RHYS BOWEN: I’m going to say something controversial today: I love Marmite.
Do you all know what Marmite is? It’s a brown, gooey stuff that tastes … well…strong and salty. I can’t really describe it. You spread it on toast. You use it to enhance soups and gravies. It’s actually a yeast byproduct, invented over a hundred years ago when brewers wanted to come up with something to do with their left-over yeast after the beer was fermented.
But I think, seriously, that one has to have been born with the Marmite gene. I don’t know of any non-Brits who like it. And yet my children, all born in America, all eat it all the time. I’m not sure about my grandchildren. When we first got to the States I tried serving it to new friends. One of my favorite things is to toast a marmite sandwich and then to grill one side of it with cheese on top. The result is heaven to me. To my friends not so much. I watched their faces as they tried to struggle through it, occasionally daring to ask, “What exactly is this?”
John and I often have it for breakfast, after the obligatory sardines (another acquired taste). But I’ve yet to come across the Yank who exclaims “Marmite? I tried it in London and now I can’t get enough of it.”
I’m also a big fan of liver. John adores kidneys. We also tried serving these to American friends and got looks of horror. I have to say that after my daughter majored in biology I became less keen on kidneys. Now I know exactly what they do.
I’m sure there are plenty of foods that other people love but I hate. Candied yams, for example. Yuck. I’ve never tried tripe but Mexicans adore menudo. I do like sweetbreads but I’m never cooking them myself. It’s so fiddly and time consuming. So I’d love to know if there is a food you adore but nobody else does.
HALLIE EPHRON: So interesting! Yes, marmite tastes to me the way the inside of a tin can smells.
I love freshly made chopped chicken liver. Essential ingredient: chicken fat. I save chicken fat trimmings in the freezer until I have enough. Then try to find fresh chicken liver in the supermarket – often unavailable. My chopped chicken liver has lots of onion and hard boiled egg in it, and I hand chop it in with a chopper I inherited from my mother-in-law and in a bowl my grandmother used. It’s SO delicious! And I confess I’ve never had a decent version from a deli or restaurant. Theirs always taste…old.
LUCY BURDETTE: I’m sure we must have eaten Marmite in Australia, but I don’t remember loving or hating it. But chicken livers, no thank you. That and lamb–everyone says “oh but you haven’t tasted my recipe.” But I don’t care for either one, doesn’t matter how much onion and rosemary you tuck around the edges. On the other hand, not everyone loves my favorite, candied jalapenos.
JULIA SPENCER-FLEMING: Lucy, I’ve come to believe lamb is like licorice - you either love it or hate it, no inbetween. (I love the former and can’t eat or drink anything flavored with anise.)
The only singular thing I seem to eat is peanut butter and pickle open-faced sandwiches. Not pickle as in Branston Pickle (although I do love that.) I mean toast, smeared with natural peanut butter, and topped with slices of dill or kosher pickle. Spare me the pregnancy jokes; I’ve heard them all.
HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: Marmite. I have never tasted it, and I have to say it sounds pre-tty horrible. I do love chopped liver, though, SO yummy. With onion and eggs, yes. YUM.
I love licorice candy, red and black. Lamb? Lamb? Rack of lamb is the best thing in the world. Truly.
But I have never and will never have baked beans. Ah. How could anyone eat those? Or lima beans. Gah. Or poached eggs. I cannot even think about poached eggs.
I do sometimes eat matzo when it’s not Passover. It’s delicious, even with nothing on it. Does that count?
DEBORAH CROMBIE: Marmite, Rhys! I have to confess that even having lived in Scotland and England, and having been married to a Scot for almost fifteen years, I never developed a taste for Marmite. To me it tastes the way B vitamins smell–not appealing at all. I think you might be right about it being a taste that has to be acquired early.
I do love chicken livers and sometimes will saute them until they are crispy on the outside but still pink on the inside, and eat them on toast with butter and salt. Poor man's pate–yum. And I adore sweetbreads, but never cook them because no one else will eat them.
RHYS: I think lamb is also an acquired taste. It's a staple of Sunday lunch in England so I grew up liking it. But I also love chicken livers. I saute in butter then add sherry and flambe. Spread them on toast. Yum
Also like baked beans but not lima. And my poached eggs have to have firm white and slightly gooey yolk
