One of the many things I learned during our week at the Galley Bay Resort in Antigua was that, when you’re in a new place, even familiar foods can become new to you. I learned that at dinner our very first night, when I ordered an appetizer that included pickled beets. I’m not a fan of beets in general, but pickled beets in particular make me shudder. Still, I knew I liked everything else in the appetizer, so I gave it a shot.
And I loved it. In fact, that appetizer was one of my favorite things I ate in a week filled with really excellent food.
Today’s Five for Friday is a list of five things I learned about food while visiting the island of Antigua. Some of them might seem obvious. Some of them are probably things I knew once, but had forgotten. All of them are worth keeping in mind.
The fact that you’re familiar with a particular food doesn’t mean you know everything about it. I’m not a giant fan of watermelon. It’s mostly a texture thing. But tiny cubes of crisp, sweet melon tossed into a green salad, topped with a tangy vinaigrette? That’s an experience I’m glad to have had. Another salad featured mixed melon cubes (cantaloupe, honeydew and watermelon) tossed with the greens. This is not a combination I would ever have come up with on my own, but it’s excellent.
Give it a shot before you wrinkle your nose. The first time I ordered a hamburger from the grill for lunch and found a slice of raw cucumber among my burger toppings, I pulled it out and ate it on its own. Cucumber on a burger? That’s just weird, I thought. Then it occurred to me that, you know, pickles are made from cucumbers. So the next time I ordered burger, I left the cucumber slices (two this time) nestled among the tomato and the lettuce. Guess what? Raw cucumber on a burger is fantastic. It’s cool and crisp and bright and fresh. Just the right balance to a juicy burger.
Being a little brave usually has a big payoff. One night I ordered an appetizer with four ingredients I recognized and knew I liked; one ingredient was completely unfamiliar to me. (Labneh, anyone?) I decided to go with the odds, roll the dice, and take my chances. As it turns out, labneh is a type of yogurt cheese, which I have made at home myself and liked very much. If I’d let the name scare me off, I would have missed out on something I really enjoyed.
Our taste buds change. That was proven to me in the aforementioned pickled beet scenario, but also in other ways: for instance, some things I thought I’d really like were just okay. I have a hard time imagining how apple strudel could be bad, but I discovered that it can be unremarkable. What I thought would be comfort food turned out to be a bit of a letdown.
Simple things, when prepared really well, can be spectacular. Pork loin with pan gravy was nothing new to my palate, but the pork loin I had at Galley Bay was unlike any I’d ever had before. The grilled chicken served at the Caribbean barbecue night was another standout. You don’t have to make something exotic to make something good; just do a really good job with what you have.
Toward the end of our week, Mike asked me “What’s your favorite thing you’ve eaten while we were here?” I really couldn’t answer that question. The pavlova I had for dessert one night was like eating a cloud. The escalope of mahi mahi was rivaled only by the grilled wahoo as my favorite seafood dish, and the pan seared grouper was right up there with them. Then there was that fantastic sesame tofu stir fry–that was in a category all its own. And we haven’t even touched on that pickled beet appetizer I mentioned earlier.
I don’t think I ate anything at Galley Bay that I didn’t like, even if I liked some things more than others. But visiting Antigua helped me learn (again) that being just a little adventurous can open your mind and even, on occasion, teach you a little something about yourself.
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