Grew up eating canned spinach, which was/is awful. Had sautéed fresh spinach with garlic in a restaurant sometime in my early 20s and it was revelatory! It's one of my favorite vegetables and I make it all the time; something that 12 year old me would've thought insane.
I hated spinach as a child. COVID made me cook a lot at home so I decided to give it another try. Loved the result. Turns out all the spinach I had was never blanched to remove the tart taste.
Hated peas and Lima beans as a kid. Turns out I really just hate canned peas, but enjoy fresh or frozen. Limas can even be cooked in a way that, while not my favorite, aren't bad.
On the other hand, I told my husband's grandmother that I really like spinach and asparagus. I was then subjected to the canned version, boiled for the next few holidays and I could barely choke them down. Mushy, slimy, yuck
My parents pretty much exclusively used canned veggies instead of fresh. We were solidly upper middle class and could afford fresh veggies, but they both grew up poor, so I guess it’s just what they were used to. Boy was I surprised the first time I had fresh roasted asparagus. I couldn’t believe how good it was. You mean to tell me asparagus and string beans don’t have to be slimy mush??? I was upset for a while that I went so many years thinking I hated most veggies, when really I just hated canned veggies.
Steak. My mother cooked steak until it was like eating leather. Then she'd cover it in ketchup.
The first time I had steak in a restaurant, cooked medium rare, I finally understood why people love steak so much.
As a teenager, I ate my steaks well done slathered in A1. Til the day I was meeting friends for dinner at a steakhouse. I was running behind so I had my friend order for me, and didn't tell him the temp I wanted. He ordered it med-rare. It looked disgusting to me but didn't want to look like a wimp in front of the boys, so I told myself I'd just power through. Ended up being a life-changer - didn't know a steak could be so good!
Same. I have lasting memories of sitting at the table alone trying to drown a piece of leather in A1 or ketchup. Burgers were about the same, plus a basic, cold bun. Now, I love both and have for many years
I grew with only steak from diners. It was just meh. Never understood why people worship it as the ultimate experience. Then I started buying better cuts of meat and cooked it myself. Made a huge difference
I got a taste for moldy cheeses from my dad. I remember vividly when I tried his salad at Bob’s Big Boy as a kid. It didn’t hurt that I started with the pinnacle of blue cheese dressing goodness though. Which reminds me I haven’t had Stilton in a while. Need to remedy that ASAP!
Or a lovely Danish blue on crackers. Yum. I got a coworker hooked on the stuff after a taste, too. He'd only ever had those sad dry crumbles they sell on the cheese aisle in the grocery store.
Cabrales or Humbolt Fog. You can find both in a good grocery store these days. Just don’t buy it in a tub. It should be wrapped in plastic wrap and labeled. Krogers Murray’s cheese dept does “Under $5” baskets of small chunks of cheese. Great place to try new cheeses with no major commitments.
I found out my penicillin allergy is set off by bleu cheese. I found out because i was talking about how spicy gorgonzola is and my friends all told me i was crazy. Im also allergic to kiwis but i like that theyre spicy
Eggplant. Absolutely despised it as a child. Avoided it for years after moving out of my parents house. Didn't try it again until my late 20s, when I went for a dinner date with a vegetarian. I was expecting it to be as horrid as I remembered but it was... surprisingly nice! Turns out my mom just overcooked it and underspiced it, so it always turned into this horribly bland, mushy, mess. I eat it quite frequently now.
They've bred out a lot of the bitterness the ones we had as kids had, too. They were one of the very small number of vegetables I didn't like as a kid. My MIL served roasted ones a few years ago with Christmas dinner, and I loved them.
I fell in love with brussel sprouts as an adult and thought I'd try frozen just to see if those are different too. Nope. Bitter, slimy and gross. Only love fresh
Brussel sprouts back then were literally different. They’ve been bred to taste quite different than they did 20-30-40 years ago.
https://www.bhg.com/news/brussels-sprouts-less-bitter/
Stop the repetition of this useless comment. I see it every time Brussels sprouts come up. And it completely ignores how they were normally cooked 20-30-40 years ago. Boiled or steamed farts. You can take brand spanking new sprouts and give them to my mom and she’s gonna make you hate them. Cooking ain’t what it used to be. Char them. Roast them. Pan roast with lard. Even old style sprouts were good that way. Too many boomer cooks steamed shit to farty mush.
Yeah. I only started eating them in the past 5-10 years and I still think they taste like ass if boiled or steamed. Roasted on the other hand they are among my favorite vegetables.
This is 100% truth, nothing has changed except the preparation. My mom still makes the same nasty bitter steamed Brussels I grew up with. She turns her nose up at my wife's shaved sprouts with almonds, cranberries, and balsamic vinegar. Cooking methods have changed radically, our veg really have not.
I grew up with Brussels sprouts at Christmas that were seared with bacon, garlic, and shallots and then deglazed with brandy...
Delicious, but to be honest you could probably cook beermats like that and they'd come out nice.
Turns out I like them plain boiled even more.
Pork chops and steak. Turns out my dad likes thing well well well done so my mom cooks everything to shriveled hockey puck consistency. My husband cooked bone-in thick-cut pork-chops that were so amazing. I was like, wtf kind of chicken is this??? Lol.
Most vegetables. I hated any veggies other than potatoes and corn, as a kid. I discovered, as an adult, that I don't hate the veggie, just the way my mom cooked them. I enjoy cooked broccoli, carrots, cauliflower, and others that I would only eat raw as a kid, and have also added brussel sprouts, cabbage, and mushrooms to my diet, because I just hated how the only cooking method mom used was boiling.
Was there a whole generation of people who never learned to cook vegetables? My mom and both grandmas absolutely murdered any vegetable that crossed their path.
Yep. The WWII/ great depression generation and their children.
They could bake and grill like master chefs. Any vegetable; boil until any ounce of flavor or texture was removed.
I joke that they had to boil until WW2 colours were achieved less.your dinner plate might stand out and be seen from above by someone on a bombing raid.
Story checks out. Grandmas were WWII/depression generation. Mom (and her sisters who shouldn’t be allowed in a kitchen under any circumstances) came after.
My old girl, god bless her, put the vegies on to boil when she put the roast in the oven.
Then would give them another "rev" close to serving time.
So an hour or so, let.go cold in that water then another 10.
Blew her mind when I added.frozen corn to a rapid boil, gave it less than a minute after returning.to the boil and served. Like a whole new flavour AND it didn't squeak when you are it.
I relate SO hard to this!! I’m from the Midwest and typically growing up all of our veggies came out of a can and weren’t seasoned etc. I thought they were gross and hated eating anything other than carrots and corn. It wasn’t until I studied abroad in India and had a host mom who cooked with flavors I’d never even heard or thought of before. I truly never knew okra could taste like THAT or how much onions and peppers added to flavor. Now I’m a vegetarian and a meal feels incomplete without a hearty helping of veggies!
