Blog #9: The 6 Month Rule

 

We all grow up with likes and dislikes, especially when it comes to food. My sister and I would often ask my mother as children, “Ma, what’s for diiinnneerrr?”, and she would roll her eyes a bit and tell us about the rice, vegetables and lentils we’d be having, knowing what was coming next. “But can’t we just order a pizza?", we'd say. I mean, we had home cooked meals every single day and yet we’d whine about wanting pizza (which we would have about once a month anyways). If we knew then what we know now! Kids can be so difficult to please! Having said that though, we weren’t “allowed” to be picky or choose what we ate every night (like many kids today) so we did have to learn to eat what was in front of us if we didn’t want to go hungry. But, what if we knew then about the 6 month rule? What if we allowed ourselves to try the things we hated, every 6 months? Would we find that with age, experience, travel and evolution, we wouldn't hate them after all? 

 Because we were fairly good eaters as kids, there were a few things we just didn’t like and my mom was kind enough to not force us to eat those things. I hated olives, eggplant, fish and peas. I’d pick every single black olive off of my pizza while my sister would happily chomp away. Eggplant would make my throat itchy and the texture would turn me off. Fish, well, the smell alone was so terrible so the taste couldn’t possibly be good! It turns out that we went fishing in British Columbia when I was very young and seeing the fish being pulled out of the water and floundering on the boat, gasping for air, made me cry and left a lasting impression. Peas were just a mushy, bland mess that gave me a gag reflex. I still hate peas. I will subconsciously and absent mindedly remove them from anything they’re tucked into (pot pies, fried rice, samosas) with no remorse. Get them off of my plate, please and thank you. 

At some point in my adult life, I decided to start opening my mind to re-trying the foods I’d already proclaimed to hate. I’m not sure how or why this happened, but boy am I glad it did! All of a sudden one day, the olives on the pizza tasted quite good! So, I decided to try other varieties of olives. Once I started gaining an appreciation for wine, they were often paired with cheeses and meats on a charcuterie board and I found this combination to be divine. I soon discovered that kalamata (Greek, purple) olives are my favorite, and garlic stuffed Spanish (green) olives are to die for. The saltiness and tanginess from the brining process is such a brilliant accompaniment to a variety of cheeses and crackers. Now, there are always olives in my fridge! 

Eggplant can be tricky. The big, Italian eggplant (most commonly sold in supermarkets in the US) can be a challenge to cook correctly and if it's underdone, it’s just no good at all. It also soaks up oil like a sponge, so you don’t want to douse it in it simply to get it to soften up and cook. I decided to open my mind to it, based solely on the fact that there is such a thing as “Eggplant Parmesan” (and I am a parmesan freak, especially after having been to Parma and smuggling back the real deal…shhhhh). I love Eggplant Parmesan. It’s absolutely delicious with its layers of breading, red sauce and cheesy goodness. However, Japanese eggplant is even more delightful. Characterized by their narrow shape and lovely shade of purple, Japanese eggplant are much easier and faster to cook, delivering all of the flavor you are looking for. One of my favorite preparations is with tofu and basil. Try it at your next Thai or Japanese restaurant outing! 

Wrapping my head around eating fish was a multi-tiered process. It started with cooked, light, white fish. When I lived in Hawaii, I of course started eating Mahi, Opah, Opakapaka and Hamachi. Sometimes there would be other local water fish that would be on menus and I started trying them all, little by little. White fish can be flaky and mild in flavor and there is so much nutritional value in it, it just made sense. Also, how can you live in HI and not eat fish? It would be a sin. The funny thing is, even though I developed an appreciation and even love for cooked fish during my time on the Islands, I couldn’t touch sashimi (raw fish). The texture was just too much like flesh and I just couldn’t get down with it….until about 3 months prior to my final move from there (in 2012). And….lo and behold, I loved it. Can you even imagine all of the delicious, melt-in-your-mouth, raw, fresh fish I missed out on for 3 1/2 years?! So, what made me suddenly like it? Was it watching everyone around me, devouring it like it was going out of style while proclaiming, “SOOO ono (Hawaiian for tasty)!”, my maturity level or my gateway of cooked white fish first? Whatever it may have been, I’m so grateful for having tried it again, that fateful day in 2012, because sashimi has changed my life. It’s just so damn good, when it’s fresh. 

So, why don’t we take it upon ourselves to try something, this week, hell- maybe even TODAY, that we have always despised? What haven't you tried in 6 months? Who knows, our tastes may have changed and we may experience a culinary pleasure like no other, to both our shock and surprise! I am living proof that it does happen! Now, as far as eating peas again? You couldn’t get me to touch them with a 10 foot pool. 100%, absolutely out of the question.