One thing I was sure I knew was FALSE when I was younger is TRUE!

[thefed]

I was a picky eater as a kid and didnt like lots of things....lettuce, mushrooms, certain veggies, the smell of tea, sour cream etc. My mom and dad told me I'd 'grow into it'. Yeah right....if it's gross it's gross.

Well, low and behold, plenty of those foods I was POSITIVE I'd never eat by choice are some of my favorites.

The concept of acquired tastes is wierd to me. Buuut, I guess its no difference than maturing mentally, emotionally, physically etc....

 

[Orchidflower]

More amazing to me is the way your body chemistry changes the effect certain foods have on you. For instance, I thought it was just hilarious at 15 to eat garlic all over my steak, go to my girlfriends house and say "helllllooooo" so she had to breathe it. Go figure on that one. I was 15. Guess that's funny at 15.
Anyway, now if I were to eat garlic I'd be sick as a dog...and gassy as all get-out.
There have been other foods that have affected me totally different now that I'm older, too.
Several foods I used to love or hate have flipped places on me as I aged (things I loved now make nauseous or things I hated I like now).

As for food choices, I hated cheese as a kid and now love it. Loved chocolate milk as a youth and now not particularly at all.

 

[WhoDaresWins]

I used to eat more sweets, particularly ice cream, but my tastes now run more to the savory. I think that I had ice cream only twice this summer, both times when served it during a gathering.

 

[Goonie]

....My mom and dad told me I'd 'grow into it'. Yeah right....if it's gross it's gross.

Well, low and behold, plenty of those foods I was POSITIVE I'd never eat by choice are some of my favorites.....

I heard the same song and dance from my folks when I was a kid..."oh, someday your tastes will change and you'll love it!" Heard that every time we had liver for supper...every time! So about 10-12 years ago, I was on a trip in Texas and went to a 'Luby's Cafeteria' for lunch. Their special of the day was liver. So I thought, "OK...I haven't eaten that cr*p since I was a kid (and hated it!), so I'll try it just to see if my taste has changed". In a word..."NO!"....in several words...it still tasted just as nasty and disgusting as I remembered it to be. So I tossed the liver in the trash, and I went back up and grabbed some fried chicken!

There were only 2 things that I hated the taste of as a kid. The first was obviously liver, and the other was fried hog brains....BLECH!!!! My Dad, on the other hand, absolutely LOVED both of those things, and so I endured them for many years.

If given the opportunity, I would try the fried hog brains again, just to determine if my taste may have changed regarding them. I'm guessing "no".....

 

[happy2bretired]

The only thing I can remember not really liking as a kid was eggs. Every time I would eat them I would get rotten egg burps... The same stupid burps I would get just before I threw up. So for a long time I associated eggs with that burp. No burps now...I eat eggs.

 

[W2R]

There were several foods that I did not like as a child. I had a strict upbringing and was required to eat them anyway. As a result, eventually I learned to like them and ended up liking nearly everything. Perhaps as a result, I have struggled with my weight all my adult life.

My mother served liver once a week when I was growing up. I like it now, of course.

 

[Orchidflower]

Goonie, if you don't like Luby's liver and onions then give it up as you'll never like liver and onions: Luby's has the best in America! Good--more for me!

W2R: OMG! My Greek side are all emotional eaters and all of us were forced to eat waaaaaay past the point we were full. We all have weight problems, too!
I swore I would never do that to my son, didn't and he has always been the perfect weight for his height, too. Wish my mother had done the same then maybe I wouldn't be up and down and up and down all the time with my weight.
Oprah has nothing on me with that emotional eating. I swear it's a curse.

I can say that the older I get the more I want raw vegetables over (gasp!) good stuff like ice cream and pies. What's wrong with me lately (ha!) See? Tastes change.

 

[Bestwifeever]

My parents also insisted we eat everything on our plates before we could leave the table, but unlike W2R, I never learned to like the things I didn't want to eat back then (and spent many lonely nights sitting all alone at the table looking at ice-cold spaghetti or meatloaf or tuna casserole, swallowing whole bites without chewing).

Never insisted my kids eat anything other than urging them to try a little bite of it. DS eats almost everything today, including the foods I won't, while DD is a vegetarian. She never did like the taste of meat (except bacon but she doesn't eat that anymore either).

