Thread: Foods you used to love but now hate and why?

I'm curious as to what makes people go from loving certain foods to later hating them. It seems the usual culprits for such a change tend to be sicknesses, eating something too much, or just even getting older and noticing how a certain food affects your body. For me, I used to LOVE donuts and would regularly eat 4 or 5 Krispy Kreme donuts after school as a kid without a problem. Nowadays, donuts are way too sweet for my taste. I could still do a cake donut, but I actually vastly prefer things like donut flavored protein cake bites or protein bars to the real thing. I also can't eat fries (formerly a favorite food) that aren't homemade at all anymore because they destroy my stomach, and they sadly don't even taste good to me anymore.

Does anybody either have any anecdotes or links to research that explains this phenomenon? Are there people who are genetically hardwired to never get sick of foods? I know some people who need every meal of every day to be different, and others who need them to be all the same almost every single day. While the former could be getting sick of food almost instantly, I'd imagine the latter could get burnt out.

Originally Posted by Strawng

I'm curious as to what makes people go from loving certain foods to later hating them. It seems the usual culprits for such a change tend to be sicknesses, eating something too much, or just even getting older and noticing how a certain food affects your body. For me, I used to LOVE donuts and would regularly eat 4 or 5 Krispy Kreme donuts after school as a kid without a problem. Nowadays, donuts are way too sweet for my taste. I could still do a cake donut, but I actually vastly prefer things like donut flavored protein cake bites or protein bars to the real thing. I also can't eat fries (formerly a favorite food) that aren't homemade at all anymore because they destroy my stomach, and they sadly don't even taste good to me anymore.

Does anybody either have any anecdotes or links to research that explains this phenomenon? Are there people who are genetically hardwired to never get sick of foods? I know some people who need every meal of every day to be different, and others who need them to be all the same almost every single day. While the former could be getting sick of food almost instantly, I'd imagine the latter could get burnt out.

Cannot think of anything. My problem is more that I like eating (anything) way too much. That's how I motivate leg day - "you can do this, if you build your legs a little bigger you can eat more".

As a kid, I didn't like tomatoes. I LOVE them now. I can't think of anything I liked as a kid that I don't like now.

If anything, I grew to like certain foods that I didn’t like when I was younger.

Some super sweet stuff, like chocolate cake with chocolate icing etc. tastes too sweet now, but I think it’s more that I’m not used to eating certain things anymore. I’m sure if it was high in protein and 0 calories I’d get used to it again.

I only ever like more foods XD when I was younger certain sauces like mustards ranch etc I couldn't do but now I love them. I honestly cant think of one thing I loved as kid and don't like now outside weird stuff like dunkaroos and saing I don't want to spoon frosting into my mouth doesn't seem like much of a taste change.

I used to really like hot dogs when I was a kid. Then I found out they were made from lips and azzholes. Haven't touched one since.

Originally Posted by AdamWW

Same.

I used to hate tomatoes, pickles, mustard, salmon, avocado/guacamole.... now I love them all

Bro...you’re not even gonna believe this...

I almost posted all these EXACT foods as things I acquired a taste for and love now...

Srsly. Wtf?!

Oh well stuff I hated as a kid and like now

-mustard is definitely one
-lasagna
-cold cheese (like not melted)
-sweet potato
-ice tea
-corn tortillas
-honey


Things most kids hate that I liked and still like
-Brussel Sprouts
-broccoli
-beets
-peas
-sushi
-spinach
-bran cereal and muffins
-asparagus
-capers
-coffee
-hot sauce
-tomatoes

Originally Posted by AdamWW

Oh lord, SO many from my childhood:

‘Real’ Burgers - I used to LOVE ground or shredded beef, especially with cheese on it. Nowadays I just can’t eat it... I’m not sure if it’s a result of my vegan days or not but something about the red color and the ‘rare’ cuts of meat just turn my stomach.

Fish Sticks - like the cheap, frozen ones. Man I used to eat those like crazy.

Deli Meat - I kid you not I used to eat these by the pack. I’d turn the stack of slices on its side and just eat the whole thing. Could never do that now.

Milk - I used to drink 2% milk every damn day... nowadays I just can’t imagine drinking milk. Something about the texture as a drink sounds horrible now.

Bacon - some people will hate me, I just don’t like how the smell lingers for so long, and how fatty it is.

Butter - something about the dense richness and solid fat aspect just doesn’t work for me anymore. Honestly I’d rather use avocado, peanut butter, or almost any spread over butter to get the umami taste into a dish.

I'm with you on all of these. I don't eat any "meat" anymore besides fish, and red meat in particular just absolutely turns my stomach. It doesn't even register as food for me.

