Two for me: coffee and sushi.
I didn’t start drinking coffee until I was in my middle 20’s. When I tried it as a younger person I didn’t like it because it was so bitter. It wasn’t until I was on a cruise (with my wealthy extended family) I had a fancy boy cappuccino and I was like “hot damn, this bitter water is actually good!” Now I drink at least 4 cups of coffee every moring.
I tried sushi in my teens and absolutely hated it, I remember gagging at the taste of the raw fish. Like coffee it wasn’t until years later as an adult I tried sushi again at a Japanese place in town and I was like “damn, this raw fish is really tasty!” Now sushi is a regular staple takeout food for me.
Brussel sprouts is a big one for me. Grew up on a farm, so when they were in season, we had 'em and I hated 'em. Now, I’ll take them pretty much every time. Roasted, fried, whatever. They rule.
I remember not liking sushi as a kid either, but then again, when I was a kid I lived in the midwest. When I had sushi on the coast, my opinion did a complete 180.
there could be an external factor here at play. about 25 years ago, selective breeding practices/cultivar development and some broader changes in harvest practices in brussels sprouts made for a much less bitter tasting brussel sprout and commercial production adopted these practices broadly in 2010. consumption per capita in the US more than doubled from 2011 to 2023. it’s kind of a wild story. https://www.allrecipes.com/science-why-brussels-sprouts-taste-better-11717910
i only know this because i experienced the same thing (“hey weird, i like brussels sprouts now”) around early 2010s, but was working in specialty crop research and said something at a meeting about how “my tastes have changed” and some dork was like, “yeah, they cracked brussel sprouts, they taste good now” and send me some literature. lmao.
Did not expect to learn today that they fixed Brussels sprouts, but this timeline definitely adds up to about when I started enjoy them. Now I need to find an original!
Can you believe I’ve never had b sprouts? I’m basic when it comes to veggies, peppers, onions, broccoli and the like, never tried them though.
Mushrooms definitely.
Also meat in general. Before I went vegan anyway.
My parents(especially dad) sucked at cooking so I thought it was supposed to hurt to chew my dinner. He used to cook dinner by putting diced potatoes to boil, chucking a pack of sausages in a pan on high heat, then watching TV for 40 minutes. Said that charcoal added flavour. It didn’t.
I just came around on mushrooms like a month or so ago when I forced myself to eat them because I had an extreme vitamin D deficiency and they’re one of the only sources of it that I would eat lol.
Also meat in general.
same, I don’t think I began eating meat regularly until I was like 10, but I think it was more because my parents aren’t great cooks. they tend to underseason and overcook meat. when they fry meats, they somehow do it in a way where it’s dry on the inside, and so greasy on the outside there’s no crispiness. a couple years ago I showed them how I season meat (1 tsp kosher salt per pound), so at least they’re doing that now.
Olives.
Bagels with cream cheese and smoked fish.
Sushi was a big one for me as well. I think I first had it in 5th or 6th grade, and I was SOOO excited to try it because I was a little weeb. Once the seaweed from a california roll hit I definitely gagged and probably didn’t try it again for another 5 years or more.
When I was growing up my grandpa cooked for the household. He was born in like 1930 I think so it was like, plain pork chops, white rice with butter, and iceburg lettuce salad with shredded carrots for dinner. So I wasn’t really exposed to a variety of foods at all. When I moved out though I went all out trying a bunch of different veggies I’d never heard of and cuisines I had never tried and I’m so glad I did
I was not the biggest gin guy as a kid but now I’m a huge fan.
I assume you’re joking (because what kid drinks spirits, right?) but I avoided gin for a long time because i always hear that it can have a strong “pinecone flavor” to it, and it did for me when I first tried it, but I quickly realized it’s pretty sippable if you water it down just a little bit
Olives, blue cheese, olive oil (tasted way too strong and bitter), garlic, most seafoods. Pretty sure there were many others, but have forgotten.
Tomatoes. Growing up I hated them because they were bland, slimy and watery. Turns out I was eating the wrong varieties out of season. Now every summer for me is a countdown to tomato season.
I used to be picky as hell and I’m just thankful that my tastes have somehow magically changed and I enjoy healthy stuff. Like, I actually like salads now!
It was definitely a sensory thing cuz my parents literally tried to force me to eat things like spinach and I just couldn’t do it. Now I like spinach in my salad lol.
Sushi was one of those things for me too. I loooooove sushi now.
Olives for me too. When my parents used to eat them I thought the smell was so gross, but now I’ll gladly snack on them.
I avoided kimchi until I was like 20 because something about how it looks and smells was offputting to me. I wouldn’t say I “can’t get enough of it”, but since trying it I do enjoy it from time to time.
tamarind. Pico de gallo. raw tomato. black coffee. Grits. Fried okra. Pinto beans. Wild rice. Avocado. Horchata. Nopales. Tripas. Barbacoa.
I’ve also had some things I’ve gone the other way with. Can’t stand eggs, any style. Or ketchup. Or milk (the smell of milk makes me nauseous). Fish- raw, cooked, whatever.
For me it was a swap out of coffee and tea. I drank tea as a late teenager and early university. But after living in southern Europe for a few months on an internship and getting good espresso, I switched to drinking coffee (also due to getting less sleep in later university). Now my stomach is more sensitive to the tannins in tea, so I can’t drink it unless I ate a meal very recently, or else I get nauseous.
Also beer. obviously didn’t really drink it as a child other than grandparents offering me a sip, but even when I started drinking, didn’t like the hoppiness and preferred wine at first. But after a friend getting me into brewing and finding Belgian beers I am a real beer aficionado.
And also rosemary. Didn’t really hate it, but also didn’t like it when it was in food. But my grandmother made good rosemary bread at some point and now I always associate it with her. Which out of some form of irony a few months later my grandmother stopped baking with rosemary, because she got violently ill after eating rosemary bread (unrelated) and now has a disgust reaction to rosemary.
Not a food per se, but spicy stuff - avoided it like the plague as a kid, then got into hot sauce in my mid 20s, which was my gateway to learning to love it.
Hummus hasn’t yet been said yet, and it’s kind of cliche but in my early 20s that switch flipped.
I also wouldn’t eat the chunks of salsa, just dipping the chip in the juice, maybe a texture issue. Now most jars of salsa last less than 100 chips.
Used to be “always ketchup, never mustard”. Now it’s the other way around.
Peppers and tofu
and, not a child, but the first few times I tried beer I didn’t understand why anyone drank it over, say, a Cuba Libre. Now there are quite a few I like, even besides as ‘something to provide alcohol’
