Picky little me -- the journey of a reluctant foodie

I have always been a picky eater. As a child, I would ask my mother to make me a soft boiled egg or a chocolate rice cake (read: steaming rice with Milo choco powder on top) whenever I didn't like what's on the table. And boy, is my list ever so long when it comes to what I didn't like to eat. I cannot remember if I ever ate veggies as a child. Probably not, since at my age, the number of veggies that I don't eat far outnumber those that I do.

I know how to cook. I was fortunate enough to have gotten my mother's palate that I can recreate simple recipes just by tasting them, with a few alterations to suit my taste. But I would cook food that I like. Whenever hubby is craving for food that I don't eat, then we have to eat out or order, since it's really difficult to cook something that you wouldn't taste, don't you think? And when we do eat out, I stick to the dishes that I know and like. No adventurous and/or exotic dishes for me, thank you.

Even at work, my colleagues used to tease me about my being a picky eater. I'd go to the office armed with Spam or sausages, ready to be opened and tossed into the microwave whenever I didn't like the lunch menu at the cafeteria and was too lazy to drive out to get something to eat. Looking back I guess I would qualify as malnourished not because I wasn't eating enough, but because I wasn't eating right.

Then, I had my son, Nathan. From the moment I learned I was pregnant, I resolved to overcome my being a picky eater so I can eat healthy for the both of us. And when he started eating, I knew I needed to set a good example so that he won't be a picky eater like me.

And so started my "affair" with food. I have ordered food I haven't tried before, eaten at unfamiliar restaurants and whipped up new recipes in my effort to widen my knowledge and appreciation of food. I have made some progress, but it has not been all success. In fact, to this day, there are still certain food that I wouldn't taste because I think the combination of ingredients doesn't sound right, like karekare (I maintain that peanut butter belongs with bread and not with meat and vegetables, hah!), or simply because I don't like the way it looks. Also, I must confess that most of the recipes I have tried are those that look the most palatable to me, although of course, I now look at their nutritional value as well since my 20-month old son would be sharing the meal with us. But I have come a long way from being the girl who scrapped the meat sauce from her spaghetti just because it felt "bumpy" in her mouth.

With my little food "critic", about to try some healthy broccoli soup.