Ree Drummond's Least Favorite Ingredient Of All Time

We all have that one food that we avoid like the plague. Maybe for you, it's Brussels sprouts, cilantro, or oysters. Or maybe you avoid a food group altogether, such as bottom-feeding crustaceans or processed meats. Whatever it is, you just can't bring yourself to eat it, even when friends and family try to tell you, "But you'll like it better this time!" No matter how much you think you dislike something, you've probably never disliked it the way Ree Drummond dislikes bananas.

Drummond told Design & Living Magazine that she "love[s] all kinds of food, except bananas." She reiterates a few times throughout the interview how much she despises the soft, yellow fruit, saying that her perfect recipe "doesn't have bananas." As if we needed more proof, she tells the magazine that she doesn't like any of the many types of bananas at all and that she likes to "drive that point home." 

That wasn't the only time Drummond was outspoken about her banana hatred. She also told TODAY Food she won't interact with "anything involving bananas."

So, why does America's red-headed culinary sweetheart dislike the country's top-selling fruit, according to data from Circana? In a very lengthy and enthusiastic blog post on The Pioneer Woman, Drummond said she's hated bananas since she was a baby and has never eaten one in its entirety. She's convinced that she inherited the banana revulsion gene from her family since both her father and brother have a banana aversion as well. Not only does Drummond jokingly describe bananas on her blog as "demonic," but she also proudly states that she's "anti-banana" and has had multiple, recurring nightmares, one of which involved her being chased by a large banana.

Until that blog post, which featured a bananas foster recipe, Drummond only had one other recipe on her site that involved bananas: her mother's banana bread. She describes eating that dreaded banana bread only once in her life and blames it partially on a "skewed sense of taste." Since her reluctant experiment with bananas foster in 2011, Drummond has added dozens of recipes and tricks involving bananas to her website, but that doesn't mean she's happy about it. Though perhaps she'll remain a banana hater for the rest of her life, she's recognized that a vast majority of people enjoy eating the bright yellow fruits, even if she doesn't understand why.