Another food essay...

I actually ate a sweet potato today. I've never cared for sweet potatoes. Something about them makes me gag. My first memory of truly eating one comes from my childhood. My best friend had invited me over for dinner. Her grandparents were in town and her grandmother was cooking. I had had her food before and loved it. So with my mother's permission I went on over.

We all sat down at the dinner table, gave thanks to God, then passed the food around. Then I spied it. The platter of baked sweet potatoes. What was I to do? I knew that I hated them. My parents had a long standing policy of "You have to try it at least once before you decide you don't like it." I had tried sweet potatoes several times. They were disgusting. I had never managed to eat more than a bite or two. Potatoes are supposed to be white and mashed and buttered and salted and hopefully covered in gravy. Another policy instituted by my parents stated that when you are over someone else's house, you eat what they serve you and don't tell them that you don't like it. You simply eat it without saying anything and then thank them for the meal.

Bracing myself, I took the smallest of the potatoes, which was not exactly small. I buttered it. I salted it. I did what I could to make the thing more palatable. I choked it down. Really. I gagged as each bite went down my throat. I made it through dinner and was rewarded with some sort of dessert. I even liked the rest of the meal. But who knows what it was. I had bravely eaten a sweet potato and survived and that was all that mattered.

In the years since that evening, I have tried sweet potatoes again and again, hoping my tastes have changed. After all they are nutritious. They are what my baby loves to eat. They make my husband happy. I want to like them. What to do?

Aha! Tonight I dutifully pealed and cut up a medium sized sweet potato. Then I added several white potatoes to the pot and boiled them up. After mashing and pouring gravy and adding in some broccoli, I found I could eat it. Success!