Oct 05 2009
Learning To Love Foods You Don’t Like
Roasted Beets With Fresh Mint and Chevre (click for recipe)
Chances are there are foods you love now that you hated as a kid. But how many foods do you still avoid just because you think you don’t like them?
Young palates struggle with things like mustard, onions and asparagus, and instead prefer more bland, less intense flavors. But as adults we sometimes cling to these preferences without ever stopping to question the value or meaning of our opinions.
What joy is there in being a picky eater?
While it’s true that taste is subjective, I’ve never heard a convincing argument that it’s better to dislike a food than to like it. It is certainly more fun to like things, and it is often far more convenient. Just try getting a chef to make something without onions. It isn’t easy.
But is it possible to learn to like a food if you don’t like the taste?
It turns out, most of the time we decide what we like before we bother to experience it, and this prejudice clouds our perception of what we actually encounter. This effect of perception bias has been demonstrated repeatedly in psychology experiments where food color and taste have been manipulated. To see this for yourself, use food coloring to alter the appearance of several bowls of lemon Jell-O and have your friends guess what flavors they are tasting. Very few will say they taste lemon unless the color is still yellow.
The psychology of taste is further complicated by our natural aversion to things that are new or different from what we are expecting. Foods with unique textures such as mushrooms and okra often fall victim to this bias. In these cases the unfamiliarity and strangeness of the texture makes us slightly uncomfortable, and we interpret this feeling as a personal dislike. However, this reaction reflects the food’s uniqueness rather than its true character.
Our tendency to dislike and often hate things that extend beyond our perceptual comfort zones is explored in Malcolm Gladwell’s book, Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking. He argues that we make snap judgments about everything we encounter based on prior experience. And while this ability can sometimes help us make wise decisions, it can also explain why pilot testing can’t predict the success of new concept T.V. shows like Seinfeld.
In other words, sometimes our first impressions are wrong.
Knowing about this bias can help you overcome aversions to foods you think you don’t like, and even learn to love them. The first step is deciding that there is value in enjoying a food you currently do not enjoy. I’m not saying you should develop an appreciation for three courses of frozen Bertolli pasta, but most fresh, natural whole foods are worth rediscovering for both taste and culture.
The second step is dedicating yourself to keep trying the rejected food until you find it prepared in a way you like. This is not as bad as it sounds, since there is a good chance that the reason you do not like a food in the first place is because what you were served as a child was either canned, frozen or of industrial (low) quality. Since peaches and plums taste completely different when you get them at the farmers market, doesn’t it stand to reason that the same is true for green beans, broccoli and beets? Also, with each venture your taste will become more acclimated to the flavor and your aversion will dissipate.
Fine dining represents another great opportunity to explore foods you haven’t enjoyed in the past. I was finally won over on Brussels sprouts after a spectacular meal in San Francisco, and now consider them one of my favorite autumn ingredients.
Even if a certain food doesn’t end up on your favorites list, learning to at least enjoy it in a casual way will enrich your life and help you develop an appreciation for new and unique experiences. The Chinese culture pays particular reverence to textures in food, and this attitude allows them to enjoy a far more diverse and interesting range of ingredients than any Western culture.
The key word here is “enjoy.” Eating vegetables is undeniably healthy, but the best reason to eat broccoli is that you absolutely love it.
What foods do you hate? Are you ready to get over it?
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Tags: beets, brain, Brussels sprouts, picky eaters, psychology
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Great article, Darya! As a fellow cook I am often surprised (and disappointed) by people’s aversion to trying other foods. Sometimes they say they don’t like a particular ingredient, and don’t realize that ,like you with Brussels sprouts, this might be a recipe that really tastes good!
I think that at the heart of this might be the very basic and strong nature of taste and texture. Trying a new dish is very visceral – much more I think than seeing a new sweater on a person, and not quite as strong as smelling a perfume because with eating we are actually putting the food into us.
Thanks for the excellent article. I like how you pull in various references and give explanations.
Your ProBlogger buddy,
Rob
Thanks for stopping by, Rob. Love your fortune cookie post!
Very true!
I’ve found that as I expand and try new thngs, a lot of food I thought I disliked I do, when it’s made “right” so I’ve stopped turning away things until I try them first…my diet has really expanded to include a lot more things.
I couldn’t get through one serving of Bertolli pasta. But brussells sprouts I used to hate and I got over it just two years ago, trying them with a new head and recipe.
LOL. I didn’t get through one serving. I was starving until the cocktail party (then there were mini burgers – woohoo!).
I *loved* Blink. Outliers is also a great book by Gladwell that you should read if you haven’t. I totally worship that man.
You’re right about the childhood connection. I hated onions as a kid and can’t imagine not having onions in the house now. (But I will say, I still hate red onions and will pick them out of sandwiches and salads.)
One of my friends makes her own baby food with the contents of her CSA box. Her son has eaten something like 30 different fruits and veggies and he’s not even 2 yet! I really applaud her for teaching him to be a very un-picky eater LONG before he reaches the age where most kids start to turn up their nose at veggies.
E, you should ask Allie below how she got over her onion aversion
Actually to be honest, I still struggle with raw onions. Not so much for the taste as for the after effects.
Lately, I’ve been working on learning to like mushrooms. Growing up I only encountered the slimy, canned version. Fish is another food I’ve learned to like as an adult.
Great article! Really interesting to ponder….
I always thought I was a very good eater as a child since my three favorite vegetables were, in this order, spinach, Brussels sprouts, and broccoli. My parents had it so easy! But now that I stop and think about it, it’s amazing how many foods I thought I didn’t like have recently become favorites because I started with 1.) high quality ingredients (sardines), 2.) bought fresh from the farmers market (dates), or 3.) just got over my fear to try something I always thought I disliked (raw onions – my sandwiches and salads had no idea what they were missing!).
