Because when sitting small children I find most can tolerate one or the other.

With the trees it's all in the flavor; with the stems, it's the texture AND the flavor. If it's basically ground up and in something (like a stuffing for chicken breasts), I don't gag, but I can taste it and I don't like it at all. I can even taste it if I eat just the beef in beef & brocolli, because the flavor's worked it's way into the sauce.

Does raw or cooked make a difference? Overcooked broccoli can kill at twenty paces, but when I was a kid, cooked at all made me choke.

Though come to think of it, I don't think I liked any vegetables cooked then.

Sounds like you're a supertaster, Frank.

Does raw or cooked make a difference?

Cooked is definitely worse, but, like cauliflower I dislike raw intensly as well. I'm definitely down on a lot of cooked veggies that I do like raw, though (carrots, for instance).

I like broccoli.

Sounds like you're a supertaster, Frank.

Do the permutations of that phenom vary from person to person? Because there are a lot of pungent vegatables that I do like - peppers (bell types and hotter varieties), for instance, and all the lillies (garlic, leeks, onions, etc.). I know my first encounter with salsa that had fresh cilantro had a "who put the dish soap in the salsa" component, but I've since come to like the taste (it no longer tastes soapy to me).

I like broccoli.

Is your name secretly "Bob"?

::sitting at the "doesn't like seafood" table::

BHP took the words out of my mouth: gilded age.

Expensive jeans, in theory, don't disgust me as much as an £85 sandwich. If workers were getting paid a good living wage, clothing would cost more. Anyone who sews their own clothing knows how much work is involved. Granted, big factories give one access to time-saving tools one does not have as a home sewer, but it's still a lot of work. Especially doing clean rolled seams with thick denim. Of course, the sad thing is that the workers who sew designer clothing are probably not paid much more than those who make clothes for Old Navy.

I can see paying more money for organic and sustainably grown food, at least until such time as supply and demand even up enough for prices to go down. But a sandwich like that is simply for the novelty of having expensive ingredients. It's conspicuous consumption as much as the $1000 julep is. And that disgusts me to my core.

Oh yeah, I forgot to say about the expensive jeans -- Gawker or someone had a bit when NYC got rid of the sales tax on clothes under $110, but they were like "Who buys jeans cheaper than $110?" Um. Me? Many many many people I know?

I have to call my thesis advisor, and I really don't want to! But I really really have to, because I told him I would. OK. Calling now.