I hate bell peppers.

By Annie on August 2nd, 2012
56 Posted in That's delish.

There really isn’t enough arguing and opposing opinions going on right now, so my friend Allison and I thought we would add our own disagreement to the internet today.

Here’s what.

I hate bell peppers.

There are lots of veggies that I can stomach for the sake of health and a few that I even like, but probably the only one that I absolutely avoid and sometimes am tempted to call an “allergy” [flat out lie] so I don’t have to eat them is bell peppers.

“But Annie, what about green ones? They are super yummy! Or red? Or yes, those beautiful yellow….”

Listen. They aren’t. I don’t like them chopped up in my chili and I don’t like them stuffed with delicious stuffing. I don’t like them in quesadilla or, heaven forbid, on a veggie tray. Just having them sitting along side a beautiful carrot or a tasty cauliflower bunch can ruin my day.

I think bell peppers are the bossiest and most overbearing vegetable. You know, if you order a pizza and it has mushrooms on it and you don’t like mushrooms, no biggie. You can pick them off. But if you order ANYTHING and there are bell peppers involved, that sickly sweet pepper taste invades every other food item. Bossy. Bossy. Bossy. Overbearing.

[My roomie has two sliced in the drawer of our fridge and NONE of my stuff is in that drawer... just to be safe.]

I try to be a fairly easy dinner guest and I am absolutely not a picky eater, but I have such a strong aversion to peppers that the smell of them even makes me shiver with dislike. Mama always taught me to eat what someone offers and for the most part, I can do it. But if I show up somewhere and the meal of choice is peppers stuffed with peppers with a side of grilled peppers, blech. [I'm not kidding y'all, just writing about this keeps making me say "gross" outloud and shaking my head in disgust.]

My emotions may not always be right, but at least they are strong. That counts for something, right?

No?

Oh, okay.

So I’m asking you nicely, please don’t contaminate my life with peppers of any shade. Please don’t be offended if your pepper delicacy never crosses my lips. I’m a nice girl and I’m pretty easy to get along with, but me and peppers? No way no how.

Amen.

. . . . .

Does anyone else hate peppers? Or is there another food item that you absolutely cannot stand? Tell me about it in the comments!

If you totally love peppers, like you put peppers in your breakfast scramble [gross] and on your salads at lunch and sauteed for dinner [I'm gagging], then pop over to Allison’s blog and leave a pro-pepper comment. We’re curious to see, between our two blogs, whether peppers are loved or hated.

56 See Comments and Responses
  1. Sara says:
    August 02, 2012 at 8:19 am

    I’m not vehemently opposed to peppers, but they are not my first choice ever. The overused veggie for me is the cauliflower. Just seeing you put it in the post up there conjured up my gag reflexes and started smelling them (they smell like odorous feet or the inside of Taco Bell, you choose).

    Reply

    • Annie says:
      August 02, 2012 at 10:09 am

      Thanks for understanding, Sara. And I apologize for mentioning cauliflower… I didn’t know your issue. :)

      Reply

  2. Megan says:
    August 02, 2012 at 8:29 am

    this is how I feel about pineapple…

    Reply

    • Annie says:
      August 02, 2012 at 10:10 am

      I respect your dislike, but I don’t agree with it. :)

      Reply

  3. Sassy Peppers | Allison Buzard says:
    August 02, 2012 at 8:39 am

    [...] pepper lovers or haters.  Please vote!  Pepper lovers, comment here, pepper haters head over to Annie’s blog and see if you agree.  And remember, a vote for peppers is a vote for [...]

    Reply

  4. Emily says:
    August 02, 2012 at 8:43 am

    Me too! Bell Peppers are gross! And totally overbearing! They flavor ANYTHING they touch! I’m so glad you understand :)

    Reply

    • Annie says:
      August 02, 2012 at 10:10 am

      Emily. Thank you.

