# Have your tastes changed over time?



## danbuter (Dec 2, 2011)

Just something I thought about. I used to love creamy soups like New England Clam Chowder. These days, I just don't. I'd much rather have a brothy soup. Not sure why, but over the last couple years I've just lost my appetite for thicker soups.


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## Aunt Bea (Dec 2, 2011)

When I was younger I used to make things that included everything but, the kitchen sink.  Now I prefer simpler things with fewer ingredients.  I was also more impressed by, what for me, are odd or expensive "gourmet" ingredients.  Now I am more honest with myself and prefer good old country comfort food like I grew up with.  I don't really think my tastes changed as much as I became comfortable with who I am, what I enjoy and where I came from.


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## Andy M. (Dec 2, 2011)

Of course they have.  For example, as a child I used to throw up at the thought of eating butternut squash and now I love it.

For me, it would be more accurate to say my tastes have broadened.  I eat or am willing to try a lot more variety than when I was younger.


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## Barbara L (Dec 2, 2011)

My mom always told me that your tastes change about every seven years, and it seems to hold true for me. I hated eggs as a child, and about every seven years I started liking a different type of eggs, ending with fried (over-easy, with completely runny yolks). I still don't care much for plain hard-boiled eggs, but I love egg salad and deviled eggs.

I still like some foods that I used to get in the mood for, but I don't get in the mood for them as much now. 

I sometimes find myself wanting a little more seasoning or "heat" on some of my foods now, and less at other times.


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## Barbara L (Dec 2, 2011)

Aunt Bea said:


> When I was younger I used to make things that included everything but, the kitchen sink.  Now I prefer simpler things with fewer ingredients.  I was also more impressed by, what for me, are odd or expensive "gourmet" ingredients.  Now I am more honest with myself and prefer good old country comfort food like I grew up with.  I don't really think my tastes changed as much as I became comfortable with who I am, what I enjoy and where I came from.


I like how you phrased that!


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## Dawgluver (Dec 2, 2011)

As a kid, I could (excuse me) projectile vomit if my different foods even touched each other on the plate.  I was a master of putting food in my mouth, and spitting it out in my napkin, then throwing it away when I cleared the table.  Any meat with fat was automatically rejected, except for bacon.

My dishes now are a mishmash, pot roast, casseroles, etc., and I love 'em all.


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## JoshuaNY (Dec 2, 2011)

I never liked beer or gin as a child 

I think as we mature so do our tastes. Our minds change, we learn new things and appreciate different thing from when we were younger. I think the same holds true for taste.


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## Barbara L (Dec 3, 2011)

JoshuaNY said:


> I never liked beer or gin as a child
> 
> I think as we mature so do our tastes. Our minds change, we learn new things and appreciate different thing from when we were younger. I think the same holds true for taste.


That is why it drives me crazy when people won't try something just because they didn't like it as a kid. Some of my friends are like that. They won't offer their kids a food a second time if they say they don't like it the first time either. They just don't know what they are missing out on!


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## PrincessFiona60 (Dec 3, 2011)

Barbara L said:


> That is why it drives me crazy when people won't try something just because they didn't like it as a kid. Some of my friends are like that. They won't offer their kids a food a second time if they say they don't like it the first time either. They just don't know what they are missing out on!



Some of that response is from being forced to eat something you didn't like when you were a child.  There are things I won't consider for myself, but am willing to cook for others.


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## Barbara L (Dec 3, 2011)

PrincessFiona60 said:


> Some of that response is from being forced to eat something you didn't like when you were a child.  There are things I won't consider for myself, but am willing to cook for others.


Yeah, I know a lot of people who had that happen. The main person I am thinking about never had to eat anything he didn't want to eat, and he and his wife are pretty much doing the same with their kids. I guess most of us fall in the middle of those two examples.


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## Bolas De Fraile (Dec 3, 2011)

Dawgluver said:


> As a kid, I could (excuse me) projectile vomit .


