Acquired tastes...

mushrooms....hated them as a kid and love them now
I will NEVER like sushi....ewh

Asparagus, blue cheese, and tofu. Those are the 3 that come to mind.

Asparagus you do not need to acquire a taste you just gotta know how to cook!!!! my fiance swore up and down asparagus was gross. i fixed some and devoured it and went back for seconds. (& no he wouldn't do it just to be nice cuz he will tell me if he doesn't like something lol)

So, barring the situations when you're FORCED (or otherwise compelled) to eat something... why would you ever "acquire" a taste for something that requires "substantial exposure?"

Because as a child foods like pizza or spaghetti Bolognese or stir fries were considered outlandishly exotic and never tried; after leaving home and associating with a more cosmipolitan circle of friends I quickly realised that I was missing out on a whole planet full of incredible flavours and foods.

Since then I've grown to love the obvious things such as garlic, pasta, spices and so on, but also my experience of learning that supposedly "scary" foods are actually delicious has encouraged me to explore much further.

Why acquire tastes for foods that don't immediately appeal? Because I grew up and learned that life has much more to offer than I had ever hoped for!

Calamari. As a kid, before being a vegetarian I loved most kinds of seafood except actual fish (strange, I know), oysters/clams/mussels and especially hated squid. I had no problem with octopus though. So weird. Anyway, now as a lacto-ovo vegetarian the only thing I can veer off with is calamari... so long as I'm not the one preparing it because if I see it it'll gross me out. I guess it's because it's one consistency/texture all over, so no surprises. Tried my formerly beloved shrimp quite a few times and couldn't get past the texture when I started to chew it :sick:

Is it just me or does calamari look like fried foreskin?

Aaaaaaand calamari is now gross again lol. Yep. Gotta agree with you on that one.

I hated fish as a child and then became vegetarian. I had no fish until I started preparing to go to Japan, where I thought it would be better to be able to eat fish. There was no immediate love, but by the time I had tried all kinds of superb fish in Japan, I was able to enjoy mediocre fish, or better occasionally, back in Britain. I think a taste for fish had to be acquired because my initial experience of fish had not been very high quality (fish in batter, fish pie) and surrounded by things I really didn't like (batter and pastry).

I think a lot of acquiring a taste for me is in being presented with a really good example of it, so that your associations improve. Beer, wine and squid all happened that way for me.