I found out that a lot of stuff I thought I didn't like was because it wasn't made very well

Yes for black coffee and tapioca pearls, as well as hot food because good lord the dopamine is so nice.

And in reverse I’ve conditioned myself to be disgusted by alcohol.

I had almost the reverse with coffee. I always liked the smell of coffee but not really the taste. Then my family bought a Nespresso machine when i was in high school, and i started adding espresso shots to hot chocolate. Then i started occasionally making espresso shots and drinking them straight. Then several years later i found myself in a hotel for work, at 6am before a shift, and they automatically brought me black coffee. I took one sip and was like "oh i guess i like coffee now" and never looked back. Yep, regular old hotel breakfast coffee got me hooked.

Kombucha, the first couple bottles taste like fizzy vinegar, but then I got hooked on it. I was trying to get my gut microbes in a healthier zone.

I tried and failed with blue cheese.

Every year, I try again and fail a different way.

I've tried so hard with celery and onions. Turns out I like the flavors just fine, it's the textures I can't handle. So I just have to chop them up into the tiniest pieces so they don't squeak when I bite down. Food shouldn't squeak when I bite down.

Tried and succeeded: Guinness. Nom nom nom.

Tried and failed: black tea and black coffee

Yes. I tried mangoes every year untill I liked them, avocado too. Raw tomatoes I keep trying, can tolerate, can't like.

Last year I made a deal with my coworker, who is a wine person but such a picky eater he went to Japan and just ate chicken tenders, same in the middle east. I told him if he honestly tried eating new foods I would try wines. He found some foods he likes, and I found I like dry elegant white wines (nothing sweet) and most wines made of Nebbiolo grapes, like instead of just sort of holding my nose and tolerating them, I can affirmatively like them .

I truly believe a wide palate is a positive quality, I gave my kids lots of different tasting foods when they were little and that helped them to enjoy more flavors. I think technically I'm picky (have strong likes and dislikes) but like so, so many foods it's not limiting. And yes, I do try to like some of the foods I don't.

Wine. I've never been much of a wine person, and I prefer beer with my food, but at some restaurants and events, the food is usually paired well with a wine. Because of this I tried to actually like it, and I am now at the point where I can enjoy white wine that isn't too sweet.

Agree with beer. Now I'm slightly snobbish about beer, but it's still generally not my favorite. Stella Midnight Lager and Yeungling Black & Tan are really good though.

I used to have to drink hard stuff to get drunk enough not to taste the beer. But eventually I got there.

Other than that... not really. When I was growing up, I hated tomatoes and onions. In the army, calories were calories. Throw everything on that salad. Now I like them. But it wasn't really voluntary and I didn't set out with that goal.

Honestly, I always believed that if people like something, it’s “like-able” for anyone. It’s just a matter of understanding why and putting yourself in the shoes of the people that do like it.

So many many things that I at first didn’t understand or like, I tried hard to understand better and like as well.

From music, to food, to movies etc.

“Taste” is something that you build. It’s critically engaging with everything, and trying to understand it as best you can.

When I started college, I still had somewhat of a picky palette. Would pick a lot off my meals and stick to safer foods. My partner at the time started coercing me to try foods or ingredients I didn't like, for example sliced raw tomato on a deli sandwich. This ended up working very well for many things: tomato, broccoli, cauliflower, pineapple, and a few others. This could've been attributed to me "growing up" or finally being exposed to better preparations than what I had before college, but I like to think she had the largest influence.

The only one that wouldn't work is pickles. Couldn't stand them despite liking cucumbers and vinegar. For all other foods, I'd forcibly eat them until one day I'd form a "craving", somewhat Stockholm syndrome-ing myself. Pickles never worked. At least, not for 9 years from when this venture began. During this past August, while grocery shopping I finally got my craving so I bought a jar and finished it within 2 days.

Next up, maybe red wine or beer.

Quite a few!

• Spicy food: didn't grow up in a spicy-loving part of the world but tried a lot of Indian food in college and decided to just upping the spice level. I can handle some pretty extreme stuff, which always comes as a surprise when I meet Southern Chinese ppl
• Coffee: turns out it was less of an issue with my tolerance and just that I needed a good setup and locally-roasted beans
• Beer: surprisingly easy to get into, similar to coffee I just needed high-quality beer. I prefer the fruity ones over blondes/browns/pils though
• K-pop: unwillingly, because I play a "K-pop" game... I think I'm starting to get the appeal now though

I worked very hard to like beer when I was in high school. It didn't help that I was "borrowing" warm Old Milwaukee from my dad's case in the basement.

Coconut water. I didn’t care for the taste but liked its ability to hydrate. Just kept drinking until now I sorta enjoy the taste. Has to be chilled though. Warm coconut water is nope. 

I did it with black licorice. We were on a road trip and it was the only snack we had left

I find that a lot of 'acquired' tastes have a lot to do with one of two time based things:

Time itself, ages your palate and allows you to enjoy more nuanced tastes as it ages and changes.

As well as

Your palate being able to take food over time and the human brain numbs that which offends so you can enjoy what's left.

Bourbon/scotch, but a bigger problem is that most is made poorly

Over the past year I used less sugar in my coffee until I could just drink it black.

Music fan here. Pretty eclectic but mostly leaning towards metal and prog. The melodic kind.

Currently experimenting with deathcore like Lorna shore and stuff. Just to see what the fuss is about and if I can find something beautiful in it.

Campari

I liked coffee, beer and spicy food right from the first time I tried them.

Anchovies were a personal challenge that I undertook - putanesca pasta was fine but the first time I tried them on pizza I thought they were unbearable. Over the decades I might get one anchovie pizza a year and each time I found them more palatable, but it was a bit of an exercise in willpower. Recently, it has paid off and I've found that I love them. Many pizzeria's don't offer them because they are so unpopular but if I get the chance I'll eat them; has displaced peperoni as my favourite topping.

Coffee and beer, my two favorite drinks

Bud Ice. It's $1 a can of 5.5% beer and I'm in poverty. Gotta drink something, so I made myself tolerate the cheapest.

My wife has been trying to convince me that broccoli tastes great for years now... My mind hasn't changed. Maybe the best tasting things have to be had in moderation and the blandest, most insipid things can be consumed basically whenever for a reason? I'd rather accept that than being gaslit, as if my tongue didn't know better! 😅

I couldn't stomach the taste of whiskey for years but I had friends who were really into craft stuff and I felt like I was missing out so I found something that was basically vanilla extract and learned how to enjoy other whiskeys from there. Now I'm a big fan

Yes, with just about everything I eat and now I'm ok with most everything.

As a kid, I thought nearly everything tasted bad: cucumbers, mustard, relish, mushrooms, onions, peppers, different types of cheese, stewed tomatoes, roasted carrots, roasted potatoes, etc etc etc.

As a young adult, I tried some things for the first time and hated them at first brush (for instance, avocado, which was so rich tasting to me at first that it almost triggered my gag reflex). I kept going and got over it.

Nowadays, everything I order I do so without having the chef hold a damned thing.

I've learned that in isolation, many things taste pretty overpowering, but with proper preparation and seasoning most things can be part of a delicious dish.

Olives. I've really learned to like the ones at the local Portuguese restaurant that they cure themselves, and serve with crusty bread that you dip in olive oil and vinegar. My friend also marinated olives herself with this insanely good olive oil and herb mix.

I tried to prepare brussels sprouts in different ways but it just tastes like ass.