I ATE A CLAM AND LIKED IT!

Jet-lagged and famished, we stumbled upon a cute cafe in Vevey, Switzerland. The staff spoke only French and all I knew in the language was “macarons” and what I'd caught on from Call My Agent, which was essentially - merde. We managed to place our order that read ‘spaghetti, tomate et bufala’. “Can’t go wrong with that”, I told my husband confidently. But by what would turn out to be a happy accident, the order arrived and had spaghetti, tomato and clams + mussels. How did cheese turn into dead, steamed, shelled creatures?!

With stomach growling and communication jammed, sending the order back was out of question, so I decided to eat the vegetarian parts. Seeing meat up close was weird and strangely beautiful. The clams looked disarmingly cute. I couldn’t comprehend the opposing feelings. Watching my husband give approving nods with each bite, triggered a FOMO that I didn’t think I’d ever experience. “They don’t taste seafoody…” he said “…you’ll like it. Plus, they are full of iron and B12.” He always has a knack of saying things I want to hear, tsk.

IDK whether it was my vicinity to them or the nutrition fact that lured me, but I immediately held a clam in hand, detached it from the shell and hid it in a biteful of pasta rolled around the fork. I stared at it like a nosy aunty staring when she sees you with a guy - flabergasted and ready to tell the world if something happens (or not!). I waited needlessly until all the steam evaporated, and hastily stuffed it into the mouth. Barely chewing the bite, half scared, half curious, totally lying, I agreed with him- “they really don’t taste seafoody”. Another bite - now with 2 clams hidden, I courageously chewed and focused intently - salty, chewy, umami-packed. “they REALLY don’t taste seafoody”. I was excited to have expanded my palate. This was quite a moment for me.

By the end of the meal, apprehension turned into relish, and doubt turned into ‘pastabilities’ and other wonders I could make: clam tikka masala, clams in white wine and turmeric sauce, shahi clams? I didn’t know if any of it made sense. But I knew one thing: when life throws you a new experience, you owe it to give it a shot!