A number of places serve instant grits which are just horrendous. If that was one’s first experience I could see how it is a turn off. Sometimes it is from places you don’t expect. I remember ordering cheese grits as a side at one BBQ joint in North Carolina and they were instant grits with a pinch of shredded cheese dropped on top.

Pecan pie. Easily my favorite American dessert.

I love a well done pecan pie but I find myself avoiding it because you never know when some Karo jelly with a few pecans thrown on top horror is going to be what is served you.

I found Malort to be not all that bad. Not something I’d choose as my liquor of choice but not the concentrated hell I expected from descriptions and reactions.

I bought a small (20 g) jar at an international store on a whim. I followed the advice I’d seen of lots of butter and just a tiny bit of Vegemite and I have to say it was pretty tasty. I then had the intrusive thought to really slather it on and… yeah, if that had been my first experience I’d be convinced it was the most vile substance known to man.

My wife spent 18 months in Bulgaria. When she talks about the food banitsa invariably comes up as something she desperately misses.

Interesting. I’ve had fårikål but that sounds more interesting to me. Probably on account of the use of cured meat, particularly smoked, likely giving a more complex flavor to the lamb.

We always camped on some mostly permafrost supported island in the middle of a wetland when we hunted so we avoided open fires. I’ve got lots of memories of that place. Spiders pelting me as they were knocked off the tall grass by our airboats we rode in, the one black bear my father shot that had been eating so many blueberries that the smell hit you in the face when we cleaned it, or my cousin and I being chewed out for sinking part of ‘our’ island when we attempted to build a log cabin. That’s why I think nostalgia is playing a big part in why I miss the dishes so much.

I grew up in interior Alaska. The hometown food I miss the most is saltine crusted Northern Pike. Very bony but so tasty. Though to be honest a lot of that may be nostalgia as it was something we’d eat camping as an extended family when the fishers in the group had a good haul. Pan fried moose heart and tongue is a simular situation.

If we do the United States instead of my home state I’d say key lime pie for sweet and shrimp and grits for savory.