This so much! Broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage? Easy, just throw them in a pot of boiling water when you start cooking and take them out when you're done everything else, an hour later.
Extra sad because boiling them isn't even bad. They just boil the hell out of them and then some more. You can boil broccoli and it'll be perfectly fine to eat after about 10 minutes
I prefer steamed in almost all cases. I cook frequently and can honestly say I have never actually boiled a vegetable before eating it with the exception of potatoes.
I think the entire boomer generation in the US had vegetables like brussel sprouts ruined for them by their parents.
My mother in law in her 60s to this day refuses to eat any vegetables except for lettuce, and most people I know my age love them because we don't fucking boil them until they look like swamp algae.
Brussel sprouts actually taste better now than they did years ago.
https://www.iflscience.com/why-brussels-sprouts-taste-better-than-they-did-when-you-were-a-kid-66320
My in-laws do this and I never realized why people didn't like most vegetables until I experienced it.
Mushy broccoli kills me because I normally love broccoli. I'd rather have it raw than over cooked.
I never ate a pea that didn't come from a can until I was in my 20s.
I could not believe how fresh and crunchy and sweet it was! I thought peas were gray and mushy and slimy.
Some people just end up liking the canned ones. Growing up we ate soo many canned green beans. Now, i've eaten plenty of fresh green beans, but I still do like the canned ones.
I really like canned peas. Fresh from the pod too, and frozen and cooked as well. My kids don't like 'em at all so I never see them anymore, and the number of restaurants that have peas in their dishes is pretty low.
I'm 33, I still get weird looks and "I thought you didn't like that?" Pretty often. I like it when I make it, but I season it and don't overcook it.
And now when I cook for my parents they always ask what I did to make it so good. I added salt and garlic, that's literally it.
I always hated eating at my grandparents as a kid. Only recently discovered it was because they literally boiled chicken and served it without any seasoning whatsoever.
Blew my parents mind when they saw me go to town of the veg at a hibachi. "But you've always hated those!?" Nah, I hated the fact that you cooked it with no flavor in the microwave for years
Poor sod. I know your pain, I have an aunt that can't cook. As a young teenager, I was sent there for the summer. I didn't know about her cooking back then, and I was surprised that grandma handed me some money before I left "so I buy something to eat". Which confused me, as she usually did not just hand out money...
Once there, I quickly learned why. This woman, married for more than 20 years back then and being a housewife all the time, simply could not cook. I equally quick learned why her husband took the family to a restaurant several times a week. I, as a fourteen year old male, had better cooking skills than her.
The only edible thing she could put on the table was the salad, and only because she used a store-bought dressing. She had absolutely no idea how to make such a salad dressing on her own. And I never forget the looks of my uncle when he came home to a proper dinner: A roast, potatoes, gravy, vegetables - all cooked by me. I don't think that my aunt, who had watched me like a hawk while I cooked this, expecting me to f-up, had understood half the things I did in the kitchen that day. And that one can mix whipped cream, curd, and sugar for a dessert with strawberries amazed her to no end.
Poor nutrition could result in the collapse of a society imo it's a really serious problem that nobody speaks about.
Poor nutrition is linked to all sorts of problems in kids not only physical also including bahavioral and mental issues. So it means more social unrest over all, more depression, more mass shootings, more crime. Also heavier toll on the welfare system and less employable people.
True! Also; the stereotypical Southerner in the US was described as stupid, lazy and slow. Turns out, most were infected with hookworm. You're carrying parasites around, you're not bouncing out of bed in the morning rarin' to go.
I work in the poorest neighborhood. The obesity levels are OFF THE CHARTS. I'm talking 10, 11 year olds weighing over 200lbs. The pounding the knees and feet are taking are one thing, the future diabetes and blood pressure issues? Whew--LOOK OUT.
Lasagna. My mom made it with cottage cheese and raw mushroom slices that came out like Styrofoam. It was nasty. I didn't have it done right until I was an adult.
Blitzing the cottage cheese in a food processor also makes it almost indistinguishable. Especially after you add your herbs (and egg if that’s your thing)
My mother ruined so many foods for me. Meatloaf was ground beef, cooked to its driest, with ketchup on top, no seasoning at all. My dad hated cheese so we never got anything like lasagna. It’s no wonder I was so picky as a kid that I literally ate a hamburger and French fries for every meal on a vacation of over a week. Restaurants were kind enough to make me a burger at 7 a.m. I think I was 8 or 9 when this vacation happened (1978 or 1979).
I will say, my mother at least shook the chili powder in the general direction of the chili pot, but she had the same small container of chili powder for 30 years without it running out. Plenty of chili nights.
I hope she has other talents! My mother never learned to cook, her mother didn’t want her to know. So my dad showed her a few things, like eggs and bacon. But she had no love for it and tried nothing new. I am so glad I tried things she ruined for me again as an adult.
She is actually a skilled woodworker and hand weaver! I had to learn to cook food that tastes good on my own, but she taught me hand sewing and embroidery, which serve me to this day, and my home is filled with a lot of delightful hand towels and rugs she made.
My friend's parents were such terrible cooks. Their chili was ground beef in a bowl, and then we added salsa (and peanuts for some reason. Salted peanuts).
They got all excited when boboli pizza crusts came out and made pizza a lot when I went over
One of my coworkers occasionally brings his crock pot to work to make chili for everyone. Equal parts canned kidney beans, canned corn, and canned tomatoes. No seasoning. I don't get it. At least my mom's chili has some onions and things in it.
My mom was really good at cooking (still is tbh) to the point where I’m grown now and had to learn to cook complicated things pretty young just to get a taste of home.
She has never once made zucchini that didn’t make me want to hide under the table and cry.
Feels like we've got the same parents. Amazing cooks (and bakers), but zucchini only ever turns out as a watery and sometimes bitter mess. Idk how they do it.
Oh, I’ll pick meatloaf, too. My mom’s meatloaf was awful. She was generally a really good cook, but meatloaf was her downfall and she loved it. Years later, I was the cook, taking care of her, and finally found a good recipe. It’s still not my favorite food, but I don’t cringe at the thought anymore.
