My parents raised me the same way. I wasn't allowed to reject a food until I had tried it at least once. I still approach new things that way. So you're definitely doing the right thing with your kids.

The trouble was, my parents would try to trick me into thinking I'd never tried a particular food, in order to get me to try it again, in the hopes that I would like it the second/third/twentieth time around. They did this with brussels sprouts...

Sunday evening: Mom has prepared brussels sprouts as the veggie for Sunday dinner.
Me: What's that?
Mom: Brussels sprouts.
Me: (wrinkles nose) Yuck.
Mom: Just try one. (puts one on my plate)
Me: (takes a bite, spits it out) YUCK!
Mom: At least you tried it.

The VERY NEXT Sunday evening: Mom again prepares brussels sprouts.
Me: I don't like brussels sprouts.
Dad: How do you know? You've never tried them.
Me: I tried them just last week!

Depending on what kind of mood my dad was in, I either got an "oh, you're right, ok, you're off the hook" or a "shut up and eat it" ... usually the latter.

</threadjack>

Oh, and I forgot earlier - I hate avocado. Can't stand guacamole. Won't eat California rolls. My favorite sushi restaurant puts avocado in more than half of their rolls, so my menu choices are somewhat limited. Fortunately, my husband and I are in agreement on this one.

Well, you tried and that's what counts. Though I could rekindle our faux friendship over the Roots.

Vegemite was the BIGGEST letdown ever. I went into it thinking it would taste like Nutella. boy, was i disappointed.

And the way you feel about techno, i feel about reggaeton. every song has the same beat in the background.

I've got a texture thing too - pudding, tapioca, cottage cheese (which is gross to me anyway - how anyone eats it with fruit, blech), mussels, oysters (like mushrooms, like the flavor, hate the texture)...

and this isnt exactly "things other people like," but i cant stand wet feet (especially with flipflips on, or coming out of the pool or shower), and i hate the feeling of being covered in sand when you come out of the beach water - gross.

wet doorknobs/handles are nasty too. and sitting in a warm seat (from someone else's butt heat).

This reminded me of another thing.

I cannot stand wet paper at all. If I see newspaper, toilet paper, or paper towels in the road after it rains/in a sink/on a counter, I start to get sick. Same thing happens with paper on plates/in cups after people are done eating. I force all my friends to fold their used papers and place the corners underneath the plates.

OCD? Yes, but necessary.

I have a lot of friends who feel the same way. For most of them (at least the ones in New England), the only exception they'll make is for good New England clam chowder. Other than that, they avoid soup completely.

I will try just about anything (except pork products - I don't eat pork at all). I am picky about meat - what kind it is, where it came from, and how well it's prepared - but I'll eat any style of cuisine, any kind of vegetable or fruit, any kind of grain, etc., at least once. May never try it again, though. (My husband is the opposite of me - he'll eat any kind of meat except pork or shellfish, regardless of where it came from or how well it's prepared, but he is picky as hell about vegetables, fruits, grains, and style of cuisine. Somehow or another, I've gotten the rep as being 'the picky one' ...)

My mom made me eat whatever she cooked including: liver, fish, creamed tuna on toast, sizzle steaks (don't think they make those awful things anymore), ratatouille, eggplant, brussel sprouts, peas, lima beans, asparagus, and beets. I hated all of them. With the veggies, I had to eat as many as I was old. So, when I was 10, I had to eat 10 lima beans, etc. (with beats, it was in pieces, so it wasn't 10 whole beats, more like 10 bites). Time after time, for years and years, she made me eat them. Til the day I die, I will never eat any of things again. They still make me wanna be sick when they touch my lips. Thankfully, I can't eat any veggies anymore so I have a good excuse. Liver? Ewwwwww, but I think the creamed tuna on toast was the absolute worst thing ever made in this world.

I have no problem with trying new things if they are things I can digest. I'll try seafoods I haven't had before. I'll try any dessert that's not coffee flavored. I'll try wild game like venison, rabbit, buffalo.. I've had alligator medallions and ostrich meat. No problem. But do NOT make me eat liver, fish, creamed tuna on toast, sizzle steaks, eggplant, ratatouille, brussel sprouts, peas, lima beans, asparagus, or beats! NO WAY!

