Do culinary tastes change with age, or is it just me


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After mentioning Garlic Aeoli on another thread, was wondering if it's just me or old age.

As I grew up I hated any sauces, the tomato and brown varieties type of thing, and mayonnaise, well to me was revulsion !

The only sauce I ever had was parsley with a tin of salmon and peas, and that was about it, to my thinking, slavering good food with sauce was a no no as it removed the "taste" of the actual food.

I now find I crave more "taste" so have succumbed to be a sauce freak ! BBQ, tomato and even the dreaded brown stuff, maybe after 27 years in oz they've finally converted me.

I can now not eat a bowl of chips without the proverbial bowl of ketchup to accompany them.

Another of my quirks was I hated any sort of pasta type dishes, but now find I can thoroughly enjoy a seafood linguine or the old traditional spag bol.

Surely it's not just me, do our tastes change as we age.

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The other thing to bear in mind is that when we were younger, there wasn't as much choice available in food as we have today. My mum was a great cook and we always had 'proper' meals; but it was alwa

I will never understand why anyone would want to sit in a glorified bath (because that's all they are) and talk. The thought gives me the creeps. I would jump a mile if any ones leg touched mine. 

Like Fly I refuse to eat a McDonald after watching a documentary on what goes into a milk shake never mind anything else. I've never been finicky about food but marrying an Italian especially coming i

I certainly think our tastes change as we get older and supposedly wiser.

I like traditional meals, but more recently, I have taken a liking to Italian meals. I also have a great fondness of seafood in any form.

Although I have a fair amount of salads, I'm not over keen on vast amounts of lettuce. Some of the Continental types of salad are very palatable though.

Indian, Thai, Chinese etc are regularly on the menu, but NEVER McDonalds. As I've mentioned previously in another topic, I've only ever had two. One in Algeciras southern Spain on a Bank Holiday, and the other in London when famished.

Now a KFC family bucket with the grandkids is amenable in very small doses, but only maybe twice a year.

Kebabs..... NEVER . Although I did have something resembling one with chips when stuck in central Brittany some years ago.

I was brought up in a fish & chip shop, but only ever have it very infrequently nowadays.

Breakfasts gave definitely changed too. When I kept ducks and chickens, I had scrambled eggs and bacon every day, but these days barely once a fortnight. Now it's bran flakes, muesli, dried mixed fruit with maybe a banana. I can't bear putting weight on.

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Yes Banjo I do think your tastes change as you get older. My pet hate when I was young was cheese I couldn't stand the taste of it. Now I love it apart from a cheese called "Brus" and the cheese that walks to greet you ( not joking) The only things I refuse to eat are tripe and snails. I love all sorts of food especially spicy food. Pasta in any form from courgette pesto to black spaghetti made with the ink of the cuttle fish.

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Like Fly I refuse to eat a McDonald after watching a documentary on what goes into a milk shake never mind anything else. I've never been finicky about food but marrying an Italian especially coming into a family of great cooks has taught me a lot about food. Years ago a friend took me to an area where wild asparagus grew, we came home with armsfull of it. We made sauces for pasta , ommlettes and even ate it slightly cooked with a butter melted on top. My mother in law taught me how to make pasta with "tenerumi". When sicilian courgettes ( those very long ones you see climbing against fences and walls) are growing you nip out the growing shoots , the tender ones and chop them put them into a pan of boiling salted water along with the pasta. Apart make a concentrated sauce with garlic and chopped tomato once the pasta is cooked drain it and add the sauce. It is one of the most delicious meals that I've ever had. Its cheap to make and in summer very light.

Roll on summer

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Bloody hell nonnaB, I'll have to get up, I'm starving now, with all this talk of food.

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The other thing to bear in mind is that when we were younger, there wasn't as much choice available in food as we have today.

My mum was a great cook and we always had 'proper' meals; but it was always traditional British cooking. Foreign food hadn't been invented in our house in the 60s and early 70s. I'm not sure I ever heard the word 'pasta' while I was living at home, and although I was aware of something called curry, we never had any. The only non-British food I can remember was the occasional Vesta packet meal, or something like Heinz tinned spaghetti bolognese.

Same with fruit and veg. There's a much bigger range available now than there was when we were kids. So our tastes have changed because there's more to choose from.

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In a nutshell Cliff.

