All y'all who try to force yourself to like something...Why?

[filth]

I was reading the chocolate thread and remembered the thread(s) on getting to like other foods that are "acquired" tastes or perhaps you just personally find unappealing.

Why do you try?

I can only think of a couple of rational reasons and even then, they're pretty highly interrelated.

1. It's a common food and you don't want to be a bother to someone who is cooking for you or eating with you at a restaurant. Example...onions.

2. You live (or have moved) to a region where that food is served often. Example, if I moved to Lebanon, I better learn to like lamb a little more. Or fish in Japan.

The not so rational one is...It's considered foodie or cool.

What say ye?

[Ruth Lafler]

Actually, I'm sort of guilty of the "not so rational" one -- I don't really like a lot of offal dishes, but since I eat out a lot with other chowhounds who do, and who order it for the table to share, I feel like I'd be losing face if I don't at least try it.

There's another reason to try to learn to like a food: because it's healthy. I taught myself to like yogurt, and some kinds of fish, and I'm still working on some greens, for that reason.

I agree wholeheartedly with your first reason -- I struggle with the fact that I hate a lot of common salad ingredients: tomatoes, cucumber, avocado, mushrooms, hard boiled eggs, mayo, etc. My life and the lives of the people who cook for me or eat with me would be a lot easier if I could learn to like them. When I lived at home my mom eventually started putting out a bowl of lettuce and dressing and little dishes of all the other stuff for people to add on their own -- sort of a mini salad bar.

[grayelf]

Ah, a woman after my own heart (but I knew that already from reading your posts) -- I have a real problem eating typical salad fixings, which can be a bit uncomfortable if your friend has taken the trouble to make a beautiful salad. Even if I like some of the ingredients (eg. avocado, tomato) I don't necessarily want them with my raw greens, thanks. I have tried over the years but have not been successful. So I highgrade (Dad's word) as surreptitiously as possible when dining at friends' homes, and tend not to order salads in restos.

A similar issue that I've more or less changed my tastes on is pizza toppings, but I still can't hack green peppers on a pie. Used to be a real problem in high school and university when everyone wanted to ordered pepperoni, mushrooms and green pepper, as I eschewed the latter two items back then. Come to think of it, still not a huge mushroom fan, or at least not button mushrooms :-).

[allieinbklyn]

I have found that there are some foods that I like the smell of a lot, but not the taste. So, in order to enjoy the thing that I liked the smell of, I learned how to like it.

Pickles are a great example.

I've also tried to learn to like things that are good for me (fish) and/or things that are eaten a lot in my household (shrimp) so that two things don't need to be cooked.

[Kagey]

I've always wondered the same thing. I just can't really understand people trying to force themselves to like foods they just don't like. Of course, we should all be open-minded and willing to try new things. But there's no crime in not liking a food, and we should embrace our differences, yada yada.

Of course, having said that, I have to admit that I've been trying really hard to like liver. That's because I'm seriously anemic and liver seems to be the most efficient iron-delivery system that's also a food (I really want to avoid taking pills if possible). I can just about eat chicken livers quite happily. I tried cooking lamb liver several months ago. The smell completely grossed me out and I couldn't eat more than a bite. Luckily, my SO loved it, so it wasn't a total waste. Next I want to try calf's liver. There are some tempting recipes flying around at the moment on the Home Cooking board, so we'll see...

[Sam Fujisaka]

I guess that the only things I don't really like are yak butter tea, sun dried pig fat (both from the Himalayas), and pulque. I don't face these three often enough anymore to worry.

[Passadumkeg]

Gee, I like pulque, but have an aversion to Pop Tarts, Twinkies, Hamburger Helper and other processed American foods.
Konichie wa wa wa.

[Sam Fujisaka]

Konichi ha ha ha. But how long was that strand of pulque that you swallowed?

[Passadumkeg]

Jo creo un metero, much mismo de una moca grande. Rico, suave, delisioso!

[cimui]

other conceivable reasons why someone may force themselves to like something:

1. ritual. i.e. you're just SUPPOSED to eat a ham/turkey/goose for christmas, candied yams for t-giving, a king cake for mardi gras....

