In Moyuru Oshikiri's manga "Sono 'Okodawari' Ore ni mo Kure yo," there is a reader submission series called "Trauma Food." In this segment, people share episodes about specific ingredients or dishes they can no longer eat due to traumatic experiences unrelated to taste. Most of these stories are actually quite humorous, but the one that left a bad taste in my mouth personally was the submission from a person who developed a trauma regarding "white rice."
When the submitter was a high school student, they used to eat the bento lunch their mother made for them every day. Their mother was refined and serious, and the bento she made was always delicious, beautifully presented, and popular with the submitter's friends.
One day, when the submitter opened their bento, the compartment that usually held the side dishes was filled with nothing but white rice. Thinking that perhaps their younger sister, who attended the same high school, had been given two bento boxes containing the side dishes since she also brought a lunch, the submitter checked with her. However, the sister's lunchbox also contained only white rice and nothing else.
Upon returning home, the submitter intended to confront their mother, but what caught their eye instead was their mother snoring loudly while sleeping on the living room sofa. Feeling a strange sense of fear at this behavior, which their mother would never normally exhibit, the submitter couldn't bring themselves to say anything.
The next day, the mother was back to her usual self, and the bento was the same neat, delicious one as always, which relieved the submitter. But just when they had forgotten about the incident, they were handed a bento box filled with only white rice once again.
In the end, that only happened twice, but ever since then, whenever the submitter sees white rice, it brings back memories of that time, and they can no longer eat it.