I used to hate it but now I love it

[snowangel]

Melted cheese. Didn't like it until I hit 30.

Coffee. Couldn't stand it -- smell or taste -- until I was pregnant with Peter. Now it's a pot of really strong stuff every day.

[Jensen]

As a kid, I hated bacon (oh hell, let's be honest ... any pork), egg whites, cheese, and lima beans. Sausages weren't too high on my list either.

Thanks to the wonders of HP Sauce, I can now tolerate egg whites and some sausages. Bacon and cheese are considered scarfable.

Lima beans are just evil.

[elyse]

As a kid, I hated bacon (oh hell, let's be honest ... any pork). Sausages weren't too high on my list either.

You were clearly out of your mind.

[torakris]

I was quite a picky child so you name it I didn't like it.

Some of the things I have come to like:

cilantro

shiso

anko (red bean paste)

uni

ikura

natto

still can't touch brussel sprouts or beets

[jhlurie]

My big item on this list: mustard

As tommy says, I'm sure a discussion like this is hiding somewhere on eG. I recall spinning some elaborate tale the first time of how as a kid all I ever "saw" was French's and Gulden's Mustards and how it wasn't until I had years of exposure to "better" mustards that I changed my mind.

But heck... everything that is old is new again at eGullet. This is not an easy topic to search for.

[pho]

Unfortunately, I still struggle with mustard.

I'm currently working on caviar. I didn't enjoy it the first time, and since it has gradually become more and more appealing to me. I still don't love it, but I will soon, damnit!

Used to hate most creamy dressings (ranch, caesar, etc.) which is no longer the case.

Used to despise mushrooms, but now I like the more complex ones (button mushrooms are still gross).

Used to generally dislike all fish (except shrimp and lobster), but now I love all seafood.... except bivalves (minus scallops).

[fifi]

Turnips! I could detect turnip lurking in any guise or concoction that my mother could dream up. Sometimes she was straightforward about it... "These just came from the garden and they are as sweet as sugar." Yeah... Right... It tastes like a sweet TURNIP for chisakes!

Then I was visiting some friends in Delaware and my friend decided to cook up a quick brown stew for us. That was fine, I was helping with the potato peeling and whatever when she drug out... THE TURNIP! I was trapped. I didn't know these folks that well then so I really couldn't say anything. I was dreading trying to eat the stew without gagging. Of course, the stew was fabulous. I had never had stew that good and haven't to this day. The turnip added just the right something. It made me all warm inside on that cold night. I ate three helpings.

This story is supposed to end with a declaration of how I now love turnips. NOPE! I still hate 'em. And I have tried to duplicate that stew and it never really works. I have confessed my experience to my friend and she is mystified. There was nothing special that she did to that stew or that turnip.

Edited September 26, 2003 by fifi (log)

[deibu]

As a kid I hated pretty much anything but hamburgers and chicken fingers. My parents lived off of Southern cooking, and "fancy" dinners were things like grilled steaks or (later on) grilled salmon. When I got into college I became really adventurous and discovered I had a taste for pretty much everything. As a kid, uncooked tomatoes and olives were nasty to me. I discovered how delicious both of them are and just about everything else. Surprisingly, it took me the longest to appreciate Southern food -- I think I was trying to rebel too much -- but now I absolutely love it too.

[Bicycle Lee]

it's not really a "food" item, but scotch has grown on me immensely. At first the taste would throw me for a loop, and I would just act like I liked it...but I actually do appreciate it much now.

[melkor]

it's not really a "food" item, but scotch has grown on me immensely

scotch tastes like burning...

[kjohn]

When I was a kid I loved liver in any form. Then something happened, which I still cannot recall, and I couldn't eat it anymore. For most of my childhood I had violent heaving reactions to liver in any form. I didn't even have to know that what I was eating was liver, the mere taste of it was enough to set me off. A few years ago, the reaction suddenly vanished and I could eat it again. At first, it wasn't exactly enjoyable, but now I love it. It's the only real food aversion I ever had.

[lmswartz]

Hated as a child but now love: asparagus, fresh tomatoes, most fish, and wine

Loved as a child but now hate: fast food (but occasionally I still get a hankering for McD's or In-n-Out fries) and sodas

Hated as a child and still can't stand: coconut and caviar.

[KarenS]

As a child I did not like:eggs, liver, cauliflower, oysters, clams, and tripe (my mom tried to server me menudo many times saying that it was "chicken"- uhm hello, even then I knew what tripe looked like), cow tongue, and curries.

My favorite sandwich in kindergarten was liverwurst... until, my older sister told me that it was made from liver. I still can't handle cow liver or tongue or tripe. I love curries, clams, oysters (and lima bean). My dad was a big root vegetable person. My siblings and I were O.K. with beets (and still am). The nights were torture with parsnips and turnips (even though we just had to "try" them). Now I love root vegetables.

