I only started eating them a few years ago when they started showing up in restaurants (the local, organic, sustainable trendy kind) and a few friends served them at dinner. When I was a little girl a nasty boy threw some in my face and I will never forget that pain. Plus a couple of other encounters just from growing up in the country, so I was really leery too.I just learned about stinging nettles this past winter. Too many boyhood "fishing along the creeks" trips still makes me nervous about trying them.