The mature food palate - Foods universally adored and detested, dependent upon the era of your taste buds...

Everyone has that friend who has just never really matured, gastronomically... That friend who never seems to indulge in anything more than chicken and chips. That friend whose most exotic culinary experience was accidentally purchasing a bottle of Heinz Tomato Ketchup blended with sweet chilli. A bottle of ketchup that was experienced only once, in a fish finger sandwich, discarded in disgust, then left to languish at the back of the cupboard until its expiry date came to fruition.

That is in the most extreme of cases of course, in reality though, almost everyone has foods which displease their taste buds. I say almost, because I don't believe myself to be someone that fits into this category. I mean, if I had to get picky, I don't really like raw carrots I guess... Though thinking about it I would gladly eat one with a nice hummus. I guess I have never really been a big fan of white wine as well as far as drinks go... But then again, if it was the only drink in the fridge and there was drinking to do... No, no, I must say that there is very little in this world that I wouldn't at least try. Which brings me nicely onto the reason of why I wanted to discuss this topic. Whilst the love of good food and drink is an art in its purist form, over my life I have noticed a number of foods which increasingly seem to popup on everyone's dislike list. Much to my dismay, I have attempted to argue that some of these foods are part of a mature palate, a palate which is only developed with age. From time to time I have also suggested that the more of these foods you dislike, the less likely you are to want to indulge in the world around you. As your maturity and appreciation for the cultural world intensifies, your culinary repertoire is greatly diversified. I say suggested because my accusations are usually met with contempt, because as I stated, most people will not like one or more of the foods on this list...:

1) Mushrooms - Now like a lot of the foods I will be detailing here, I didn't like them myself when I was a youth. The Mushroom; rubbery texture, not a lot of flavour, the thought of eating one was enough to send shivers down my spine (I actually don't remember getting shivers down my spine but can only presume that it's this kind of sensation that occurs when someone doesn't like the thought of a type of food). I can't think of too many other foods in such desperate need of company when served either as I am yet to meet the person who routinely feasts on a bowl of mushrooms... Or individual ones saying that. But as I got older I found that I couldn't get enough of the little basidiomycota (Google it, I did). The perfect accoutrement to almost anything...

2) Gherkins (or pickles to our North American friends) - I don't believe the non-pickled variety, to be a food item of contempt. But this vinegary, geriatric edition certainly makes my list. The gherkin holds a fascinating place in modern cuisine. Or fast food I should say. Because at some point in the last 100 years, the people at McDonald's decided a staple addition to the cheeseburger would be a few thin slices of watery gherkin. So since my guilt ridden trips to the golden arches began, I have had to watch whilst these fantastic pickled treats be unemotionally discarded at will by the undeserving consumer. Such feelings of ambivalence overwhelm me when someone in my dining party (whose eating habits I'm not sure of) orders the perpetual cheeseburger. Torn, I am, torn between the joyous fact that I will be able to consume the discarded gherkins from my neighbours plate and the fact that they were abandoned by their previous owner in the first place. I scorn at the individual for having bestowed upon me this feeling of hesitance... Then my taste buds salivate as I grab the vinegar doused veg from its former proprietor... (this happens, a lot)

Bottom line - I love gherkins, not everyone does...

3) Olives - I have found myself of late ordering many a Martini, not just because of the opportunity that arises to bellow out a little Roger Moore or Sean Connery to the bartender (I have never done this), but because the traditional blend of vermouth and gin/vodka is typically accompanied by one of the most disliked foods around the world today. Again, often pickled (I am starting to see a bit of a trend here) or generously seasoned amongst the oil which they produce, the olive has adorned the lists of the most disliked foods for years.

I love them... at a dinner party, as an entree, with a bottle of red, with a little feta cheese, black ones, green ones, the look-a-little-brown ones. They are a fantastically healthy fruit which bleeds a mono-saturated oil proven to reduce cholesterol (which is why the Mediterranean people live so long, cheers Olivio). They even contain a substance which, not only gives them their flavour, but is also thought to ward off cancer and act as an anti-inflammatory... Natures ibuprofen...

Yet they are still one of the most disliked foods ever. Google 'top ten hated foods' and you are sure to see them. A point I really wanted to raise here as well is that I don't believe that hating a certain food means you won't like it forever. Part of a maturing food palate is the maturing ethos that you will actually just try new things. It's not just about forcing something you dislike down your throat. It's about appreciating how significant a food can be to a region or nationality of people. How certain foods can compliment others and drink alike. It's about being culturally adventurous and challenging your senses.

