Eggplant for me too. I remember me and my adopted sister sitting at the table for hours one night because we both refused to eat our eggplant. Oddly, i don't remember EVER her trying to force us to eat it again. So, in spite of our horrible hours at the table, we 'won'.
In adulthood, I've discovered it was more about how it was cooked. Slimy and food really shouldn't go together.
Except, you know, okra, which should be slimy, but have flavor, then it's great. Since okra recipes that tasted great (callaloo and crab; pepperpot soup) are common in the Caribbean, I've never had trouble with okra.
I go the other way more. There are foods I loved when I was a child that I
cannot eat now... avocados (except in guacamole, which i love) -- it's the 'raw' taste apparently - it makes me heave. NO idea why. Also egg sandwiches. Egg and bread together, specifically make me nauseated. Again no idea why -- I eat eggs. I eat bread. Just not, you know, together. I don't eat runny eggs, so raw apparently is part of the thing.
I used to eat watermelon by the pound as a kid growing up in the Caribbean (kinda how every kid consumed fruit, especially during summer) now I CANNOT eat any melon of any kind, as I have developed an allergic reaction -- it isn't the taste that I don't like - it actually makes me sick (the beginnings of
anaphylaxis - I'm unwilling to continue to test it to see just how bad the reaction will get).
I learned to eat all sorts of things, because I'm from a multicultural part of the world, where flavors and food choices have been affected by Europe, Africa, India and China. Mostly, I'm willing to try anything at least once. My food choices are pretty damn catholic. I've found truly picky child eaters is a very north american thing. I think exposure to a variety of foods from an early age makes most people a lot less picky.
I like anchovies... but then I will eat almost all things out of the sea, except fugu (poisonous puffer fish)
