Sprouts are one of those veg that great if done right and awful if not. They need to be very fresh (not sitting in warehouse or on supermarket shelves for weeks), cut a cross into the base of each sprout to help it cook quickly and evenly, should be tossed into rapid boiling water (lightly salted) for a few minutes, DON'T OVERCOOK , serve immediately (and preferably served with melted butter and chestnuts). Done right they are gorgeous BUT if they were old to begin with, overcooked, or left to sit warming for ages before eating they are vile. Having been raised eating sprouts usually collected from the garden a few minutes before, I didn't know they could taste so awful until I tried to eat some cooked (to death) by my ex mother in law, I then understood why some people say they don't like sprouts ( even 15 years later it has left a wariness of eating them when I don't know who cooked them).