If you know me, you know that I have a lifelong hatred of mushrooms. There’s something about the combination of the flavor and the texture that sets my teeth on edge.
For years, people have told me that I didn’t give them a chance, I just didn’t have them ‘the right way’. Some have even tried to sneak them into my food. None of this made me want to give mushrooms a second chance.
Yesterday I ate mushrooms. Willingly.
I was at my favorite hot pot restaurant, a place I visit with my father every year after the Home and Flower Show. Each year we choose three items we like and one we’ve never tried before.
As I was scanning through the list, I saw that they had Enoki mushrooms.
I watch Japanese cooking shows on YouTube, and many of them feature Enoki mushrooms in their fall and winter recipes. Their texture looked drastically different from portabellos and buttons caps… and texture certainly was one of my biggest mushroom objections.
So I asked myself: why not give them a try?
So I did. And I HATED them.
But I didn’t hate myself for trying them.
Most of our preferences and tastes have been formed for very specific reasons. But that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t test them out from time to time.
We should try writing techniques that seemed silly or pointless before. Try marketing techniques that made us feel like an exposed wire. Or just listen to the people we disagree with. Not because we have to give everything a shot, but because sometimes we need to take a second look at our decisions.
Sometimes time and space and experience will give us a different take on the positives and the negatives that this thing or person or experience brings to the table.
It’s good to take a second look at something. Even if that means occasionally eating a mushroom.