For the Rest of My Life

If I had to choose one food to eat for the rest of my life, it would be pork, every bit of it.  A lot of people feel that way – hey, pork is delicious! – so I started to think about what food I could go without for the rest of my life.

If I could never see, eat, or cook with a certain food again for the rest of my life, it would probably be lobster.  It is usually not prepared well, and, even when it is, it’s boring to me.  Lobster is “destined” to taste good before a chef ever comes into the picture, so it really doesn’t take much to make it delicious.  Try grilling a raw beef tongue for two minutes per side, then squirting lemon juice on it and calling it delicious.  Not going to happen. 

I can’t remember the first time I had lobster, but I can remember a specific time I had it.  I was young, 11 or 12, on a trip with my parents up the east coast to visit family.  During the trip, we stayed at a hotel where my father had formerly been the Director of Food and Beverage.  We had dinner in the hotel restaurant one night and were met by the current Director of F&B, a man my father knew quite well (who, coincidentally, would become my General Manager at the Sanderling Resort 16 years later). 

While I was looking at the menu, the F&B director asked what I thought looked good.  I said that I was really hoping for a lobster but there wasn’t one on the menu.  He said, “Let me see what we can find for you,” grinning a grin I would later grow to hate.  As our meal arrived, a steamed, six pound whole Maine lobster on a platter was placed in front of me.  I had never seen a lobster even close to that size.  That was a pretty cool dinner. 

I couldn’t tell you the last time I had lobster.  I am confident that since I started cooking professionally I haven’t ordered it once.