Fantastic Dawg did you levitate at the same time


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## Steve Kroll (Dec 3, 2011)

I can't say I was ever really picky as a child, but I always hated "orange vegetables" like winter squash, sweet potatoes, and carrots. As an adult I realized it wasn't the vegetables themselves I hated, but the fact that my mother always served them drowning in marshmallows or brown sugar. I've since learned to love orange vegetables, but only as savory dishes.

Same with fish and pork. Mom, bless her heart, cooked both to the point of inedibility. I love fish now and, if properly cooked (or in raw applications like sushi), I prefer it over almost any other meat.

I loved my mother dearly, but even she would admit she wasn't the best cook.


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## PrincessFiona60 (Dec 3, 2011)

Steve Kroll said:


> I can't say I was ever really picky as a child, but I always hated "orange vegetables" like winter squash, sweet potatoes, and carrots. As an adult I realized it wasn't the vegetables themselves I hated, but the fact that my mother always served them drowning in marshmallows or brown sugar. I've since learned to love orange vegetables, but only as savory dishes.
> 
> Same with fish and pork. Mom, bless her heart, cooked both to the point of inedibility. I love fish now and, if properly cooked (or in raw applications like sushi), I prefer it over almost any other meat.
> 
> I loved my mother dearly, but even she would admit she wasn't the best cook.



I never understood making veggies sickly sweet.  There are so many things I eat now that I wouldn't touch as a kid, mostly because they were served covered in sugar of some sort.

Carrots cooking in lemon juice and ginger is divine!


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## Steve Kroll (Dec 3, 2011)

PrincessFiona60 said:


> Carrots cooking in lemon juice and ginger is divine!


There is something about the flavor of ginger and carrots together that is the perfect combo!


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## SherryDAmore (Dec 3, 2011)

One thing that seems to have changed my taste was the Atkins Diet.

After I was on it, I couldn't stand coffee, and it used to be a joke that when I opened my eyes, I wanted my coffee.  Also, milk.  I used to drink at least a coupla glasses of milk a day and now I can't stand it.  And eggs.  I used to say I could live on eggs, and for a while I couldn't stand them.  I eat them occasionally now. 

For the most part, though, I never met a vegetable I didn't like, and I seem to crave them.  Not so keen on meat anymore.


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## Excalibor chilli (Dec 3, 2011)

I seem to be more addicted to spivey foods as I grow old


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## Timothy (Dec 5, 2011)

As a child, I was known for my liking of all types of foods. I would try anything as long as I saw someone else eat it first.

I learned to love a wide variety of foods from other cultures this way. Over the years, I've had a few that I didn't care for as a youngster, turn out to be something I liked well later.

1. Beef Liver. I discovered that it could be cooked just long enough to  be rare. Calf's liver and sauteed onions...Yum City!  Gagged me when I was young.

2. Horseradish. When I was a kid, I lived with my Aunt for a couple years and holding a teaspoon of horseradish in the mouth for 5 minutes was the punishment for cussing or lying. By having it often, I learned to like it.

3. Buttermilk. The stuff gagged me bad when I was younger. Now it's all I can do to keep some in the fridge. My cat loves it too!


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## Savory (Dec 5, 2011)

Sure my tastes changed a lot over years

1. As Andy M., my tastes are broadened widely. Facing many more choices from various cuisine, I learnt to enjoy a variety of foods cooked in incredibly many ways. 

2. Part of my personality is to look for and try new stuff. It's my natural eager to experiment new cooking and tasting new foods. As a child, my mom was the only source of cooking at home and she's not the type that likes changes. But since I grown up and became the cook for myself, I marched into new food adventures.

3. Lastly, I do think kids' taste buds work differently than adults. For reasons that I can't explain, I think there are some biological reasons why most kids are picky eaters and many of them grow out of it when they grow older.


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## JoshuaNY (Dec 9, 2011)

Just to add to my original comment. I really dislike stuffing and cranberry sauce. But I make it a point to taste them every year at thanksgiving. I am waiting for the day that I enjoy these two things. Since everyone else I know loves them.

