These are the food words that give most of us the ‘ick’

Some words just sound gross! Even though they are perfectly normal. The crew at Taste.com.au have opened the food dictionary to find the words that make their skin crawl. How many do you hate?

Once you really put your mind to it, those ‘ick’ words really flow.

Sure, we start this unappealing but also very rewarding assignment with the obvious one – ‘moist’.

It really rattles people, that word. And for good measure; it’s onomatopoeic, sounding like the squelch that it elicits when you bite into that piece of cake, that quiche, that slice of (tbh perfectly cooked) meat.

But then we dug deeper. We began mining for words that send chills down our spines.

The words that tense our teeth, as opposed to whet our appetite. And what did we find? A whole lot.

Sick cooking words:

The biggest ‘ick’ food word

Well the one that takes the cake in terms of ‘ick’ words has to be the term ‘steaming mound’. We don’t even know what to think when that one rears (pun intended) its ugly head. Most commonly used in conjunction with mashed goods – potato, pumpkin, parsnip etc – this one speaks for itself. And we’re certainly not going to be bandying it about here at taste.com.au.

Sick cooking words:

The second-most reviled

In the wise words (or thereabouts) of the one and only Steve Carell – if the word ‘yeast’ is ever associated with food, just pass. So we’ll do as the man says and move right along.

Sick cooking words:

And then there’s a whole bunch more (and they’re divisive)

These words make your skin crawl, or wash straight over you. One person’s tripe might be another’s nightmare. One could think of pulp as the beautiful prize at the end of the drink, while others think of teeth obstructors and bitty mess.

Here below are more ‘ick’ words we love to hate (or are completely fine with):

Offal (pretty offal)

• Tripe
• Ooze
• Pulpy
• Curdle
• Clotted
• Pungent
• Connoisseurs
• Yolk
• Mouth-watering
• Umami
• Juicy
• Broil
• Saccharine
• Glob
• Briny
• Eggy
• Fermented
• Tepid
• Rancid

Sick cooking words:

And of course, there are the ones that we battle to say correctly

Don’t you just hate it when you’re out and about in front of people and some ugly tongue twister raises its spiky letters at you? Because us too.

‘Croissant’ will always make us fumble a bit, ‘bruschetta’ trips even the best of us up (bruss-ket-a) and ‘Worcestershire’ – well that one is as hard to type as it is to say.

And that’s just a taster. If you’re looking for all the pasta faux pas we’re all guilty of, have a little look here. You’ll be blown away.

And while you’re at it, here’s something to tuck in to while you correct your fumbles:

100 vegetarian pastas that are packed with flavour

100 ultimate pasta salads

66 indulgent pasta recipes for lazy weekends

For more recipe ideas, go to taste.com.au or check out the Taste Test Kitchen now.

Originally published as These are the food words that give most of us the ‘ick’