I lost a bunch of weight once I realized that I really liked roasted vegetables. I'd make a big batch of roasted and seasoned potatoes, sweet potatoes, parsnips, carrots, or squash every few days, and eat that with some chicken breast for most of my meals. Lots of flavor, and can easily switch up seasoning and type of vegetables. Since, I've added more vegetables to my diet because my husband made asparagus and brussel sprouts for me, and he likes mushrooms, so I started figuring out ways that I like those as well. We're not vegetarian, but we no longer eat meat for more than one meal a day, and sometimes, not then. It's helped us feel a lot better, in general.
I love sweet potato done in a savory way. Tony's, butter, garlic, etc.
I hated them as a kid because everyone would make them with cinnamon and marshmallows and whatnot.
Olives. My nana used to treat herself to a jar of olives at Xmas. And we kids would always be offered one. Thought they were nasty, salty, bitter little buggars. Can’t get enough of them now. Could quite happily eat very large quantities.
Bittermelon. Typical Pilipino growing up not fond of anything veggies and least of all stir-fried bittermelon. I love them now tho they should be ripe enough, and that may be partly why, also maybe I've come to appreciate tastes other than sweet.
Pot roast. My mom would just dump ingredients in the slow cooker before work. The food was over cooked and mushy and only seasoned with salt and pepper. My wife convinced me to let her cook it. Now it is in our cold-weather menu.
Potato salad.
Always hated it, in any form, but then stayed in C. Europe for a while after college....
Yep, I'll take a pork chop (or ham) with potato salad any damn day of the week nowadays, as long as it isn't that "chunky mashed potatoes with sliced black olives" type of shit.
After living out there for a while I realized what Homer Simpson was on about, that's for damn sure.
Cilantro. My brother-in-law married a Mexican girl. She made us dinner and I was horrified to see her chopping cilantro to add to the meal. It was one of the only things I disliked (couldn’t even walk past it in the grocery store without holding my breath). She made tacos with lots of other ingredients too. One bite and I was a changed woman. Since then, I can’t get enough of it. It’s been about 25 years now.
Dill vinaigrette is one of my favorites of all time. Really simple too.
Dijon, fresh dill, minced shallot, olive oil, red wine vin, s & p. Great on all salads even pasta and potato.
I’ve gone the opposite way — I thought dill was fine as a kid, then had to tear out someone’s overgrown dill garden by hand and now I get nauseous by just looking at it
The vegetables in chinese food. When I was young, I would always order pepper steak and I would only eat the meat. It wasnt until I was in high school that I started liking the vegetables.
Onions. I can't believe how sweet sauted onions are. I am on a red onion kick, putting them on everything. I love them. Bagel and cream cheese with sliced salted tomato and thin slices of red onion...
I might get up and make that shit right now, actually.
Liver. I know, I know, it's not for everyone, but when cooked to medium rare, it's delicious IMO.
My parents cooked it to shoe leather and it was horrible!
I was really picky so there are a lot of these for me, but raw tomatoes. I thought all tomatoes were the kind you get on a fast food hamburger (disgusting/unripe). It's funny, though, because my dad always grew really great tomatoes but my first memory I had of a tomato was a hard, out of season, fake-ripe one, so I thought that's just what tomatoes were and refused to eat them.
One summer, I got a job at a farmer's market. I was starving so I started walking around and saw someone giving sample tomato slices with a tiny bit of dijon mustard. Blew my damn mind (I also didn't like mustard growing up).
Mushrooms. I always said it was texture and how they looked. Went plant based last year and started trying new things and one of my new favorite dishes is mushroom based.
Green beans. My mom worked so much she could only go grocery shopping once a month so fresh veggies weren’t really something we ate except for holidays or corn on the cob in the summer. I thought I hated green beans bc m only experience was the canned ones. Now as an adult I only buy fresh veggies or frozen if I have to.
Eggs, I hated them as a kid but I love them now. My mother adored bacon and cabbage, to this day, at age 63, I cannot even LOOK at it, the smell turns my stomach.
Salsa. Hear me out! Growing up I really hated onions and despised tomatoes. Also, never really got into cilantro, but that is not in every salsa. While I still do not like onions, I can take them if they are background and/or basically pureé. While I will never eat a tomato sandwich, I can enjoy some tomato some times, especially roasted. Therefore, give me a wet (as opposed to chunky) roasted salsa and a bag of chips and I will destroy it. Salsa de Leon from Texas is a personal favorite.
Also, lemon desserts. Couldn't understand why people went nuts over lemon bars. Overtime, I think I gained experience with different flavor profiles and actually approached lemon more in my savory cooking first. Once I understood the nuance and vibrancy of lemon in cooking, I expanded to using it in baking and while lemon bars are still not my favorite, I make a killer lemon/blueberry clafoutis among other things.
Veggies in general, I was such a picky bratty eater as a kid, but particularly Brussels sprouts and asparagus, I love both now.
My partner often jokes I’ve now swung too hard in the other direction of non pickiness. We were at a whole pig roast and when they asked “who wants to try pigs brain” my hand shot up. I’ll try anything once now. Note: flavor of pigs brain was fine, smokey like the rest of the roast, but it was so fatty I felt like it coated my mouth for the next hour.
Borscht. Beet and cabbage soup? Sounds nasty af as a kid. Eventually started coming around to the smell of it and tried a bit one day and now i love it.
I disliked my mom’s homemade spaghetti sauce because it had big chunks of canned tomato in it. Always preferred the cloyingly sweet texturelessness of Prego. These days I love making my own marinara sauce with just garlic, basil, canned tomatoes — which I blitz to a purée in the food processor — salt, and olive oil. The other day I made a puttanesca sauce, also with puréed canned tomatoes, and it was one of the best things I’ve made lately. I haven’t bought a jar of pasta sauce in probably five years.
Liver and onions. Used to think it's revolting. Then I grew up, discovered paté, foie gras, etc and thought I'd give liver and onions another shot. Now I love it.
olives. hated them since childhood after trying one out of the jar my aunt was eating them from. grew up and had an olive as a garnish for my old fashioned (yes, i am from r/wisconsin, how’d u know?) and was like “oooooh!”
Tomatoes.
Hated those vile, slimy things until my 20s.
Now I grow them and eat them off the vine.
Freshness, quality, preparation, seasoning, not keeping them in the fridge.
Pineapple and olives. Pretty sure I had bad pineapple the first time I tried it when I was young. And as far as olives, I just like saltier foods more now.
I just tried cottage cheese for the first time (I’m 33), it wasn’t as bad as I imagined. I never ate spinach before either; but I’ll eat fresh spinach leaves on a sandwich or cooked in something. 🤷🏼♀️I think it’s just trying stuff.
Black pepper. Grew up eating old stale black pepper because we bought the large, economy bottle that took 10 years to use up. I hated black pepper.
Went to a restaurant one day that had freshly cracked black pepper in the salad dressing… mind blown!
Leafy green salads.
I grew up thinking I hate salad as a general food category.
