I never was your average kid.
I hate white pepper - its possibly the only thing I'm allergic to and it makes the sides of my tongue and my throat and lips swell very slightly. One of my older kids was the same with tomato and the younger two are that way with kiwi fruit. Other than that I detest sweet fruit jam (jelly), completely loathe it. The nearest I can get is marmalade; bitter orange only but by preference ginger jam or grapefruit marmalade.
Husband is very proud of our kids, for the exotic foods they love; our daughter has a taste for things like brie and danish blue cheese, whilst her brother relishes things like figs, but both agree on garlic, stuffed olives, crystallised root ginger (yummy) and even HP sauce sandwiches.
I could eat HP or Daddies sauce sarnies as a kid, any day of the week, but my favourite were salad cream. Talking to son's anaesthetist the other day about the packed lunch he had foregone due to his accident, she admitted her favourite sandwich had been salad cream and peas. It sounded wonderful and we both left the recovery ward wanting one of those.
Husband likes to credit our progressive parenting for the childrens' taste in food. Fine; if they hadn't tried these things they wouldn't know if they liked them, but taste is a matter of, well, taste. You can't change what they like or dislike, only give them the chance to find out.
I was young enough to be in a high chair when my daring mother discovered I had a liking for hot horseradish sauce - so much so that she had to ration it, but I could and would eat it neat, from a teaspoon, in preference to anything sweet. I remember I got the second teaspoon full that I had both arms out to implore for, because she was so surprised that she called my father to the kitchen to see the repeat performance, and then they had a discussion over whether or not I should have any more, because I was still begging.
I guess I'm just odd; and so are all my kids, its just that preferring acidic, savoury foods is a fashionable thing these days and the next generation are applauded for it, but they miss the joys of keeping it as a delicious, sneaky secret.
6 comments:
That's the way to talk to an anaesthetist! I'm not sure that I'd trust a woman who ate salad cream and pea sandwiches to keep me doped up while they carved me in hospital. Imagine the scene in the operating room. "Pass the salad cream will you please nurse and the horseradish if you would be so kind."
I don't trust people who are too into fruit. It's just a theory based on my psychopathic ex-husband, my insane sister, and a friend whom I lost to fundamentalist Christianity - but they all talked about fruit alot and the X-hubby had to have his "piece of fruit placed at 12 o'clock to his breakfast cereal bowl". (I'm not making that up)
So, personally, I'd probably trust a horseradish-salad cream-garlic lover WAY more.
I'm the same ... give me savoury over sweet ~ strong flavours with va-va-voom that lots of people possibly don't think go together ... salad cream on meat pies, pickled shallots, horseradish cram with ANY meat or wit my fishfinger sandwiches, blue cheese! My first thought at the mention of the sandwiches was, must try that!
Fresh lemons were my dirty little secret!
Your kids and my son would get on great! He too loves such things but best of all sushi!
And my daughter ate soap. I have a photo of her somewhere as a three year old on a stool at the bathroom sink getting in a quick nibble. There'd always be tiny teeth marks on the soap... she's grown out of it but a few years ago had a quick try and said it was actually OK. Yuck!
I'm pretty proud of the way my boys will eat good savoury foods as well. It makes a change to see a kid enjoying a nice cheese with relish (the real kind and the metaphorical kind) instead of a McDonald's Cheeseburger.
My food downfall is that I love everything, sweet, savoury, spicy, salty. As long as it's not offal!
Horseraish is great on everything, but my true love?
Wasabe!
Wasabe peas,especially!
Give me a plate of sushi and a dollop of wasabe and all manners fly out the window -- I become a snarfing fool, oblivious to my surroundings.
Must be an endorphins thing, don't you think?
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