I still remember my first bite of ...
... hummus. I'm eating the most delicious Lebanese food right now, and suddenly remembered the first time I tasted hummus. It was as if my tastebuds exploded - it was that good. I'll bet it was 20 years ago, and I still recall loving every second of it.
I'd have to say it was a defining moment for my palate. Anyone else have such a culinicious tale?
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45 Comments:
Zucchini bread. I was young (8-10, I would guess), and I was convinced that bread made with zucchini would taste like gross vegetables. Then I tried it and it opened a whole new world for me!
Sadly, I was feeling kind of sick the first time someone ever gave me hummus...and I haven't been able to eat it since.
hayleythecaker at 4:16PM on 04/28/09
Cheesecake. I was about 12, I think, and it was at a banquet at the Waldorf-Astoria in NYC. I didn't have any choice in what dessert was served to us, and I remember thinking that I didn't know if I liked cheesecake or not. Anyway, it was in triple-layer form; a layer of creamy cheesecake sandwiched between either two layers of chocolate cake, or two layers of chocolate cheesecake. (I can't remember quite which, just that it was chocolate.) Then it was finished with a raspberry sauce and a few fresh raspberries. It was absolute heaven on my fork, and I remember thinking it was possibly the best thing I've ever put in my mouth. To this day, cheesecake is one of my all-time favorite desserts - and New York cheesecake....don't even get me started....
kimberlymac at 4:33PM on 04/28/09
Lox and bagel with cream cheese. Poetry.
JerzeeTomato at 4:34PM on 04/28/09
A fig stuffed with goat cheese.
The perfect cheese tamale.
My first drink of atole.
My first bite of sashimi.
PumpkinBear at 4:45PM on 04/28/09
The night's house pasta at a little restaurant in Rome, almost ten years ago - La Masqua, I think - which came to the table on a plate too large to share for the three rather small offerings. I remember thinking: well, this sucks. I should have ordered something different.
The three pastas were a pumpkin ravioli with a sage butter; a sausagey mix wrapped in a small sheet of pasta with a marina; and the third, a 'purse' of pasta filled with fresh ricotta and wild mushrooms, sitting in a little spill of creamy tomato sauce.
I sliced into the ricotta purse, took a bite...and had to put down my fork. Literally. I put. My fork. Down. I nearly wept.
The woody, near gamey chewiness of the mushrooms paired with an unbelievably creamy ricotta, all caringly tucked into the best pasta I'd ever imagined... I had never before, or ever since, been so enraptured by a single bite.
I ate the other small pastas first, and they were lovely, but I saved my last bites of the mushroom ricotta purse so I could have the taste on my tongue at the meal's end.
kimonkey7 at 5:00PM on 04/28/09
well, technically not a bite, but my first taste of pacific northwest oysters shipped within a day of their harvest. the cool briny flavor .... the sweetness, they were indeed precious.
and once a conch salad prepared simply by marinating in fresh lime juice & cilantro and on a sailboat in the carribbean ...
the first pan au chocolat a decade before they started showing up in manhattan from a tiny bakery down an alley way in paris.
pooch at 5:16PM on 04/28/09
hmmmm...biting into a mouthful of wasabi...and it bit back quite hard.
ssultan23 at 5:17PM on 04/28/09
Live Sea Urchin - a completely different experience from already killed sea urchin. I still remember it's beautiful floral note and it's soft texture. It was like nothing I've ever had in my life.
Martini Me at 5:46PM on 04/28/09
to this day I still remember the curried coconut Lobster I had while in Jamaica...it was one of the best dishes & most memorable I have ever eaten!..
Italiancupcake at 6:00PM on 04/28/09
She-crab soup in Charleston, S.C. It was so wonderful. I have had many bowlfuls since, at various places, some terrible, some good, but never, never like that first bowl. I can taste it now . . .
bareneed at 6:06PM on 04/28/09
asparagus sandwiches... love at first bite
guacamole in Mexico City... it was soooooooo spicy I still remember it
falafels in the outskirts of Tel Aviv... i was a convert from that day on...
Madelyn
KarmaFreeCooking
MadelynRodriguez at 6:31PM on 04/28/09
Mussels! The boyfriend introduced me to them, and I crave the shellfish steamed in spicy tomato sauce every time I go out for Italian...so delicious!