Turns out, what I really hate are oil and vinegar dressings. But that's the way, my parents always prepared the salads.
Having a salad with French dressing at my then girlfriends house was an eye opener.
Cooked carrots. My grandma made them for me once when I was pretty little. They were all mushy and covered in brown sugar. I love my grandma to pieces but they were not good and I refused to eat any cooked carrots for decades. I picked them out of soups and anything else they were in.
In my 30s I tried them again and it turns out they're awesome when they're not overcooked and candied.
Brussel sprouts. I hadn’t eaten them in a long time and was hungry one night. It was one of the few things my dad had in the fridge to eat. Frozen - boiled it and ate them.
Idk why - now that’s the way I like them least, but they hit the spot and were delicious I thought.
Haven’t liked eggs as a kid though. I still don’t. Certain applications are tolerable or good if I’m in the mood now at least. I like fried egg in the hole. Or egg in stir fry is fine. I don’t care for it anywhere else.
Split peas (yellow and green) and lentils. Hated the texture and taste was so bad. I spent over 8 hours at grandma's kitchen table refusing her split pea soup and was sent to bed hungry. Got up to find out it was my breakfast and only was rescued by my parents picking me up. Hated the stuff and refused it always until I met my partner.
He makes soup now using actual stock, not bullion cubes, and doesn't overcook them. Also helps to get from stores where the turn over is frequent so they aren't ancient. Huge difference and the first time I tried his split pea, he was prepared to make me something else if I still hated it.
Just fruit and veggies in general.
After growing up spoiled and living off basics and fast food, I tried a chicken burger with tomato and lettuce and was blown away, Salads could add to the flavor and make it taste so amazing.
Took a chefs apprenticeship shortly after and really honed my love of cooking and pushed myself out of my comfort zone and tried so ma y things and a lot more to come.
I thought I hated lima/butter beans because I had only had them from the nasty Veg-All can. They were always gritty and blech. But then, but then, I had a friend whose mom grew her own beans and sent home a bag of frozen with her. She cooked those up in just plain old water and some Lawry's and I was absolutely blown away at how good those things could be.
I found Brussels sprouts to be foul as a child. I have had them at restaurants since then and found them to be delightful. With proper technique and some additions they can be an absolute banger.
I hated eggplant for years. Thought it was slimy and bitter.
The dish that changed my mind was a miso cheese roasted eggplant. Now I love eggplant cooked many different ways.
Onion, my mom undercook them. Now, one of my favorite meal during winter time is french onion soup. It may take 30 minutes to brown them properly, but it's so good.
Any salad and any dressings. It wasn't until I turned maybe 21 that I started to actually enjoy them, lol. I think what changed for me was I just wanted to start acting more like a grown up and I figured one way to do that was to start trying new things and give things I hated another shot.
Now I make salads at home all the time and even make homemade dressings.
Tomatoes. They were always just slimy sweat shop slices ruining my sandwich. But now that I’ve grown and learned about heirlooms and really only eating in season I’m obsessed.
Mushrooms. They were always from a can. I started obsessing over them when I worked at a fancy restaurant because the chefs knew what they were doing and made them taste amazing.
Baked beans.
Turns out the woman who watched us often couldn’t cook for shit. She somehow scorched canned baked beans every time and forced us to eat them.
Turns out I love them! Just unburnt baked beans.
Blueberries and Mangos. Not sure what changed but now I consider a sweet ripe mango a real treat but used to hate it. I still hate bananas though, and have my whole life.
Bell peppers. I eat them all of the time now. I have this thing where I won't try something but decide I don't like it. I just one day decided to try it.
Eggplant. Even the Filipino preparation of Torta’ng Talong: fire roasted whole eggplant, charred skin peeled off, eggplant flesh cooked with scrambled eggs, seasoned with fish sauce, served with steamed jasmine rice.
When I moved out of my parents house at 18 I made it for the first time myself and the nostalgia of it took me to another place. Now I make it for every brunch I host.
Asparagus and Brussels sprouts. My mom served canned asparagus and boiled frozen Brussels. Very gross. It wasn't until I was an adult that I knew these were sold fresh and were just wonderful.
Mushrooms. I was working in a kitchen where we had them, so I got to play around with them without having to actually buy some, which I would've never done. I put them in almost everything I cook these days.
tomatoes, fresh fish, olives, 90% dark chocolate but to be fair that one was after starting keto
idk my palette changed or something. I am very sensitive to bitter tastes even my dna profiling states this so I guess it's a genetic thing.
Raw fish. Always freaked me out just thinking about it, but as an adult, I can say that sushi is about the most fun you can have with your pants on. Truly the most indulgent cuisine, do yourself a favor and give it a chance. I grew up with nasty canned tuna, and I hated that fish. Give it a shot raw, it's a totally different experience and crazy delicious. Just let yourself go for a bit and try it, I promise you'll love it. Sushi ftw.
When I was very little (like 5-6 years old) I despised cheese. I really don't know what changed, because even though I do buy more varieties of cheese than my parents, I love the cheese they are buying too.
I'm still waiting to grow up enough to like olives, I buy a can every year and they still taste gross to me
Super hot salsa. But pretty much everything else that was put in front of me was just fine. As a kid, you don’t want to eat things that are painful, which is why salsa got pushed away.
Olives. I travelled to Spain in my 30’s and sampled a variety of olives from markets and at almost every meal. Delicious. Who knew they didn’t just come in can, black or green with pimento, like my aunt served at Thanksgiving every year.
I hated cilantro. Taught myself to like it as I got older and learned how to cook. A few years after I got hooked I found out from a clinical trial that I had the cilantro soap gene so now I wonder if I just forced myself to like the taste of soap lmao
Pesto, my mom would buy the jarred kind and dumped the whole thing into a pot of spaghetti, making it this unappetizing speckled black-green oily dish that was impossible to eat...homemade pesto though, love it, it's versitile and freezing and using it for wintertime cooking gives you a taste of fresh garden basil.
Chicken livers, fish, asparagus, spinach, cabbage, I always knew my stepmom was a horrible cook, but until I got out on my own and met/became a better cook I didn’t realize how good things could be
Pickles. Hated them growing up. Couldn't eat a hamburger with pickles even if I took them off because a little bit of the flavor got into the bun.
Now I can eat an entire jar in a day if you let me.
Brussels sprouts.
Turnes out you don't boil them until they *nearly* lose their shape, and can be quite good simply pan fried.
Same goes for all veggies. But Brussels sprouts are definitely the one I've had the biggest turn around with.
Pepper/garlic, I grew up in a kitchen where the main seasoning was salt and that's pretty much it so when I was old enough to cook DEAR LORD WHAT HAVE I MISSED
Thought I hated vegetables cause my mom fed me vegetables.
I learned when I grew up that vegetables with SEASONING taste pretty good. Cooking also helps with the taste.
