What I Ate

When I was little I was a picky eater. Foods I liked included spaghetti with butter, no sauce, macaroni and cheese, porridge and bananas in milk. I once had a babysitter force me to eat mashed potatoes and until recently, twenty years later, I haven't touched them. I was never much of a carnivore. I remember once at Thanksgiving dinner putting my small turkey serving in my mouth, excusing myself and spitting it into the toilet. My mama busted me for that stunt.

Over the last ten years my diet has broadened and now includes sushi, spinach, dates and beans. I still hate tomatoes and brussel sprouts.

That being said, this will come as a complete shock to those who have known me since I was little. The other day I ate...

Black pudding*
(aka Blood Sausage)

Consumption:
Keeping one eye on D and his mum as they ‘mmm’d’ and ate the ‘pudding’, I hesitantly pulled off a piece with my fork. I smelled it; it smelled like liverwurst. I put the sausage in my mouth with a bit of egg and toast and surprisingly it didn’t taste as bad as I thought it would. In fact I couldn’t taste much at all. I chewed and swallowed. I ate two more small bites and gave the rest to D (what can I say, he wanted more) and I finished off my eggs and toast. A sigh of relief came over me.

Some of you may not think eating black pudding is a big deal. Perhaps, like D, you grew up eating it, but I didn't grow up eating anything of the sort and I’m proud I made the effort.

My conclusion? Eating blood is just wrong. My mouth could swallow it but my head couldn’t.

In the end I walked away from the breakfast table unscathed and even managed not to offend D’s Irish mum G who cooked it. A pat on the back for me!

* http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_pudding