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I think they do, years ago I loved red meat but today I cannot stand the site of it. like some other foods, now I eat a lot more fresh vegetables and fish, and frequent a local organic farmers market, here farmers markets are cheaper than in England, because they sell at production price with a little profit.

with my wife being French has also helped to change my dirt,

I also think it also depends where you live in this world.

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Fly to make you even more hungry.......today pasta with cime di rape( tender turnip shoots ) and roast stinco ( shin )

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Chicken, leek & smoked bacon pie tonight. New pots, mixed veg and thick gravy.

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Good lord all this talk of wonderful food and my tea was just 2 small home made Cornish pasties my good lady baked for me and froze before she went gallivanting around Asia.

Plenty of food in the freezer so I wont starve, but must admit I used to love cooking but the older I get the more of just "too much trouble" it becomes, especially for just myself.

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I like food and Drink with strong taste as ive got older,...........like plenty of Spices with my Vegetables and Colemans mustard on an English breakfeast,also like very strong Coffee (no milk or sugar)........all types of Fish,though it does'nt like me being a Pisces,.......not really into any Meat except on my Breaky,.....don't drink much alcohol nowadays,when i do i like it neat Brandy,Vodka or a Jagermeister.,can't stand any Beer,used to love it.

Something thats never changed is my love of Chocolate.,i'm lucky my weight never changes.

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I've got a tube of wasabi in my pull out which I bought in Tesco. It's been there for about three years; I must get round to using it, but I've no idea how.

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Paint stripper !

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I think my tastes have become simpler and lighter as I age. I rarely feel really hungry anymore. Always liked typical English type foods, roast beef and yorkshire pud. Today I am often happy with just a plate of veggies. Preferably home grown.

I like a good spicy crock pot stew. Usually just a poached egg and cereal for breakfast.

Not sure how it is in the UK these days but here in America big food corps are pushing 'gmo' foods into everything. (Genetically modified). Meat loaded with antibiotics and growth hormones etc. motive always being the almighty dollar. At my age I know something will do me in one of these days, but there is no point in swallowing junk.

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The only thing I've grown to hate more with age is any kind of fish/seafood/shellfish. Just cannot abide it. The smell of a fishmarket makes me heave. On a good day when I'm in the mood I can eat Cod and Chips, but even then it often starts to come back at me a couple of hours later. I often wonder if I'm a bit allergic, or whether I was beaten around the head with a rancid Kipper as a child.

Otherwise, all meat, poultry (not keen on Turkey) game and cooked/preserved meats are fine. Liver and kidney are fine but other offal is out. Heart has a 'metallic' taste to me, which I'm not keen on.

I don't eat the skin off poultry. Apart from it being very fatty I can't get past the idea that it's full of sweat glands and sebaceous cysts. So naturally I don't eat Kentucky Fried because they leave the skin on and if you take it off the flavour coating goes with it.

I've never found a veg I didn't like, with the possible exception of Okra. Same with pulses.

I like most fruits too, though Raspberries taste sharper than Lemons to me. :Shock:

Also love pasta, rice and noodles, plus all sorts of foreign food.

At the moment I'm trying to limit major 'carbs' like rice, spuds, pasta and baked stuff.in an attempt to lose weight and lower cholesterol without going back on statins.

For lunch yesterday I fried some leftover Lamb in a little oil and chucked in Kale, Pak Choy, Mushrooms, Spring Onions a dash of soy and some Garlic. Very nice.

Today was cooked Beetroot, Kale, Pak Choy, Spring Onions and a small pack of Pastrami, chopped up.

I can manage with a couple of poached eggs on a slice of thin toast. Alternatively a couple of eggs and some bacon but no bread, beans, etc.

Last time I made this regime work was ten years ago and I got down to 11st and 3.7 Cholesterol. Was also doing regular swimmiing, walking and (moderate) weights but they'll have to wait until I get rid of these endless colds.

Col

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Good topic this,chocolate these days tastes Like syrup on Bonk.

Since Cadbury is made by Kraft/M.... in Poland it all tastes like cheap Easter egg crap!!

Bread in plastic bags holds that oily smell,KFC...only once!! Why it was purple I will never know.

Love veg and fruit..tomatoes are often tasteless... and salt needs to be applied.

Crisps are powder coated and are ulcer causes in a bag.

Love Asian food,spicy nosh.

Used to be a big meat eater..metallic taste is right Col.

Booze? Still got the taste buds of a 17 year old!!

