Your parents tried everything to get you to eat broccoli when you were a kid, but to no avail.
You hated the taste, the texture, the smell, the look, and even the word ‘broccoli’ made you want to gag. Now you’re 35, and you still won’t touch poor broccoli. Meanwhile, your friend likes it. In fact, he orders it at a restaurant and enjoys eating it. Something has to be wrong with that guy, right?
Not really. He likes something you don’t.
Still, it’s weird that you both have the same taste buds and the exact same vegetable tastes terrible to you and excellent to him.
Did he grow up eating broccoli and get used to it to the point of liking it? Or did he hate it until he tried it cooked in a certain way? And is there a way to make yourself like it?
Let’s try figuring all of this out by the end of this article.
Does Eating Something More Often Make You Like It?
Think of Brussels sprouts for a moment. If you spent your childhood being forced to eat Brussels sprouts your mom cooked for so long that they became mushy, who could blame you for despising them? It’s gross.
What if you changed the way of cooking them, though? Roast them in the oven with olive oil, salt, and pepper, and you might just change your mind.
Another way to make this easier on yourself is to mix foods you don’t like or that are new to you with something you enjoy.
Say you like yogurt; why not add some fruit and nuts to it?
Combos like trial mixes, such as Nature’s Garden snacks, would also work great to add a few different flavors into something you eat regularly.
Of course, it could just be that you hate that dang broccoli, no matter what you do to it. And that’s okay.
How to Get Used to Foods You Never Liked
There’s no magic way to make yourself love food you hate. But there is science. If you eat the food more often, what ends up happening is that you might start to tolerate it or even like it (somewhat).
To be clear, that doesn’t mean you should eat a bowl of broccoli every day (we’re not sure why we’re going so hard on broccoli; broccoli is actually super nice.
But hey, there are less painful ways to do this. Here are three:
Don’t Start With Foods You Hate the Most
Broccoli makes you gag? Okay, just leave it alone for now and pick something you’re not crazy about but you can tolerate eating (e.g., zucchini).
Prepare a side of zucchini for dinner and have a few bites. No big deal; just see what you think and move on. If you don’t like it, fine. Prepare it some other way or with different spices in a few days and see how that works out.
Try Cooking the Same Food in a Different Way
Do you remember those horrible, mushy vegetables you used to get at school?
The cook boiled the life out of them and then expected you to eat them.
Cauliflower is a great example of this because it’s completely bland if you just boil it. But if you roast it with some olive oil and garlic salt, it’s like a totally different vegetable.
What ACTUALLY Bothers You
Some foods taste great! And yet, you still hate them. A pretty common example here is mushrooms. They’re great, you love them (especially in a stew or on pizza), but then you start chewing them, and they feel all slimy and mushy and, well – it’s not the best.
But you can get around this most of the time. With those same slippery mushrooms, what you can do is fry them a bit longer in a pan until most of the moisture evaporates and they brown a bit. This way, you’ll retain (almost) the same taste, while getting rid of that unfavorable texture.
The moral here is that if you’re analytical enough to actually figure out what bothers you on a particular food exactly, then it’s much easier to plan around this and/or do something about it.
Conclusion
A lot of broccoli talk, right? The point is, it’s okay to hate broccoli and never eat it again.
It’s also okay if you want to make yourself like it for whatever reason. There’s a good chance it’ll never be your favorite, but if you can eat it and tolerate it, that’s still something.
Try a few things out because spices can make a world of difference, as can a different way of cooking. It’s possible to train yourself to like healthy food to an extent, but you shouldn’t force yourself to eat food you hate.
