There are a few foods that I have discovered at integral to Danish culture. Hazelnuts, marzipan, potatoes, and rugbrød to name a few, but something it seems most Danes can’t live without is licorice! Unfortunately, I hate licorice. However, I decided around New Year’s to try to like things I don’t like, and while some people claim that not having to eat things you don’t like is one of the best parts about finally being an adult, I have this thing where I have this aversion to being picky. Probably comes from my almost-youngest-child personality, in that I want to please everyone, and when people refer to me as “the girl who likes everything” I couldn’t be more flattered. In college I was crudely known as the girl who would eat “everything, included reheated poo” which I think might have been a reference to the purple Skittles, but I might be wrong.
See, I’m already a vegetarian, and that limits what I can eat a lot. I don’t mind, and I usually don’t miss meat (unless confronted with a spicy sausage) but I don’t like being a pain to feed, when I’m a guest. So I figure, the more foods I like, the easier I am to feed!
Anyway, I’ve been trying to eat things I don’t like: mushrooms, pears, and now, licorice! And I’ve come a long way! I just ate a candy-coated piece of licorice and my face didn’t contort! I even vaguely enjoyed it.
Salt licorice, on the other hand is something I don’t think I’ll ever like. I might as well try to like eating asphalt or chewy bile. I know, I know, that’s a gross image. But seriously. Salt licorice. Barf.
