apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

I used to hate nuts of any kind, but about a month or two ago, I suddenly started craving peanuts. I couldn't get enough of them; it was the weirdest thing. Now, it's calmed down a bit though.

Olives! I used to detest them and stayed far away from anything that contained even a hint of olives. That all changed when I had an incredible homemade puttanesca sauce with kalamata olives.....I saw the light and ever since then I adore all kinds of olives and frequently snack on them.

Green beans. Though it's probably the fault of too many canned beans served with cream of mushroom soup as a kid, for the longest time, I hated green beans. Now I love them sauteed up with some onions, garlic and tomatoes.

Last Saturday night I entered the trifecta: previous dislikes: horseradish, creme fraiche and green olives. We went out for dinner and I vowed to not turn my nose up to anything put in front of me and not order like a "Sally". The procsuitto came with a creme fraiche and horseradish swath that was absolutely divine and the green olives that came as part of the appetizer were buttery and amazing. Who knew?

spaghetti. i don't know why. i used to hate pasta and marinara. now i love it.

I'm still working on this one- I seem to be with many others in the olive camp. I want to like them, but something about olives just tastes gross.
Any suggestions for good baby steps to olive-eating? I do love salty, briny things, and the texture isn't weird to me. Why, oh why, can't I enjoy olives? (and by extension, dirty martinis?)

Peppers, particularly if they're red and roasted.

I think it was living in Italy for a few months that did it to me, though I don't recall eating them too often there.

My progression went from always asking peppers to be left out to not minding if they're in a dish to ordering something (say, a salad or sandwich) because of their inclusion, or asking for them to be added. Who knew.

I used to hate beets and applesauce. I remember calling applesauce "apple puke" when I was kid.

I think I was subjected to canned pickled beets back then too, which I detested.

Now, my roasted beet salad is a big hit at home, and I love beets in any form now, even the pickly ones!

And I pack a cup of cinnamon apple puke in my lunch a few times a week, at least!

Over the years, I have acquired tastes for things I didn't used to eat: okra, peppers, eggplant, cauliflower, arugula, etc. Now that I'm in my mid-30s (and a foodie), I've actually set myself a task of consciously acquiring new tasts. Each year, I name a Favorite New Vegetable. (I'm a vegetarian, so meat is off the table and vegetables are the main "frontier.") I think it's very important not to be tied to childish preferences, and it's good for the mind to stretch and grow as one ages. "Set in one way, set in others" I say.

Like others, I went from detesting olives to really liking them. Nadarine, my first olive "baby step" was a store-brand pimento-stuffed olive. It helped me get accustomed to the briny saltiness before I moved on to other kinds. My favs now are spicy marinated ones...

Which leads me to my other major loathe-to-like: spicy foods. But I suppose that's more of a building up of tolerance to the heat.

A big childhood dislike for me was spinach. Despite Popeye's best efforts, I wasn't won over until, as an adult, I discovered it didn't all come in cans, and that fresh and frozen were quite good. Now sautéing it with butter, olive oil and garlic is one of the best side dishes in my regular rotation.

Regarding sweet potatoes, one of my favorite ways to make them is to roast wedges tossed with olive oil, salt, pepper and a healthy sprinkling of cayenne pepper.

i've always liked spinach but lately i find that i absolutely have to have sauteed spinach. for the past few months i've had intense cravings for sauteed spinach with garlic and olive oil...usually 5-6 times per week! perhaps it's the cold weather and it's just an easy way to get lots of green veggie goodness?

i don't really eat sweet potatoes often but am thinking it would be nice to try sweet potatoe fries this weekend. thanks for the tip.

I hated artichokes and mushrooms from taste to texture. About a year ago, I started eating artichokes everyday. I had them in dips, grilled, with pasta, broiled. Now I've fallen in love with mushrooms. I can't stop thinking about thin-crust pizza with sliced mushrooms and herbs.

I hear that as you age, you sense of taste becomes less sensitive. Maybe the upside is learning to appreciate new foods.

When I was growing up my family lived outside the US fairly frequently. My parents established a rule that if we were invited over for a meal, we had to try everything, and if we didn't like it, we didn't have to eat the rest of it. This rule was especially enforced when we lived in Japan. The result was that when I arrived in Tokyo in 1980 I was a picky ten year old who hated fish and pretty much anything that looked strange, but returning from Japan, I loved fish and craved raw squid and nori.

I still hold myself to my parents' rule: try everything.

And I have an additional rule: if you don't like something, try it once every few years. I now like olives and have come to realize that I like peanuts in the context of savory dishes.

Weird about sweet potatoes. I've had a similar aversion to them but now I crave them constantly. So weird how tastes change!

I hated onions as a kid, I picked them out of everything!
Now I put them in everything. I go through more onions then anything else. I dont even remember what it was that changed my taste...I think it might have been eating leeks and loving them.

I used to loathe rhubarb, now I think it's okay. I also detested lima beans, but I wonder if I might like them now.

I used to dislike brussel sprouts until I bought some fresh ones at a farmers market. That made all the difference in the world. And steaming them with a little carmelized onion and sprinkling with Parmesan cheese helped too. Too many weird overcooked or canned things when I was a kid has ruined many a a good veggie.

Until about 2 years ago, I absolutely detested beets. I've always liked almost everything so it drove me nuts and I would try them again and again, just to see if I could find a way to like them. Finally I gave up.

Then, out of the blue, I started craving them as if my life depended on it. To this day, I can eat piles of beets and it is comparable to chocolate...I now absolutely adore them any way they come.

I LOVE sweet potatoes! I grew up eating them sliced thinly, coated in sugar and then fried. I'm always on the lookout for recipes that use them. What I never liked and still don't is beets. I used to hate okra, now I love it!

Uni.

First time I tried it on sushi I had to fight the urge to spit it back out. Yet my other friends constantly rave about it. So a couple of years later, I tried it again, and still didn't like it.

Then I was served uni fresh in the shell, with a small spoon to scoop it out, and instantly loved it. I figured it's one of those foods that are sublime in small quantities, but a huge glop of it on sushi was just way too overpowering.

Its like everything else in life - our tastes change with age - I'm guessing that none of you still have David Cassidy posters on your barbie pink bedroom walls?? - the things you like change over time

I'm always asking my friend if he likes certain foods - he used to regularly say no so I wouldn't cook them - it took me ages to figure out that his "no" was actually "I don't know" - he had never tried stuff so just presumed he wouldn't like it - now I ask "have you tried...?" and I've opend his eyes to whole worlds of food

Always try everything - not just once - give things time and try them again...