However, goat cheese is one of those things that I dont think I will ever like and I am ok with that. I have tried it at least 5 times and have not liked it yet. I think it tastes like the goat smells. But goat cheese is more of a periphery item for me while cranberry sauce and stuffing is like an American tradition.


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## FrankZ (Dec 10, 2011)

My tastes have not changed much since I was a child.  I will eat asparagus now, though only fresh.  As a kid it was the canned stuff (as that is what my Dad liked).  

I have tried many new things as an adult, but my tastes for things hasn't really changed.  It doesn't matter how you do Brussel sprouts, they are still little bundles of ick that I can not eat.


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## PrincessFiona60 (Dec 10, 2011)

FrankZ said:


> My tastes have not changed much since I was a child.  I will eat asparagus now, though only fresh.  As a kid it was the canned stuff (as that is what my Dad liked).
> 
> I have tried many new things as an adult, but my tastes for things hasn't really changed.  It doesn't matter how you do Brussel sprouts, they are still little bundles of ick that I can not eat.




Okay, I'll unpack the asparagus in a can...


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## buckytom (Dec 10, 2011)

PrincessFiona60 said:


> Some of that response is from being forced to eat something you didn't like when you were a child.



that's how my wife is with lamb. her mom force fed her lamb as a kid, so she continually reminds me she won't eat it so i shouldn't bother to make it.
but then i'll grill some lollipop lamb chops, or a mild flavoured , american raised leg of lamb, or lamb shoulder stew, and she loves it. 

and then still tells me how much she hates lamb.


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## buckytom (Dec 10, 2011)

Timothy said:


> As a child, I was known for my liking of all types of foods. I would try anything as long as I saw someone else eat it first.
> 
> I learned to love a wide variety of foods from other cultures this way. Over the years, I've had a few that I didn't care for as a youngster, turn out to be something I liked well later.
> 
> ...



lol at the horseradish comment. i wonder who else caught that?

i was just like you, tim. i never turned anything down when i was a kid, and ended up liking most things.

my son is so much like me and wants to be so much like me that he recently has become obsessed with eating shrimp. at first, we didn't know where this obsession was coming from, but then i figured out that he saw my 8th grade yearbook from school, in which i wrote that i loved shrimp. 

apparently, when we were filling out the forms for what you wanted to be put under your yearbook picture, i wrote shrimp in the category of "things i love". 

lol, i guess i was hungry.


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## buckytom (Dec 10, 2011)

FrankZ said:


> My tastes have not changed much since I was a child.  I will eat asparagus now, though only fresh.  As a kid it was the canned stuff (as that is what my Dad liked).
> 
> I have tried many new things as an adult, but my tastes for things hasn't really changed.  It doesn't matter how you do Brussel sprouts, they are still little bundles of ick that I can not eat.



frank, do you like cabbage in any way? i've always thought of brussel sprouts as tiny cabbages.

i have friends that will eat corned beef and cabbage, stuffed cabbage, coleslaw, and so on, but refuse to eat brussel sprouts.


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## pacanis (Dec 10, 2011)

FrankZ said:


> My tastes have not changed much since I was a child. I will eat asparagus now, though only fresh. As a kid it was the canned stuff (as that is what my Dad liked).
> 
> I have tried many new things as an adult, but my tastes for things hasn't really changed. It doesn't matter how you do Brussel sprouts, they are still little bundles of ick that I can not eat.


 
I would sit at the table all night as a kid and still not touch the brussels sprout on my plate. My parents ending up caving when it was time for them to go to bed  I never ate anything that resembled cabbage with the exception of cole slaw. A few years ago I wanted to try them and this was the recipe I first used. I think this method of grilling them, plus the sauce, helped me along the road to really enjoying them now.


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## FrankZ (Dec 10, 2011)

buckytom said:


> frank, do you like cabbage in any way? i've always thought of brussel sprouts as tiny cabbages.
> 
> i have friends that will eat corned beef and cabbage, stuffed cabbage, coleslaw, and so on, but refuse to eat brussel sprouts.



Yes, and you can add me to the list like that.

