I hated... until I...

[Laughing Goddess]

The "Not again, Mom!" thread made me want to start this one. There were a number of people in that thread that said that they hated X until they had good X at a friend's house, restaurant, whatever.

I'll start. I hated steak when I was growing up. HATED IT. But then, it wasn't red meat -- it was gray meat, "fried to a frazzle," as Mum would say.

I didn't know that steak was 'red meat' till I moved away and had it at a restaurant. Now I love steak. Medium rare, please.

Anybody else want to jump in?

[Carolyn Tillie]

This wasn't a "move away from home thing" but -

My ex-husband loved olives. I couldn't stand them. For Christmas one year, I put four or five assorted jars into his stocking (niçoise, calamata, koroneiki....)

Several months later, we dropped acid for the time (this was YEARS ago, I might add). Shortly after peaking, I got a horrible case of the munchies and the only thing in the house to eat were his olives.

I now LOVE olives of all kinds...

Edited January 9, 2004 by Carolyn Tillie (log)

[markovitch]

my mother refused to serve me peas, prussel sprouts and lima beans. I'm glad, because if she had, i'd hate them.

one thing she did screw up consistently were Beets. I love beets now but it took a long time for me to even touch them again.

[fresco]

This wasn't a "move away from home thing" but -

My ex-husband loved olives. I couldn't stand them. For Christmas one year, I put four or five assorted jars into his stocking (niçoise, calamata, koroneiki....)

Several months later, we dropped acid for the time (this was YEARS ago, I might add). Shortly after peaking, I got a horrible case of the munchies and the only thing in the house to eat were his olives.

I now LOVE olives of all kinds...

Who said nothing good ever came of the Sixties?

[Mayhaw Man]

Several months later, we dropped acid for the time (this was YEARS ago, I might add). Shortly after peaking, I got a horrible case of the munchies and the only thing in the house to eat were his olives.

Olives are very acidic.

[Carolyn Tillie]

Who said nothing good ever came of the Sixties?

<ahem> - I'm not that old.

It was actually the '80s...

[fresco]

Who said nothing good ever came of the Sixties?

<ahem> - I'm not that old.

It was actually the '80s...

Of course not. I thought you were precocious.

[Carolyn Tillie]

Who said nothing good ever came of the Sixties?

<ahem> - I'm not that old.

It was actually the '80s...

Of course not. I thought you were precocious.

[Moopheus]

Strawberries and tomatoes come to mind. When I was a kid I wouldn't eat strawberries because I thought they tasted like artifically flavored strawberry ice cream. Even as a kid I knew there was something wrong with that. It wasn't until I was sent away to summer camp in the country that I found out what real fresh fruits and vegetables tasted like. Although we did have good corn sometimes--my dad was friends with one of the last small farmers in our town.

Isn't it kind of weird that some people eat crap because it's what they're used to, and yet others reject food as bad, without really knowing that something better is out there?

[ExtraMSG]

We had a lot of fresh vegetables because we were poor but always had a garden. However, there were a lot of vegetables that I just ignored or had to coat in sauces growing up because my mom insisted on boiling the hell out of them (and I liked vegetables way more than most of my friends). In fact, now that I think about it, I really should get her a steamer basket.

[bloviatrix]

Growing up I hated borscht. I loved the pretty magenta color and the pink it turned once the sour cream was added. But I thought it tasted nasty.

Fast forward to the year 2000, I'm in London and the restaurant we were eating in served a beet salad. I tasted the beets and lo and behold - I liked them. So, I decided to add beets to my diet. And that led to my deciding to try assorted beet based recipes. This meant borscht. And I liked it.

[jhlurie]

I've told this before on this board, but what the hell. New topic!

I hated mustard as a kid. My Mom bought nothing but crap like French's Yellow (and occasionally Gulden's) and so I didn't realize that mustard could taste good. Also, I suppose my palate matured, although I still can't stand those two brands of mustard. Still, this is a great example of this topic because to this day I directly blame my parents! (Sorry Mom! )

There are tons of other foods I eat now that I didn't as a kid, but the reasons vary a lot. I'm assuming the angle here is that there is some link to something about where or how you lived, or how your food was cooked, or something dramatic about how you reevaluated, that could make some stories more unique than others.

(BTW: Ditto on the strawberry thing raised above, except for me it was the seedy things on the outside. When I was a kid I couldn't stand them. That one I can't blame on anyone else and there's no dramatic story here--so this is a bit off topicy and/or boring)

[tammylc]

I hated green beans and snow peas and other green things. Not because of anything anyone did to them, just I think because they were unfamiliar. For a long time, they tasted too "green" to me. But I just kept eating them (because my hubby liked them and they were good for me), and now I like them myself.

There are lots of things that I "didn't like" where "didn't like" was shorthand for "haven't actually tried." Now that I've gotten more adventurous about what I eat I like most of those things - like mustard (but I still can't stand nasty American yellow mustard - I went straight to strong English and grainy French mustards). Similarly, I like good Alpine cheese, but still hate nasty swiss cheese slices.

So I guess I'd fill in the title "I hated lots of things until I actually tried them.

Still can't stand olives, though.

[Carolyn Tillie]

Still can't stand olives, though.

That's okay - neither can my older sister, who experienced the '60s (as if there is a correlation...)