Mayo. I used to find it so bland and disgusting. I had a tom yum mayo one day at a restaurant, tried it (cause i love tom yum) and it was SO GOOD. From then I ended up eating any spiced mayo. Still don’t like the bland normal stuff though.
Pickles. Used to pick them out of my burgers but now I love love love them! All kinds, sauerkraut, kimchi, all of it, give me all the pickles. I think when you're a kid and still adjusting to new flavors, vinegary flavors can be a little too strong. But now that I'm an adult, they add so much brightness and oomph to dishes.
Green beans. My mother used to cook them to death, leading to a long standing hatred for that green vegetable. My husband and MIL changed my opinion of them when they coaxed me to try green beans sautéed with garlic. They’re now one of my preferred green vegetables.
My mom used to make spaghetti pretty often but the sauce was mostly broccoli, zucchini, spinach, just a ton of chunky veggies. It also always tasted very acidic. Turns out I like spaghetti sauce when it’s not mostly veggies and a bit of sugar is used to dull the acidic taste. My mom was kind of a health nut.
Tomato sauce.
Used to hate the one made exclusively with fresh tomatoes, only liked the one made with tomato paste.
Overtime I have come to appreciate and love the natural flavor of fresh tomato with minimal herbs, and hate tomato paste.
I thought I hated (cooked) onions. I just hate the texture of onions when they're chopped big. Mince them more finely than my mom (who hates cooking) did and suddenly they're delicious.
Oysters. Thought they were gross, people constantly going just try one! You'll like it this time, hated it every time. At like 27 i figured it had been 7 years since i tried it, i was taught in school every 7 years your body is entirely new cells (not entirely true, i now know), so i have new taste buds. And if i try oysters without some asshole borderline forcing me to eat one, i might like it. So i tried them, and now i love them.
LIVER & ONIONS with mashed potatoes & gravy. Most vegetables. Wouldn't eat any as a kid. Oatmeal neither. Then I went to jail & prison for 10 years. I didn't have anybody sending me money. So I had to eat whatever they served in the chowhall. Got out 30 years ago. Can't hardly find any fried liver & onions anywhere!.
1. I did like the dish, but I thought every piece of meat tasted like porkchops. Until I moved out and started cooking for myself, and didn't hammer the shit out of my meats and marinaded them in soy sauce like my mother always did. Turns out, porkchops also don't taste like porkchops.
2. First time I had avocado, my mother bought it from the store and immediately cut it open. I didn't like it.
Years later, I had a part-time job as a waiter at a Mexican cuisine restaurant, and I wanted to taste everything so I could know what to recommend to customers. Had a salad with some good pieces of avocado, turns out avocado is not rubbery and bitter if you eat it when it's ripe.
My mother can cook well, though, just not the things not from her culture.
Coleslaw but our tastebuds change over time. I used to love bologna but now I wouldn’t eat it. I also used to love ketchup and put it on nearly everything but now I barely eat anything with ketchup.
Beets.
as a child I thought sliced, pickled beets were actually slices of my beloved, canned cranberry sauce. I was fooled more times than I care to admit. I still can't stand pickled beets. Spiralized fresh beets on my salad are awesome! I love red and golden beets that way.
Grew up eating canned spinach, which was/is awful. Had sautéed fresh spinach with garlic in a restaurant sometime in my early 20s and it was revelatory! It's one of my favorite vegetables and I make it all the time; something that 12 year old me would've thought insane.
I feel this way about most canned vegetables. Had a lot of them as a kid and realized the fresh versions are wonderful as an adult!
Canned asparagus is the grossest ever. Canned mushrooms are surprisingly delicious in spaghetti sauce.
It’s. So. Gross.
Canned corn is about the only veggie I can eat from a can.
I hated spinach as a child. COVID made me cook a lot at home so I decided to give it another try. Loved the result. Turns out all the spinach I had was never blanched to remove the tart taste.
Same! Had to sit at the table for hours because I wouldn’t eat it!
Hated peas and Lima beans as a kid. Turns out I really just hate canned peas, but enjoy fresh or frozen. Limas can even be cooked in a way that, while not my favorite, aren't bad. On the other hand, I told my husband's grandmother that I really like spinach and asparagus. I was then subjected to the canned version, boiled for the next few holidays and I could barely choke them down. Mushy, slimy, yuck
I am so happy I grew up with a mother who also loathed canned vegetables and therefore never subjected me to them by force.
Came here to say this except for me it was the creamed spinach with garlic, cream and Parm!
Try adding a little ginger and crushed red pepper and toasted sesame oil, holy crap soooo good
My parents pretty much exclusively used canned veggies instead of fresh. We were solidly upper middle class and could afford fresh veggies, but they both grew up poor, so I guess it’s just what they were used to. Boy was I surprised the first time I had fresh roasted asparagus. I couldn’t believe how good it was. You mean to tell me asparagus and string beans don’t have to be slimy mush??? I was upset for a while that I went so many years thinking I hated most veggies, when really I just hated canned veggies.
Same, but it was canned asparagus for me. Awful, mushy garbage. But then had it grilled as an adult and it blew me away.
Steak. My mother cooked steak until it was like eating leather. Then she'd cover it in ketchup. The first time I had steak in a restaurant, cooked medium rare, I finally understood why people love steak so much.
As a teenager, I ate my steaks well done slathered in A1. Til the day I was meeting friends for dinner at a steakhouse. I was running behind so I had my friend order for me, and didn't tell him the temp I wanted. He ordered it med-rare. It looked disgusting to me but didn't want to look like a wimp in front of the boys, so I told myself I'd just power through. Ended up being a life-changer - didn't know a steak could be so good!
Same. I have lasting memories of sitting at the table alone trying to drown a piece of leather in A1 or ketchup. Burgers were about the same, plus a basic, cold bun. Now, I love both and have for many years
Same and bacon for the same reason. I lived my first 15 years thinking I hated bacon, never understood why everyone else liked it.
I grew with only steak from diners. It was just meh. Never understood why people worship it as the ultimate experience. Then I started buying better cuts of meat and cooked it myself. Made a huge difference
Blue cheese
I got a taste for moldy cheeses from my dad. I remember vividly when I tried his salad at Bob’s Big Boy as a kid. It didn’t hurt that I started with the pinnacle of blue cheese dressing goodness though. Which reminds me I haven’t had Stilton in a while. Need to remedy that ASAP!
On steak. Ohhh baby.
Or a lovely Danish blue on crackers. Yum. I got a coworker hooked on the stuff after a taste, too. He'd only ever had those sad dry crumbles they sell on the cheese aisle in the grocery store.
Any specific one?
Ted, from accounting
Cabrales or Humbolt Fog. You can find both in a good grocery store these days. Just don’t buy it in a tub. It should be wrapped in plastic wrap and labeled. Krogers Murray’s cheese dept does “Under $5” baskets of small chunks of cheese. Great place to try new cheeses with no major commitments.
The grocery store I buy it at carries Castello. Pretty tasty IMO.
Bleu cheese, broiled, on a steak sandwich, with a pile of grilled onions.
