#5 New Zealand Spinach
In the Zakun household, fresh organic leafy greens from the garden were often served at dinner and New Zealand Spinach was the BANE of the kid's dinnertime experience. Turns out, Adam's mom was the only person who liked New Zealand Spinach so Adam's dad finally "put his foot down" and staged a "coup" when he declared, "I'm NOT growing New Zealand Spinach" in our garden anymore. I don't like, the kids don't like it...you're the only one who likes it." Adam's dad's culinary heroics saved the children from torturous meals New Zealand Spinach.
#4 Don't Squish the Bread
Growing up, Adam's mom made homemade bread most days using their bread machine. Hot, fresh, crusty, soft homemade bread right out of the bread machine BEGGED to be sliced immediately, but cutting or "squishing" the hot bread was highly frowned upon in the Zakun household. Adam would risk parental disapproval and"squish" the homemade loaf anyways because homemade bread + mayo + BBQ sauce + parmesan cheese was his favorite afternoon snack concoction and totally worth it. Adam's mom recently said she'd bake him a hot loaf of bread the next time he was home and let him squish it to his heart's content.
#3 Caraway Seeds
Before there was a Whole Foods to provide abundant cheese counters to every gentrifying neighborhood, there was the Cheese Coop out of Berkeley. The family would gather with other local gourmands to place bulk orders for European cheeses a few times a year. Adam the cheese lover declared often "I've never met a cheese I didn't enjoy." That was until the day that the Zakun family received a large portion of this new cheese with caraway seeds. Adam despised this caraway seed cheese because he didn't like how it tasted, but more so because he could no longer declare with certainty "I've never met a cheese I didn't enjoy."
#2 Hard Rock Bagels
Cultural authenticity is highly valued by the Zakuns and it's a wonderful intellectually curious way to live. Authentic gelato, authentic Chinese and of course authentic bagels, NYC water bagels to be more precise. The only problem is that the Zakuns live in the Bay Area and back in the day, there was just one bakery in town to buy authentic water bagels. While authentic, the bagels were quite hard and difficult to slice without risking a trip to the emergency room. They also had a larger than average hole in the middle rendering them incapable of holding much filling in a bagel sandwich. Unauthentic bagels were not allowed in the Zakun household so Adam had to "suffer" by gnawing on hard rock bagels.
#1 No Cheese
Did I mention that Adam loves cheese. Cheese is delicious, it comes in many forms and it even serves as a "binder" to structurally secure ones food together. Cheese is especially delicious on Mexican food except in Adam's case, the family frequently got take out from a Mexican restaurant that did not offer cheese...or so his parents claimed at the time. Adam never wanted Mexican take out from this restaurant because his tacos never had any cheese. When he asked for cheese, his parents said that the restaurant had NO CHEESE. Years and years later as an adult, Adam mentioned this no cheese available situation.
Adam: Wasn't it weird that the Mexican restaurant didn't offer cheese?
Parentals: What are you talking about?
Adam: The restaurant didn't stock cheese, that's what you said.
Parentals: Hmmm, I don't remember that. They've always had cheese, you just never asked for it.
Adam: [muttering] But I did ask for cheese!!!!!
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