Do you remember the first time you had a particular food?

Garlic bread: the early 60’s.
Greek food: early 1972, when I was in Athens.
Chicken tandoori: October, 1977 in Katmandu, Nebraska*.
Tofu with curry: October, 1977, at a Holiday Inn in Indiana** (Agra, IIRC).
The first time I had a salad with peanut sauce dressing was in August, 1978.
I think the first time I had Thai food was in February, 1979.
Kung Pao chicken: 1994.

*Or was it Nepal? ;-p

**Or was it India? ;-p

Velveeta at 20 or 21yrs old. My best friend and I made it into macaroni & cheese and were hooked. I think we ate it straight out of the pan for a few weeks.

Fresh Vietnamese Srping Rolls with peanut dipping sauce. It was in the late 1980’s. The idea of Vietnamese food was still pretty “exotic and strange.” One of the friends I used to work with took all of us to this place called An Hong and I was hooked! I’m so bummed that An Hong is gone. They replaced it with a coffee house. Which is odd, because Vietnamese food took off like wildfire in our town, but that one place, which was one of the first is no longer there.

Indian Food. Another friend introduced me to the Indian buffet in the mid 90’s. I thought I’d gone to culinary heaven. I had been afraid that it would be super hot-spicy. Turns out that it’s spicy, but not particularly in the hot way, more in flavorful way. Aloo-ghopi (potatoes and cauliflower) is my favorite curry. I had only recently become a vegetarian, so this was like a dream come true.

Mango chutney, which I first tasted in England in 1986 with a ploughman’s lunch

Kimchee. My friend took me to a Korean restaurant in the mid-1990’s. Again, I was hooked on it. I love tart and spicy things, so kimchee really fits the bill.

Vegetarian Tom Kha Soup that I had at a Thai restaurant about 15 years ago. I never knew soup could be that good.

And last, but not least, Mango Sticky Rice that I had for dessert at another Thai Restaurant about 15 years ago, that sadly, also went out of business about 5 years ago. It was my favorite Thai restauarant in town. This dessert is sweet, and savory and tart at the same time. Never had anything like it. I’m not a big dessert eater, but this rocks my world.

@Kardamom: Sticky rice & mango is divine, especially with the red/purple rice.

Hannuka, December 11, 1982 7:32 PM Eating Gilfilte fish for the first time! Never forget that moment. OMG

I tend to not like basic american foods. I grew up in an Italian community (family and friends), and the first time I tried american foods I thought that they were gross.

@Cruiser Haha. I remember my first time too. I was in my early 20’s at a boyfriends for passover. Yuck.

I remember the first time I tried tuna; I must’ve been 3–4 years old. I threw it up almost the second I tasted it. :P

Also, I didn’t try Thai food until recently. I was under the impression that it was all swimming in fish/oyster sauce (which I don’t like), but there are many dishes that don’t contain that and they’re excellent.

The first time I ate steamed clams. My family was visiting in Maine and having a shore dinner. I thought the steamed clams looked just repulsive. My mom told me not to look at it. “Just put it in your mouth and chew.” So I put one on my fork, shut my eyes, put it in my mouth and chewed. I loved it.

I remember the first time I had a proper curry in an Indian restaurant. I was about 12 and it was a birthday treat for me and one of my schoolfriends. I loved it, but I didn’t get it again until i was grown up and moved away from home.

Pears.
Yesterday
The sticker was gross.

@downtide Do you like a ploughman’s lunch? I could eat that every day. I will always remember the first time I tried that in Stratford upon Avon, in this little pub. It was like the perfect English fairy tale food moment for me. The second was eating Yorkeshire pudding on a boat going down the Thames. Sorry for being such a gushy Anglophile. Hee Hee. That wedding got me all worked up.

And I almost forgot about 2 crucial moments in Kindergarden. The first, each of the students was instructed to bring a vegetable to share with the class. At that point in my life, the only vegetables I had tried were carrots, lettuce and celery. One of the kids brought cauliflower. At first I was reluctant to try it, but I’ve had a life long love affair with cauliflower ever since (hence the aloo-ghopi reference from an above post).

The second one was when our teacher brought a butter churn to class and we all got a chance to work the churn. We had fresh butter on Saltine crackers that day. And though I really didn’t get into the groove of the foodie stuff until my late 20’s, that day set forth a love of making and trying new foods.

Yes! A fillet mignon that could practically be cut with a fork and melted on the tongue. Jumbo sea scallops at a restaurant in Florida. Really fantastic sauteed calamari at an Italian restaurant. Edamame in a Japanese restaurant. A fresh persimmon plucked from my sister’s tree. Okra in a gumbo, which I later learned is preferable rather than having it steamed.

My SO is British, and I’m American, so we’ve both been having a blast introducing each other to new foods. He took to hummus and jambalaya on the first bite, and has since made both from scratch. He, in turn, has introduced me to rocket (lettuce), proper cheese, parsnips, black pudding (yuck), Yorkshire pudding, treacle pudding, and a plethora of condiments, if they count. Each example is vividly recalled.

And yes, @JLeslie, my SO also had his first corn dog when I took him to the local ‘50s soda shop in my hometown.

Not at all!
Brb cs:s

I remember the first time I had Momo, or dumplings form Nepal/Tibet. There’s a Nepalese-Tibetan restaurant in Madison called Himal Chuli, and while they might not be the best, they’re pretty good.

I had it the summer after my junior year of uni. My best friend knew the owner, so one night near closing, we went over and he served us some momo and tuck-pa, which is a soup with more dumplings.

I found out there’s a Nepalese place in Long Island City, Queens. I’m going to have to go, of course, but I think at this point, I’ll just be chasing the dragon.

@Kardamom I love ploughman’s lunch (as long as they don’t put any of that nasty blue cheese in it – blech). Best in the summer, washed down with a pint of proper cider. Stratford on Avon is one of my favourite towns.

A bit of trivia about Yorkshire puddings: although nowadays it’s served as part of the main meal, usually with roast meat or with sausages, historically (and still currently in some places) it’s served as a starter, with onion gravy. The idea is to fill up on pudding (which is cheap) so you don’t need to eat so much meat (which is expensive).

@downtide That makes sense! The onion gravy sounds yummy. I actually did make a sort of ploughman’s lunch last night with the bread and the cheese and the pickle, but I didn’t have any chutney : (