My parents loved cheeses of all kinds so I was brought up on a wide variety of cheeses. Some I hated as a kid, but now I love them. I think our palate evolves. Kids like simple straight forward tastes but in time they learn to love rich french sauces imbued with all kinds of epicurian over and undertones.

Like wine. Most people start off liking only sweet wines but generally their taste evolves to drier and heavier wines.

My Dad also loved his limburger and onion sandwiches. (A smear of the cheese and a big, thick slice of onion was his usual way of eating it....on white bread.) The limburger was so bad that he would fold it back into the foil and then put it inside of a mayonnaise jar, close the lid and STILL it made our refrigerator smell like old socks. Gag.....but the man did love those sandwiches. He also had a fondness for potted meat with a bit of mayo and pickles on white bread. (Colonial Bread) I actually developed a taste for Potted Meat and might even indulge today if I could find it.

I loved potted meat as a kid.

That's because to make Limburger they bathe the blocks of cheese with the same bacteria that causes body odor in humans.

Just saw that on a weird food show this weekend.


Bleu Cheese, Roquefort, gorgonzola and feta are about the stinkiest cheeses I've tried and I like them. No idea how the BO cheese tastes - I think I might try it for free but I wouldn't pay to do so.

It that is all there was to eat, I'd be very thin.

That stuff's overpowering for me

I read somewhere that there is a gag reflex gene which I think I have and want to get rid of if it exists so I can eat a lot of things that gross me out .......

It's primary function is to prevent choking. Supposedly you can train yourself to overcome the reflex. The reflex is triggered by touching the back of your throat or tongue, the area around the tonsils or the roof of your mouth.

I think your problem may be more related to the smell, rather than the gag reflex. I cannot eat cooked spinach. The smell triggers gagging.

Right now I am eating toast with an extra aged Danbo called Gamle Ole. It smells like stinky feet, but it tastes really delicious. I decided to be daring and give it a try, and I'm glad I did! It tastes nothing like it smells.
http://www.scandikitchen.co.uk/products/Gamle-Ole-500g.html

Stinky cheeses do not taste like the smell.

I think as we age we start appreciating sour foods more.

My favorite snack right now is aged blue cheese on toasted sourdough bread, yummy.

I suspect it's more cultural than genetic.

My dad used to refer to Parmesan as stinky cheese.

Somehow, I don't think that is the kind of stinky cheese you are referring to.

I like many kinds of cheese, but I have never liked blue cheese, and still don't.

I've never had the opportunity to try roquefort cheese. Not sure how I would respond, if presented with some.

How food smells can be important. A poster above can't stand the smell of cooking spinach. I love the stuff.

I can't stand the smell of cooking parsnips. Yuck!

but Gruyere's my fav but for a French cheese whose name I'm afraid I'll never recall. Met and sampled it in Paris, actually found it again in a small shop in DC, but have LOST it. NOT stinky, but mellow and tasty.

I haven't tried that yet, but I heard about it on some cooking show and am curious about it. My dad did have his liverwurst, limburger and onion sandwiches, so maybe that is where I got the taste for the pungent cheese. He grew up with that, too.

My mom used to hate how my dad would stink up the whole house with that.

I've found myself drawn to spicier, more vigorous tastes (and foods with strong aromas). Even as a young adult (20s and 30s) I didn't get the entire chili pepper craze, nor could I hack strong cheese. Now, I enjoy testing myself with very hot sauces, stinky cheeses, and "strong" tastes (discovered that brussel sprouts aren't the Devil's unwashed testicles I'd once believed them to be).

kiss me where it smells -------- we can't drive to New Jersey

How do you tell if blue cheese has gone bad ?