Can I 'train' myself to like foods that I don't?

estherdragonbat

Growing up, you couldn't get me to eat most vegetables that weren't hidden in a soup or puree. Mostly because, in our house, green vegetables were boiled to mush and served with salt and margarine or butter. Sweet potatoes were mashed with enough brown sugar and cinnamon to be cloying. Occasionally, there would be spinach or Swiss chard pancakes that, for some reason, triggered my gag reflex (I've been told it's not so uncommon in kids).

I went vegetarian at 19, mostly by subbing tofu for meat, having a lot of starchy carbs, and still very few vegetables. It just so happened that the first cookbook I bought was one devoted to tofu (Dad was bringing it home from Liberty Dairy and I wanted to figure out what to do with it. I wasn't veg at the time, but I became vegetarian soon after).

A year later, I picked up a vegetarian magazine and tried out a butternut squash casserole. And it was a revelation. "There are OTHER ways to prepare vegetables? Ways where they actually taste GOOD?" I think I must have bought a couple of vegetarian cookbooks that were more well-rounded and I'm not sure I touched tofu for the next couple of years.

My point is, it may well be that you'll find ways of preparing veggies that you will like. So far, the only vegetable I haven't found a way to love is the Brussels sprout. And that may just be a matter of time...