Mozzarella Sticks Just Because

When thinking about writing this post, I realized that I didn’t even know how to spell “mozzarella”.  I had to

look it up!  Then I realized that I really don’t know how to spell the names of most of cheeses.  Gorgonzola? Parmesan? (I can spell “American,” “Pepper Jack,” and even “Swiss,” so I’m not a complete lost cause!) Give me a break.  I’ve been allergic to cheese most of my life and have never had a reason to learn how to spell, pronounce, or understand any of its variations.  In restaurants, I ask politely, “Can I get that without cheese?”  If the answer is “no,” I order something else and move on.

The husband and I went to Buffalo Wild Wings this week (another first for me) and the waitress brought us a basket of Mozzarella Sticks.  We told her that we didn’t order them, but she put them on our table anyway and said “There’s no charge.” We were so surprised that I think we both asked “Why?”  When I realized how rude that sounded, I followed up with “Just because?”  She smiled and shrugged as she said “Just because.”

If it weren’t for “just because,” I never would have tried a cheese stick.  I’m glad that I tried it, but my overall reaction is simply confusion.  The outer fried part of the cheese stick tastes like your typical fried anything.  It reminded me of fried zucchini – that crunchy Italian seasoned bread crumb exterior – that makes you not care what’s in the middle.  I’m glad that the exterior made me not care.  Mozzarella doesn’t really taste like anything to me, so I don’t dislike it.  How can one hate the taste of nothing?  Especially if that nothing is coated in yummy bread crumbs and then deep fat fried?  No wonder Fair food is so popular.  If we could fry air, I’m sure that we would.  That might be preferable to a rubbery, chewy glob – I’m not sure.

But this confusion could stem from a lack of sophistication on my part.  Perhaps because my taste buds have never known the taste of cheese until recently, I simply don’t understand or perhaps my mind needs time to catch up with my taste buds to process it.  The sad thing is that when the waitress first said, “mozzarella,” I thought of the Real Housewives of New Jersey.  They are always talking about homemade mozzarella and how divine it is.  The cast is shown eating and savoring it like it is a delicacy.  Sophistication aside, this makes me think that there must be something to it.  And so I won’t write it off yet. Maybe I just need to try it in a different way, a way that is not mass produced and deep fat fried.