Brussel sprouts are not tiny cabbages, they are little bundles of evil.


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## Dawgluver (Dec 10, 2011)

FrankZ said:
			
		

> Yes, and you can add me to the list like that.
> 
> Brussel sprouts are not tiny cabbages, they are little bundles of evil.



+1!  Every year I try a bite, and every year I discretely spit it into my napkin...


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## taxlady (Dec 10, 2011)

buckytom said:


> frank, do you like cabbage in any way? i've always thought of brussel sprouts as tiny cabbages.
> 
> i have friends that will eat corned beef and cabbage, stuffed cabbage, coleslaw, and so on, but refuse to eat brussel sprouts.





I'm just the opposite. I can't stand just about any form of cooked cabbage, but I love Brussels sprouts. I don't eat cabbage rolls. My DH will eat cabbage rolls, but takes off the cabbage leaf. I tried that, but found that the meat had been contaminated with cooked cabbage flavour.

I don't get to eat Brussels sprouts very often. My DH gets nauseous at the smell - something to do with an entire field of Brussels sprouts on fire, when he was a kid.


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## PrincessFiona60 (Dec 10, 2011)

FrankZ said:


> Yes, and you can add me to the list like that.
> 
> Brussel sprouts are not tiny cabbages, they are little bundles of evil.



I learned how to swallow them whole, so I wouldn't have to taste them.  Mom insisted I eat at least one.  That trick is helpful now to get all my pills down in a couple of goes.


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## Timothy (Dec 10, 2011)

FrankZ said:


> Yes, and you can add me to the list like that.
> 
> Brussel sprouts are not tiny cabbages, they are little bundles of evil.


 


Dawgluver said:


> +1! Every year I try a bite, and every year I discretely spit it into my napkin...


 
Well said, Frank! To me, Brussel Sprouts share Initials very appropriately with something that comes from the south end of a north bound Bull.

nasty things.


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## SherryDAmore (Dec 11, 2011)

When I was three, I said I wanted brussel sprouts, then I didn't, then I did.  My drunk, mean mother, pushed me down on the floor, and tried to 'cram them down my throat' before family members intervened.  I am now 62, and my family still asks if I've ever eaten a brussel sprout.  No.  

Nor will I.


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## Dawgluver (Dec 11, 2011)

I don't blame you, Sherry.  That sounds horrible.


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## no mayonnaise (Dec 11, 2011)

I think my tastes have changed along with my culinary endeavors.  The more I learn about food and what can be done with it, the more broad my palate and food preferences become, i.e. ethnic food like Indian or Lao.  At the same time, with the broadening palate comes a broadening dislike for some things as well, i.e. any seafood with cheese tastes abysmal.


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## Girl49 (Dec 11, 2011)

*Changing Tastes*

I lived with a grandmother who was an excellent basic cook and also loved to try new things. She hated it when we said, "EEEwwww," or "what's that?" when she presented something. We learned to eat a lot of stuff, including vegetables like beets, fruit like prunes, and whole-wheat bread when all the kids were bringing Wonder to school. 

I enjoy a wide variety of foods and cuisines. But like Aunt Bea, my favorites are simple. I even adore Spam and Velveeta (or any combo thereof...and Michael Pollan would say this isn't food).


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## Barbara L (Dec 11, 2011)

buckytom said:


> that's how my wife is with lamb. her mom force fed her lamb as a kid, so she continually reminds me she won't eat it so i shouldn't bother to make it.
> but then i'll grill some lollipop lamb chops, or a mild flavoured , american raised leg of lamb, or lamb shoulder stew, and she loves it.
> 
> and then still tells me how much she hates lamb.


When my mom was a kid she knew a man who refused to eat lamb. He said that when you go to slaughter other animals they put up a fight, but lambs just look up at you and don't fight. Little did he know that the "pork" roast his wife made (and he loved) every Sunday was really lamb.


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## Robo410 (Dec 11, 2011)

absolutely; I am much more interested in a wide variety of seasonal veg. and I have lost much of my interest in sugary items.


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