Despite the fact that 90% of what I ate was home cooked, mostly from scratch, meals, I managed to miss out on some basics like courgette (zucchini) and aubergine (eggplant) and BUTTER if you can believe it.
My mother was big on margarine. So when I moved out I continued the tradition until one day I made a fateful mistake. It was like in Ratatouille. I was sat in my studio just eating buttered bread having an out of body experience.
I am Indian.
Never tried paneer in my life till I was almost 30.
Suddenly my life got brighter after I did.
I am not Indian, but also discovered paneer around 30. Cheese curds + curry = delicious. Why wasn’t this fed to me as soon as I could process solid foods?
A properly made Old Fashioned. Yes, whiskey is a good group. 👍
One of my greatest joys is going to a new restaurant and ordering an old fashion. The quality of that drink sets the whole mood for my dining experience.
It sure does! It’s crazy how the flavor of the drink can vary so much from place to place.
Soo many things. Most of my favorite foods, I didn’t try until I was an adult.
Curry (all of the curries - Indian, Japanese, Thai, it’s all delicious). Mapo tofu (and other Sichuanese dishes like boiled fish or beef). Hot pot of all varieties. Pancit bihon. Hungarian mushroom soup. Khao soi. And on and on…
As for basic ingredients: Avocados. Fish sauce. Doubanjiang.
Most recently… empanadas.
But there are so many foods i hadn’t been exposed to but absolutely adore. We didn’t have much “ethnic” foods as a kid, so there’s been a lot I’ve tried as an adult and loved. Butter chicken has become a staple for me. Saag paneer. Pad see ew is another great one. Savory pies in former British colonies (I had a butter chicken pie at a takeaway in NZ that was incredible). The list goes on…
There’s a Salvadoran bakery a block from my home that makes the best empanadas I’ve ever had. Favorite brunch (with Turkish coffee).
Not adulthood but I didn’t eat pizza until my mid teens. I hate tomato, and so avoided all foods with tomato in. I was persuaded to try tomato sauce and really liked it, from there I had pasta sauce, and pizza, which is amazing.
Turns out I only really hate uncooked tomato.
Me too! I hate the texture and seeds when it’s raw, but happily eat pizza, pasta sauce, tomato sauce etc. It has to be smooth though, no chunks or seeds.
Rare beef. Chanterelles. Eggplant. Artichokes. Lamb. Moist chicken with skin on. Turmeric, coriander, and oh my… cumin!
My parents were…not great. One of the ways they were not great was that I wasn’t exposed to a lot of new things, so I didn’t have Chinese or Mexican food until I was an adult, not to mention Thai, Middle Eastern, Indian, Japanese, and so on.
So my 20s felt like a decade just full of “holy shit this is amazing” and also a peculiar shame for not knowing such things existed.
Chickpeas, hummus etc.
We weren’t big on ‘foriegn’ foods when I was growing up 😒
Same, discovered both in my mid-20s
Fresh vegetables, grilled or roasted. Growing up, vegetables were mostly frozen/canned (less expensive, kept longer) and I couldn’t stand the texture. Then, in early adulthood, there were a few times in restaurants where I took a few bites of something to be polite/fit in. Lo and behold, it turns out I love vegetables when they’re not all squishy and weird!
Our local Indian restaurant has a vegetable dish called Vegetable Chatinad. Wonderful.
Sushi. I was in college and my dad was visiting me. We were looking for somewhere to have dinner and I saw a sushi restaurant. I grew up eating lots of different foods but that was one I just hadn’t had the opportunity or inclination to try. But college is when you try new things, so we did. And I loved it.
Spicy food. I’m almost the only one in my family that isn’t allergic to several spices, so, because my family didn’t cook with them, I didn’t get to eat anything relatively spicy until I was an adult and could cook for myself
Fresh veggies. Grew up on canned stuff, mainly green beans and peas and carrots. Still not a huge vegetables fan but canned ANYTHING doesn’t even register for me unless it’s a recipe ingredient.
Butter was also an eye opener after growing up with margarine and I even got my parents to switch to it ☺
I was raised to know spinach as the awful canned stuff. Thought I hated spinach for years. Found out in my twenties I love it when its not garbage from a can.
Coconut. It wasn’t that I had never had it before, I just didn’t like it. But one day, I had a "wait, this is awesome, what is wrong with me??“ moment. I am now fully on Team Coconut.
