Which food am I most grateful for?

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When I was a child, I was a drive-my-mother-insane-picky eater. I'd eat a bowl of spaghetti with ketchup no problem, but foods with many different vegetables or flavors mixed in one were my biggest hurdle. At 15 someone told me I'm such a picky eater that if they knew how to prepare a bowl of strawberry-flavored mush, they'd know for sure they were feeding me. And then I moved to Italy...

I learned to love mozzarella, ricotta and Parmesan cheese. I fell in love with basil and sun dried tomatoes. I got used to black olives, capers, anchovy and white wine. After I returned from Italy, I fell in love with Thai food and the rest is history.


Image: pixabay.com

The year in Italy taught me to be fearless what comes to eating. These days I will often order something I have yet to taste when I go out to eat. I am constantly hoping to be positively surprised. At times I need to eat almonds that taste like pot (which ironically didn't have any pot in them), but those are the dues I need to pay to reach the good stuff.

In the last ten years of living in the Netherlands I only did not have to learn what substitutes some of the ingredients that I'm used to, but I simply had to learn to cook. I arrived to this country with maybe three recipes I could've recited. Recipe by recipe I learned new dishes until at one point I learned where the corners were that I could cut in a recipe. In the end, I learned how to cook.

 So, what food am I most grateful for? I'm grateful I grew out of the picky phase completely and now I'm eager to experience new flavors. I'm grateful that sometimes I get to sit in front of a plate of particular food I've been craving all day, but most of all, I'm grateful for whenever someone prepares food for me out of love. If you've ever done this to me: thank you from the bottom of my heart!

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