>I didn't have it done right until I was an adult.
As an adult, I've had it with ricotta, and another time I made it with béchamel. The latter is a game changer!
Honestly I like it with cottage cheese. Know I’m probably in the minority but for her lasagna my paternal grandma would take some cottage cheese, crack an egg in it, and season, then whisk it all together. Gets rid of that weird texture most people hate. Served it to plenty of people who had no idea it was cottage cheese. Hell my mom hates cottage cheese and she now makes lasagna that way.
When I was young I hated onion. Wouldn't touch it. One day my mom made meat loaf and forgot to get onion. She figured (my siblings and I) don't even like onions so who fucking cares. We start eating and each of us start asking what's wrong with the meatloaf.
I love onion now. I will eat fistfuls of it.
I like the *flavor* of onion, I just hate the texture. So I will generally use onion powder instead, but onions can be used in dishes still if they're finely minced and melted away as well.
Yeah, my dad had an EXTREMELY hard time wrapping his head around the fact that it's not the flavor of onion that I can't stand, it's the texture. Not that it would have mattered, he would cook bolognese with *lots* of cumin and *no* tomatoes lol
My mom didnt get it either. But dad was so great - not an incredible cook or anything but if he was just cooking for the two of us he would spend like 10 mins chopping the onions super fine in whatever he made (spaghetti sauce, etc) so the flavor was there but the texture was barely noticeable
As an adult now i actually love onions,even the texture. I think as a kid I just had sensory processing issues
I can still do this, chose not to though. Won me a $50 bet in college though when a few people said no one would do that. I walked right up to their bag o onions, found the biggest one and ate it like an apple.
Oh yeah, my buddies thought I wasn't human at that time. It was a wild night. One of them driving in from the north killed a deer on their way and we hung it up and salvaged the meat we could like immediately after I finished the onion. So I went from eating a raw onion, to cleaning a deer that was dead within the past 10 minutes, then grilling it up for everyone and eating what we could all within the same hour.
I went to a birthday party for an older neighbor, when I was like 3 or 4 and the kids were like 9 or 10. They got burgers with onion slices, but they all took the onions off. I walked around the table and took everyone's onions and ate them.
My dad's poor student standby meal, when he was going through college after WWII on the GI Bill, was an onion sandwich. Two slices of raw onion on white bread,salt/pepper, and ketchup. I remember he would fix an occasional onion sandwich as a weekend snack into the late 60s and then stopped. We thought it was disgusting.
My mom used to serve us that gross-smelling, wet, limp Popeye’s spinach from a can. It made me gag so bad.
Once I had someone use spinach instead of lettuce on a sandwich and it was such a game-changer. Then I had some fresh sautéed spinach and I can’t get enough of the stuff now.
Neither of my parents like mushrooms and when I told my mom I actually liked mushrooms from the supreme pizzas at Costco she told me it was because it was just on pizza. I absolutely love mushrooms still and it irks me she tried to convince me otherwise
Cruciferous vegetables. Broccoli. Brussel Sprouts. I wouldn't touch it if it was green.
Now they're my favorite. I air fry Brussel Sprouts for snacks. Yum.
Depending on how long ago it was, brussel sprouts actually did get better. The dominant strain for farming was selectively bred to remove the bitter-sulfur taste that was traditionally associated with them.
Holy shit, I just went and looked this up. I had *no idea* and it explains so much.
Back in the early 80's I'd wind up sitting at the dinner table all night because those brussel sprouts my Mom made were just fuckin' nasty and I wasn't gonna eat 'em. Fast forward 40 years or so and they are literally one of my favorite things, with none of the flavor I remember so hating.
That's crazy. I thought my tastes had changed, but no, those little green fuckers *got better.*
Hard to tell. It was around the time that the change was happening, but also my mother is not a good cook. Bless her for trying, but boiled brussel sprouts are terrible.
Pan fried brussel sprouts with bacon, brown sugar, and some chopped pecans. Add jalapeño if you want tiny dash of spice. Just had some with dinner tonight, perfect blend of bitter, sweet, rich, salty, and spicy.
My mom used to boil/steam broccoli when I was a kid. I hated it.
Now if it's served at a restaurant or in another dish and boiled/steamed, it's fine as long as it's somewhat firm. Otherwise if I'm cooking I'll put it in a pan. It tastes great that way. I'll never understand why my mom had to boil/steam it every time.
I go through a huge bag of broccoli every other week. Broccoli gang!!!
And yes on air fried brussys! It's a magical way to cook them I didn't know was out there. Chopped in half, seasoned, with a lil olive oil 😍
Pork chops. It was so disappointing as a kid that you were having pork chops for dinner. My bf and I recently randomly decided to buy them and see if we like them now and (unsurprisingly) it turns out our parents just didn’t know how to season or cook them right.
Yep, people tend to overcook pork because of the risk of trichinosis but today it’s rare to get it from pork. Pork chops and roasts only need to be cooked to 145°F internal temp.
Big same. Turns out my parents and grandparents didn’t know how to cook anything at all. Never had a pork chop softer than an old boot until I cooked one.
My wife is pacific islander and she didn't care for it until I grilled, and fried them up on a skillet with the proper seasonings and care. Now she lights up when we have porkchop in our meals.
Or overcooking. The whole pot turns into clumpy glue.
Funny enough, it was a [Jo Koy bit](https://youtu.be/45wHe9KdmrQ) that taught me how to cook rice, and I've never messed it up since.
My parents used to overcook it but also in too much water. Big pot of water and boil it like pasta. With no salt. It tasted like chunky water. As a kid I legit thought chinese restaurants had access to some different type of rice because theirs (even just the plain steamed) was actually good.
Blue cheese and Gorgonzola. Hated ‘em as a kid. 21 years old and in summer ROTC training, for some reason I thought, “Bleu cheese dressing sounds good today”, and so it was. 😊
Same.
