Eating: the beginning

Eating, of course, came way before I started cooking, though as a kid I was a notoriously picky eater, but then what kid isn't?
Today, I have a passion for condiments, but as a child I didn't even like the thought of them. Bare hamburgers without even a hint of ketchup or mustard, and my favorite-- rare roast beef sandwiches on naked bread. Friends today would find that hard to believe since I haven't touched a piece of red meat since around 1972.

And this almost vegetarian hated vegetables as a kid. Could be that most of the veggies consumed in the household of my youth came out of a can. I would eat peas, corn and spinach, but no others. Lima beans made me gag and I hid string beans in my napkin when no one was looking.

A sea change happened at home when my father retired and started gardening. Of course, by then I had left home years earlier, but I no longer dreaded family dinners when I visited. Vegetables were fresh and still retained some of their character, although my mother still had a tendency to cook asparagus until they could be curled into coils. But the broccoli was crunchy and the snow peas were heavenly. But, despite being fresh, lima beans still made me gag.