Foods you never thought you'd like

[Kevin72]

I wasn't terribly picky as a kid, but I did hate fish in all forms (other seafood was okay). Then one day I was watching Food Network and Mario was cooking with whole red snapper, and I thought, "that looks really, really good" and went out and bought some and tried it. Haven't looked back.

Hated zucchini for the longest time, and that was one of my first aversions conquered after trying some grilled zucchini out of sheer blind hunger. Compounding my zucchini dislike was that it was often paired with dill, which until very recently I still avoided. Tried it in one dish this past winter and it worked okay. I still don't like it to be overpowering, but I'm coming around.

The final frontier, and I don't think I'll ever get around it, is that I hate, hate, hate coconut. Don't even like suntan lotion because it smells like coconut.

[Hest88]

Goat cheese, until a Hilary's goat cheese cheddar was served at Sooke Harbour House on Vancouver Island. Now I can't get enough of that goat cheese tang.

Ama-ebi - raw shrimp sushi. Could never stand the taste or texture, until I had it at Sushi Sushi in Beverly Hills. Mmmmm...

[Carlovski]

Olives - I went from no way, to "ok, I'll eat things with them in, I'll just avoid them" to "Ok, a little bit when hidden by lots of pizza/salad/pasta is ok" to my current full on olive addiction.

Pork Fat - I was always a Jack sprat as a kid. I developed the taste for well frazzled bacon fat some years ago (I always buy streaky bacon) but the gelatinous stuff made me feel ill. Now, as long as it is well cooked - bring on the pork belly! Though I still prefer to see at least 50/50 meat/fat ratio.

Things I am still not sure on

Mayonnaise - It's more the fact it is used out of place that puts me off even when it makes sense. I don't know why people put it on every sandwich, and I can think of nothing worse to go with a green salad.

Avocado - I like Guacamole just fine, but every other avocado preparation I have ever tried I found just didn't work. Maybe it was poor quality avocado - I guess guacamole is a little more forgiving

[tryska]

i think almost any salty pork product tastes good with maple syrup.

as for me - i tried roquefort and honey this past weekend. not bad at all.

[MicBacchus]

Clueless as to why, but I can't eat any egg where the yolk is runny - fried, poached, soft-boiled ---- yuck!! To me it also has a strange smell, not that it's cooked in anything that would alter the odor.

Mayonnaise also used to be terrible - as a child, I'd freak if it was on a sandwich (but, strangely enough, it was okay in potato or pasta salads). While living in Louisiana, a friend brought me lunch - hot dog with mustard and mayo - I was shocked and still don't know if it was a regional thing. It was very hard to act appreciatively. .

Now though, I'll try most anything. Among my friends, I'm the one who eats the 'weird' foods!!

Edited May 16, 2005 by MicBacchus (log)

[eje]

My mom used a lot of store bought canned vegetables when we were growing up.

I thought I disliked beets, mushrooms, and quite a few others.

Grew up, tried the real things, and haven't looked back.

I've never been over fond of liver. My mom used to saute it with lots of onions in an electric skillet. Still don't like it. Also not over fond of related dishes like Pate and Foie Gras. Though I did have a Foie Gras terrine once at Jardiniere that very nearly turned me to the dark side.

When I worked at a breakfast cafe, we used to have to saute huge amounts of zucchini very early in the morning for one of the omelette fillings. Something about that smell first thing in the morning turned me off to zucchini for quite a few years. I still will only eat it when it is in season.

[divalasvegas]

I thought of another one: foie gras.

We were having a chef's tasting at Striped Bass in Philly and this was one of the courses he served.  I had never tried it and didn't particularly want to, but I then I decided that if I was going to try it anywhere, this was the place.  I actually liked it pretty well, but it was very rich and I didn't eat much of it.

It's not something that I am likely to eat again, but I was surprised that it didn't repulse me the way I imagined it would.

I'm another one who has tried to like cilantro but am having a hard time - it tastes almost metallic to me. 

I've also tried to like beets, but I don't know if there is anyway for me to get around the fact that they taste like dirt.  I'm not likely to try to prepare them again myself (we threw them all out), but I would try them if someone prepared them for me.

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Regarding your cilantro comment

Amen. I think one of the problems IMHO is that in the USA with certain ingredients oftentimes chefs will just plain overuse it. I cannot tell you how many times I've seen a chef on TV--Bobby Flay comes to mind and, no, I'm not a Bobby hater--add fistfuls of cilantro to something. Literally fistfuls. I recall in the '80s that the "herb du jour" was tarragon. I remember eating chicken salad made by a catering company that tasted like it was full of lawn clippings because it had fistfuls of tarragon. I actually avoided tarragon for years because of this experience. I'm back to liking it now.

I hope someone out there makes you some tasty beets. Like a roasted beet salad with toasted walnut halves, blue cheese (preferably gorgonzola), maybe some crispy shallots on a bed of greens with a walnut oil/sherry wine vinegar based dressing. Hey while they're at it make me one too!!!

[constanela]

It occurs to me that many people are relating stories of things they had as children, hated and then tried again as an adult only to discover they liked them. I myself have many taste memories of things that tasted absolutely horrible as a child. For me, these tastes included apricots, fresh tomatoes, beans, peas and many other things that I absolutely love as an adult. I have often wondered if our taste buds are more senstive when we are children and we are able to taste things then that our adult taste buds can't detect. I remember some absolutely horrible flavors in these foods that I don't find now. Anybody have thoughts on this theory?

By the way, the two things that I still hate today are lima beans and peanuts. I still remember my mother refusing to allow me to leave the table until I swallowed those lima beans I had been avoiding in my Alphabet Soup.