Escape your comfort zone: My voyage through the foods I’ve avidly avoided – from baked beans to Marmite

Despite living in the UK for more than 30 years, there are a handful of popular staples I have doggedly refused to eat. So I take the plunge with prawn cocktail crisps

I like to think I have an adventurous palate. I eat many things that commonly upset people - shellfish, snails, coriander - without complaint. I don't have any allergies and I am highly lactose tolerant.

As an American who has lived in the UK for 30 years, I can only think of a few British foodstuffs I won't touch, among them baked beans, Marmite and prawn cocktail crisps. But can I really consider myself adventurous if I'm not willing to give these three a go?