Hillary
Chew on That
Chew on That at 6:39PM on 04/28/09
Hunan Chinese food. I had never had it before, my parents hated Chinese food, but when I was 9 or 10 we went to the Ruby Palace after a film, on a whim. I was like, 'why have you been hiding this from me all of these years, and just taking me to fish and steak places?' They regretted it forever afterwards.
HeartofGlass at 7:14PM on 04/28/09
A Dick's Drive In cheeseburger, never forgot that moment as a wee 2 1/2 yr old (I still have remember), 41 yrs later it still feels likes the first time.
pjracz10 at 7:22PM on 04/28/09
Thai food. Every cell in my body stood up and took notice. It was love at first bite (forgive me...LOL).
therealchiffonade at 7:50PM on 04/28/09
@chiff: That reminds me of my first introduction to Thai! inconspicuous little place, run by a family--(family birthday party, incidentally) Sure I had known a bit about the cuisine; but the freshness, the vibrancy induced 'love at first bite for me!
Probably even more so, I have a wonderful memory of my first foray into authentic Indian food. I was wholly astonshished by thecomplexity and depth of the flavors. I can still feel those senses I had experienced at (also inconspicuous) little place. It has since closed, to my sincere dismay.
emilytaylor at 8:05PM on 04/28/09
brie...and that first bite's addiction can still be seen in my mid-section ;)
machellebelle at 8:40PM on 04/28/09
for me, it was seafood. for the longest time i HATED everything that came from the sea. then, while at a new year's eve party i tasted fresh shrimp with cocktail sauce. delicious!! since then, i've started eating and enjoying seafood. shrimp, scallops, calamari, etc. i still kind of balk at actual fish... but i love everythign else...
listener at 8:44PM on 04/28/09
strawberries and cream -- eat breakfast with my parents at brennans, in new orleans. the first food that i literally SWOONED over.
megannesta at 8:50PM on 04/28/09
Calf brain.
I was 7 or 8, in a restaurant in Montreal with my parents and grandparents. I basically licked my plate clean before they told me what I had eaten. oh the joy.
veggieout at 9:05PM on 04/28/09
My husband's rhubarb cake .... heaven.
caligirl24 at 9:33PM on 04/28/09
Lasagne. My mother made good spaghetti sauce, served over spaghetti, but this was the first time I had authentic Italian. THis was also the first time I ever had ricotta. It was wondrous.
I asked my mother to get the recipe, but she wasn't about to try it.
dbcurrie at 9:55PM on 04/28/09
@pjracz10: Dick's! I haven't eaten there in the nearly 10 years that I have been away from Seattle, but your comment took me back to when I was 10 years old, enjoying my first burger and shake from Dick's. Every burger I ever had from there after that experience always made me feel like a kid again.
radish at 12:53AM on 04/29/09
bubble tea!
mayoxqueen at 1:19AM on 04/29/09
the first thing that sprang to mind is sushi.
sigh.
the 2nd and 3rd was bacon.
praise the lard.
gastronomeg at 6:23AM on 04/29/09
Ume (japanese pickled plum-the soft squishy kind). It was a revelation. Tart and salty and so exotic. It remains, to this day, the most interesting, delicious thing I can put in my mouth. I think this is a flavor that you either love or hate. I am deeply in love.
Followed by truffles. OMG. OMG! I don't even know how to explain it. It was like taking a bite of the earth. Not dirt or grass or sand, but the earth.
I always have ume and truffle (either on its own or in a cheese or in a spectacular organic truffle oil I've found) on hand because I'm very spoiled and like have my favorite things around me at all times.
chisai at 6:38AM on 04/29/09
grilled blue fish
mussels grilled on the beach
the Pizza Lady's souprasatta pizza
rissotto and
grilled asparagus
huneybumper at 7:56AM on 04/29/09
frois gras - makes me think of sunflower seeds and bologna ? weird I know.
roasted beets - sweet miracle of the earth
morrel mushrooms - these grow wild near me; make me think of camping
gin - i will never love another liquor more
port - a rich pungent smell and smooth aftertaste
Omas white asparagus soup - lots of earthy flavour with Omas special touch
hungrychristel at 9:38AM on 04/29/09
@hungrychristel---
Ditto on the gin.
veggieout at 10:10AM on 04/29/09
Durian. There wasn't a second bite, but the taste lingered for the rest of the day...
