When I was 4 my two boy cousins told me that if you eat the strings on the inside of a banana you would die. I still throw them away even now when I'm 51.

Anon

When i was little, mad cow disease worried my mum and she never let me eat beef until i was about 9. Because i wasn't allowed it, i assumed i was allergic to it, and told everyone i was allergic to beef. once, my dad gave me a "beef" tomato to eat and i wouldnt eat it until he explained that it didnt have beef in it!

acey

When I was about seven (i'm now 84), the grandfather of one of my friends not to eat the ends of bananas because that's where deadly spiders lived, waiting to bite you. Of coutse, I found out much later, he was confused with tarantulas that sometimes are found when bananas bunches are first harvested and are fumigated before the bananas reach the market. Een knoing the truth, to this day, I still cut off both tips.

Theodore Lustig

My aunt was boiling eggs for her son (I was 6 and he was 5). They looked white & cute and I wanted to try them too. I tried and hated the taste and refused to have any more. When mom returned from work, I told her excitedly that I tasted egg that day. She, being a pure veggie herself, got terrified and told me that if I ate eggs I would poop chickens the next day! I was horrified to poop the next day and finally I had her stand next to me and keep the toilet's door open (so that I can run as soon as they are out).

Divya

i used to think that tabasco sauce and tobacco were the same thing. i would tell my dad that tabasco was gunna give him cancer, hah

jakeeeeeee

adding too much sugar to foods would give you "sugar worms"...

Anon

While visiting relatives, I was standing in the kitchen while the moms were frying chicken. Some flour fell on my back. My uncle walked by and said that it would eat a hole in my skin. I was unsure if it was true, but I spent the whole day in fear and secretly tried to find mirrors that would let me look at my back and see the hole being created. A few times I could swear I saw it. Later that day I was obviously sad. My mom asked what was wrong. I told her. She laugh and said he was kidding...but I was skeptical...maybe he know something that she didn't...

Jerrell

If you leave salt on you for too long the salt will eat a hole in your skin. I was afraid of potato chips for the longest time.

Jenns

My mom has always believed that eating watermelon and drinking milk would poison you. I have never had the two at the same time because of it.

Ericka

My dad always told us that pancake batter and cornbread batter would eat a hole in your stomach if you ate it raw. Because it has a bit of a bite to it, I COMPLETELY believed him. He said cookie batter and such just gave you worms, so I didn't mind sneaking some of that now and then.

Batter eater

I used to believe the peppercorns in salami were poison -- because my dad told me so. I think I stopped picking them out when I was about 15.

Lisa T

When I younger one of my favourite things to eat was cucumber in salt and vinegar even though my mum told me that if I drank the vinegar it would dry up my blood. So I used to secretly sip it. Even now at 33 years old I still do it!

Nicola

My siblings told me that if I ate too much cheese, I'd turn into a cow. I believed them.

Sophie

I used to think "firecrackers" we're some kind of really spicy cracker.

MAG

I believed that the inside of a tomato was a small, living creature and I flatly refused to eat that bit.

Anon

When I was about six or seven years old, my nanny told me that if I took a shower right after eating, my food in my stomach would turn into popcorn and explode! Of course I was skeptical about the exploding bit, but I still never shower after eating!

Ria

When I was very small (3 or so) I drank coffee because I thought it was hot stuff. Coincidentally I always ran around barefoot. My aunt told me that drinking coffee turns your feet black and of course I'd look down see my black feet and blame it on the coffee.

Gullible Girl

We were sitting in the back of my dad's van when my sister spilled a little condiment package of pepper all over herself and the floor of the van. My father turned around and told her not to move, because the Pepper People would get her. She started to cry until we cleaned her up.

Raven

My mother turned me into the most paranoid freak when I was little. She would tell me not to eat those cherries on top of ice cream sundaes because the dye would give me cancer! I would always take the cherry off the top of the sundae, but the whipped cream on top would be dyed red from the cherry. I would eat the red whipped cream anyway, but I always thought I was going to die from it!

Katie

My sister would never eat shrimp as a kid. She always said they bit her toungue. She still won't eat them and she is now 30.

Melissa