Member-only story
Raw Squid Isn’t the Strangest Food I’ve Eaten
Humans get adventurous with their diets
One of my favorite lunchtime meals is a grilled cheese sandwich made with Stone-ground wheat bread with ample sharp yellow cheese melted between the slices and paired with a hot bowl of tomato bisque soup. Mmm, tasty!
My parents were working-class people, and I grew up on mostly simple foods. Oatmeal for breakfast. A lunchmeat sandwich for lunch, and maybe a big pot of homemade spaghetti for a special Sunday meal. Sometimes on a Friday night, we might have a fish fry and enjoy a large platter of Perch, a freshwater fish caught in the lakes around our Michigan home.
My folks also enjoyed having a platter of liver and onions for dinner (it was the cheapest of meats) which I hated but did my best to choke it down. My Mom liked to boil chicken hearts and gizzards, and as a ten-year-old, I shared a few plates with her. It took me another ten years to wise up and cut the organ meats from my diet.
The palate matures
As I got older I experimented with other foods and expanded my dietary diversity. I discovered I loved Mexican food. I enjoyed certain Mediterranean dishes. Cajun meals and southern barbecue reached the top of my list once. But Asian foods with their spicy sauces and steamed…