      Reply

  5. Karen McGee says:
    August 02, 2012 at 8:45 am

    AMEN SISTA. I came over here from Allison’s blog just because I was so disgusted with her love for peppers.

    Reply

    • Annie says:
      August 02, 2012 at 10:10 am

      Thank you, Karen. Thank you.

      Reply

  6. Krissie says:
    August 02, 2012 at 9:20 am

    I love bell peppers. But what I hate is everywhere. In everything.

    Celery.

    Blech. The strings. Smell. Sound. Taste. All of it. Raw. Cooked. Evil. It makes me angry. Not grossed out, but angry.

    Bring it to my house? I will send you to the dumpster. Put it in my soup? I’ll order something else. My mom has been known to chop it up really tiny in soup to see if I can tell. I always can.

    Angry.

    Reply

    • Annie says:
      August 02, 2012 at 10:11 am

      When people try to sneak peppers by me in a similar fashion, I
      a) always know and
      b) hold it against them forever.

      Reply

  7. Morgan says:
    August 02, 2012 at 9:42 am

    I hate green bell peppers but I like red & yellow bell peppers. Mostly only raw. I am particular about my peppers.

    Reply

    • Annie says:
      August 02, 2012 at 10:11 am

      How are they different? Do they have a different taste?

      Reply

      • Morgan says:
        August 02, 2012 at 10:27 am

        Yep! Red & yellow are sweeter. Yellow is the sweetest and definitely the one I prefer most. I don’t really like any of them cooked, I think it’s the texture + that weird taste that permeates through everything else.

        Reply

  8. Ina says:
    August 02, 2012 at 9:47 am

    I agree with your stand against green bell peppers – bleh! Ugh. Your labeling them “bossy” is perfect. Even if picked out of a food, the flavor remains.
    However, I have found that I like red and yellow (or even orange) peppers. The taste really doesn’t seem to be the same as the icky green ones to me. So, I substitute them whenever I can.

    Reply

    • Annie says:
      August 02, 2012 at 10:12 am

      So so bossy. Even in frozen food, if you pick them out while still frozen, they leave their stench.

      Reply

  9. gmh says:
    August 02, 2012 at 10:03 am

    I have an aversion to all peppers, not just the bell variety.

    Reply

    • Annie says:
      August 02, 2012 at 10:13 am

      Mmm hmm. Me too.

      Reply

  10. Southern Gal says:
    August 02, 2012 at 10:06 am

    I used to hate them as much as you do. Honestly. Guess what? I love them now. Same with tomatoes. Sometimes you have to wait on your taste buds to mature. Ha! That’s what my mama used to tell me anyway.

    Reply

    • Annie says:
      August 02, 2012 at 10:17 am

      I do need to mature. That’s for sure. :)

      Reply

  11. caren says:
    August 02, 2012 at 10:23 am

    I also have a strong hatred for peppers. They ARE overbearing and EVERYTHING ends up tasting like them. No wonder we are friends! Anytime anyone asks me over for dinner or asks if I’m allergic- the answer is always- I’ll eat anything BUT bell peppers.

    Reply

  12. Cassie says:
    August 02, 2012 at 10:24 am

    I make a really, really good chicken linguine with a creamy pepper sauce. I think it will change your mind, but I will NEVER serve it to you. Just for the sake of our friendship.

    Reply

  13. Camille says:
    August 02, 2012 at 10:40 am

    Amen and amen. I hate any and all peppers.

    Reply

  14. Debbie Barnett says:
    August 02, 2012 at 10:52 am

    So I just left a comment on Allison’s page… because well, I’m an avid pepper-lover! But I saw so many comments about cauliflower on here that I thought I’d offer a yummy recipe for the “little white trees” as my niece calls them. I promise you – if you did not like cauliflower before – you will become a convert. I have swayed many a hater into loving it this way. Enjoy! http://debsperfectbite.com/2012/06/22/spicy-roasted-cauliflower/

    Reply

  15. Shay says:
    August 02, 2012 at 10:53 am

    Yep, hate them. Thanks for articulating their bossiness… Never knew how to explain that. The only exception is roasted red pepper flavored hummus… a lower degree of bossiness, IMHO! ;)

    Reply

  16. Stephanie says:
    August 02, 2012 at 10:57 am

    I LOVE peppers. But I hate (HATE) raisins.