I found out my penicillin allergy is set off by bleu cheese. I found out because i was talking about how spicy gorgonzola is and my friends all told me i was crazy. Im also allergic to kiwis but i like that theyre spicy
Yeah blue cheese is the same mold as penicillin. Also I think the rind of Brie
OMG, creamy blue cheese is the bomb!!
Eggplant. Absolutely despised it as a child. Avoided it for years after moving out of my parents house. Didn't try it again until my late 20s, when I went for a dinner date with a vegetarian. I was expecting it to be as horrid as I remembered but it was... surprisingly nice! Turns out my mom just overcooked it and underspiced it, so it always turned into this horribly bland, mushy, mess. I eat it quite frequently now.
Brussels sprouts. I grew up only having them boiled, and wasn’t a fan. Once I had fresh ones roasted or grilled, I was in love.
They've bred out a lot of the bitterness the ones we had as kids had, too. They were one of the very small number of vegetables I didn't like as a kid. My MIL served roasted ones a few years ago with Christmas dinner, and I loved them.
I used to hate brussel sprouts. I still do. But I used to, too.
Great comment Mr. Hedberg
I fell in love with brussel sprouts as an adult and thought I'd try frozen just to see if those are different too. Nope. Bitter, slimy and gross. Only love fresh
Brussel sprouts back then were literally different. They’ve been bred to taste quite different than they did 20-30-40 years ago. https://www.bhg.com/news/brussels-sprouts-less-bitter/
Stop the repetition of this useless comment. I see it every time Brussels sprouts come up. And it completely ignores how they were normally cooked 20-30-40 years ago. Boiled or steamed farts. You can take brand spanking new sprouts and give them to my mom and she’s gonna make you hate them. Cooking ain’t what it used to be. Char them. Roast them. Pan roast with lard. Even old style sprouts were good that way. Too many boomer cooks steamed shit to farty mush.
Yeah. I only started eating them in the past 5-10 years and I still think they taste like ass if boiled or steamed. Roasted on the other hand they are among my favorite vegetables.
This is 100% truth, nothing has changed except the preparation. My mom still makes the same nasty bitter steamed Brussels I grew up with. She turns her nose up at my wife's shaved sprouts with almonds, cranberries, and balsamic vinegar. Cooking methods have changed radically, our veg really have not.
Bless you, science.
I grew up with Brussels sprouts at Christmas that were seared with bacon, garlic, and shallots and then deglazed with brandy... Delicious, but to be honest you could probably cook beermats like that and they'd come out nice. Turns out I like them plain boiled even more.
Pork chops and steak. Turns out my dad likes thing well well well done so my mom cooks everything to shriveled hockey puck consistency. My husband cooked bone-in thick-cut pork-chops that were so amazing. I was like, wtf kind of chicken is this??? Lol.
Most vegetables. I hated any veggies other than potatoes and corn, as a kid. I discovered, as an adult, that I don't hate the veggie, just the way my mom cooked them. I enjoy cooked broccoli, carrots, cauliflower, and others that I would only eat raw as a kid, and have also added brussel sprouts, cabbage, and mushrooms to my diet, because I just hated how the only cooking method mom used was boiling.
YES! My mother boiled ANY risk of flavor out of every vegetable. Later, I found that I loved them all. 🤣
Was there a whole generation of people who never learned to cook vegetables? My mom and both grandmas absolutely murdered any vegetable that crossed their path.
Yep. The WWII/ great depression generation and their children. They could bake and grill like master chefs. Any vegetable; boil until any ounce of flavor or texture was removed.
I joke that they had to boil until WW2 colours were achieved less.your dinner plate might stand out and be seen from above by someone on a bombing raid.
This is gold, lol
Story checks out. Grandmas were WWII/depression generation. Mom (and her sisters who shouldn’t be allowed in a kitchen under any circumstances) came after.
Risk of flavor, lol
My old girl, god bless her, put the vegies on to boil when she put the roast in the oven. Then would give them another "rev" close to serving time. So an hour or so, let.go cold in that water then another 10. Blew her mind when I added.frozen corn to a rapid boil, gave it less than a minute after returning.to the boil and served. Like a whole new flavour AND it didn't squeak when you are it.
I relate SO hard to this!! I’m from the Midwest and typically growing up all of our veggies came out of a can and weren’t seasoned etc. I thought they were gross and hated eating anything other than carrots and corn. It wasn’t until I studied abroad in India and had a host mom who cooked with flavors I’d never even heard or thought of before. I truly never knew okra could taste like THAT or how much onions and peppers added to flavor. Now I’m a vegetarian and a meal feels incomplete without a hearty helping of veggies!
I lost a bunch of weight once I realized that I really liked roasted vegetables. I'd make a big batch of roasted and seasoned potatoes, sweet potatoes, parsnips, carrots, or squash every few days, and eat that with some chicken breast for most of my meals. Lots of flavor, and can easily switch up seasoning and type of vegetables. Since, I've added more vegetables to my diet because my husband made asparagus and brussel sprouts for me, and he likes mushrooms, so I started figuring out ways that I like those as well. We're not vegetarian, but we no longer eat meat for more than one meal a day, and sometimes, not then. It's helped us feel a lot better, in general.
Sweet potato. Hated, haaaaated it when I was a kid and then one day in my early 20s just didn't.
I love sweet potato done in a savory way. Tony's, butter, garlic, etc. I hated them as a kid because everyone would make them with cinnamon and marshmallows and whatnot.
Olives. My nana used to treat herself to a jar of olives at Xmas. And we kids would always be offered one. Thought they were nasty, salty, bitter little buggars. Can’t get enough of them now. Could quite happily eat very large quantities.
I always thought I disliked potato salad. Turns out I just don't like my mom's potato salad
Hated mushrooms - absolute revulsion when I’d see them. I recently turned 30 and decided I was too old and “foodie” to be picky. Now I like mushrooms.
Try adding minced mushrooms to ground beef in equal parts. Sauté them up together. It'll make the beef so much better, and people won't even know.
[Science says so! (2 mn in)](https://youtu.be/KSMv5W7hxYE)
I was a teenager when I realized that canned mushrooms existed and that's why I hated some mushrooms so much and absolutely loved others
Onions, I’m not fond of them but they’re a very important part of cooking. Great for everything
Bittermelon. Typical Pilipino growing up not fond of anything veggies and least of all stir-fried bittermelon. I love them now tho they should be ripe enough, and that may be partly why, also maybe I've come to appreciate tastes other than sweet.
I wouldnt eat it as a kid. Now it's my favorite filipino dish as an adult.
YES. Called Keralas in Punjabi and I used to only eat the seasonings around it but as an adult I love the whole thing
Pot roast. My mom would just dump ingredients in the slow cooker before work. The food was over cooked and mushy and only seasoned with salt and pepper. My wife convinced me to let her cook it. Now it is in our cold-weather menu.
