While reading another thread, a poster’s comment reminded me how far I had come from my childhood days where all meat in our household was cooked well-done. It wasn’t until my first marriage, after years of gentle (and sometimes not-so-gentle) teasing from my wife and in-laws, that I became willing to try different levels of done. Now, I’m not sure I’d even touch a well-done steak.
I’ve also developed a taste for a lot of other foods that I didn’t like as a child (or even a young adult). Sushi being probably the most easily identifiable. Honestly, I think I just wasn’t exposed to a ton of different foods as a kid, and that made it hard for me to adjust as an adult.
So what do you identify as things you wouldn’t touch as a kid that you now love?
I hated orange juice as a kid but now I love it. Started drinking it for some reason when I was 15.
When I was little (well, up to age 22) I ate junk food and candy all the time. Now I can’t even look at sugary food without getting a headache and nauseus. Pop makes me feel sick too. I used to drink pop every day.
One day out of curiosity I decided to try a forkful of green peas just to see if my taste had changed since becoming an adult. HELL NO IT HAD NOT. Ew.
Many vegetables, I used to dislike, but now like. Green beans and squash come to mind. Nor is this for the usual reason why people dislike veggies: My mom knows and knew how to cook them properly (i.e., not reduced to mush). I still dislike asparagus, but I think that’s the only veggie I don’t like now.
Going the other way, I’m far less salt-tolerant than I used to be. At one time, a packet of instant ramen was a typical meal for me. Now, I don’t even think I could choke it down.
The change on both salt and squash happened well into adulthood, at somewhere around the age of 30.
All sorts of things as a kid. No tomatoes, onions, black pepper, bell peppers, scrambled eggs (boiled was OK), corn off the cob.
I’ll eat just about anything now. One think that I don’t care much for, though is sweet condiments. I don’t mind sweet foods, but I don’t care for syrup and honey. Also not so fond of ketchup anymore, although I will still use it. I’ve eaten my share of canned pastas, too, (and probably will in the future), but their tomato sauce is sweeter than I would care for, so it will be sparingly.
Can’t say anything has changed because I loved a wide variety of foods from an early age (I was an early 'foodie). If anything, I have long ago turned against boxed, packaged, and canned convenience foods, and many sweets, we were fed as children. Spaghetti-Os, pudding and jello, Campbell’s soup, Ho-Hos/Twinkies/grocery store cake. No. No, thank you.
I swear I used to love butterscotch, but it tastes rancid now.
I don’t think I’ve ever disliked mango, but I can’t get enough of it now. Maybe the memories of warm capri-sun being far behind me helps.
Also ditto olives. Seeing those featured prominently in Domino’s pizza ads really put me off their product (we were more of a PizzaHut household, anyway)
That’s the only one I could think of myself. I never really had much in the way of food aversions, but I didn’t really like olives. I mean, I wouldn’t pick them out of a dish or anything, but I never understood the folks who actively snacked on them. Then one day, I started enjoying black olives for some reason, and then a few years later, I was able to really enjoy green olives, too, to the point that I in general prefer green olives to black.
I went from rather picky in childhood (meat, potatoes, other ‘white’ foods) to a little better in HS and college, to being willing to try nearly anything, and enjoy a lot of it.
I remember that I never wanted pepperoni on pizza when I was a kid, for fear that it would be too spicy. I still am crazy sensitive to even the smallest bit of heat, but pepperoni I can take.
I also grew up with a parent who liked (likes) rock-hard, dried out meats. When I started working in a restaurant in my late teens, I figured it all out. I still don’t like to eat meat much but at least when I do it’s enjoyable.
Other than pepperoni and better meat, I don’t think my tastes have changed much since I was a kid. I have learned to put a name on it though - I am super sensitive to bitter and there are a lot of things I won’t eat or drink because of it. I’m probably worse now since I quit smoking!
I guess I’m fortunate in that I ate anything as a kid and still do.
I wouldn’t go out of my way and order liver, for example, in a restaurant or anything. If it was provided at a meal though, no problem.
Strangely, olives were the one thing that tasted very bitter and sour as a kid. They still taste that way, but I’ve grown to appreciate the taste. I mean, I disliked them till I was a teenager maybe, and they were suddenly good.
Mum used to make one meal. And it wasn’t a question of eat it or don’t eat supper; it was a question of “you are bloody well going to eat what’s on your plate.”
I find I cannot tolerate sweets as much as I used to. I have tried to have much smaller portions of sweets when served, or just skip them altogether. The worst idea for me is chololate-dipped fruit. Ugh. Fresh fruits of any kind, served sans chocolate, are fine, tho.
I used to hate Mexican food as a kid. It probably had to do with the type of restaurant my parents took us to - they were usually those old, dark, no windows kind, with the sticky furniture. The portions were mammoth, meaty, too spicy, and I just could not enjoy that. As a young adult, I was introduced to the taqueria, with light, quick, tasty meals with fresh ingredients and the salsa bar, and became a lover of Mexican food - as in “where has this awesomeness been all my life?” Getting exposed to that made me more open to trying other types of tasty, fresh food, like Vietnamese, and Thai, which I was not exposed to at all as a child.
Similarly, there was a lot of food I didn’t eat because I was never exposed to it. I grew up in a household that had deep Southern roots, so it was either southern cooking or the occasionally drive-through burger. I don’t think I ever ate at a Japanese restaurant until I was in my early 20s, and even then, it took quite some time before I’d order anything other than teriyaki chicken.
Now, Thai and Indian are very high on my list of favorites.
As a kid I loved Swiss cheese and ate it all the time. As an adult I avoid it except when paired with pastrami.
Conversely, I hated Tomatoes until my 30s. Now while I don’t love them, I eat them and like them.
Growing up I avoided Steak. I would order the chicken dish at steak houses. In my 20s it was like a switch got flipped and I couldn’t get enough steak. Still love it but I’m more picky as to the quality of it now.