Chatty Cathy wrote:

> Anybody else think that if children are not "exposed" to certain foods,
> say between the ages of 2 and 6 y/o, that they will never really
> develop a taste for it, or that it will "take some doing" to get them to
> try something "new" when they are adults?


In general, yes, I think you're right, and there are anthropologists who
note the truth to what you say, too. It's a cross cultural trait that
adults tend to view as weird and disgusting foods that they didn't see
adults eating when they were a child.


On the other hand, the exceptions are hard to miss. My boyfriend and
his sister were reared in the same household by the same parents in the
same city with the same access to foods. That is, it was their mother's
home cooking from start to finish. They're 3 years apart. He loves to
try ethnic restaurants and will often order the weirdest thing on the
menu just to try it. His sister is even pickier than her parents,
refusing to eat as an adult many of the foods that would have been
normal to her as a child, foods her parents would have encouraged her to
try.


That's one example. I can think of countless more.


--Lia