Fish, a simple and important revelation.

As Sanchez goes to excess to describe how much my food background is bankrupt, there are some basic points I do understand, although I happen to be capable of developing taste as time moves forward. I will illustrate his basic premise with a simple example: fish.

I enjoyed sushi with my mother this evening, which is to say she watched me enjoy sushi while she ate chicken teriyaki and tempura shrimp. I goaded her on to try a little bite of a roll with fully cooked ingredients. She refused saying "it's going to be fishy."

Yes, I thought, it's fish. I respect the various eccentricities and biases that pepper my family's taste as much as I understand them, so understanding is the project here. I understood something so simple and so telling that I can't believe I hadn't thought it before. We all grew up in Colorado. Unless it was brook trout, we never saw fresh fish. Ever. A bias against "fishy" has more to do with freshness than taste. I had mackerel sashimi and noticed the full flavor but enjoyed its freshness. Give the same Mackerel another day, it would be disturbing. Freshness is difficult to demand in the Colorado of my childhood, but now I can enjoy terrific sushi-grade seafood without the pitfalls of "fishy" fish.

I come from Picky people, which Sanchez has had the grace not to mention. Yet. As soon as I can begin to understand why, I will be ready to fully embrace our mantra, "eat it and shut up."