Photo: watchsmart/Flickr

Often, salads are boring. I mean, sure, I love a good Cobb salad, and even a simple garden salad has its place. But if you order either at a restaurant, you know exactly what you’re getting. Sometimes, I want to be surprised by my food. And sometimes, I go beyond even that – sometimes, as strange as it sounds, I want my food to creep me out.

By now you probably think that I’m a pretentious foodie weirdo. But think back to your most memorable food experience, and I bet it was a little scary. Beef tartar, seaweed, liver – all a little freaky, and all the more delicious for it. Part of the reason I love sashimi is that its melt-in-your-mouth tenderness feels earned, somehow – a reward for conquering my long-held fear of raw fish.

At first, I mistook this salad by The Year in Food for one of the dull salads, filled, as it is, with standbys like arugula, cherry tomatoes, chickpeas and a simple lemon dressing. But then – and here, I imagine the Jaws theme starting up – something emerges. In the corner of the plate, reaching out – is that a tentacle?

As it turns out, so it is. The salad uses a whole squid, grilled beet pink. Now, as a patriotic American, I enjoy squid – deep breaded and fried and served with onion rings. But this is something different. I realize that to some cultures and mindsets, eating grilled squid might be a totally commonplace and normal thing, but let’s be clear: that is not my culture. The only seafood I ate for most of my childhood were Goldfish crackers.

So yeah, I’m freaked out that I’m planning to make this for dinner this week – but also really, incredibly excited. What if it becomes a new favorite dish? What if I hate it? What if it squirts ink at me as I cook it? As far as I know, any of these things could happen. That, to me, is adventure – the reason I cook to begin with. And – as hard as I try – I can’t get that with a three bean salad, as yummy as it may be.