Foods you've learned to love

[Stone]

Two replies to my "simply sublime" post got me thinking again.

First -- what food(s) do you love now, but hated growing up?

For me, it's olives and tomatoes.

I used to hate tomatoes unless they were buried in a sandwish dripping with mustard and mayo. Now, I could eat a good tomato like an apple, with just a little salt.

As for olives, I could never understand what all the fuss was about. People loved them, but I found the flavor of an olive so harsh and stinging that I steered clear. When I was vacationing in Croatia, however, there were bowls of olives on every dinner table, so I just kept popping them into my mouth. Now, I love them. (Although I still don't much like too many of them in my meals. Puttanesca, for example, is much too strong for me.)

[SobaAddict70]

Garlic and anything spicy.

Now its a complete 180 degree turnaround.

Funny how things change...

SA

[Stephanie]

I second tomatoes. Didn't like their taste as a kid, now I love 'em.

However, the biggest change for me has been beans. When I was a kid and my mom made chili, I would eat around them. But as a poor college student I found it cheaper to cook with beans rather than meat, and now there isn't a legume I won't eat.

How about the converse question: what foods did you like as a child that you won't eat as an adult? One of mine is watermelon. I dunno--can't get into the taste anymore. Actually, I think its whole appeal was the seed-spitting thing.

[renyoj]

Tomatoes and sweet potatoes. I hated both as a kid, but I love fresh, farm grown tomatoes with just pepper and olive oil. I've learned to like sweet potatoes, like sweet potato pie or sweet potato fries, but I still hate that sweet potato casserole at Thanksgiving.

[tommy]

wine

strong cheeses

lots of other things i'm sure, but these 2 probably being most notable.

[researchgal]

raw onions

lentils (I've only learned to like them, not love them)

stuffed peppers

bleu cheese

[jhlurie]

1.) Mustard (elsewhere on eGullet is the story of how my poor misguided mum mis-aligned me with French's and Gulden's mustards as the standards as a kid.

2.) Sweet Potato

3.) Lemonade - I HATED it as a kid

4.) most green vegetables, esp. less usual ones like Brussel Sprouts, Asparagus, etc.

[Wilfrid]

Mustard and olives. Of course, of course. Trying to think of something original, but I seem to have always liked everything I like now. Loved spicy food at first encounter. Ditto smelly French cheese. I guess olive oil, as an uncooked condiment, would have been unpleasant to me as a child, not that I was offered any.

Chicken fat - schmaltz - spread on bread. Nice, but since I hated beef lard on bread as a child, I suspect I would have loathed schmaltz too. Not that I was ever offered any. Oh, anchovies I guess.

Whisky. That took some work.

[C Squared]

Split pea and ham soup. Couldn't stand it as a child.

Now I love to make it and I use my mother's recipe, so the soup isn't different.

I do believe that taste buds change as you age. That may be the reason for liking things you used to hate.

[rich]

For me it wasn't a particular food, it's the way food was/is prepared. I would never eat any meat unless it was well done. Now I enjoy meat rare -medium rare. Same with fish.

I would always eat things dry - no sauces, no mustard, no ketchup - no anything. Now it's just the opposite.

[nightscotsman]

I was a very picky eater as a child, so I think my Mom didn't even try to get me to eat some foods - such as brussel sprouts. I had them for the first time in my early 20's at a nice restaurant and loved them! I suppose it helped they were fresh and sauteed in plenty of butter

Artichokes and avocados were a couple more that I wouldn't eat, but I think are great now.

Actually there were a lot of things I didn't even know existed at a young age that I love now - fois gras, caviar, chutney, pesto, sushi, duck, venison, calimari, and a whole range of spices and herbs. We were a very basic, non-adventurous, meat-and-potatoes family. Is that child abuse?

[Suvir Saran]

Hated any dish prepared with bitter melons (karelas) and now LOVE them.

[kpurvis]

1. Mayonnaise. I couldn't even stand the smell of it then. Now it's one of my favorite things -- to my fat-gram regret.

2. Grits. Shameful to admit it, as a Georgia native, born and raised in the South. I couldn't stand them as a kid. I was grown before I finally encountered stone-ground, creamy grits and it changed my life. The turning point for me was my first encounter with really well-made cheese grits.