10 Celebrity Chefs And The Foods They Absolutely Hate

Celebrity chefs may have to keep up appearances, but they aren't immune from distaste and outright loathe for certain foods. And we're not talking about acquired tastes like durian or sea urchin, either — some of your favorite chefs from competitions, talk shows, and the restaurant industry have voiced their outright disgust for pretty common ingredients and everyday dishes. What's more, they haven't been shy about expressing their true feelings.

When considering celebrity chefs like Alton Brown, Martha Stewart, and Ree Drummond, their hatred for specific foods isn't merely a quirk. Counted among the reasons various chefs have listed for steering clear of certain palate displeasers, we find issues with tastes, textures, scents, and even bodily responses. For some, like Ina Garten, there are genetic dispositions for an herb aversion. Others, like Guy Fieri, have had more than one bad experience to put them off from a food they once adored. Nearly all of them will avoid their hated food at all costs. Let's take a closer look at what these famous food stars least like to eat.

When it comes to Ree Drummond and bananas, hate doesn't capture the full picture. For the Pioneer Woman, simply catching a whiff of the tropical fruit is enough to cause her to "recoil in pain and fear," she described on her website. The scent isn't all that's off-putting where it concerns the yellow-skinned berries. The blogger-turned-Food Network star explains that both the texture and the taste are also enough for her to hope to see every last banana wiped out from existence.

Knowing that, plus the fact that bread is the one food Drummond avoids cooking at all costs, her recommendation for a banana bread recipe holds that much more weight. Taking to her blog in 2024, the celebrity chef explained that her mom made the recipe while visiting and it quickly became a guilty pleasure. Baked with a crust that plays against the soft interior, and sans nuts, the eight-ingredient recipe left the Pioneer Woman finding one small corner of the world where bananas are still welcomed.

During a 2009 episode of the Food Network competition "Chopped," restauranteur and judge Scott Conant made his distaste for raw red onion clear in no uncertain terms. In the installment aptly titled "Judge Knows Best," the chef warned competitor Joshua Whigham about an "aversion" to the ingredient added to his crudo. Despite that, the entrée course found Whigham turning to the red onion once more to top an arugula salad served with his beef tenderloin. The result was a tense exchange.

Employing a touch of sarcasm, the competitor quipped about trying an onion jam after he was advised against including raw onion — one of 10 things Conant hates – in a dessert. While Whigham ultimately lost the competition, the frustration he brought out in the judge carried on for years. In 2012, Conant took to social media to ask the public to give it a rest with the onion jokes. Then in 2016, the celebrity chef set the record straight on X, writing that the problem isn't the red onions themselves — he just doesn't want them served in a way that they taste like "plain red onion."

Less than 20% of the world's population is genetically predisposed to despise cilantro as an ingredient, and celebrity chef Ina Garten counts herself among them. For those like the Barefoot Contessa who likely have the OR6A2 receptor, the experience of chowing down on the "devil's herb" is akin to biting into a bar of soap — or worse. Given Garten's tasting proclivity to steer clear of cilantro, she's taken lengths to make up for its impact to recipes.

Basil can be substituted by cilantro haters as an herb alternative when needed, so long as you are selective with the type you're using. In addition to sprinkling in Thai basil for a lemony quality or Italian sweet basil for a vibrant pop in a dish, various blends of fresh herbs make up the difference. In "The Barefoot Contessa Cookbook," Garten acknowledges that not everyone feels as she does about cilantro, but makes sure that those who don't taste it as though they are being punished for saying a bad word know it's okay to add it where they like. For her, though? As she told "Today" back in 2018, "not now, not ever."

Hosting such Food Network shows as "Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives" and "Guy's Grocery Games," the Mayor of Flavortown is known for a lot of things, but enjoying eggs is not on the list. On multiple occasions, the Ohio-born restauranteur who got his start in California has explained how a number of bad experiences turned his tastebuds against the protein-packed food. In one Food Network video, Fieri described scrambled eggs as "liquid chicken" while voicing his opposition to the taste and texture.

As to what set him against the super common breakfast food, the celebrity chef explained in an interview with Extra Crispy how he'd once found a developing chicken in an egg he cracked open. However, even that hadn't driven him away from the fried egg sandwiches he'd once adored as much as biting into a hard-boiled egg Fieri said had a "chalky yolk." Despite his own disgust for eating eggs, he hasn't stopped using the vital ingredient in many recipes and he has even shared updates on his own hen house and the eggs it produces.

More than merely a celebrity chef, Martha Stewart's business acumen developed an entire lifestyle brand. While recognized for her sophisticated tastes, the writer and entrepreneur's brutally honest feelings about truffle oil find it to be a trifle. In 2018, Stewart spoke with "Today" and simply stated when asked about ingredients she wouldn't use, "Oh, I would never use truffle oil, oh never." She elaborated the the crafting of finishing oil makes it a "hideous thing."