Add chili to my list. Hate whole beans. (can't eat them now anyway, but it's the texture that's the problem) Hate green peppers (also can't eat them now, thank goodness).

I hate many things that have already been mentioned:
- Cheesecake
- Beer
- Coffee

Thank you! I HATE french toast. Growing up, when my mom would make breakfast for my brother and I, she'd always have to make him french toast, and something else for me. That's all he'd eat, and I just couldn't. Sorry mom!

Hookah bars seem to be a big thing here in PA, also (I know, it's not exactly too far from Ohio). But yes, I don't understand it, either.

And the last bachelorette party I went to, all of the girls there signed this giant blow-up penis and surprised the bride with it. Otherwise, there was nothing else there like that. Nothing more was needed! I went to a strip club once in my life, and it was filled with CRAZY middle-aged women, and a handful of early-twenty-somethings who were basically just laughing. Blah.

::Knows every last word in every episode of Seinfeld::

That just reminded me of this line from Seinfeld..

Being from New England, I love seafood... but not all of it. I generally stay away from fish (except swordfish.. it's amazing!) Generally, I think it's the texture. As some people have already mentioned, I also have a weird thing with the texture of food. But that can go either way. I'll eat clam chowder and lobster bisque, but I hate seafood chowder. So ya never know.


And a few more to add:

- Krispy Kreme. I don't understand. I'll stick with Dunks.

- Outback Steakhouse. I even worked there and was able to try everything on the menu, and I hate it. The only thing I'll eat are the burgers. They're incredibly good, but everything else falls short for me.

- And my non-food complaint... The Notebook!! I didn't see what the big deal was. One of my roommates in college finally made me sit down and watch it, because I wasn't thrilled about seeing it in the first place. She was crying at the end. I basically asked, "Is that it?"

I actually love liver. But leave off the onions, unless they're fried. Give me bacon and grits with liver.

Bless your heart.

Meanwhile, Dunkin' Donuts are on my "yuck" list. :p

my parents tried to make me eat beets. i threw them up at the dinner table. they never tried again. it was partly on purpose, and partly unavoidable, if that is possible. :D

This thread really makes me wonder if things taste the same to people. I mean, do our taste buds function different to make us tolerate or not tolerate so many different flavors? Is it the way our brains process the stimulus from the taste buds? Sensation and perception was one of my favorite courses in grad school the first time around. It really made me wonder.. does red look the same to everybody? Or is my red someone else's blue but we've named it a certain thing. We have no way of knowing how others perceive the same things and there is no way to measure this. It's one of those things that can keep me awake at night if I think about it too hard. I had thought about it with colors before, but not with tastes. Must stop thinking.

I don't know if it's that I'm too old or too Southern, but I'm convinced that I've never heard of hookah bars for at least one of those reasons.

Runs off to google... ETA: So, it's exactly what it sounds like. What exactly is put in said hookahs? Tobacco? The I-swear-it's-not-pot-herbal mix someone on GC was talking about a few days ago?

ETA: Oh, and Dee, you should take a philosophy class. I love it when I have truly inquisitive people in my classes!

Actually, I think there is research indicating that things can taste somewhat different to different people.

Some people do put pot in hookahs, but that's not what it is designed for. It is designed for the smoking of flavored tobacco, similar to a standards pipe, except it is cooled by the water. They are a real big middle eastern thing, so any area with a large middle eastern or indian population will have them.

I hate grits, and oatmeal, but somewhat partial to Cream of Wheat.

I dont like beer either. Any kind of beer. I dont know if it is the initial taste of it that bothers me or the aftertaste that I dont like. I just dont like it. The thought of having it anymore makes me want to puke.

Yes, I'm sure that some people have a stronger sensitivity to sour or bitter, etc. I'm curious whether sweet, sour, etc. mean the same thing to everybody. I know what sweet tastes like to me. Does it taste like that to others too?

