When I was about 5 or so, my mom made me eat a beet. I had the kind of parents who made you clean your plate and we were having beets that night. I am pretty sure they were the canned variety and I sat there with a beet in my mouth, refusing to swallow it, for at least a half an hour. I thought they were so disgusting, I couldn't imagine letting it go down the hatch. If I would have been thinking less like a 5 year old, maybe I would've just hurried and swallowed it and not savored the horrible taste for quite as long. Instead, I turned it into a traumatic moment and have steered clear of beets, in any form, since that day.
