Tonight for dinner I had scrambled duck eggs on toast with new season English asparagus. And I realised something that I have suspected for quite a while now but not really dared to conclude...I don't actually like asparagus. Which is a bit of a revelation, seeing as I take pride in liking most seasonal English food (rhubarb, for example, and quinces, and gooseberries) and getting very excited when it comes into season. There is always such a huge fuss made over the start of the English asparagus season by chefs and food writers everywhere - all the papers are full of recipes for new asparagus at the moment, going on about how delicious our home-grown specimens are in comparison to those flown over from Peru. So naturally I got excited too, and went and bought some.
And realised I don't like it. Now I come to think of it, I also really do not like purple sprouting broccoli, another seasonal English food that people make such a fuss over. Both asparagus and purple sprouting taste horribly bitter to me and actually put me off my food. I don't mind asparagus with parma ham or cheese, because the saltiness and the flavour of the ham detracts from the bitterness. But I have never actually eaten purple sprouting and enjoyed it - in fact, I often end up throwing it away and feeling sick. I know this is probably a shocking revelation coming from someone who is obsessed with food and will eat anything, and loves seasonal food crazes (Alphonso mangoes, for example)...Maybe there's some sort of chemical in them that I don't like? Apparently coriander has something in that means people either love it or really hate it because it tastes bitter to them. Perhaps it's the same with me and asparagus...
I feel better now that I have reached this conclusion...and will no longer be forcing myself to buy gluts of asparagus only to shove it down my throat without chewing and then eat some chocolate to get rid of the taste. My duck eggs were very nice on their own...I don't think I'll be tainting them with those green spears any more. Despite duck eggs and asparagus being a classic Great British Menu combination.