A couple things for me. One is sushi. The first time I tried it, it was awful and I barely got through two pieces. I later learned that it was just crappy sushi made by someone who didn’t know how to make it properly. The second time I tried it, I liked it a lot more but the flavor of the seaweed was a little weird. Now, I love a good mixed veggie roll (lots of wasabi please!).
Another is those Oskri coconut bars. I normally like coconut, but I tried one of those bars once and thought it was bland and dry. Who knows if I got an old bar or what, but a couple days ago I got an inking to try another. I did, and liked it a lot.
Just pretend that says inkling. Or you can imagine me getting a tattoo of a coconut and suddenly getting a craving for an Oskri bar. :smack:
I don’t think I ever had an aversion to veggies. In fact I used to be quite fond of lima beans and considered it a treat if my mom served them with dinner. But then, I was a weird kid. I used to drink vinegar, too. Don’t ask me why, because I can’t remember or even figure out for the life of me why I liked it that much.
I never liked fish. I liked tuna fish sandwiches, I liked dep fried, breaded, shrimp but never could really stomach fish it until I started trying it in a foreign “handling” and freshness in Germany and Greece at around 16 years old. Started tasting it at fish fries occasionally in America and finally developed a real taste in my Food and Bev experience sampling exceptional recipes and more variety around 20.
Now I really have a deep appreciation amd taste for seafood.
I have a general abhorrence of vegetables which become “slimy” or “squishy” when cooked: eggplant, zuchini & summer squash (okay fried, but no other way), cooked carrots, cooked peppers (except on a steak sandwhich) and until recently, mushrooms.
Lately mushrooms have been growing on me. Not for any particular reason, and I still wouldn’t consider a portabella mushroom on a bun very appetizing, but they’ve gone in my mind from being “barely edible” through “just okay” all the way to “pretty good” in the last 5 years or so.
Olives I used to hate as early as last year - Safeway got an olive cart put in where you can get the olives you like from bulk containers, and I used to hate even the smell nearby. Over about a month for no reason at all I suddenly started to like them. Yummy jalapeno-stuffed olives…
Asparagus. I discovered that asparagus, that soggy canned mess from my childhood is really great when fresh, and grilled or stir fried. Now I have it about twice a week.
The cloest I can think of is beer. And it’s not so much that when i started drining it I didn’t like beer, jsut not the cheap, nasty, swill beers that were all around me. Once I started having good beer, I found that it can be enjoyable.
Of course, not that my distaste for cheap beer led to me drinking less of it…far from it. I mean, c’mon people, that ping pong ball ain’t gonna get itself in that cup!
All forms of alcohol. I am 26 and just started “drinking” about 4 months ago. All alcohol tasted nasty to me and made me queasy. For some reason, it doesn’t taste bad to me anymore. I actually like some beer, whiskey and scotch. I still can’t stand wine or champagne. I dislike most sweet (mixed) drinks.
But, I now go to a bar at least once a week to hang out with two friends from work. Normally, I’d just have soda. Not anymore. Of course, I still can’t stand the feeling of being even mildly buzzed so I don’t drink a lot.
As for actual food, my tastes seem to be trending opposite to the point of this thread. I haven’t gained any new interests in food. If anything, I’m realizing how much I hate food in general. It’s very common for me to just have cereal (bland) or a peanut butter sandwich for lunch and dinner (no breakfast - eating too early makes me queasy). I’ll sometimes have a hot dog for lunch. Most foods either gross me out or just don’t interest me. I’ve also mostly lost my taste for sweets and I used to have a massive sweet tooth.
diet soda. I used to think it was awful. Now I live on it.
Raw veggies and fruits. As a kid, I usually got a lukewarm bruised apple or banana or overripe orange with my school lunch and I never ate it. raw veggies were mostly in salads and only good if they were swiming in ranch dressing. Now I love fruit, skip the dressing, and eat lots of things raw. Who needs potato chips when you have cucumber slices?
Another new olive-lover, here. I remember trying them as a child and just wincing at the taste if I touched one with the tip of my tongue. Oh, it was very daring to do so, you see. They were so nasty. I could never put them in my mouth.
I don’t remember the circumstances that led me to try them again, but it was several years ago now, and I love them. All of them. Black ones, ones with the pits in ‘em, those lil’ green ones with the pimento inside. All good.
Also, until a couple of years ago, I hated all seafood (except canned tuna, mixed with mayonaisse, on white bread only… anything else was nasty). I especially loathed lobster. For some reason, I decided to try a little, teensy, tiny bite of a friend’s lobster roll. I was shocked. Suddenly I couldn’t get enough of the stuff. I was stopping at every seafood restaurant in my area, trying out their lobster rolls. I love lobster now, not just in rolls. I’ll just eat it out of the shell, no butter or sauces needed. YUM!
I also love haddock, salmon, scallops… and that’s about it. I still don’t care much for crab, cod is just okay, and I still loathe clams. Shrimp must be battered and small. NO, wait! Unless it’s that coconut shrimp! Oh dear god. That stuff is to. die. for. I had some last year with some kind of orange marmalade dip… drool
I’ve got a craving for coconut shrimp, now. Gallbladder comes out next week! Lookout shrimps! Here I come!
I was the same way about seafood, too. I changed when my family was at a relative’s house and we had fried shrimp and some vegetables. I hate most vegetables, and these weren’t the kind I’d eat. I tried a shrimp in desperation. It was good! Now if it swims in the sea, it’s not really safe from me. I have a mad craving for scallops right now.
I finally like crawfish, but I still can’t peel the boiled ones myself. Someone handed me one once, and I panicked and threw it across the table. It felt like a bug. I was so embarrassed.
I have a confession to make. I’m 62 years old and I had never taken a bite of cooked cabbage until January 30. It always smelled so horrid when it was cooking!
While visiting an assisted care facility, I decided to try a bite of it. It didn’t taste anything like I thought it would! It was sweet with a pleasant consistency. I ate all of it. I’ve wasted all these years…
I used to hate asparagus until I found out it didn’t grow in a can. Steam those veggies gently! Add a little homemade dressing or sauce!
You know, I like crawfish, too, and one of the fellows my husband works with was so sweet and sent some home for me to eat one day when he found out I liked them. (My husband hates them). So I had this big bowl of beautiful crawfish… and I couldn’t bring myself to peel them. Lobster is one thing; they’re so darn big. It’s still a little awkward and weird, but I don’t feel like I’m eating a bug. The crawfish, though… they were so small. And kinda crawly-looking. I couldn’t do it. I kept putting them back in the fridge, and my husband would ask if I’d eaten them yet. No, not yet…
Eventually, I had to throw them away. They were probably bad by then and shouldn’t be eaten. But when my husband came home, he asked if I’d eaten them, and I just didn’t have the heart to admit I couldn’t do it. So I said, “Oh yes! MMMMMMM, they were sooooo good! Please thank [co-worker] for me!”
I’m a beast. Thankfully, his co-worker never did send anymore home. Whew.
They had such tiny eyes! And all those little legs! Eeeeerg! I’m such a Princess Poofypants when it comes to my food - if it still looks like the animal it started out as, I just can’t, I just can’t!
I have a mad craving for scallops right now.
Thankfully, his co-worker never did send anymore home. Whew.