 

[vicente solano]

I´m like Bestwifeever. I can´t think of anything I like now that really didn´t like then. What worries me is that some of the things I liked then I don´t now. Getting more and more frugal.

 

[harley]

I was a very picky eater as a kid. I ate huge quantities, but from a very limited menu. But we were taught that if someone offered you food you ate it, and you smiled and thanked them! So I learned to eat different things as my social circle and experiences grew as I got older. And now I will try pretty much anything once. Some of my favorite foods are things I would never have touched if left on my own, but ended up trying at others' suggestion (tripe, sushi, eggplant, bean soups, certain dim sum items, etc). I decided back in my 30s that if someone else ate it it wouldn't kill me, so I'd give it a try. I've eaten many strange things that I won't try again (fish heads, chicken feet), but at least my decision is based on taste, not preconception.

And Orchidflower, I've recently taken to slicing up a clove of raw garlic and putting it into my salad. I love the taste, and I think it's helpful in avoiding colds. No digestive problems at all! Luckily, DW likes garlic too and the smell isn't an issue.

 

[ksr]

I So about 10-12 years ago, I was on a trip in Texas and went to a 'Luby's Cafeteria' for lunch. Their special of the day was liver. So I thought, "OK...I haven't eaten that cr*p since I was a kid (and hated it!), so I'll try it just to see if my taste has changed". In a word..."NO!"....in several words...it still tasted just as nasty and disgusting as I remembered it to be. So I tossed the liver in the trash, and I went back up and grabbed some fried chicken!

This brought back a strong memory for me! I, too, hated (despised) liver as a kid, but was told I had to eat it because it was good for me. I can still remember my disgust at trying to eat it. Finally, I actually gagged while trying to take a bite and I was given a pass on eating the stuff from that day forward.

When I was in college I worked as a waitress and had to serve liver & onions. I could barely stand to smell it on the tray as I delivered it to the table.

To this day, I've never eaten it again. That just ain't happening.

W2R, that is interesting that being required to eat certain foods caused you to like most everything. I also had a strict upbringing and could only eat at certain times, and had to try everything. This resulted in my deciding that when I "grew up", I was going to eat whatever I wanted whenever I wanted. And so, although I have managed to keep my weight constant, I have the bad habit of snacking whenever I want to.

 

[WhoDaresWins]

I was very thin as a teenager so my Mom took me to the family doctor who ordered liver weekly. I don't think he ever checked to see if I was anemic or anything like that. Fortunately, both parents could cook great calves liver with onions and I liked it. I adore chopped chicken livers. I don't believe I have seen liver in the stores recently, but then again, I have not gone looking for it. When visiting friends in NoVA recently, we bought some chopped liver at Wegman's and scarfed it up as an appetizer on Melba toast.

 

[Moemg]

My Mother loves dessert and growing up we had dessert at lunch & dinner . Now I never eat dessert . In fact I really do not like cakes or cookies or most desserts .

 

[ksr]

In fact I really do not like cakes or cookies or most desserts .

I wish I didn't!! Desserts like that are my undoing

 

[Orchidflower]

If I ate sliced raw garlic like Harley the sounds coming from me and probably smells would drive you away from the table..ha! No can do.

I'm surprised so many of us had to eat everything that was put on our plate. I, too, had to sit and eat cold spaghetti or whatever until it was gone and way past my point of hunger. I thought it was cruel then, and think it is cruel now. What was the point of it other than the parent exerting control? I consider it one of the reasons I have had lifetime battles with weight.
And, to make it worse, my stepfather had just married my mother when I was 4 and he insisted on fixing my plate. My mother said he piled food on like I was an adult, so doubly-resent having had to sit and eat cold food past my fill. Probably did nothing except set-up a lifetime battle for control between the 3 of us on some level is my guess.

However, I do like just about every food there is. Some preferences, but in a pinch will eat everything today.

 

[Orchidflower]

HARLEY: What do fish heads and chicken feet taste like? How do you eat them? Don't the chicken's claws get caught in your throat (ha!)?

 

[harley]

Some things are nearly undescribable! Both of these items were eaten at Chinese New Years luncheons at w*rk. I have trouble not accepting a dare. Maybe another reason to be glad I'm FIREd.

