30 Meals People Have Finally Learned To Enjoy As Adults After Discovering Their Parents Were Making It Wrong Throughout Their Childhood
Many years ago, Albert Einstein stated that everything in this universe is relative. Of course, the great physicist did not mean such an ordinary thing as food, but still, if we talk about the scale of the Universe, then food also fits these criteria. Especially since Einstein was one hundred percent right about food - and here's why.
Have you ever felt like you hated certain foods as a child? Just imagine that your parents put a plate with something on the table for you, and you literally turn inside out just from the smell or appearance of this dish. It's quite possible that it happened.
And then, after many years or even decades, as adults, we go to a restaurant or visit someone, and we are offered the very same dish. Of course, we flatly refuse - after all, we know what unimaginable muck it is, but we are somehow persuaded... And then a real miracle happens: only after tasting, we suddenly realize how incredibly delicious this dish is!
The whole point, it turns out, is that our parents simply did not know how to cook - either in general, or this particular dish. For example, they did not add spices, oils, or, say, just overcooked it. But in fact, one has only to turn over the stove to a skilled chef, and it turns out that this is a real culinary masterpiece, and we desperately regret those years that we did not touch this masterpiece, sincerely believing it to be inedible and disgusting. Damn it, old Albert, how right you were!
A similar question was asked recently on the AskReddit community: "What food did you hate as a child because of the way it was prepared only to find out as an adult it was amazing when made correctly?" And you know what? It turns out that there are hundreds and thousands of people like us! At least right now, the original thread boasts over 2.1K upvotes and nearly 2.8K various comments, behind almost every one of which is a heartbreaking story of pure kitchen hatred and sudden epiphany.
Bored Panda has compiled for you a list of the most popular, original and interesting tales of the original thread, so now please feel free to scroll to the very end, mark your favorite submissions and be sure to share your own story if this happened to you as well. In the end, as the same Einstein said, "common sense is nothing more than a deposit of prejudices laid down in the mind before you reach eighteen."
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Steak
My neighbor (he's 80+ now), told me a funny story relating to this.
He grew up in rural WV. When he was in his 20's, he was doing some odd job work in the city for a woman homeowner. At the end of a day of work, she offered to cook him dinner.
She asked "Do you like steak?"
He said "Yea I guess."
She said "How do you take it?"
He didn't understand what that meant.
She says "How would you like it done?"
He still didn't get it.
He says "Cooked?"
This is the day he learned of doneness for steak. The first time he'd heard of food being able to be "done" by request. He had never had any meat that wasn't fried to a crisp. He said his mother made everything the same way: Fry it or boil it down. She would put fat in the pan, and fry the meat.
He said this particular steak, and meal, was the best he'd ever had in his life. First time tasting properly cooked food.
Brussels Sprouts
Brussels Sprouts!
Apparently boiling the s**t out of something until they're mushy and watery is not great. Lightly grilled/broiled with some oil and seasoning and they're one of my favorite dishes.
Veggies
Obviously wasn't a huge veggie fan until I started roasting veggies in the oven as an adult. Roasted carrots are so freaking good.
Learning how to roast vegetables was a game changer for me. I hated veggies growing up (mostly home-canned and boiled), but when I learned to roast fresh veggies, my world got a lot bigger.
Basically Everything
Basically everything. My mother was a good person who loved her family, but she couldn't cook for s**t. EVERYTHING was boiled until it was grey, and the meat was dried to holy hell and the vegetables had the consistency of pudding. Her ONLY move in the kitchen was to put a (not even cleaned of connective tissue) hunk of whatever animal we were desecrating tonight for dinner in a 350 degree oven, in a roasting pan with too much water. OFTEN FOR THREE OR MORE HOURS. It never one time occurred to her to try lowering the heat or the cooking time, but she always complained that "white meat is dry". Yeah, because you basically scorched the s**t out of it!
I fired her from cooking duties at 14 and it was the best move I ever made. I'm no Michelin star chef, but I'll make you happy at my table.
