Acquired tastes

[winjim]

As a kid, I got a lot of chest infections*, so took a lot of antibiotics, mostly in liquid form with some child friendly flavouring added. The banana was the worst, but I could just about gag down a teaspoon of it four times a day, as directed. One summer day my father bought for us a treat - choc wedges! (an ice cream). But instead of getting the standard vanilla we expected, he bought banana flavoured. It tasted just like the penicillin. But my father, born during the depression, could also not tolerate waste so he made me eat the whole thing. Since that day I have not been able to go near bananas. The smell makes me retch. I rather clean up vomit, than overripe mashed bananas. I was once baby sitting a toddler, and had to leave the banana she smeared in her hair because I didn't think I could clean it up without throwing up.

That's interesting. I don't like bananas but I'm not sure why. I can see the appeal they have and they seem like they should be nice, but for some reason I'm just not into them.

 

[raleighnut]

One think I will never be able to enjoy is lager, or Europiss as it's known in real ale circles.

One of our local real ale pubs sells Budvar on draught to appease Lager drinkers.

https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&r...rewery&usg=AFQjCNELdgo_xa_1U6n7AIzN9l7sA7YrqQ

 

[Ian H]

I was educated in proper whisky by the owner of the John O' Groats hotel after an end-to-end. Behind the bar was a wall of whisky, and a ladder to reach to top shelves. As the wind roared and the otherwise empty building creaked, we tried quite a few. I never looked back–and the hotel closed not long afterwards.

 

[Markymark]

Beer should be cold, tasteless, fizzy, served in stupid shaped glasses and sold for ridiculously high prices in pretentious London bars.

 

[Threevok]

Danish Blue or Stilton - the mere thought of them when I was a child would make me ill

Now, I eat far too much of them (and other cheeses)

 

[stephec]

Try mixing it half and half with lemonade and a dash of lime?

Shandy drinking southern..........

 

[Salty seadog]

From a thread about strawberry chicken, it made me think again about acquired tastes. That is, things you didn't love - or even like - the first time you tried but now you love.

Off the top of my head, I can think of 3.

1. Beer. As a beginner drinker, I liked some white wines, mixers and cocktails. But when a lecturer bought his first year students to the pub at the end of the year, I asked for a tequila sunrise and felt like a dick. So over that summer, I acquired a taste for beer. It took a while - but now I love trying a new IPA, lager or ale. Happiest in Brussels with a really complicated glass and an "odd" tasting lambic.
2. Coffee. Finding insisting on a tea getting more and more embarrassing - but I had literally been weaned on tea - I made a decision to be a coffee drinker. It was a struggle at first, with a lot of sugar. But damnit! I love me an espresso now. One of my regrets for choosing london as my home is how many shooty coffee shops there are.
3. Sushi. I think the firs time I had sushi was at the end of semester dinner with my Introduction to Japanese class mates. I didn't hate it, but it was ... meh. I tried it a couple of more times, then went Tokyo with a big International group - and oh, boy, I loved it. It's very hard and usually very expensive to have good sushi, but when it's done right, it can literally bring me to tears. No other food has ever done that.

So what tastes have you acquired?

note: I have used "literally" twice above. To be clear, in both cases I have used it strictly. My mother moved me from milk to tea first by adding tea to my bottle and then serving me a cup of tea that was 90% milk. And I have cried over a platter of sushi, because the intersection of flavours made me so happy.

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@52.3...012&pitch=0&thumbfov=100!7i13312!8i6656?hl=en

 

[jefmcg]

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@52.3805824,4.8910411,3a,75y,243.46h,91.65t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sJFPDdjtPwDBveifqaFbfOg!2e0!6s//geo3.ggpht.com/cbk?panoid=JFPDdjtPwDBveifqaFbfOg&output=thumbnail&cb_client=maps_sv.tactile.gps&thumb=2&w=203&h=100&yaw=194.2012&pitch=0&thumbfov=100!7i13312!8i6656?hl=en

I recognised this straight away.

Oh, and you can go inside!

 

[Salty seadog]

I recognised this straight away.

Oh, and you can go inside!

My word it's a good shop. you can also go across the straat before....

 

[Salty seadog]

I recognised this straight away.

Oh, and you can go inside!

My favourite straat in the city.

 

[GrumpyGregry]

Wasabi peas

 

[GrumpyGregry]

Gentleman's Relish.

 

[GrumpyGregry]

Anchovies on pizza.

 

[Markymark]

Anchovies on pizza.

Too far.

 

[GrumpyGregry]

Too far.

You've simply not tried hard enough to acquire the taste.