When discussing ethnic food you may not like, is it bigoted/xenophobic/racist to describe it as gross or disgusting?

A discussion I had with my brother in law once, who is from Iran: my family is from Germany so I grew up eating mostly German dishes for dinner. He grew up in an Iranian household and mostly ate Iranian food. We talked about how when we introduced our American friends to a lot of our foods, they would sometimes try the food (or wouldn’t) and say it was gross/nasty/etc.

When discussing ethnic food or food from a culture that is not yours, should you avoid words that imply it is disgusting, even if you do not like it? Since I remember always feeling confused when kids would mention my lunch box of sauerkraut, spätzle or brats, I have always made it a point to try ethnic foods and to not refer to them as “gross” in any way. With my brother in law, his family cooked for us once and there was an herb or spice in the rice I didn’t care for, but I’d never say it was nasty. I still ate it too!

What’re your thoughts?