Why do you feel you have to like something? Texture is a key part of taste and is crucial to why we like certain foods. However, the way things are prepared can change how they taste to us and you need to find the ways that appeal to you. My mother, a good cook for her era, made mushy vegetables. I thought I hated vegetables until I had for the first time, "Chinese" chicken chow mien in college. It astounded me so much, that cabbage could taste like that.

I decided a long time ago to only eat foods I like-in taste and preparation (right after leaving home) If that means not eating all sorts of popular foods, so be it.
I love asparagus and could eat that three times a week, so even though it's not a cheap vegetable, I buy it all the time. But I like it crunchy.
I can eat green salad all the time, cooked vegetables only if just so.

I only like eggplant fried, carrots raw, beets in borsch, zucchini stir fried, and never ever mushrooms or collards or bananas.

I've overcome all four of those. Eggplant, zucchini and squash by eating them in a not cooked to death, soggy, mushy state. Mushrooms by starting with mushrooms that actually taste good, like shiitaki, then working my way down to portabello, cremini, and finally button.

I'd put mushrooms first on my list to overcome. It doesn't really matter if you don't like eggplant, zucchini and squash. Unless smothered in other stuff like eggplant parm, they're generally in a side dish. Mushrooms on the other hand can be a hassle to hate. Nothing like going to someone's house and they serve something like chicken marsala and you have to pick them out. I did that for much of my life and was never happy about it.

At this point I actually enjoy mushrooms. The rest I tolerate but don't go out of my way to eat.

I only like eggplant in Baba Ganoush. I've always liked the other things you mentioned. Shrooms raw in salad, sauteed in just about everything else. One way I've started cooking zucchini is coating 1/4" slices in egg, then flour and frying them when I fry fish as a change from potatoes. It's how I got my veggie-fearing DH to start eating them. The coating is crispy and the zuke isn't mushy. Shred zucchini, drain well, add an egg(and maybe some shredded cheese)and some seasonings and fry them for 'pancakes'. If the texture still puts you off, there's always zucchini bread in which it virtually disappears.

IMO, the only good chick pea is a completely pureed chick pea - as used in hummus. This legume is too big, too hard, and too starchy for me to enjoy in its natural state. It fits in with its brethren, the big old honking lima bean.

Most food dislikes are a combination of taste and texture, I think. If the texture is way off-putting, then a mild taste (as in squash) may not be appreciated.

Try dicing zucchini and yellow squash along with sweet peppers and onion, saute briefly in olive oil and add to cooked orzo pasta with some diced fresh tomato and chopped fresh basil. Makes a colorful pasta side dish.

Teresa

I've come to terms with not liking turnips. All other veggies I've encountered I grew to like as I tried them in various states, including eggplant, mushrooms and zucchini.

I would suggest trying eggplant in Baba Ganoush (lots of great recipes have been posted here, if you are interested I'm sure lots of people will repost their recipes) or another one of my favs is the following Russian type eggplant caviar.

hope you find a way to enjoy them.

Alexa

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Eggplant caviar From Kyra’s Secrets of Russian Cooking

1 large eggplant
1 large onion, chopped very fine
1 small can tomato paste
1 green pepper chopped very fine
1 tsp vinegar (or slightly more)
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tsp powdered sugar
salt & pepper to taste

Bake the eggplant until tender. When cool, skin it and chop very fine(I pulse it in a food processor). Saute onion and pepper in 1 tbsp of olive oil. Add tomato paste and simmer 4-5 minutes, add in the remaining oil. Add vinegar, sugar, salt, pepper and chopped eggplant. Cook very slowly over low heat for 20 minutes, adding more oil if needed. Remove from heat and put in a container in the refrigerator. Serve very cold with thin sliced black pumpernickel and unsalted butter.

