It's amazing how tastes change.

[badseed1980]

The meal I ate today for lunch would have grossed me out when I was seven. I had a little bit of pork tenderloin with five spice powder, some pearl barley cooked in chicken broth, and a whole lot of roasted parsnips and brussels sprouts. At age seven, I might have eaten the barley and a piece or two of the pork (I didn't like meat much). Today, I ate every bite, and particularly loved the brussels sprouts and parsnips. NOM.

Part of my becoming less finicky is due to my father becoming the household's main cook when I was about 9 or so. We moved from a location that was far from my father's work but near my mother's, to a location that was close to my father's work and far from my mother's. So my father started getting home earlier in the evenings than my mother did. Turned out, he's a much better cook than my mom. My mom's not awful, but she has no real skill (with the exception of baking) and doesn't enjoy it. My dad? AWESOME. I realized that fish was good and came in more varieties than scrod and canned tuna. I found out that vegetables weren't always overcooked (though it still took me a while to start liking many of them). I learned that you don't have to go out to eat to get ethnic food. But even he couldn't get me to like brussels sprouts or parsnips. That didn't come until I was in my early 20s. :)

Comments

[miss-lisa-ma.livejournal.com]

Isn't it funny how much your tastes can grow with the rest of you? I'm still not the MOST adventurous eater on the planet, but I'm pretty game for a lot that would have horrified the kid-me. Being around people who love good food and learn about it definitely rubs off and makes it easier to explore.

[drwex]

Taste buds and the social taste to go with them develop remarkably late. I've read somewhere that a great deal of taste maturation comes with puberty, and before that kids rarely have a lot of tolerance for complex or bitter flavors.

[vieux-yeux.livejournal.com]

Dude, I LOVE brussels sprouts! Even when my cafeteria makes them. I know, it's so weird...

[perspicuity.livejournal.com]

i didn't like a lot of foods at a younger age, then wham. love'd them. including: beer, coffee, alcohol, brussel sprouts, cheesecake, and others.

also, many of these foods are now in my spectrum of "seasonal eats". i don't normally LIKE or crave apples in say, the Spring, but come Fall? i think about them all the time.

parsnips are such a wonderful Fall/Winter thing, it's hard to not love them. slice them thick, and long, like homestyle fries, and stir fry in butter and olive oil... salted... and they taste not unlike french fries. yummy. throw some cheese [curds] and gravy on that. nom.

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