Celeb Chef Paul Hollywood Loathes This Super Common Food

Paul Hollywood, the same celebrity chef who adds chocolate to his brownies as the perfect missing ingredient, absolutely hates pickles. We're not talking about mere dislike, either. The Brit waxed downright poetic about his loathing for the briny cukes in a hilariously blunt Instagram reel on the account for "The Great British Bake Off" (or "The Great British Baking Show" to Americans and Canadians). Mincing no words, Hollywood dug in: "As far as I'm concerned, they're straight from hell," he declared. "I think they're absolutely disgusting." 

He went on to compare the sight, texture, and taste of whole pickles to slugs. Hollywood then decried the viral TikTok trend of pairing Dr Pepper with pickles and making pickle-forward concoctions like a bacon-lettuce-pickle sandwich. Taking a direct swipe at pickle fanatics, he added, "Literally, they must have no taste buds at all." 

Overall, Hollywood is not shy about his preferences when it comes to food. In a 2023 YouTube video for Bon Appétit, Hollywood and Prue Leith, his fellow judge on both GBBO and "The Great American Baking Show," rated iconic American snacks. Hollywood praised Lay's potato chips and Thin Mint cookies but was a lot harsher regarding the U.S. version of Snickers candy bars and Hostess Twinkies. Tasting an untoasted strawberry Pop-Tart, Hollywood gasped, "Revolting! Who the hell eats that stuff?" None of his color commentary, however, was as heated as his thoughts on pickles, leading us to conclude that Paul Hollywood definitely wants you to leave them off his burger.

People tend to have big opinions when it comes to what they eat, but pickles really bring out the passion in some, who join Paul Hollywood in claiming that they hate the warty look, the wet texture, and the brine-forward taste that lingers even after you remove the ingredient from food. On Facebook, a commenter (writing in a pickle aficionado group, funnily enough) elaborated that they hate it all: "Sweet pickles. Bread and butter pickles. Sweet relish. Kosher pickles. All have a nice gag reflex trigger in my tastebuds. Can't stand." Like Paul Hollywood, pickle haters tend to be fairly enthusiastic about expressing their disdain, talking smack about pickles' scent, mouthfeel, and, of course, flavor.

For every great pickle decrier, however, there seems to be an internet denizen who's ready to fire back in defense of the food. Why should we hate on something with a big personality like pickles, anyway? To the (apparently small) group of pickle-agnostic foodies out there, all this heated emotion might seem to be a bit extra, but such is the nature of culinary opinions. With some foods, a middle ground doesn't really exist ... and, if you ask Hollywood and his compatriots, pickles are definitely on that list.