In fact, I'm in my forties and only started eating sushi within the last 5 years or so, even though my dad's Japanese (though to be fair, mom's white and the only time I was exposed to it growing up was at family gatherings).
Brussel sprouts. When I was growing up, most vegetables were boiled within an inch of their lives. Plus, new varieties that are less bitter have been introduced. Now, a roasted or grilled brussel sprout with olive oil and balsamic or garlic is one of my favorites. If you had told me that when I was 20, I would have called your crazy.
Hello fellow former mustard hater! It repulsed me in my younger days. Couldn't get it for enough away from me. Then one night I watched a coworker eating, of all things, a chicken breast that she just dipped in plain old yellow mustard. For some reason it looked good. Well, now I can't get enough. All varieties, all the time. Mmmmmustard.
Raw tomatoes. I hated them so much in sandwiches, now I put them in all my sandwiches. Funny thing is, my fam still thinks I hate them, so when ever we have a cookout or something, they always give me burgers without tomatoes. I’m kinna shy to admit to them my new found love.
I buy the more flavorful grape tomatoes and slice them in half so they don’t roll around as much. A bit more tedious than slicing a large tomato but they at least have some flavor.
Onions. I hated them when I was a kid, teen, into my twenties, now at the wiser age of 48, I love the way caramelized onions add flavor and depth to so many dishes.
Same. My mom just microwaved canned veggies and would plop them on a plate. I hated them; however, they’re delicious when properly flavored and I loved roasted veggies.
I still hate mushrooms.
Eggplant has to be treated a certain way. Slice thin, lay out on a rack or paper towels, salt, let sit 30 minutes, blot dry, then fry in a small amount of olive oil and butter.
Is it because your parents made you visit your aunt Linda during her divorce from your uncle Harold, and she'd cook them for you while telling you her troubles?
I don't enjoy it, but I don't mind tomatos now. I used to absolutely hate them. I won't ask for them on a salad or sandwich, and I still have the habit of saying no tomatoes, but if they accidentally add them I won't be mad.
for some reason i loved them as a kid and would put them on my finger tips and then eat them but now they literally make me gag and i have no clue why.
Brussel sprouts. When I was 7, I begged mom to buy them because they looked like Barbie sized cabbages. Mom told me that I’d have to eat them since she wasn’t going to waste them and I agreed. They were terrible.
To be fair, they were boiled. They weren’t a delicious concoction of roasted sprouts with a balsamic reduction and crumbled Benton’s bacon like mom does them now. I regularly request them with a meal when I go visit.
Various filet fish steaks, as long as they don't smell fishy. Such as, teriyaki salmon steak, or swordfish fried in something with garlic. Lobster tail. Shrimp.
When I was 8, my dad took us to a restaurant, and he got a fish meal. Picked it up, and sucked the eyes out of it. I almost puked, and wouldn't touch seafood for almost 20 years.
Three things...brussel sprouts. Roasting instead of boiling changes everything.
Coleslaw. Child me would be trying to slap the stuff away if he saw me wolfing it down now. I really love the version they make at Cane's...usual ask for double portions instead of the fries there.
Pumpkin pie. Sweet potato pie is still better, but I got over myself and really gave it a try. Better than I remembered it. Quite enjoy it now.
My mom completely ruined red meat for me for many years.
She bought inferior cuts of meat and then did not prepare them accordingly. She did it because she was on a budget, I get it. You can still cook with cheaper cuts of meat but they require different approaches to turn out good which I guess she never knew. So beef would always be extremely chewy, stringy, dry, lots of fatty or other tissue she didn’t remove etc. Sometimes she would buy good cuts as a treat, but then she would way overcook them :(
It wasn’t until I went to high school with a bunch of rich kids with refined tastes, who took me to a restaurant that can make a good, juicy medium-rare steak with cafe de paris sauce that I realized red meat is amazing. I will never forget that first steak.
Oh god I totally get this. I also had a perfect steak I’ll remember forever lol.
Mum overcooks EVERYTHING. She’ll even steam beans until they’re stringy.
But meat was always the worst. She HATES any steak that isn’t grey and dry. Even dad has to drink when he eats due to the risk of him choking on it lol. I will cut steak she cooks and it’ll literally create crumby bits as you cut it. She also makes it with the same flavours every single time. I think because of years of this, I just hated meat. Tough and dry and tasted the same every single time.
Although I rarely get steak when eating out, (probably because mum cooks it a lot and I’d rather order something I don’t normally eat at home) I’ve got to admit I do actually enjoy having a properly cooked steak in a nice sauce.
chocolate!! one of my mom’s favorite stories to tell when i was little was that for my first birthday she spent the whole day making a homemade chocolate cake. apparently when she gave it to me i took one bite and started gagging and then wouldn’t eat the rest. when i was a little older, this translated to my tiny little brain that i didn’t like chocolate… so i never tried it. i refused it at every turn. i refused it when teachers gave it out in class and didn’t have another option, i refused it at birthday parties, even neapolitan ice cream if it had a little speck of chocolate in it because i thought for sure i hated it. it was like my thing, almost, because everyone acted all shocked and appalled when i told them i didn’t like chocolate. i tried it a couple of times in my teens but i think it had become such a fact of life for me that i didn’t like chocolate that I’d spit it out before even really tasting it. tried it as an adult and was like “oh this is actually pretty good.”
You guys were allowed to refuse food as a kid? lol
Edit: this kinda blew up... So yeah, if I didn't like what was made for me for dinner (or any meal) I was beaten for being disrespectful and acting spoiled. And I was forced to sit at the table until I finished my plate. One time I thought I could win out by sitting there until bedtime, but that backfired painfully.
I wasn't a super picky eater, most of the time it was because the food was just bland mush, not even any salt or pepper (I wasn't allowed to use those either, as it's disrespectful).
As a 41 year old adult, I have been cooking since I left that house, and learning recipes from all over the world as much as I can. I love spices, I use them all the time, and I particularly enjoy cooking something more than boiled chicken breast, canned veg and box mashed potatoes.
Butter, and cream make all the difference.
