After I grew up, my mother confessed to me that when I was little, she cooked food we didn't like on purpose, so there would be more leftovers. Money was tight and she was able to cut the grocery bill in half this way.

Still, even after our situation improved, she was never a great cook. She wasn't a bad cook per se, just a very timid one. Nothing was ever seasoned - she was afraid of getting it wrong. One time I opened her spice drawer and found the same spices I remembered as a kid. Not just the same types of spices, but literally the same jars. Most of them had dates in the 70's on them. They had moved with her from New York to Washington to California to Michigan over the years.

We almost never went to restaurants, so I really didn't learn that food could have flavor and interest until I went to college and ate at the cafeteria - and that was institutional cooking.

But the real kicker was about ten years ago when she told me “I've just learned about the most amazing thing. It makes food taste so much better. Pepper! Have you ever tried it?”

I love my mom, so I kept my mouth shut. But yes, I have tried pepper. In the college cafeteria.