My mother was a vegetarian. She was also a bad cook, even of vegetarian meals, but she cooked meat dishes for us but had a limited repertoire. She used to boil sausages-she would peel the sausage casing off leaving the sausage meat crumbling to pieces, and boil it in water to cook the fat out. We ended up with a sort of grey soup with crumbled pork mince. Roast beef was always roasted/broiled until it was completely grey-no hint of pink to be seen. Then she's complain about the price of a roasting joint and about how it had shrunk down to absolutely nothing. Liver and onions we had once a week (for the iron). She would chop onions into chunks, then balance slabs of liver on top, pour over water and put it in the oven to bake-it was like eating carpet underlay. We started cooking for ourselves aged 10-12. I dread to think of the amount of money she had wasted until then because she refused to look at a cook book despite everything she made being virtually inedible.
Spinach
Spinach. My dad would only eat canned spinach that was then boiled. Found out later that fresh spinach is a wonderfully flavorful green and is best either crisp, or cooked until slightly wilted.
Blanch spinach, toss with light seasoning and olive oil, and bake/fry/mix with pretty much anything.
Pork Chops And Steaks
Pork chops and steaks were s**t until i realized they should not actually be prepared for use in the NHL. I love my mom dearly and for that, i must keep her out of the kitchen for her safety and that of the world.
Vegetables
Vegetables. All of them basically, my mom would boil them to sludge every time.
Pot Roast
Pot roast, I hated how dry and flavorless it was. I actually wrote an essay about it in my English class. The teacher showed it to my mom and she changed up her recipe lol
"Mayo"
"Mayo" Didn't realize there was a difference between Miracle Whip and Mayo and my Mom only bought Miracle Whip.
Miracle Whip: too sweet for savory dishes, not sweet enough for desserts.
Canned/Tinned Vegetables
Daughter of depression era parents here: grew up with a lot of canned/tinned vegetables. Jesus, canned asparagus is tough, sinewy and slimy all at the same time. Freshly steamed with a pat of butter is amazing! Even now when I mention it's one of our favourites, my older relatives gasp and say "you buy it out of season?" like we're billionaires.
Meatloaf
Meatloaf. My parents were in love with a specific **teriyaki** sauce they bought in 2 gallon jugs from Costco and drowned an otherwise plain lump of ground beef with and called that a teriyaki glazed meatloaf... it oughta be a crime.
Flash forward to my seasoned beef/pork mix with italian herbs, parmesan, and just the right amount of a sweet/spicy tomato glaze and it's just a different world we live in.
I adore leftover cold meatloaf sandwiches with a sharp Cheddar and whole grain mustard.
Lasagna
Turns out Lasagna is much better than nasty burnt Stouffers.
Mashed Potatoes
Mashed potatoes. My mom didn't belive in butter.
When I was about 14 years old, I volunteered to bring mashed potatoes to Thanksgiving, and my mother thought I was crazy. I had eaten mashed potatoes at a friend's house and they were amazing. I asked her mom to teach me how she made them. Mrs. McCune used butter and cream. AMAZING. I guess because of growing up poor, milk, butter, and cream were tings too dear to be wasted in a dish like potatoes. The mashed potatoes were a hit and I was asked to make them every year after that. I have tweaked my recipe over the years, and I still asked to bring them to every single family gathering.
Spaghetti
Spaghetti.
Parents would always cook it untill it was mushy.
Al dente pasta is **amazing**
Scrambled Eggs
Scrambled eggs. My mother always insisted they have to be “runny”, meaning an eggy puddle with tiny ‘curds’ of solid egg. It looked and tasted like vomit.
She takes it personally that I now cook them differently. Like, it *infuriates* her that I do it “the wrong way”.
I don't like them "runny," but they should be dry and congealed like that photo. Soft, still moist curds is the way.
Any Foods Without Spices Or Seasonings
A lot of food. My parents were the typical white parents who didn't believe in spices or seasonings. Just throw a burger on the grill or make noodles, etc.
