The food we grow up with at home naturally sets the bar on levels of taste.
Curious to hear from strangers and their experiences with home cooking, Redditor Poecifer asked:
"What food did you think you hated for years until you realized your parents just couldn't cook it?"
Veggies can actually taste delicious...if prepared well.
Lack Of Taste
"Eggplant. My mom didn't know you're supposed to salt and blot it to remove the bitterness. She just cut it up and fried it. The only thing palatable about it was the batter."
How 'Bout Them Taters
"Potatoes. My mum would undercook them. Served them boiled with no salt or seasoning. Dad didn't do anything foodwise except burn steaks a few times a year outback on a grill. I now make various potato soup and whipped potatoes bits o'loveliness that would make an Irishman blush."
"To be fair, they were chainsmokers, so everything likely tasted like ash to them anyways."
– 13Lilacs
Slimy Spears
"Asparagus - had no idea you could get it fresh and crisp. We always had boiled, canned asparagus when I was a kid. Blech."
Healthy But Inedible
"Mashed potatoes. My mom's method: only a sliver of butter, no milk or cream, very little salt. Mine: lots of butter, whole milk, roasted garlic, salt, pinch of pepper."
How Popeye Likes It
"My mom bought canned spinach in my childhood. Slimy! Then my parents custom was to pour straight white vinegar on it. Picture Calvin's expression saying "Bleeehck!" to Hobbes."
Funny Face Calvin GIFGiphyCooking meat well is essential, but some people should never be in front of a grill.
If Coffee Were Food
"Bacon. I assumed it was the solid food equivalent of coffee when I was a kid - smells amazing, tastes like bitter, burnt ashes. My parents err on the side of burnt, and sometimes they err hard. When I was 12 my buddy made us some for breakfast after a sleepover and pulled it off the heat almost still pink and my mind was blown."
Former Anti-Vaxxers Explain What Actually Made Them Change Their Mind | George Takei’s Oh Myyy
Burnt Pork Chops
"Pork chops, mom used to make them dry as a bone with only salt for seasoning. I had them at a friend's house once when I was in highschool and it blew my mind. My dad thought that if any type of meat had moisture it was raw so my mom burnt everything."
– Nothing_
Wife's Pork Chops Vs. Mom's
"Pork chops for me too. My parents would broil the heck out of them and I never once considered making them after I moved out. Then one day my wife came across a slow cooker pork chop recipe and it was/is incredible. Now pork chops are one of the meals I most look forward to, including salivating at the leftovers."
– NS8VN
Rubbery Chicken
"I used to have a roommate who, every Sunday, would bake chicken breasts for weekly meals. The problem was that he'd cook them to the consistency of shoe leather. This was also someone who cooked rice with way too much water and basically made gruel. I honestly think he was one of those guys who saw food as sustenance and nothing more. I don't think he gave a sh*t how it tasted."
Wearable, Not Edible
"STEAK. Turns out it's not supposed to have the taste and consistency of shoe leather."
Bad Poultry
"Baked chicken breasts. Overcooked and so dry that they sucked the moisture out of your mouth."
Crisp Catastrophe
"Fried chicken. I thought the fact that I was black had something to do with it."
"Turns out my mother was pretty and a sh**ty cook."
How bad can you ruin the first course? For some Redditors, the answer is: "very easily."
One Kind Of Soup
"Soup. Actually not because my parents couldn't cook it, but because they literally only ever made one kind of soup, and I didn't like it. So I grew up thinking 'I don't like soup'. Eventually I would taste other soups that are delicious, so I realized it was just that one specific soup I didn't like."
– Karzul
Apparently, It's Possible To Screw Up Salad
"Salads were iceberg lettuce, tasteless tomatoes, and a couple of unhappy croutons all covered in ranch dressing. Just awful."
This Salad Is Very Clean
"My childhood best friend's mom would make 'salad' by cutting a wedge of iceberg lettuce, dousing it in the same straight white vinegar she used for cleaning floors, and topping it with pre-ground black pepper. I have weird cravings for it from time to time."
Painful Topping
"Same! I forgot about the occasional crouton that would scrape the hell out of the roof of my mouth."
I have to admit, when it comes to traditional Japanese cooking, my mom excelled at it.
Because even when I would dine at Japanese restaurants, the dishes I enjoyed at home failed to satisfy my palate when prepared by professional chefs.
Gyoza, or potstickers for instance, that my mom made from scratch were far too superior than any I've had outside the home.
Same goes for miso soup. The way my mom makes it, she piles it on with cabbage, tofu, scallions, and onions, with various secret seasonings.
She remains unchallenged to this day!
