Hm, I must admit I'm like him in this respect. The way I justify it to myself (cause I know my partner's thinking is exactly like yours) is that my want may be as important as his want, but at the end of the day I prefer doing what he likes, whether it's food, or the telly or whatever answer's the question "so, what now?". Partly, it's easier: no clash, therefore no problem. Plus, I feel a tiny bit of guilt creeping up if one in ten times I actually say what I want to do and we go ahead with it if my partner wanted something else. At the end of the day, if A's needs are these and B's needs are the others, unless there's a way of doing both, I'd much rather go along with what he wants, cause, hey, it may be a cliche to say I'm happy when he's happy, but I stand by it. I'm not saying I don't regret it when we're 10 minutes into a film I'm really not into, or started a game which really doesn't interest me in the slightest, but, apparently, I'm not regretting it enough to want it to change, so it can't be all that bad.
But going back to the top, that is just a justification for me. At the end of the day, I do it cause I'm like that. I prefer giving in to quarreling, even if it's an insignificant quarrel that has no real impact on our relationship.
I understand where you're coming from (both you and my own partner), and if it proves to be a bigger issue than I think it is at the moment, I will do my best to change, but at the end of the day, if it's the little details in an everyday routine, keep in mind that there's things we get from you that perk us up and make us happy enough to not really care if what we're watching isn't exactly our cup of tea, or if the walk isn't exactly our idea of a good time.