The Slippery Food Stephen King Absolutely Hates

As the master of horror, Stephen King might seem unspookable, but there is one slippery thing that sends shivers down the writer's spine. It's not blood-hungry monsters or unforgiving ghosts, but a mere mollusk. Despite living in Maine, King stays far, far away from oysters. He describes eating the briny meat as he would a scene from one of his uncanny novels. "I don't heat oysters. It's horrible, the way they slither down your throat alive," he told Bon Appétit. "I'm not a fan of anything slippery or slimy."

Perhaps unsurprisingly, King shares a similar aversion to clams — or "snot in a shell," as he describes them in a Literary Hub essay. Shellfish, in general, doesn't really appeal to the famed horror author. For those living in Maine, lobster isn't as exciting as it is to landlocked visitors, and he has been eternally sick of it since childhood. His mother had lobster stew and milk-baked haddock recipes on standby, and the dairy-heavy recipes still haunt him. Many American authors are eager to share their favorite foods, but if you ask this legend what he hates, he'll be quick to share.

Being from Maine, home to some of the world's finest seafood, Stephen King's distaste for oysters is practically a crime. King will shamelessly microwave salmon, so it's safe to say he's proud of his simple palate. However, he is a big fan of most other fish, which his wife routinely prepares for him. Although, he generally gravitates towards fried fish, which doesn't do much to showcase the unmatched freshness. For perfectly fried oysters, fresh is always best, and that's one of the few ways the oyster-resistant could potentially get behind a platter.

King is less excited by Maine's abundance of seafood and more committed to the sweets. "I like nothing better than a couple of blueberry pancakes for breakfast, floating in maple syrup," he wrote in the aforementioned Literary Hub essay. Dessert seems to be a much higher priority for King, whose writing routine begins with a slice of cheesecake. It's clear he has a sweet tooth; maybe that's the secret behind his success.