Being Picky With Food

[mantellata]

I will try almost anything myself.... and minus okra, which I tried, really have no aversions to any food (well wait.. I haven't ever tried escargot.... not sure how that would sit)...... at any rate....

I just want to point out that taste has way more to do with smell than with the taste-buds on your tongue. It's why you see people plugging their noses when they try to eat something distasteful (I don't recommend that action by the way!).

[url="http://www.ift.org/knowledge-center/learn-about-food-science/k12-outreach/~/media/Knowledge%20Center/Learn%20Food%20Science/Food%20Science%20Activity%20Guide/activity_tastewithoutyournose.ashx"]http://www.ift.org/knowledge-center/learn-about-food-science/k12-outreach/~/media/Knowledge%20Center/Learn%20Food%20Science/Food%20Science%20Activity%20Guide/activity_tastewithoutyournose.ashx[/url]

[OnlySunshine]

[quote name='mantellata' timestamp='1347673123' post='2482501']
I will try almost anything myself.... and minus okra, which I tried, really have no aversions to any food (well wait.. I haven't ever tried escargot.... not sure how that would sit)...... at any rate....

I just want to point out that taste has way more to do with smell than with the taste-buds on your tongue. It's why you see people plugging their noses when they try to eat something distasteful (I don't recommend that action by the way!).

[url="http://www.ift.org/knowledge-center/learn-about-food-science/k12-outreach/~/media/Knowledge%20Center/Learn%20Food%20Science/Food%20Science%20Activity%20Guide/activity_tastewithoutyournose.ashx"]http://www.ift.org/k...utyournose.ashx[/url]
[/quote]

Have you ever tried squid? I went with my uncle once to a Chinese restaurant one Christmas and he bought us dinner. He loves very unusual things and he ordered the squid. I had never tried it before so I took some and I immediately disliked it. It was bland but the texture was awful. The only way I can describe it is like bubble wrap.

[mantellata]

I'm not sure... I thought that way about clams.... and then went to a clam bake and was thoroughly converted.

Squid does sound rather..... erm...... difficult to get down. I certainly would have to prep myself ahead of time on a first trial.........

This is good for humility... perhaps there is a picky side to me.... I don't think I would try squid unless I [u]had[/u] to.

[emmaberry]

I love squid! You guys are crazy.

There is definitely a grace with food and the convent.. When I went to visit my Sisters the first time, they were kind enough to provide me meals, which I ate in a small room outside the enclosure. One of these meals was a fish loaf, which, to put it mildly, I did not enjoy. it helped me to think of how hungry the Sisters are because of their perpetual fasting, and how generous they were with sharing the food in the first place. It was to these thoughts that I made myself eat that fish loaf.

Last time I visited, they served a cold vegetable broth. Again, not my favorite, but in a fasting community, the nuns really value their food (I don't know if that makes sense?). I mean that they are so hungry that the food will taste nutritional/good no matter what it is, just because its something for their stomach.

Beatitude, I do remember you saying that hunger did not make you more apt to eat the foods that repulse you, so I am sure my advice is not applicable. Sorry about that!

[Spem in alium]

[quote name='loveletslive' timestamp='1347670544' post='2482471']
i'll try anything too - i really don't understand how people can just hate a food without ever really trying it??
[/quote]

Yeah, I know! But as mantellata says, a lot has to do with the smell too. If it smells weird, people won't try it as readily. Once my dad bought this Middle Eastern goat milk-yoghurt from a local grocer. I took one smell of it and couldn't drink it, but eventually I gave it a try...and loved it!

I personally have love for both squid and okra. In my opinion okra is great on its own, but stuffed okra (with ricotta & pepper, or whatever you like) is really fantastic. This is great too:[url="http://www.sbs.com.au/food/recipe/14269/Stuffed_okra"]http://www.sbs.com.a...69/Stuffed_okra[/url] Try it if you want to get over your okra aversion.

Edited September 16, 2012 by Spem in alium

[AnneLine]

When I was getting ready to go into the community I was with for a short time, they told us to start making one sacrifice at every meal -- either eat something you didn't like, NOT eat something (or a small portion) of something you DID like, or some such thing. They also told us that the that community had the policy that, unless you had an actual allergy to something, you were to take a normal-sized portion of everything that was offered, and you were to eat it... or to at least work toward that goal. Food was a gift from God, and we ate what was put in front of us. Much of it was donated, so we had to be grateful. The ideal was that no one would know what you did or didn't care for. If there was a problem, you needed to talk it over with the superior. End discussion.

