How Family changes Our Eating Habits and Traditions

    Eating Traditions took a little vacation last week. I had a good case of writers block and I couldn’t convince myself to write about anything.
    But on to business...
    When I met my husband at school, I had no idea how much we would influence each others eating habits. We ate a lot of meals together at the student union while at school.
    Jeremy was the first person to introduce me to sushi. I had not eaten fish other than fried catfish, but then he started taking me to sushi and seafood restaurants.
    I introduced him to new vegetables: asparagus, spinach, and brussel sprouts. First starting with cheesy concoctions and then moving on to other options.
    Together we’ve explored new cuisines neither of us were exposed to growing up. Indian curries, Japanese hot pots, artichokes, and sting rays are all part of our culinary journey together.
    We’ve torn apart each others family favorites. Jeremy’s Mexican casserole was influenced by his childhood in Arizona. My skillet breakfast is almost exactly how my mom would use only one skillet to cook breakfast and then toss it all together.
    We also try to push each others taste buds.
    I love spicy foods. I love the kind of spicy foods that make you cry when you eat them. The kind that clear out your sinuses and make you go “I can smell everything”. This is not the case with Jeremy.
    Jeremy loves sweet, savory food and trys to avoid extremely spicy foods. Bread and butter pickles are one of his favorite treats that I don’t like. Give me sour dill pickles any day.
    All in all, I never realized how much my cooking and eating habits had changed since I met my husband and started sharing my meals with him. Some of my most treasured memories of our dates are when we’re trying new foods and bonding with that experience. So I offer this simple list of suggestions for things to try eating or cooking with your friends and family. Whether you end up loving them or hating them, you tried something new and hopefully made good memories.

My Top 10 Most Memorable Meals/Cooking Experiences/Foods
10. Japanese Hot Pot with Sting Ray at Tokyo Pot in Stillwater
9. Smoked Trout Salad at Smoke on Cherry Street
8. Learning how to cook in a wok and eating stir fried meals for 1 week
7. Eating a Chicago hot dog at Portillos
6. Eating smoked pheasant for Thanksgiving
5. Eating my Grandma Purna’s Chocolate Gooey Cake
4. Learning how to perfectly poach eggs with a running center
(goes well with asparagus, bacon, and toast)
3. Having a latte that made me go “Whoa, that’s good coffee”
 at Intelligista in Chicago
2. Learning that to make the perfect pie crust you need vodka
(more about this in the future)
1. Eating cheeses, salami, olives, and pickles on State St. in Chicago