Ask Lemmy

Brussel Sprouts. Absolutely hated them as a kid, which I blame my mother for. She "steamed" them in the microwave in a dish with water. Turned them into a slimy, horrible mush. My wife sautes them in a pan, with bacon. It's one of my absolute favorite dishes now.

I used to be a picky eater, but years ago I decided that I wanted to like more food - - that life would be better if I actually enjoyed foods that I would otherwise have to suffer/avoid.

I started by putting small amounts of different ingredients in my dishes (when it made sense) and I quickly developed a taste for all of them.

(Only found out later that this was a great way to do it as your microbiom directly impacts your cravings).

Onions, mushrooms, tomatoes, olives, pickles, brussel sprouts, oysters, mustard are all things I now genuinely enjoy.

Asparagus! I hated that shit when I was 12. And now I can't wait for asparagus season.

As a kid, I thought I hated steak, but it turns out, my mom was just really bad at cooking steak.

Black coffee. Used to only drink coffee with creamer or lattes/cappuccinos, but now I drink black because I can't stand the sugar crash

Corn! Wait, no, still hate it.

• Brussel Sprouts: I tried them in a salad and fell in love with them instantly. Now they're included in every roast. They have to be fresh, because the frozen ones can just be mushy. And those little, crispy, flavorful leaves that fall off are just 🤌🏾
• Tomatoes: I won't just bite into one, but I've been making them more prominent in my dishes. I mostly stick to the sundried variety, haven't been able to eat them raw.
• Mushrooms: I love them so much I don't understand why I hated them.
• Some Cheese: I general, I still would say I don't like cheese, but I've become more forgiving of mozerella, which was unheard of when I was a child. It's the only cheese that broke through.

Still don't like bacon though 🤷🏿‍♀️

Sour cream. As a kid, I didn't like it. Now it's essential on my tacos, pierogi, and chili.

Onions

Tomatoes or mushrooms. Both were a texture thing. I made some diet changes as an adult, so I’m not sure if that helped in changing my opinion, but now I’m fine with mushrooms and grow tomatoes in my garden every year!

Guldens Spicy Brown Mustard. Dad was from Brooklyn and loved it, as I kid I just wanted the neon yellow stuff all my friends had. Now, many years later, I always have it in my fridge.

I heard that stuff like green vegetables are unpalatable to children because they taste more bitter to them.
As you grow up you become more insensitive to those flavors and start tasting the other compounds that you actually like.

Asparagus.

Used to hate it, had it once in season in Germany, it was so fresh and delicious, I learned how to enjoy it there.

Eggplant. I tried cooking it until just tender, like zucchini - and it was nasty as hell; I never got it and never wanted to.

Then I encountered some actually properly cooked stuff in a pasta dish when eating out and ohmygod.

Olives. I still am not a fan of black olives, but I'd eat an entire jar of green.

grits. the way my mother made them when I was a kid was plain and kind of unpleasant. I add sausage and cheese to mine.

tomatoes. hated them as a kid. juicy burgers were may gateway into them.

I hated strawberries growing up. I would do anything and everything to not eat them. As an as adult I finally tried them again and loved them. It turns out I just hated low quality or not ripe strawberries

Vegetables in general.

Except Lima beans. You can go FUCK YOURSELF!!

Anchovies on pizza. Just a couple though, like fish sauce, a little goes a long way.

Same with vegetables, but also steak and bacon. I hated steak and bacon as a kid idk what was wrong with me

Some different vegetables and mushrooms.

Sweet potatoes. Something about them made me gag. Every Thanksgiving a heaping pile of them would wind up on my plate and I'd have to power though or else face the wrath of my grandmother.

Nowadays I love them. Dunno when the switch happened.

Italian cured ham, I used to hate the taste and texture, but now, it's great!

Brussel sprouts used to be truly awful, made me literally wretch. Now I eagerly make and order them as a bar snack.

To be fair there are two reasons beyond my changing tastes for this. First, my mom liked to steam brussel sprouts whole and serve them with margarine, salt, and pepper, now I generally cold sear them or roast them in the oven with much better seasoning. Maybe even some bacon pieces and blue cheese mixed in. Second, brussel sprouts did actually change over time to get less bitter and awful since I was a kid.

For me it was eggs. My mom wasn't that great a cook and she'd only make two types of eggs: hard boiled eggs or these sort of way way overcooked sunny side up eggs. Never liked either so grew up thinking I just don't like eating eggs.

Later on as I got older I realized there are other egg dishes and I actually really like eggs. Scrambled eggs is pretty much my favorite breakfast. A close second is egg and cheese on a bagel.

Both chili and vegetable soup.

Never cared for either growing up, but now they're both comfort food, especially on cold days.

Fish in general. As a kid I absolutely disliked the strong taste and oily texture.

I'm very open with my foods and like to retry everything I disliked in the past, things I still don't like are Olives (weird metallic taste I don't like), Tomatoes (slimy texture at normal size, cherry tomats are fine), unaltered boiled egg yolks (so dry, so so dry), Oatmeal (texture issue), and a couple others I can't think of at the moment. I enjoy most of the texture based ones as soon as the texture is altered.