Ever since he was a baby, we made sure Lucas ate a wide variety of food, with interesting flavors and textures. We fed him different fruits and vegetables, pastas and sauces, meats and seafood. I’m so glad we did this, because now he’s willing to try pretty much any food, and it’s easy to tell him, “Don’t say you don’t like it if you haven’t tried it yet.”

Because Lucas is willing to try so many kinds of food, he’s discovered different things that he likes, and I’m pleasantly surprised at his preferences.

A few months ago, I ordered salmon and tuna sashimi from a local seller. We hadn’t had sashimi in forever, and I really missed it.

As usual, Lucas saw it and asked what it was. I explained that it was raw tuna and raw salmon, and I asked if he wanted to try it. Not only did he try both, but he also announced that he really really liked the salmon sashimi!

Not only did he love the sashimi, but he also tried a teensy bit of wasabi!

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I often make a creamy kalabasa soup, and Lucas loves it too. Sometimes I cook kalabasa with coconut milk and pork, and some malunggay leaves, and he loves the kalabasa mashed into his rice.

Some time ago, he declared that broccoli was his favorite vegetable. So I made cheesy broccoli soup. Not only did he wolf down the broccoli, but he asked for seconds too!

Like most kids, Lucas loves crunchy food. Most of the time he doesn’t care what’s in it, if it’s pork lumpia or fish lumpia, cheese lumpia or air-fried nuggets, chicken skin or chicharon. We just tell him it’s crunchy, and he’ll finish it all.

What surprised me though was how much he loved nori. I bought packets of seaweed at a Korean grocery, and some Japanese mayo. He saw me putting hot rice on a sheet of seaweed, and adding Japanese mayo and sriracha, and asked if he could try. Soon he was spooning rice and scrambled eggs into seaweed, drizzling sriracha and Japanese mayo all over them, and popping the whole thing into his mouth. I had made chili for lunch, and he was adding that to his bizarre sushi too. I had gotten seaweed with cheese powder sprinkled over it, and he wolfed that down too, though not before offering to make his “sushi” for us too.

So yes, he likes both sriracha and wasabi. He tried hot sauce once too, and though he said his mouth was on fire afterwards, he declared, “I like it!”

I hope he’ll always be an adventurous eater.