A Taste of Adulthood — Ageless Possibilities

No decorations adorn our house yet, except for the giant blue-lit wreath on the front porch and spotlights focused on the plum trees. The only evidence of the pending festive season inside is a table of presents waiting to be wrapped and a pile of Christmas goodies sitting by the bread box. The gevulde speculaas, a must for everyone who has grown up in a Dutch household, has already been sampled. A box of butter tarts, a favourite of my husband, is the perfect companion for a cup of creamy Earl Grey tea. And yesterday morning, at the annual craft fair hosted by the elementary school, we gently pushed our way through the crowds to ensure we got one of Gai’s fruitcakes - with optional booze and marzipan.

Last night, after dinner, I cut thin slices of the rich, fruit and nut-laden fruitcake. My husband remarked, I never liked fruitcake as a child. It wasn’t one of my favourites, either. But now, we love a piece of homemade fruitcake, and Gai makes one of the best.

My husband’s remark made me think of some of the other foods I am looking forward to enjoying over the holiday season - all foods I did not have a taste for when I was younger. I am making my go-to appetizer for a visit with friends, smoked salmon tortilla roll-ups. Always one of the first empty plates at a potluck meal - and I also eat my share! And to think I would not have touched smoked salmon in my younger days - the flavour too fishy and the texture too slimy. I hardly ate any fish when I was younger except for the flounder my mother fried outside. She would gently slide the meat off the bones and serve it on slices of buttered white bread. Now, as an adult, I am already salivating with the anticipation of a mound of crab meat smothered with béarnaise on top of the medium-rare tenderloin I will have for my Christmas dinner. Crispy brussels sprouts fried with bacon and onions will be the perfect side dish. Yes, as many of you might agree, brussels sprouts were also not a favourite of mine as a child. Yet the recipe I use describes this dish as kid-friendly.

My musings on foods I now enjoy as an adult began during a power failure a couple of weeks ago, when I read Louise Penny’s latest book, The Grey Wolf, by candlelight.

Chief Inspector Armand Gamache is sitting in Café Olimpico in Montréal, and when he goes to order an allongé, the barista, Vito, responds, “Already being made, Chief, I saw you coming.” The café is not relaxing but vibrant and comfortable. Gamache notes that it has not changed much since his godfather took him there when he wasn’t yet shaving.

He’d had his first cappuccino over there, at the round table by the window. He’d hated the bitter taste. But then he’d also hated his first beer and first scotch and first taste of smoked salmon. Took him a while, and some perseverance, to get used to the taste of adulthood.

I also used to loathe coffee but now can’t start my mornings without an oat latte, usually made by my husband while I’m still wiping the sleep for my eyes. I never did acquire a taste for scotch, though these days, I often prefer a beer to a glass of wine, but only if it’s a Fat Tug from Driftwood Brewery.

I think of the foods I did not like that I had to finish as a child. I was not allowed to leave the table unless I had at least a few bites of turnips, sauerkraut, cauliflower, and liver, to name only a few. This was almost unbearable at my Oma’s house, where dessert was served on the same plate that held the remnants of what I did not finish. Dishes were not washed between courses!

I think of my 3-year-old granddaughter and all the foods she enjoys eating. Her favourites include prawns and palak paneer - and she loves spicy foods. Last week, my husband sautéed prawns and scallops in butter and garlic At first, she was reluctant to try a scallop, then her first bite brought a look of delight to her face.

Her love of a wide variety of foods had me thinking that maybe this taste of adulthood is not about taste buds. I had always assumed that the number of taste buds we have increases with age, but that’s not true. While we are born with 10,000 taste buds, the number of buds decreases as we age. Interestingly, this usually begins in our 40s if we’re female and in the 50s for men.

Research mostly suggests that we enjoy more foods as we get older because of repeated exposure. The way foods are prepared also factors into our tastes. My mother cooked vegetables until they were mush. Now, I love crispy, stir-fried veggies, especially with some garlic and a touch of soy sauce. My mother cooked liver until it was tough as leather. My husband makes a chicken liver dish with a 5-pepper Madeira sauce that is so tender and delicious!

Some foods I will never enjoy, mainly because of their texture. No oysters for me, thank you!

As I was chatting with my husband this morning about this blog post, we shifted to the foods we have loved as children. His birthday dinner always consisted of fried chicken, which he still loves. Occasionally, bologna will makes it into the shopping cart these days. My husband will cut a thick wedge when he gets home, much like his father did when he was a boy. I have always loved potatoes. We were only served boiled potatoes when I was young, although, on the rare occasion we had steak, they would be fried in butter. Now I love them boiled, scalloped, and baked! My favourite is fingerling potatoes fried in the air fryer for twenty minutes, served with only salt and pepper.

And then there are comfort foods that evoke memories. When I had to have my first molars pulled, my mother served me mashed bananas blended with applesauce. These days, one of my favourite breakfasts is oatmeal with mashed bananas and applesauce. The most embarrassing school lunch my mother used to pack was an omelette sandwich. I love them now. I remember that my mother also made them when we used to take the bus to the beach when we still lived in the Netherlands. This brings me back to gevulde speculaas, always one of my first tastes of Christmas from childhood on. Every year, my grandparents would send a huge Christmas parcel to Canada early in December. It would arrive battered and ripped. It was never opened until my father came home from work. Those hours between coming home from school and my father coming home from work were painstakingly slow! We would then have to wait as he removed his coat and shoes. He would then make a drink for himself and my mother. It all seemed to happen in slow motion. And then no one could ever find the scissors - part of the ritual, I now realize. Then, finally, the unwrapping began. Each item would be lifted out individually. And always, there was a package of gevulde speculaas, the only food item that would be opened immediately. The taste of Christmas then, and the taste of Christmas now.

Hope this nudges some of your food memories! What did you dislike as a child? What foods do you love as an adult? What foods have you always enjoyed?