Food for thought...

Did any of us like parsnips as children?

I didn’t, and there were dozens of other foods that I didn’t like at the time as well, probably more that I didn’t like than I did like. At one point I wouldn’t even eat sausages. I seem to remember a childhood of beans or spaghetti on toast for tea every night. Of course it wasn’t real spaghetti, that hadn’t been invented in our street yet; it was canned spaghetti in tomato sauce. I loved beans and spaghetti for tea, not together though, that tasted horrible - I tried it once. Given my own way I don’t think I would have eaten anything else.

‘When will you ever grow up?’ My dad used to say about my eating habits.

As I grew older foods that used to make my face squirm like a bag full of worms, became gradually acceptable to me. I can’t exactly remember when I started eating and enjoying liver, but it was probably some time in my early teens, around the time I went to secondary school. The dinners at Lord Williams weren’t great but they were varied and, as they say, variety is the spice of life. There were some dinners I dreaded like boiled fish (actually that was the only one), but my first tastes of spaghetti bolognaise, curry, chilli, the rice that went with both dishes, and pink custard, were all taken within the company of the eight other boys at our dinner table, dished out - portion size dependent on status, house and popularity - by the table prefect.

I don’t know when I got into vegetables, or stilton, or braised ox tail, but I do know that it was sometime after I hit thirty. Up until then I have no idea what I was eating but I think it was what might be described as ‘simple British fare’ – chicken, shepherd’s pie, fish fingers, chicken tikka masala, lasagne, chilli – that sort of thing, and all with chips.

Then I found that I liked cooking and met someone who could actually do it. Even so, Rabbit, squid, and unbelievably roast lamb are even more recent removals from my ‘I don’t like that’ list.

These days there is nothing I won’t try and I like most things – a nice ostrich steak won’t make me bury my head under the tablecloth, shark meat won’t put me on the attack, and mussels don’t send me into my shell. We even collect and cook our own mussels straight from the sea at Caernarfon – they are great and they are free, mind you, you have to know how to prepare them and what to soak them in.
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I had alligator once - it was okay but chewy - and horse, unbeknownst in France, although I have to say that it was delicious. I’m still trying to pluck up the courage to try heart, brains, and tripe - although these days I do enjoy a pork pie, as long as there isn’t too much jelly.

Coffee just kind of slipped into my life without me noticing one day around fifteen along with beer and, a little later, wine. Brandy mugged me one evening in my very early twenties, and whisky, vodka, rum and finally gin, followed in a quick succession of body blows to my stomach and chin.

I don’t do milk, but who knows, I may do one day! After all, I’ve only this week had a major food epiphany…
Now what, given that I like most foods, can this new wonder food be I hear you ask? Is it exotic? Is it rare? Is it from deep inside the recesses of some animal’s body? No, none of these, it’s…

MARMITE!

Yes, after fifty years of pulling ‘that face’ every time the word Marmites been mentioned, I suddenly find that I like it! How did I find out? Simple – I bought some and tried it! I was just sitting there last week and it suddenly occurred to me that I might like Marmite now that I’m older and that, apart from eating it once as a small boy, I’d never eaten any. I’d based my whole Marmite position on that one-off, lifetime-ago, single, solo experience. So I bought some and tried it and found that I liked it. In fact, I liked it quite a lot – despite not being sure what to eat it with - yet.

Maybe it has to do with when I was brought up or maybe where, maybe even how and by whom, but it has taken me years to discover some foods that I love. It makes me wonder - if I like the foods I used to hate as a child, what other things might I enjoy if I retried them now that I’m older? Should I go to a football match or try skiing again, should I study maths at ‘A’ level, give ballroom dancing a go?

‘When will you ever grow up?’ My dad used to say. Well, it’s certainly taken me a long time. Maybe I should have tried the Marmite earlier.