Foods you hated as a kid and now you love

I was eating sautéed Brussels Sprouts this evening with my wife and remembered how I utterly despised them as a kid. I used to stuff them under my chair cushion or inside my pockets when my parents werent looking. I am 40 now and find them to be my favorite vegetable to eat, sometimes my wife and I will prepare them alone and enjoy them with a smoky glass of red wine.

Do you have any foods that you hated as a kid and now enjoy?

Why do you think the change?

Avocados... was I out of my mind back then?

And coffee... I didn't start drinking until my mid-30s. How did I live without it?

a reply to: okrian

Avocado here also. Yeah, we were crazy

Corn. Ugh. Gross. I hated it. I still kind of hate it, unless it's fresh on the cob.

originally posted by: In4ormant
Why do you think the change?

Your taste buds actually change as you age.

The number of taste buds decreases as you age. Each remaining taste bud also begins to shrink. Sensitivity to the 5 tastes often declines after age 60. In addition, your mouth produces less saliva as you age. This can cause dry mouth, which can affect your sense of taste.

Your sense of smell can also diminish, especially after age 70. This may be related to a loss of nerve endings and less mucus production in the nose. Mucus helps odors stay in the nose long enough to be detected by the nerve endings. It also helps clear odors from the nerve endings.

Certain things can speed up the loss of taste and smell. These include diseases, smoking, and exposure to harmful particles in the air.

More info here

a reply to: In4ormant

I remember as a kid I HATED white button mushrooms.
One day my parents were cooking something in the kitchen and I asked what they were making.
My Dad told me they were frying up some Chinese Carrots.

Of course they were little more than chopped up mushrooms. He eventually convinced me to try one and for the last 30 some years or so I've been a huge lover of white mushrooms.

I've also recently over the past few years come to love brussel sprouts and asparagus.

About the only thing I still hate from childhood to adulthood and never learned to like is Liver.

a reply to: ShadowLink

Asparagus here also. Still haven't grown fond of the sulphur smell that accompanies the bathroom break after though

Not a food, but water! as a kid and growing up I used to physically gip and have even thrown up trying to drink water, I just couldn't do it, tap, bottle it didn't matter, I couldn't do it. I drank fruit juice, cordial or fizzy pop and nothing else till my mid to late teens.

Now, I love water!

mushrooms, asparagus, children, brussel sprouts, spinach. . . .

a reply to: In4ormant

Apparently only some people have stinky wee after eating asparagus, it's a genetic thing.

a reply to: Cloudbuster

I was not aware!

Brussel sprouts like most here I use to loathe them but if cooked right can be delicious and cooked tomatoes but now I love a good ratatouille. Oh and parsnip which I still hated as an adult until eating organic ones ftom my dad's farm.

a reply to: In4ormant

When I was little they tasted like poop.

Now they taste like life.

I'm 40 now and still hate cooked carrots and boiled okra

Cabbage. I only eat them in eggrolls (thanks chinese restaurants), but as a kid, I would never go near that stuff. Oh and smother them in sweet `n sour... mmmmm

Funny thread.

My mother recently showed me a picture of me sitting at the kitchen table, sulking because i didnt want to eat my sesame seed bread roll , that i asked i asked them to buy me. I remember this whole incident very well. The bakery, the car journey, the dinner table etc.. I cried, i made a fuss, but for some reason, i just did not want to eat that bread. I guess i was about 6.

And today, i devour any bread like a crazy man, especially sesame seed rolls.

This happened 34 years ago when we were living in Saudi Arabia.

Tomatoes, asparagus, brussel sprouts, spinach, broccoli (raw only), mushrooms, shrimp

Things i still dont like green peas, carrots, cauliflower, canteloupe

I like all the personal stories people wrote. My only one is that my mom would make something called tamale pie that was neither tamales nor pie, but it did have corn amd black olives and a weird flavor. Hated that one! Though i was fine with the ingredients.

I read this earlier and have been thinking about this off and on since. I can't for the life of me, think of something I like now, that I didn't as a kid. I've always liked asparagus, spinach [ with a couple drops of vinegar ] turnip greens, cabbage, green beans, carrots [ cooked or raw ] beets, brussel sprouts,...All the things that kids are supposed to hate, but I didn't.
Go figure.
I even liked/still like, chicken liver. Fried of course, with a sprinkling of salt.

I hated milk as a kid.

Kinda still do.

Maybe I need to think about this more.

Most of things I swore as a kid I didn't like that I do now were mostly things I refused to even try. As I got older, I tried them and realized I did too like them. So I don't really count them.

I've always loved vegetables, both raw and cooked, although I've never been a big tomato fan.

And most of the things I really don't like, I still don't like.

Pizza is the weird one. I've sort of had a love/hate relationship with it over the course of my life. Hated it at first. Then I grew to love it. Now I'm back to it being sort of meh again. I think it has to do with the marinara because we have a local fresh fast chain that does olive oil and garlic instead of marinara if you want, and I still love THOSE pies.