this post was submitted on 20 Nov 2025
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My stepdad once made coleslaw that smelled like burnt rubber. Me and my siblings told him that we would not eat the coleslaw, it would taste like burnt rubber. And he tried to convince us that since we had never eaten burnt rubber before in the past, that we couldn't possibly know what burnt rubber tastes like, and therefore we should eat the coleslaw.
It turned into an hours-long argument about how you don't have to actually eat burnt rubber in order to know what burnt rubber smells like, and that there's no good reason for coleslaw to smell like burnt rubber.
In the end, me and my siblings won, and we did not eat the coleslaw, but I don't understand how you can cook coleslaw... no, wait, you don't even cook coleslaw!
I don't know how you can prepare coleslaw so poorly as to have it smell like burnt rubber, and I don't know how you can be so married to your burnt rubber coleslaw that you would attempt to force children to eat it, regardless of the fact that it smells like burnt fucking rubber.
Perception researcher here. So you probably are aware that if you have a stuffy nose, your food taste different.
Well. Technically what you experience when eating is a combination of smell and taste sensations.
Molecules from food in your mouth travel up your throat into nasal cavities. And of course. Can come in through the nose.
This combination perception is called "flavor". That's the technical term. Although this word often means "taste" in layman.
Anyway. My point is. That smell heavily influences flavor.
Which is what a lot of people think of as "taste" but taste is exclusively tongue receptors.
So your argument is sound. The experience of the smell is a strong indicator of the flavor.
Also a good evolutionary tool for helping you avoid food poisoning!
My only guess how that's possible would be to put a frozen cabbage into a very bad blender, overheating its motor.
I've never considered cooking coleslaw . . . the things I've been missing in my life.
Cooked cabbage can smell quite strange. And bad. Only way I think cabbage is good cooked is briefly stir fried with bacon. That's it.
Anything else or longer and it starts to smell super bad.
Boiled in a big pot with potatoes, carrots, and a large slab of corned beef and spices for several hours.
Sauerkraut is nice though. But that's adding extra steps and I wouldn't still call it cabbage when the cooking starts.
That's the only "cooked cabbage" I've heard of; can't say I care for it, but my partner likes it.