Can tastebuds evolve?

Now everyone at some point in their lives had a food they hated as a kid. Maybe it was the texture, the look, the smell, or just that nasty aftertaste, whatever it was, we hated it. And we refused to eat it no matter the consequence.

So, how I ask you, does one "grow out of " not liking those horrible foods of our childhood?
As for me, I hated onions, celery, peppers, cabbage, anything with a weird smell, and fish.
Today, things have changed. I love sauteed onions and cabbage and I'll eat smoked salmon if there's absolutely nothing else. Unfortunately peppers are staying on the hated list for now along with unnatural smelling entities.

As for celery, well, it's always been an issue for me. I know it's healthy and takes more energy to digest than to eat, so that's good apparently. But no matter how hard I would try, I couldn't get past the funky taste and those dang strings!!

Back when Girls Scouts were cool (trust me, they were), they tried all sorts of ways to get me to like it. "Don't be scared to eat celery," they'd say. "Just line up those raisins and pretend it's ants on a log!" Sure, like eating ants is better than eating raisins. I don't like raisins either. So, I abandoned the hope of acquiring a taste. It was a lost cause.

Until today.

I saw the peanut butter beckoning to me from the pantry, so I needed a healthy excuse to eat it. I searched through the fridge, and there they were; fresh stalks of green, stringy celery.
"Just try it," said my inner healthy-eating-conscience.
So, I pulled out the materials I needed and began to spread the delectable nutty goodness down the chute of celery. Once this process was perfected, I stopped. What am I doing?



Why am I abandoning my long trusted tastebuds that told me "No, no this gross!" ?
I don't know why it happened, but it did. I took a bite. And it was....



delicious.
Hello healthy eating. Let's get to know each other a little better.