My relationship with food has always been a very exciting one.
As a child, I was one to frequently think "Why not?" when it came to trying something new. In this way I snacked upon ants, learning that they are best served snuggled into a green bean because you cannot taste them, and munched upon cat food, because that is what one does when one is playing "cats."
While these occasional delicacies were fun, my favorite food moments were the ones accompanied by my parents, who served foods such as cottage cheese mixed with salsa and tomatoes with cream cheese on toast.
Then came adolescence and vegetarianism, which brought the wonders of chocolate covered algae and large quantities of peanut/almond/cashew/macadamia/sunflower-seed butter into my life.
At this point I also began eating spoonfuls of mayonnaise right out of the jar. If this sounds gross to you, then you have not tried Mrs. Clark’s brand mayonnaise. This is best eaten as an after-school snack when one is in need of emotional support.
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In 10th grade, though, my tastes began to become more refined and I graduated to eating spoonfuls of coconut oil, which is supposedly the healthiest cooking oil and for sure, the tastiest. My sophisticated tastes also led me to drink tea, preferably bottled kombucha and hot chai, and to check out raw-food cookbooks from the library — the pies are fantastic.
This year has brought many gastronomical changes into my life. I am no longer a vegetarian — far from it. Every day for lunch we eat a steak or a big slab of fish. This is just fine with me, though, seeing as the meat here is so good.
Because I am living in Colombia, I have inevitably learned to enjoy coffee, chicharrones (fried pork rinds) and papaya. In addition, my aunt has a restaurant, which means I am not only eating Colombian food, but I also have an opportunity to make it as well.
I hope to travel within the next couple of months to a neighboring city that is famous for its large, tasty ants. They're eaten like popcorn, it is said.
While I have my doubts as to their deliciousness due to my early bitter experiences with them, I’m not one to pass up this opportunity to come full circle and say "Why not?" once again. I’ll tell you how it goes.