Now I was what it THOSE days was considered an 'older vocation' -- I was 26!!!! Everyone else was in their teens! I did have some definitely likes & dislikes, and I'd been cooking for myself (to my own taste!) for over 6 years! So..... this was.... an adjustment.

I realized before I entered that somewhere I'd develped an aversion to 'green things' (who knows why...?). So I starte din with more and different veges... and with... avocados. The veges were just about getting used ot them, but at first those avocados just..... they were like something from another planet. But I tried. Took guacamole on burritos.... sliced ones into salad (shudder)..... and by the time I went in, they really were moving toward neutral. Good thing I did.... I found out after I got there that the Sisters had a HUGE avocado tree on their property (the thing was about 4 stories tall!!!!) AND it yielded BUSHELS of the danged things. While they were producing (and they seemed to be like the Duggars.... that thing had baby avocados CONSTANTLY!!!) we were under ORDERS to eat an ENTIRE AVOCADO plain every day....... and you know what... I love the things now. Go figure.....

Liver.... a totally different story. Can't stand it... before, during or after my time in the convent. I tried. Lordy I tried. There were a lot of us who just couldn't handle the stuff... but it appeared every week. Every single week. I tried. and every week, I gagged over the stuff... but kept working at it. I finally developed a technique of cutting it into little pellets and swallowing it like 100 pills. (OK, I didn't get to the point of being totally indifferent... but I was working the problem.....) And.... I think most of us who had this problem kind of looked forward to liver day.... humanly, to get it over with... but also because we'd been storing up things to pray for while we ate all week. You could almost FEEL the prayers coming up from that table...

Happy munching! Go that THAT evil spirits! Souls... we're a-prayin' for you....

Edited September 16, 2012 by AnneLine

[OnlySunshine]

[quote name='AnneLine' timestamp='1347814141' post='2483014']
When I was getting ready to go into the community I was with for a short time, they told us to start making one sacrifice at every meal -- either eat something you didn't like, NOT eat something (or a small portion) of something you DID like, or some such thing. They also told us that the that community had the policy that, unless you had an actual allergy to something, you were to take a normal-sized portion of everything that was offered, and you were to eat it... or to at least work toward that goal. Food was a gift from God, and we ate what was put in front of us. Much of it was donated, so we had to be grateful. The ideal was that no one would know what you did or didn't care for. If there was a problem, you needed to talk it over with the superior. End discussion.

Now I was what it THOSE days was considered an 'older vocation' -- I was 26!!!! Everyone else was in their teens! I did have some definitely likes & dislikes, and I'd been cooking for myself (to my own taste!) for over 6 years! So..... this was.... an adjustment.

I realized before I entered that somewhere I'd develped an aversion to 'green things' (who knows why...?). So I starte din with more and different veges... and with... avocados. The veges were just about getting used ot them, but at first those avocados just..... they were like something from another planet. But I tried. Took guacamole on burritos.... sliced ones into salad (shudder)..... and by the time I went in, they really were moving toward neutral. Good thing I did.... I found out after I got there that the Sisters had a HUGE avocado tree on their property (the thing was about 4 stories tall!!!!) AND it yielded BUSHELS of the danged things. While they were producing (and they seemed to be like the Duggars.... that thing had baby avocados CONSTANTLY!!!) we were under ORDERS to eat an ENTIRE AVOCADO plain every day....... and you know what... I love the things now. Go figure.....

Liver.... a totally different story. Can't stand it... before, during or after my time in the convent. I tried. Lordy I tried. There were a lot of us who just couldn't handle the stuff... but it appeared every week. Every single week. I tried. and every week, I gagged over the stuff... but kept working at it. I finally developed a technique of cutting it into little pellets and swallowing it like 100 pills. (OK, I didn't get to the point of being totally indifferent... but I was working the problem.....) And.... I think most of us who had this problem kind of looked forward to liver day.... humanly, to get it over with... but also because we'd been storing up things to pray for while we ate all week. You could almost FEEL the prayers coming up from that table...

Happy munching! Go that THAT evil spirits! Souls... we're a-prayin' for you....
[/quote]



God can be very surprising, can't He?

