I'm now in my late 70s. I ate almost everything served in my teens at boarding school in UK and at home BECAUSE everything was cooked simply and served separately on the plate so you could leave the leeks or parsnips if you didn't like them.

Now I have to opt for fish and chips or an "all day English breakfast" if I eat out because chefs alter the flavour of everything and mix it all together. Meat is marinated, herbed and spiced, nearly always with garlic or onion. Potatoes have mint or parsley or chives and so on. All the simple foods I enjoyed in the past have a sprinkle of this or a dash of that which renders them unpalatable. Sauces, pickles, chutney, mustard smell too disgusting to even try. Exotic foods like pasta (even spaghetti), noodles, couscous, curry, bean sprouts I don't even try.

My major dislikes are spices, herbs, all the onion family, shellfish and oily fish - I only like white fish. Peppermint, passionfruit, aniseed are also unpleasant.

Curiously I'm very fond of blue cheese, also really tart stewed fruit without sugar, plain unsweetened yoghurt, beetroot in vinegar.

I once read an article about 30 different vegetables and enjoy 17 of those, but not salads. I like my veges cooked.

Managing type 2 diabetes since 1999 means I must carefully watch what I eat and how much.