    I don’t know why, especially since I like craisins. But the flavor, the color, the texture of a raisin…just GAG. People put them in with their broccoli/cauliflower salad…ugh. Or my mom used to make homemade cinnamon rolls and I would have to carefully peel it open section by section to see if there were raisins in it.

    I think the worst of all offenders is when you are biting in a chocolate and discover that a raisin has poisoned it. The creamy confection must then be hurriedly spit into the garbage. I don’t understand what the attraction is, honestly!

    Reply

  17. jennifer says:
    August 02, 2012 at 11:03 am

    FINALLY I have an ally in my hatred (too strong of a word? I think not!) of bell peppers. Gross gross gross. I don’t care what form they are in… no thank you ma’am. NO peppers for me.

    Reply

  18. Beth says:
    August 02, 2012 at 11:13 am

    I think you are bordering on the hysterical with this Annie. And do your research as you clearly haven’t tried them raw. Some folk need to make a song and dance about the littlest things …
    Just sayin.

    Reply

  19. Erika says:
    August 02, 2012 at 11:32 am

    I respect you as a person, but you are totally wrong about the peppers. They are tasty and amazing little vitamin-packed treats. I would leave my comment on the pro-pepper blog, but for some reason her page is being blocked by the filters at my work, so…gotta leave it here with the haters. :) And you have your example totally wrong– you can NOT pick mushrooms off a pizza and then go on with life, because MUSHROOMS ARE DISGUSTING and so is everything they touch. And because of their nasty little brownish color, they can be very hard to detect in food, which could lead one to inadvertently consuming one, which would obviously be the worst thing ever. UGH!!! So please take your distaste for peppers and redirect it to something TRULY awful: mushrooms. Also, thanks for bringing this timely and important debate into the light!! I think all of this week’s OTHER arguments are PLAYED OUT.

    Reply

  20. ~VA~ says:
    August 02, 2012 at 12:15 pm

    I don’t necessarily hate bell peppers though I certainly wouldn’t choose them if I had my choice. I do loathe salad dressing–especially ranch…the smell permeates everything…ick. Yesterday my partner at work suggested we flavor all the pretzels in the snack drawer with ranch and it was all I could do to not put my hands over my ears. (I’m too shy to walk past everyone to get to the snack drawer so I bring my own food, but just imagining the smell that would be coming off of other people’s food as they ate is disgusting.)

    Reply

  21. kyle says:
    August 02, 2012 at 1:15 pm

    I used to work at a large corporation whose dining room was on 4th floor, my office on 8th. I came to loathe Friday lunchtimes, when people would carry their trays of fish and VINEGAR back to their desks via elevator. Vinegar does NOT belong in an enclosed space! Not ever, ever! I can hardly stand the smell of it when it wafts through a whole building.
    I happen to love peppers of all sorts, but I also happen to think that if we were all the same, a) we’d be boring; b) we’d be bored; and c) we’d start believing God is uncreative. So your pepper aversion is a testament to His creativity. Way to go.

    Reply

  22. Robyn (3girlsmom) says:
    August 02, 2012 at 4:32 pm

    I don’t hate bell peppers. Don’t love them either. Just meh.
    However, carrots were created by the devil, himself. They are evil, vile little orange things. Gag.

    Reply

  23. sundilou says:
    August 02, 2012 at 4:57 pm

    I HATE peppers!! Recently I tried to eat one to see if my taste had changed (it’s happened with other things) but it didn’t work. Still hate them! I feel the same way about raw onions, except I can eat those if they’re cooked. I’m so glad someone shares this dislike!