I was never a big milk fan because the texture always turned me off, but I definitely still drank it as a kid. I loved full fat chocolate milk. I'm absolutely repulsed by the..."milky"...texture of it now and can only do plant milks.

I ate bacon sometimes but I never really liked it. I always kind of hated it and tried to be with the bacon loving crowd. I'm now a proud bacon-hater. Inb4 negged

Butter is quite repulsive to me nowadays & I use all the subs you mentioned instead, though I was pretty meh about butter as a kid too.

Originally Posted by snailsrus

I didn’t love love walnuts but I liked them as a kid. Then my grandma brought a bunch over in their shells when I was six. I thought cracking them was soooo fun and I cracked like 60-70 of them open and she made me eat them all. I was so sick. I couldn’t even hear the word walnut for years

I loved oven frozen fries now they are gross to me

American cheese grilled cheese, now it’s gross, and that spray canned cheese now it’s gross

Ok that walnut thing sounds legitimately traumatic

& I'm totally with you on American cheese. That chit is disgusting. It vaguely grossed me out as a kid, but now I can't do it at all.

Originally Posted by Gringer

I used to love sardines. I ate a couple tins a day for a long time to the point I got sick of them. Haven't ate sardines for about 4 years now and I still would struggle to eat a tin of them now. Must have overdone it. Mackerel and Salmon FTW though.

That reminds me of another one for me: canned fish. I could eat canned or tinned fish as a kid, but now I can't. I've eaten enough better, fresher fish. That, & I once got really drunk on an empty stomach and my 2am "dinner" was huge thing of crackers and 2 warm cans of tuna fish with pickles from the gift shop cuz I was staying at a hotel in a small town with no restaurants open. I was done forever at that point.

Originally Posted by desslok

As a kid my mom packed me PB&J sandwiches. Every.single.day.every.single.year. To this day I cannot eat PB&J sandwiches even though I love PB.

Used to love Subway as a kid, now I cannot even stand the smell of walking into a store, that pungent yeasty smell makes me want to gag.

I use to love coldcuts, but now kind of gross out on them. I actually have trouble eating cold meat.

That sucks about PB & Js being ruined. I love PB & Js and always have, but I've moved on to PB on banana with cinnamon toast these days. I pray to God I never get sick of PB.

I loved Subway for their fresh cookies (RIP) & I always loved the meatball sub as a kid even though I wouldn't touch meatballs now. They also srsly declined in quality about a decade ago.

Also, I ate them as a kid but yea cold cuts are absolutely disgusting.

Originally Posted by EliKoehn

I still like everything I did growing up. In fact, I think I like (more or less) all foods that I've ever had.

I'd count you lucky!

Originally Posted by EiFit91

Cannot think of anything. My problem is more that I like eating (anything) way too much. That's how I motivate leg day - "you can do this, if you build your legs a little bigger you can eat more".

I like to go into my leg days well-fed

Originally Posted by air2fakie

Some super sweet stuff, like chocolate cake with chocolate icing etc. tastes too sweet now, but I think it’s more that I’m not used to eating certain things anymore. I’m sure if it was high in protein and 0 calories I’d get used to it again.

For some reason, I didn't even like cake with icing or overly sweet foods even as a very young child.

Originally Posted by paulinkansas

I used to really like hot dogs when I was a kid. Then I found out they were made from lips and azzholes. Haven't touched one since.

I was the same way with hot dogs and chicken nuggets long before I stopped eating meat.

Originally Posted by AdamWW

Call me not surprised.

Some others:

- kimchi/sauerkraut
- sushi
- coffee/tea (unless loaded with sugary flavoring)
- tofu
- onions

Onions kill my guts now BUT I do love the flavor of sautéed onions if the oil is minimal.

I always loved coffee, tea, sushi, and tofu. My daily coffee and tea as a child (started at 9) were well-sugared and flavored though. Also, my appreciation for sushi and tofu skyrocketed. I liked them a lot then but I absolutely love them now.

I'm totally with you on kimchi/kraut & onions though. I also have to be careful with onions due to my gut now, but I eat them anyways.

Originally Posted by snailsrus

Things most kids hate that I liked and still like
-Brussel Sprouts
-broccoli
-beets
-peas
-sushi
-spinach
-bran cereal and muffins
-asparagus
-capers
-coffee
-hot sauce
-tomatoes

I'm with you on all of these except tomatoes which I was ok with but had to grow into. I preferred "healthy" foods, even as a kid. I think this was partially because I didn't get to eat them as often as junk, but it's also genetic because my sister was the exact opposite. I thought it was super weird when I met kids who didn't like hot sauce, but that's partially cultural and my family eats primarily spicy foods. Me and my mom would even add hot sauce to our burgers.