[Misc] Changing tastes. A question..

[The Clamp]

Close season thread alert !

It's well known as we get older our tastes change / mature.

As I have eased into middle age with my trademark grace and dignity (ahem) I have developed an appetite for and appreciation of;


Strong cheeses
Malbec
Offal
Olives
Deli meats
Fruits and vegetables


And some;
Jazz
Live orchestral music
Poetry

Also;
Radio 4
Dominoes
A varied exercise routine based mainly outdoors


And lost my appetite for

The vast majority of films
Small talk
Heavy drinking
Smoking
Weight lifting and long gym sessions
News
Junk food.



What about you? What have you picked up along the way and what have you discarded along the path of life?

 

[Bakero]

New appetites I'm not sure about. From 30 onwards my musical tastes broadened greatly and though I've always had a keen interest in food I suppose I began to appreciate it even more as I got older. I wish I could do the travelling I did on my 20s again but with more of a food focus.

Heavy drinking is still enjoyable tbh. Smoking stopped almost 10 years ago. Class A drugs too pretty much, though a trip back down memory lane isn't a horrible idea.

Junk food hasn't appealed since my teens. Weight training is something I should do more of. Running too.

Older me is much more partial to an earlier night so I feel vaguely fresh in the morning whereas younger me wouldn't know when to let go of a night out.

For the most part, 25-year-old me would get on well with 40-year-old me.

 

[B-right-on]

I've got into gardening, not just new plants but I've collected bits of driftwood and created sculptures and landscaping with rocks/pebbles/ grasses etc... Probably started around lockdown. Before that I left it all to the Mrs, didn't even mow the lawn.

Definitely Olives and pickles. Until my 50s I hated them.

 

[Gwylan]

Funnily enough, I was having the same thoughts last week but mine were about how little mine have changed since my early 20s.

My favourite drink was Harvey's (it still is), if I drank spirits it was whisky, normally Laphroig (I still do). My favourite meal is curry, my favourite snack is bread and strong (just as it was 45 years ago).

My most loved film is Les Enfants du Paradis - just as it was in my late teens, MY favourite rock album was Trout Mask Replica (it still is), although my fave bands were Can and Velvet Underground (and, yep, still are), although I tended to listen to more reggae and soul music than rock ... and still do.

The album that I played the most in my final year of uni was Glenn Gould's 1980 take on Bach's Goldberg Variations. I play it a lot although I prefer Gould's earlier version now.

As for reading, I have a whole shelf of poetry, just as I had all those years ago. And I still love Wodehouse and Flann O'Brien.

What has changed? Clothing, that's to be expected at my age. I no longer die my hair. I still play football and cricket, although sadly I'm nearing the end - I've already given up rugby.

I wasn't much of a nightclub person but I'm definitely not now.

And, of course, I still go to the Albion and watch Sussex.

Really, not much has changed

 

[Bodian]

I've got into gardening, not just new plants but I've collected bits of driftwood and created sculptures and landscaping with rocks/pebbles/ grasses etc... Probably started around lockdown. Before that I left it all to the Mrs, didn't even mow the lawn.

Definitely Olives and pickles. Until my 50s I hated them.

Just like this?

 

[BadFish]

I find my tastes have narrowed somewhat in terms of music. I used to listen to many varieties whereas now I enjoy seeking out new indie, jangle pop and shoegaze. As well as flirting with my old favourites. Still listen to a a bit of hip hop and my son's drum and bass wares.

Not much has changed in food.

I don't like getting drunk any more, lack of control and a wasted day (or two) to recover. I also don't need alcohol quite so much to be able to converse with people.

 

[Garry Nelson's Left Foot]

I've developed an intense hatred of anyone that describes themselves as a 'foodie'. The insufferable, pretentious bellends.

BUT they've only really become a 'thing' in the last ten years or so, so it's difficult to say if it's a change or if I would have disliked the pricks 25 years ago too. I probably would have, the boring nobbers.

 

[Bakero]

I've developed an intense hatred of anyone that describes themselves as a 'foodie'. The insufferable, pretentious bellends.

BUT they've only really become a 'thing' in the last ten years or so, so it's difficult to say if it's a change or if I would have disliked the pricks 25 years ago too. I probably would have, the boring nobbers.

I'm with you on that. As I said above, I love food; reading about it, talking about it, buying it, cooking it and, above all, eating it. But I too dislike the term "foodie".

If we ever meet, I'll remember not to start talking about preserved lemons and bottarga.

That reminds me of a new "hobby" I've picked up in recent years: preserving and fermenting things. Pickles, chutneys, sauerkraut, chilli sauce, and, of course, preserved lemons (I really like the lemons). I also fancy curing my own meat

 

[dannyboy]

The biggest one for me is coffee. I hated it , the smell, the taste , the shops ... everything. 3 years ago i drank my first cup with the whole intention of giving myself a pick me up for gym sessions. I had to hold my nose at first. im 53 now, have my own little Barista thing and would say i quite enjoy it while still not completely enjoying the taste if that makes sense.

