Funky to Fabulous - Food you hated you can't live without
I disliked a lot of foods growing up. I was a pretty picky eater. Even when I first became a vegetarian/vegan, I was still really picky (a junk-food-a-tarian I guess you'd call it). I think I sustained myself on pizza, mac n' cheese, and veggie burgers while in college. 40lbs, many illnesses, and 10 years later, my tastes have SURE changed.
What are some things you used to cringe at that now you can't live without.
Two for me - Onions (the smell of onions and garlic sauteing in a pot - HEAVEN!) and beans (primarily black, but, truthfully, I would rinse, drain, and throw any can of beans into a dish now.
Also, until I was decent at cooking tofu, I definitely stayed away.
And although I've tried my darndest, I still detest olives. Yuk!
yes tofu for sure... i hated asparagus too... now it's my fave...being vegan has made me try soooooooo many new things i would have never tried before... and can u believe that i never roasted vegetables before going vegan? craziness... it's like the best way to eat them... i also never cooked with spices AT ALL now i have a cabinet overflowing with spices... just more reasons i love being vegan
I hardly ever ate beans, turnip greens, kale or mustard greens before going vegan. Now I love them.
I absolutely HATED mushrooms! Until about a year ago...now we're the best of friends. :)>>>
I also used to hate tomatoes and cooked sweet peppers. Little did I know there existed other ways of cooking them that didn't make a soggy mess of mush!
Most greens. Broccoli. Miso.
I also still can't stand olives. Despite being vegan nearly 5 years now, I only like tofu pureed in desserts and things like these quiches where I can't really taste it. I guess some tofu scramble is ok too, but even that still weirds me out sometimes.
I can't really think of anything I used to strongly dislike that I love now, but I definately enjoy eating vegatables now whereas they used to be a side dsih that I tolerated. The funny thing is that all the foods that used to be my favorites now disgust me. I still hate mushrooms. I've always been a somewhat picky eater, but being vegan has introduced me to so many foods that I would have never tried otherwise.
broccoli!!! i HATED it before!! really, any vegetable, but mainly broccoli. i cant live without it now
Wow, dak, I was exactly like you! My mom called me a "crap-a-tarian" all through out junior high and high school. I lived off of pizza, mac and cheese, cereal, grilled cheese, french fries and peanut butter and jelly.
But when I went vegan, I started trying things I would have never tried before....and I don't really know what brought out my adventurous side, but I'm very grateful. Before going vegan, I had never had a mushroom, asparagus, brussels sprouts (which are my favorite veggie!), eggplant, zucchini, squash...hell, the list goes on forever....
I still amaze my mom...I eat things that she's never even had before...
But like you, once again, I've never been able to get into olives - and I really don't like red cabbage. I'm learning to like peas...I'm not much of a raw tomato fan....and root vegetables still scare me, but there's still time....
Olives are the biggest one on my list!! I absolutely despised them. I would root through my dish and dig out the smallest, tiniest pieces and throw them out in disgust. I tried them a couple years ago out of starvation and desperation (hubby's left-over pizza with olives was the only thing left in the house to eat). Now I can't get enough of them!!! I can't believe I lived over thirty years without tasting these explosively wonderful bites of bliss. I actually stopped by the olive bar at my gourmet grocery store this afternoon and filled a container full of mixed olives. And I ate half of them as soon as I got home.
Oh, can't forget peppers and tomatoes. Hated them until I became veggie, now I always have them in the fridge.
I used to hate tomatoes, onions, and pickles until a couple of years ago. Now, I can be caught eating plain tomatoes. Some olives are ok but some are too bitter for me. Since going vegan and just eating healthier, I have tried many differnt things that I would have not tried while eating meat.
Most nut butters, particularly tahineh. Now I adore them. PB and tahineh have changed places in my heart.But I've never eaten a tahineh and jelly sandwich! LOL
I was never really a picky eater...we were never allowed to be. Not eating something would assure your cold plate's reappearance on the table for the next 3 meals, getting grosser and grosser with each presentation. You learned to choke it down the first time. Mom had 10 kids, I guess we really were lucky to have anything to eat at all.
