New foods

I still remember being on the playground at recess during either 4th or 5th grade talking to all the kids about how they liked or disliked certain foods. The consensus by nearly all of them was that liver and onions were disgusting. This however was not a conclusion I was able to draw, seeing as I had never actually eaten liver and onions, I just assumed they would be gross. But that day I went home and told mom that I would like to try liver and onions, because if I was going to complain about them, I needed to have some actual experience with them. She, not being a fan of liver and onions didn’t have any on hand, so she took me to Kroger where we only found chicken livers. I can’t remember whether they were any good or not, but they must not have been good enough to request again, because I never had them after that. To this day I have still never eaten liver, and I probably never will, because when my roommate in college came home from her food safety class she was required to take to work at McDonalds, she announced “when you boil liver, you have to be really careful because the water that remains is urine.” It was then that I came to the conclusion that eating the filter on an animal that cleans out the crap that the animal’s body didn’t think was good enough to digest, is probably not the smartest move anyway.

We ate plenty of vegetables as kids, but most of my “exotic” vegetable experiences were at other people’s houses. I ate my first asparagus at Mrs. Cox’s house, and my first artichoke at the Blankenship’s. (Yes, I just classified asparagus and artichokes as exotic – they were pretty exotic for the 80s.) My guess is that my mother just assumed that as a kid, I wouldn’t like these things and never messed with them, and then I came home and said “Hey, I tried asparagus and I liked it!” And she looked at me like I was crazy, but then occasionally we had asparagus after that.

About 2 years ago, I decided to try new foods, or re-try old foods, to see if my palate had changed. Quite honestly it started when I went to Julie’s rehearsal dinner and ate some very tasty things, I’m almost positive I never would have ordered myself. Since then I have been watching the food network and trying things at parties I might have otherwise passed over. I have introduced into my diet several pretty healthful options: mixed baby greens, non-ranch salad dressings, fresh herbs, and gnocchi. I even tried Indian food and I liked it!

Fast forward to today when I read “make sure to give your child a variety of foods, even ones you may not like, because he may like them.” So I look down the list of foods he’s going to get to try in pureed form (at 4 day intervals to watch for allergic reactions), and I only see two that I don’t like: cabbage and peaches. I can eat fresh cabbage, but cooked cabbage – blegh. Peaches, well I can see where people might like them, but I’m not a fan. Well, they also have Apricots on there, and maybe I’m misinformed, but apricots = peaches to me. And beets, once again, I cannot weigh in on the subject, as I’ve never had them. Maybe he’ll let me have a taste of his.

I’d like him to be adventurous with his food choices, and am willing to try new things right along side him…I’ve never had brussel sprouts or rutabaga either. And although I won’t eat them, I will totally fix him fish sticks. Should he come home one day and tell me how all the kids were complaining about liver and onions I will totally take him to Luby’s, because I don’t cook with urine.