 

[Guinness Boy]

Read this with the dog curled up next to me. Wouldn’t have considered having one ten or even five years ago. Now he’s my best mate and the walk we’re about to go on will be the highlight of my day - unless he nicks another dog’s toy or gets covered in grass seeds .

I like a wider range of music now, cook better, read less and have “round the house” clothes.

 

[Happy Exile]

Great idea for a thread. For me I think it comes down mostly to being a lot more selective than I used to be:

Developed an appreciation for:

Dressing better. Nothing flashy, and everything is from eBay, just better, longer-lasting quality (literally all my clothes but undies and socks are second hand)
Silence
Self-help books - I'm a lot less snobby
Moral complexity. There are things I'm far more open to now where before I was socialised on strict and very binary right/wrong lines
Taking my time cooking
Learning things for the sake of learning.

Lost interest in:

TV and films - these days I only watch either as a social thing with family, and even then only occasionally
Drinking (gave up for my mental health and have no desire to go back)
Seeing a lot of people - not in a judgemental way, I just used to see a lot of people because I thought I should or because of social pressure. Now I'm not interested in bending to that pressure.
Running (used to run marathons every year. These days I just go to the gym)
A lot of music

 

[Machiavelli]

Once upon a time I could handle American oak. Now I'm so sophisticated that I berate others for drinking it. I guess that makes me a drinkie, or winie, alongside being a foodie.

 

[Goldstone1976]

Once upon a time I could handle American oak. Now I'm so sophisticated that I berate others for drinking it. I guess that makes me a drinkie, or winie, alongside being a foodie.

I think we’re usually referred to as winos…

 

[Machiavelli]

I think we’re usually referred to as winos…

Speak for yourself. I'm most certainly not a wino, I'm a winie (or perhaps winey) who irritates others less by the volume of consumption, as the volume of pretentious output on such matters.

 

[Garry Nelson's Left Foot]

I'm with you on that. As I said above, I love food; reading about it, talking about it, buying it, cooking it and, above all, eating it. But I too dislike the term "foodie".

If we ever meet, I'll remember not to start talking about preserved lemons and bottarga.

That reminds me of a new "hobby" I've picked up in recent years: preserving and fermenting things. Pickles, chutneys, sauerkraut, chilli sauce, and, of course, preserved lemons (I really like the lemons). I also fancy curing my own meat

I am all up for talking about preserving and fermenting things. I know nothing about them but it seems like a perfectly acceptable hobby.


But if your opening gambit is talking about how you went to the jungles of Laos as that's the only way to experience truly authentic cuisine and then proceed to show me 300 photos of a random fruit and some noodles I'm afraid we can't be friends.


Talking about food in a normal manner is fine- my cousins a chef *- it's just the horrendous 'foodies ' I can't deal with.














*that sounds a bit like the food equivalent of I can't be racist, one of my friends is...

 

[Icy Gull]

Speak for yourself. I'm most certainly not a wino, I'm a winie (or perhaps winey) who irritates others less by the volume of consumption, as the volume of pretentious output on such matters.

One of those pretentious twats who can taste and enthuse about things like the pencil lead in wines

 

[Questions]

When I was young I listened to the radio waiting for my favourite songs. When they played I’d sing along it made me smile.
Not now though.

 

[luge]

40 this year and the only drastic change is that there are far fewer nights out and i take a very long time to recover when i do. I go to bed far earlier and will often turn down evenings out to relax.

Much of the past nearly 7 years has been spent either child rearing or pretending I am not doing that, so this year I am enjoying having just a bit more time to settle down to a film or read a book now the youngest is three.

My tastes were reasonably old fashioned anyway. I read alot of history and politics books, hated shots, loved red wine. I love exploring new music, and always have.

Biggest differences I would say is that I tend not to read the news daily now, I find most speech radio a turn off - especially non sport five live which i find anodyne and journalistically poor. Podcasts have taken their place.

I find most of the modern world all a-cock and based on a clever marketing strategy over human experience.

Whilst I am still borderline obsessive on football, i find i don't really know much about the new breed of players until i see them play. Most of our current targets, for instance - never heard of them before all the rumours everywhere.

 

[FindonFan]

I've developed an intense hatred of anyone that describes themselves as a 'foodie'. The insufferable, pretentious bellends.

BUT they've only really become a 'thing' in the last ten years or so, so it's difficult to say if it's a change or if I would have disliked the pricks 25 years ago too. I probably would have, the boring nobbers.

Agreed. But after the weekend I’ve just had I’d change the word ’foodie’ for ‘vegan’

 

[schmunk]

I used to lust after slim, athletic women but now...