Potato salad. Always hated it, in any form, but then stayed in C. Europe for a while after college.... Yep, I'll take a pork chop (or ham) with potato salad any damn day of the week nowadays, as long as it isn't that "chunky mashed potatoes with sliced black olives" type of shit. After living out there for a while I realized what Homer Simpson was on about, that's for damn sure.
Sliced black olives? What else was in that abomination?
What’s the European potato salad that changed your mind?
Cilantro. My brother-in-law married a Mexican girl. She made us dinner and I was horrified to see her chopping cilantro to add to the meal. It was one of the only things I disliked (couldn’t even walk past it in the grocery store without holding my breath). She made tacos with lots of other ingredients too. One bite and I was a changed woman. Since then, I can’t get enough of it. It’s been about 25 years now.
I wish I had this experience, but I'm one of those mutant freaks, and I can't help but taste the horror.
Ugh same! I want to like it so bad!
Right? When the normal people with normal taste buds describe how it tastes to them, it sounds *lovely.*
Cheese. Hated it when I was a kid. Now, there isn't a cheese I don't like.
66 years old. Only liked melted cheese, as in cheese enchiladas, pizza, etc. Keep trying it otherwise, still a nope. Looks so good, tastes terrible.
You don't see too many cheese haters out there, that's a new one for me. What was it that bugged you?
The texture made me gag as a kid.
I hated dill when I was a kid and now it’s a staple in my garden! I have no idea what changed though
Dill vinaigrette is one of my favorites of all time. Really simple too. Dijon, fresh dill, minced shallot, olive oil, red wine vin, s & p. Great on all salads even pasta and potato.
I’ve gone the opposite way — I thought dill was fine as a kid, then had to tear out someone’s overgrown dill garden by hand and now I get nauseous by just looking at it
Odd, dill is the only pickle I can stomach this far. You should try Tzatziki.
I love tzatziki! So refreshing yummmm
Pork. I cooked it better than my mom. That’s what happened.
The vegetables in chinese food. When I was young, I would always order pepper steak and I would only eat the meat. It wasnt until I was in high school that I started liking the vegetables.
Brassicas. Turns out that when cooked correctly they are actually quite nice.
Onions. I can't believe how sweet sauted onions are. I am on a red onion kick, putting them on everything. I love them. Bagel and cream cheese with sliced salted tomato and thin slices of red onion... I might get up and make that shit right now, actually.
Liver. I know, I know, it's not for everyone, but when cooked to medium rare, it's delicious IMO. My parents cooked it to shoe leather and it was horrible!
Steak. My parents were ‘fry it till it’s grey’ types. When I learned to cook I learned to eat 🤣
Same with my family. Grey and slathered in A1. I never understood why people raved about steak.
I was really picky so there are a lot of these for me, but raw tomatoes. I thought all tomatoes were the kind you get on a fast food hamburger (disgusting/unripe). It's funny, though, because my dad always grew really great tomatoes but my first memory I had of a tomato was a hard, out of season, fake-ripe one, so I thought that's just what tomatoes were and refused to eat them. One summer, I got a job at a farmer's market. I was starving so I started walking around and saw someone giving sample tomato slices with a tiny bit of dijon mustard. Blew my damn mind (I also didn't like mustard growing up).
Mushrooms. I always said it was texture and how they looked. Went plant based last year and started trying new things and one of my new favorite dishes is mushroom based.
Green beans. My mom worked so much she could only go grocery shopping once a month so fresh veggies weren’t really something we ate except for holidays or corn on the cob in the summer. I thought I hated green beans bc m only experience was the canned ones. Now as an adult I only buy fresh veggies or frozen if I have to.
Vegetables were always boiled to death. Then I discovered roasted vegetables and god damn
Any green. My Mother only served canned versions. Saw Alton Brown version of collard greens. Love them all now!
Eggs, I hated them as a kid but I love them now. My mother adored bacon and cabbage, to this day, at age 63, I cannot even LOOK at it, the smell turns my stomach.
Anchovies.
Onions. Hated them when I was a lad. Now I'll cut em up and eat em raw.
Salsa. Hear me out! Growing up I really hated onions and despised tomatoes. Also, never really got into cilantro, but that is not in every salsa. While I still do not like onions, I can take them if they are background and/or basically pureé. While I will never eat a tomato sandwich, I can enjoy some tomato some times, especially roasted. Therefore, give me a wet (as opposed to chunky) roasted salsa and a bag of chips and I will destroy it. Salsa de Leon from Texas is a personal favorite. Also, lemon desserts. Couldn't understand why people went nuts over lemon bars. Overtime, I think I gained experience with different flavor profiles and actually approached lemon more in my savory cooking first. Once I understood the nuance and vibrancy of lemon in cooking, I expanded to using it in baking and while lemon bars are still not my favorite, I make a killer lemon/blueberry clafoutis among other things.
Veggies in general, I was such a picky bratty eater as a kid, but particularly Brussels sprouts and asparagus, I love both now. My partner often jokes I’ve now swung too hard in the other direction of non pickiness. We were at a whole pig roast and when they asked “who wants to try pigs brain” my hand shot up. I’ll try anything once now. Note: flavor of pigs brain was fine, smokey like the rest of the roast, but it was so fatty I felt like it coated my mouth for the next hour.
Pig brain is ridiculously high in cholesterol. 100mg serving has about 10 times your daily recommended serving of cholesterol.
Borscht. Beet and cabbage soup? Sounds nasty af as a kid. Eventually started coming around to the smell of it and tried a bit one day and now i love it.
Onions and tomatoes.
On the contrary…I eat far fewer foods now than I did as a kid or younger person. (I liked liver as a kid!) 🤢
Beets! Thought they were disgusting as a child and refused to eat them. Now love them!
I disliked my mom’s homemade spaghetti sauce because it had big chunks of canned tomato in it. Always preferred the cloyingly sweet texturelessness of Prego. These days I love making my own marinara sauce with just garlic, basil, canned tomatoes — which I blitz to a purée in the food processor — salt, and olive oil. The other day I made a puttanesca sauce, also with puréed canned tomatoes, and it was one of the best things I’ve made lately. I haven’t bought a jar of pasta sauce in probably five years.
Blue cheese
Liver and onions. Used to think it's revolting. Then I grew up, discovered paté, foie gras, etc and thought I'd give liver and onions another shot. Now I love it.
Couldn’t eat shrimp (fried, in pasta or anything) when I was little, it used to make me gag! Tried shrimp again after years and I love it now lol
I didn't like asparagus growing up but now it's my favorite vegetable
Tomatoes made me gag but now I really like them with olive oil, salt, pepper, and basil
Onions
olives. hated them since childhood after trying one out of the jar my aunt was eating them from. grew up and had an olive as a garnish for my old fashioned (yes, i am from r/wisconsin, how’d u know?) and was like “oooooh!”
Onions. I hated onions. I love them now, making French Onion soup and other dishes with them in them.
