The one-bite rule

The holiday dining seasons is upon us and it is time to consider the many ethnic dining options one is likely to encounter on a community buffet in these parts: rice, sushi, pickled fish, collard greens, sweet potato pie.

RantWoman is worldly and well-traveled and has done a variety of things on holidays with minimal distress. RantMom, on the other hand, is continually exclaiming about something or other. RantMom's current topic of exclamation is collard greens. For a woman who spent decades inducing spouse and children to eat our vegetables with gusto, RantMom is surprisingly vehement in her dislike of collard greens.

RantWoman's experience is that, no matter how important collard greens are as comfort food for some people, RantWoman understands why RantMom tends to complain about salty overcooked sodden green slime. RantWoman's experience comports often enough with this view to completely understand it. However, once in a great while, RantWoman encounters greens she really likes, tasting of the greens, not oversalted, sometimes with a hint of vinegar, sometimes with the right fillip of butter or bacon grease. RantWoman has read enough different greens recipes to know there are several different approaches to preparation. All of this means, unlike RantMom, RantWoman nearly always has a one-bite rule about greens on a buffet!

Bon appetit