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Thursday, March 2, 2017

My First Time


My First Time

I stole this title from the formerly Chubby, currently Svelte Chatterbox who posted about his first time trying sushi.  http://chubbychatterbox.com/blog/my_first_time.en

The "First Time" many of you perverts are thinking about will NEVER be material for this blog.

Anyway, Stephen asked others about the first time they tried different foods.

The first time I had pizza was as a college freshman. 

Pizza an exotic food? 

Well, if you were raised as a WASP in suburbia in the fifties, the now ubiquitous pizzerias were actually rather rare.  I only knew of pizza from two sources.

There were pizzerias on the boardwalk in Ocean City, New Jersey where my grandparents lived in the summer.  The pizza smelled delicious, and looked delicious, but I had decided without trying it, that I did not like pizza.  Pizza was on a long list of food that I knew I did not like even without trying, but it was the only food on that peculiar list that smelled and looked delicious.

I had long since decided I did not like pizza because of the Jackie Gleason Show.  On “The Honeymooners” Gleason often spoke of eating pizza, not just pizza, but pizza with “The Works.”  The works included onions, peppers, mushrooms and anchovies, four items also on my unusual-foods-list, as a matter of fact, except for mushrooms, they are still on my I-will-never-eat -them list.  I associated pizza with these foods, never realizing that the pie could be ordered without “The Works.”

In addition, to reinforce my dislike for the never sampled pizza, was my brother’s experience with pizza.  On several occasions, my older brother came home on a Saturday night and got sick to his stomach.  He got sick in a most unpleasant manner.  Each time he claimed he had eaten some bad pizza in the city.  I did not wish to ever become so unpleasantly distressed by a slice of pizza.

In actuality, I learned later, my brother's distress was caused not by the pizza, but by consumption of beer in great quantities.  The pizza excuse was to fool my father.  It only fooled me.  Pops said nothing, but extracted his punishment on my brother (and by extension on me) by forcing the whole family to go to early church service on Sunday.  Getting up early with a hangover must have been successful punishment, because my brother has never been a big beer drinker.  For me, the lesson extended to pizza.

Freshman year in college my pizza aversion broke down.  Several guys on my dorm floor ordered pizza.  I was offered a slice.  I was hungry.  I was informed it would not have onions, peppers, mushrooms or anchovies.  I courageously sampled a slice.

I have since learned to also cross  asparagus, artichokes and mushrooms off my I-will-never-eat-them list.  I remain a sushi free zone.

My favorite pizza is with sausage and mushrooms.

23 comments:

  1. I like anchovies in moderation.
    Black olives enhance that sausage and mushroom pizzas.
    I never liked black olives until I had them on a pizza.

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  2. I had sushi for the first (and only time) back in 2014 with my then son's girlfriend and all of us celebrating her birthday. I liked it. I just haven't gone back for more. Half the reason is I'm not comfortable ordering it yet; need someone to kind me through it.

    I think as we grow into adulthood we are willing to try more foods. I know what I wouldn't have eaten at 12 years old, I'm loving now.

    betty

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  3. guide me through it; need to proofread before I hit publish

    betty

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  4. You were so brave, trying PIZZA! If you were really brave, you'd buy the SUSHI I saw in WALMART today, and actually taste it!

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  5. Being Italian pizza is a given for me and my dad made the best - with everything. Now my favorite pizza is an American/Canadian/Italian mix. Canadian bacon, pineapple and anchovies all over. :) Weird but I love it.

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  6. You'll never eat onions?? One of my favourite foods is a fried onion sandwich. Only the onions are fried, not the whole sandwich, the bread may or may not be lightly toasted.
    We knew about pizza via American movies, but the town I grew up in didn't have a pizza place until I went back there much later with three small children to visit my mother. And still, we didn't try it although by then I had eaten pizza and enjoyed it because big cities had pizza parlors by the early 70s.
    These days I don't like meat of any kind on my pizza unless I make it myself with really fresh ham or salami. Too many times I've been victim to "Pizza Ham" which has gone off. I like a pineapple and cheese pizza with garlic, but only fresh garlic, so usually order just pineapple and cheese, because too may places use garlic powder, ugh!
    Sushi is on my "never to be eaten" list along with asparagus and avocado.

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    Replies
    1. Asparagus & avocado are two of my favorite foods!!

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  7. How do you live without onions??? I didn't try mayo until was about 20, not because I didn't think I'd like it but because it was something we just didn't have in the house as I was growing up. The only things that are on my 'I will never eat list' are celery (devils food!) and offal. I'm also not a big fan of fish unless it's covered in batter and served with chips.

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  8. I can't live without onions but I can live without sushi or pizza. My first taste of pizza was in the country that developed it but I could never take to it. It's not the filling that puts me off, it's the flat base itself.

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  9. Pizza is one of those items i don't ever remember not eating.

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  10. Mike went his whole life avoiding onions and garlic. Did not even want them in the house. He never ate mayonnaise, ever, because when he was little, he asked the garbage man where he took the garbage and the g-man told him, "straight to the mayonnaise factory." As we all know, a garbage man would never lie to a little kid.

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  11. Pizza was such a novelty in the old days that we had pizza parties when I was first married, and spent the evening making and eating pizzas. And drinking beer.

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  12. I had my first taco as a college freshman. I grew up so far north that no one up there had heard of Mexican food (or, for that matter, Mexicans) by the early 70s.

    You and I agree: sausage and mushrooms is the absolute best pizza. . . (and I love mushrooms all by themselves, especially sauteed in wine, olive oil and garlic. . .)

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  13. My mother used to say she'd like to try pizza but my father was adamant...no pizza in this house. When I started to work for a living I ordered a pizza delivered to the house (made sure Dad wasn't going to be there lol) and Mom and I enjoyed our first taste of pizza together. It was heavenly.

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  14. Some how I never got a pizza hunger. Don't like tomato sauce which is on most. I will get one with ham and pineapple occasionally--I know--I hear the groans.

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  15. I love pizza, and so does my hips, so I don't have it very often. Pepperoni and mushroom please.

    Have a fabulous day and weekend. ☺

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  16. I am partial to pizza, have been since 1958, but you can keep the mushrooms!

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  17. When I was a kid we made pizza from a boxed kit. I think it was Chef Boyardi (sp?) we made it on a square pan. It would be years before I saw a round pizza. Thanks for the shout out. I appreciate it.

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  18. I love anchovy pizza, but rarely get it since my husband hates anchovies. Well, he thinks he does (he's never tried them).

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  19. I don't do anchovies either but I love pizza with most anything else. I've had Jersey pizza, New York pizza, Chicago pizza, and Miami pizza. I loved them all.
    I don't eat bait either.
    R

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  20. When my daughter & my niece decided to give up eating meat, they still ate fish because they didn't want to give up anchovies on their pizza!!

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  21. Like you, my dad refused to eat pizza -- not something people of his class ate!!! -- until he was out with colleagues and they were gorging themselves! Then he absolutely loved pepperoni pizza (no mushrooms for him). Ketchup was another thing he would consider eating! His wife and children got a huge kick out of seeing him stuff pizza in his face -- especially considering until then he would not ever eat cheese!!

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  22. I ADORE pizza. I like the thin crusts, thick crusts, pan pizzas - I like it all except for anchovies. My favorite though is the old standby, pepperoni pizza, lots of mozzarella cheese.

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