No Licorice For Me

I unwittingly ran into licorice today. It's not good for two reasons. The first is you will get more licorice today than you want, and the second is I hate only cell phones and a few other assaults on humanity more than I hate licorice. It happened in a grocery store aisle was tooling down the candy cookie aisle on my way to the more nutritious sections (Well, I have to take the scenic route to my grocery destinations order to bear the less attractive and tasty veggies I wind up buying).
Why do people eat licorice? After all, it is candy made from a root of a plant, one with a nasty flavor I might add. My mother loved to eat licorice, as it was the candy of her youth. No one else in my family could stand the taste of it. She is the only person I know today who really liked licorice candy, as every other tends to throw out the licorice flavored ones if they get in the way of the banana, strawberry, grape and especially chocolate flavors that sit in my box of candy. Putting a licorice hard candy in with the other better flavors is sinister.
In China licorice is a medicinal component. And that is there it belongs because for me all medicine tastes like licorice. I once read that licorice candy is most popular in the Netherlands. It figures! Those Dutch always seemed high to me. It must be the licorice, not the hashish they ingest so much. Why they even have licorice flavored drinks in Holland. It is an abomination. I know licorice is used is a spice in cooking too, but I don't like those sauces. My theory is that herbs that are "good for the body" never taste good. If I need a medicine, licorice is ok. But never do I want it to contaminate the candy family.
Well, the licorice candy I ran into in that store was labeled as "Australian Licorice". I never knew that Australia had a variety of licorice that was popular. These bags of Australian licorice candy were not the traditional black colored chewy ropes or tubes I used to see as a kid when licorice was sold more often. This licorice was masking itself as real candy. It was sold in bags of different flavors, yellow for lemon, red for strawberry flavored licorice and so on. Why would anyone want to combine the strong taste of licorice with the mild of fruits. I think something is either licorice or not licorice. It can not be both? I quickly sped away from the licorice display and headed for more civil areas of the store.
Of course, I never let any thought die without examining it fully, so I started to think that licorice is one of those foods that people either greatly like or greatly dislike. There are few people who have eaten licorice who don't take one or the other viewpoints about it. I think the lack of people today who like licorice may be a good indication that civilization may be on an upward path. Our tastes are getting more refined (or maybe all the cell nuts are so busy talking on their phones they just don't have time to eat licorice).
I began to think of other foods that fit into the love or hate category. How about these: spicy foods, broccoli, tofu, lamb, coffee, carrots, sushi, dried fish, brussel sprouts, and sweet tea. So I have two questions for you. Do you like licorice? What are some other foods that you think fall into the love or hate category? Enjoy your day, and may it be free of the sight or taste of licorice.