Utterly and completely failed to acquire a taste for liver, shudder
Velveeta and onion sandwiches with lots of salt and pepper.
My father loves collard greens, as did my mother. I consider them suitable only for forcing confessions.
Sauerkraut. I mother made it at home and the house reeked. The process turned me and my brother away from it.
Thanks to my dad, I put salt on my watermelon. I have also learned from my dad that barbecue is pork, only pork, nothing but pork. And since he’s my dad, he’s right. 
My mother was English, so I never had any meat that wasn’t well-done until I was in college, when my now-husband introduced me to the wonder that is medium.
From my mom: garden-grown tomatoes, homemade pesto, fried chicken, wine, popcorn; most things loaded with cheese
Not picked up from my mom: liver (cooked any way - she loves deep fried the best); bland, creamy dishes made not for flavor but because they’re made with whole cream and butter (she loves decadence for decadence’s sake); hard alcohol
All my own: very, very strong coffee; any type of very spicy Asian food (if it doesn’t make your lips tingle, it isn’t cooked right); cookies
Acquired: Salmon, very sharp cheddar, spicy food, shrimp, gumbo (dad). Also fresh green beans, onions, and sausage on pizza. Also an irrational love of pickles (mom).
Did not acquire: Coffee from both. Liverwurst-type things and pea soup from my mom. Anchovies from my dad. My mom’s also a major chocolate fiend, and I can take it or leave it.
Kind of acquired: We didn’t have fruit growing up, and so it’s really weird for me to buy and eat it. Especially fresh. I’ve had to force myself to buy it recently. Some are easy, but I’ve yet to figure out how to get good peaches and pears. We also never had regular soda and didn’t have sugar cereal (Frosted Flakes, Fruity Pebbles, etc) until I was nine or ten. I don’t drink regular soda, and I can handle sugar cereal maybe once or twice a year as a special treat.
Not acquired from my Dad: Tripe! I’ve only eaten it once, cooked by a Portugese friend in a spicy tomato sauce & it was OK, but I’m certainly not going to cook it for myself.
Blackball candy. I don’t know how anyone can like these - & I’ve never met anyone under 65 who does!
From both parents: Schnapper & terakihi. I thought I hated all salt water fish cause thats what was usually caught & served at our house. Those are actually pretty much the only 2 I don’t like.
Acquired from my Mum: Drinking my coffee & tea unsweetened.
From both parents - I ate gherkins & olives as a preschooler. Still do, but that is unusual for a NZ child.
As a kid, I hated anything that had spices in it…Pepper, Hot Sauce, Old Bay…ect.
As an Adult, I dislike anything **without **proper seasoning…Pepper, Hot Sauce, Old Bay…ect.
As a kid, I hated full grain rice, loved minute rice.
As and Adult, I never once used that crap called rice you make in minutes.
Things I liked as a kid but never made as an adult.
7 bean salad, Kale n vinegar, Pearl onions n cream sauce, sweet potato w/marshmallows, fried green tomatoes and other weird stuff you get at family Holiday parties.
As a kid, I didn’t care for anything too much out of the ordinary.
As and Adult, I’d Die for liver n onions, artichokes, almost anything wrapped in bacon…even bacon.
Hate 2 things Turnups and Peas (early peas get a pass, and so does pea soup).
I can deal with Eggplant only in the Parmesan form cooked thin n crispy.
So, my tastes are the same just much much broader on a world cuisine scale.
…making me hungry -.-
I acquired at least 95% of my food preferences from my parents: properly cooked traditional Southern foods. Grits and cornbread (never sweetened, of course!), pork in all of its glorious forms (except organ meats,) greens (without the traditional condiment of pepper vinegar, which most of my family just didn’t eat, for whatever reason,) garden-fresh tomatoes, homemade biscuits, and practically anything fresh from the garden, really fresh seafood - especially shrimp and oysters, and a wide variety of game - from venison to quail to frog legs. Also, from my mother, I seem to have inherited a tendency to dislike foods based on texture, rather than taste. For example, I like the taste of onions, but can’t stand the “squeaks in your mouth” texture of raw or undercooked onions.
The tastes that I don’t share with my parents: Liverwurst, pickle loaf, pimiento cheese - or any other food with jarred pimientos, any sort of dish that includes egg yolk as a “primary” flavor/texture (over-easy eggs, or prepared salads with boiled eggs,) sweet pickles, or my father’s fishing trip standbys: tinned sardines or Vienna sausages. Or, for that matter, any sort of canned fish - tuna, salmon, etc.
Tastes that I acquired on my own: Unlike most of my family, I like spicy foods. I adore fresh tuna, salmon, and sardines, even though I can’t abide the canned varieties. I also like different preparation methods than my parents. My father famously met my mother when she was a waitress, and he ordered a T-bone steak, “lightly burnt.” I don’t eat beefsteak around most of my family members, because they tend to gag at the sight of my very, very rare sirloin or t-bone… I’m a lot more adventurous than my parents, also. I’ll gladly try new foods and cuisines, and have learned how much I love everything from escargot to pho.
With my own kids, I see a similar evolution of individual tastes. My 12-year-old son is the most adventuresome eater on the planet. He eats the spiciest of spicy foods, and I’ve never once introduced him to a food that he refused to try. My 9-year-old daughter, on the other hand, isn’t exactly “picky,” but she has very definite ideas about what foods she will pair up. She doesn’t dislike butter, for example, but she doesn’t want butter on her pancakes or waffles; similarly, she doesn’t want gravy on most starches - potatoes, rice, etc. Kind of weird, but good for her in the long run, right?
