A Short Story about My Mother's Soybean Paste Soup

Even now, I've always had a picky eater's palate. I prefer sweet, salty, spicy, or new foods, and I'm not a big eater. As I've mentioned before, a breakfast of eggs, apples, and bananas is usually a struggle for me. Miso soup was the same; I disliked its musty smell and peculiar fishy taste.

I can't remember exactly how many years ago it was, but one day, looking at a bubbling pot of miso soup, I strongly desired to have a bowl of rice in it. At that time, I always ate lunch alone, so I mustered the courage to try it. That day, I fell in love with my mom's miso soup.

Since then, unless my mother makes it, I've developed the habit of always having rice in my miso soup. In fact, eating rice in soup can be unhealthy, but on a slightly chilly day like today, a warm bowl of rice soup is irresistible. I was even able to overcome my dislike of pollack and seaweed soup by eating it with rice.

As I mentioned earlier, I still have a picky eater's palate, but I've improved a lot compared to twenty years ago. Furthermore, moving to America diversified my diet, and I'm incredibly happy and grateful to be able to eat all kinds of meat cheaply and abundantly.

In that sense, I've decided on kimchi jjigae ramen for dinner tonight, as I previously shared.