I will never eat another pancake. The year I was about 7 yrs old that was about all we had...government surplus flour, powdered milk and powdered eggs, which she made up into pancakes for at least 2 meals every day.
I used to hate tomatoes. Everything changed after I tried The Sandwich That Got My Brother to Eat Tomatoes. (http://vegweb.com/index.php?topic=12720.0) Now I buy at least a pound a week. Weird how ONE good experience with a food will change your entire "taste" for it. I love tomatoes now! :)
Eggplant. I'd only like it smothered under cheese and marinara sauce.
It's one of those dishes that you can't take shortcuts with. My mom always cooked it in the pressure cooker, then finished it up on the stove. Bad. Idea. Funny thing, she wondered for 20 years why it always came out bad. Now I actually like it.
tofu. olives. mushrooms.
Eggplant. I'd only like it smothered under cheese and marinara sauce.
It's one of those dishes that you can't take shortcuts with. My mom always cooked it in the pressure cooker, then finished it up on the stove. Bad. Idea. Funny thing, she wondered for 20 years why it always came out bad. Now I actually like it.
I forgot about this. Me too. My mother only ever served eggplant dredged in eggwash and flour and fried, and it "stung" my mouth. Now I understand it should have been salted...or cooked more thoroughly. Undercooked eggplant can make you feel very sick, but properly prepared it is glorious because it will take on the flavours of anything.
i still hate eggplant :(
Brussel sprouts
Asparagus
Both of these new passions in my life are now enjoyed on a regular basis becuase of Vegweb! Thanks! ;)b
But one I hated as a kid was fish, then around the age of 18 or so I started to love it. Then when I got pregnant I threw up and even the slightest smell of it and still to this day I hate fish. Whenever I smell it I remember the nausea I used to get. Ugh... Hate - love - hate thing.
I used to hate almost ALL veggies until I went vegan! I also never used many spices, and didn't eat much other than your typical SADer.
Then I went vegan, discovered Mediterranean food (Hummus, Pitas, etc) and so many other foods!
I also used to hate Mayo and Mustard, but Veganaise and Dijon Mustard are my number one condiments now (actually, these are a rather recent discovery.)
The only thing I can think of that I truly disliked is bell peppers. I like them now, even though they're not my favorite thing ever. Most other veggies that I thought I disliked was just because I'd never had them prepared in a way that was palatable to me. Like mushrooms...I think I'd only ever had canned or raw mushrooms up until I was about 18, but once I tried cooked fresh mushrooms I was in love. :)>>>
Ketchup...I really didn't like it as a child, but now I love it.
Also, cilantro...I mean, I could live without it, but I seriously detested it. Now I like it.
I was also a chemitarian (or junk-a-tarian).
I wouldn't eat:
broccoli
cauliflower
greens, including spinach
cabbage
ESPECIALLY NOT BRUSSEL SPROUTS
any non-standard vegetable
raw tomato
lettuce, unless it was drenched in ranch
fruit in general, except maybe bananas or processed (like applesauce)
Now I like all those things, except I tolerate brussel sprouts. I'm still kind of picky about certain things (I don't like turnip, okra, or, forgive me, grapes), but most of my pickiness now is about ripeness/quality. I think one of the reasons why I didn't like so many fruit/veg as a kid was because it was often not ripe or well prepared (like, half-cooked broccoli , boiled-to-death brussel sprouts, unripe peaches, Red "Delicious" apples, etc). So now I don't care what kind of sale there is in January, I only buy peaches June-September. I won't buy canned fruit except pineapple, or canned vegetables except maybe corn. Or other stuff like that. Going vegan/learning how to cook has taught me the magic of spices/herbs, roasting, and stir-frying. I'd probably even eat turnip if it were stir-fried.
Maybe.
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