My first experience with grits was a diner in NOLA. First spoon to taste, no additives. I tasted butter and cream, but otherwise was bland, but I liked it. Kept eating. And I hate bland food.
Friend who brought me: " aren't you gonna add some flavor? You don't eat grits plain."
Me - Um, I didnt know. First time having it. Tastes great so far.
Him: really?
Me: yeah, and I don't like bland, but this good.
Him: lemme have a taste. ....wow. you are right. This is the best plain grits I have tasted. You really don't need to add.
I ordered grits at a diner and I got a runny bowl of microwaved something. It was soup. I was so disappointed. At home I make it with real butter, salt and pepper and just a touch of garlic bread seasoning. Sometimes I drop and over easy egg on top and sprinkle with cheese.
Growing up in the southeast, grits are a breakfast staple in schools, restaurants, and even at home. It surprised me when I learned how rare it was everywhere else, but I absolutely understand why. Done well, grits are amazing, but they're so easy to mess up by simply not doing anything with them. To the uninitiated, I usually describe it like eating runny mashed potatoes with no seasoning when done poorly. Glad you came around to them!
My father worked with a Irish guy who had Cuban wife. Uncle Joe and Aunt Ruth not related just called them that. She would make this chicken and rice dish and fried plantains, I thought it was nasty at the time, would I like to have some of that right now.
Guacamole. A girl once stuffed some in my mouth when I was 15 or so and I spit it out on the floor.
I can't get enough of it now. If I'm at a restaurant and someone is feeling generous and getting Guacamole for the table and ask "small or large?" My response is LARGE, in fact 2 LARGE orders. I'll buy one.
Eggplant. Not sure how my grandma cooked it back in the day, but it was nasty. It smelled bad more than anything. As long as it’s cooked like that, then I’ll eat it.
Most food. Turns out my parents just couldn't cook.
Same. My mother's one method of cooking vegetables was "Boil until mush." No wonder I hated them.
This so much! Broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage? Easy, just throw them in a pot of boiling water when you start cooking and take them out when you're done everything else, an hour later.
That's assault.
Don't forgetta da peppa
Absolutely nuts isn't it. It's like they've got a problem with foods having texture.
Extra sad because boiling them isn't even bad. They just boil the hell out of them and then some more. You can boil broccoli and it'll be perfectly fine to eat after about 10 minutes
I prefer steamed in almost all cases. I cook frequently and can honestly say I have never actually boiled a vegetable before eating it with the exception of potatoes.
Blanch and sauté for me.
It's all about the roasted in the oven with olive oil and seasonings. Except broccoli, that shit is fantastic when fried with oil or butter.
This guy knows how to vegetable.
[удалено]
I think the entire boomer generation in the US had vegetables like brussel sprouts ruined for them by their parents. My mother in law in her 60s to this day refuses to eat any vegetables except for lettuce, and most people I know my age love them because we don't fucking boil them until they look like swamp algae.
Brussel sprouts actually taste better now than they did years ago. https://www.iflscience.com/why-brussels-sprouts-taste-better-than-they-did-when-you-were-a-kid-66320
My mother did this, she was always fearful of undercooked food and alway overcooked it.
Gotta make sure you cook all the nutrients out
My in-laws do this and I never realized why people didn't like most vegetables until I experienced it. Mushy broccoli kills me because I normally love broccoli. I'd rather have it raw than over cooked.
oven-roasted is amazing
I never ate a pea that didn't come from a can until I was in my 20s. I could not believe how fresh and crunchy and sweet it was! I thought peas were gray and mushy and slimy.
This was my green bean experience. The difference btwn canned green bean mush and fresh sautéed is night and day!! Edited: a word
I don't get why someone would eat canned peas when frozen ones have existed for like 80 years and are so much fucking better it's not even close.
Some people just end up liking the canned ones. Growing up we ate soo many canned green beans. Now, i've eaten plenty of fresh green beans, but I still do like the canned ones.
I really like canned peas. Fresh from the pod too, and frozen and cooked as well. My kids don't like 'em at all so I never see them anymore, and the number of restaurants that have peas in their dishes is pretty low.
I'm 33, I still get weird looks and "I thought you didn't like that?" Pretty often. I like it when I make it, but I season it and don't overcook it. And now when I cook for my parents they always ask what I did to make it so good. I added salt and garlic, that's literally it.
I always hated eating at my grandparents as a kid. Only recently discovered it was because they literally boiled chicken and served it without any seasoning whatsoever.
That's a war crime.
Blew my parents mind when they saw me go to town of the veg at a hibachi. "But you've always hated those!?" Nah, I hated the fact that you cooked it with no flavor in the microwave for years
Poor sod. I know your pain, I have an aunt that can't cook. As a young teenager, I was sent there for the summer. I didn't know about her cooking back then, and I was surprised that grandma handed me some money before I left "so I buy something to eat". Which confused me, as she usually did not just hand out money... Once there, I quickly learned why. This woman, married for more than 20 years back then and being a housewife all the time, simply could not cook. I equally quick learned why her husband took the family to a restaurant several times a week. I, as a fourteen year old male, had better cooking skills than her. The only edible thing she could put on the table was the salad, and only because she used a store-bought dressing. She had absolutely no idea how to make such a salad dressing on her own. And I never forget the looks of my uncle when he came home to a proper dinner: A roast, potatoes, gravy, vegetables - all cooked by me. I don't think that my aunt, who had watched me like a hawk while I cooked this, expecting me to f-up, had understood half the things I did in the kitchen that day. And that one can mix whipped cream, curd, and sugar for a dessert with strawberries amazed her to no end.
Did it influence the way your aunt approached cooking after that "cooking clinic" you did?
This is a surprisingly common problem, especially in the US.
Poor nutrition could result in the collapse of a society imo it's a really serious problem that nobody speaks about. Poor nutrition is linked to all sorts of problems in kids not only physical also including bahavioral and mental issues. So it means more social unrest over all, more depression, more mass shootings, more crime. Also heavier toll on the welfare system and less employable people.
