What do you like?

I've been asked this a lot since I've been to Italy and it's always referring to food. I'm what you would call una buona forketa, literally meaning I'm a good fork. It means I'm a good eater, and this isn't the first time I've been told I'm a pleasure to eat with because I'll eat almost anything. I think I draw the line with things like blood, but as Jeffery Steingarten points out- there are precious few things that all cultures avoid putting in their mouths. Paper and hair are largely avoided but other than that almost everything is fair game. Steingarten also notes that even babies don't winge ar the site of maggots crawling on rotting meat, so most food avoidances are learned. I've taken his words to heart and eaten most everything that's been presented to me since I've been here. The best thing so far has been the fat surrounding the kidney of a grass fed lamb whichever as like a crispy, sweet, carmel coating over fresh spring water. It was the lightest fat you could imagine and melted in my mouth before it even touched my tongue. 

This begin said, I've found there are some flavors which don't delight my palate, but the difficult thing is they are found everywhere and it's impossible to iliminate an entire food group to avoid them. One is bitterness. I've found this in shell fish, broccoli vegetables, etc, and I'm one of those people to which everything tastes bitter after eating pine nuts for a day or two. It's not that bitterness is bad, it's just that bitterness where it doesn't belong (like a pasta dish, or fish course) is an unwelcome surprise. And more so than other flavors, is impossible to ignore.

Some flavors, textures and temperatures of different foods are ok to cross off your list of edibles. The challenge is how to tell your host or chef why one day you'll eat it and another you won't. I think it's especially difficult when you know the chef's (or family/friend's) 'style' off cooking because it's so easy to be deceived into thinking that it's possible to predict the way it will taste. I am still working on coming to terms with the fact that I don't have taste prediction abilities and still need to keep an open mind. But I  think the best approach to precise targeting of dislikes and likes is done by eliminating tastes, not flavors.  If done this way, you'll never be denying yourself an entire food just because it's unfamiliar, or have had a bad experience in the past. Everyone's food 'road' is different, and it took me a whole 27 years to get where I am today and be able to be open to trying almost anything. It's a joy and a surprise and it makes times with people you don't know so much more exciting because it's a food adventure. 

You took an have your own food adventure today in your own supermarket. Everyone has heir trusty 20 or so ingredients that usually make up their cart, but next time, add just one unfamiliar thing. No, not a flavor of Ben and Jerry's you've never tried, but something unusual like tarot root or anchovies. I hope you discover something wonderful.