Part of my list of goals this year involves eating food that I don’t like. I guess the broader theme to this goal is to take little leaps and find out if maybe I’m not missing out on something pretty awesome.
As a child I avoided many foods that I would eventually grow up to love. Onions, Green Peppers and Whipped Cream were only a few on the list that today I can’t imagine not eating.
Cucumbers have always been a food that I have avoided. I have never liked the smell or the mixture of textures involved. The last time I had cucumbers (before I made my 2012 goal to eat new stuff) was at an Easter dinner at a high-school friend’s house. They were serving only seafood (which I also don’t eat) and so my friend’s mom made me a salad which was basically lettuce and cucumbers. I didn’t want to complain and just eat the lettuce, so I tried to eat the cucumbers. It was not good. I actually threw up in my mouth and had to excuse myself.
On New Year’s Eve this year, I attended a charming party hosted by @twitandrewking with themed food for the multi-course dinner – and the appetizer was smoked salmon and cucumbers. It was prepared so wonderfully by @missfish that I thought I would throw caution to the wind and try one (keep in mind that I didn’t eat cucumbers or salmon at this point). I tried a salmon/cucumber appetizer and it was actually quite lovely! It didn’t make me throw up! Hooray!
Fast forward to today: I was at the grocery store and decided to take a leap. I bought a whole cucumber!
And here, recorded in pictures, is what happened…
Success! The vinegar and salt cucumber was tasty. All 5 slices made it to their intended destination!
The verdict on cucumbers? Not bad. Not as bad as I expected it to be.
Now what? I guess that I have the rest of the cucumber to eat – although I will probably wait until tomorrow to continue. There are so many other foods that I need to take the leap with. Which one am I most afraid of? Shrimp. Most other seafoods/shellfish/fish I feel like I will be able to manage, but shrimp freaks me out.
What foods are on your “Don’t Like It” list? Have you learned to love anything you previously rejected?
