Also known as “that’s not vegetarian”….
I’m feeling a bit off today & wasn’t able to manage breakfast, so when I was wandering the aisles at the supermarket before lunch I was hoping to find something that I wanted to eat. While loitering in front of the Vegemite I looked up & saw these “Peck’s” pastes.
Obviously, they are not a vego option, nor are they, usually, particularly palatable to anyone under 57, but I stood there looking at them all the same.
I remembered the last time I had actively noticed a jar of Peck’s paste was many, many years ago, in my Nanna’s fridge. My Pa used to have a couple of different little jars on the go at a time, with delectable sounding names like “anchovette” & “chicken & ham”.
I remembered how the smell of them intrigued me (there is no other word for it) & how I would often have a little bit spread on some buttery toast to nibble while my Pa munched on his own much more liberally spread slice.
The memory was nice. I miss my Pa still, even though it has been a very long time since he passed away; he was much more than a Grandpa to me, he was my father figure when I didn’t have one & so many of my happy childhood memories have him at the center.
So I bought some damn Peck’s paste.
And I brought it home. I spread a little on some buttery toast & I ate it, & it was good. It’s not something I would recommend… ever… it has a salty, odd taste, a taste that I would struggle to liken to anything else, but to me, today, it tasted like I a much-needed hug from someone I wish was still here.