2. sense of belonging (i.e. to a culture). expressed through statements like: you're not a real korean if you don't eat kimchee, or taiwanese unless you like stinky tofu, or japanese unless you like natto and green tea, etc...

i personally will not t force myself to like something, but i will go back to something i know i dislike every once in a while, just to make sure i still dislike it. my tastes have changed too much in the past for me to trust that they won't continue changing in the future.

one factor that keeps me coming back: if a LOT of other people really like it passionately. i want to know what i'm missing out of curiosity! (in this category: morels and rootbeer)

[Miss Needle]

Ugh! Never got the rootbeer thing. Tastes like medicine to me. More for the people who like it.

And I also never got the ice cream floats -- to me, creaminess does not go with effervescence.

I'm OK about my dislikes. I'm not overly picky and I can always manage to find something at any setting -- unless a host is only serving pickle and mayo sandwiches.

[cimui]

yeah, ugh. rootbeer tastes weirdly medicinal to me, too, and it's always reminded me a bit of that loquat syrup stuff people swallow for coughs.

re: pickle and mayo sandwiches. someone i know really did start eating these when she became preggers. so you never know -- stranger things have happened. :)

[mrbozo]

Root beer is divine but spruce beer is heaven.

Pickles and mayo are the beginning of tartar sauce. All I need is some fried fish and a couple of slices of formaldehyded American white bread and a yummy sandwich is made.

[Miss Needle]

Yes. That's why I think tartar sauce is vile as well as Thousand Island dressing. For some reason, Koreans love Thousand Island Dressing. I refused to eat it and drowned my iceberg lettuce in BBQ sauce or ketchup instead -- really sounds disgusting now but not when I was seven.

[mrbozo]

But seven is the perfect age to fully indulge in American fast food. Tantrums at not being bought Mickey D or KFC need not be justified. Risk of heart disease, diabetes, et cetera, is minimal. It's the best of times and the worst of times.

[Miss Needle]

But I did indulge in American fast food at that age. In fact, that's all that I ever ate. But I would NEVER eat that "special" sauce on a Big Mac or tartar sauce or any derivative of pickles and mayo. Totally for taste reasons, had nothing to do with health.

[mrbozo]

Picky picky picky.

[Miss Needle]

Yup, I was a pain in the ass kid in terms of pickiness. Luckily, I outgrew it but I still have problems with pickles and mayo (to a certain extent). There's a burger place in NYC called Shake Shack where they've got this special sauce that goes with the burgers that's a mayo-relish based sauce. That will never touch my lips. Some things you just can't outgrow.

[ipsedixit]

Liver.

I've learned to "like" it because of the high iron levels. There are certain times when I'm borderline anemic, and liver is a cheap and efficient way to build up my iron stores and ferretin levels without having to gorge on pounds and pounds of red meat or oysters.

[rockandroller1]

Another vote for "because it's good for me." I make myself eat fish about once a week and I don't like it at all. I only eat it because it's good for me. I have found ways to make it palatable - deep fry it, smother it with sauces, but given any other option on a menu there would always be something I'd rather select instead of fish.

[Bat Guano]

I'm sure you realize that after you've deep-fried and/or smothered it in sauce, fish isn't quite as good for you as it would be, say, grilled or steamed, with maybe a squeeze of lemon....

[Tay]

rock
" I only eat it because it's good for me. I have found ways to make it palatable - deep fry it, smother it with sauces"
I think the 'deep fry' and sauce smothering somewhat negates the whole health benefit, thing. :-)

[Miss Needle]

Yeah, I'm going to have to agree with Bat and Tay -- you may be better off eating something you like more healthily prepared than having deep-fried fish smothered in tartar sauce if you're doing it just solely for health reasons.

[cookie monster]

Agreed. I've made peace with my lifelong aversion to fish; now I just swallow a couple fish oil capsules a day and move on to eating foods that I like.

[rockandroller1]

Obviously I know it isn't healthy if it's fried, this is why I rarely eat it. what I'm trying to do is find my way slowly out of fried land and into other preparations that I can stomach. For example, when I say "smothered with sauce" I'm talking about a red snapper veracruz mr. rockandroller made last week that I was actually able to eat a whole filet of, as he had covered it in the sauce of chopped tomatoes, green olives, garlic, etc. I am getting to the point where I can do a blackened tilapia as well, though only about half a serving there. We don't really have any place that has good fried fish so I don't eat it, though I will admit I do like fish sticks about twice a year, and recently had them with NO TARTAR which was pretty tough, but I got through it. I've also increased my consumption of chunk light tuna (lower in mercury than albacore), which I actually like.

