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Comment by Hansenq | Hacker News Reader

As someone who enjoys eating Asian-style jellyfish, this article was quite weird to read, as the author made it a big deal of his personal experience being disgusted by it as a food. While I'm glad that the author eventually ended the article on a positive note having enjoyed the jellyfish (and relating it to the introduction of tomatoes to Italy!), describing his disgust in such detail was quite offputting. It's very normal for many cultures around the world for jellyfish to be a part of the standard diet. It reminds me of the stereotypes surrounding normal food of other cultures (especially Asian cuisines) that we see so often here in the US.

On that note, the fact that jellyfish was banned for consumption in the EU was mindblowing.

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> I spot the turgid tentacles and part of the cap floating in the orange liquid, and my stomach turns. The first spoonful of broth goes down quickly. It tastes like a delicious––and fishy––tomato soup. Then I search for a piece of the jellyfish. I hesitate. I slurp it up.

> It feels like a gulp of the sea itself as the flavor of the jellyfish unfurls in my mouth with the strength of a tsunami. The texture reminds me of calamari or a piece of fat from a cooked steak. As I chew, trying to repress the impulsive disgust, I think of cooked tripe. I swallow.

You reaction seems a bit excessive, the entire article is covered with "keeping an open mind", the critical part is that he did, in fact, find it not great. It's pretty far from a "oh look at how disgusting this asian food is".

Yeah especially since there are people who view cheese as mostly disgusting. And that’s just cheese. Now snails. I find them disgusting but know people who love it. I hope they do not mind that I do not find them appealing in the least. I should be permitted to also feel disgusted.

> view cheese as mostly disgusting

Hi, that's me! I find cheese incredibly gross, from the smell to the texture to it's taste. But I'm certain that's probably because I was raised without dairy as kid (dairy set off my asthma incredibly badly), so I never developed a taste for it. Even as an adult I still find it (and milk) gross!

Yeah there are lots of foods which are normal because we were exposed to them as we develop into adults. Those not exposed to some of these items can naturally feel disgusted to the point some people will feel physically ill when trying to eat one of these items.

Hah... Just pretend it's stinky tofu!

Seriously, the only way I can deal with 臭豆腐 is thinking of it as weird cheese.

> the fact that jellyfish was banned for consumption in the EU was mindblowing.

To me it's mind blowing that people would eat them. I had no idea you can do that or that you'd want to do that, as they're super gross.

They look like a bowl of jizz had intercourse with a bowl of snot. Who would look at those and think "yummy!"?

What food, apart from fruit and a few vegetables looks nice and edible in its raw state?

Cows, pigs, sheep, rabbits, etc. all are pleasant to look at while alive. Can't say the same for jellyfish.

Pleasant to look at != Mmm food.

Plus jelly fish can look quite beautiful.

More beautiful than a cow with shit on its arse etc.

Plus have you looked at a monkfish recently?

It is strange it is banned, I have eaten it in the UK (when it was in EU), so I don’t know the ban is enforced much.

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