I made a big breakthrough on cauliflower after tossing it (cut up) with olive oil, salt and pepper- then roasting it at high heat, tossing a few times while roasting. My mom only served it very cooked with a cheese and egg sauce.

Grilled oysters are what won me over to oysters. I remember when my mom made boullibaise- I spooned in and lifted up a clam (and started crying)- I was probably four at the time. My brother very dramaticly fell to the floor and said that a squid tentacle was stuck to his throat, and that he could not breathe. Meals were at least very entertaining at our house. Tofu and sashimi were no problem, we would have preferred hotdogs over abalone (uh, now NO hotdogs, and where is my abalone?). My parentss live in Mendocino; usually even before I look for them when visiting- I check the porcini spots (and yes, my mom has been known to miss some...)

[pho]

My brother very dramaticly fell to the floor and said that a squid tentacle was stuck to his throat, and that he could not breathe.

What a card!

[mags]

Fish. My mother did things to it that I wouldn't do to my worst enemy. Sometime in my 30s I was taken to a fish-house for dinner, and cod changed my life.

Also pie. It always tasted kind of boring and gluey to me, and then I learned to make my own, with actual fruit and a lard crust. Revelation.

And, to chime in with a lot of others: Cauliflower. Again, I think it was my mother's fault; she used to boil it forever, drain it not terribly well, and plop this wet, cabbage-smelling lump of white slurf on my plate...yccchh. Now cauliflower puree is my bestest bud.

[feliciahorowitz]

Lumpy oatmeal, was blech but now is yum.

[Jensen]

As a kid, I hated bacon (oh hell, let's be honest ... any pork). Sausages weren't too high on my list either.

You were clearly out of your mind.

Clearly. I was also underweight. Now that I've found pork, I'm no longer underweight. Coincidence?

You be the judge.

[elyse]

Never blame the pork.

[Jensen]

Well, I had to either blame the pork or the cheese and, since cheese ranks far higher in my newfound estimation than pork (if only for the reason that I can eat it without HP sauce), I really had no choice.

Although carnitas are my new best friend, I still won't eat pork chops. Blech.

[smallworld]

Used to hate: steak, fresh pork (as opposed to bacon), sausages/wieners/hot dogs, tongue, eggs, cake, cabbage, spinach, tomatoes, broccoli, cauliflower, olives, blue cheese.

Almost all of these were things I learned to love in Japan, and I think that maybe I still only like the Japanese versions of some of them. Japanese beef and pork are delish- both the meat itself and the preparations. So I'm sure if I ate one of the tough and chewy steaks or porkchops that were so common when I was a kid I'd still have trouble with it.

Have always hated and still do: watermelons, mayonnaise, Twinkies and other chemically enhanced packaged snacks.

As for everything else I love now, I've either loved it from the beginning (fish and most seafood, Mexican food, beer), or not tried it until I was a bit older and had a mature enough palate to love it instantly (smoked salmon, feta cheese, most 'ethnic' food).

[bloviatrix]

it's not really a "food" item, but scotch has grown on me immensely. At first the taste would throw me for a loop, and I would just act like I liked it...but I actually do appreciate it much now.

Shortly after I graduated college, my brother tried to introduce me to the joys of single malts. I thought they tasted like iodine. Something happened on my 30th birthday. Now, I drink them with abandon. I still haven't developed a taste for peaty, smokey ones like Laphroig.

[Alex]

As a kid I would flee from mushrooms. Also, salads were evil (although I had no problem with separated raw veggies). When I was 20 I forced myself to eat both -- I was too embarrassed to show my girlfriend, who ate everything, that I was at all a food wimp. And hey, guess what? Not bad!

[hjshorter]

Coffee.  Couldn't stand it -- smell or taste -- until I was pregnant with Peter.  Now it's a pot of really strong stuff every day.

Really? That's the opposite of my experience. I love coffee, but the only time I really disliked the taste was when I was pregnant. Must be one of those wacky hormone things.

[hjshorter]

Hated as a kid, but like now: raw green peppers, shrimp (probably because mom only bought frozen), runny egg yolks.

Hated as a kid and still hate: cooked oysters, raw clams, canned mushrooms, canned spinach, overcooked cauliflower, raw broccoli, Uncle Ben's converted rice.

I had to developed a taste for Scotch in my late 20's, but I'm with Bloviatrix - Laphraoig is still too peaty for me.

[Huevos del Toro]

Beets!!!  As I child I absolutely LOATHED them.  Thought they tasted like dirt.

Me Too Katie. Exactly like dirt. Then, when I got MUCH older I learned it was because they were cooked improperly. Mom boiled EVERYTHING. Those were the days of mushy veggies. Now I roast or grill ALL vegetables. If they don't happen take to either of those cooking techniques I ain't gonna eat 'em! Well, maybe I shouldn't be too harsh, but roasting or grilling really does bring out the very best in vegetables. When I happen to be somewhere I can purchase "strange" veggies like Asian one's I'll try anything, just to have a new experience.