There is a place in town that does a parmesan "crusted" tilapia I can also stand. I'm sure that's not healthy either, but overall it has to be healthier than other things I would normally get off that menu, including 3 meat lasagne.

[mrsfury]

I try because all gatherings with our friends involve food. Everyone I know loves oysters. I want to love them too. Raw, fried, in stew - you name it, my friends eat it. Every now and then I will try one just to see if I like them yet. Nope I still don't. Recently some friends grilled oysters on their bbq with cheese, garlic and butter. They were the best oysters I've had and I ate a record-setting total of four. Can't say I'd eat them again but I give myself credit for trying something new.

[Stephanie Wong]

Good for you, MrsF! When I encounter a new preparation of something that's not one of my favs, I usually try a taste because I'd hate to miss out on an "AHA" moment. Probably goes back to my dad's reaction of "Good! More for me" whenever I turned down something.

[Will Owen]

Because the more things I like, the more likely it is that I'll enjoy my meal, and that's very important to me! I was raised in a family of limited means - "dirt poor" is one way to put it - but we were always open to trying new and different things. And even though our parents had some foods they couldn't bring themselves to like, they successfully raised three kids who're willing to try damn near anything.

As the years go by, I find myself liking more and more things I didn't used to, to the point where the only thing I can think of that I've tried and still hate was durian, admittedly a tough sell to most middle-aged white boys.

[mrbozo]

"2. You live (or have moved) to a region where that food is served often. Example, if I moved to Lebanon, I better learn to like lamb a little more. Or fish in Japan."

Or foie gras in Québec (or fries and/or poutine). Which brings up the question of how many and how much people avoid foods because of their "political correctness factor". But perhaps that should be another thread.

[julesrules]

I am loathe to admit I don't like something, because I am potentially missing out! If I can learn to like it, I may eventually love it, which only adds pleasure to my life. It only saddens me that I can't learn to love papaya or pakoras.

[Cachetes]

Have you tried papaya with lime juice squeezed on it? Totally transforms it.

[filth]

I'm talking about forcing/teaching yourself to LIKE something. I'm not talking about trying something.

Unless I think it was unhygienically prepared, I'll TRY anything.

However, there are some things I've tried that I don't care for, namely offal. I feel absolutely no desire to teach or force myself to like it though. Like I said, the only way I would is if I found myself in circumstances where it would be difficult if I wouldn't eat the food.

[dolores]

>>I'm talking about forcing/teaching yourself to LIKE something.

Oh.

No, absolutely, positively not. Life is too short and I've had a bellyful of being told what to do in grade school.

[EdwardAdams]

If people did not force themselves to learn to like things, beer and wine sales would drop dramatically as the newbies never went past the first taste. How many, when they were young and first tried it, thought these items tasted good?

There are many foods that fit into this category as well. The first try is off putting but upon further forced consumption, tastes really good. Appearing to be "cool" is certainly a factor in learning to like many forms of alcohol. Perhaps that is true with foods as well. Rejecting many foods at gatherings certainly makes the rejecter look overly fussy.

[Tay]

" If people did not force themselves to learn to like things, beer and wine sales would drop dramatically as the newbies never went past the first taste. How many, when they were young and first tried it, thought these items tasted good?"

And this would be a bad thing because? :-}

[mrbozo]

Conversation at table would be insufferably correct and boring; harkening back to Bergman films of the '50s. What goes around comes around, I suppose. Oy ...

[danhole]

Like you, filth, I will try anything, and maybe try it a couple more times if I don't like it the first, but I will never force myself to like anything. The only exception to that being if my Dr. told me it would cure some condition I have, then I may have to reconsider.

As far as it being foodie or cool, that reminds me of my MIL. I don't really care for mushrooms, especially ones out of a can. She used mushrooms in so many dishes that I choked down, low quality, slimy mushrooms! Ugh. When I finally confessed that I didn't like them, she told me she didn't used to like them until she found out they were so expensive and gourmet! LOL! Right, like I base my food choices on the tastes of the masses! HA!

