O Avocado, Where Were Thou?
I’ve had several conversations recently about foods that kids eat. Foods that were practically unheard of when you and I were kids. Sushi. Avocados. Even kiwi fruit was rarely seen in the U.S. until the 1980s.
Then I was reading the February issue of Food & Wine when I came across a comment by an avocado farmer (and apparently a rock star, too) that he’d never had an avocado until he was 20. I hadn’t, either. Avocados weren’t so popular in Massachusetts in the 70s. I had to move to California to try one.
This has me thinking about the foods I eat now…
Foods I Never Ate As a Kid Because I Thought They Were “Gross”
Mushrooms
Veal
Kasha
Coffee (until I was a teen)
Chicken (when I was a teen, and until recently)
Foods I Never Ate As a Kid Because My Mother Didn’t Like Them and She Did All the Cooking
Beets
Brussels sprouts
Artichokes
Cauliflower
Chard, kale, mesclun, leafy greens other than spinach
Leeks
Oatmeal
Waffles
Foods I Never Ate As a Kid Because We Didn’t Know They Existed
Couscous
Farro
Tuna in steak form
Bok choy
Arugula
Jalapenos
Lichees
Mangoes
Panko
This is obviously not a comprehensive list, and it doesn’t include whole categories of regional foods, including Japanese, Thai, Indian, Mexican, and one that still makes me hesitate, Foods of the Southern United States.
What foods do you eat now that you never had as a child?
edited to add: Check out The Food Timeline!
Tags: past
This entry was posted on Friday, January 14th, 2011 at 3:08 pm and is filed under food. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
January 14th, 2011 at 4:38 pm
I thought mushrooms were icky until college. I suspect it was a combo of my mom not being fond of them and possibly experiencing canned mushrooms somewhere that made me think that. Oh and eggplant – but I think that was one bad eggplant parmesan experience that put me off for a good 10 years. Rhubarb is another goodie that my mom wasn’t into. Oh, and kale and chard and arugula (though I think she just didn’t know they existed, as we loved spinach and even mustard greens, and I’ve now turned her onto kale & chard). A few other veggies fell into the “unknown or maybe too fancy’ category like leeks and fancy green beans (romanos). The only things I can think of not eating because my mom didn’t like them are liver and calf’s tongue.
I actually had a lychee tree in my backyard when I was 8 so there are a number of tropical fruits that I loved and was always familiar with since I lived in their climate, oh how I miss avocados and star fruit. However my “health food nut” mom kept me away from stuff like Koolaid (I might have been in college when I had my first sip) and twinkies (good god why do people eat those things) and other well-known kid junk food. I was the freak snacking on bee pollen, rice cakes and almond slices (actually most of the time it was plain old carrot sticks or maybe raisins).
January 14th, 2011 at 6:30 pm
In our house we also have a category called “Foods I Like But Cannot Eat Because My Husband Thinks He Hates Them Because His Mother Likes Them.” Okay, so really I’m just talking about Brussels sprouts here, but it’s pretty funny still!
January 17th, 2011 at 6:44 pm
I agree with almost all of your list! It’s amazing how many different, especially ethnic, foods are so commonplace now. I don’t think you had hummus on the list, but I would say that was something I first tried in college. And asparagus! My family never had that and I LOVE it. Have it all the time now.
January 20th, 2011 at 12:58 am
I think about this so often as I feed my toddler son and think about his food preferences for the future. It also came to light when my parents recently came to visit. While they are more adventurous than they once were, it was hard to plan meals that we would all like.
In short, I now eat legumes and greens and grains. We also eat a lot of “California” fruits – persimmons, kiwi, pears, apricots (all can be excellently mushy for a little fellow with just a few teeth). I think a lot of the things our parents didn’t like (Brussels sprouts, beets, cauliflower) and thus were not served in our childhood homes were terribly presented in their childhood homes. Now we are all learning how delicious those foods can be.
January 20th, 2011 at 10:32 am
Oh yes, apricots! I never had a fresh one into well into my 30s, although we had dried apricots all the time. Sarah, you have a good point about what our parents might have eaten as kids. I’m currently reading Julia Child’s letters to Avis DeVoto in the 1950s (“As Always, Julia”) and they talk about the limited availability of fresh vegetables in the U.S. and how frozen vegetables, which were pretty new then, have no flavor.
Ann, we had hummus occasionally but it was a weird treat that you had to get at a specialty food shop!
Michelle, I was right there with you on the mushrooms. My father used to hide them in mashed potatoes. I found every one. Now I can’t get enough of them.
Sarah (FF), I have read all about the brussels sprouts in your home!