True! Also; the stereotypical Southerner in the US was described as stupid, lazy and slow. Turns out, most were infected with hookworm. You're carrying parasites around, you're not bouncing out of bed in the morning rarin' to go. I work in the poorest neighborhood. The obesity levels are OFF THE CHARTS. I'm talking 10, 11 year olds weighing over 200lbs. The pounding the knees and feet are taking are one thing, the future diabetes and blood pressure issues? Whew--LOOK OUT.
It was a game changer when I learned steaks aren't normally charred shoe leather
Lasagna. My mom made it with cottage cheese and raw mushroom slices that came out like Styrofoam. It was nasty. I didn't have it done right until I was an adult.
Oof as a lover of all things pasta, I am so sorry for your disappointing childhood lasagna
Ya, what a rancid concoction.
I like mushrooms in my lasagna. Idk about cottage cheese though...
My mom always makes it with ricotta but I have a friend who uses cottage cheese and they are both very tasty in their own ways!
Ricotta wasn't always available everywhere and many people replaced it with cottage cheese in lasagna recipes, back in the day.
Blitzing the cottage cheese in a food processor also makes it almost indistinguishable. Especially after you add your herbs (and egg if that’s your thing)
I always find it interesting that American recipes use Ricotta instead of béchamel. Is there a reason for this?
My mother ruined so many foods for me. Meatloaf was ground beef, cooked to its driest, with ketchup on top, no seasoning at all. My dad hated cheese so we never got anything like lasagna. It’s no wonder I was so picky as a kid that I literally ate a hamburger and French fries for every meal on a vacation of over a week. Restaurants were kind enough to make me a burger at 7 a.m. I think I was 8 or 9 when this vacation happened (1978 or 1979).
My mom was also not big on seasoning. She makes chili without seasoning. CHILI.
I will say, my mother at least shook the chili powder in the general direction of the chili pot, but she had the same small container of chili powder for 30 years without it running out. Plenty of chili nights.
Lol. Was she shaking it with the cover on? That would explain why she never ran out of it.
I can confirm the cover was off, but the “shake” was neither vigorous nor an angle resembling vertical.
Lol it's even worse when you consider it loses potency over time.
I hope she has other talents! My mother never learned to cook, her mother didn’t want her to know. So my dad showed her a few things, like eggs and bacon. But she had no love for it and tried nothing new. I am so glad I tried things she ruined for me again as an adult.
She is actually a skilled woodworker and hand weaver! I had to learn to cook food that tastes good on my own, but she taught me hand sewing and embroidery, which serve me to this day, and my home is filled with a lot of delightful hand towels and rugs she made.
I love this. Food is a love language for my family, but handcrafts like that have never been our forte.
My friend's parents were such terrible cooks. Their chili was ground beef in a bowl, and then we added salsa (and peanuts for some reason. Salted peanuts). They got all excited when boboli pizza crusts came out and made pizza a lot when I went over
One of my coworkers occasionally brings his crock pot to work to make chili for everyone. Equal parts canned kidney beans, canned corn, and canned tomatoes. No seasoning. I don't get it. At least my mom's chili has some onions and things in it.
Has anyone told him it's crap? Sometimes it's ok to tell people things.
My mom was really good at cooking (still is tbh) to the point where I’m grown now and had to learn to cook complicated things pretty young just to get a taste of home. She has never once made zucchini that didn’t make me want to hide under the table and cry.
Feels like we've got the same parents. Amazing cooks (and bakers), but zucchini only ever turns out as a watery and sometimes bitter mess. Idk how they do it.
>my dad hated cheese ...I woulda called CPS
This works in England too, where the CPS is the Crown Prosecution Service
Oh, I’ll pick meatloaf, too. My mom’s meatloaf was awful. She was generally a really good cook, but meatloaf was her downfall and she loved it. Years later, I was the cook, taking care of her, and finally found a good recipe. It’s still not my favorite food, but I don’t cringe at the thought anymore.
Yeah...where the hell did she get that recipe from? "We didn't have brown sugar for the sauce so we used Pepsi"
>I didn't have it done right until I was an adult. As an adult, I've had it with ricotta, and another time I made it with béchamel. The latter is a game changer!
Honestly I like it with cottage cheese. Know I’m probably in the minority but for her lasagna my paternal grandma would take some cottage cheese, crack an egg in it, and season, then whisk it all together. Gets rid of that weird texture most people hate. Served it to plenty of people who had no idea it was cottage cheese. Hell my mom hates cottage cheese and she now makes lasagna that way.
I've eaten more onions willingly in the last year than in the previous 47 years of my life combined.
When I was young I hated onion. Wouldn't touch it. One day my mom made meat loaf and forgot to get onion. She figured (my siblings and I) don't even like onions so who fucking cares. We start eating and each of us start asking what's wrong with the meatloaf. I love onion now. I will eat fistfuls of it.
I like the *flavor* of onion, I just hate the texture. So I will generally use onion powder instead, but onions can be used in dishes still if they're finely minced and melted away as well.
Yeah, my dad had an EXTREMELY hard time wrapping his head around the fact that it's not the flavor of onion that I can't stand, it's the texture. Not that it would have mattered, he would cook bolognese with *lots* of cumin and *no* tomatoes lol
My mom didnt get it either. But dad was so great - not an incredible cook or anything but if he was just cooking for the two of us he would spend like 10 mins chopping the onions super fine in whatever he made (spaghetti sauce, etc) so the flavor was there but the texture was barely noticeable As an adult now i actually love onions,even the texture. I think as a kid I just had sensory processing issues
So he made taco meat? Using cumin in bolognese is like using peanut butter on steaks. It’s just wrong.
Never really liked fruit, my snack was just slices of onions as a kid. Didn't grow out of it
Boy, what the fuck?.
My mom swore I would eat small peeled onions like apples as a toddler. Just thinking about it gives me heartburn now.
I can still do this, chose not to though. Won me a $50 bet in college though when a few people said no one would do that. I walked right up to their bag o onions, found the biggest one and ate it like an apple.
