To like or not to like

I often wondered where my personal preferences come from when it comes to food, and over the years I have conducted several experiments where I was my main subject of study. I've come to the conclusion that such preferences are a combination of cultural background + education and training + my own will.

The thing is: I'm almost sure that I can force myself into liking anything that I want to like, even if I currently dislike it. And I have scientific proof. Also, I can force likes into others but I'd generally avoid it since it could be rather violent of me.

- I used to not like eggplant. If I was served any, I'd set them aside on my plate and eat the rest of the dish. But my mom (who I think was the first person to discover that likes and dislikes can be forced into a person) would never get tired of serving me eggplants. She said they were healthy, and she said that vegetables are good, and then she said that people shuold eat a variety of foods. So there. Every few days, it turned to be Eggplant Day. So eventually, I started eating them with disgust. Once, twice... eventually, after eating them and feeling sick many many times, i started noticing that I wasn't so disgusted by them anymore. And then I realised I actually liked them. I like eggplant very much to this day. Specially vinagrette-ones!!

- When I stopped being a baby, I stopped drinking white milk. I could have chocolate milk, but not just pure milk. As a teenager I read that my body would absorb calcium for a few more years, and then it´d stop. So i wanted to increase my milk intake. Of course, i did not want to increase my chocolate intake, so I decided I had to drink pure milk. I swear I hated the smell of it, and I remembered vividly the disgust with which I drank my first glases of white-milk. I forced muyself into liking it. Now, when it's hot and I'm thirsty, I drink milk instead of soda with a smile on my face.

Then I experimented with someone else. For 30 years, my SO drank his coffee with sugar. I never had. So (as any annoying girlfriend would), I tried to convince him that my way was a better way. Of course, he didn't like his coffee un-unsweetened, so he refused. I kept on insisting. I think the first time he drank a "bitter coffee" was not because he wanted to give it a try, but because he wanted me to shut up. I'm sure about that. The thing is... after several repeats of this operation, he ended up liking it. Now my in-laws look at him with a frown each time he refuses to put sugar (or sweetener) in his coffee. And I feel so proud!!!

And no, I'm not going to force myself to like cuccumber, because nothing motivates me to go through the not so pleasent process. Now... if you discovered that cuccumber will prevent wrinkles... please let me know and I'll start training!