Thursday, June 10, 2010

My Love Affair with Banana Peppers

I used to joke with my vegetarian friends that, if I switched to a vegetarian diet, I'd quickly starve to death. The list of vegetables I like was very short until I was in my thirties.


In my quest to eat healthier, I've come to love certain kinds of peppers. This is one of those statements that, if you had told me a few short years ago that I'd be craving banana peppers, I'd have told you that you were crazy.


I think the problem is, the hurtle I needed to get over involved green peppers. Green peppers are, of course, the grand-daddy of peppers. They're the staple pepper that everyone likes. To this day, I can't stand them. I hate the flavor. Always have.


My best friend in grade school brought them in his lunch almost every day as a snack. I thought he was crazy. I tried them multiple times usually resulting in gagging and sick feelings for the rest of the day. That's the extent to which I hate green peppers. Cooking them doesn't help either. Yuck.


I grew chili peppers in my garden last year. I knew I could use them to flavor salsa and chili. I even thought I might can some for friends, but that never happened. They became my gateway pepper. They rubbed me the right way. They opened my mind to new possibilities.


I've always liked the smell of cooking peppers. I especially like the smell of banana peppers on pizza. So, a few months ago, I tried them. They were great! I thought it must be because they were cooked though, dried from the heat with less flavor. But, I started to crave them after that. Before I knew what was happening, I was eating them on sandwiches right out of the can. I'm hooked now. It's actually becoming a problem. I'm putting them on everything.


I started buying other peppers to mix into my homemade guacamole. I even picked up a few Hungarian Yellows thinking they were similar to Bananas. They weren't bad raw… Well… They weren't bad tasting raw, but they did some gnarly things to my stomach. I won't be purchasing them again. Oy.


So, I can now add certain peppers to that growing list of things I used to hate but now love.


The list is as follows:

  • Broccoli
  • Salads
  • Cauliflower
  • Tartar Sauce
  • Brussels Sprouts
  • Asparagus
  • Artichoke Hearts
  • Egg Plant
  • Mayo (none of that Miracle Whip garbage)
  • Green Onions (every other kind is gross)
  • Cooked Carrots
  • Salsa
  • Avocado
  • Guacamole
  • Banana Peppers


I can't blame my parents for any of this either. They always tried to get me to try new things, and I totally believe that my taste buds were just different back then. I feel like such a big boy eating vegetables for a change. I wish I could like celery though. I've tried it so many times, and I still just hate it.

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