Tastes Like Vegetable

Right, so for the past twenty seven years I've been asking people to try to tell me what various kinds of seafood tastes like, since I've never tried any due to a deathly allergy (see last blog post). I've asked people to compare it to other foods, texture, flavour, anything, and never has anyone been able to do it. So I decided that I'd write my interpretation of the different seafoods I try along the way. You never know, maybe there are others out there who have had the same allergy and just want to know what they're missing.

Last night was my first ever in my life seafood tasting experience, courtesy of Don:



Shrimp. The kind in the freezer that's already boiled. I reluctantly took one and held it for a while until I was sure it wasn't going to kill me. Then a sniff or two. Then a lil' lick. Then a nibble. Then a proper bite. "Hmmm... it tastes like.... a vegetable of some sort!" My first impression of shrimp is that it tastes quite like some sweet vegetable, a cross between a snow pea and celery or something like that, but very light. The texture was different, this is the hardest part to explain: it was on the verge of being crunchy but it wasn't, and it was on the verge of being rubbery, but it wasn't. If I had closed my eyes and eaten it without knowing what it was, there's no doubt I would have said some sort of vegetable because of both the flavour and the texture. Verdict - s'not bad.

Then I ate some that had been cooked in garlic butter. This was a completely different story: the texture was different, more chewy like meat is. The vegetable-y taste was quite a bit less and the shrimp took on some of the garlic butter taste (which is, of course, delicious). My verdict on the cooked version? I like. It made me want to try it done in lots of different ways - all those dishes in the Chinese food take out menu (95% of the menu really) I want to try.

As predicted by the allergy specialist, I had no adverse reactions at all to the shrimp. So now I know for sure. Weird. Two things I'm excited to try are lobster and scallops because I've always thought they looked so yummy. Weird how something that I've never tasted in my life can look yummy - what does yummy look like?


Love M