Selena Gomez Just Revealed Her Food Hot Take

Selena Gomez has appeared with famous chefs like Nyesha Arrington and Michael Symon on her cooking show, Selena + Chef, but one of her all-time favorite cooks is her partner, songwriter and record producer Benny Blanco. The multi-hyphenate actress and singer appeared this week alongside Blanco on the Table Manners podcast, where she dished on everything from her first kiss with her now-fiancé to her deep love of corn dogs. 

But, while Gomez and Blanco agree on things like their love of Mexican cuisine and a good martini, there’s one area where they’re a house divided. Gomez spoke to podcast hosts Jessie and Lennie Ware about her love of bread and butter pickles, and Blanco (and our editors) had some thoughts.

While sharing her love of foods like breakfast burritos and Japanese steakhouse fare, Blanco called Gomez out for another of her food obsessions. “She loves fried pickles,” said Blanco, adding that “she’s from the South.” Gomez agreed, saying she’s even been known to eat pickle-flavored snow cones. 

“I definitely have a love for pickles,” said Gomez. “I always have my whole life.”

We’re here for Gomez’s pickle obsession: Pickle juice has been shown to help prevent muscle cramps due to its high electrolyte content, and turning any vegetable into a pickled version is a great way to use up about-to-expire produce in your refrigerator. Cucumbers help hydrate the body and can reduce the risk of diabetes and cancer, and pickles are a tasty ingredient to use in dips and salads. But we’re headed for a record-scratch moment in Gomez’s pickle dependency.

“[I love] every type,” the Emilia Perez star added. “I love bread and butter. I love spicy; I love them all, they’re just so yummy.”

Her fellow podcast conversationalists were shocked and dismayed by the inclusion of bread and butter pickles in particular—especially Blanco.

“First of all, no one likes a bread and butter pickle,” Blanco jumped in. “That’s just crazy… it’s the disgusting sweetness… Bread and butter’s like a sweet, weird, strange pickle.”

So, are bread and butter pickles delicious or disgusting? We polled EatingWell editors and found that, like Gomez and Blanco, there’s a distinct split between the bread and butter camp and sweet pickle resisters. “I never consider that a pickle may be a bread and butter pickle, and I always blindly eat it with the assumption it’s dill,” says Taylor Boeser, newsletter editor. “The disgust and betrayal I feel when it’s a bread and butter pickle is unmatched.”

Also in the anti-bread and butter camp is Jessica Ball, M.S., RD, senior nutrition editor at EatingWell. “I just really don’t need or want pickles to be sweet,” Ball explains. “Dill pickles all the way—the saltier and more sour the better if you ask me.”

“I’m so sorry, but bread and butter pickles are the worst kind of pickle,” adds Danielle DeAngelis, associate news and trending editor. “There’s really no worse feeling than eating a pickle, thinking it’s dill, and then realizing it’s bread and butter.”

Willing to stand on her own in favor of the bread and butter pickle variety is EatingWell associate social media director Sophie Johnson. “I don’t know why, but I much prefer the taste of bread and butter to dill,” she says. “They add a nice pop of sweetness. Dill pickles are overpowering on a sandwich but bread and butter are just right.”

But not everyone on the Eating Well team has a polarizing pickle opinion. Some are able to tolerate either variety—within reason—like editor Leah Goggins. “I won’t turn them down in tuna salad, but otherwise, it’s a massive no,” she says. “They’re just too saccharine for me, and when I’m in the mood for a pickle, I want a crisp, sour pickle.” 

Also on team “either-or” is Carolyn Malcoun, associate editorial director, who feels bread and butter pickles have a definite time and place. “They are definitely the superior pickle when having a tuna salad sandwich,” she says.

Whichever side of the great pickle debate you land on, there’s one thing most pickle-lovers can agree on: the health benefits of fermented foods make them worth nibbling on. For their assistance in improving gut health alone, it’s worth opening that jar of pickles, whether it’s pickled peppers, beets or quick-pickled cucumbers.