I can't say I'd choose to eat stinky food over more..normal food (unless brie counts??) - I just love eating it with/near others. Muahaha..

Smelly food is a sometimes thing.

Only once have I eaten a cheese that was so ripe and pungent that I had to say no. It was acidic and tasted like paint thinner. Other than that, I like it stinky and pungent. I was just pondering this same question last night when I was driving and could smell skunk and liked it. Why??

I love you, sauerkraut.

Ick. No. Maybe when my taste buds die off some more I'll like stinky foods.

meunudo.... Dad is hispanic, Mom is Irish... My dad's parents had us eating it at a young age. The smell actually makes my mom vomit. She can smell it a mile away...

While I don't really care for the stinky examples listed, the more onions and garlic, the better. I'm not happy until I'm completely unkissable!

LOVE stinky food. Once you get past the smell, you can almost always be rewarded with the flavor!
I love durian, stinky tofu, stinky cheese, fish sauce...
And Tazer, I don't mind skunk smell too!!!! I actually think it smells like sesame oil, but nobody believes me.....

It's not so black and white. I like brie, but I'll never do stinky tofu.

I like stinky foods -- most of them, anyway. But I have never been able to make myself try beer. I get it to within an inch of my face and the smell becomes overwhelming.

A lot of stinky foods are fermented, which is a good way to introduce healthy bacteria to our guts. So maybe there's a reason we eat them. If not that, surely it was an early way at making food last longer.

I was just thinking about this yesterday while enjoying some sardines.

stinkier the better! I grew up eating kimchi as a staple, so stinky doesn't phase me!

Oh yes please. Give me the most fetid Spanish Cabrales and some jamon and I am content and glowing for months.

Some I can't do. I will *try* real durian if I get the chance, but based on recent candy experience I'm not going to like it.

The yuckiest thing I ever ate was sea urchin and it didn't smell bad, so I'm not judge-y

This isn't a yes-or-no question for me, because I like some stinky foods but abhor others.

Mmmm kimchi.

I'll try anything once (or three times, per Jeffrey Steingarten's theories) and have learned to love a lot of things... sauerkraut and kimchi come to mind. But I've always loved all manner of cheeses and pungent Chinese dishes with shrimp paste or fermented tofu

I've had fresh durian twice and I find the flavor so lovely but the smell and the aftertaste are the real challenge.

"Stinky" is kind of subjective, isn't it? Give me any washed rind French cheese any day of the week for any meal but that fish sauce stuff makes me gag.

Same boat as storyscribe- LOVE all cheeses, as well as truffles, and most pickled fermented vegetables... but I cannot stomach large amounts of fish sauce or Indian pickles!

Armpit totally depends on whose armpit: mine smell lovely right after I've applied deoderant in the morning. Not that I'm going to nom on my underarms. :)

But for the most part: NO. One of the worst offenders for me, in fact, is alcohol. Smells like a laboratory strength chemical, and technically it is. Give me the hard, aged cheeses and kosher dill refrigerator pickles please.

Durian ice cream. I've had fresh durian before and its interesting but the flavor is intense, which turns off a lot of people but also makes it perfect for ice cream (tempered by the cream, sugar and cold it becomes a really unique, decadent dessert). Sedap sekali :)

mmmmm.... Curry and holubsti (Ukrainian stuffed cabbage). So stinky and yet so good! I actually kind of hate the smell of boiling cabbage but it's like I've tricked myself because even while my eyes are watering from the stink, my mouth is watering in anticipation of the deliciousness to follow! lol!

I really enjoy brie, just so long as it doesn't TASTE like mildew I'm fine.

Onions, curry, heavy spices - I'm there! But head more towards gorgonzola or limburger - no thanks!

My mom used to eat this canned vegetable called SatSoy? DISGUSTING! Ew!

There should be another option for people like me: Adore some stinky foods like anchovies, but hate others like blue cheese.

So opposite of some people on here.

Pont L'eveque cheese -- yum!

Someone's preference partly depends on what you grew up with. I'm Korean, I grew up with 'stinky' foods like kimchi. My husband is Vietnamese so he grew up with fish sauce and durian. Needless to say, we both LOVE stinky foods and are more than happy to try out new stinky foods. (Although, to us those foods aren't stinky.)

But if you grew up in an ethnicity that involves blander foods or less... pungent flavors, there'd be more of a challenge to overcome your initial reaction.

Stinky? Sure. I love me some fish sauce and fermented tofu, aged cheeses, etc.

I've never encountered a stinky food that turned me away.

For the record, Brie is NOT a stinky food. But yes, stinky tofu in Shanghai is where I finally found my stinky food limit.

I think it is a real animal thing. Like dogs who won't eat thier food unless it has been microwaved so it smells a bit

Durian's king.. enough said

smelly cheese <3

I usually like strong smelling foods and beverages, especially cheese. But there is one exception - the dreaded malt liquor. It's absolutely nauseating.

I'm a smelly cheese kind o' gal. When in Paris a few years back we actually encountered a festival called The Land of a 1000 Cheeses. Yes, please!! We gave all cheeses the sock test. "Is this one socky smelling?" "This one has the sockiest smell of all". And so on. Never tried the stinky tofu, but I am intrigued...

Stinky foods are lovely. I think they have more umami than 'regular' foods.
Love me some dried fish, stinky cheese, organs (esp. liver)...
That being said, stinky tofu really scares me.

i know I'm SUPER late responding but...I've never ever thought of brie, pickled anything, or curry as "stinky". To me, "Stinky" denotes a foul/rotten smell...brie has little scent to me...pickled foods smell like vinegar to me...and curry, although a strong, distinct scent, doesnt smell "foul" or "rotten" either...