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What foods have you only started to eat in later life?

(62 Posts)
Sazz1006 Thu 03-May-18 14:44:44

At the tender age of 61, I have started to eat beetroot for the first time in my life! I think I was put off by the vinegary stuff being put on our school dinner plates with mashed potatoes that stained the potatoes pink and have never eaten it until recently.
The other things I really would like to like and am revving myself up for trying are boiled or poached eggs. They look so tempting but I just can’t bring myself to eat egg white! I quite enjoy scrambled egg or the occasional omelette.
Anyone else liking a type of food for the first time?

lemongrove Thu 03-May-18 21:20:09

Nuts! grin
Not a comment on this thread I hasten to say.

GrandmaMoira Thu 03-May-18 22:10:53

There's lots of foodstuffs that weren't around when we were young but I enjoy. These include: pesto, halloumi, hummus, couscous, quinoa, lentils, garlic, cumin, peppers, sea bass, kale, flagolet beans and more. We didn't even have pasta or rice when I was a child.
I am no longer able to tolerate anything too hot and spicy or strong coffee. I used to eat white sliced bread but really dislike it now. I eat much less red meat now.

Eloethan Thu 03-May-18 22:17:11

Olives, halloumi, tofu, smoked salmon, avocados, watercress, beetroot

Marmight Fri 04-May-18 11:42:03

Fennel & celery. Used to hate them but obviously my taste buds have changed in advanced age!

Bathsheba Fri 04-May-18 12:04:47

Oh yes, olives, avocados and celeriac have all found their way onto my shopping list in recent years. Hated olives and avocados when I was younger, and I don't think I'd even heard of celeriac until the last decade or so. Pesto is another addition, but I don't use it as often as I'd like because it has to be used quite quickly once opened, and I do get fed up with throwing away half a jar sad.

hildajenniJ Fri 04-May-18 12:19:44

I'm famous in my family for trying anything once. Most of the time I'll have it again. Like so many other older people I find that now there are things I can't eat, cooked tomatoes being top of the list. My mother never bought celery and it wasn't until I started dating my DH that I tasted it. His mother used to boil it as a vegetable, it is delicious.

maryhoffman37 Fri 04-May-18 15:49:15

The only things I don't like (beyond my vegetarian and GF diet) are beetroot, pineapple and goat cheese. The first makes me sick, the second hurts my mouth and I can't bear the smell of the third. I doubt I'll be changing my preferences about those three any time soon.

bmacca Fri 04-May-18 15:58:18

I used to think that I wouldn't like passion fruit because it looked "slimey" but when I actually had some I realised how much I love it

NonnaW Fri 04-May-18 15:58:59

2 years ago I had my first taste of oysters and they were delicious! Also just got round to trying quinoa which I enjoyed, but had avoided mainly because it had a kind of “worthy” label.

Lindylou51 Fri 04-May-18 17:43:46

Olives it is for me too!! Clearly there are a few fellow Gransnetters who have developed a liking for these in later life. However, I only like the black ones and have yet to mature into liking green olives.

lilypollen Fri 04-May-18 18:27:13

Since getting married, I've always enjoyed a very varied diet of mainly 'healthy' food. Over the past 5 years I've used butter and double cream in my cooking, rather than the alternatives. Not to excess but it does make a helluva difference to certain dishes.

LynneB59 Fri 04-May-18 18:44:17

At the age of 61, you've never had a boiled egg?! What a sheltered life! I'm 59 and I've tried most foods, but I recently ate Kangeroo steak for the first time. Not bad, but I prefer beef.

Sazz1006 Fri 04-May-18 21:27:42

I’ve boiled many an egg for husbands 1 and 2 and 2 sons but just never eaten them! When I was a very little girl (about 3) I was at an ‘auntie’s’ as we always called our parent’s friends and was offered a fried egg. I politely refused saying ‘no thank you, I don’t like eggs flat on a plate’ and since then fried eggs have always been known as ‘eggs flat on a plate’

Breda Fri 04-May-18 21:53:34

G&T - discovered it about 12 months ago!

LynneB59 Fri 04-May-18 22:00:56

There are lots of foods I DON'T like... offal, rabbit, any pork products (pork pie, ham, pork, bacon), shellfish, lamb, avocado, olives, Feta cheese, burgers, sausages, margarines, chips, liquorice.

paddyann Sat 05-May-18 00:36:07

my diet has become much more limited as I've got older .I became vegetarian in my early 30's and didn't eat any meat until I hit 50 ,then I found most meats difficult to digest so have very small amounts but only rarely.Never eat fowl ..never have ..of any kind .Dont eat goats cheese and only limited cheese maybe once every couple of weeks.Little dairy though I do make an effort as my late mum avoided it for weight reasons all her life and had crippling osteoporosis in later years .I find my diet is quite limited now through choice though it has not made a difference to my weight though I'm doing the 16/8 diet plan .I'm losing very little very slowly ,I do need to lose weight because of a herniated disc.All advice welcomed

kookim Sat 05-May-18 14:17:43

Please help I am beginning to feel stupid. I am having difficulty with all these initials for words. It takes me longer to work out what some of them mean than it would for me to read the actual words. I always thought I was fairly good at the English language.

SueDonim Sat 05-May-18 14:38:32

Try this, Kookim. www.gransnet.com/info/acronyms

ginny Sat 05-May-18 16:02:41

Lots of things that were not available when I was a child. I’ll try most things. The main thing I eat now that I hated as a child are salad items , lettuce, radish, cucumber etc.

Eglantine21 Sat 05-May-18 18:45:12

Well I tried chickpeas a couple of days ago. I spent all of yesterday in the loo. Won’t be doing that again?

Cold Sat 05-May-18 18:53:26

There is such a huge increase in foods available these days - but these days I really like

- the huge variety of grains - quinoa, bulgur, giant cous cous

- Japanese food like sushi and yakiniku

- Thai food

- different types of pickled herring (after moving to Scandinavia)

petra Sat 05-May-18 22:52:11

NonnaW
If you liked the raw oysters try cooking them. Make a tempura batter and deep fry.
Another favourite of ours is Octopus stew. Cooked very very slowly, delicious.

lovebeigecardigans1955 Sun 06-May-18 16:27:21

Asparagus, lettuce, green beans - not very adventurous am I?

travelsafar Sun 06-May-18 16:45:10

Tomatoes. As a child i never liked them. But as i got older i tried tinned ones and liked those. Then i graduated to cooked fresh ones and i still to this day cook them, leave them to go cold and eat them with salads.Yesterday for the first time ever i ate three cherry tomatoes.I disguised them with salad cream but i ate them. I hope to go on to larger ones this summer as i grow them every year in the greenhouse.

SueDonim Sun 06-May-18 18:30:45

I've just today tried kefir. It tastes exactly the same as my home made yogurt!