One thing I still struggle with is sushi, although that’s less of an ingredient than a style of cooking. On my recent trip to Hawaii I tried poke, which is marinated raw fish cubes, and it was really good! The flavor was amazing although I still struggled with the texture. I figure that means I just need to keep trying it and the texture aversion may eventually go away.
Great article! My sister, an urban gardener, convinced herself to start liking chard because she had so much of it.
I adore brussels sprouts, but had never actually tried them until last year. I like almost all vegetables, but there are a few that have yet to win me over, like broccoli rabe and green peppers. Guess it might be time to give those another shot! Any great recipes for these veggies?
Will keep the broccoli rabe and green peppers in mind. I had to get to like chard too. For me, the key was adding pistachios and mint. Yum!
There are really very few foods that I just hate, but three of them are healthy ones – raspberries, asparagus, and Brussels sprouts. Raspberries I will never get past; they were the last thing I ate before I got hit a horrible case of stomach flu when I was maybe 4 years old. I’m closing in on 32 now and still cannot eat them, the memory even now is far too strong. Asparagus and Brussels sprouts I have tried every way you could possibly cook them (even sauted with a little pancetta fat!) and still can’t stand either of them. I LOVE cabbage and other veggies like that, but those poor little stems and sprouts just can’t win me over. But I figure I like enough other fruits and veggies that my health won’t suffer for the lack of those three in my diet.
A healthy food I wish I liked was hummus – I do like the taste but have an aversion to the texture.
The food I actually hate the most is a good one to hate – southern style fried chicken. I love chicken, but it must be skinless, boneless, white meat, and preferably not deep-fried.
Wow Connie, horrible raspberry story. So sad.
I love Brussel sprouts. Steamed with a bit of garlic.
Jeffrey Steingarten has a great bit on learning to love foods he formerly hated in the Man Who Ate Everything (although in his case it wasn’t brussels sprouts and beets, it was kimchi, anchovies and Greek food). I think with most vegetables in particular people have a prejudice because they’ve never tried something that they are “supposed” to hate or they tried it once and it was terrible. Like parsnips. Parsnips are unbelievably delicious, but I think people think of them as a scary vegetable. Experiment with different preparations or combination.
I do, however, reserve my right to continue disliking cucumbers. I have a very short list of foods I dislike (cucumbers and kidneys, which taste like a bridge in Central Park) and I feel like I’m entitled.
Ha! I hated cucumbers forever, even past Brussels sprouts. Then I discovered Mediterranean cucumbers… just sayin’
Recently, I decided to revisit my relationship with Cilantro. Repulsed by it because it reminded me of too much tequila during a Cabo vacation long ago. I’m breaking the association, and starting to enjoy cilantro in certain dishes. Baby steps
Nice! For foods where the aversion is specific like that you could always try them in other cuisines. Cilantro is great in Vietnamese food!
Good idea! I did just that…I used to dislike cilantro in Mexican food (probably from a bad salsa experience), but when I discovered it on Vietnamese sandwiches, I loved it! Then, like magic, when I went back to Mexican food, I liked it there too.
When I was younger I loathed poached and hard boiled eggs. I now adore poached eggs with toast on over a salad but hard boiled eggs are still not my bag. I think it is a texture thing… I also love brussel sprouts roasted with bacon and lemon. So good.
I think I am willing to eat many things, but not able to cook them myself… I don’t think I will ever, ever cook menudo- but I’ve tried it.
I’m totally with you on the cooking thing. That’s a completely different level of dedication
A great post! I have a husband who used to be a VERY picky eater as a child, and whose tastes expanded tremendously as he became an adult (couldn’t have married him, otherwise!). I struggle with our daughter, who until 2, ate absolutely anything and everything. Since then, she’s scorned everything from former favorites to anything new and remotely exotic (this includes almost all veggies and most fruits). I used to think it was all nurture, but with a mother who’s a whole foods freak and avid cook, and a father who’s a relatively adventurous eater . . . it’s nature. I keep at it! I keep putting things in front of her and hoping that she’ll start getting curious again, one day . . . . fingers crossed.
You just described one of the many reasons I’m terrified of having children. I can’t imagine fighting over food. Good luck and let me know if it gets better!
Our son did that for a few weeks when he was that age- it was so annoying. So we decided that we would offer only one thing when he chose not to eat with us: plain edamame. He got tired of that quickly and soon got back to eating with us. Hope you find something that works for you.
Thanks for the tips. My hangup has always been with bell peppers and fennel. I’ve been doing better with bell peppers; I tried exactly what you recommended. I ordered them at a high-end restaurant in an appetizer of roasted red bell peppers a couple times and don’t find them as offensive. I’m still working on green bell peppers.
I’m not sure when I’ll be attacking the fennel problem, but I’m going to take it one hated food at at time!
Yay! That makes me happy
For the fennel, this is the recipe for fennel salad with pomegranates that got me liking it (sorry for the bad photo, it’s old). I find that if you cook it until it caramelizes then that offensive taste goes away. This is perfectly in season right now too!
Carmelized fennel, I would have never thought of that. The salad sounds good. I’ll have to try it soon and report back. Thanks!
This is so true for me! I hated kidney beans in my salad! The other day, though, my husband was eating a bowl full of warm kidney beans. He made it look so delicious that I decided to eat some myself, and to my surprise, I had some more! I actually now enjoy eating kidney beans!
I’ll definitely continue reading your site for more tips on staying and eating healthy! Thanks for everything!!