There’s a rule in our house. When trying new foods, if the guys don’t like something (and thankfully, that’s not often) they have to give a reason for not finding pleasure in the food. They’ve offered up everything from “It’s too spicy!” to “I can hear the crunching in my head!” These are not comments you’ll find in a New York Times restaurant review next week.

Can someone who spends hours writing about food have a food, or ingredient, he or she doesn’t like? Sure, and many do.  Monica Bhide writes about spices, food, and family, at her blog, “A Life of Spice.” Her passion is, for the food from her country, of India. She is the author of the book called “Modern Spice” (Simon and Schuster 2009).

When the question was posed to food writer, Monica Bhide, about a food or ingredient she doesn’t like, her response was one word — celery. The vegetable that makes tomato juice and vodka a Bloody Mary. The vegetable. that is constantly being used as a boat for anything spreadable, is the item she double-bags, and hides, in the back of the refrigerator.

Why does she have any celery in the house.at all? It turns out, she’s the only one in her house not sharing any love for celery. That happens in families and we have to learn to put up with the differences.

In her defense, Bhide had never even seen a stalk of celery until she saw a friend preparing it in her kitchen in the United States. The thing that turned her off the most was the scent it gave off. She still doesn’t like the smell of it. That’s the reason for the double-bag-hide-in-the-back-of-the-fridge method she uses to store it in her kitchen.

In our conversation, she shared that she was motivated to write an essay about her dislike of all things celery. You can read about it here: http://www.monicabhide.com/2012/04/once-upon-a-story-celery-for-the-love-of-god-why.html 

A woman, who can crank up the heat with spices, can be rendered defenseless to this root vegetable.

The guys happen to love celery soup. I guess I know who does not want the guys’ celery soup recipe.  Monica, just don’t look at any of the celery photos here today.

You can see the recipe this week. Stay tuned. Tomorrow is graduation day.