For the past few weeks, I’ve been experimenting with a recipe for a dish called colivă because it’s that time of year. Traditionally made from white wheat berries or barley, this dish is usually prepared as a memorial cake, but I’ve found it makes a great breakfast too.
This time, for a change, I decided to use roasted buckwheat instead. I soaked it overnight, cooked it in the morning, and ended up with a thick porridge. I mixed in nuts, dried berries, and chocolate-covered raisins, and skipped the sugar altogether, as I usually do.
Excited to try it, I took my first bite… and disappointment set in. The flavor just wasn’t what I had hoped for.
On the right, roasted buckwheat, the culprit grain.
As I ate, I found myself searching for the dried berries and the chocolate raisins to make up for the unsavory taste. Some of them where hiding inside while others were up on top, in plain sight. And in the middle of it, I start thinking: this is how life is. We move through the unsavory moments, searching for the sweet ones. Some we can see, and others remain hidden, yet to be discovered.
But as I kept eating, I asked myself: Do I keep going, forcing down this bland, tasteless porridge and get to enjoy the sweet bits from time to time? Do I toss it all out? Or do I just pick out the goodies and throw the rest out?
What do you think I ended up doing? And what would you do? Take the poll to let me know!