Non – Recipe / Acquired Taste

I have heard this term a zillion times after coming to US. Any new food or dish and if I don’t like it I hear friends saying, “you will get used to it”. But what is this acquired taste? Since Wikipedia has great definition I don’t want to define again and here it is.

To put in simple words, as said in Kumki movie by the astrologer to Thambi Ramaiyyah, “Aduve Pazhakirum”, that’s what is acquired taste. When given no options, do you have any choice?

The moment you step out of your house, you need to get acquainted to many things and one among them is food.

For me, the first thing I got used to was puzhungal arise (Boiled rice). At home we use only raw rice, but in my UG hostel it was puzhungal arisi. It took me some time to get adjusted but now I am all up for it.

After coming to US, I got used to many things and surprisingly started loving them.

Yes Yes List:

These are the foods that I got used to and I really enjoy them.

Salads: If someone would have told me during my UG that in next two years you will be having salads for lunch I wouldn’t have believed. My response would have been “ilai thazhai ellam naan saapidave maten” (I won’t ear raw greens).  But I got used to the crunchiness of lettuce and now I can any salad with balsamic vinegar any time.

Cheese:  Got introduced to many cheese varieties and acquainted to the taste. Now cheese is my snack especially the mini baby bels.

Olive Oil: Yes I can taste flavored EVOO just like that. If you give nice bread, I can keep on munching.

I can add many things to this list, but surprisingly I have many food items that I couldn’t get used to also.

No No List:

Black coffee: No way.. I need milk. Period. Till date I take milk for a week to my work to have coffee and tea. ;-)

Goat cheese: I cannot go near this cheese any time.

Green Tea: I drink daily, just for health purpose but not sure if I will ever get acquainted to its taste.

Sweets in the morning: Ok. I can write a post about this topic itself. Yeah, seriously I cannot have sweets in the morning. Be it cereal or oatmeal or anything I cannot have them in the morning.  As usual blame it on Amma. Amma used to make proper tiffin in the morning like idly, dosa, upma, pongal and someday poori even. And in my UG hostel too, the breakfast was pretty decent. Even I don’t like it; I used to eat something at college canteen, which is separate from hostel canteen. I rely on BF very much. I don’t care about lunch and dinner. M can happily have cereal, donuts for breakfast and same with Vaandu too. I am too lazy to do prepare for myself so I got used to skipping BF and eating early lunch. I have my cereal in the evening time. Weird huh??  I do get hot BF when my amma or MIL is here. But one thing I realized was, I can have fruits in the morning. That’s when I started taking these breakfast smoothies.

I think let me stop here..

So what’s your take on acquired taste?