[Passadumkeg]

I've made myself eat menudo as a hangover cure and now I love it sober!

[currymouth]

Because If I didn't, my wife would make my life a living hell.

[Passadumkeg]

Good for her! Does she eat lutefisk? Pannesteked torsket tunger?
Will be in Sayreville 7/20.
I just did a 17 Mai radio show.pa norsk.
Had det

[currymouth]

Passa . good to hear from you. been laying low recently. Not a chance on the fish, also not a fan of sil either. I will have the Norwegian Invasion in june and told my brother to bring lots of caviar, sil,ost,Aquavit from Horten,polsa, and elk jerkey. The wife is going into "Square Head" overload. Can't wait.

[dolores]

'lots of caviar'.

Now there are three words you don't often see together!

Sounds wonderful, currymouth. Enjoy.

[currymouth]

dolores, I wish Norwegian caviar was in the same league as Russian. Our's come in tubes like toothpaste and is sourced from Salmon. The bright side is we can afford to eat it everyday.There are small producers in north Norway who are producing excellent caviar for the European market but with the dollar the way it is, A better deal might be found in Brighton Beach, Brooklyn.

[mrbozo]

Eating lutefisk is an ordeal and a sufferance.

[currymouth]

Not so much when your drunk, and caught up in the moment. But yes, it has always been what I call a Norwegian Dare.

[Passadumkeg]

Man, I must have Norskaphilia bad, I like lutefisk and find nothing objectionable. I miss reindeer pizza too.
I guess I'm slowing down. Had a shoulder operation (and tourista) a day after returning from Costa Rica. Busy time in school.
Found ekte gjeitost and roll mop herring in Portland.

[currymouth]

Must be my west indian blood. Can't handle the lutefisk but look forward to Frizzled saltfish with hot peppers and onions for breakfast.

[mrbozo]

Frizzled saltfish, qu'est-ce que c'est? A Guyanese friend of mine got me hooked on saltfish-onions-scrambled eggs.

[currymouth]

The salt cod is stripped and fried in olive oil with onions, garlic, and julienned scotch bonnet peppers. served over rice, sometimes with a fried egg, or in between a johnny bake. Breakfast of champions and fishermen.

[mrbozo]

Making my mouth water and sting. Thanks. Gotta try it.

[Gio]

This sounds really tasty, currymouth. Is the salt cod soaked in milk or water before cooking? And, if it is....for how long? TKS

[dolores]

Boy, now there's something I'd like to see at IHOP.

Seriously, it sounds delish.

[Olallieberry]

Think about a food you really, really love. Cheese, maybe, or bacon, or sushi, or pulled pork, whatever it is you find absolutely scrumptious. Now, haven't you ever sat down to enjoy a big plate full of ___ and your dining companion wrinkles their nose and says "Eeew, I don't like ____."

Didn't you just feel sorry for them? You know they're missing out on a profound pleasure. That's why I make myself try foods I don't think I like, because I'm afraid I'll miss out on something amazing.

Don't know if bell peppers are ever going to happen, though...

[MsRetro]

I agree. I want as many pleasures in this life as possible.

[cresyd]

For me it's all a matter of the first "rational" reason. If I feel the food is common, and disliking it is becoming more of a pain than a preference, then I make the effort.

My greatest attempt has been to like or at least not loath black pepper. I grew up in a family where salt and black pepper were not used in great quantities to season food - instead other kinds of pepper (cayenne, chili, etc.), acids, and herbs/spices were used. This has left me with a rather severe distaste of black pepper - which is in just so much food that to dislike it leaves me feeling overly picky. While I'm not sure I'm ever going to love it, I have reached a point where I can enjoy it in small quantities in some foods.

However, foods like olives, coconuts, bananas, pork/ham, and beer - I have accepted that I don't like em and don't find my eating choices to be greatly curbed by avoiding those ingredients. Even when living in the Middle East, not eating olives never was a big deal.

[Passadumkeg]

If many people like a "gourmet " food there must be something good about it. In ye olde 70's, my best friend's father offered me a martini. Since Almaden and Michelob were gourmet for me, I liked neither the martini nor the olive, but I thought that if so many people raved about these "foods" there must be something good about them. After the 3rd martini, they weren't half bad. Olives took longer.
Besides who wants to eat Pop Tarts and Twinkie's for the rest of their ife?

