Tastes change throughout our lives based on many factors, memories, impressions, and so on.  In my twenties, I ate lots of pork and beef, and as I got older, the quantities stayed big until recently.  Along the way, I lost interest in meat.

My freezer has a couple of steaks in it from about six months ago.

Pork here comes in the form of a sausage pizza about once a month, bacon when it snows, and about a 1/2 pound of cured meats from Batali’s father’s salumeria in Seattle per month during the cold months.

Lamb is about two meals a year with the good Icelandic product available only in October.

And portions are smaller and smaller.  It’s one reason, among many, that I stopped eating in all but two Boston restaurant: Pabu and Night Market.  These two places offer small plates with many vegetable choices.  At Pabu, some fish is flown in from Japan.

It just doesn’t taste good, all that meat, and the portions kept small means there is a chance of coaxing deep flavors.  And it’s possible, too, to concentrate on what I’m eating.  Each bite has what’s needed, I don’t need a lot of bites of the same thing.

I’ll stick to pasta, fish, vegetables, and poultry.