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I think it has more to do with where you were born and what you ate while being raised that dictates what you find favorable in foods.

When I moved to CO, I couldn't believe the widespread use of either red or green chile sauce. It was like the only condiment you could find.

Living down in FL, I find I still crave the cold-weather foods of NY because that's what my body wants. A dish of fruit or a salad just won't cut it sometimes.

grew up with the wonderful fresh seafood of new england, now living in hee haw hell. I still dont like deep fried cholesterol.

Funny... I just wrote about that very same thing today.

You read my mind, Blue Iris! :-)

In a nutshell, yes. I absolutely think that where you live affects not only what you like to eat, but also your expectations of what others should eat, how food should be prepared and what is/isn't taboo to eat.

Well...I remember moving to Cleveland thinking everything was too salty. My xbf said that when he moved to Hawaii (to be with me), he thought everything in Hawaii was bland. Food is still too salty here and the portions are ridiculous.

A lot of my food likes/dislikes comes from what doesn't suck in the area. I've given up hope on getting good Korean food and ramen/udon in Cleveland. Japanese food, well, only one restaurant makes REAL Japanese food. Vietnamese food isn't bad at all, but I have to deal with a very, very limited menu...doesn't stop me from eating pho several times a week!

Never really cared for Chinese food. Hated it in Hawaii. I'll eat it once in a while here.

I have gravitated toward food not in abundance in Hawaii like Lebanese, German, Polish, and Mexican, but in abundance here. And if they truly suck, I won't know. :P

I really don't care for eating seafood here. I eat it in copious amounts when I am in San Francisco and Hawaii though...for obvious reasons.

I grew up in Small town Illinois, I've lived in, Tucson, and Clearwater, Florida and Philly, I now live in Denver. Let's just say I have a wandering palate.. There are some days when I'd knock the teeth out of an old lady for a decent cheesesteak. I haven't found a biscuit to love here- blame the altitude.There are some days I NEED (not want) conch fritters and a cuban, and most of the time I'm left wanting for a good mojito, sweet tea, and blackened grouper. (good) Seafood is pretty tough for me to find unless I wanna shell out big bucks. So here I am in Colorado-as far as you can spit from the ocean...oh well.... I'd probably miss the green chili if I left. But not much else food wise. sigh....

@sheeats: NO!!!!!! poop is not a food group. can't do it. also, there's a major texture issue there, too (same one that goes for okra).

I'm from NY but did a 4 year stint in AZ. While I was there, I missed tons of things from back home. I'd bring bagels and Aunt Millie's spaghetti sauce back to AZ in my suitcase (do they even make Aunt Millie's anymore?) In AZ, I longed for fish fry and decent soft ice cream. And deli. Would have killed for a decent turkey sandwich on rye with russian, but all they had was that slimy processed turkey, super-soft rye bread, and no one had ever heard of russian dressing.

But I digress. While there, I learned to love spicy okra pickles from Texas. And I learned that "Best Foods" really is the same thing as Hellmans.

Also have found a few favorites on vacation that I have recreated at home- saimin from Hawaii, and guava paste with cream cheese from South Florida.

I hail from London, England and I'd lived in Turkey, Israel, and now I live in the States - NJ. I've certainly acquired new favourites in different countries. Most notably, I credit Turkey for aubergines (I grew up an aubergine hater:-)) and ayran (yoghurt-based salty drink), Israel for cottage cheese (back home in London I wouldn't even look at cottage cheese. Then again, it might have something to do with the fact that Israeli dairy products are impossibly good and I now really miss Israeli cottage cheese and yoghurts), hummus and tahini sauce (I can't say schawarma, because it was love at first sight, er, bite, unlike hummus, which I absolutely detested in the beginning, and for the longest time I'd most likely been the only person in Israel to order schawarma without hummus and tahini sauce). When I came to the US, I've discovered that contrary to what I thought growing up, I do, in fact, like squashes - especially, butternut, spaghetti and courgettes. So yes, I've taken a fancy to foods I previously disliked when living in different places. Still, I wonder how many of these taste "changes" may be attributed to the fact that our tastes do change as we age...

I'd say yes and no. My daughter is in an Asian immersion language program and that led me in a round-a-bout way to think about what people around the world eat for breakfast. I've never much liked eating breakfast food in general and especially not for breakfast. So it was nice to feel like I had permission to eat what I want in the morning rather than what the culture dictates.

However, there's a bunch of things I could never see myself consuming which kids grow up eating because that's what they get from the beginning (nori comes to mind here for me).

What's funny is my mom grew up in the south eating farina (cream of wheat) with butter, salt, soft boiled eggs but gave me bowls full with milk and sugar. I hated it and when I was able to get control over my own toppings made it with salt and butter (which amazed her) so I think there is some genetics at play there.

On the other hand, I grew up in a small town where the best food was drive-in food and Chinese (about the only "ethnic") food was horrid. It took being in a group of ten who'd helped us move to squeamishly end up at a Chinese restaurant in the big city, wary yet amazed at the quality and yumminess of the family style dishes that were passed to me.

And my first taste of Thai food (red curry with peas and bamboo shoots) when my daughter was six, felt like I'd finally found what I'd always been looking for. Later felt the same way about tomatillos.

But, through it all I still can't abide cilantro... except it apparently was in a curried carrot salad (with coconut milk -- best I can tell, a Sri Lankan dish) the other day which I found amazing in part because I'm not so keen on carrots either yet can hardly wait to have the salad again.

absolutely. when i moved from NYC to FLA i found so many people, including restaurants, used miracle whip instead of good old mayonaise. plech, plech, plech. Couldn't stand the stuff. Salad dressing is not mayonaise. So, once when I went to a deli (my first mistake) when we were over at the beach and i asked for a roast beef and prevalone sandwich on a roll with mayo. 1st sandwich had mustard on it. 2nd sandwich had lettuce and tomato and yellow cheese. 3rd sandwich looked ok till i got back to our hotel room and found out it had miracle whip on it. I wanted to throw it across the room.... LOL

I've lived in California my whole life, but have family flung about the South and Northeast, and all of them complain that there is NO decent Mexican food outside of Southern California (with the possible exception of the Southwest, where I've sadly spent little time). After visiting said locales, I have to agree. Every time I'm at the taqueria down the way from my house having their freakin' amazing Chiles Rellenos, I imagine my poor grandmother in Maine, stuck w/another dang lobster roll while I eat her favorite dish. Sorry, Nana.

Say What I feel your pain! but make my chowder Rhode Island style(clear) ;)

omg! Autocrat coffee syrup and milk! I think you have to grow up with it to appreciate it ;) they even sell it mail order by boxes of 6 I still have 5 bottles unopened that I bought 3 yrs ago :S guess you really can't go back ;)