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
Exact same story here. They are also extremely good roasted:
https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/roasted-brussels-sprouts-recipe2-1941953
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!
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 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.
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.
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.
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.
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!
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.
Anchovies on pizza. Just a couple though, like fish sauce, a little goes a long way.
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!
I used to be a picky eater, but years ago I decided that I wanted to like more food - - that life would be better if I actually enjoyed foods that I would otherwise have to suffer/avoid.
I started by putting small amounts of different ingredients in my dishes (when it made sense) and I quickly developed a taste for all of them.
(Only found out later that this was a great way to do it as your microbiom directly impacts your cravings).
Onions, mushrooms, tomatoes, olives, pickles, brussel sprouts, oysters, mustard are all things I now genuinely enjoy.
Guldens Spicy Brown Mustard. Dad was from Brooklyn and loved it, as I kid I just wanted the neon yellow stuff all my friends had. Now, many years later, I always have it in my fridge.
Spicy brown mustard is amazing!
Olives. I still am not a fan of black olives, but I’d eat an entire jar of green.
Onions
Ditto. Hated them as a kid, then as a young adult I could tolerate them cooked, now I could eat them raw (on/in something). Tastes change, man.
Same thing with mushrooms and mustard.
Onions, mushrooms, & mustard…
Sounds like my Philly steak order
