Nasties

I've had a few conversations lately about food aversions and where they come from. For me, it has a lot to do with the things I was forced to eat as a child.

Peanut Butter: we 3 kids had it in turn (week about) to make the school lunches for everyone. My brother would make peanut butter sandwiches every  time.... and there's the problem. Even now I can't stand people eating it near me, putting their peanut butter-covered knife in my jam, breathing in my direction. It is indeed heinous.

Broad Beans: mother dear (such a good cook in other ways) why oh why did we have to eat frozen broad beans, boiled within an inch of ther lives and served in piles... and with our father insisting that all good children had to eat everything on their plate we were loathe to eat anything else until those beans were gone. Anything else seemed like a reward after them.

Kidneys: this is an odd one: I don't in fact have an aversion to these, I just haven't cooked them for years. However my cat eats them almost exclusively, and now I associate them in my head with cat food.

Brussels Sprouts: see broad beans above... however I'm almost convinced to give these another whirl after my brother (see Peanut Butter above) announced them to be his favourite vegetable. I've cooked them lots, I'm simply not convinced.

Black pudding: dad loved this, and I have cooked it, but still I imagine the floors of the butcher shop with the sawdust and other unimaginable sweepings going into the casing...

There are also some foods that I've tried and found to be very disturbing. Amongst those would be

Kina: having hunted this shellfish down in a Waihau Bay rock pool I can honestly say I've eaten these under the best possible circumstances. Never again.

Tongue: sorry, but I can't get my head around this one. A picture in my head of a very large, very blue cow's tongue cannot be controlled.

Mango: something about the flavour and the texture of a ripe mango makes me retch.