For some people there are foods and drinks that they can take or leave. However, there are some that EVERYONE either loves or hates – there is no middle ground.

The reason these food and drinks have such a polarising effect is their unique flavour or aroma or, in some cases, both! If something is unique everyone will have an opinion on it.

Here are five foods and drinks that clearly divide the population of their country of origin.

Root Beer

In America root beer is one of the most popular drinks and there are hundreds of soda makers producing there own version with little tweaks to the amount and type of sweetness and subtle changes to some ingredients like wintergreen, anise and ginger. But at the same time there are just as many people who hate it, being of the opinion that it tastes and smells like medicine.

As popular as it is, root beer is swamped in levels of consumption by colas but in terms of dividing the population it wins hands down. The likes of A&W Root Beer, Barq’s Root Beer and IBC Root Beer are even starting to do the same abroad, like in the UK for example.

Marmite

Marmite is a savoury spread, rich in Vitamin B that is sold in the UK. It has a distinctive flavour that the UK population literally loves or hates. Typically spread on sandwiches like cheese, Marmite has spread its wings and is now used on other types of sandwiches, is available in snack form like cereal bars (yes, really!) and may well be growing in popularity – but there’s still several hundred thousands, if not millions, who simply cannot stand the taste of it!

Brussels Sprouts

There’s a very good reason the Brussels Sprout is loved or hated – cooked well they provide a healthy, nutritious and tasty vegetable accompaniment to meals like roast beef dinners. Overcook them, however, and they produce a sulphurous taste and odour which is not very appealing at all.

Although produced and eaten all over Europe and the USA, it is in the UK where you will find opinion divided starkly. Some have grown to love them, the rest hate them and it’s down to that cooking that this has happened.

Twiglets

Wheat-based and flavoured with yeast extract, these twig-shaped snacks from the UK have an almost Marmite-like taste – which immediately tells you all you need to know about why they are either loved or hated! However, you’ll find people who hate Marmite like Twiglets, so there’s a difference, though not one that can easily be defined.

Generally Twiglets can be found in bowls on buffet tables at parties and you can almost guarantee that they’ll be the last thing left. Someone will ALWAYS finish them off though!

Dandelion & Burdock

England’s equivalent to root beer? Possibly. Invented in the 13th century, it is bizarrely made from fermented dandelion roots and burdock roots originally but is now rarely made that way. It does, however, retain a taste all of its own.

Sweet to the taste, it is popular with a lot of people but the rest find the slightly ‘off’ taste and almost sickly aroma too much to take and proclaim their hatred for this ancient drink!

Author Bio: Ben Greenwood is writing on behalf of American Soda, importers and online retailers of American drinks like root beer to the UK.

Category: Food and Drinks
Keywords: marmite, twiglets, sprouts, root beer