How food tastes change...

A group of us were talking the other day about how food tastes change, and the foods we hated or disliked as a kid that we actually like or love now. One of them for me was oatmeal, couldn't stand the texture or the taste, but love it now.

Just curious, is there a food you really didn't like as a child but can eat now or actually love? Is it that you can prepare it differently or any idea why?

I'm a firm believer tastes can change. If we absolutely detest something, then I doubt it will change but if we're not fond of a food, we can acquire a taste for it. For example my mother used to make these great cabbage rolls. With 5 kids, she wasn't about to cater to individual tastes - what was on the table was all there was lol and I respect this philosophy. I only cater to specific likes if my child is sick. I didn't like those cabbage rolls, but picked and tolerated them. When I became a teenager I started to like them and now I love them.

Unless a child firmly hates a food, they can acquire a taste for foods they're not crazy about. This is why I gently encourage my girls to keep trying the food. My youngest didn't like lasagna 2 yrs ago and now she loves it. My girls like a wide variety of food, because I've always encourage them to at least try new foods. Unlike most kids they even like all kinds of seafood and vegetables.

From a scientific point of view:

Taste buds and the cells that make up them die and are replaced just like other cells, so what we physically sense will change.

Also, children's taste buds are designed to like sweeter, higher caloric, higher fat foods as a parts of nature's primitive way to ensure they will eat foods that will increase their chances of survival.

As the body ages and needs quality nutrients instead of just quantity, vegetables do become more palatable.

That's an excellent point Elli-Beth. I remember reading in my baby books about starting 1st foods - it specifically said when you're ready to introduce fruit and veggie puree to start with the veggies 1st, otherwise they'll reject the veggies if you start with sweet fruits.

It seems to work the opposite for me. As a child, bananas, yogurt, canned black olives, cooked broccoli, and corn were things I could stomach. Now I hate them all. And, strangely enough when I was younger raw broccoli was unpalatable, but now I like it...a total switch.

I remember being young and not being able to eat peppermint candy because it seemed 'hot' to me. Now that isn't an issue.

As a child I remember onions were distinctly yucky, maybe they seemed too strong. They are not so strong for adults though.

I hated peas as a child, now it is my favourite vegetable

I have celiac disease. I have had to give up a lot of foods (as an adult) that I used to really like (anything w/ wheat, rye barley or oats). There is talk around the celiac community about tastes changing over time. When you first start the diet a lot of foods seem really bland (for some reason a lot of foods that are made gluten free also seem to be free of seasonings. ) But people are told to keep going with the foods and to try new foods that they didn't like before. You get to liking new foods that previously you did not like. As it is adapt or don't eat. When I was a kid I had a very small palate (though liked almost any raw fruit or vegetable). But now it is a lot larger. Now if I could just enjoy cooking. Though for that onion thing, I still hate onions and don't think I will ever like them. They still seem too strong.

I have food allergies and there are foods that I have had to give up. One in particular is cottonseed oil and some fruits (so no fruit pectins which are used as sweetners and stabilizers) among other things, that seem to be in everything and finding foods without it is very difficult. Then there is trying to find replacement products for them and altering tastes in the process as I try to adjust to the new things. As you said though, there's no choice in this case.
I know from family and friends that are trying to manage it, what a challenge celiac's can be. There are more alternatives than there used to be but the tastes are not the same, it is an adjustment. My diet includes a lot of the same foods as the celiac diet for some time now. Some things I have not adjusted to but some things I now love.

Thanks everyone for responding. The body is amazing with the cell changes, with being able to prepare things differently as an adult, and without someone telling us "you have to eat this", that we might try it again and actually like it as we get older.

Thanks again! Bon appetit!

I can tolerate black olives, but the only time in my life I ever liked green ones, I was expecting my first daughter. Who, it turns out, loves them. I guess she was in there yanking on the umbilical cord, "All right, Mama, send down the olives...."