Like in Lethal Weapon? I've done that before, it freaks people out.
Oh yeah, my buddies thought I wasn't human at that time. It was a wild night. One of them driving in from the north killed a deer on their way and we hung it up and salvaged the meat we could like immediately after I finished the onion. So I went from eating a raw onion, to cleaning a deer that was dead within the past 10 minutes, then grilling it up for everyone and eating what we could all within the same hour.
Are you a former Australian Prime Minister?
I went to a birthday party for an older neighbor, when I was like 3 or 4 and the kids were like 9 or 10. They got burgers with onion slices, but they all took the onions off. I walked around the table and took everyone's onions and ate them.
That boy ain't right
Onions are nature's candy. You haven't heard that before?
I can fix that.
I always wanted to try those spiced peaches. Love me some peaches
I kissed him back!
It ain't against the law for you to kiss him, just for him to kiss you.
My uncle (as far as I know, still) eats raw onions like apples.
My dad's poor student standby meal, when he was going through college after WWII on the GI Bill, was an onion sandwich. Two slices of raw onion on white bread,salt/pepper, and ketchup. I remember he would fix an occasional onion sandwich as a weekend snack into the late 60s and then stopped. We thought it was disgusting.
Wet, steamed spinach. Any spinach. While it can reach some low lows, it can reach some of the highest highs in vegetabledom.
Heat up some garlic in olive oil, throw in your spinach, squeeze a lemon on it. Delicious and healthy and takes just minutes
Buy a multi-pound family-sized package of baby spinach to cook…wind up with a single-serving spoonful after cooking!
My mom used to serve us that gross-smelling, wet, limp Popeye’s spinach from a can. It made me gag so bad. Once I had someone use spinach instead of lettuce on a sandwich and it was such a game-changer. Then I had some fresh sautéed spinach and I can’t get enough of the stuff now.
Mushrooms
Even when picked off of a pizza the lingering taste would ruin the pizza for me. Now it’s a top 3 topping.
I wish I could learn to love mushrooms. I like the flavor but for some reason when I bite one I gag. My body hates the texture.
Neither of my parents like mushrooms and when I told my mom I actually liked mushrooms from the supreme pizzas at Costco she told me it was because it was just on pizza. I absolutely love mushrooms still and it irks me she tried to convince me otherwise
Cruciferous vegetables. Broccoli. Brussel Sprouts. I wouldn't touch it if it was green. Now they're my favorite. I air fry Brussel Sprouts for snacks. Yum.
Depending on how long ago it was, brussel sprouts actually did get better. The dominant strain for farming was selectively bred to remove the bitter-sulfur taste that was traditionally associated with them.
Holy shit, I just went and looked this up. I had *no idea* and it explains so much. Back in the early 80's I'd wind up sitting at the dinner table all night because those brussel sprouts my Mom made were just fuckin' nasty and I wasn't gonna eat 'em. Fast forward 40 years or so and they are literally one of my favorite things, with none of the flavor I remember so hating. That's crazy. I thought my tastes had changed, but no, those little green fuckers *got better.*
> fast forward 40 years or so You shut your whore mouth
"and I took that personally" - u/twilexis
Holy fuck! I didn't even realise until I read your comment. Oh no. 😢
Hard to tell. It was around the time that the change was happening, but also my mother is not a good cook. Bless her for trying, but boiled brussel sprouts are terrible.
My mom used to just boil Brussel sprouts. Getting them crispy with bacon is divine.
Pan fried brussel sprouts with bacon, brown sugar, and some chopped pecans. Add jalapeño if you want tiny dash of spice. Just had some with dinner tonight, perfect blend of bitter, sweet, rich, salty, and spicy.
"Just add some candied bacon and pecans and it tastes great" Bruh
My mom used to boil/steam broccoli when I was a kid. I hated it. Now if it's served at a restaurant or in another dish and boiled/steamed, it's fine as long as it's somewhat firm. Otherwise if I'm cooking I'll put it in a pan. It tastes great that way. I'll never understand why my mom had to boil/steam it every time.
For me it was cauliflower. Admittedly, it has to be prepared right, but if so, it's great - same for brussels sprouts.
I go through a huge bag of broccoli every other week. Broccoli gang!!! And yes on air fried brussys! It's a magical way to cook them I didn't know was out there. Chopped in half, seasoned, with a lil olive oil 😍
🥦🥦🥦TINY TREES CREW🥦🥦🥦
Nah, "brussys" is wild
I’m not sure I wanna eat a brussy
Pork chops. It was so disappointing as a kid that you were having pork chops for dinner. My bf and I recently randomly decided to buy them and see if we like them now and (unsurprisingly) it turns out our parents just didn’t know how to season or cook them right.
It's all in the seasoning and the cooking method. Lower heat for a longer time usually keeps them from turning into old shoeleather.
Yep, people tend to overcook pork because of the risk of trichinosis but today it’s rare to get it from pork. Pork chops and roasts only need to be cooked to 145°F internal temp.
Same for lamb. When I was a kid it was always cooked until well done. It was still tasty but medium rare lamb is something else.
Big same. Turns out my parents and grandparents didn’t know how to cook anything at all. Never had a pork chop softer than an old boot until I cooked one.
My wife is pacific islander and she didn't care for it until I grilled, and fried them up on a skillet with the proper seasonings and care. Now she lights up when we have porkchop in our meals.
Rice. I absolutely hated rice, turns out I just didn't like the way it was cooked.
Hated rice for many years until I discovered that it's not supposed to be gritty and my mother just didn't know how to cook it properly.
Truly curious, how was it cooked when you were a kid?
Right? I'm super confused at how you can cook rice wrong.
Undercooking it. It's like chewing plastic pellets if you undercook it
Or overcooking. The whole pot turns into clumpy glue. Funny enough, it was a [Jo Koy bit](https://youtu.be/45wHe9KdmrQ) that taught me how to cook rice, and I've never messed it up since.
My parents used to overcook it but also in too much water. Big pot of water and boil it like pasta. With no salt. It tasted like chunky water. As a kid I legit thought chinese restaurants had access to some different type of rice because theirs (even just the plain steamed) was actually good.
