When I was younger, I didn't mind the odd piece of cheese in something like a ploughman's lunch or the like (possibly for the texture, more than the taste), but I never particularly liked it as an ingredient.*
It wasn't too bad if it was melted, but otherwise it just tasted, well, too cheesy.
Whenever I ordered sandwiches or salads I would ask for "no cheese"... but people just kept putting cheese on it anyway, so I just got used to having cheese in everything.
And then, eventually, it seemed normal.
Then there was the Blue Cheese Incident. While I eventually adjusted to having cheese in everything (whether I wanted it there or not), I always hated blue cheese. I thought it tasted like some kind of weird fungal infection. This was probably rather accurate, seeing as blue cheese actually is some kind of weird fungal infection.
Then, one day, back when I was living in Tasmania, I was invited to a cheese tasting event. It sounded like fun, but it turned out that this was actually some market research by the local cheese factory who wanted feedback on their line of blue cheeses. They had their own blue cheeses, but also the blue cheeses of their competitors for comparison.
So I was essentially locked in a room and force fed seven varieties of blue cheese over the course of an hour. Of course, I wasn't actually "locked" in the room or "forced" to eat the cheese, but it would have been terribly impolite to run from the building shouting "keep your weird fungal infections to yourself, you swine!" Plus, I had been given a lift by someone who was there having a lovely time, so I stuck it out.
By the end of it, I actually kind of liked blue cheese. And yet, I didn't. It's like I knew it was horrible, but ate it for the challenge of surviving the horribleness of it all. Just like I enjoy eating super-sour kumquats for the sake of feeling like I've been kicked in the head by a mule.
Hey, I never said I was sensible.
But I've discovered an interesting thing about cheese lately - it's an acquired taste that can be unacquired.
After I lost my gall bladder (well, after I treated it so badly I had to have it removed), I started looking at my diet a bit more closely and decided that I didn't need to consume dairy. It's not like I'm a baby cow.**
And after a year of not eating cheese, that tolerance that I had built up for the taste of it has gone. Now it just tastes, well, too cheesy. I have a taste of the stuff every now and then, and it seems like every time I taste it I'm less and less impressed by the flavour.
And I've discovered something most intriguing - I actually prefer the taste of traditionally cheese covered things without the cheese. At first, eating pizza without cheese seemed a bit odd, but now I like it better that way. Even when I have a "just go for it" day when I order food I shouldn't eat because my innards don't respond well to such things, I'll still order pizza without cheese because it tastes better that way.
I like tacos better without cheese in them. I like jacket potatoes better without sour cream and cheese on top. Once, I would have wondered what the point of that was - now I order it on purpose.
It's a strange thing. But then, when you think about cheese, that's a pretty strange thing anyway.
*With the exception of Kraft singles, but I'm pretty sure that's not really cheese.
**I'll thank you to let that comment stand without any feedback, if you please. No comments from the peanut gallery.
Then there was the Blue Cheese Incident. While I eventually adjusted to having cheese in everything (whether I wanted it there or not), I always hated blue cheese. I thought it tasted like some kind of weird fungal infection. This was probably rather accurate, seeing as blue cheese actually is some kind of weird fungal infection.
Then, one day, back when I was living in Tasmania, I was invited to a cheese tasting event. It sounded like fun, but it turned out that this was actually some market research by the local cheese factory who wanted feedback on their line of blue cheeses. They had their own blue cheeses, but also the blue cheeses of their competitors for comparison.
So I was essentially locked in a room and force fed seven varieties of blue cheese over the course of an hour. Of course, I wasn't actually "locked" in the room or "forced" to eat the cheese, but it would have been terribly impolite to run from the building shouting "keep your weird fungal infections to yourself, you swine!" Plus, I had been given a lift by someone who was there having a lovely time, so I stuck it out.
By the end of it, I actually kind of liked blue cheese. And yet, I didn't. It's like I knew it was horrible, but ate it for the challenge of surviving the horribleness of it all. Just like I enjoy eating super-sour kumquats for the sake of feeling like I've been kicked in the head by a mule.
Hey, I never said I was sensible.
But I've discovered an interesting thing about cheese lately - it's an acquired taste that can be unacquired.
After I lost my gall bladder (well, after I treated it so badly I had to have it removed), I started looking at my diet a bit more closely and decided that I didn't need to consume dairy. It's not like I'm a baby cow.**
And after a year of not eating cheese, that tolerance that I had built up for the taste of it has gone. Now it just tastes, well, too cheesy. I have a taste of the stuff every now and then, and it seems like every time I taste it I'm less and less impressed by the flavour.
And I've discovered something most intriguing - I actually prefer the taste of traditionally cheese covered things without the cheese. At first, eating pizza without cheese seemed a bit odd, but now I like it better that way. Even when I have a "just go for it" day when I order food I shouldn't eat because my innards don't respond well to such things, I'll still order pizza without cheese because it tastes better that way.
I like tacos better without cheese in them. I like jacket potatoes better without sour cream and cheese on top. Once, I would have wondered what the point of that was - now I order it on purpose.
It's a strange thing. But then, when you think about cheese, that's a pretty strange thing anyway.
*With the exception of Kraft singles, but I'm pretty sure that's not really cheese.
**I'll thank you to let that comment stand without any feedback, if you please. No comments from the peanut gallery.