The chicken feet were on the dim sum cart. They were steamed and had some kind of meat bundled in the claws, and were covered with a black bean sauce. They tasted like steamed meat in black bean sauce, with a chewy, gooey wrapper. Not so much flavor as texture. Sort of like squid without the fish flavor. Truly not bad, but I'm not going to search it out.

The fish heads were deep fried and covered in a red chile sauce. Actually, these were pretty good. Very crunchy, and definitely fishy tasting. Some of the parts were a little too crunchy, . Fish gill slits and fish lips! Again, it wasn't bad, but there are so many other better foods out there I think I'll just cherish the experience in my memory from this point on.

 

[Goonie]

Goonie, if you don't like Luby's liver and onions then give it up as you'll never like liver and onions: Luby's has the best in America! Good--more for me!

I will readily admit that Luby's was, in fact, by far the best liver that I had ever eaten.....but it was still pretty nasty tasting to me!

My parents also insisted we eat everything on our plates before we could leave the table, but unlike W2R, I never learned to like the things I didn't want to eat back then (and spent many lonely nights sitting all alone at the table looking at ice-cold spaghetti or meatloaf or tuna casserole, swallowing whole bites without chewing).

Been there, done that! Many times I sat there alone for hours trying to gag liver down. Thank God for Heinz 57!!! Liver always took about a half of a bottle to get down the hatch!

...And Orchidflower, I've recently taken to slicing up a clove of raw garlic and putting it into my salad. I love the taste, and I think it's helpful in avoiding colds. No digestive problems at all! Luckily, DW likes garlic too and the smell isn't an issue.

I've always liked munching on garlic! In fact I was out planting a batch a little over a week ago, and popped a clove in my mouth while I was planting the rest!

 

[Walt34]

Green peas. Loathed them when I was ten and still do. If forced to eat them I'd swallow them like pills, but once sat at the table for two hours refusing to eat them. On other occasions I got bailed out because my dog liked them and I could sneak them to him under the table.

I did change my mind on lettuce and a couple of other veggies, but I make a point to eat them more because I know I should than out of preference. Given my druthers I'd stick to meat and potatoes.

 

[Orchidflower]

Good grief, Walt34, you're such a "guy!" Meat and potatoes and no sides? If I didn't know you were in WV, I'd think you were from the Midwest.

 

[Dawg52]

My mother served liver once a week when I was growing up. I like it now, of course.

I didn't like it then, don't eat it now.

But other than that, I have always liked most things. Not much has changed over the years.

 

[Keim]

Girls.

When I was 5 I was certain I'd never like them. They were yucky.

Sometimes change is very good.

 

[Fireup2020]

I have heard your taste buds "change" every seven years or so. I still DETEST green bell peppers!! Mom's green pepper casserole and stuffed bell peppers are as horrific as anyone else's! My brother got out of eating broccoli forever when he yakked it all over the kitchen table during dinner. That taught them! He still does not do broccoli! I do eat onions and eggs as an adult. But, I don't have to drink milk, or not eat all the fruit anymore!

 

[megacorp-firee]

I am one of those people that read the menu and order the ostrich steak or alligator bits. I have always been adventurous in my eating. Traveling around the world has helped me feed this quirk of mine.

I like:
liver (of all types, chicken, pork, calves, beef, fish, ...etc)
brains
sweetbreads
kidneys
fish heads
chicken feet
pigs feet
head cheese
eels
sushi
kimchi
alligator
kangaroo
scorpions
grasshoppers
... what have I missed?

 

[Goonie]

I am one of those people that read the menu and order the ostrich steak or alligator bits. I have always been adventurous in my eating. Traveling around the world has helped me feed this quirk of mine.....

Hey, I'm with you! I'll try just about anything once...not that I'll always try it again! But I like most things that I've tried ('cept liver & brains...liver due to taste, and brains mostly due to texture...or lack thereof). I do find many things are "OK", but I prefer to eat more of what I like rather than what is just "OK".

BTW...I have ostrich burger in the frij even as I type this....love ostrich! Also love 'gator and crawfish...and escargot.....geez, now I'm hungry again! Dang it!

I was with a group of friends several years ago in very poor area of a 3rd world country, and on our way back to his place after lunch, he asked if I'd ever eaten monkey. I said I hadn't, and he said that he'd bet money on it that I had! Sometimes ignorance is bliss, although whatever it was that I ate that day was certainly good....strangely though I developed a craving for bananas!