I don't know that I necessarily agree with that. My Mom could be accused of cooking the same sort of meals. *SHE* tried, but was totally constrained by Daddy's pedestrian Wisconsin farm-boy tastes (sorry, Wisconsin farm-boys......). If it wasn't a slab 'o' gray meat and some sort of potatoes and overcooked peas or corn, Daddy wasn't interested in it. Going out for dinner usually meant the local and era-specific equivalent of Denny's. Saturday dinner, to give Mom a break, was McDonald's. *shiver* And yet.........I've become a foodie. Actually, so did Mom after Daddy passed. She and I had some wonderful meals together. We actually had some wonderful meals together, the 3 of us, once Mom and I realized we could satisfy Daddy by charring a steak to hockey-puck consistency, and then making US a pan of lasagna or enchiladas or quiche or whatever. I have a friend, my best friend, whose family served, and still serves, instant mashed potatoes at Thanksgiving. I've trained her up pretty good as well, she just asked me for a subscription to Cook's Illustrated for her birthday ! I think for both of us, yes, it was the act of sitting down and sharing the meal that laid the foundation for the future. Food was important. Cooking for someone is just about the most significant thing you can do for them. Sharing YOUR larder, what's more loving than that? And that was the message, not the quality of the end product, but the sharing of it, and the giving of it. That's what instills the respect of the ingredients and the process and the outcome that defines a *foodie*. In a nutshell, YES absolutely palates can be trained, and do grow and mature. I eat things that my parents would never have considered. You can overcome the pedestrian offerings of your youth, but food and meals and the sharing of them have to have been made important enough for you to want to experience the entire spectrum that's available to you. If meals are seen as an inconvenience, nuked burritos will always be enough for your needs. (Good Golly Miss Molly I hope I'm doin' this right..........first time out trying to quote.... )