As I sit here drinking a huge mug of Earl Grey tea, it occurs to me that I used to hate Earl Grey (although I was a tea drinker many years before I was a coffee drinker). But now I love it. Same goes for coffee, in fact; I never drank it until a few years after college, because I couldn’t stand the taste (and I went to college in Greenwich Village, home of wonderful old cafes, and most of my friends were coffee-loving Europeans and Latin Americans, so it wasn’t a question of bad coffee). Somehow I got through all those research papers and exam-cramming all-nighters on herbal tea and ice water.
On the other hand, when I wa a kid I used to sneak sips of beer out of people’s glasses at parties, but now I can’t stand the stuff, no matter what kind of beer it is or how hot it is outside. Believe me, I wish I liked beer; it would make a lot of social situations much simpler (ever try ordering red wine when going to a concert at most bars? It generally tastes like tree bark, so I stick to soda and get lots of funny looks). So I’ve managed to un-acquire that taste as an adult.
Hmmm, other acquired tastes: I can’t figure out why anyone would eat vobla (Russian dried fish). Eeeew. But I did manage to acquire a taste for beets. And de-acquire one for black olives, after eating an entire can of them and getting violently ill. And I can certainly deal with spicy foods much better than a few years ago.
So what tastes have you acquired/de-acquired? Are you glad, or do you have regrets?
I am much less picky about food and drink than I was when I was younger. My mother was limited in the cuisine she made (though what she made, she made well), so it wasn’t until I was an adult that I tried exotic ethnic foods.
Things I started to like in the last 5 years:
–Coffee: I too got through college sans caffeine, though now I cannot imagine how. I am primarily a tea drinker but I do like me some good coffee these days.
–Greens: Used to hate 'em because my mom only made spinach, and mushy at that. I like spinach now, raw, as well as collards and kale. I’ve even given broccolirabe a try, and it’s not as terrible as I thought. They are not really kid foods, though.
–Soy products: used to think they were gross, but now that I’m a vegetarian, they’ve grown on me.
I’ve deacquired tastes for things mostly due to acid reflux: raw garlic is out, and so are certain spicy foods.
Cigars, I started smoking them about three months ago just to experiment. Funny thing is that for the first twenty odd years of my life I’ve never even smoked so much as a cigarette. The first cigar I got was from an office Christmas party that were being given out by my boss. Smoked it a few weeks later and it wasn’t to bad. I’ve smoked about seven since then, one about every two weeks.
Don’t like chocolate any more (one bite is enough, two is too many)
Like Brie.
Like the taste of beer/lager/bitter etc… (but rarely drink it)
My taste for soft drinks fluctuates. Currently I find most of them bland and boring.
Salad is good, as long as it has something included to make it more interesting (olive oil, or some other kind of liquid dressing)
I am confident that I WILL NEVER aquire a taste for liver. It baffles me that people can possibly like it.
Used to love egg-mayonaise sandwiches. Not any more.
Is earl-grey significantly different in taste to ‘normal’ tea? There’s a box upstairs which I am pretty sure belongs to the big cheese.
If you’re going to make Earl Grey, don’t let the teabag sit in your cup too long, or else it’ll wind up tasting like shoe polish.
Beer. Never liked it, likely never will. I’ve tried everything from micro-brew to Guiness to Pabst Blue Ribbon, but they all taste roughly the same. That is to say; incredibly, totally foul. And for some reason, the closest thing to whiskey I can stand is Southern Comfort, and that only drowned in Coke. I have to hold my nose drinking even a weak Jack & Coke.
Also tuna. I mean, I liked it before but now I’m eating a can a day. Gotta have mayo with it, though, but YUM.
I’ve lost my taste for most sugary stuff. I took a bite of a Cadbury egg the other night and ick. Waaaaaay too sweet. I’d just as soon have some Russell Stover’s sugar free toffee than “real” candy these days.
Pineapple. I had always hated it, but my wife bought a fresh pineapple and cajoled me into trying it. (I am loathe to try new foods.) It. Was. Wonderful. So far removed from that dreadful canned stuff that I could scarcely believe it.
On another note, my daughter (now 25) recently advised me that she has discovered onions. […wiping tear…] My little girl. All growed up.
Never liked beer until my sophomore year of college (funny thing, that.) But even now it’s not all beer. Crappy, cheap beer is nasty (some of them are watered down enough that I can drink them, since it’s more of a lack of flavor than bad flavor.) But I love Guiness, Killian’s, a lot of micro-brews I’ve had, and so forth. Pretty much all the big brands (Miller, Bush, Coors) I hate.
Never have and I don’t think I ever will like coffee. But I have, this past year, started to like real tea. I say real because I always drank super-sweetened ice tea. I still need some sugar or honey in my tea to drink it, but at least I don’t find it repulsing anymore.
Never have liked 99% of all seafood, but lately I’ve started to try and like more. A couple different sushi and/or sashimi rolls I’ve liked, as well as “fake” tuna (i.e., from a can.) Clam chowder is good, but I’ve always liked that. I don’t think I’ll ever enjoy lobster, though. Nasty, icky stuff that is.
People, you’re dissing my Earl Grey! It’s scented with bergamot, a citrus fruit. The secret to enjoying Earl Grey: it MUST be drunk with milk and sugar.
(Oh, and I’m a purist; whenever possible I use loose tea rather than tea bags.)
Oh, and I am now in love with goat’s milk Brie. I thought I was in love with regular Brie, but I tried some goat’s milk Brie for the first time a couple of months ago (I’ve only ever seen it at Trader Joe’s), and I am in LOVE. It’s a bit sweeter and runnier than regular Brie. Passionately in love, I am…
I just remembered a pretty significant change not so long ago.
My dad suggested I try tea and coffee without sugar. I never looked back. Now I can’t stand the tast of tea or coffee with sugar in.
I still put milk in though.
Way back in time, Twinkies did taste good. Of course that was when Hostess fruit pies actually contained fruit. sigh Those were the days…
Lobsang, I have found yet another reason to like you. I don’t like chocolate either. Used to like it as a kid but now it seems most chocolate has a bitterness to it. Can’t stand bitter. The one exception is Cadbury Creme Eggs. No bitter at all. Even so, they’ve been in the store for a month now and I haven’t bought any. I think today’s the day to get some.
As for Earl Grey tea, some brands are better than others. Most are good but the brand we have in our meeting room is awful.
most recently cottage cheese which I used to think was bland and disgusting and also beer although I don’t drink beer often if i do drink it I can tolerate it and sometimes even find myself craving the taste.
Yogurt. I used to hate any kind of yogurt - I hated it with a passion. I discovered new Yoplait Whips, though, and now I like yogurt. I don’t really eat the regular kind much, but I can now - although I stick to the Whips mostly.
Pork. I have always detested pork - it would make me gag if I tried to eat it. My in-laws fixed some a few weeks ago, though, and I had to eat it to be polite. It wasn’t bad - I actually ate it and enjoyed it (but I still refuse to cook it myself).