In the USA, olives are routinely served in Bloody Mary's, you'll also often find them in the Canadian variant too, called the Caesar (check out the Caesar recipe here). North American kids genuinely love this stuff and will regularly be seen drinking this understated cocktail (I even saw them being drunk by them toffs from Made In Chelsea last night and they just won a BAFTA (!), so...), it just doesn't seem to be as much of a British thing to drink savoury cocktails... Jaeger Bombs and Sex on the Beach is about as good as it gets. They put beef jerky and celery sticks into their Bloody Mary's too. You just can't put a stick of celery in a Jaeger Bomb. The glass is no way big enough and to be honest, a tall stick of celery is probably too long and would seriously test the equilibrium when balanced in a shot glass in a tumbler...

4) Liver - I can't imagine there are too many people reading this who still wouldn't wince in disgust at the thought of eating a bit of lambs liver. But I have to question the validity of the reason for that dislike. I'm gonna say that 99 times out of 100, it's because the individual in question was fully aware that the liver is an organ in the body, before they first tried it (or have never even tried it). Not because it doesn't taste great (what could compliment onions, mash and gravy better...?) but because the thought of eating some things really stretch the realms of comfort.

A close family member of mine has a certain predilection when it comes to food which I find slightly irritating. That is the practice of ordering a steak 'well-done'. Having your beautiful cut of beef burnt to a crisp shouldn't even be an option in my opinion. Like going to a curry house and ordering a Korma. It should be banned. She has to have it well done because she doesn't want to see any blood in it and be reminded that it was once an animal... Sweetheart, I love you, but that was, until very recently, a beautiful cow, cruising the English pastures, eating grass, watching out for tipping pranksters, generally having a ruddy good time. Now your teeth are tearing through its adolescent flesh and if you can't come to terms with that, I strongly suggest vegetarianism.

5) Seafood - OK, so break it down to brass tacks and your seafood scale goes a little something like this; Tuna, Mackerel (potentially Seaweed first but if we're talking flesh (which I am, a lot)) then Prawns (simple crustacean) then Salmon and your chip shop fish, Haddock, Cod, then any other regional fish in the middle here (Plaice, Barramundi for example). Then you've got your Crab and Lobster (advanced crustacean) and after that Molluscs, Oyster, Mussels and finally your Calamari (I realise you could potentially have Eels and whole host of other risqué seafood after here but I've got to stop somewhere)... and Dolphin (I'm joking!).

That's your sliding scale of adventurousness with regards to indulging in seafood. Let's be honest, Tuna isn't really seafood is it. Neither are those tiny little frozen Prawns you can get in bulk from the supermarket. I remember the first time I tried Lobster thinking that I had never tasted anything so amazing before in my life. On a beautiful beach in Thailand, constantly gobsmacked at how cheap everything was. Ordering more Lobster than we could manage and a drifter who we'd accumulated on our travels wouldn't indulge. "Why won't you at least try it?" I asked, "You've travelled round the world, surely it's a prime opportunity to try new things...?" "Because it looks disgusting" was her response. What a grade A moron... She really was too, this was the same girl who during a game of pool, went to assist my friend and said, "Yeah, I think I've got this worked out actually, see if you hit the white ball and aim to the left of the red ball, the red ball will then actually go to the right...". She was being dead serious, gods honest truth. What an idiot...

So the moral of the story being, eat seafood, because if you don't, you're probably a moron like that girl (or have a potentially debilitating and life threatening allergy...).

6) (Proper) Cheese - If you know what proper cheese is then you probably already like it. In case you haven't seen a running theme here yet, then your mild Cheddars and your Red Leicesters are simply not real cheese. They're just like the Tuna of the seafood world I'm afraid. Sure they definitely taste good, but you're not experiencing all that cheese has to offer. I remember not enjoying stilton when I was a kid. But when I became a nubile young man I tried and started to appreciate the fuller and more aromatic flavours that cheese had to offer. Probably the most dynamic single food in the world, the varieties are endless! Like seafood, you start with a cheese that is a small step up from processed cheese (being at the bottom end of the scale) and work your way from there (I strongly suggest a cranberry with Wensleydale). Soon you'll be enjoying the kind of 4 cheese fondue I recently had the joy of experiencing in Las Vegas... Bellissimo!

No matter where I have been in the world, there has always been someone who at some lunch or dinner has grimaced at the thought of trying something. I'd say 50% of the time I later find out that this person has never even tried that food before. How can you dislike something you haven't tried? (Sex with Wayne Rooney?) OK, apart from sex with Wayne Rooney.

I have friends who have tried things and gradually, over time, began to enjoy food and drinks that they once were sure they detested. Your taste buds are not an on/off switch. There are no nice foods and bad foods. There are easy foods and more mature foods and with a bit of bravery and adventure you can diversify your palate in no time. This applies to a lot of other things too, come to think of it. But if you heed my words then I'm sure you'll find in no time that experience and enlightenment come hand in hand.