The way a certain food tastes is obviously the most important way to determine if you like it or not — after all, you’re eating specifically to taste something. But how much you enjoy a food depends on more than just the way it tastes: you also take into account the way it smells, the way it looks, and the way it feels, even if you don’t realize you’re doing that.
If a type of food smells bad, chances are likely that you won’t enjoy it very much, since the smell can affect the way you taste something. If it looks really disgusting or strange, then you’re probably going to get totally turned off — so much so that you might not even try it at all! And if you pop something into your mouth and find that it has an absolutely horrible texture?
Yeah, chances are good that you’re going to be unhappy, even if that food is something like a dessert.
According to a Popular Science article, “How a food feels affects our enjoyment of the thing.” Scientists refer to the actual texture of food as rheology, which focuses on consistency and flow. Psychorheology is the reason we love soda but can’t stand it once it goes flat. Researchers even say that people can be grouped into different categories, like chewers, who prefer foods that can be chewed for a long time, and smooshers who only like creamy and mushy foods.
Basically, texture has a bigger impact on how much you like a food than you think it does.
That said, there are plenty of delicious-sounding desserts that have a texture that is so bad that you just can’t get yourself to eat them — and you’re probably not alone. Here are some desserts with the worst and creepiest textures out there:
1. Flan
Flan is a custard dessert topped with a layer of clear caramel. It’s jiggly, it’s wiggly, and many find that the texture is just awful once it’s in their mouth… and it doesn’t even look that appetizing to begin with.
Plus, the name? Flan? It just sounds bad, even if it isn’t!
2. Chia Pudding
Chia pudding is a healthier dessert option made with chia seeds and milk. Basically, you pour tiny chia seeds into the milk of your choice, then let the mixture sit for a few hours until it turns into a pudding-like consistency.
The only problem for most people?
Chia seeds in this manner can become a little bit slimy, and the whole texture is just… odd. It’s like you’re eating something creamy, but with little slimy balls in it. It’s a turn-off!
3. Jell-O
Jell-O anything is pretty much a hard pass for most people. This jiggling glob of gelatin is unlike anything else. Do you chew it? Do you just swallow mouthfuls whole? Do you… slurp it? It’s just weird, and it’s even worse when it’s topped with other things.
4. Tapioca Pudding
This is a sweet pudding made of tapioca (which is a starchy substance made from hard grains, sort of similar to rice) and milk or cream, sometimes coconut milk.
For many people, just looking at the texture of this stuff is enough to convince them not to eat it.
It’s creamy like pudding, but also full of a sort of slimy grain, and that just isn’t appealing.
5. Rice Pudding
If you don’t like tapioca pudding because of the texture, chances are good you won’t like rice pudding either. It’s very similar — it’s rice mixed with milk or cream to form a pudding-like concoction.
Although rice pudding can taste deliciously sweet, it can be a struggle to get past the way it feels in your mouth.
6. Passion Fruit
Just looking at a passion fruit cut in half may be enough to turn you off.
It’s all dark seeds encased in what looks like yellow goo… and the fact that it kind of tastes like that too.
If you can’t stand the thought of biting into a slimy seed, you won’t like eating passion fruit. Drinking it, however, is much better!
7. Shredded Coconut
A sweet treat that can be eaten out of the bag or used as a dessert topping, shredded coconut has a texture that isn’t for everyone.
In a Reddit thread, one user described it as “plastic Easter grass” and another compared it to “soft-boiled toenail clippings.”
It can be a bit stringy and sugary at the same time, which is an odd consistency.
8. Banana Pudding
Banana pudding is delicious! Feeling it in your mouth, however, is not as great. You’ve got creamy pudding mixed with bananas (which already have a texture many don’t like), as well as chunks of what is essentially soggy bread. Yikes.
9. Bubble Tea
Bubble tea is a sweet Taiwanese tea-based drink that basically counts as a dessert. It’s usually made of iced tea with flavored milk and sugar, and contains some sort of “topping” (it usually floats to the bottom), like tapioca balls or popping boba.
Many people can’t stand the idea of biting into something like tapioca or boba while drinking something — it’s just too much of a contrast.
10. Sweet Potato Pie
If you can get past the texture of sweet potato pie, it’s great… but it’s hard to do that. Once baked into pie form, all of those sweet potatoes end up being both mushy and stringy, which is not great.
11. Marshmallows in Cereal
Everyone knows that a marshmallow in your favorite junky cereal (like, say, Lucky Charms) isn’t the same as a real marshmallow.
Cereal marshmallows are harder and more dry, and biting into one can leave a sickeningly sticky feeling on your teeth.
12. Creme Brûlée
If you don’t like contrasting textures, you probably won’t like creme brûlée. It’s made of a heavy custard topped with a layer of burnt sugar — and usually the custard is cooler while the burnt sugar layer is hot.
On top of that, the custard consists of that creamy, kind of bubbly texture, while the sugar is crispy and very hard.
It just… they just shouldn’t go together.
13. Malted Milk Balls
This candy is pretty polarizing because of its texture. Malted milk balls are crispy little balls covered in malt powder and a chocolatey coating.
Biting into one can feel a little like biting into sand.
Enough said.
14. Halva
There are a few different kinds of halva, but one is usually made of tahini (a sesame paste) or some sort of nut butter, along with a lot of sugar.
It’s dense, it’s hard to bite into, and it’s weird to chew.
15. Cottage Cheese with Fruit
Cottage cheese has a terrible texture, period. It’s like chunky yogurt, or something like that, which is just generally awful.
Add fruit to the mix and you’ve got an unpleasing sensation in your mouth.
16. Bread Pudding
Soggy bread soaking in milk?
