Who'd Have Guessed?

Since moving to California 12 years ago, I have learned to eat a lot of foods that I wouldn't have touched growing up in Pennsylvania.  I don't know how much of it can be attributed to my just growing up, my being forced to rethink how I eat so I could lose those pounds a few years back, and how much is just because I wasn't exposed to the foods as a kid.  Below is a selection of foods that I have not only started to incorporate in my diet, but have learned to love and would now consider life incomplete without.

Brussels Sprouts  - the problem here was not a lack of exposure.  We had these occasionally while growing up and I dreaded those days.  Mom tried hard to make them palatable with cheese sauce made hastily in the microwave, but they were still awful.  A few years ago, we were at a restaurant and the entree I wanted included Brussels sprouts.  I ordered it thinking I could just ignore the vegetable.  Besides, I have heard that if you are going to write off a food, make sure you try it prepared well, by a quality chef, before you are sure that you dislike the food.  So I tried them.  I won't lie, it wasn't love at first bite, but they weren't as bad as I remembered.  And so a few years later when a friend passed on a recipe for what she claimed were delicious Brussels sprouts, I was willing to give it a try.  And they were pretty good.  And I felt virtuous for eating them. So I made them again.  And now, I love them.  I eat them all winter long, from Thanksgiving through Easter and I miss them over the summer.

Avocados - I blame this one on lack of exposure. In Pennsylvania, at least when I lived there, the only time you ever saw an avocado was on a "California burger". No one in my family ate avocados (why would they, they grew up in PA too) and there is still no good Mexican restaurant near Allentown so these were just a foreign food.  Once in CA, the avocado was everywhere, and one could hardly avoid.  Still it wasn't until I made a black bean soup with guacamole garnish that I embraced this fruit.


Olives  - Quality olives were about as foreign to PA as the avocado in the 1990's.  I know things are changing now, but then olives were of two types - black slices out of a can and green with pimento out of a jar.  Neither is a good ambassador for what olives really are.  The first bite of a marinated, whole olive was a revelation. Oh, the salty, salty, yumminess.  I am a Whole Foods junkie thanks to the olive bar and I order olives at every restaurant and wine bar I visit.


Goat Cheese - Cheese that wasn't Monterrey Jack was a holiday treat at my house, but still we stuck to the Cheddars and Swisses and Goudas of the world.  And then there was goat cheese.  I took my first foray into the field with deliciously creamy chevre spread on toast but soon graduated to harder and more complex cheeses.  Mmmm, Midnight Moon.


Kale - Did you know you can make chips out of kale? No, seriously, you can. And that it is most delicious with onions, bacon, potatoes and/or sausage? And it can go in soup?  I wasn't even sure I was buying the right thing the first time I bought kale, but I needed it for a soup recipe, and it was incredible. Now I anxiously await spring for the appearance of the kale and the fresh fava beans.


Pickles - Much like olives, the reason I didn't like pickles was because I first tried the poorest examples.  You can't tell me you hate pickles until you have tried cornichons, these tiny French pickles.  So delicious. And of course, my love of pickles has expanded over the years to include those limp spears served next to your burger at family restaurants.


Lamb - I am starting to sense a theme. As far as I know, the only place lamb was commonly available in Allentown was in a gyro at the diner.  And the greasy, speckled, gamey meat was not enticing at all.  I swore I hated lamb. Said it over and over.  Then we had a leg of lamb, grilled with herbs. I probably ate a pound of meat.  Me, I love lamb, always have, don't know what you are talking about (but no schwarma, thanks).


Tomatoes - According to Vibbert family lore, I did like these as a kid, but I don't remember that.  I remember liking spaghetti sauce and ketchup (though I liked mustard more), but never eating a tomato.  I think I started eating these a few years after I started eating salsa.  It went like this - cooked jarred salsa, fresh salsa, tomatoes diced on food, tomatoes in salad, tomatoes by themselves.  It wasn't until I discovered heirloom tomatoes that I ever had the craving to sit down and eat slices of tomato.


Figs - Figs don't grow in PA (I think) and I don't think I ever saw one until I lived in CA. Even now, the season is so short that they are only at the farmers' market for about 6 weeks, and rarely make it to the grocery store. They aren't a massed produced fruit that is forced to produce throughout the year. Instead, they are a delicious treat to be gorged on when available and then longed for all year.


What should you take away from my ramblings?
1. You can learn to like a lot of things if you try them enough times and a few different ways.
2. Fruits and vegetables taste best when they are in season and the weak imitations available out of season give the real thing a bad reputation.
3. You can't be sure you hate something until you have tried it prepared by a chef at a good restaurant.  That way you know you are getting the best incarnation of the food.
4. If you are trying new things at home, try them in soup or on the grill.  That way you get a hint of the new taste while being comforted by more familiar tastes.
5. You are never too old to learn something new.