An experience I wouldn’t repeat. (Week 302)

Every experience helps us learn new things; if they’re mistakes, we learn from them, but they also help us get to know ourselves better, what we like and what we don’t.

I love home cooked food, the kind made from scratch, for many reasons. Firstly, because it’s more delicious and I can eat what I like, knowing exactly what ingredients it contains, plus it doesn’t have any preservatives or mysterious additives like shop bought food.

On the other hand, I know how it’s made, whether I make it myself or my family does; we’ve all learnt from my maternal grandmother, who was Italian. That’s why I love Italian food, although there are plenty of other cuisines I enjoy too.

Another thing is that I love cooking, enjoying that moment; I put on music I like, upbeat or energetic, and in that moment, I don’t think about anything else. For me, cooking, but with time and peace of mind, is relaxing; I’m passionate about it. I think I inherited that from my grandmother.

Today I’m sharing some photos I’ve taken of different things we’ve cooked as a family, which I had on my hard drive. I searched and searched and found them; some are quite old. They aren’t great photos, they’re spontaneous; I simply like to photograph what we cook sometimes, because we usually share it as a family and I think that’s why it’s important to me.

As I said, I love Italian food, stuffed pasta and ravioli, above all. I’m also crazy about Argentine empanadas. I think they’re my two favourite foods. I like beef, salads, vegetables and fruit. We also often make homemade cakes, like the one you can see in the photos called ‘80 blows’, which has German and Argentine origins. And I’m also bringing you some tomatoes stuffed with tuna; you can also make them with peppers, but I prefer to stuff these with well-prepared minced beef.

But… I don’t like food that’s too spicy. I like to taste the original flavour of things. If it’s meat, I want it to taste like meat and nothing else; if it’s a vegetable like courgette, I want it to taste just like that. I never want to mask the flavour with overpowering seasonings or sauces. Lots of people, because they don’t like vegetables, try to disguise the taste. I like very, very mild, natural and simple flavours. I think you get what I mean.

A few years ago I worked in a greengrocer’s; my boss was Chinese and Korean, both at the same time, and I brought him some Italian food to try, like stuffed cannelloni. He was delighted; he’d found it delicious. Then I brought him marinated aubergines, but he didn’t like those at all. Still, the cultural exchange was interesting. I got on very well with my boss; every now and then he’d bring me a coffee with a croissant or churros. To be honest, considering how many people view Chinese people, he was a very good boss to me, I must say. We all have our faults, but he was very good.

As he wanted to share a traditional dish with me, one he’d made himself, he brought me some kimchi to try. It was quite a lot. And as my brother was working in a Korean restaurant at the time, he told me: ‘If he gives you something red, really red, don’t eat it.’ He knows me.

Well, I didn’t listen to him; I wanted to try what my boss had so kindly given me. I can’t explain how it felt. It was as if my whole body was on fire, as if I were being burned alive. The flavour was extremely spicy, and I hate spicy food. I’d never tasted anything like it before, and for me it turned out to be the most awful and unpleasant experience of my life. I’d never eat kimchi again, and I know lots of people like it, but I don’t.

What’s more, for quite a while afterwards, it completely numbed my taste buds; my mouth was burning and I couldn’t taste anything afterwards. It was awful for me. Among the photos I’ve kept from work, I managed to find one of my boss bringing me coffee and one I took of that meal: kimchi. If you like, you can let me know in the comments whether you’ve tried kimchi and whether you liked it or not.

When I read this post, I immediately remembered that meal. I thanked my boss and said it looked good, but I didn’t tell him it was awful for me. He meant well and was very happy to share his tradition.