[Pan]

I used to hate peas and brussels sprouts until my father discovered how I could like them (and by that time, I was several years into adulthood, but his discoveries are still much appreciated):

Take organic frozen peas and put them in boiling water for about 30 seconds, just long enough to blanch them and get rid of the raw taste, but not so long that they get the mealy texture I dislike.

Boil brussels sprouts so long that you boil out most of the bitterness (to others, it would mean that you have killed them).

Of course, there are other things that I used to dislike when I was a kid and like now (e.g. olives, wine, durian), but I see that as a product of becoming an adult, nothing else.

[JPW]

Perhaps this is the source of my general adversion to anything that comes from the sea. My mother always overcooked any and all fish/other seafood we ever had.

I've slowly tried to teach myself to eat fish, but have a long way to go. I'm good with tuna steak or swordfish etc., but real fishy fish is still a problem. A couple of months ago I tried cooking salmon at home. My wife loved it. I made it to the second bite before...... (use you own imagination). Don't even get me started on shellfish.

[cakewalk]

I used to hate liver. And I still do. And I always will. So there.

I also used to hate olives. And now I love them. And yes, I experienced the sixties. Maybe there really is a correlation.

I was always suspicious of vegetables, because the only ones we ever ate were canned corn, canned carrots & peas, and potatoes. Everything else was suspect. Now I love just about all vegetables. But I still hate liver.

[KatieLoeb]

Growing up I hated borscht. I loved the pretty magenta color and the pink it turned once the sour cream was added. But I thought it tasted nasty.

Fast forward to the year 2000, I'm in London and the restaurant we were eating in served a beet salad. I tasted the beets and lo and behold - I liked them. So, I decided to add beets to my diet. And that led to my deciding to try assorted beet based recipes. This meant borscht. And I liked it.

I LOATHED beets when I was a kid. Thought they tasted like dirt. A summer course on the French Riviera and several weeks of Nicoise salads cured it. Now I love them!

[tryska]

i used to not eat onions. never ever.

then one day when i was about 26 i developed a caraving for a burger with red onions for lunch. i ate it, and i've been eating onions ever since.

[hathor]

Lamb and asaragus. Can you imagine life without either one?

The lamb epiphany came in the Caribbean when my husband insisted on me tasting his grilled lamb. Its been love ever since. Thank god because we honeymooned in Greece, and it was either lamb, octopus or starvation, and starvation wasn't an option.

Asparagus came when I found out that it didn't only come from a can.

But...what about fresh okra? Is there anything that can be done with okra beyond pickling it???

[ludja]

olives... (as per a number of people above) because I'd only had canned black olives (ugh) and green stuffed w/pimento (because I didn't drink martini's yet).

[Pan]

But...what about fresh okra? Is there anything that can be done with okra beyond pickling it???

Definitely. Indian and Malaysian/Indonesian recipes deemphasize its mucilagenity (?) and there are lots of good ones. By contrast, Gumbo uses okra specifically as a thickening agent.

I just did some searching of the Cooking forum under "okra," and while we've discussed it, it doesn't seem like we've had a thread that exclusively explored the uses of this peculiar bean. I think I'll start one. See you there.

Edited January 9, 2004 by Pan (log)

[mighty quinn]

my mother refused to serve me peas, prussel sprouts and lima beans. I'm glad, because if she had, i'd hate them.

one thing she did screw up consistently were Beets. I love beets now but it took a long time for me to even touch them again.

my mom served all those veggies from the frozen form and i fed them to the dog under the table. i thought that pickled beets were from another planet and wouldn't touch them. strange now how i seem to have cravings for limas or peas smothered in butter, salt and pepper. brussel sprouts took a bit more time- now i love to buy them on the stalk and eat them steamed with lemon. and pickled beets- i go to pennsylvania in the late summer to put them up with my best girlfriend. my reward is usually a few jars, but this year she gave my a mandolin for christmas. is that a hint or what!

[Pan]

Do people eat brussels sprouts stalks?

[docsconz]

There were a lot of things I didn't eat as a kid no matter who cooked them. I wouldn't try cheese other than melted velveeta, mushrooms, chinese food(didn't know what was in it), onions, many vegetables and wine. These have subsequently become some of my favorite things in life, although in most cases I cannot pinpoint an epiphany. Mushrooms and chinese food epiphanies occurred in college. The first mushrooms I ever really enjoyed were button mushrooms cooked in port wine from Jesse's Restaurant outside of Hanover, N.H. I have never looked back. My first sense of craving for chinese food came from Mrs. Ou's Cafetria in Hanover. It was simple, but oh so tasty food. This enjoyment grew with trips to Joyce Chen's in Cambridge.

Two foods that I can enjoy now after epiphanies (although I still don't go out of my way to eat them) are beets. My first extraordinary experience with them was in Washington, D.C. at the restaurant Obelisk where I had an amazing pasta with beets. The other item, my historically most notorious is eggplant. Imagine an Italian not liking eggplant! That was me until I had crisp sauteed cubed eggplant at a restaurant in Tampa, Fl, whose name I unfortunately don't recall. While I still can't say that it is a favorite ingredient, I can eat and enjoy it now. I had some excellent preparations in Sicily last year. Ironically it is one of my wife's favorite foods.