In my younger years, I was very picky with food. Because I went to UP Diliman for college, I started experimenting (food-wise) and tried a lot of food for the first time — sisig (KKK and Trellis on Kalayaan!), ox brain (in the International Center), CASAA (where every meal is an experiment), and eating in eat-all-you-can-rice establishments way before Mang Inasal started it. What I regret not doing was (making tusok-tusok) eating fish ball. I never had fish ball in UP, can you believe? I just couldn’t get myself to do it. (I am, however, at peace with not ever trying isaw, betamax and the other icky stuff.)
When I started working, I got more bold. I ate in Wok Inn for the first time. The food was good (even though I thought we would get mugged and hepatitis at the same time. It was the old branch on Shaw Blvd beside the hardware and car battery shop). Then I was assigned in the province for sales for more than a year and that’s when I really got “down and dirty”. I remember having to eat at a carinderia in Naga, this outdoor ihaw-ihaw at the municipal hall of Kalibo and of course the palengke in Boracay Station 3. To this day, I cannot believe how I got through all of that but I am a stronger woman now (with a stronger gut) because of that year in sales.
Although I have been more adventurous with food options over time, there are still some foods (yes, you can add an “s” if it means different types of food) I don’t like to eat. After some analysis, I realized the food I don’t like to eat actually fall into 1 category — I call them “murky food”. Some examples:
I don’t like kare-kare or kaldereta because the ingredients are buried under some thick sauce and you can’t distinguish the ingredients anymore. I don’t like dinuguan and adobong pusit because they’re swimming in black sauce (I’m not too keen on paella negra either). I abhor balaw-balaw (which my father loves).
I don't like murky food
However, I am OK to eat dishes in clear soup or thick-sauced homogeneous meals (mechado, adobo, paksiw). I am not giving up hope though. Kare-kare is in my bucket list.
What about you? Do you discriminate against certain foods?
©OCMominManila
i love kare-kare especially with bagoong!! for dinuguan, i only eat it when a specific aunt cooks it. i don’t eat any other dinuguan. food i won’t eat is eel – unagi. i can’t stand how oily it is! hmm.. maybe pig’s brain and ox brain – have tried them and never again.
I am also not a bagoong fan. Hahaha. Unagi, I have tried but I’m not a fan either.
Ang hirap mo palang pakainin!! As for me, I feel like such a garbage can now.
For one of my birthday parties, Mang Larry’s isawan was one of my “caterers”.
I love those mangoes dipped in dubious water topped with even more dubious bagoong.
Adobong pusit and diniguan are two of my top favorite dishes!
But one thing I cannot eat: balut chick!!
@PainterswifePH Madali na yan pakainin… try feeding my husband. Goodluck!
@OCmominManila I will cook Kare-kare for you! Because I pass the test of cooking it for D who is ultimately pickier than you, then I think makakain mo siya. Hahaha. Let’s see what you think.
Such opposites hahaha! When I was a kid, my mom cold make me eat “anything” (which would be general food din) with Del Monte Tomato Ketchup. When we would go out, I would only order toasted bread with butter.
I don’t eat munggo guisado because of how it looks. I don’t eat misua and any flat pasta (except lasagna) because of how it feels in the mouth. I only eat onions when its fried or as a salad/pizza topping. I hate garlic but i love pesto! Oh, I can go on and on!
I don’t like munggo either! But I see you have more food oddities than I do. Hahaha.
I’m not a fan of “murky” dishes too. I remember my husband’s experience of eating dinuguan with bits of worn-out rubber slippers in them when he worked as a plantation manager in a banana company. He had no idea what he was eating! Someone revealed it to him after the meal and he never ate any of their dinuguan again. Yikes! It was a sad reality though, that some people are just too poor that they had to do that
Rubber slippers?? And worn out at that!! Why do people do such things?!
Yep, as in lumang chinelas na goma. Extender daw kasi wala silang pambili ng meat. Same “gummy” consistency. Tsk tsk