Texture is a huge reason some people don't like foods. So that's where you can really improve things by cooking methods, and also flavorings. I agree with FOAS (that's what we call Foodonastump when we are in a hurry and don't have time to type it all out, lol!) There are mushrooms and there are mushrooms. I hated portobella mushrooms, which were supposed to be such a gourmet treat, until I started using the little ones, which are called "baby bellas". I also found out that buying mushrooms fresh from a mushroom farmer at the local farm market made a big difference in taste and quality. And I just LOVE the taste of shitake mushrooms, so once you've had those, it's hard to go back to musty old white button ones. BUT, I will say this, if it's CANNED mushrooms you don't like, well that's for GOOD REASON, they are SLIME CITY! Try cleaning your fresh mushrooms with a slightly damp paper towel, instead of soaking them in water. The key is to give them a quick wipe but not get them soggy. Some people just use a soft brush on them, no water at all. Then, slice them up and sautee them in lots of olive oil, garlic and some red onion. Take time to really sautee them well. My mushrooms were just so so until I realized that it takes quite a while (and quite a bit of olive oil) to get them really nice and flavorful. Add a splash of red wine too. You can even serve this as a cold or room temperature antipasta salad if you make it red wine or balsamic vinegar instead of plain wine. But if you still don't like mushrooms, well they don't have that much nutritous value anyway. Shitake are the healthy ones, and they are pricey.

As for eggplant, same deal, not much nutrition there. Eggplant can be bitter so try to find one that isn't too hard and bitter. I salt mine for 15-20 min. and then rinse. Then I either sautee in tons of olive oil or I roast in the oven brushed with olive oil. Again, the key to good eggplant is getting it really well cooked. I find the skin bitter so I peel, which helps. Sometimes I peel like a zebra and leave a little bit of skin on. Maybe you only like eggplant parmesean because in that dish the eggplant gets really well cooked. Nothing worse in texture than a half cooked bite of eggplant, IMHO. But roasted, grilled or sauteed until really soft, and you can spice it up in all kinds of ways to make it yummy. I adore it Moroccan style, Italian style, or Lebanese style. I make roasted eggplant red pepper spread, baba ganoush, ratatouille and an eggplant chickpea dish. On it's own I wouldn't much care for eggplant but I like it well seasoned in stews. It has a spongy texture that in a stew is a good flavor carrier.

Zuchinni, I feel kinda the same way about as I do eggplant--plain old steamed zuchinni is just meh. I eat mine in chili, and in italian soups like minestrone and mixed with other veggies in ratatouille, and then I make beans and rice with a mix of sauteed onions, green peppers, tomatoes and zuchinni. I also like it in stir fry. If I had to eat plain old zuchinni on its own I would bread and fry, like my grandma did. And it is great in muffins and breads, so I wouldn't sweat that I didn't like it plain, you're not missing anything, zuchinni isn't a nutrition powerhouse.

Oh, and I make a cheesey casserole with rice and yellow squash, that is good too. And you can salt yellow squash and zuchinni too, before sauteeing, which takes out a lot of the liquid that makes them bitter and slimy. Also you can cut them lengthwise and scoop out the seeds, if that's what bothers you. I hate the seedy part on larger squashes.

I keep trying them using different cooking methods. Raw, roasted, mashed, fried, boiled, mixed in with something else... until at least one method makes it shine to me. Sometimes, pairing it with the right thing also makes a difference. Brussel sprouts with bacon or red peppers and crab or jicama and coconut shrimp, etc.

I'm with Rob, I think cooking methods play a very large part. I don't hate any food, unfortunately, I'll eat anything that doesn't eat me first. And...the scales show it!LOL I do have favorites as I think most people do. I have found that a lot of oven roasted veggies are better tasting than when prepared other ways, root vegetables, for instance.

