There is something to the theory that the older you grow, the more you regress to how you were as a child. Well, it’s certainly proving true in my case.
Brought up in a very orthodox household, I grew up on strictly vegetarian fare. Forget about meat and fish, even eggs were forbidden to cross our kitchen threshold. But as a child, I don’t remember feeling deprived in the slightest. On the contrary, I was very happy to scoff down the vegetarian food I was offered – and ask for more. This situation persisted well into my adulthood. I would visit friends who cooked meat at home, but was never tempted to try it. I would eat out at restaurants and stick resolutely to the vegetarian section.
It all changed when I met my now-husband, and fell in love with a bona fide foodie. In the beginning, when we ate out, I stuck to my vegetarian options. But gradually, I was persuaded to try something from the animal kingdom. It started off with something as innocuous as fish and chips, a taste that I could get on board with. Then, I tried a few varieties of non-vegetarian kebabs, and found, to my astonishment and delight, that I loved them. From there, it was easy to move on to biryani and curries. And in no time at all, I was ordering foie gras as a starter and sausages as a main course, and enjoying every morsel.
There were some caveats, of course. I could not stomach lamb, because its strong smell repelled me. (Goat, on the other hand, I had no problem with; which is why I find it so annoying when Indian restaurants use the terms lamb and goat interchangeably.) I could not eat game of any kind (again, the smell) and when it came to duck, the only thing I relished was the crisp skin served in Chinese restaurants, the actual meat I found unpalatable. But other than these small exclusions, I quite enjoyed the variety a non-vegetarian diet provided.
{{/usCountry}}There were some caveats, of course. I could not stomach lamb, because its strong smell repelled me. (Goat, on the other hand, I had no problem with; which is why I find it so annoying when Indian restaurants use the terms lamb and goat interchangeably.) I could not eat game of any kind (again, the smell) and when it came to duck, the only thing I relished was the crisp skin served in Chinese restaurants, the actual meat I found unpalatable. But other than these small exclusions, I quite enjoyed the variety a non-vegetarian diet provided.
{{/usCountry}}I find, however, as I grow older, that I have less and less appetite for non-vegetarian food. Partly, it is that my body seems to be rebelling against it. For instance, I have always loved oysters, but over the last couple of years, they have stopped loving me. Ditto, with some varieties of shell-fish. In fact, my list of exclusions when it comes to non-vegetarian fare now has become so long, that I find it saves time to just say that I am vegetarian. I have taken to doing just that when I visit friends for dinner. I do that when I book restaurants with tasting menus, where you have to give your preference upfront.
And I have to say that I have never regretted it. Last month, I visited Plenitude, arguably the best restaurant in Paris, and chose the vegetarian option, and was absolutely blown away by the quality of the ingredients and the restraint displayed in the cooking. You could actually taste the vegetables, the sauces were both intense and elegant, and the entire meal had a magical lightness to it all.
So, maybe, reverting back to my childhood tastes is not such a bad thing. It certainly gives a fresh, more positive, spin to the phrase ‘second childhood’.
From HT Brunch, July 18, 2026
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