Part of my list of goals this year involves eating food that I don’t like.  I guess the broader theme to this goal is to take little leaps and find out if maybe I’m not missing out on something pretty awesome.

As a child I avoided many foods that I would eventually grow up to love. Onions, Green Peppers and Whipped Cream were only a few on the list that today I can’t imagine not eating.

Cucumbers have always been a food that I have avoided.  I have never liked the smell or the mixture of textures involved.  The last time I had cucumbers (before I made my 2012 goal to eat new stuff) was at an Easter dinner at a high-school friend’s house.  They were serving only seafood (which I also don’t eat) and so my friend’s mom made me a salad which was basically lettuce and cucumbers.  I didn’t want to complain and just eat the lettuce, so I tried to eat the cucumbers.  It was not good.  I actually threw up in my mouth and had to excuse myself.

On New Year’s Eve this year, I attended a charming party hosted by @twitandrewking with themed food for the multi-course dinner – and the appetizer was smoked salmon and cucumbers.  It was prepared so wonderfully by @missfish that I thought I would throw caution to the wind and try one (keep in mind that I didn’t eat cucumbers or salmon at this point).  I tried a salmon/cucumber appetizer and it was actually quite lovely!  It didn’t make me throw up!  Hooray!

Fast forward to today:  I was at the grocery store and decided to take a leap.  I bought a whole cucumber!

And here, recorded in pictures, is what happened…

Success!  The vinegar and salt cucumber was tasty.  All 5 slices made it to their intended destination!

The verdict on cucumbers?  Not bad.  Not as bad as I expected it to be.

Now what?  I guess that I have the rest of the cucumber to eat – although I will probably wait until tomorrow to continue.  There are so many other foods that I need to take the leap with.  Which one am I most afraid of?  Shrimp.  Most other seafoods/shellfish/fish I feel like I will be able to manage, but shrimp freaks me out.

What foods are on your “Don’t Like It” list?  Have you learned to love anything you previously rejected?