I remember exactly when this happened but I still don’t know why. On April 30 (last spring) I went for lunch at a lovely place called Harinas Cocina a Fuego Lento and ordered the pulpo. And it arrived looking gorgeous, perfectly chargrilled with stir fried mixed veg and romesco sauce. Turned out it tasted as fabulous as it looked but after my first bite… I couldn’t eat any more of it. Suddenly it felt wrong, somehow, but I didn’t know why or how. And I haven’t been able to eat octopus since then.

Of course whenever I mention this to someone they immediately assume it’s because I watched that (frankly bizarre and disturbing) Netflix documentary about a grown man who developed a creepy “relationship” with a female octopus. So no. However, over the years it seems I have been absorbing all kinds of cool and interesting facts about these amazing creatures, often in the wee hours when I’m scrolling Twitter when I should be sleeping. Videos of them solving puzzles, working out escape routes, and especially about how all those suckers are full of knowledge, memories and feelings. So on that day back in April I took a bite and it just made me sad.

I remember thinking afterwards OMG THIS IS A SLIPPERY SLOPE because pigs are also very clever and there are plenty of other animals that are frankly adorable, especially when little (and at their most delicous). Because this whole octopus thing was not a conscious decision, it just happened to me, so who knows where this will lead, if anywhere at all. Well, wait and see…