Psychologist Paul Rozin defines disgusting food as a particularly strong emotion, as "revulsion at the prospect of oral incorporation of an offensive object." These offensive objects are seen-as contaminants, which can make acceptable foods unacceptable by even brief contact (e.g., feces on your fork, or someone's spittle on your spoon). Disgust reactions reject foods perceived to be dangerous, inappropriate, defiled, and polluted. They are part cognitive, part affective. Yet, not everyone agrees on what foods are disgusting (insects for you, pork for me), or even finds them distasteful (mold makes blue cheese delicious!) I argue that disgust reactions are potent warning signs that something might be off about a food, and that maybe there are some things you should find unappetizing. Although the politics of disgust is usually reactionary and conservative, it is not necessarily so and it may be worth dabbling in.

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