I used to be a picky eater, but years ago I decided that I wanted to like more food - - that life would be better if I actually enjoyed foods that I would otherwise have to suffer/avoid.

I started by putting small amounts of different ingredients in my dishes (when it made sense) and I quickly developed a taste for all of them.

(Only found out later that this was a great way to do it as your microbiom directly impacts your cravings).

Onions, mushrooms, tomatoes, olives, pickles, brussel sprouts, oysters, mustard are all things I now genuinely enjoy.

Tomatoes or mushrooms. Both were a texture thing. I made some diet changes as an adult, so I’m not sure if that helped in changing my opinion, but now I’m fine with mushrooms and grow tomatoes in my garden every year!

Asparagus! I hated that shit when I was 12. And now I can’t wait for asparagus season.

• Brussel Sprouts: I tried them in a salad and fell in love with them instantly. Now they’re included in every roast. They have to be fresh, because the frozen ones can just be mushy. And those little, crispy, flavorful leaves that fall off are just 🤌🏾
• Tomatoes: I won’t just bite into one, but I’ve been making them more prominent in my dishes. I mostly stick to the sundried variety, haven’t been able to eat them raw.
• Mushrooms: I love them so much I don’t understand why I hated them.
• Some Cheese: I general, I still would say I don’t like cheese, but I’ve become more forgiving of mozerella, which was unheard of when I was a child. It’s the only cheese that broke through.

Still don’t like bacon though 🤷🏿‍♀️

Eggplant. I tried cooking it until just tender, like zucchini - and it was nasty as hell; I never got it and never wanted to.

Then I encountered some actually properly cooked stuff in a pasta dish when eating out and ohmygod.

I heard that stuff like green vegetables are unpalatable to children because they taste more bitter to them.
As you grow up you become more insensitive to those flavors and start tasting the other compounds that you actually like.

tomatoes. hated them as a kid. juicy burgers were may gateway into them.

Onions

Guldens Spicy Brown Mustard. Dad was from Brooklyn and loved it, as I kid I just wanted the neon yellow stuff all my friends had. Now, many years later, I always have it in my fridge.

Olives. I still am not a fan of black olives, but I’d eat an entire jar of green.

Corn! Wait, no, still hate it.

Anchovies on pizza. Just a couple though, like fish sauce, a little goes a long way.

Sweet potatoes. Something about them made me gag. Every Thanksgiving a heaping pile of them would wind up on my plate and I’d have to power though or else face the wrath of my grandmother.

Nowadays I love them. Dunno when the switch happened.

grits. the way my mother made them when I was a kid was plain and kind of unpleasant. I add sausage and cheese to mine.

For me it was eggs. My mom wasn’t that great a cook and she’d only make two types of eggs: hard boiled eggs or these sort of way way overcooked sunny side up eggs. Never liked either so grew up thinking I just don’t like eating eggs.

Later on as I got older I realized there are other egg dishes and I actually really like eggs. Scrambled eggs is pretty much my favorite breakfast. A close second is egg and cheese on a bagel.