Monday, June 26, 2006

Try It You Might Like It

I like coffee, now. I'd been a tea drinker, besmirching the merits of coffee whenever the subject arose. I'd tried coffee as a teen-ager and decided, yuck. Someone whose opinion I'd come to trust, suggested I try again. I did. I now drink coffee.

In much the same way I've developed appreciation for various musical stylings, authors, films, other foodstuffs and so on. Some tastes are carry-overs from childhood experiences and memories, but many were developed as an adult, on the suggestion from some source deemed worthy of trust, after some consideration.

My generally cautious nature is sometimes besieged with suggestions and I find myself leaping without careful consideration. Sometimes landing unscathed, sometimes not. Overall the damage hasn't been that great, leaving me vulnerable to consider now...

Beets.

As I child, I detested the taste, smell and look of beets. I'd been forced to eat them because 1. We didn't waste food and 2. They were good for me. Having decided that they were the worse substance on the planet, I vowed that when I was making my own decisions about what to put in my mouth, beets wouldn't be on the list, ever!

Whenever beets came up in conversation my eyes bugged out, I cringed and gagged, leaving no room for doubt as to where they fell on the likeability meter. A colleague and I were talking and he brought up beets. The *routine* started almost automatically. Showing considerable patience and restraint, he waited for me to get myself together; then suggested, that perhaps I'd been too young for my first beet. "Maybe your taste buds just weren't ready."

Not quite ready to let go of my parlor act, I'd decided his theory was a load of crap. Then I thought, well, I didn't like coffee, at first. And, I considered the reverse; there were things I ate as a child, peppermint sticks with sour pickles come to mind, that I would eat on a dare these days. So, maybe there is something to this taste buds maturity or lack thereof, theory. Hmm.

After careful deliberation, I'm firing up search engines, on and off-line for acclaimed beet *treatments.* No leaping on this one though, the beet demons are too powerful a lobby. I am considering; at least my eyes don't bug out anymore when I hear the word, beet.

6 comments:

  1. Beets are the same as beans in my book: none shall pass my lips unless they sneak in uninvited.

    But maybe, just maybe, if I came across some that weren't pickled and sliced and that horrible shade of red. Maybe then I'd consider tasting one.

    Let me know if you make the leap. I'm such a follower, dontcha know. It may inspire me to do the same. ;)

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  2. Yeah, the horrible shade of red--it's gonna take a lot to get past that. Let you know, you bet! ;)

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  3. The only way beets should ever be enjoyed is fresh and oven roasted coated in olive oil and a little salt and pepper. Maybe some fresh ginger and or shallots sliced in too.

    eb is in your camp and when I make them, I don't even offer them anymore, I just enjoy them all for myself.

    Fresh beets are available in the yellow variety, too and I would suggest those when you are ready to dive into the deep end.

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  4. I actually like beets in moderation. The texture isn't bad at all (they're neither smooshy nor slimy), so perhaps it is the vivid color that deters? I suppose you could be a wuss and doctor 'em all up like Max says. Go on, give 'em a chance. :)

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  5. Oh and - coffee is nectar of the Gods.

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  6. I'm totally with you on the coffee. Max, your suggestion does *sound* appetizing-but...

    I'd been trying to remember if they might have been tied to some horrible memory-blocking my enjoyment-or did I detest them from the very moment I saw & tasted? If I go for it...it certainly will be the wuss way--I reserve all wussiness for just such occasions.

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