I know during my training as an OT in sensory integration, we learned a lot about textures (of foods even) and how they affect the central nervous system and, therefore, how people with autism react to them. Interesting stuff.

And Sydney: My liberal arts classes days are long gone! Now, it's just a Master's in IT security that I'm working toward. I have had my share of philosophy courses and they made me absolutely crazy, keeping me awake at night thinking about questions that have no answers! Physics did the same thing to me. If something is traveling faster than the speed of light.. oh my, it makes my brain hurt.

lol gross. MysticCat, you like liver, but you don't like soup? :)

For me it's all about the texture. I hate things that are "mealy" like old apples and similar textures. Kiwi gets me, too, for whatever reason.

I also can't get over the texture of fish. Well, texture + smell. I love shellfish but I'm horribly allergic. I haven't had any in about 7 years, since my last trip to the hospital.

Onions are another "ick" for me - love the taste (I use onion powder in just about anything) but I can't handle the texture.

DS - Grits=oatmeal=cream of wheat. Gross!

I have a hard time eating wheat or whole grain bread. I'll do the pasta, but I can barely get behind that and end up boiling it for 2-3 times the length of time you're supposed to.

Tim Horton's or bust. I will have Dunkin Donuts if there is no Tim Horton's nearby. Well... if I *have* to have a doughnut and doughnut shop coffee. Otherwise, I'll pass.

Also, I hate brats. And sauerkraut. Something that smells that bad should not be consumed. Basically things that are cooked with beer = no thank you.

I'll just stand in the corner and drink the beer instead.

Well, if people have stronger sensitivity to salty, sweet, bitter or sour, it seems like that would effect how taste in total is perceived.

You can come to my house to see this in action. We had macaroni (real, not from a box) even though we know son won't touch it. Something about the texture is so off-puting to him. How specifically does it affect the nervous system?

Nothin' gross about it. And I don't like liver, I love it. :D You cook bacon and then cook liver (dredged in seasoned flour with just a touch of basil) in a bit of the bacon grease. Wonderful!

And yes, liver has flavor and you can actually chew it. Soup is flavored water with soggy stuff in it, and after you eat it, you're still wondering where your meal is. There's nothing enticing, satisfying or tasty about it to me. :p

o.k. you actually made liver sound good with your little recipe.:)

and lol lol at the bolded. Hilarious! :p

MC already has his black card. Let's see if he keeps it with his response lol

LOL.

I like liver too, so I was thinking he might like chitlins like I do, with plenty of hot sauce. Mmm good.:D

No, I may lose the card on this one. I don't like chitlins. But like I said earlier, I do like haggis -- maybe the Scottish equivalent of chitlins? :D

MC you can have mine. chitlins is the one thing in the "never tried them and dont plan on liking them" category. probably the only thing - ive tried a lot of food that most would be grossed out by.

ETA: woohoo, 4400th post.

LOL

You can go ahead and keep it ;)

I only got into them because my grandma used to make them taste amazing. It's only a holiday food, though. I don't wake up thinking "Bump cereal...it's chitlin time!" or anything.

I don't lose mine for hating on grits right?

What's up with the "black card" thing? So you have to eat certain foods in order to be considered African American?

Oh geez.

LOL

ETA:

All I could think about was:

http://www.loungelightmedia.com/images/smilies/worf.gif

Yeah, that's exactly it. Good observation.

LOL!!!!

It's jez' jokes!!!

You guys it's not that. It's just that you know how some people are. Like, calling people "sell outs" etc. That's what I meant.

In this connotation, it's humor.

Trust me on that.

My mom made liver for me a few times. I liked it the first time I had it, but refused to eat it after that. I can't remember why.

And I'll only eat gizzards from one location (surprisingly, a convenience store near my old high school). I've tried from "real" places and have hated them.

Yeah, I feared that MysticCat was going to take my place in the Black Concentration Camp if he liked more foods than I do.
:(

That's a legitimate concern considering that MC has not just a black card, but a female card, too.

He's covering all his bases.

MC 2012!

Don't make cheerfulgreek nervous. :o

Huh? What's that supposed to mean?