    Reply

    • Jennifer says:
      August 03, 2012 at 12:15 pm

      Sundi.. I knew we were friends for a reason :)

      Reply

  24. Louise says:
    August 02, 2012 at 5:09 pm

    Not a fan of the green ones, but I can eat them if cooked well. The one veggie I would have to be paid to eat is cucumber. Even the thought of it makes ,me feel slightly sick!

    Reply

  25. Andrea B. says:
    August 02, 2012 at 7:24 pm

    I’m with Louise! I’m anti-cucumber as well.

    Reply

  26. logan says:
    August 02, 2012 at 7:25 pm

    The following is a true story.

    When I was about 11 a friends mom took us to a mcdonalds drive thru to grab lunch. She forgot -gasp!- to ask for no little bitty onions on my cheeseburger.
    I did not realize her mistake -the horror!!- until AFTER I had taken a bite.
    My life was, literally, never the same.

    Your Pepper= My Onion.

    I hate them. Raw, diced, chopped, sauteed, in a salad, on a $75 steak smothered with gravy, I don’t care.
    i. will. not. do. it.

    I will even tear open onion rings, pull out the onion part, and just eat the fried (I know, I’m uber healthy in addition to being onionphobic).

    Reply

  27. erin says:
    August 02, 2012 at 10:27 pm

    I share Logan’s extreme dislike of onions. Ick! Talk about overbearing. Hate hate hate them in any form!

    Reply

  28. Melodee says:
    August 03, 2012 at 4:06 am

    I’m not a fan of bell peppers, either. I especially do not understand the merits of eating them raw. Also? They make me burp and . . . that is just not right.

    I also hate raw tomatoes, though I like them cooked.

    Reply

    • Louise says:
      August 03, 2012 at 6:33 pm

      I’m with you on raw tomatoes!

      Reply

  29. Mollyanne says:
    August 03, 2012 at 7:42 am

    Oh yes ma’am I do hate peppers. And also broccoli. With equal passion.

    Reply

  30. Lynn Pottenger says:
    August 03, 2012 at 1:33 pm

    I hate those peppers too! They make everything take on their flavor and ruin it. I avoid them as much as possible, but do sometimes have to eat them as they are set in front of me. My Mom always taught me to eat what is set in front of me. Since I am often eating in people’s homes while on furlough, I do my best to take very little and gag them down. Ugh, just thinking about it makes me grimace – shiver.

    Reply

  31. Anne Pearson says:
    August 03, 2012 at 6:23 pm

    So Annie, what about the fajitas at camp??!! You are so polite. I’ll never believe another word you say!!!!! Looking forward to seeing you soon.
    P.s This is the first time I have EVER commented on a blog. What’s happening to me??!!! Xx

    Reply

  32. dianamaria says:
    August 03, 2012 at 7:54 pm

    Haha, I love the title of this blog post because I HATE bell peppers so much! And I have a legitimate allergy to boot! When they are snuck into foods I ask for a chaser of Benadryl and Advil.

    Reply

  33. ManUtd17 says:
    August 04, 2012 at 9:27 am

    My favorite pizza is pepperoni and green peppers. I don’t taste “sweet” from the green pepper though. Maybe in the red and yellow varieties.

    I could jump on an anti-celery bandwagon though. People throw it into things all the time, and I don’t understand. If it’s only good as an add-on, maybe it’s not good enough at all. Adding peanut butter to it? Only ruins the PB. I’m confident that celery is the one food that even the deep-fryer could not redeem.

    Reply

  34. Lauren says:
    August 05, 2012 at 6:06 pm

    Cilantro. Definitely cilantro.

    Reply

  35. Erin KT says:
    August 06, 2012 at 11:24 pm

    All bell peppers are gross. You are reading my mind.