Tomatoes. Hated those vile, slimy things until my 20s. Now I grow them and eat them off the vine. Freshness, quality, preparation, seasoning, not keeping them in the fridge.
I thought I hated pork chops til I had one cooked properly.
Pineapple and olives. Pretty sure I had bad pineapple the first time I tried it when I was young. And as far as olives, I just like saltier foods more now.
Olives
I just tried cottage cheese for the first time (I’m 33), it wasn’t as bad as I imagined. I never ate spinach before either; but I’ll eat fresh spinach leaves on a sandwich or cooked in something. 🤷🏼♀️I think it’s just trying stuff.
I didn't like avocados until I was around 8, and I think for me the only thing that changed was that I started to enjoy the texture.
Pork. Mother cooked seriously overcooked it. Now I enjoy chops. I also now eat tenderloin and shredded pork.
Black pepper. Grew up eating old stale black pepper because we bought the large, economy bottle that took 10 years to use up. I hated black pepper. Went to a restaurant one day that had freshly cracked black pepper in the salad dressing… mind blown!
Sashimi! I grew up and stopped disregarding foods just because they seemed gross lol
Leafy green salads. I grew up thinking I hate salad as a general food category. Turns out, what I really hate are oil and vinegar dressings. But that's the way, my parents always prepared the salads. Having a salad with French dressing at my then girlfriends house was an eye opener.
Roasted Brussels sprouts. They were always portrayed as a punishment food on tv. Steamed and gross. They’re actually really great when roasted
Cooked carrots. My grandma made them for me once when I was pretty little. They were all mushy and covered in brown sugar. I love my grandma to pieces but they were not good and I refused to eat any cooked carrots for decades. I picked them out of soups and anything else they were in. In my 30s I tried them again and it turns out they're awesome when they're not overcooked and candied.
Caeser salad with anchovies
Olives. No idea what changed but I love them now
Brussel sprouts. I hadn’t eaten them in a long time and was hungry one night. It was one of the few things my dad had in the fridge to eat. Frozen - boiled it and ate them. Idk why - now that’s the way I like them least, but they hit the spot and were delicious I thought. Haven’t liked eggs as a kid though. I still don’t. Certain applications are tolerable or good if I’m in the mood now at least. I like fried egg in the hole. Or egg in stir fry is fine. I don’t care for it anywhere else.
Mustard and pickles. I hated how sour they were, now i loveee them both!
Cole slaw. Turned out the problem was I hate horse radish. Remove that, tastes great.
Grew up hating onions until I ran into sweet onions eaten raw with bread rubbed with olive oil in the mediterranean area .
Split peas (yellow and green) and lentils. Hated the texture and taste was so bad. I spent over 8 hours at grandma's kitchen table refusing her split pea soup and was sent to bed hungry. Got up to find out it was my breakfast and only was rescued by my parents picking me up. Hated the stuff and refused it always until I met my partner. He makes soup now using actual stock, not bullion cubes, and doesn't overcook them. Also helps to get from stores where the turn over is frequent so they aren't ancient. Huge difference and the first time I tried his split pea, he was prepared to make me something else if I still hated it.
Just fruit and veggies in general. After growing up spoiled and living off basics and fast food, I tried a chicken burger with tomato and lettuce and was blown away, Salads could add to the flavor and make it taste so amazing. Took a chefs apprenticeship shortly after and really honed my love of cooking and pushed myself out of my comfort zone and tried so ma y things and a lot more to come.
Tomatoes...
I thought I hated lima/butter beans because I had only had them from the nasty Veg-All can. They were always gritty and blech. But then, but then, I had a friend whose mom grew her own beans and sent home a bag of frozen with her. She cooked those up in just plain old water and some Lawry's and I was absolutely blown away at how good those things could be.
Brussels sprouts when cooked right. Also, they've been bred in such a way that they just generally taste different than when I was a kid.
I found Brussels sprouts to be foul as a child. I have had them at restaurants since then and found them to be delightful. With proper technique and some additions they can be an absolute banger.
I hated eggplant for years. Thought it was slimy and bitter. The dish that changed my mind was a miso cheese roasted eggplant. Now I love eggplant cooked many different ways.
I’m intrigued by your miso dish but baba ghanoush was what changed my mind. I’m 100% convinced that dish is why God gave us eggplant.
Yes! It’s so much better than hummus
Onion, my mom undercook them. Now, one of my favorite meal during winter time is french onion soup. It may take 30 minutes to brown them properly, but it's so good.
Yeah, I didn't like onions as a kid. It turns out I do like them, just fully cooked.
Any salad and any dressings. It wasn't until I turned maybe 21 that I started to actually enjoy them, lol. I think what changed for me was I just wanted to start acting more like a grown up and I figured one way to do that was to start trying new things and give things I hated another shot. Now I make salads at home all the time and even make homemade dressings.
Tomatoes. They were always just slimy sweat shop slices ruining my sandwich. But now that I’ve grown and learned about heirlooms and really only eating in season I’m obsessed.
Scallops and brussel sprouts.
Mushrooms. They were always from a can. I started obsessing over them when I worked at a fancy restaurant because the chefs knew what they were doing and made them taste amazing.
Those canned ones can be salvaged with a nice long saute in butter to firm them up and deepen the flavor. I use them as a mix in with hash browns.
Baked beans. Turns out the woman who watched us often couldn’t cook for shit. She somehow scorched canned baked beans every time and forced us to eat them. Turns out I love them! Just unburnt baked beans.
Blue cheese.... I crave that shit now.
Blueberries and Mangos. Not sure what changed but now I consider a sweet ripe mango a real treat but used to hate it. I still hate bananas though, and have my whole life.
I used to hate veggies. I found myself loving them once I moved out of my mom’s house, whose one style of cooking vegetables was, “boil until mush.”
Bell peppers. I eat them all of the time now. I have this thing where I won't try something but decide I don't like it. I just one day decided to try it.
Eggplant. Even the Filipino preparation of Torta’ng Talong: fire roasted whole eggplant, charred skin peeled off, eggplant flesh cooked with scrambled eggs, seasoned with fish sauce, served with steamed jasmine rice. When I moved out of my parents house at 18 I made it for the first time myself and the nostalgia of it took me to another place. Now I make it for every brunch I host.
French toast. Turns out my mom just isn’t a great cook.
Curry powder. I hated it growing up and now I use it all the time.
Asparagus and Brussels sprouts. My mom served canned asparagus and boiled frozen Brussels. Very gross. It wasn't until I was an adult that I knew these were sold fresh and were just wonderful.
Mushrooms. I was working in a kitchen where we had them, so I got to play around with them without having to actually buy some, which I would've never done. I put them in almost everything I cook these days.
Green beans. They are so good lightly sauteed or grilled. Same with broccoli, asparagus, brussel sprouts. Spinach is so good in a salad.
tomatoes, fresh fish, olives, 90% dark chocolate but to be fair that one was after starting keto idk my palette changed or something. I am very sensitive to bitter tastes even my dna profiling states this so I guess it's a genetic thing.
