What we like to eat is one of the most personal choices humans have. Influencing our restaurant choices, dining companions and even the foods we choose to cook with, our taste buds can dictate our lives.

However, new research from recipe box company Gousto has discovered that almost half (46%) decide to try something new just based on how it looks, with a huge 1 in 5 (21%) admitting that they wouldn’t  try a new dish if they didn’t like the way it looked – regardless of flavour.

The research found that the most common foods the great British public dislike, were oysters (34%), olives (27%) and blue cheese (27%). The controversial condiment Marmite was up there as a disliked flavour too (29%) – although a comparable 26% also claim to love the taste, proving that we really are a nation of lovers or haters. In comparison, bananas, dark chocolate, mushrooms and tomatoes are the most loved flavours across the country.

Over half (55%) of people will limit their friends and family’s foodie repertoire, admitting that even when they have to cook for others they will avoid cooking with their least favourite flavours.

But does disliking a food mean the end of the road?

As recipe box company Gousto partners with the country’s most controversial spread Marmite, to bring a range of tantalisingly delicious recipes to their weekly menu, it turns out there are ways in which you can actually train your tastebuds to like – or even LOVE – the foods that we’ve grown up hating.

With almost one third of Brits having a dislike for a food that they wish they liked, it’s time to broaden your taste horizons and enjoy that umami goodness. According to Oxford University Professor Charles Spence, there are five top tips for tastebud training:

• Mask bitterness. Adding something salty can help mask bitterness. Think salt on grapefruit (makes it taste sweeter), or feta cheese to olives.
• If it’s a smell that’s the problem, try holding your nose… It works for medicine, and for ripe cheese, sometimes it smells awful but tastes much better than it smelled
• Distract – if it is texture that is the problem, and very often it is, e.g. slimy oysters – then add something sharp or spicy/piquant in order to distract your attention – then your tastebuds will pay attention to sharp taste and texture less noticeable
• Familiarity breeds liking. Familiarise your kids with vegetables away from dining table first, use vegetables in play, vegetables as jewellery etc. going shopping for vegetables too
• Pair and mix – disguise smell of cooking cauliflower by adding a spice or herb, like lemongrass – or mixing marmite with caramel sauce

It’s not just the taste that’s a factor in deciding whether we like something. One in five women are likely to be put off by the texture of a food and two in five men will decide if they like a food based on how it looks.

The divisive oyster proved unpopular across the board, with texture and smell cited as the biggest turn-offs. Just over a quarter dislike the texture of olives and, perhaps unsurprisingly, two in five can’t stand the smell of blue cheese.

The study showed that our hatred of certain foods can start young, with over half saying they had a food they didn’t enjoy as children that they still don’t like today. However, it has been proven that our tastebuds change as we get older, suggesting that we should give those foods a second chance!

Over time, 8% of Brits have come around to liking olives and blue cheese, with respondents becoming increasingly adventurous in trying these foods again. 33% of people will try to enjoy something they haven’t previously liked by mixing it with other flavours, and 31% will keep trying the food in the hopes that their tastebuds will adapt.

Joining us for interview will be comedienne and Gousto ambassador Katherine Ryan alongside Professor Charles Spence, Experimental Psychologist at Oxford University.