Is it Wednesday already? Although my work days have seemed long (especially the afternoons), the week itself seems to be flying by. I’m not complaining!

Since I only photographed a few random meals this week, I figured I’d come up with some sort of theme for today’s What I Ate Wednesday party.

I’ve mentioned this before, but I was an extremely picky eater growing up. It wasn’t until middle school that I ate salad! As a child, the only “vegetables” I ate were raw broccoli (dipped in ranch dressing) and corn—and the latter is technically a starch!

I did always love fruit, but I remember being squeamish about berries, grapes, and anything that didn’t have a firm texture like apples, watermelon, bananas, etc. What the heck was wrong with me?

Thankfully, my tastes evolved throughout high school and into adulthood. Now, I treasure the experience of tasting new dishes. Food is central to our lives. Of course it’s necessary to sustain life, but food brings people together. It tells our history, it shapes who we are, and it provides canvas after canvas for creating and discovering. Is it obvious yet that I love food?

Here are some foods that I never thought I would eat, much less consider them to be among my favorites.

Beans

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I don’t know if it was the sliminess of the canned varieties (which can easily be rectified with a good rinse!), the mushiness of large-batch lima beans of my youth, or the well-known propensity to, ummm, create an “active” digestive system, but I was always repulsed by beans. I’ll never forget how angry I was at Mark when he force-fed me a red bean! Fast forward to our first year of marriage, and I finally tried his red beans and rice. And you know what? They were amazing. We’d also tried simple black beans and rice, which I gobbled up like a starving child. Lentils and chickpeas were next. Followed by white beans, pinto beans, and any bean you can think of. They’re now a staple in my diet—and a protein I often prefer over meat.

Greek yogurt

Again, the texture of yogurt used to make me squeamish—as did the tanginess. I remember making our own “yogurt” in 7th grade science class, and when we tasted it, I gagged. Eventually, I started eating the sugary pseudo-yogurt common to grocery stores, but it wasn’t until a couple of years ago, probably after reading a healthy living blog, that I gave Greek yogurt a try. At first, I could only handle the flavored, but eventually I grew to love the tanginess of plain. Some of my favorite breakfasts consist of Greek yogurt with granola/cereal, fruit, and other toppings like cinnamon, nut butter, and seeds.

Greens

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Again, this goes way back to my childhood. To me, greens meant a dark, mushy pot of something on the stovetop that smelled much like a sewage overflow! I don’t remember when I decided to give greens a try, but I’m glad I did. I probably began with spinach, since it’s so much milder than most greens. Nowadays, I love dark, leafy greens in all forms: raw “massaged” kale salads, sautéed or steamed collards or turnips, green smoothies and juices, crispy kale chips, Swiss chard stuffed into manicotti, crispy bok choy with stir-fry, etc. Just knowing how nutritious they are is enough of a reason to eat them—but I really have grown to love their complex flavors. Next I’d like to try dandelion greens or something more exotic.

Sushi

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While my grandparents’ fried shrimp was always a favorite of mine, I stayed away from fish as a young child. It was definitely the “fishy” smell, which I now realize is a trait of bad fish! Eventually I started eating all types of grilled, fried, or poached fish (I live on the Gulf Coast, after all), and one day in college, we joined a good friend at a local sushi restaurant for her birthday. We started off easy with a few veggie rolls and a tempura shrimp roll, and while the texture almost made me gag at first, we finished them and actually liked the flavors. We started trying out sushi restaurants throughout the city, and long story short, it’s now one of my favorite treats, cooked or raw (and something I miss desperately during pregnancy!).

• What are some foods you thought you’d never try but have grown to love?
• Anything you still won’t touch? Until this past Christmas at Grannie’s, it was pâté. It will never be a favorite, but it did taste pretty good (must have been the love that went into it).