Dried mango strips are lovely and chewy.
One thing I have a tolerateokishnecessary-hate relationship with is onions. On the one hand you NEED them in chilli con carne, other meat mince dishes but I have to chop them up fine enough they melt more or less when cooked, or else pick them out after. Because the texture is..oh my god, its vile.
Pre-cook them separately in a different dish before adding them to your main dish, ONLY after being cooked to your idea of perfection or non threatening tolerance.
... or just do not bother. Shred the bastards in a blender and add only the juiced product as a flavouring. Use carefully - very strong result.
used to eat whole onions raw but i have matured from my "dare you" days.
i will eat them raw on sandwiches.
py likes them too so our dishes tend to have more than what's called for by the recipe. and i still fry them up and eat them with nothing more than salt.
I pretty much still eat a whole onion raw every day, sometimes only half, depending upon the size. While some prefer the sweet varieties (I think they just do not like onions) I mmost enjoy the large white southern raised ones - very flavorful. Fortunately, when you can find them here in Indiana, they are the cheapest.
I just had a Braunschweiger (we have a fabulous deli store a few miles away and I often splurge on the fancy smoked, meats. His are actually made right here and smoked in his own smokehouse and include more liver - for us demanding Americans - than the imported varieties) and hot mustard sandwich with a whole tennisball-sized onion (very modest, but absolutely fabulous, again) and (it just came out this way) three pickled jalapenos (from my own garden from earlier in the year).
I think onions are a great food and no matter how you eat them, just eat them. They are GOOD for you! Adding a little butter while they are cooking adds another dimension to the salt.
I kind of like fresh watercress. Impossible to find in central Indiana.
I can not think of a singlle food that is not a made up thing or a foreign language usage that starts with an "X" right now, so I will defer to the more experienced culinary palates to continue this thread.