Ordeal by Meal, by Patricia Johnson

My grandfather on my mother's side is half Polish and half German.  If you didn't know, Polish and German people eat weird things.  Think bologna (with peppers and pickles in it), pickled eggs, anything smothered in garlic, sauerkraut, liverwurst, etc.  My grandfather loves all this type of thing, especially if it is spicy; hot peppers are the one thing he needs to make his bratwurst perfect. 

When I was five, I was a bit squeamish about these types of foods, as many five-year-olds are about anything that is not mac-and-cheese or pb-and-j.  This squeamishness was not acceptable to my grandfather (who is also something of a joker).  One day at his cabin, he and my uncle were eating raw jalapeño peppers out of a box from the farmers' market.  Being a naive and curious child, I asked what they were.  My grandfather smiled and said that they were, "yummy," so of course I asked to try one.  He complied and watched in silence as I put the entire thing into my mouth.  Don't worry, a few glasses of milk and a trip to the ice cream shop later, I had calmed down.  A little. 

At first, I was furious at my grandfather.  Actually, first, I was terrified by the burning sensation in my mouth, and then I was furious.  I forgave him pretty quickly; like I said, he bought me ice cream.  However, I wonder if that experience might have changed my tastes in food.  It was as if, since I had survived the pepper, I could survive anything, even though I now realize that jalapeños are not very spicy at all.  Rather than being afraid of new foods, I was always first out of my friends to try new things, and I love spicy Indian and Thai cuisine.  The first time I went over to a Punjabi friend's house, her mother made a huge, very spicy dinner and was delighted when I could eat the food without retreating into the yogurt bowl.  I explained about my grandfather and the jalapeño, and my friend's mother said, "He gave you a gift."  Whether or not this is true (that I can eat a larger variety of foods because of the pepper ordeal), my grandfather definitely gave me the gift of a funny story.

yum....