Define: growing up

Things I eat now but didn't eat when I was a kid:

Squid - My older brother loved "adobong pusit", squid cooked in its own ink with soy sauce and garlic. My grandmother would cook it all the time, but she would cook me something else because I do not eat it. One day in high school or college, I tasted it, and to this day it's one of the dishes that get my mouth watering when I see it in cafeteria selections.

Okra (ladyfingers) - As a child, I was not trained to eat vegetables. My grandparents I guess wanted to be spared from the hassle of training a child to eat greens, so we always had kid-friendly food instead - pork chops, chicken, hotdogs. We would see vegetables on the table, but those had always been for grown-ups. I do not remember the day, neither the dish, but just like the squid, one day, I picked up a cooked okra, and now keep some in stock for steaming so I can eat it with almost anything.

Liver - I guess when you're a kid, a lot of things are just not familiar to you. We not only don't want to spend time with something unfamiliar, we don't want to eat it! And so when the grown-ups told me that what's in that menudo is chicken liver, I reject it. These days, I pick these tiny cubes from menudo and eat them with the potatoes and carrots each time.

Dinuguan - Dinuguan, or pork parts cooked in pig's blood, will definitely sound yucky in any language. Imagine what a child would think upon hearing that she's about to be fed blood. We never cook dinuguan in our household back when my grandmother headed the kitchen. Some time back, my mom took over the cooking and she cooked dinuguan. At first taste, it became one of my automatically favorite dish.

Some things never change:

Inihaw na bangus - I left our family home to live alone when I was 26 years. I lived in Singapore for about 3 years, and when I came back to the Philippines, lived with my long time partner. Since 2006, the time I spend at our family home are more of weekend visits. I never declared grilled milkfish or "bangus" my favorite dish. In fact, when asked what my favorite food is, I often answer spaghetti. But I guess my mom and dad knew better - because ever since I left home, there will always be, always, grilled milkfish on each and every visit. And in the few times there wasn't, my mom would replace it with my other favorite dish, one that I have declared, pork pochero.

Bone marrow - People all over the world love bone marrow. There's something about that gooey, rich fat that you suck out of the bone that makes people's mouth water. Or so they say. I have never eaten bone marrow, and despite the many trips to Tagaytay where the bone marrow is famously cooked in a heartwarming soup that I love, I will never eat bone marrow. As a child, I didn't eat it because it looks weird. As an adult, I won't eat it because I know it will taste good. I don't want to eat it and like it, because I know it's bad cholesterol, plain and simple.

Bagoong - From the day my mom introduced me to diced tomatoes with bagoong as a young child, to this day, bagoong has always been a staple in any fridge I have. In Singapore, I have had to wrap my bagoong jar in layers of newspaper and plastic so it doesn't get detected in the airport. In Makati, I always keep a small container, and get my fill whenever I go home to Tondo. Bagoong is my all-around flavoring - it goes well with my rice, my fish, my tomatoes and my okra.

Fresh tomatoes - I have met some people who don't eat tomatoes, and I find it incredibly bothersome. I don't know how they survive. As a kid, I grew up surrounded by tomatoes. Our home in Tondo is in the middle of the marketplace, and the area I live in especially is the place where tomato storage warehouses are found. Crates and boxes of tomatoes surround me, how can I not grow up liking it? When I cook spaghetti, I put about 5-6 big ones in. When I eat anything fried or grilled, I don't feel complete without it. And between the choice of white sauce or red sauce in pasta when eating out, I often get puzzled why people choose white.