Vegetarianka at 10:45AM on 04/29/09
the first time i ate a sandwich in paris. baguette, parma ham, cornichons, and butter. it tasted like nothing i had ever experienced before and i had no idea that food could taste like that, or be that simple and utterly perfect and delicious.
cybercita at 10:59AM on 04/29/09
Liver, it smelled so good cooking with the onions. Oh dear Lord, that had to be the worst tasting food experience of my life. The texture was just so icky.
My Grandmothers homemade pizza, cannoli, ravioli, I learned how to cook from her.
DELICIOUS at 12:07PM on 04/29/09
@radish-Thats what that Dick's does to a lot of people that is why I have a love/hate relationship with them lol.
pjracz10 at 12:36PM on 04/29/09
The Apfelstrudel with Vanilla Sauce I had in a small cafe in Salzburg, Austria. Pure heaven.
brooke29 at 12:58PM on 04/29/09
raw oysters (for me, its been an acquired taste)
my aunt's spaghetti sauce (o-m-g) it was sooooo good
strawberry pina colada :)
bubbamom at 7:36PM on 04/29/09
I actually had a food revelation just yesterday. I had always heard that the French eat radishes and butter and it seemed beyond bizarre to me-- I assumed it would be very bland and dull.
Anyhow--yesterday, I toasted some homemade multi-grain bread crisp, smeared on some herbed butter and layered the whole deal with radishes slices paper thin and salted.
I am salivating now just thinking about it. It was beautiful and light and fantastic.
BananaMonkey at 9:19AM on 04/30/09
Beef medallions with what must have been Bordelaise sauce, at the old Cliff House in San Francisco, when I was about ten. Shocking magic.
First pastrami on rye.
Bluepoint oysters - they didn't taste like the ocean, they took me to the ocean.
Moscato amabile - springtime in a glass.
Likeswords at 5:18PM on 05/01/09
Brick-oven pizza. Grew up in a small town in California; pizza to me was the shredded cheese, saucy, thicker-crust stuff (served with ranch, thankyouverymuch). The first time I tasted NY style thin-crust pizza w/ a bubbly, burned-in-places crust, fresh mozz, and just a little bit of fresh-tasting tomato sauce...I knew I'd never get tired of it!
producestories at 7:19PM on 05/01/09
thai red curry
nutella gelato from a little shop in urbino italy
eeww on the gin, tastes like a$$ ;p
gypsykid at 7:24PM on 05/01/09
Shrimp consume in a little cafe on the Champs Elysees by the Arc de Triumph. The shrimp shells used for the broth were roasted over almond wood, so an ever so slight taste of almond permeated the dish. It was incredible, a taste I never experienced before, and never forgot (this was almost 10 years ago)! I don't know if it was the warm soup on a cool night, eating in on a famous street in a famous city, or what, but never tasted anything like it again. I have been back to Paris many times since for work, but have never seen that dish again. In a way I am glad, afraid it will not be what my memory remembers!
Flour at 7:48PM on 05/01/09
Prickly pear. It tasted like what I imagine sunshine and summer would taste like if reincarnated in bright fuschia. It was delicious, and prickly pear remains my favorite fruit.
Aynsl156 at 8:16PM on 05/01/09
Spanakopita. paper thin pastry, rich buttery spinach, tangy creamy feta.
I. Want. It. Now.
krr07a at 4:34AM on 05/02/09
One word. DUCK. :E
phishfood21 at 11:26AM on 05/02/09
Fresh baklava while in Jordan
Callyn at 4:21PM on 05/02/09
- japanese sukiyaki. particularly, thinly sliced beef. duuude.
- onigiri. i don't know how salted rice in a triangle shape can be so good, but i was seriously in tears the first time i had onigiri. it was the perfect food to have eaten at the time i ate it and i have been obsessed with onigiri-fying everything since.
- falafel. i love falafel so much.
kappamaki at 4:45AM on 05/03/09