Wow, I didn't know celery produced such strong reactions in people who don't like it! It's one of those vegetables I take for granted as part of soups, stews, and so on - never gave it a second thought! It's also a crucial part of the flavour of caponata, which is a lovely Italian sweet-sour concoction of eggplant, celery, capers, tomatoes, and olives. Mmm.

As for my Dad, I have childhood memories of him sitting down with a whole head of celery and eating it all, raw, after peeling the most annoying stringy things off each piece. Perhaps there was olive oil involved. (There certainly was with artichokes. Mmm.)