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When I first had wine I always chose the sweet white varieties. I also remember enjoying Babycham. Now I only drink dry wine, white or red. Babycham is disgusting! When I was in my teens I had coffee with lots of sugar in and milk. Now I drink it with no milk or sugar. As a child I hated gravy. Mum used to make lovely Yorkshire pudding and serve it as a first course with gravy. Because I hated gravy I had mine with sugar on! Lovely! Just like having a pudding before the meat and veg.I am still not keen on gravy as red wine sauce is better. My tastes have changed and I agree with those who say that it is down to experience and availability.

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DJ360, try adding more oats to your diet, they help lower your cholesterol, and so do some spices, though at this precise moment I couldn't tell you which ones. Perhaps some walks outside might help get the colds moving, I have found over the years that being in over warm surroundings, especially with central heating, colds last longer as the bacteria incubate. Best to be out and about in the fresh air :)

My taste in food changed dramatically when diagnosed with type 2 diabetes, but I have to say I now much prefer the foods I eat, the bread is tastier (Linseed and soya) as are the sweet potatoes (much better than white) and even the almond milk which I swapped from semi skimmed (no lactose) I love anything with any kind of beans, but especially smoked bean salad, oh yes an hummus, which I discovered over 30 years ago in Oman, I can eat that till the cows come home, and the different flavoured ones are yum too.

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Visited one of my Sons this morning,who is into fitness and healthy eating............and had one of the tastiest drinks ever,............a 'Carribean peanut Punch' which he said he buys from a 'West indian shop'.............its made up of Peanut Butter,Milk,Vanilla Ice cream,Milk Chocolate,and Banana.

He says its a great Breakfeast..............

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Darkazana #20. Yep, I'm getting fresh air but not swimming or weight training yet. I do very much like oatcakes and also sometimes have oatmeal porridge, but I'm trying to avoid as many grains as I can to cut the carbs down.

As for Hummus. I make my own. It's dead easy, but a bit of a faff. I just blend drained canned chickpeas with a little oil, a good splodge of Tahini, lemon juice, garlic and ground cumin. I basically follow this recipe:

http://www.inspiredtaste.net/15938/easy-and-smooth-hummus-recipe/

Yum!!

There's a Rick Stein prog where he shows a guy making it from scratch in a restaurant and it takes hime seconds, just 'mashing' the cooked chickpeas in a big steel bowl and then adding spices in hot oil. Looks amazing.

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Up till about 4 years ago I never drank wine, only the very rare glass of sweet proseco type, now I quite enjoy a glass of Shiraz and a Cab Sav occasionally.

My normal tipple but not that often was always beer, probably a larger or pale ale, now I actually prefer the wine as it does not blow me up so much.

Another sauce I have taken to is Tzatziki greek garlic sauce, made with yogurt, cucumber and garlic. Got into that recently in South Australia where they eat lots of Yiros ( marinated lamb kebabs). Mind the yiros are pretty good too !

Another change for me is spices, I never really liked hot spicy food, but I now "pep" up most things with my home made spicy salt mix, chilli , garlic and onion powder, paprika and ground black pepper.

A good chicken Tikka Masala or Rogan Josh are other spicy favorites.

I stopped all extra sugar in and on anything about 2 years ago, but do have a little honey on my morning porridge oats otherwise they taste too bland.

Still love chocolate in any form except Turkish Delight which I hate.

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I think a lot of food and drink have changed since being taken over by other companies.Babycham used to be a nice drink,but now it's revolting....chocolate all tastes cheap and nasty....bread,well most of it gets binned or feeds the birds,why have they added so much sugar to it?...and garlic,why is it added to so many things?some of us don't like it... moan over,But I love potatoes and veg and meat

But only if I cook it ! My favourite drink Guinness is still wonderful.

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Wine drinkers.....Festa della Barbera coming up. 3 day event wine tasting buy your glass €3 and wine €1 per glass. Barbera is our own local wine. Coupled with 23 courtyards of local specialities from €2.50 to €5. What more do you need. Daughter is selling gnocchi with a cheese sauce topped with a concentrated sauce made from Barbera wine, my son is selling Vitello tonnato. Slices of veal served with a tuna mayonaise sauce. The village is expecting 40,000 visitors from all over europe. The village is twinned with 3 other villages and they will be selling their specialities and I think one of them will be selling their own beer. Its a lovely event with street performers, flag thrower

teams, dancing and live music. We have 10 friends coming down from Nottingham for the event. They come every year and cant wait to come again this year. Something to look forward to and remember.

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