What is your newly-discovered food that has been around for ages?

[chicken kabob]

For some reason, I have recently been really into peanut butter and strawberry jelly sandwiches (on good whole grain bread or toasted honey-wheat english muffins.) And this is not something I really as a kid, either. This leads me to ask you what new (for you) but been around forever food you have newly gotten into???

[revsharkie]

I've always loved blue cheese, but I have recently discovered Maytag blue cheese. O my! You gotta respect a cheese that is quite capable of walking up and punching you in the nose.

[Caroline1]

I've been reading this thread since the beginning and feeling like some sort of idiot because I couldn't think of anything new that I've tried. But that's wrong. It's just wrong. If you've read my thread about really disgusting junk food, then you will know that I recently discovered (can't call it re-discovered because I'd never ever had it before) Frito Pie!

I do have a confession though. I DID try to try a Frito Pie about twenty or twenty five years ago. We were driviing across Arizona after a BIG bicycle race in Phoenix, and about 11:00 at night we pulled into a dusty one-horse-town's Sonic Drive. It was interesting because all of the kids from miles around were "cruising," and if you sat there long enough, you could see every hot rod and jalopy from miles around cruise the two blocks of town before returning to drive around the Sonic and back onto the street to cruise the two block up and two blocks back. Anyway, I digress. I did order a Frito Pie, but was told they were out of Fritos, so I think I had a burger instead. Or maybe just a cup of coffee because I was driving.

So anyway, a week or two ago, I guess I was in a beat-myself-up mood, because I ordered a Frito Pie. And to my great amazement, I LOVED IT...! Who knew?

[melly]

Peas. I crave peas..fresh or frozen. Steamed with a bit of sugar.

[Chew on That]

I tried gold kiwis the other day and they were SO good. I never knew they existed. We've always had green kiwis in my house (which I like too) but the gold kind were such a treat!

[alkapal]

you're right, those gold kiwis are like honeyed mango/passionfruit. delightful. it is time for me to buy some more, in fact.

[RealMenJulienne]

Steak, salted and seared on the outside and medium-rare on the inside. My mother - who is otherwise a great cook - has a very old-world fear of disease and would always cook steak to gray dryness. The same with any big chunk of meat, like chicken breast or pork chops. I never knew what all the red-meat lovers were talking about until I moved out and started cooking steak for myself.

[Olallieberry]

Iv'e found another one: Asian pears. Don't know if they've really 'been around forever' but I've been buying tons of them in the Union Square greenmarket. So juicy and crispy, like the perfect pear-apple hybrid.

[akq]

Oatmeal. Starbucks started selling oatmeal and I got it during my morning drive-thru run a couple of mornings last week. Their oatmeal is nothing special, but it was tasty, good for me and easy...I loved it, so I bought my own stash of instant oatmeals and brought them into work for breakfast. YUM.

[mmuch]

marinated artichokes. Yum! :)

[shivani]

mines kind of broad...red meat. I grew up veggie, added fish and chicken about 5 years ago, and then red meat about a year and a half ago. its pretty exciting to be able to eat (and cook!) so many more things.

[Dan G]

Beets - hated them as a young person, but had some (golden ones) in a restaurant about 2 years ago and eat them at least once a week now.

Brie - no idea why, but always avoided it before, but was convinced a few months ago to try it and love it.

[bulavinaka]

You might want to check out an active thread, "Beet Recipes for a Hater," over in, "Home Cooking."

http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/559139

I was the same with brie until my GF at the time ordered some baked brie, apple and a baguette for lunch at a cafe back in the 80s. Since then, I've never looked back...

[Olallieberry]

Brown rice. So much better than bland white! And still good at sopping up yummy sauces.

I also recently tried good sushi for the first time--previously had only had grocery store sushi. Wow! What a difference. I now crave the stuff almost daily.

[MMRuth]

If you've not tried brown basmati rice, do give it a try. I actually cook it the way I do white rice and it takes about 15-20 minutes, and retains it shape rather than getting mushy.

[Olallieberry]

Thanks, MMRuth, will do!

[melly]

I like brown jasmine as well!

[al b. darned]

Brown basmati is my rice of choice, too, but only the Indian or Pakistani rice. Not the American-grown stuff they pass off as basmati, but is not aged. Brown basmati is sometimes hard to find around here, so the wihte has to do, but it still not bad...and far better than ordinary white rice.

[swsidejim]

Crawfish, I never had tried the mud bugs until early this spring @ a crawfish boil, I have been to 2 more crawfish boils since then, as well as ordered them on a trip to South Carolina, and Georgia. I am hooked.

[plateofwander]

eggs! i had a bad experience with them when i was maybe 2 or 3 years old and refused to eat them until this year, 20 years later. now i eat them every day. i LOVE them--i can't believe i was missing out on the beauty of runny yolks for so long.

[JungMann]

I grew up in Chicago, but never tried an Italian beef sandwich until I moved to New York. Now they're one of the foods I have to have whenever I visit home.

[stricken]

OMG Brussel Sprouts! Just like oryza I just started eating them and I can't get enough.

[marielee]

holendaise sauce...its something that has always scared the crap out (irrational I realise!) of me but eggs bennedict is an obsession of mine and you cant do that without holendaise.

[meatn3]

Corn pudding! The idea of it had never appealed to me (baaad childhood experience with creamed corn) so I had never tried it until recently. The restaurant where I had it paired with a wonderful pork dish really set the bar. www.wattsgrocery.com
My goal this summer has been to develop a recipe as good as theirs. Getting close! Fortunately the recipe testing has not been taxing...

;-D

[fallingup]

I've never had this either! And Watts Grocery is a 5 minute walk from where I'm sitting right now! Maybe I should give it a try one of these days.

[cimui]

corn pudding is, without a doubt, one of the best foods ever invented. have you ever had spoonbread? try the kind that's made a little like a soufflee.

[ipsedixit]

Shepherd's Pie.

[al b. darned]

I love this. We used to get it in the cafeteria for lunch when I was in grade school. I've started making this at home.

[bulavinaka]

Romesco sauce - I used to make it often from a recipe in Parade Magazine (the one in the LA Sunday Times) from back in the mid to late 90s (I think). Romesco sauce goes great on so many things, but we brought two dogs, two kids and a full-scale house remodel into our lives, so a lot of the stuff we used to spend time on (like trying our hand at new recipes) fell to bottom of our priority list. Now that we seem to be getting a little more time here and there, and since I've been catching shows like, "Made in Spain," on PBS from time to time, I've got the bug again...

[oryza]

Hmmm... I've been eating brussel sprouts for the first time in my life (roasted until crisp and caramelized) this year which are delicious! I also ate green beans for the first time when I was almost 20
(my mother had an extreme aversion to all vegetables that were ever served in her university cafeteria and impressed us children with the idea that nothing good could come of them)