My partner is from Savannah, so I've been to a few low-country boils, but I don't eat seafood. AT ALL. So I always have to take my own food along.

When I was a little kid, my brother and I would play with the crawdads in the creek near our house. Now they just kind of creep me out.

/me sits at the anti-seafood table

crawfish isn't really seafood, is it?

I guess not, since it comes from fresh water, but I'll still pass.

You don't like ANY seafood? There are many different types, and many different preparations. I can see not liking sushi, or crustaceans, or even saltwater fish as a whole; but all of seafood (including freshwater?!)?

More for me!

Seriously though, I'm not asking you to justify, but out of curiosity: Why?

To satisfy your curiosity (and agropyron and I have had this conversation before, so I know I'm not the only one):

Anything that comes from the water -- including seaweed -- tastes and smells impossibly fishy to me. And the fishy thing makes me gag.

Now, I know what all the seafood lovers are going to say: "But fresh fish/seafood doesn't taste fishy at all!" And to you, it doesn't. More power to you.

I really, really want to like shellfish (fish, not so much), and I've tried it again recently. But it just tastes fishy to me. Can't get over it.

If I could get therapy for my fish aversion, like some people get therapy for their fear of flying, I'd do it.

Precisely what mudpuppie said. Like, word for word. It's the horrible fishy smell. I'll go to some very fancy restaurant, and a table nearby orders all seafood, and the smell grosses me out.

And yes, Eideteker, all crustaceans, molluscs, and fish smell gross to me.

Hm. I love fish, seafood, etc., but that was very well explained and makes perfect sense to me.

I eat everything, and like almost everything, but for a really concentrated whiff of what it is you are eating, you should walk through the outdoor market sections of places that have rows of meat and fish vendors (plus, of course, fruit and veggies, etc.); I can deal with it, and even enjoy it (to a certain degree) as a cornucopia-of-scents kind of thing, but, really, it's quite persuasive as a nudge to go vegetarian. I've actually become much more vegetable oriented after moving to a place that has this kind of outdoor market*.

*It's not really unhygienic; I've never had any bad food from them, or ever been sick from buying from the outdoor market... it's just a much more intense connection with the food.

When I lived in Boston, I had to walk right through the Haymarket to get from the train to my office. On Fridays, they have a huge outdoor market. The fish carts were on both sides of the sidewalk, so you had to run the smelly gauntlet. It was too far to hold your breath, too. My god, it was disgusting -- smelliest place I've ever been.

I took to getting off the train two stops up and walking a looooong way on Fridays because the smell was just so overpowering.

It sounds psychological, i.e. fish = gross; since it's not just the taste but the smell and even the thought (and it's not the salt content either, I see). I wonder if hypnosis would help (since you mentioned you'd like to like fish). But then, you're not making that commute any more, so it's not like it's really inconveniencing you (or is it?).

Still, I know the feeling. I can't be in the same room as peanut butter without feeling sick (I've got an allergy). But since it's an allergy, I don't know if I could condition myself to bear it. I'd look into it if PB&J sandwiches were popular fare in restaurants.

I wonder if the aversion extends to the wild. Like, an aversion to snorkeling/scuba diving. Or it could be you didn't get enough fish as an infant, so it's not part of your diet. Or, you could just be built that way. =) Nothing wrong with that. But I'd find it extremely annoying if I couldn't eat in a restaurant without being grossed out by my fellow diners.

I'll try to remember not to order fish if we're ever at a meetup together!

*sits with mudpuppie and agropyron*