Grew and learned to cook on my own and my palate didn't know what to do with all the amazing flavors the world had to offer.
Bland food is like a monotone hum in the background, you can live with it, even ignore it, but it still makes life less than. Over spiced food is a loud horrible noise, so overwhelming you can't appreciate anything through it. Poorly spiced food you can hear the music but one or more discordant orover loud/soft notes ruin the experience. Properly spiced food can be anything from the softest mild music, each note supporting and bringing out the shy flavors that otherwise would be bland, to a spicy rock band to any music you can dream of, satisfying and fulfilling.
Lasagna And Cheesecakes
Lasagna and Cheesecakes.... my mom made both with cottage cheese to save money. Once I lived on my own I discovered ricotta and cream cheese.
Were you in the Midwest? My mother and many others did the same thing. What a difference when I moved to the East Coast.😊
Mac And Cheese
Mac and cheese. My mom only made the boxed stuff. I never knew anything different until I got married and my wife made some homemade for dinner. Game changer.
I only prepared home made macaroni and cheese for my son. He tried Kraft boxed at a friend's and preferred it! Devastated, I prepared mine for a chef friend who stated it was delicious. My son, now a fantastic cook, told me he liked boxed because it was a novelty!🤣
Risotto
Risotto
My mom just cooked the rice in water, then fried some ground beef without any flavoring and just combined the two with some frozen vegetables. I grew up thinking risotto would be the most tastless food ever..
Until a friend of mine showed me how he first fries the rice with butter and slowly adds consomme-wine mix to the rice and finishes with some pan-fried chicken and parmesan cheese. It blew my mind completely!
Raw Tomatoes
hated raw tomatoes
realized that all they were missing was salt, pepper, some toast and a lil mayo. Now I'm obsessed.
Cauliflower
Cauliflower! Turns out, I hated steamed or boiled cauliflower. I love love love it roasted. I liked most veggies growing up - except that one.
Same with broccoli. Boiled it's just passable, but roasted it's a delight
Peas
Peas. I only had the canned ones that taste like c**p, while fresh ones are green, tasty and sweet.
I don't think I've ever had fresh peas, only frozen. The frozen ones are pretty tasty but now I'm wondering what fresh peas are like.
Everything, Including A Tossed Salad
Everything. My mother could burn a tossed salad.
Cranberries
I hated cranberries for most of my life because all I ever had was canned cranberry jelly. Then. A friend of mine had a friendsgiving and someone brought homemade cranberry sauce and it changed everything
BBQ
BBQ - didn’t realize how good BBQ could be until I moved to Texas. In Ohio, BBQ it meant smothering A1 sauce on bland meat.
Most mustard based stuff. Mustard on a McDonalds burger, disgusting. Mustard in a stew or on a properly prepared Chicago dog - awesome
I didn't start to appreciate mustard until I started tasting all the varieties that weren't the yellow mustard you'd put on a hot dog. I've since leaned to like yellow mustard as well in the right context.
Liver And Onions
Liver and onions. Bear with me please lol. My mom was a great cook, made international recipes, the whole 9. But when she made liver and onions, you were eating a hockey puck. Cooked it to DEATH. Fast forward to pregnant me living with my sister in law who made it one night and OMG it was amazing, tender and flavorful, perfectly spiced. I miss it. I never got her recipe 😞
I can't get past that liver flavor. Ugh. My dad loves it so occasionally my mother would get fresh from the butcher calves liver, but it's still got that liver flavor. No thanks.
Any Salad
Any salad. Turns out, I don't like vinaigrette. I don't know how everyone likes it, I must be the weird one.
Hamburger
Turns out the bun can make or break a hamburger. My mom used to always prepare them with these wheat buns, so I used to never like hamburgers. Took me a few years to realize they’re really really good with a more standard sesame, brioche, or potato bun. One of my favorite foods nowadays
Mushrooms
Mushrooms.
My mom forced me to eat cream of mushroom soup one time and I threw up after eating it. For the longest time I associated mushrooms with that and so I avoided them until I got to college and discovered that they are actually really good.