Deeming the product "fake" and "synthetic," Stewart touched on the reality that many truffle oils don't actually contain truffles. Instead, chemicals are used to replicate the scent of truffles, which is then applied to a more reasonably priced product like olive oil. The result is an off taste that "clings to your tastebuds" to the point where you're better off not adding it to a recipe in the first place. In fact, Stewart has gone as far as suggesting it shouldn't even be in your kitchen, stating on a Reddit forum, "It is ruinous of most recipes."

Aside from inedible dishes that the fiery chef has criticized on one of his numerous shows, there is one food that Gordon Ramsay despises enough to advise others to avoid. During an interview with Town & Country, the one affordable dish Ramsay warned diners against ordering was the soup du jour. The "Kitchen Nightmares" star who famously endeavored to course correct-failing restaurants told the magazine, "Ask what yesterday's soup du jour was before today's special. It may be the case that it's the soup du month."

In 2025, the first half of a two-part installment of "Gordon Ramsay's Secret Service" found the celebrity chef calling attention to the soup of the day once more. A trip to Callahan's Seafood Bar and Grill in Frederick, Maryland featured Ramsay taking a peek inside the walk-in refrigerator where he highlighted warm soups that hadn't been cooled before storing. Later in the episode, he critiqued the soup, describing it as sour. Mind you, Ramsay's warning neither implicated all soups nor meant he wasn't above changing his mind on a food he hates. Having spent years railing against pineapple on pizza, the chef was caught sheepishly enjoying a pie all by himself in a video filmed by his daughter. As for soup of the day? Maybe some day.

Despite Giada De Laurentiis' upbringing in Rome and making a name for herself preparing Italian cuisine on the Food Network, the celebrity chef has admitted repeatedly how the one ingredient she hates is the staple green bell peppers. Used in such dishes as peperonata, vongole al casino, and terrina di polenta, the vegetable's flavor and look are both unappealing to De Laurentiis. She has also expressed that green bell peppers don't agree with her.

For those who don't know, the vegetable is part of the nightshade family, like eggplant and potatoes. While they help contribute Vitamin A and C to your diet, some research has shown they can increase discomfort for those with inflammatory problems. As it happens, fellow celebrity chef Aarón Sánchez has also expressed his distaste for green bell peppers despite their prevalence in Mexican and Cajun cuisine. It's also worth noting that De Laurentiis — granddaughter of film producer Dino De Laurentiis — confirmed in a post on X back in 2013 that she also doesn't care for coconut.

Between hosting 14 seasons of "Good Eats," as well as various iterations of "Iron Chef," "Cutthroat Kitchen," and other programs, Alton Brown has witnessed, attempted, and consumed food prepared by experts in all manners of cuisine. That makes it all the more telling that the celebrity chef, often endearingly described as a nerd, believes calf liver to be an insurmountable ingredient. Speaking with Sarah De Heer for Food Network, Brown contended that the bovine organ would be his nightmare ingredient on "Chopped."

"Anybody that tells you that calf liver can be good, is lying," he said in montage with other chefs voicing concerns over foods like black licorice and durian. In response to a social media post about fighting your greatest fear to reach your potential, Brown once quipped that he'd have to take on liver. He's also joked about the offal served with onion in his books, placing it on "permanent display" in the "Hall of Home-Cooked Horrors" in the the volume "Good Eats 2: The Middle Years."

Some people may live off — or even live for — their morning cup of coffee and the jolt of caffeine it provides, but Carla Hall isn't one of them. Despite busy schedules throughout her career including work as a chef, model, competition judge, and co-host of ABC's "The Chew," Hall insists that she avoids the stimulant. Speaking with Harper's Bazaar, Hall offered a rundown of her daily menu and revealed that she starts her day with a drink of water and only has tea when she wants to enjoy the beverage with a snack.

As for coffee, Hall makes clear she is not a fan of the beloved beverage. Over the years she's opined in one way or another about her dislike for the brew. At one point she said it is too bitter for her taste and on another occasion she revealed that she is overly sensitive when it comes to caffeine as it makes her jittery.

Prior to his death in 2018, Anthony Bourdain established a reputation as a globetrotter documenting his journeys abroad with a considerable emphasis on food. Having seen and tasted the world, the celebrity chef was left flummoxed by one detail of an old-school sandwich he couldn't stand to eat. During a 2016 interview with Thrillist, Bourdain decried the club sandwich for its ongoing use of a third slice of bread. Typically consisting of poultry, bacon, lettuce, tomato, and mayonnaise, the chef couldn't comprehend why the easily removed superfluous slice of bread continued to be unnecessarily incorporated.

Slamming unnamed "enemies of freedom" and alleging an effort to ruin "sandwich experiences through 'tectonic slide,'" the chef would go on to double down on his disdain as part of an interview with the Los Angeles Times later that same year while discussing "Appetites: A Cookbook" shortly after its release. Bourdain once again ripped the sandwich over its "useless middle slice of bread."