jude

I agree that if texture is the problem, the cooking method can help. It's amazing how much better a vegetable can taste pan fried or roasted rather than boiled or steamed. Browning seems to be important. Eggplant sometimes has a fishy taste to me, but browning it really seems to help. I like to pan fry, deep fry, or roast in a spacious pan until brown. Babaganoush is great made with dark roasted or pan fried eggplant, and has a nice smooth texture if you puree it. Zucchini seems to be particularly important to buy fresh. Little crisp ones fresh off the vine are vastly different from the bitter, spongy things you buy in the grocery store, so it might help to wait until warmer weather to try to like them. Winter squash don't ripen off the vine, so you have to know the kind of squash well enough to get a ripe one. I can manage it with butternut- it should be orange-brown rather than light tan, and the less green the streaks are the better. A perfectly ripe one will have entirely brown streaks, right up to the stem, but that's pretty rare. As long as the overall color is good and the streaks are just a little green at the stem end, it's a pretty good one. You can really see the difference when you cut into it- a ripe butternut will be bright orange, while an unripe one will be pale yellow. Ripe butternut flesh actually tastes nutty! It may be that buying a good one does the trick, but if not, it's easy enough to puree into soup, pie, muffins, bread, etc. I like roasted mushrooms when they're about half shrunk and kind of wrinkly. They taste great that way and I never liked how they drank in oil on the stovetop. Definitely a different texture than quickly cooked ones. I will even do this before sauteing if I have the time.

Foas, that would be me, picking out mushrooms all the time. I was inwardly raging that sil ruined the mac and cheese this year at Thanksgiving by adding mushrooms! Who does that to good mac and cheese!

I wish I could overcome that vegetable, just so it's not such a hassle but it's the smell. The very whiff of 'shrooms makes me gag.

I am now on speaking terms with brussels sprouts, but would not invite them to a party.

I like eggplant parmesan mostly for the breading, cheese and tomato sauce.

I adore mushrooms, except the ones that look like little trees (or something more anatomical, iykwim.)

I only like squash when it's well prepared, as mentioned, not squishy.

I always loved mushrooms.....even the slimy canned ones. But if you are trying to "learn" you might try a mushroom duxelles....very finely chopped mushrooms and come finely chopped onions, grushed clove of garlic.....sauteed very slowly in butter...add a dash of brandy and cook until most of the moisture evaporates....put on top of some sort of meat and call it good.

I hated all kinds of squash but for acorn as a kid.....because m y mother boiled crook neck and butter nut....and it was all mushy. Once I learned to roast the butternut and to either stir fry or marinate and eat raw the summer squashes I was fgood.

Eggplant has a very distinctive taste which I love....but a "snotty" texture. My mother would fry eggplant with the outside crisp and the inside icky. Once I learned to fry it all crisp....or to put eggplant into a dish like parmesan or caponata....I love the flavor without the snotty texture.

And speaking of snotty....how about okra? Again love the taste but hate the oozing goo. The trick is to use it in ways that eliminates the goo or disguise it....like in soups.

then there's rutabega.....which I now love....but my mother always boiled and mashed it....eww! Watery....try roasting it until the sugars caramelize!

Still haven't made friends with brussels sprouts....

If someone "hates" a certain veggie... maybe they've only ever had them out of a can? If you've only ever had canned mushrooms, asparagus, peas, lima beans, etc., you just THINK you know what they taste like. Try them fresh or frozen (2nd choice)... might change your mind.

Have always like mushrooms, even when they were obviously from a can on a pizza. I like to slice up a few big white mushrooms and eat them raw... with a dip, instead of chips.

I think almost all vegetables are better when they are fried tempura. The main vegetable I dislike is sweet potato, but I will eat it in tempura. I dislike it because of its sweetness, but I can dip the tempura version in a soy sauce-vinegar solution and cut the sweetness a bit. Turnips improve the most in tempura, and they are probably my favorite vegetable to have that way. It is important to slice/cut them to the correct size, however, as that greatly affects texture.

Another way that I love to have almost any vegetable is in a Mexican quesadilla, which is made with fresh (or reconstituted) masa, filled with cheese and the vegetable and then deep fried. Mushrooms are great this way, but you can also use them in Texas style quesadillas, which are simply heated in a cast iron skillet or one a griddle.

While you may not want to continue eating so many fried vegetables, it may help get you over the hurdle. My favorite fried vegetable is okra, but I've always loved squash and eggplant.

I'm not big on beets because I'm not used to having them, but I've had them in simple salads that I liked. I prefer carrots in small doses and mixed with other things, especially in Vietnamese summer rolls.

Lars

There is only one veggie that I won't eat, no matter how it's prepared and that's bell peppers. I can't stand the taste and nothing will change that, haha.

