As a kid I hated veggies but as I got older I really enjoy some veggies, especially broccoli, roasted in a drizzle of olive oil and a little seasoning.
As an American, I also used to abhor vegemite when I tried it until I learned how to properly spread it on toast during my visit over there and I’m obsessed now!
What did you hate, but gave a second chance to? I’d love to try some new stuff!
Brussel Sprouts. Absolutely hated them as a kid, which I blame my mother for. She “steamed” them in the microwave in a dish with water. Turned them into a slimy, horrible mush. My wife sautes them in a pan, with bacon. It’s one of my absolute favorite dishes now.
Brussel sprouts have changed just as much as you. They are less bitter than in the past due to selective breeding. https://www.mentalfloss.com/posts/do-brussels-sprouts-taste-better-now-yes-here-s-why-01ghed9q8dr8
Same. I think it was popular back then to steam them 🤮 but now it’s a lot more popular, thankfully, that they’re roasted in olive oil with some light seasonings. My wife makes them just so they start to crisp up and they’re incredible. Kids love them.
This!
Exact same story here. They are also extremely good roasted:
https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/roasted-brussels-sprouts-recipe2-1941953
Mush? Slime? How long was she cooking them for, for god’s sake?
Saucepan. Lots of boiling salty water. Cut an X in the bottom so they cook more evenly, then drop them in for just 2-3 minutes until barely tender. They’re amazing, and they actually taste like themselves.
By all means complain about overcooked vegetables, but you don’t need to fry everything in bacon fat to make it taste good.
This was the case for so many veggies for me… my parents were not amazing cooks. Spinach was the worst, just a big slimy pile, but now I love it.
I love a big slimy pile of sauteed spinach with lots of garlic!
Friend, same! I actually really like baby spinach salads.
I think my mom used to do that too - steam them and it was just nasty and turned me off of a lot of vegetables. Saute is also a good one beyond roasting!
I am absolutely crushed that Brussels sprouts give me horrible gut pain. They are so good!
I like to cut them in half so they can soak up more of the flavor. Fry bacon in a pan first. Leave the grease in the pan. Take out the bacon, crumble it up. Fry Brussels sprouts in the pan… Add butter and olive oil. Add the bacon bits back. So good.
Sounds like you don’t actually like the taste of Brussels sprouts - you like bacon grease, butter, and oil.
As a kid, I thought I hated steak, but it turns out, my mom was just really bad at cooking steak.
Yes. I think that was my problem too. It’s also the cuts that matter.
On another note, I still cannot get behind pork chops.
That’s a shame. If I might ask, have you ever had a properly cooked pork chop?
I only ask because pork used to need to reach 165 degrees Fahrenheit to be safe, which makes for tough, dry pork. Fortunately the parasite that required this heat was eliminated from the US, and about 15 years ago the USDA lowered the safe temp to 145. The result is so much better.
Probably not. I never watched them, but I’m guessing that my parents probably just got a cheap pork chop and covered in shake n bake, then put it in the oven for a certain amount of time.
Maybe I’ll give one a try some time.
I find it (pork chop) difficult to cook, it’s like undercooked, undercooked, undercooked, then suddenly overcooked without seeming to pass cooked.
Steak we have to get two because the penultimate child and I like that quite rare but youngest and the husband like it much more cooked. So to please anyone we just buy two, and pull one off when seared, let the other one sit in the pan until hotter inside.
Black coffee. Used to only drink coffee with creamer or lattes/cappuccinos, but now I drink black because I can’t stand the sugar crash
Highly recommend a pinch of salt in any good black coffee.
Really opens the flavors in it.
Which is why you don’t do it to bad coffee. It will open up the bouquet of garbage haha
I’ve tried this before in my shots of espresso, but I haven’t noticed a difference. Are you getting more of the chocolatey notes or the nutty or the fruity ones?
I generally notice the fruity flavors more but that might just be my palette. I’m not sure how well it works with espresso. Never tried that but now I’m curious
Oh yes, black is my go to and I used to hate coffee.
Sour cream. As a kid, I didn’t like it. Now it’s essential on my tacos, pierogi, and chili.
You know, I still am not the biggest fan but those foods you listed are what I’d eat it with as well!
Holy shit you didn’t put an s on pierogi, thank you so much
spierogi!
Tomatoes or mushrooms. Both were a texture thing. I made some diet changes as an adult, so I’m not sure if that helped in changing my opinion, but now I’m fine with mushrooms and grow tomatoes in my garden every year!
