HATERS & JABUGO

I used to work for a small company in Los Angeles 20 years ago. I got the job right after I graduated so being a foreigner I felt really fortunate and tried my best to work hard and impress my  boss.  Her name was Diane and probably was in her mid-late-thirties at that time. She was still gorgeous, a classical Californian beauty, short blond hair, huge blue eyes. She exhibited a dominant character and run the office efficiently but at the same time, and as long as she felt the center of the universe and nobody controverted her, she was also funny and easy-going. Therefore it was easy to keep her in a good mood and make life easy for all of us. There were three more people, besides Diane and me, working at that company. We were a small family ruled by Queen Diane. 

One day, right after a trip home I guess for Christmas, I enthusiastically opened the door of the office . – "I got a surprise for you guys! "– I said while taking out of my backpack a small vacuum packed bag.  Inside  250grs of real Jabugo (the best cured ham that exists in Spain, I would say in the world, and considered a delicatessen besides very very expensive!!). I couldn’t wait for them to taste it, proud & sure that they would just flip out. They all came close to me, curious to see what I had brought for them. I didn’t even had time to open the bag when Diane, looking at it said loudly: -“What the fuck is that? That looks fucking disgusting .. don’t even dream am going to taste that shit.” – I started laughing, still too astonished to feel hurt by her words.  The other three suddenly step back (well…I didn’t blame them…). I kept going in a boast of pride: - “Come on guys,I brought this for you all the way from Spain, this is great, I swear! you should at least try it." – Two of my workmates seemed to regain interest (the other had already gone back to work) but Diane kept going with despise: - “This sucks! Do you want us to get fucking sick? “- At that point I realized the mess… I ate a piece of Jabugo in front of them and proceed to pack it again. John, the warehouse man, actually the coolest, said defiant: -“I’ll taste it”- He lead a little piece of Jabugo to his mouth and whistled: - Hey man, this is really good…- . I thank him while proudly tried to hold back my tears and put back the Jabugo in my backpack.

That night I sit by myself in the living room of my apartment. In the table, right in front of me, the small vacuum packed bag of Jabugo.  I stared at it trying to imagine it was the first time I looked at it. Did it look disgusting? Cured meat with some fat around it…well, it certainly could at first sight. Did it stink out? I smell it, well, the smell was characteristic yes, maybe too strong…Did the Jabugo really taste so good?? I closed my eyes and brought a  piece to my mouth gloating over it…a big smile came to my face. I run to the kitchen, got some toasts wishing they were real bread, rubbed them with fresh tomatoes & put some olive oil on them. I opened a great Rioja that I kept at home for a good occasion and went back to the living room. That night I feasted, I felt sorry for the destructive mentality of Diane and I realized I needed to expand horizons.

Four or five years ago, one day while I was preparing dinner,  I heard in the news that an important Spanish  company had started to distribute Jabugo in the US. Oh my God! The memory of that unpleasant youth episode hit me like a thunderbolt. Laughing, I left everything and run to the TV. It seemed they had strongly positioned in the "gourmet" shops of cities as New York, Miami, LOS ANGELES & San Francisco...the success of the "Spanish caviar" as they called it, was amaizing. The truth is that I hadn't think back about Diane in what, fifteen years? but that day I could clearly visualize her disgusted face while staring at the Jabugo and hear her galling words in my head again. I couldn't help to wonder about her actual life, how would she be? She must be in her mid fifties by then. Would she still react with so much hate everytime something new came across her life? I'll never know, but I really hoped not...after all, hater's attitude, besides wantonly hurting other people, only help to slow natural progress.