[goodhealthgourmet]

piggybacking on pdk's martini answer, the only thing i've ever tried [and succeeded] to force myself into liking is beer, which i think is pretty common for teenagers & college students. just one problem...i developed a taste for GOOD beer, but never for the swill that was usually served at keg parties & college bars.

i'll try anything twice just because that's the way i approach life. but if i don't like it the second time around, i don't bother anymore.

the one exception is coconut - i've spent my entire life trying to figure out what it is that so many people like about it. every now and again i'll find myself faced with the opportunity to eat it in one of its many forms...and every time, i end up trying to rid my mouth of the taste as quickly as possible.

[Miss Needle]

I did the beer thing as well. For a teenager, beer is one of the cheapest forms of booze out there. But I never could really appreciate it and was never able to finish a bottle. There are certain beers that I prefer over others, but never will order one on my own. So I just stuck to wine coolers (in HS), and moved my way up to mixed drinks, shots and then wine.

GHG, do you not even like coconut milk in curries? I don't love coconut and it's never my first choice, but I love South East Asian curries with coconut milk in it.

[goodhealthgourmet]

funny you should ask. i adore southeast asian food, and i love curries, but the ones that are heavy on the coconut milk always prove to be a bit much for me. i tend to avoid the coconut-based ones just to be safe, but those are actually the dishes i'll try on occasion in the hopes that i've somehow overcome my aversion.

i really wish i could get past it!

[mrbozo]

What is it about coconut that turns you away?

[goodhealthgourmet]

everything. the scent, the flavor, the texture...it just makes me shudder...and it leaves a terrible aftertaste in my mouth.

i blame it on some weird subconscious association with the awful dessicated coconut some people insist on putting in their carrot cake. i have a distinct childhood memory of digging into a piece of my aunt's cake, and as i chewed the first bite, i remember the horrible way those gnarly, chewy strings squeaked between my teeth.

i've been ruined for all things coconut ever since. anything reminiscent of the flavor, scent or texture makes me gag.

[cresyd]

I'm with you on the anti-coconut kick. My mom hates coconut, so it was never brought into the house. But when I was about 5 or 6, I convinced my dad to let me try those "snowballs" - those packaged pastries covered in the shaved pink coconut. It was an unfair introduction - but ever since the flavor and texture totally make me gag. One of the few foods I will try and find a (polite) way to spit it out if I accidentally eat some.

I can handle a little coconut milk in curry - but only a little. And definitely not if it impacts the aroma.

[dolores]

cresyd, did you try ripping off the dayglo coconut exterior and jamming it into your mouth all at once and then eating the 'chocolate' cake with 'creme' filling?

Good stuff.

[cresyd]

Hahaha, at the time I'm not sure if my mouth was big enough....there was just such disappointment with how fluffy they looked and that crunch of the coconut. I didn't make it much further than one bite.

I think another thing that has hampered my enjoyment of coconut flavor (and some other flavors as well), was that I grew up living about 5 miles or so from a flavor factory that was along the interstate near my house. So you'd be driving on the highway, and get a whiff of some ungodly artificial flavor mistake. As a note, this factory was also near a Jim Beam factory. Ug, the smells of childhood.

[moh]

I have a hot-cold relationship with coconut. Sometimes I have to have it, other times I can't go near it. I blame some of my aversion to coconut on the fake smell of too many sunscreens. I hate that smell.

[Miss Needle]

I think that may have something to do with it because I'm also not a fan of lavender in food -- I feel like I'm eating a bar of soap.

[moh]

I also have the same relationship with lavender as well! In general, I find floral flavours sometimes hard to take, because of the relationship to perfumes. But rosewater I usually love. I also don't mind floral notes in wines, they seem less obtrusive in wine.

[Miss Needle]

I do like rosewater, but it wasn't love at first sight. And I love jasmine but only in tea. I've had jasmine jello and thought it was a bit strange. Perhaps there is something to the floral thing and liquids.

[mrbozo]

Jasmine rice?

[Miss Needle]

I love jasmine rice. It is fragrant and aromatic, but not strongly floral.

