BristolUK

Yes, that explains that people will taste things differently and there's little point in persuading someone that something is tasty when they think it's not. But I don't see why “How do you know you won’t like it if you’ve never tried it?” is in there, as it's a perfectly reasonable question if the picky eater hasn't tried it or tried it one way but not another different way.

Of course it may turn out they dislike it so much that done another way might make little difference. But it might.

I remember posting how nice I thought carrots were roasted (rather than boiled/simmered/steamed as I'd had normally had them) and someone - Shard, maybe - said was there any other way to eat them? Really a completely different taste, not just better.
I find cornflakes absolutely sweet enough with just milk but sometimes (If I need warming up) I'll use hot milk but it absolutely needs a little sugar then. Same two ingredients but a different taste done a different way.

My stepdaughter and my wife never liked lamb. I occasionally bought some as me and my stepson liked it. Now we have it often because my stepdaughter can't get enough of it. She's gone from not liking it to enthusiastically being on board

BristolUK

Wow, I had to look that up.

scrubbedexpat091

Its not always about taste either, can be the smell, I don't need to try any sea food to know I wont like it, never found the smell of sea food appealing, and I am certainly not going to eat a food I don;t like the smell of. (I have tried a variety of sea food before, never liked any such as crab, lobster, oysters, salmon, trout, Alaska pollock cooked different ways and none have ever smelled or tasted good.)

I do like lamb though, preference for New Zealand, Canadian lamb I have had seems to have a different taste to it.

Rete

Picky eaters were children of terrible cooks.

Rete

Don't feel bad. Showed my quilting group a picture of the food on the table in Bavarian and they had no idea what a potato pancake/latke was. We prefer ours with sour cream or applesauce.

BristolUK

Fair point...but some white fish is nothing like salmon, lobster, whatever. That would be like dismissing all red meat because you didn't like ground beef. One of the nice things about cod in batter is it's mushiness and lack of anything fishy about it. I knew someone who loathed anything to do with fish but he could wolf down fish and chips from a British chip shop no problem.

I've had potato pancake but they've all been of the mashed spud variety. I have experimented with marrow, zucchini and turnip done Latke style, just didn't know the name.

scrubbedexpat091

I have tasted cod did not like it.

Dorothy

Kind of a generalisation there Rete. I'm one of 10 children of a great cook. I'm a bit of a fussy eater but my 9 siblings will eat pretty much everything. I am, and always have been, a very good cook. However while my son would eat whatever I put in front of him my daughter is a more fussy type.

Maybe your experience has been either growing up as the child od a bad cook or maybe your children did - I'm not sure which. Myself and my children did not.

scrubbedexpat091

My sister eats everything under the sun and we grew up with the same cooking.

I have a family member who is a chef and works in a fancy upscale well reviewed place all account she cooks excellent food. She is always saying on FB how her child is very picky.

Why cant people accept we all have different likes and dislikes for foods.

What tastes and smells good to one person is not so good to another.

Even dogs have foods they like or dislike. Some dogs love fish our dog sniffs it and walks away.

Siouxie

Very true! My dog loves trout and salmon.. other fish she won't touch.. she loves cheese and bacon too but isn't fussed about steak! She has to smell everything about 5 times before she'll consider whether she might eat it or not My previous dog loved raw carrots - she would go to the fridge and sit by it until she got one, then bring it to you to hold when it got too small for her to hold between her paws.. she wouldn't touch fish of any kind

I must admit sometimes I think it might be an over indulgent parent at fault when you hear of kids who will only eat chips or chicken nuggets or similar, but each to their own I always say! My son didn't get a lot of choice, he was brought up old school - you eat what is put on your plate, or go hungry.. but I was fortunate that he was happy to try just about anything - and he was encouraged to do so... (steamed garlic shrimp at 6 months, lol) .. but if he really disliked something once he had tried it then I didn't force it on him.. we all have things we don't like. I can't stand broad beans or butter beans and for years wouldn't eat broccoli - though now I love it. Tastes can and do change!

Dorothy

I agree. There are certain textures that I just cannot get past. Cottage cheese or rice pudding for example makes me gag.

I had stomach surgery about 4 months ago and oddly my tastes have changed since then. Things I used to like now are really unappealing. Funny though things I used to not like I find are now ok.

moneypenny20

My youngest would eat anything as a kid; all veg, meat, squid, various fish etc. What she's never been able to stomach is anything mushy/baby food type - mash etc. She's slowly started not liking some foods because of their texture - Can't eat chicken but loves my gravy, hates mince. All kinds of weird!!!

BristolUK

I think everyone does, well most anyway.

What's noticeable here is that different ways of cooking the food is suggested - like the Latke suggestion or me with the roast rather than boiled carrots or not all seafood being similar.

That there are people who love chips/fries and sweet potato fries but won't eat boiled potato or vegetables in general surely confirms that.

Plus, as others have said, tastes change. Is there nothing you did like but don't now or vice versa?

On the other point of growing up, I was one of four brothers. The only one who liked sprouts. I used to say "those boys don't know what's good for them do they" to my mum.
Then I went off them. The sprouts not the brothers. I like them again now. The sprouts!

Dorothy

Have you tried them roasted? The sprouts, not the brothers.

BristolUK

No...is that a thing, roast sprouts? I've roasted cauli.