Seaweed Salad

The weirdest food experience I’ve ever had was seaweed salad. Or better to say the first time I tried it. Good thing it happened in a pretty close environment so I was not really obligated to stay excessively polite. There were my mom, her best friend and me. I was around 12 years old. My mom tried it for the first time the same day and had pretty much the same reaction. So her bestie assumed that my reaction was motivated by mom’s. It could be true. But I think it was not. I remember that I needed to rinse my mouth after that. The seaweed salad was store bought so I think I didn’t look rude rejecting another spoonful and urgently using a restroom compared to if it was a homemade dish.

As a person who was not a fan of any seafood at that moment, I realised that seaweed salad was my least favourite food. It was salty enough and had its distinctive seaweed flavour which I have no idea how to describe. It smelled awful to me. It tasted even worse. Since then my taste buds have changed a bit and now I love a lot of seafood, especially sushi, but my relationship with seaweed salad didn’t get any better. Although I know how healthy and nutritious this food is I still do my best not to have it on my plate even by accident. As they say: tastes differ!

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Daria - Ukraine

Good Food, Beyond the Taste

When we hear about terrible food we always think about TASTE. But food goes beyond the taste.

But in my case it is different, because for me a terrible food is food that is not good for your body and your health. I don’t know why but most of the time the good food doesn't taste good. This is ironic.

Based on my theory, one day, when I met my mother-in-law, she invited me to lunch. I was very nervous and excited at the same time. When I went to my boyfriend’s house that day he told me, “My mother is not a good cook.” And I remember I told him that food goes beyond the taste. Food is always good if you use good ingredients.

Oh my God! I tried to eat it but I couldn’t. The food was salty and spicy. I could only take a bite and drink a lot of water. That was the first time I lied to my mother-in-law and I told her that I was allergic to spicy food.

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Jennifer - Dominican Republic