These tops chefs have tried countless dishes but there are some foods they just won't eat. Whether it’s because they don’t like the taste, the cooking technique or because of ethical concerns here are the dishes they would rather avoid.

Former food advisor to Singapore Airlines, blunt-talking chef Gordon Ramsay knows a thing or two about airplane food – and he won’t touch it. "There's no f***ing way I eat on planes," he told Refinery29. "I worked for airlines for 10 years, so I know where this food's been and where it goes, and how long it took before it got on board."

The Kitchen Nightmares star also advises against ordering soup of the day. When asked what customers should never order in a restaurant, he told Town and Country, “Ask what yesterday’s soup du jour was before today’s special. It may be the case that it’s the soup du month.”

Top chef Wolfgang Puck received a Michelin star for Beverly Hills steakhouse CUT but there’s one variety he refuses to eat. “The Japanese Wagyu is really fatty and you’re not meant to eat a lot of it,” he told The Telegraph. “I wouldn’t eat steak like that but because of the fat.”

It’s a staple in many Italian restaurants but the late Antonio Carluccio would never be caught ordering spaghetti Bolognese. He insisted most places, especially in Britain, ruin the traditional recipe with unnecessary herbs. “When you think Italy, you start to put oregano, basil, parsley, garlic, which is not at all [right]” he told 2016 Cheltenham Literature Festival attendees.

When a newspaper claimed Nigella Lawson had bought foie gras from London department store Selfridges in 2012, she was so outraged she called her lawyers and denounced the story as a ‘complete fabrication’ on Twitter. The production of foie gras pâté is illegal in the UK, although its sale isn't, due to the way ducks and geese are force-fed to enlarge their liver.

Domestic Goodness Nigella Lawson also been outspoken against the recent trend for clean eating and refuses to follow the strict diet. “I wouldn’t want a life where I lived on chia seed pudding,” she told UK’s Good Housekeeping. “Life is about balance, it's not about being smug. You don't eat things because you think they're good for you.”

 

In his book, Kitchen Confidential: Adventures In The Culinary Underbelly, the late, great chef Anthony Bourdain wrote, “I never order fish on Monday, unless I'm eating at a four-star restaurant where I know they are buying their fish directly from the source. I know how old most seafood is on Monday – about four to five days old!”

Many chefs warn against eggs hollandaise and Anthony Bourdain is one of them. “How about hollandaise sauce?” he told the Guardian. ”Not for me. Bacteria love hollandaise. And nobody I know has ever made hollandaise to order.”

Overpriced, unoriginal and overdone are the main reasons many top chefs refuse to order chicken in a restaurant. Ryan Ososky, executive chef of The Church Key in West Hollywood, says it’s the one dish he won't request. "I will order almost anything when I go out,” he says. "But never chicken because it tends to be overcooked.”

You won’t find Canadian chef and TV personality Michael Smith digging into convenience foods. “All the leading causes [of death] are directly related to processed food”, he says. “The single biggest ever number one [lie] was low-fat... Low-fat became high-processed sugar. More people have been killed by low-fat than anything else in history.”

Some chefs go over-the-top with their garnishes. Angela Harnett is not one of them. Executive chef of Murano in London’s Mayfair, can’t stand cilantro. “I find it too pungent and overpowering,” she tells the Independent. “You see a lot of this senseless garnish… An experienced chef will appreciate that there shouldn't be anything superfluous on a plate. If it doesn't add flavor there isn't much point."

American chef and TV personality David Chang refuses to eat whale steak. Despite worldwide condemnation and a ban on commercial whaling it still continues in Japan, Norway and Iceland. The former MasterChef Australian judge won’t eat Rocky Mountain oysters either. Not to be confused with the fishy variety, these are made with mammal testicles, most commonly bulls, bison, pigs, and sheep.

Many chefs despair at customer requests for a well-done steak as it ruins the quality of meat. As a result, you may be served an inferior cut warns Dan Schroeder, executive chef at Park Heights restaurant, Tupelo, Mississippi. "I know that at a lot of places, if you order a steak well-done, you will not get their best steak. Say you have sirloins, 12 ounce – the nicer ones will be saved for the rare, medium rare and medium.”

Food Network host and author Ina Garten is a woman who knows what she likes. “I’ve had the same thing for breakfast every single day for ten years: coffee and McCann’s quick-cooking Irish oatmeal,” she told Bon Appetit. Who says variety is the spice of life, eh?

Surprisingly for the first chef in Britain to have received three Michelin stars, Marco Pierre White is not a fan of eateries that have received the same accolade. “I don’t like Michelin-starred restaurants. I find a lot of the modern Michelin-starred restaurants are trying too hard," he told the Sunday Mercury. “Michelin-star restaurants are not what people want – little knick-knacks of food served 12 times.”

A risky choice, oysters can make you serious ill if they aren’t sourced, stored and prepared properly. Cordon Bleu-trained chef Mark Nichols refuses to eat them if they were harvested more than 100 miles away from the restaurant serving them. "If handled and stored incorrectly, raw oysters can kill you,” he told Readers Digest. 

 

“I do not like ze onions or ze peas,” famed French chef Jean-Christophe Novelli once told the Independent. Although, he’s admitted to forcing himself for one special lady. Talking about his favorite London restaurant, La Rocchetta, back in 2005, he told the Telegraph: “It's an Italian family business; the mother is 69 and what she cooks is unbelievable. She makes a tomato sauce that has onions in it and as I hate onions it is a real compliment for me to eat it.”

Executive chef at New York's Dream Downtown, Michael Armstrong recommends identifying what a restaurant specializes in and just sticking to that. "Stay away from pasta at the pizza place, fish at the steakhouse, chicken teriyaki at the sushi spot, and so on," he told Delish.

Many chefs don’t take too kindly to being asked to substitute items on their carefully crafted dishes. Chef Todd Mitgang of Crave Fishbar, New York refuses to stray from the menu. "Trust the chef and experience what they have curated," he told Delish.

American chef and TV personality Zimmern has traveled the globe eating unusual things on his series Bizarre Foods, including tarantulas, grilled cow udders and pig brains. But the one food he can’t stand? Walnuts. He insists they taste too soapy.

Ordering a takeout is a treat most of us like to indulge in every now and again. But not British baking legend Mary Berry. Last November the 82-year-old shocked viewers on the BBC show James Martin's Christmas with Friends when she revealed: "You won't believe this, but I haven't ever had a takeaway."

Popular chef and author Mary Berry is famed for her home-cooked family meals, so it’s hardly surprising she refuses to eat Christmas dinner in a restaurant.  "I totally understand other people who eat out, but I have no wish to," she told MailOnline. 

British chef and food writer Nigel Slater is not a fan of health foods and has spoken against the demonization of gluten and sugar. Earlier this year, he summed up his feeling with this tweet: "If we were meant to eat health foods, then they wouldn't work their way to the back of the cupboard.”