This article originally appeared on MUNCHIES Netherlands.What's better than stuffing yourself with your favorite foods? The only possible answer: Nothing. A big bowl of noodles, cheesy pizza, or gooey chocolate cake are life savers, whether you're battling a hangover or trying to mend your broken heart. Food is the lifelong friend that never hurts you.Or does it? A few years ago I ate two pounds of edamame beans before an exam. My stomach couldn't handle the obscene amount of salt and Japanese legumes I'd just ingested, and it only took 30 minutes before all the beans came back out. My test was a disaster and for days afterwards I couldn't think about edamame without remembering the very specific flavor combination of salt and vomit. This food trauma turned my best food friend into my worst enemy, and turned my summer into a hell of studying.
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I'm not the only one who's been traumatized by food. MUNCHIES gathered the best stories about throwing up whipped cream, disgusting milk, and hot dogs in shower drains.When I was in high school, I was given a Looney Tunes cup of fresh milk to take along with me every morning. I had instructions to drink that milk at 10:00 AM. By that time, the milk was usually lukewarm and smelled sour. I always came up with ways to get rid of the milk: Sometimes I poured it into the toilet, other times I left it in my backpack, and in a few days the milk would turn into a compact cheese-like substance. At times, small pieces of curdled milk would float around in my cup.This was at the core of my milk trauma, but it got even worse when I decided to mix the milk with raisin biscuits. I never liked raisins and figured that two gross ingredients could create one delicious thing. The result was a mash that looked like vomit and apparently also tasted like it. Ever since then, I can't stand the thought of milk. I'll also never understand people who drink large amounts of milk straight from the carton, as if they miss their mother's nipple.I have a very intense fear of whipped cream. I've never liked it, because it reminds of the pre-chewed worms that baby birds eat. But when I turned ten, my fear became even more extreme. I was invited to the birthday party of one of the most popular girls in school. They had a whipped cream pie and felt this social pressure to eat it, despite my disgust. That turned out to be a bad idea, because after one bite I projectile vomited onto the table like the girl from The Exorcist. My vomit caused three other girls to throw up too, and before long the table was covered in whipped cream and vomit.I wasn't invited to another birthday party until I got to high school. Even when I talk about whipped cream now, I feel like I'm going to throw up. I hate the stale smell, but it's the texture that truly gives me nightmares. I hope my kid will be able to chew at an early age, because I can't deal with pureed foods.
Lieke, 25
"Every time I think about peppadew peppers, I get instantly nauseous and remember picking up pieces of vomit drenched in olive oil."
Charlotte, 26
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