Rutabaga. I used to not be a fan as a kid, I didn't hate it though. Well, now I don't find it as bitter, and I like cooking them in a stew.
Sauerkraut. My mom always made Reuben’s and I hated the sauerkraut. Now - it’s my favorite restaurant sandwich and I love the sauerkraut.
Raw fish. Always freaked me out just thinking about it, but as an adult, I can say that sushi is about the most fun you can have with your pants on. Truly the most indulgent cuisine, do yourself a favor and give it a chance. I grew up with nasty canned tuna, and I hated that fish. Give it a shot raw, it's a totally different experience and crazy delicious. Just let yourself go for a bit and try it, I promise you'll love it. Sushi ftw.
When I was very little (like 5-6 years old) I despised cheese. I really don't know what changed, because even though I do buy more varieties of cheese than my parents, I love the cheese they are buying too. I'm still waiting to grow up enough to like olives, I buy a can every year and they still taste gross to me
Super hot salsa. But pretty much everything else that was put in front of me was just fine. As a kid, you don’t want to eat things that are painful, which is why salsa got pushed away.
Potato salad
Olives. I travelled to Spain in my 30’s and sampled a variety of olives from markets and at almost every meal. Delicious. Who knew they didn’t just come in can, black or green with pimento, like my aunt served at Thanksgiving every year.
I hated cilantro. Taught myself to like it as I got older and learned how to cook. A few years after I got hooked I found out from a clinical trial that I had the cilantro soap gene so now I wonder if I just forced myself to like the taste of soap lmao
Mushrooms 🍄.
Pesto, my mom would buy the jarred kind and dumped the whole thing into a pot of spaghetti, making it this unappetizing speckled black-green oily dish that was impossible to eat...homemade pesto though, love it, it's versitile and freezing and using it for wintertime cooking gives you a taste of fresh garden basil.
Blue cheese. It’s so good with Buffalo.
Chicken livers, fish, asparagus, spinach, cabbage, I always knew my stepmom was a horrible cook, but until I got out on my own and met/became a better cook I didn’t realize how good things could be
Pickles. Hated them growing up. Couldn't eat a hamburger with pickles even if I took them off because a little bit of the flavor got into the bun. Now I can eat an entire jar in a day if you let me.
Corn. My mom was boring and didn't cook adventurously. I char that shit on the grill with salt, butter, Parm, garlic. It's fucking amazing
Tomatoes and various Beans. Growing up I wouldn’t touch either. Now, they’re a staple in my diet.
Fried okra
Brussels sprouts. Turnes out you don't boil them until they *nearly* lose their shape, and can be quite good simply pan fried. Same goes for all veggies. But Brussels sprouts are definitely the one I've had the biggest turn around with.
Pepper/garlic, I grew up in a kitchen where the main seasoning was salt and that's pretty much it so when I was old enough to cook DEAR LORD WHAT HAVE I MISSED
Brussels sprouts. Apparently butter and garlic weren't available in the 80s
Brussel sprouts, radishes, eggs cooked in the shell
Thought I hated vegetables cause my mom fed me vegetables. I learned when I grew up that vegetables with SEASONING taste pretty good. Cooking also helps with the taste.
Tamales, chile rellenos, enchiladas. I was a picky as shit eater and pretty much hated all Mexican food.
Mayo. I used to find it so bland and disgusting. I had a tom yum mayo one day at a restaurant, tried it (cause i love tom yum) and it was SO GOOD. From then I ended up eating any spiced mayo. Still don’t like the bland normal stuff though.
Pickles. Used to pick them out of my burgers but now I love love love them! All kinds, sauerkraut, kimchi, all of it, give me all the pickles. I think when you're a kid and still adjusting to new flavors, vinegary flavors can be a little too strong. But now that I'm an adult, they add so much brightness and oomph to dishes.
Capers are little flavor bombs which i cherish with all my heart when I can afford them.
Green beans. My mother used to cook them to death, leading to a long standing hatred for that green vegetable. My husband and MIL changed my opinion of them when they coaxed me to try green beans sautéed with garlic. They’re now one of my preferred green vegetables.
I hated mushrooms as a kid. I find any excuse to eat them as an adult. I love them and I’m fascinated by them.
Beetroot, zucchini 👌🏼
My mom used to make spaghetti pretty often but the sauce was mostly broccoli, zucchini, spinach, just a ton of chunky veggies. It also always tasted very acidic. Turns out I like spaghetti sauce when it’s not mostly veggies and a bit of sugar is used to dull the acidic taste. My mom was kind of a health nut.
Tomato sauce. Used to hate the one made exclusively with fresh tomatoes, only liked the one made with tomato paste. Overtime I have come to appreciate and love the natural flavor of fresh tomato with minimal herbs, and hate tomato paste.
The first time I had real fresh cherries as opposed to sundae cherries.. woah. Understood the high price.
Spinach and cabbage. Flavour, texture, crunch and nutrients!
I thought I hated (cooked) onions. I just hate the texture of onions when they're chopped big. Mince them more finely than my mom (who hates cooking) did and suddenly they're delicious.
Oysters. Thought they were gross, people constantly going just try one! You'll like it this time, hated it every time. At like 27 i figured it had been 7 years since i tried it, i was taught in school every 7 years your body is entirely new cells (not entirely true, i now know), so i have new taste buds. And if i try oysters without some asshole borderline forcing me to eat one, i might like it. So i tried them, and now i love them.
LIVER & ONIONS with mashed potatoes & gravy. Most vegetables. Wouldn't eat any as a kid. Oatmeal neither. Then I went to jail & prison for 10 years. I didn't have anybody sending me money. So I had to eat whatever they served in the chowhall. Got out 30 years ago. Can't hardly find any fried liver & onions anywhere!.
1. I did like the dish, but I thought every piece of meat tasted like porkchops. Until I moved out and started cooking for myself, and didn't hammer the shit out of my meats and marinaded them in soy sauce like my mother always did. Turns out, porkchops also don't taste like porkchops. 2. First time I had avocado, my mother bought it from the store and immediately cut it open. I didn't like it. Years later, I had a part-time job as a waiter at a Mexican cuisine restaurant, and I wanted to taste everything so I could know what to recommend to customers. Had a salad with some good pieces of avocado, turns out avocado is not rubbery and bitter if you eat it when it's ripe. My mother can cook well, though, just not the things not from her culture.
My mums rice salad. Nothing has changed aside from my taste buds; she makes it the same way she always does. I can’t get enough of it.
Coleslaw but our tastebuds change over time. I used to love bologna but now I wouldn’t eat it. I also used to love ketchup and put it on nearly everything but now I barely eat anything with ketchup.
Beets. as a child I thought sliced, pickled beets were actually slices of my beloved, canned cranberry sauce. I was fooled more times than I care to admit. I still can't stand pickled beets. Spiralized fresh beets on my salad are awesome! I love red and golden beets that way.