When I was in high school, a friend of my mother's introduced us to mushrooms floured and sauteed in generous amounts of butter until brown and crisp. So delicious.
Chili
Chili— it was watery, bland and had very few beans and had spaghetti noodles in it (apparently that’s a southern US thing). It was a bowl of boring to me.
Note: this post originally had 32 images. It’s been shortened to the top 30 images based on user votes.
I'm surprised there's no mention of semolina (frog spawn, not literally but looks and tastes like it) or tripe (animals stomach lining), or faggots (pigs internal organs wrapped in it's stomach) I could go on but I'm feeling a bit sick.
I’ve got no idea how frog spawn tastes, but I’m guessing it’s not good.
It's the mad texture 🤢
Faggots are delicious, tripe not so much. Semolina is fine and a budget way to get some carbs in when I was a kid.
Are you confusing semolina with tapioca?
Both textures make me baulk 🤢
I loved semolina when I was a kid. We would have the choice of that or porridge on Saturday mornings. Now I yearn for it, because I can't eat wheat.
I'm sorry, there's a dish out there that requires you use hate speech to refer to it?!
Not hate speech when the dish was named. Faggots were a bundle of sticks, particularly used as kindling, though not sure how that became the name of a food dish.
Blehg, stop it LOL
my mom would overcook them so much. she would scramble them in a bowl (btw she was cooking for 5 people so it was a lot of eggs) and just let it sit in the pan. then when the whole thing was cooked through, she would cut it into 5 chunks and give each person one. it was gross, overcooked on the bottom but slightly runny on the top. she wouldnt put salt or pepper on them. when i was like 10 i refused to let her cook my breakfast so i got good at making fluffy scrambled eggs and now i love them. i (easily) convinced my siblings that mine were better. but then they forced me to make their breakfasts lol. my mom still makes them terribly.
My mother would deep fry oysters from time to time. I always hated them. So chewy and grainy. Finally took the plunge one day and had a fried oyster sandwich out at a seafood restaurant after I told the waitress of my oyster experience. "We're going to change all that." She delivered. Those oysters were cooked perfectly! I love oysters now. Gave the waitress and the cook a big tip!
I'm surprised there's no mention of semolina (frog spawn, not literally but looks and tastes like it) or tripe (animals stomach lining), or faggots (pigs internal organs wrapped in it's stomach) I could go on but I'm feeling a bit sick.
I’ve got no idea how frog spawn tastes, but I’m guessing it’s not good.
It's the mad texture 🤢
Faggots are delicious, tripe not so much. Semolina is fine and a budget way to get some carbs in when I was a kid.
Are you confusing semolina with tapioca?
Both textures make me baulk 🤢
I loved semolina when I was a kid. We would have the choice of that or porridge on Saturday mornings. Now I yearn for it, because I can't eat wheat.
I'm sorry, there's a dish out there that requires you use hate speech to refer to it?!
Not hate speech when the dish was named. Faggots were a bundle of sticks, particularly used as kindling, though not sure how that became the name of a food dish.
Blehg, stop it LOL
my mom would overcook them so much. she would scramble them in a bowl (btw she was cooking for 5 people so it was a lot of eggs) and just let it sit in the pan. then when the whole thing was cooked through, she would cut it into 5 chunks and give each person one. it was gross, overcooked on the bottom but slightly runny on the top. she wouldnt put salt or pepper on them. when i was like 10 i refused to let her cook my breakfast so i got good at making fluffy scrambled eggs and now i love them. i (easily) convinced my siblings that mine were better. but then they forced me to make their breakfasts lol. my mom still makes them terribly.
My mother would deep fry oysters from time to time. I always hated them. So chewy and grainy. Finally took the plunge one day and had a fried oyster sandwich out at a seafood restaurant after I told the waitress of my oyster experience. "We're going to change all that." She delivered. Those oysters were cooked perfectly! I love oysters now. Gave the waitress and the cook a big tip!