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Yeah I grew up on boiled crawfish and gumbo. My mom used to take us to the New Orleans food festival back in the '80s down at the convention center, and it was all the best restaurants in the city with booths, and my favorite thing was alligator meatballs. I think I was maybe four or five. Don't remember what restaurant.
Believe it had to do more with my mom or dad would get something and then I'd want to try it, and they soon found out that I wasn't very picky. They're always pretty encouraging about my sister and I trying different things.
Mom specifically would get really weird things with the idea that there's no way I'm going to eat it. Stuff like escargot, but all she was doing was training my palate. She's getting pretty old and it's still something we joke about when I visit, and I'm very thankful for having the opportunity to be exposed to some pretty serious cuisine growing up. That's why I like being in the kitchen and making all the different foods that I do.
That sort of thing can backfire too though. My brother was super impressed with his friend's kid who would eat literally anything and he was determined to do the same thing with his kid and even read up about having him taste all kinds of food while he's a baby which they did. Despite their best efforts his kid refuses to try almost anything and when he was younger he would throw up on his dinner plate if you forced him to take a bite. I'll tell you watching a small child blow chunks next to you while you're eating dinner is a good way to ruin your meal as well. He's 6 now and he's a little better but there's still super basic things like eggs and mashed potatoes that he just refuses to eat and if you want him to try something new you have a fight on your hands and he's pretty much guaranteed to say it's disgusting when he does try it. He's not really oppositional and defiant about other things but when it comes to food he's very determined. I had always assumed that kids like that were just the product of indulgent parents who let them live on macaroni and cheese and hot dogs but apparently it has to do with the kid as well.
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