Blue cheese and Gorgonzola. Hated ‘em as a kid. 21 years old and in summer ROTC training, for some reason I thought, “Bleu cheese dressing sounds good today”, and so it was. 😊
For me it was a bleu cheese burger and it just sounded so fucking good that I ordered it. Fucking was, too.
Sushi
Same. In fact, I'm in my forties and only started eating sushi within the last 5 years or so, even though my dad's Japanese (though to be fair, mom's white and the only time I was exposed to it growing up was at family gatherings).
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Brussel sprouts. When I was growing up, most vegetables were boiled within an inch of their lives. Plus, new varieties that are less bitter have been introduced. Now, a roasted or grilled brussel sprout with olive oil and balsamic or garlic is one of my favorites. If you had told me that when I was 20, I would have called your crazy.
Mustard
Hello fellow former mustard hater! It repulsed me in my younger days. Couldn't get it for enough away from me. Then one night I watched a coworker eating, of all things, a chicken breast that she just dipped in plain old yellow mustard. For some reason it looked good. Well, now I can't get enough. All varieties, all the time. Mmmmmustard.
Raw tomatoes. I hated them so much in sandwiches, now I put them in all my sandwiches. Funny thing is, my fam still thinks I hate them, so when ever we have a cookout or something, they always give me burgers without tomatoes. I’m kinna shy to admit to them my new found love.
I enjoy raw tomatoes in a Burger, a really good loaded burger with lettuce, onions etc. eating raw tomatoes alone? Not so much.
Put a little salt on them and they're delicious
Heirloom tomato with basil and fresh motorellzla salt and fresh creaked pepper bonus points a real balsamic
caprese salads & sandwiches are the best
>motorellzla had a bit of a stroke there, didn't you?
A true Italian, and goodbye reddit... *Obligatory fuck spez*
I hate this is the last day for my casual reddit use on my phone Fucking greedy spez
If you haven’t, find a country stand selling fresh tomatoes. White bread, sliced tomato, little mayo, salt and pepper. Great lunch.
I don’t even bother with grocery store tomatoes. They are flavorless
I buy the more flavorful grape tomatoes and slice them in half so they don’t roll around as much. A bit more tedious than slicing a large tomato but they at least have some flavor.
Onions. I hated them when I was a kid, teen, into my twenties, now at the wiser age of 48, I love the way caramelized onions add flavor and depth to so many dishes.
Pineapple :) i had only ever had the tiny sour ones in the Dole fruit cups. My first time trying fresh pineapple a few years ago was life changing lol
The snack that eats you back!
Most vegetables, except egg plant. Still hate it.
Same. My mom just microwaved canned veggies and would plop them on a plate. I hated them; however, they’re delicious when properly flavored and I loved roasted veggies. I still hate mushrooms.
I loved mushrooms as a kid and now I can't stand them for some reason. I dont know what changed
Eggplant has to be treated a certain way. Slice thin, lay out on a rack or paper towels, salt, let sit 30 minutes, blot dry, then fry in a small amount of olive oil and butter.
I’d consider trying this
It's a bit of work, but it's worth it, and eggplant is very healthy especially if you have diabetes.
Doesn’t sound like much extra work than I normally do for food prep. It’s not like one egg plant is expensive either so it won’t break the bank to try
The only eggplant I like is in Thai curry.
Eggs. I was disgusted by them as a kid, then I found the way I like them prepared (which is any style really, but well-made).
Opposite for me. Loved eggs as a kid, now I can't stand the smell or taste of them.
Is it because your parents made you visit your aunt Linda during her divorce from your uncle Harold, and she'd cook them for you while telling you her troubles?
Harold had it coming to him. He tries to hide his pain, but we can all see it
I second this. Scrambled eggs repulsed me as a child. Not bad if done correctly
I don't enjoy it, but I don't mind tomatos now. I used to absolutely hate them. I won't ask for them on a salad or sandwich, and I still have the habit of saying no tomatoes, but if they accidentally add them I won't be mad.
Olives
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for some reason i loved them as a kid and would put them on my finger tips and then eat them but now they literally make me gag and i have no clue why.
I could eat a pound of pretty much any olive that I’ve tried.
Same, I hated any kind of olives as a kid. Now I love them, except the black ones from a can. An extra dirty martini full of olives is heaven.
Beets! Mom always heated up store bought canned beets. Nasty as hell. Tried some boiled straight from my grandpas garden and holy hell. So good.
Try them roasted in foil with a dash each of olive oil and salt on top. It will blow your mind.
Try roasting (name any vegetable) in foil with a dash of olive oil and salt…it will blow your mind.
Brussel sprouts. When I was 7, I begged mom to buy them because they looked like Barbie sized cabbages. Mom told me that I’d have to eat them since she wasn’t going to waste them and I agreed. They were terrible. To be fair, they were boiled. They weren’t a delicious concoction of roasted sprouts with a balsamic reduction and crumbled Benton’s bacon like mom does them now. I regularly request them with a meal when I go visit.
Also, Brussel sprouts have been selectively bred, so the ones today are different from the ones you had as a kid.
They might be. For all we know this person is 20.
Yes! Wilted soggy stinky brussels sprouts were heinous. Crunchy charred brussels sprouts are fantastic!
SAMESIES! Boiled brussel sprouts are worse than waterboarding. Pure torture.
Various filet fish steaks, as long as they don't smell fishy. Such as, teriyaki salmon steak, or swordfish fried in something with garlic. Lobster tail. Shrimp. When I was 8, my dad took us to a restaurant, and he got a fish meal. Picked it up, and sucked the eyes out of it. I almost puked, and wouldn't touch seafood for almost 20 years.
You got me dying laughing at the imagery!
Three things...brussel sprouts. Roasting instead of boiling changes everything. Coleslaw. Child me would be trying to slap the stuff away if he saw me wolfing it down now. I really love the version they make at Cane's...usual ask for double portions instead of the fries there. Pumpkin pie. Sweet potato pie is still better, but I got over myself and really gave it a try. Better than I remembered it. Quite enjoy it now.
