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Peas!!!
I despised peas as a child. I would eat fresh peas in the pod, but we rarely had those, my parents fixed either frozen or canned all the time. Not that there is anything wrong with that, I was little and hated them period. ;)

I could not stand the mushiness and sad olive green color they came out. Ugh. Even wrote notes about how I hated peas. They were always swimming in margarine and salt, and were way overcooked.

Once I got older though I realized they were pretty darn yummy! I put them in lots of things now, no prob. Less cooking is better.

I think I disliked lots of things as a child, but was always willing to try something once, and I have a wide palate now. Peas stick out as it was such a deep hatred.

Seafood. I grew up on the coast, and I thought that all fish tasted like mullet (a generic term for three different species of bottom-feeders; the ones predominant in our area had a strong fishy taste and were difficult to fillet without getting a few bones). It wasn't until I was in high school that I would eat shrimp or oysters, and it wasn't until I was adult that I would venture beyond that.

I wish I could tell my 12-year-old self that, "no, really, it's good," and capitalize on all the fresh seafood my heart could desire.

For the last couple years we've been trying foods we wouldn't eat before. Part of this is because we went veggie. So far there's been no way that beets or sweet potato work. However, roasted Brussels sprouts are divine as is cauliflower. My daughter absolutely loves both now too and has from the first tray out of the oven. Roasting was the last chance for the tiny cabbages for me and they only were given that because I so wanted to like them but just hadn't.

Also, having winter squash baked just plain instead of with the sweeteners made all the difference in the world. I love it now with savory spices such as curry, cumin, oregano, etc. I just really couldn't stand the sweet stuff even though I do like brown sugar and maple syrup with other things. Squash makes for a wonderful base on a cornmeal crust for a winter pizza with gorgonzola and candied walnuts.

And as much as I've always loved beans I've not been able to find soy that I like other than some soy milk brands (vanilla is great in Chai giving a fresher flavor than milk) and one particular brand of tempeh sliced in half (so less thick), marinated in tamari, and then baked with veggies in a wonderful homemade barbeque sauce.

But the one that surprised me the most was the peas. I've always loved peas and I do a good job with them but the daughter wouldn't touch them. I found a new local and responsible brand a few months ago and cooked them up telling her I just wanted her to eat a spoonful and that was really all I gave her. I had to do something so couldn't sit and eat with her for a few minutes but I was really looking forward to it knowing I'd get all those peas to myself. However, when I went to dish up my own plate the pea pan was... EMPTY! She'd snuck back in and eaten the whole dang bunch.

Chili. My mom's was always really soupy and thin with little chunks of ground beef and kidney beans floating around. It was not spicy either. I've made a thicker, spicier, vegetarian version which is so yummy.

@Jerzee - I am right there with you! Lima beans. Never did. Never will. Many years ago, I went to Florida with a friend to visit her parents. The father asked me what vegetables I liked. I said I would eat anything but Lima beans. And there to my utter shock and dismay was a big pot of LIMA BEANS on the stove. We still laugh about that.

@izatryt & @Jerzee.......my grown daughters now inform me that they hid lima beans under the dirt in my house plants (I had about a hundred in those days). I never knew, but the plants did well. I love succotash and served it often. Can you imagine? ;-D

About beets...I despise red beets (also because of my childhood)...but the idea of golden beets intrigues me. I may have to try them the way you did.

In terms of other foods..I never like zucchini when I was younger, but now after having grilled zucchini...I love the stuff!

Hillary
Chew on That

@2qrs--my mom would put little oysters in a Korean soup and I thought it was gross. Then a friend's dad made fried oysters and they were so good. Then in college, Awful Arthur's had 25 cent raw oyster night on Wednesdays, I was a regular. I made the mistake of going in with a group of eight or more once and the shucker threatened to walk out because we were eating so many oysters. LOL

Oh, yes, Anchovies. My parents would order pizza with everything on it plus anchovies. You couldn't see the little fishies bc they would sort of disinegrate from the heat of the pizza oven or get camouflaged by the other toppings, but as soon as you bit down, the salty fishiness was obvious...and my sisters and I would spit it out. Blech.
My anchovy revelation began at a SuperBowl party hosted by a bunch of Italians. After a ton of beer and chicken wings and nachos and junk food and I won one of the pools, one of the Italians pulls out a magnum of Amarone. It was so good. Then one of the Italians gets hungry, so he goes into the kitchen. He sauteed anchovy fillets until dissolved with garlic and crushed red pepper in olive oil and tossed with cappelini. That's when I became an anchovy convert.

Nah...never could eat beets, no matter how they are prepared, and still can't.

While there are plenty of things I eat now that I wouldn't even look at when I was a child, I don't think it has a lot to do with the way they are prepared. For instance, I didn't eat aubergines, mushrooms and courgettes, and it was a texture thing with all three, no matter how they were prepared. Now I eat all of the above, often prepared the same way my Mum or Gran would (which is to say, in many different ways:-)).

I shared a house with my sister for years, and neither of us ever bought peas because we both thought that the other HATED them. So after about 5 years of eating green beans, the topic was somehow broached, and it turns out we both LOVE peas.......too polite for our own good it seems.