[emerilcantcook]

I have the same relationship with the coconut. Once a coconut smelling hair conditioner made me throw up. I think the younger the coconut is, the better I can tolerate it. The smell gets too cloying and unidimensional when the coconut matures. Just don't give me shredded dried coconut. I will eat it, but I will hate you too.

[Cachetes]

As a kid, I was never a coconut fan either. Do you and I have the same aunt?

As an adult, I was cured when I discovered coconut ice cream.

[SonyBob]

Same here. I hated beer when I went to college (1960) but really got to liking it wayyyy too much. Problem I had was with scotch. It was really cool on my campus (Kansas State University) to drink scotch. I hated it from the get-go but kept trying it because I reasoned that I would get used to it and then like it. I even tried it straight. I hated it then and I still hate it now. I just can't get passed the taste. Ugh.
Bob

[mrbozo]

Yeah, give me Irish whiskey any day of the week.

[Maximilien]

I will never force myself to like something.

I'm lucky that I like everything except for the most extreme stuff. (like most most asian snacks or desert )

[Gio]

I'll never force myself to like anything. I may follow doctor's orders, but that doesn't necessarily mean that I'll like "it".

If I'm at table with others and something is served I may not like, I may or may not eat it if I'm in one of my moods. Won't make a fuss, just will not eat it, being pleasant all the while. No one has ever noticed...

[mrbozo]

How about fish bladder soup?

[lynnlato]

I wasn't served a lot of fish as a child. If you're not exposed to something then sometimes you have difficulty developing a taste for it. As an adult, I recognized the nutritional value of fish and, quite frankly, I saw how passionate folks were about it and I wanted to share in that experience. So, over the years I have continually tried various fish and am happy that I have significantly expanded my palate and now enjoy many fish and seafood dishes that I would've never liked when I was younger.

I

[Cachetes]

Marital bliss. My husband loves cooking a wide array of dishes, and I realized that I'd be missing out if I didn't learn to unlock my palate.

Prior to this, my only recollection of doing this is when I moved to Costa Rica many years ago. I realized that if I didn't learn to like cilantro, I'd be miserable.

[mrbozo]

Because it's good for me.

Because my doctor told me to change my diet.

Because I am a contrarian.

[dolores]

For myself:

>>Why do you try?

I'll try anything twice.

>>It's considered foodie or cool.

I couldn't care less about foodie or cool. Usually they are part of the pack and I despise the pack mentality.

Time marches on, and tastes change:

I used to hate the look of polenta. Since trying it, I've found that I adore polenta and grits (and the glorious chicken fried steak that sometimes goes with it outside of NY).

But the overriding one for me:

Curiosity. If it doesn't kill me, I've learned something new.

BTW, I just noticed the 'all y'all' -- that is so nice a greeting.

[Kelli2006]

I have a hard time rationalizing not liking something if others find it enjoyable. Liking ethnic Chinese and Indian food was initially hard for me as I was brought up on a diet that considered anything not from continental Europe, or North America to be exotic.

It wasn't until I went to college that I had native Chinese, Indian and Middle Eastern dishes that were cooked by roommates and friends. I still cringe when I watch Andrew Zimmern but I would travel w/ Tony Bourdain at the drop of a hat.
I still don't enjoy deviled eggs, whole olives and English peas but I will eat them if they are served.

[linguafood]

I can obviously speak only for myself here, but I've had different reasons for different foods I have started to like relatively recently.

Cilantro: I worked on liking it because I like Thai and Vietnamese food, and the herb's simply pretty prevalent in a lot of dishes. I used to HATE cilantro, but no more. So now I can enjoy the dishes the way they were 'meant to be'.

Blue cheese: I am a great lover of cheeses of all kinds, but always found blue to be nasty -- too sweet, too chalky, too intense, you name it. I wouldn't say that it's my favorite kind of cheese now, but a nice gorgonzola, or stilton, or buttermilk blue is a welcome addition to our late-night cheese plates.

Oysters -- hmm. That's a tough one to explain. I never liked oysters, even though I repeatedly tried them throughout my life. I also wasn't sure whether I really needed to add a food that is rather expensive.... but, be that as it may, at a relatively recent seafood buffet I figured I'd give 'em another shot. And wouldn't you know it, I really liked them, and now I seek them out.