Acquired: hot (Chinese) mustard, horseradish, a good crispy brussels sprout, smoked fish.
Not really, or not at all: sauerkraut, blood sausage, head cheese, fava beans, buttermilk or kefir.
My grandfather used to give me dates, and they were ok, but they always reminded me of cockroaches (not that we had any in the house or anything… come to think of it, maybe cockroaches remind me of dates).
I always wanted to try the flaming benedictine shots my dad and his artist buddies used to drink, but I’m a bit too scared of torching my insides. Always liked the smell, though.
Liver. Yuk.
I was a notoriously picky eater as a child, so it’s amazing I acquired any tastes.
Acquired: Bloody rare beef, cornbread without sugar and the same in cornbread stuffing, unsweetened tea
Not acquired: Reheated leftover meat. i’m sure this was a necessity rather than a preference, but I loathe it nonetheless.
There are a lot of things I wouldn’t eat as a child but now long for, like fried green tomatoes with pan gravy made with evaporated milk.
Jamicat, I love Minute Rice. My dad used to eat it for breakfast with milk and sugar. It’s not real rice. It is what it is. NOM! I could eat a lot of it, with loads of butter and salt. Fortunately, my son has become an incredible rice snob and won’t eat anything but basmati.
My mom hates black olives due to a childhood incident with them. I never liked them, and I never had such an incident. My dad loves mustard. I mean LOVES mustard. I love mustard so much I’ll crave it and make a piece of toast just to slather mustard on it.
NOT from Mom and Grandma: Head cheese. Any recipe that begins, “Take one pig’s head,” is naturally suspect, but when properly prepared (by Mexicans, not Bohunks)) cheek meat and tongue are yummy. It’s when chunks of them are suspended in a vinegar aspic (thickeners from the skin and bones) it’s disgusting. Okay, if I’d managed to clear out of the house early enough, maybe it’d be edible, but being in the house while it was prepared killed any desire to eat it. Ditto for Grandma’s Bohemian lutefisk, which she made for Grandpa. Smelled it and knew the guy–it required a trip to the bar to be edible.
My parents were “recovering” vegetarians when I was growing up, so I was never accustomed to a meal of meat, starch, veggie, bread on a plate until high school. We ate tofu a lot (mostly in stir-frys or prepared cacciatore), and we always had “real” food - wheat bread, cheddar cheese, whipped cream, mayonnaise, leaf lettuce, sliced deli meats - instead of the processed versions. Lots of fruits and veggies. Only properly cooked rice - no instant stuff. We were exposed to ethnic foods fairly young - Chinese, Japanese, Indian, Greek - so I’ll try pretty much anything once.
One of the most horrifying “meals” I ever saw prepared as a child was my best friend’s little brother’s favorite sandwich: baloney, Kraft singles, and Miracle Whip on Wonder bread. It was the total opposite of my ideal sandwich: roast beef, leaf lettuce, fresh sliced tomato, and cheddar cheese on whole wheat.
Both my biological parents and their new partners have all loved local freshwater fish (catfish, crappie, shit like that). I can’t stand it. Yuck yuck yuck yuck yuck.
Mommahomie made me eat vegetable soup (specifically, her dad’s recipe) day in and day out for years. Today I won’t go near the stuff.
Both my dad and my stepdad loved their beer. I don’t like beer.
I did, however, pick up a taste for coffee (my dad and stepdad both love it, mom can’t stand it). The dads like theirs black, I like mine with cream & sugar.
My mother taught us to eat cottage cheese sprinkled with sugar and American cheese on our banana bread. When I’ve mentioned these combinations in the past to people it seems those aren’t common food tastes.
One weird one I didn’t pick up is her love of cheese and jam sandwiches. I really didn’t get that one until I made a PB&J with cheese for my Grandpa. I guess she picked it up from her parents.
The folks were from PA and grew up during the Depression.
I like the sauerkraut now, but I can’t handle the thought of eating scrapple, which they loved.
I like virtually all types of fish; they like the “biggies” - salmon, tuna, haddock.
They LOVE steak. T-bone or Filet only, and every week. I can only have a tiny 3-4 oz portion or I’ll pass out from all of the fat, and I only have it when I’m with them.
They’re all somewhat lactose deficient. So am I, but they buy the Lactaid, while I’ll take a pill.
They’re perfectly happy eating 75% of their veggies frozen.
They adore bananas and apples. The two major fruits I loathe are bananas and apples.
They’re content to eat most of their food sweetened with Stevia or high fructose corn syrup (cereals, etc), and I prefer plain sugar.
They drink a pot of coffee each morning (a large 12 cup one) and a decaf one every night. Brewed absurdly strong. They (sincerely) do the “ahhhhh” and smile stupidly, like in commercials after their first sip.
Ahh, the biggest thing - they spice everything as though it’s their last day. While I enjoy my food very spicy, I have learned that not everything is a race to burn my tongue off.
What I did acquire was not so much a type of food but a type of restaurant, from my mother. While they’re solidly upper middle class and country club members, I distinctly remember going to many a dive growing up that had the “best fried fish” or the “best gyro” or the best whatever in town. Perhaps the band was ear-shattering, or the smoke from the bar wafted over, but if it had good food, we went. I still do this, but am even more adventurous than they are.