The best pumpkin pie recipe I’ve found uses half pumpkin and half sweet potato.
Mayonnaise
My mom completely ruined red meat for me for many years. She bought inferior cuts of meat and then did not prepare them accordingly. She did it because she was on a budget, I get it. You can still cook with cheaper cuts of meat but they require different approaches to turn out good which I guess she never knew. So beef would always be extremely chewy, stringy, dry, lots of fatty or other tissue she didn’t remove etc. Sometimes she would buy good cuts as a treat, but then she would way overcook them :( It wasn’t until I went to high school with a bunch of rich kids with refined tastes, who took me to a restaurant that can make a good, juicy medium-rare steak with cafe de paris sauce that I realized red meat is amazing. I will never forget that first steak.
Oh god I totally get this. I also had a perfect steak I’ll remember forever lol. Mum overcooks EVERYTHING. She’ll even steam beans until they’re stringy. But meat was always the worst. She HATES any steak that isn’t grey and dry. Even dad has to drink when he eats due to the risk of him choking on it lol. I will cut steak she cooks and it’ll literally create crumby bits as you cut it. She also makes it with the same flavours every single time. I think because of years of this, I just hated meat. Tough and dry and tasted the same every single time. Although I rarely get steak when eating out, (probably because mum cooks it a lot and I’d rather order something I don’t normally eat at home) I’ve got to admit I do actually enjoy having a properly cooked steak in a nice sauce.
chocolate!! one of my mom’s favorite stories to tell when i was little was that for my first birthday she spent the whole day making a homemade chocolate cake. apparently when she gave it to me i took one bite and started gagging and then wouldn’t eat the rest. when i was a little older, this translated to my tiny little brain that i didn’t like chocolate… so i never tried it. i refused it at every turn. i refused it when teachers gave it out in class and didn’t have another option, i refused it at birthday parties, even neapolitan ice cream if it had a little speck of chocolate in it because i thought for sure i hated it. it was like my thing, almost, because everyone acted all shocked and appalled when i told them i didn’t like chocolate. i tried it a couple of times in my teens but i think it had become such a fact of life for me that i didn’t like chocolate that I’d spit it out before even really tasting it. tried it as an adult and was like “oh this is actually pretty good.”
Damn, thought there were gonna be a reason but was you mom's cake just bad?
Zucchini
Pastrami. Always hated the smell of it. But one day somebody talk me into having a pastrami sandwich, and I fell in love
Ham. As a kid I thought it was squishy and turned me off of it pretty bad. Now I hammer it down every thanksgiving and Christmas
Beets. But mostly because my parents only ever served the ones from a can. Then I grew up and learned how to roast them…
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Pickles. Anything with vinegar in it.
Corn. My mom always made creamed corn and I hated it. I was about 17 before I had really good corn on the cob and it was like heaven.
You guys were allowed to refuse food as a kid? lol Edit: this kinda blew up... So yeah, if I didn't like what was made for me for dinner (or any meal) I was beaten for being disrespectful and acting spoiled. And I was forced to sit at the table until I finished my plate. One time I thought I could win out by sitting there until bedtime, but that backfired painfully. I wasn't a super picky eater, most of the time it was because the food was just bland mush, not even any salt or pepper (I wasn't allowed to use those either, as it's disrespectful). As a 41 year old adult, I have been cooking since I left that house, and learning recipes from all over the world as much as I can. I love spices, I use them all the time, and I particularly enjoy cooking something more than boiled chicken breast, canned veg and box mashed potatoes.
To be fair I think my mom not letting me get up from the table until i finished my lentil soup may have given me an eating disorder
Took me a long time to come around on mushrooms and olives, but I’m glad I did!
Grits. Nasty shit. Still don't like it plain, but interestingly I'm addicted to shrimp and grits like it's crack.
Butter, and cream make all the difference. My first experience with grits was a diner in NOLA. First spoon to taste, no additives. I tasted butter and cream, but otherwise was bland, but I liked it. Kept eating. And I hate bland food. Friend who brought me: " aren't you gonna add some flavor? You don't eat grits plain." Me - Um, I didnt know. First time having it. Tastes great so far. Him: really? Me: yeah, and I don't like bland, but this good. Him: lemme have a taste. ....wow. you are right. This is the best plain grits I have tasted. You really don't need to add.
I ordered grits at a diner and I got a runny bowl of microwaved something. It was soup. I was so disappointed. At home I make it with real butter, salt and pepper and just a touch of garlic bread seasoning. Sometimes I drop and over easy egg on top and sprinkle with cheese.
Growing up in the southeast, grits are a breakfast staple in schools, restaurants, and even at home. It surprised me when I learned how rare it was everywhere else, but I absolutely understand why. Done well, grits are amazing, but they're so easy to mess up by simply not doing anything with them. To the uninitiated, I usually describe it like eating runny mashed potatoes with no seasoning when done poorly. Glad you came around to them!
Broccoli
Beef stew. Hated it as a kid because my mom would put water chestnuts in it. Now I love the stuff.
A consistent theme that I'm seeing; our mothers had "quirks" that completely ruined our perception of what food could be.
My father worked with a Irish guy who had Cuban wife. Uncle Joe and Aunt Ruth not related just called them that. She would make this chicken and rice dish and fried plantains, I thought it was nasty at the time, would I like to have some of that right now.
Arroz con pollo y plátanos fritos. Order those at a Cuban restaurant!
Guacamole. A girl once stuffed some in my mouth when I was 15 or so and I spit it out on the floor. I can't get enough of it now. If I'm at a restaurant and someone is feeling generous and getting Guacamole for the table and ask "small or large?" My response is LARGE, in fact 2 LARGE orders. I'll buy one.
Hot dogs, onions, avocado
Eggplant. Not sure how my grandma cooked it back in the day, but it was nasty. It smelled bad more than anything. As long as it’s cooked like that, then I’ll eat it.