    Reply

  36. Kim says:
    August 24, 2012 at 4:45 am

    My husband hates bell peppers with a passion. He’ll “eat around” them in Chinese food, but in other things he just wants to chuck them out the window.

    Guess what? One of our neighbors, in her kindness, gave us a big bag of veggies from her giant garden, including cucumbers, tomatoes… and… green bell peppers.

    Now I have to figure out what to do with these things.

    Reply

  37. Lee says:
    November 07, 2012 at 2:28 pm

    I also have an extreme aversion to bell peppers of any kind, whether they be green, red, yellow, orange, or purple (I’ve even heard that off-white ones exist). Just the smell of bell peppers makes me very nauseated. Someone brought stuffed bell peppers once to a potluck and the smell made me sick. I also don’t like pimentos in green olives–to me they are the same as a red bell pepper.

    Reply

  38. athena says:
    December 07, 2012 at 12:25 pm

    I am like that with broccoli, mushrooms, and peppers. And okra. Yuck!

    Reply

  39. Darrell Martinsen says:
    January 29, 2013 at 3:43 am

    I am so glad to know I’m not alone! I not only hate bell peppers, I find them evil! They’re everywhere and they’re in everything! I can’t even go to a restaurant and get a plate of spaghetti or a bowl of chili anymore without those vile things in them! And yes, even if I pick them out and remove them, their flavor is still there permeating every bite. It truly is unpleasant and metallic and just ruins the entire meal for me, so much so that I now ask the waiter if X sauce contains bell peppers. It doesn’t help that when I was younger my mother forced me to eat stuffed bell peppers. It was truly revolting and the once a week event was always a gag fest :(

    Reply

  40. Chris says:
    February 04, 2013 at 8:59 pm

    Im happy to have found people that don’t like peppers either. I can eat most veggies…but I literally want to throw up when I smell them. My co worker used to make them all the time and I had to leave the lunchroom because of the smell. And for some reason my parents think that I enjoy them…a lot…I will never understand the allure of bell peppers. You can make food taste great without them. I remember my mother making stuffed peppers for dinner one time…of all the meals I’ve eaten in my life I can honestly say that has been the most memorable, terrible, stomach churning meal of all time. And it’s been almost 20 years since that dinner lol…what are some alternatives to peppers though? Ie, for recipes that call specifically for them, usually I avoid making those because of the pepper ingredient…

    Reply

  41. Melissa says:
    March 21, 2013 at 12:57 am

    You said it just right…..Im the same as you when it comes to bell peppers. But sadly growing up my mom put them in EVERYTHING! not caring one bit of my detest of them. But ill eat just about anything else.

    Reply

  42. Emily says:
    April 14, 2013 at 2:08 am

    Bell peppers… The fruit of satan… why do they exist….? anything but bell peppers please!!!!

    Reply

  43. Jeannine says:
    April 15, 2013 at 11:05 am

    SOOO Right! AND to add insult if you are overweight they are in everything!! It’s like
    -taste? add peppers! Rather eat the box! And my digestion catches the little buggers if I don’t.
    BLAUGH!

    Reply

  44. Alicia says:
    May 14, 2013 at 10:43 pm

    Totally with you, sista ;-) I HATE peppers (sweet peppers). If it’s in my food, I WILL pick them out and I will NEVER eat them. Everybody’s just like, “Oh, but they’re soo good, like tomatoes…” Uh, hell no. Tomatoes I can handle, but peppers are definitely the “swerve” option for me. As you said tho, even if you take them out of the food, the taste NEVER goes away. It’s like seriously, did they really need to go in there. (I don’t think so.) Btw, I would not mind eating brussel sprouts rather than peppers. Like freaking BRUSSEL SPROUTS?! That is my hate for these peppers tho. If I’d rather eat brussel sprouts than them, then the hate’s pretty strong.

    Anyways, thanks for writing this, I thought I was the only one.

    Reply

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