(No) End of the Affair - part 1

I am not ashamed to admit it: I am having an affair and it has been going on for the better part of two decades. A number of ex-boyfriends, ex-girlfriends, and one almost-fiance - they have all come and gone but this relationship has endured. It's still going strong.

I have a love affair... with food: I love food and I like to think it loves me back.

I eat anything and everything. I am an equal-opportunity eater (to borrow from Joey of 80Breakfasts) - everything has an equal opportunity to be eaten by me. Anything except kamote (sweet potato), chico (sapodilla), and raw banana.

Let me explain.

First, the kamote. I love potatoes. I love tubers. I eat cassava (kamoteng kahoy in Tagalog). Heck, I'd eat any root-crop you put in front of me. But I. Will. Not. Eat. KAMOTE! Not in its natural state, anyway.

I have eaten hwat ke (not sure of the romanization but this is a sweet kamote flour based bun served during Chinese New Year) and I crave it whenever the mooncakes make their appearance. I have snarfed jap chae (Korean kamote flour glass noodles) and loved it. I have brought myself to eat sweet potato and pumpkin buns - thank goodness for the pumpkin.

But the kamote in all its glory just won't do: in benignit/ginataan (cooked in coconut milk with sugar and other sliced fruits/root-crops), as kamote fries (hand-cut and fried in oil then dipped in sugar OR fried in hot oil with sugar until the syrup forms a crackly crust on each slice), or simply boiled then peeled before rolling in muscovado sugar), or as minatamis (cooked in syrup).

There are, in my completely biased opinion, many things wrong with the kamote but I will focus on two: the texture and the taste. 1) I do not like "sandy" things. Apples, chico, kamote... sweetened beans... anything that reminds me of the stuff you step on at a seashore or a construction site does not make it down my gullet. 2) It's unnaturally sweet... not the way pumpkin is sweet, or a fresh asparagus is... it's just plain strangely sweet. Like potatoes with sugar.

Next, the chico. I don't like how sandy it is either... how each bite feels like taking in a mouthful of Boracay. Eeeew. I have nothing against its taste, I actually like its sweetness. Unlike the kamote, the chico has a natural sweetness that seems right for a fruit. Find me a chico that is crunchy like a jicama... or one that is mushy and custardy like a durian... I might just gobble it up.

Lastly, raw bananas - the only time I had this raw was in a smoothie with a ton of chocolate (I was on a diet, believe it or not). I don't like how sticky and gooey it is when its raw. I eat okra (lady fingers); I eat saluyot (jute, I think), heck I eat some of the stickiest stuff on Earth - mochi (yummy), bibingkang galapong (charbroiled cakes made from pounded immature sticky rice - they make their appearance right around the holidays)... their sliminess does not bother me. But for some reason... bananas bother the heck out of me. I'd eat it cooked in syrup (minatamis), baked up in bread or muffin, sliced and flambe-ed for crepes. I'd eat it frozen IF it's coated in chocolate and hard as ice.

So yes, even if I do love food in an unbelievably healthy way, I do have my limits. I have conquered celery after ten years (blue cheese dip is a miracle!) - but these three don't seem to have a good chance at all. Not yet anyway.

Do you have any "no-no-never" foods on your list?