Is the “Humble Pie” so distasteful that many would not even try a bite off it?

The practice of humility is not humiliation. Acceptance of who you are, where your place in the line is, what your strengths & weaknesses are, seeking peace instead of having to always be right, & taking the back seat can be very rewarding. Humility gets a lot of bad press. And you are right, it takes someone very secure in themselves to be truly humble & without guile. When a humble person speaks, if it is really humility, people listen, for they rarely speak just to hear themselves talk. Today many people possess a false humility or think that low self esteem is humility. Putting yourself down is not real humility, it is fully accepting yourself, both ets & warts without any self effacing or denial. A truly humble person is a breath of fresh air in this "it's all about me" society.