<figure id="attachment_415851" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-415851" style="width: 2500px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="4f0795a1"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2025/02/4dd49a169b723d85e054f5bb6e7b714b.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-415851" class="wp-caption-text">Illustration drawn by Kanda-san</figcaption></figure>
<h2> My Mother&#8217;s Likes and Dislikes&#8221; that I Discovered as an Adult</h2>
<p> Since childhood, I was raised to be an adult without likes and dislikes. I never once felt that way about carrots, green peppers, and other typical foods that children dislike. This is because there was no room for it. Even if I did taste bitterness, I would just say, &#8220;That&#8217;s just the way it is. They didn&#8217;t offer me any alternatives, so I had no choice but to eat them. So, at that time, I had no idea that &#8220;I don&#8217;t like the taste, so I won&#8217;t eat it! I had no idea that I would not eat it because I did not like the taste.</p>
<p> However, when I became an adult and traveled with my mother, I found out that she herself had many likes and dislikes. She was not fond of mushrooms in general, garlic, kimchi, and other unique flavors, and several kinds of fish.</p>
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<p> Thinking back, not once did I find any of those things in my mother&#8217;s cooking. I guess because if people knew that my parents also disliked some of these foods, it would be less convincing to say, &#8220;Don&#8217;t like them. So they have spent their time with those foods as if they were not in this world.</p>
<p> Every time we often had grilled yellowtail for dinner, my mother would pick up the hemelytized part with chopsticks and eat it, saying, &#8220;This part is nutritious and delicious! She would say, &#8220;This is where the nutrition is and it&#8217;s delicious! However, as soon as I became an adult, my mother left the yellowtail part out at the inn where we were traveling. She said, &#8220;Oh, that!　You liked it, didn&#8217;t you?&#8221; She replied, &#8220;Of course I didn&#8217;t like it!　This place is disgusting. I had to hold back and eat it on purpose so you wouldn&#8217;t stop eating it. Thanks to you, I can eat it now, can&#8217;t I?&#8221; He said. I was astonished that he went that far and that it was a part of the body that I should be able to eat.</p>
<p> And so now, the only things I think, &#8220;I don&#8217;t like this and don&#8217;t want to eat it,&#8221; are things I encountered as an adult. Examples are &#8230;&#8230; hokke, saba (mackerel), and conger eel.</p>
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<p> I first learned about hokke at an izakaya I went to in college. My friend said, &#8220;Delicious! but for me, it was a fish I didn&#8217;t know. I was afraid to go home that day without eating even a bite, so I asked my mother, &#8220;Do you know that hokke was served today? I asked my mother, &#8220;Do you know a fish called hokke today? She replied, &#8220;Hockey?　My grandfather told me not to eat such a big fish because it was vulgar.</p>
<p> My mother grew up as a young lady. She had been taught that &#8220;big, inexpensive fish = vulgar,&#8221; and she did not allow me to eat it either. In fact, that is not true, but the impression is so strongly etched in my mind that I still don&#8217;t order it myself. If someone asks for it, I take a bite to get used to it.</p>
<p> I first learned about saba (mackerel) at a breakfast prepared for me after an overnight shift in Fukuoka, my first post at NHK. I asked the vendor who brought it to me, &#8220;What kind of fish is this? He replied, &#8220;I don&#8217;t know!　Mackerel! I was like, &#8220;? I was like, &#8220;I don&#8217;t know!</p>
<div data-friday-nextpage-lead=" My mother&#39;s influence"></div>
<h2>Even as an adult, my mother&#8217;s influence was enormous.</h2>
<p> I immediately called my mother and asked, &#8220;I have a fish called mackerel right in front of me, can I eat it?&#8221; I asked. The answer was no. It&#8217;s a fast fish. I&#8217;ve never eaten it before. In retrospect, it was fine, but at the time I declined and ate only white rice.</p>
<p> But one of Fukuoka&#8217;s specialties is sesame mackerel. A few days later, I faced it for the first time at an izakaya (Japanese-style bar) I went to with a senior colleague. I couldn&#8217;t say to him, &#8220;My parents told me not to eat it &#8230;&#8230;,&#8221; and I was prepared to die trying it. I was surprised at how delicious it was, and I have been eating only sesame mackerel ever since.</p>
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<p> Lastly, conger eel. The first time I ate conger eel was in my early 30s. It was served at a sushi restaurant with only a counter. I thought, &#8220;Eel?&#8221; but the chef said, &#8220;Anago. The eels I had eaten were always grilled and brown in a stacked box. Yet the eel in front of me was white and sushi-like. （When I tasted it, I found it cold, soggy, and the sauce was too deliberate for my palate.</p>
<p> A few days later, I asked my mother, &#8220;Do you know what anago is?&#8221; She replied, &#8220;Of course. But they are similar to eel, so you can eat eel instead. It was true, if they are similar, one is better than the other. Since then, I have tried to say in advance, &#8220;I don&#8217;t want sea eel.</p>
<p> There are many foods that I have encountered as an adult that I like. Such is the case with kimchi and garlic, which my mother dislikes. But the foods I don&#8217;t like are also all things I never ate as a child. If I had been forced to eat them, I would not have disliked them. When I think about it, I wonder if my parents&#8217; strategy to eliminate my likes and dislikes was right &#8230;&#8230;, but I am grateful anyway.</p>
<figure id="attachment_415852" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-415852" style="width: 3004px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" class="wp-image-415852 size-full" src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2025/02/695002d97b11ca3cd791054813aeec37-2.jpg" alt="" width="3004" height="3734"><figcaption id="caption-attachment-415852" class="wp-caption-text"> © Kazuki Shimomura</figcaption></figure>
<p> Aika Kanda was born in 1980 in Kanagawa Prefecture. After graduating from Gakushuin University with a degree in mathematics, she joined NHK as an announcer in 2003, and left NHK in 2012 to become a freelance announcer. Since then, she has been active mainly in variety shows, and currently appears regularly as the main MC of the daytime TV program &#8220;Poka Poka&#8221; (Fuji Television Network).</p>
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<p> Her first book, &#8221; <a href="https://amzn.to/4dbWKKN">Where are you going on the road called Royal Road?</a> is now on sale by popular demand!</p>
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<p> From &#8220;FRIDAY&#8221; March 14/21, 2025 issue</p>
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 Aika Kanda

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