Wednesday, July 19, 2006

Food I Don't Eat

A long time ago I asked my Mom what was for lunch. She replied, "chicken bino-o" - chicken cooked in a broth with onions and carrots, a little soy sauce. I hate bino-o. I don't eat it.

I expressed my dislike to my mother quite simply. I said, "I don't eat bino-o."

Now my father, who was within earshot and constantly nagging me about proper English usage jumped in with, "You mean you don't like binoo. But you can eat it."

"No, I don't just dislike the stuff. I don't eat it." Poor Dad. The nuances of culinary preferences are obviously lost on him.

There is a big difference between not liking food and not eating food. I generally don't like chocolate. But if you put a moist flourless cake in front of me (preferably with some vanilla ice cream on the side), I will take a bite. Same with vegetables in general. I don't enjoy eating leaves, but if the vinagrette is good, then why not?

But there are certain kinds of food you despise. Food, even if free, you would pass on. By the way, the "free" test is the absolute litmus test on whether you eat a certain food or not. As a general rule, I will eat ANYTHING that is free. It doesn't even need to be edible. If it's free and does not move, odds are I will attempt to taste it.

Ampalaya, okra, beans of any kind except monggo. You can give me truckloads of this stuff and I wouldn't touch it with a hundred foot pole. I don't even know why people bother to grow these things, much less buy them.

In a perfect world there would be no okra (and mosquitoes).

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