I’ve always been a super picky eater growing up and only once I was in high school did I start branching out with my food options — like I remember the first time I ever had take-out teriyaki. I was a junior in high school and it was December, winter break specifically, and the power was out at my parent’s house. There was a huge ice and snow storm and it had knocked our power out for six or so days so we weren’t able to cook at home and one of the closest eateries was a teriyaki joint, Souru (amazing food everyone should go there its on Yelm Highway and College, next to the Safeway). My mom went and picked us up some food and I was annoyed, as most angsty teenagers are, that she wouldn’t get food specifically for me (spoiled, I know).

She came home with some basic dinners, all of which had chicken teriyaki in them with a side of rice. I was basically forced to eat the food because we had nothing else in the house that was available (power was out so perishables, well, perished) and found that it was pretty amazing. I was stubborn and never liked to branch out with food and ended up loving the chicken teriyaki from this restaurant — and this restaurant only. I ended up trying fried rice soon after that because I wanted a side with a little more flavor than plain white rice and found that, yep, it was also amazing. This little teriyaki restaurant has become a staple for my family, especially me, for quick tasty food and pretty stellar service.

From there I have branched out more especially from dating a Filipino guy for the past four years. I was soon invited to all the barbecues, Christmas parties, and Thanksgivings that they put on and they were so different from the parties I was used to. The barbecues weren’t just burgers and hot dogs but they also had Hawaiian style BBQ thanks to my boyfriend’s Filipino grandmother (who he endearingly calls Apo) who was born and raised in Oahu. There was always lumpia involved, too, when the party was big enough and man I can’t begin to tell you how excited I get now whenever she is around and brings food or is making some. I’ve been introduced to a mixture of Filipino and Hawaiian style foods that I had never heard of before but now love and want to try cooking myself.

Then there is one of my ultimate favorite comfort foods — phó. I was never really a soup person growing up and didn’t ever care for chicken noodle soup or anything of the like but when I tried phó, something about the flavor and the noodles all just made sense to me.

While I have by no means tried the vast majority of Asian foods, I’ve definitely been surrounded by the Asian American take on many of those foods — including Panda Express because lets be real, the orange chicken is amazing. But food is a huge part of my life because of my allergy to nuts and pickiness about the flavor and consistency in general. Many (including my boyfriend) believe I can’t be a foodie or whatever because of my stubbornness and unwillingness to try foods but I’m still here to enjoy whatever I eat.