Other things depend on the cooking method. I love mushrooms on pizza when they've dried out a bit or raw in salad, or a grilled portabella mushroom burger but I hate sauteed mushrooms. They seem slimy and gooshy to me. I've only had eggplant once and I had to spit it out in my napkin because it was so gross. I haven't had the nerve to try it again, lol.

If it's just the texture that throws you off, you can easily work around that. I like grating raw zucchini into salads. You can't really taste it or get the texture but you get the nutrition. I think the key is small bits.

Wnnej:

Try cooking your Eggplant similiar to the way you do Zuccini.

I dip the pieces in Egg and then Flavored Bread Crumbs.
Fry in a Skillet until Golden Brown.

The Crumbs are seasoned with Parsley Flakes,Onion Pwd., Garlic Powder ,

a pinch of Old Bay Sesoning and some Parmesan Cheese.

Frying at different temperatures will give you a result you may like.
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My Grandmother helped me to develop a taste for many things, I did not like, one was Peas.
If I left them on the plate, she saved them for the next meal.

Not eaten at the next meal, that was OK but you didn't get any of the Favorites.

I soon acquired a taste for everything.
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In the Army you better like the food or you will go hungry.

There was no corner store to run to.

Although it may be different today, then when I was in the service. We cooked Dinasaur Steaks.

Keep trying things you do not like, you mat acquire a taste for them and
you will wonder why you never liked them before ???

LOU

There are foods that I just don't like and I've tried too, but I've decided I'm old enough not to have to eat them anymore if I don't like them.

They include eggplant and grits, beets, canned peas, okra, LUTEFISK, and probably a few more I can't think of because I haven't eaten them in a long time so I've forgotten about them. I'm not a picky eater, I love trying new recipes and even new foods, but if I don't like it, I don't eat it again.

I've never had to conquer a hated vegetable, but I certainly decided I liked more of them in the raw, or lightly cooked form, than the peeled, boiled and cremated methods used many years ago when I was growing up.

So many cooked veggies have a really bad rap, and with good reason. Cabbage is a wonderful veggie raw or lightly sauteed, but it got the reputation as being the long-distance food - cook it for a day, smell it for a mile and burp it for a week - because that's how it was cooked when I grew-up. When I see Ralphy in the "Christmas Story" eating cooked cabbage, that's exactly how it was commonly served - at least in our neck of the woods.

All those home-canned veggies were awful - completely cooked to death. However, I loved summer and fresh vegetables out of the garden.

Then came the era of frozen veggies and covering everything in a cheese or cream sauce to cover the unusual texture and taste of frozen veggies after home-canned veggies. Campbell's Soup made out like bandits with recipes using cans Cream of "Crap" Condensed Soup in cooked casserole side dishes - another insult to perfectly good vegetables.

Now we have to dip vegetables in Ranch Dressing....(lol)

When I got married 41-years ago, my husband ate potato chips and pickled beets - and that was it in the vegetable department, so I should have him answer this question because he's come a long way in the vegetable department. Mostly because he realized his mother was a horrible cook and in reality there MUST be something good he was missing out on. So to each their own for all the reasons shared above. Nobody has to like everything....(thankfully).

-Grainlady

When I was young I hated anything green - except money that is. It's funny how your taste buds change over the years. Anyway, one way I learned to eat them was with cheese. I'll eat anything with cheese. So for broccoli it was cheddar cheese sauce, spinach was cream cheese in casserole, asparagus with parm cheese - you get the picture. And then at some point I discovered they didn't have to be cooked to death, or even cooked at all! I would much rather eat broccoli and spinach raw. And then there are some things that need that bacon grease to do the trick - green beans and brussel sprouts. Eggplant - grilled is good, and of course in lasagna. and I have always liked every kind of mushroom - however you want to fix them.

Thank you all for your responses. It has been interesting to hear all of your stories. Our parents sure did a number with us with their boiled and canned veggies, didn't they? I bet if all of our meat was prepared that way there would be a whole lot more vegetarians in this world! Happy eating to you all!