far between.

Their taste is pretty neutral to me but I end up puking after eating the black ones. Not really sure why.

Olives are great, but I also like pickled baby corn, hearts of palm, pickled Okra... I think there is a certain heritage/genetic component to enjoying pickled foods. I have mostly Swedish and German ancestry, just about anything pickled, cured, salted or brined is the shit.

If you haven't tried them yet, oil cured olives are awesome. Kinda bitter, soft and chewy, with a real deep olive flavor. Don't eat to many at once or your shit will slip right past your anus. You've been warned.

I wasn't ready for your second last sentence, almost spat my lunch out.

No. With the exception of small shriveled black olives on pizza or nachos.

Whole, wet, green, black, pitted, or unpitted all the rest can get bent.

I've tried olives. I just couldn't get past the juices that they're stored in which I feel ruins the taste.

I prefer sliced olives on supreme pizzas and that's it.

Olives are easily the most disgusting food I've ever had and I'm extremely adventurous. It's worse than bugs and spiders and snakes (delicious btw) and all manner of internal organs. Blegh!

Hey this is fun, Lemmy! Downvote me for agreeing with OP in a fun post and in a approachable way! Asking about my little escapades or what snake taste like? No, of course not. FUCK ME. Lemmings suck the fun out of everything. Surprised someone didn't tell me to KMS and mean it.

Rotted fruit in a barrel of brine. Our ancestors did what they had to to get by, but it's a different age now.

Like the French and snails. Don't tell me that's fancy eating. Twas a plate developed by and for starving fucking peasants. When do you eat a snail? When the alternative is somehow worse.

Olives are barbarism.

Olives exist to be pressed and processed for oil. Olive oil is delicious, but I can't stand olives themselves.