Mushrooms are just not for me, sadly. It’s texture and taste.
The texture of garden tomatoes are so much better than the texture of the ones you get at the store, too.
So true. Both the flavor and texture of home grown are so much better.
Asparagus.
Used to hate it, had it once in season in Germany, it was so fresh and delicious, I learned how to enjoy it there.
Yessss!!! Another one that I love roasted or with some butter and light salt.
Next time, squeeze a lemon over them. Thank me later.
Yes this and also try adding some garlic pressed or diced.
This is how I usually cook em. (Optionally blanch for like 30 seconds if they’re big or you find em bitter til they’re emerald green) Toss em in some olive oil with a bit of white pepper and garlic, grill or roast to desired doneness, squeeze of lemon. Delicious with a steak or alongside mushrooms.
Welp. I know I what I’m trying tonight!
Another one that I love roasted
Just don’t try that with white asparagus, that really needs to be cooked IMHO.
Eggplant. I tried cooking it until just tender, like zucchini - and it was nasty as hell; I never got it and never wanted to.
Then I encountered some actually properly cooked stuff in a pasta dish when eating out and ohmygod.
Yes! My wife recently got a huge eggplant, but it into slices and then turned them into eggplant pizzas with a little sauce and cheese melted on in the oven.
Same with vegetables, but also steak and bacon. I hated steak and bacon as a kid idk what was wrong with me
Friend, I still don’t like steak that much but I definitely don’t balk at it like I used to!
Vegetables in general.
Except Lima beans. You can go FUCK YOURSELF!!
Lmao! Lima beans are definitely not the best. Although, in a vegetable soup where they are masked then it’s not so bad.
I’ve always despised Lima beans. One exception, Lima bean humus at Le Deauville in Lexington KY. Possibly the change in texture along with spices, it was delicious. Thought my taste had changed and tried other Lima bean dishes, nope, still despise 'em.
tomatoes. hated them as a kid. juicy burgers were may gateway into them.
I heard that stuff like green vegetables are unpalatable to children because they taste more bitter to them.
As you grow up you become more insensitive to those flavors and start tasting the other compounds that you actually like.This is something that I’ve read about as well
Sweet potatoes. Something about them made me gag. Every Thanksgiving a heaping pile of them would wind up on my plate and I’d have to power though or else face the wrath of my grandmother.
Nowadays I love them. Dunno when the switch happened.
Both chili and vegetable soup.
Never cared for either growing up, but now they’re both comfort food, especially on cold days.
That sounds absolutely delicious!
Fish in general. As a kid I absolutely disliked the strong taste and oily texture.
I’m very open with my foods and like to retry everything I disliked in the past, things I still don’t like are Olives (weird metallic taste I don’t like), Tomatoes (slimy texture at normal size, cherry tomats are fine), unaltered boiled egg yolks (so dry, so so dry), Oatmeal (texture issue), and a couple others I can’t think of at the moment. I enjoy most of the texture based ones as soon as the texture is altered.
A lot of fish types grown on me. I still love a salmon with a slight glaze and some veggies.
I’m with you on tomatoes. I only eat them if it comes sliced on a burger or else I just do not like them.
Sauerkraut was just too overwhelming as a kid, but I love it now. Some other foods were the same, but that is the one I remember.
I liked black olives as a kid, then hated them in my teen years through early 30s and find them tolerable now.
A lot of people hated vegetables as a kid if they were made bland by boiling, and like them a lot more when they have them roasted or just with some seasoning. I remember having bland steamed brussel sprouts at home which are just awful but one of my friends roasted them and they were awesome. My dad cooked up some awesome seasoned steaks and that friends parent bought the wrong cut and cooked it well done so it opened my eyes to how much of a difference preparation makes.
I hated sauerkraut until a waiter at a German restaurant talked me into trying their house made stuff on a bratwurst. It was amazing. Now I like certain brands, but the cheap brands are still gross
I am a quarter German and sauerkraut was always gross to me, but dammit if it isn’t amazing now! Especially when it’s cooked the entire time with some meat and soaks up the juices.
Black olives are tolerable, agreed there. I think new for me are green olives and stuffed olives. Never would’ve touched that when I was younger.
I really enjoy green olives in a gin martini, especially the ones stuffed with blue cheese.
Can’t stand green olives in any other format that I can think of.
I’ve only ever really drank dressed up martinis (flavored). I might have to give this a try though!
