Despite the fact that 90% of what I ate was home cooked, mostly from scratch, meals, I managed to miss out on some basics like courgette (zucchini) and aubergine (eggplant) and BUTTER if you can believe it.
My mother was big on margarine. So when I moved out I continued the tradition until one day I made a fateful mistake. It was like in Ratatouille. I was sat in my studio just eating buttered bread having an out of body experience.
Soo many things. Most of my favorite foods, I didn’t try until I was an adult.
Curry (all of the curries - Indian, Japanese, Thai, it’s all delicious). Mapo tofu (and other Sichuanese dishes like boiled fish or beef). Hot pot of all varieties. Pancit bihon. Hungarian mushroom soup. Khao soi. And on and on…
As for basic ingredients: Avocados. Fish sauce. Doubanjiang.