For someone who already loses it's sense of taste and smell, adding spices to foods to make them tastier and yummier is really not that important to me. I mean, I will still eat it no matter what spices they put on it. I just base what I'm eating on its texture, and if my tongue takes a liking to it, I can eat a lot of it.
And, even if I can't taste them, I know how important it is to put spices in every dish we cook. If we want a yummier and healthier lifestyle, then spices that serve as herbs are good for our body. And you know, even if I can't taste them, I already know the taste of some of them because my mother often uses them to some of my favorite dish.
Ginger, garlic, turmeric, and black pepper are what we usually use in the house. I used black pepper on almost everything, like fried chicken, fried rice, fried eggs, and many more. Even though I can't really taste it, the kick of its spiciness is what I love about it. Mother got mad at me sometimes because I put a lot of it in, to the point that the chicken adobo became spicier, lol.
We always have ground black pepper in the house because that's what I like better than peppercorns. And oh! I also love to put black pepper in our Pancit Guisado, which we love to eat every morning paired with hot pandesal. Although it is just me who does it, lol. It is also perfect with porridge or lugawa; oh my gosh, just thinking about it makes me crave it right now, and the fried egg, yum!
Another thing is garlic. I really love the smell of garlic, especially in fried rice. I just can't forget it, even if I don't have my sense of smell right now. It is the kind of smell that will bring my appetite to a full level. Some people can't take the smell of it, but to me, it is heaven. I just use my imagination all the time, and that's enough to make my stomach growl loudly. It makes foods more tastier.
As for the turmeric, I love to use it in ginataang chicken or eggplant with turmeric. It has coconut milk, which makes it more delicious and flavorful. That's it for the two dishes with turmeric that I really love to eat. It is best paired with white steamed rice. I can eat a lot if that's what's on our table. Aside from that, turmeric has a lot of health benefits that are good for the body.
I still remember that my mother used to drink turmeric tea. although all I did was peel the turmeric and boil it in a pan. That's her coffee every morning, and that lasts for months. I am the one who always prepares it, and to my annoyance, the turmeric color will also color my hands yellow, making me look like someone with a contagious disease. But I can't really complain to her, so, lol.
And lastly is the ginger, which I also love, especially when making ginger tea. It is very good for coughing up phlegm, which I always have. This is the long-term sickness I had before and because of that, I can't eat sweets because even just a small amount of chocolate can make my throat itch, and that is really not good. I have had a weak immune system before, which is why I avoid sweets and cold drinks and that's devastating.
What I also love with Ginger Tea is that it is actually taste quite good that it also become my coffee before. Every morning I will boil a fresh pot of ginger tea and drink it together with my parents. I also love the sweet and spicy combination. I also became a ginger addict before that; even at night, I'd drink it. I am not sure if it was okay to drink two cups of it at that time, but whether it was okay or not, I still drank it.
It's really cool how these simple spices can make such a huge difference when cooking—from the smell to the taste, it's really whoa. I thank Heaven that these things exist.