During my lifetime, I have gone through many phases in regard to what I was eating. As someone who regards herself as an individual, I’m still surprised that as a young child growing up with a sister three years my senior, I longed to emulate her eating habits. At meals, whether at home or in restaurants, whatever Janet ordered or chose from the food at hand I then called out, “Me too!” If she ate her franks with ketchup, so did I. If she craved a rare hamburger, well, I wanted one as well.

I must’ve been the “me too” kid for some years until I discovered my own palate. This is when my interest in food, and—soon after—my yearning to learn how to cook, grew and took precedence. 

I went through stages where I insisted on my mom buying me what now is appalling to consider. When in the shopping cart at the local supermarket, I whined and pointed to the cans of canned ring-shaped pasta. This slippery, overcooked pasta was marketed as less messy for kids than spaghetti. Indeed, it was eaten with a spoon. My mother, who was interested in nutrition and eschewed canned products as a general principle, only relented because I was skinny and she thought this might fatten me up a bit. Sometimes I requested them with little gnarly meatballs that crumbled in the mouth.

An adoration for sweets, like miniature coffee cakes and golden sponge cakes with a creamy filling were of interest for some time. They were loaded with preservatives. A telling sign could be the spelling of the product. I eventually outgrew these as my tastes became more sophisticated. 

By the time the health food movement was blossoming, I was in my teens. Sunrise Natural Foods (opened in 1961) on West Houston Street in Greenwich Village is where I scoured the aisles for ingredients to replace white sugar and flour, chocolate and coffee, and to purchase foods grown without chemicals. I avoided processed foods. I read books on healthy eating, of which there were many at the time. I determined that I would become a vegetarian—not because of moral issues regarding the eating of animals, but because I deemed it unhealthy to eat meat. Mom, fearing I might venture into the strange world of the macrobiotic diet fanatics, found articles that persuaded me to leave fowl and fish in my diet. For nearly three decades no beef, pork or lamb entered my mouth. 

An encounter with a glistening, mahogany-colored roast suckling pig at a Spanish tapas restaurant on the west side of Manhattan was my undoing. I was with two friends: a hefty chef with a big belly like a tight drum and a rotund friend of ours who was a gourmand. Our enthusiastic waitress announced that the piggy was not to be missed. It appeared on the table and suddenly all the preparations we’d been consuming before its arrival paled in comparison. I reasoned that I wasn’t morally adverse to eating meat and bit into that crisp crackling skin and encountered rich, moist meat. I never looked back. It was exciting to add pork, lamb and beef back into my diet (though in controlled portions and not eaten too often), and I was giddy with the new variety of choices.

Flash forward to the present day. My current phase is one I’m particularly excited about. The plan is to add lots more seafood to Janet’s diet and my own. We both love fish of all sorts, from shellfish, such as mussels, oysters, scallops and clams; meaty fish dishes like tuna and swordfish steaks; to flavorful fillets of wild salmon, mahi mahi, Chilean sea bass and halibut.

We eat sushi and sashimi often and enjoy smoked sable, salmon and eel as well. Ceviche—a Latin American seafood dish of raw fish or shellfish in an acidic citrus marinade of lemon or lime juice that “cooks” the fish, turning it opaque and firm just as heat does—is studded with avocado cubes, minced onion and cilantro. It is terrific on hot summer days. Octopus and squid are delicious cooked various ways, as is salt cod after it has been cleansed of the salt by immersing it in water for a good long time, then made into salads or, even better, croquettes that are creamy inside and golden-crusted outside. 

Unfortunately, at some point in her life Janet found that she was allergic to shrimp, crab and lobster, but it was so long ago that she is going to be tested again in case the allergy has disappeared, which sometimes happens. In the meantime, I have been cooking up a storm, experimenting with many different types of seafood. Dry sea scallops are wonderful in that they are flavorful and lend themselves to a variety of preparations. They do not come cheaply, but five per person is enough of these rich mollusks. You must make sure that you are not getting scallops that have been treated with water-retaining chemicals to plump them up, or you won’t get the proper sear needed. 

Shoprite is a reliable source for fish. Try to get “wild-caught” as opposed to farmed. Some farmers markets now carry fresh seafood. Take advantage.

In recent weeks I’ve made sea scallops in a miso glaze, pan-fried breaded cod with homemade tartar sauce; swordfish topped with a tomato and rosemary compote; seared tuna tataki; steamed clams with white wine, garlic and butter; swordfish and cherry tomato kebobs; and ceviche. Here is a recipe to get you started on the delicious road to adding more seafood to your diet. Take the plunge!