[morakind]

I used to be an extremely picky eater as well.. but when I was in college, I decided to cook some of the foods I always despised (tuna, avocado, okra, onions, pork, liver, anchovies and tofu) in ways that masked the texture and/or taste to see if I could get over my hatred of them.

For instance with liver, I started by using it as an ingredient in a southern Indian mild curry called Sorpetal (it traditionally has other ingredients like tongue and blood but I wasn't courageous enough to try cooking it like that) and it didn't taste like or feel like I was eating liver at all. I kept cooking liver in dishes that traditionally used it as a secondary ingredient and I gradually got used to eating it.. I would honestly never elect eating a slab of liver by myself but I have been in situations where it was my only option (staying at a convent, visiting extended family in the alps, etc.).

If you try this method, you could probably find cuisine you're used to that uses the foods you don't like. For instance, some people keep the chicken liver in chicken noodle soup after they've made the broth for added flavor and it usually just tastes like seasoning and chicken when you eat it. You may have even eaten chicken liver without ever knowing it in someone's thanksgiving stuffing!

I'm really adventurous when I'm eating food now but it's mostly because I enjoy cooking exotic foods. I'm still not really a huge fan of raw avocado or okra but I find it easier to stomach now.

[PhuturePriest]

[quote name='EmilyAnn' timestamp='1347662799' post='2482451']
I'm a notoriously picky eater - I've improved a little with age but I'm still bad. I tried to hide it on my live-in but Mother Mistress sussed me out right away. We talked about it and she said that no-one expected me to suddenly jump in at the deep end - that would be unrealistic. What I have to do instead is take little steps. I find things I don't eat but that are kind of on the least "threatening" end of the scale. A few months ago I ate lettuce for the first time ever and discovered it's actually pretty good. The more little steps like that I take, the less threatening other foods seem and so on. I'm not all the way there yet, but I'm getting there. It helps to remember all the things I eat now and love that I missed out on for so long - lasagne being the first on that list! I [i]love[/i] lasagne, but I only had it the first time like a year ago. I missed 20 years of potential lasagne by being fussy! So anyway, thinking of things like that can be a good motivator as well.

I remember one dinner at St. Cecilia's I got to my seat to find that the novitiate had these strange looking fruit at our places. I'd never seen them before in my life, they were a little larger than grapes but red and kind of spiky looking. I later discovered they were wild gooseberries. I was totally taken aback by these and it wasn't like I could get away with just not taking any or leaving them behind, it would so obvious! So I just had to take a deep breath and eat them. They weren't great, they tasted kind of weird and I had about four of them. It was effort to eat them all, but I managed it. And it didn't hurt me, so even though gooseberries aren't something I like I know now I can cope if served them again.
[/quote]

To be fair, Emily, you [i]do [/i]live in England. Having a phobia of food is only expected with your native dishes. I believe it was Jim Gaffigan who once said "Their food is so terrible they put [i]vinegar [/i]on it to make it taste good! I use that stuff to clean my windows!"

[EmilyAnn]

[quote name='FuturePriest387' timestamp='1347860328' post='2483226']
To be fair, Emily, you [i]do [/i]live in England. Having a phobia of food is only expected with your native dishes. I believe it was Jim Gaffigan who once said "Their food is so terrible they put [i]vinegar [/i]on it to make it taste good! I use that stuff to clean my windows!"
[/quote]

That's not even true! Plus I only moved to England as a teenager.

[AnneLine]

Hear hear! The British have gotten a bad rap on their food SINCE WWII.

Why? becuse they had to eat all the junk that was sent them from across the POND (i.e. USA) during the war! And because they HAD no fats, no spices, no nothing, but had to eat SOMETHING they learned to boil the heqq out of any green vege they could find and pad everything out with cheap and accessible root veges!

SPAM = 'specially processed American meats'

Our gift to our former Motherland -- talk about the ultimate revenge!!!!!


There is nothing as wonderful as a good roast beef.... and Yorkshire Pudding.

Or a wonderful Christmas (plum) pudding!


And... i think it was the Germans who got into the habit of boiling meat in vinegar.... Sauerbraten anyone?

[url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sauerbraten"]http://en.wikipedia....iki/Sauerbraten[/url]

Edited September 17, 2012 by AnneLine

[Spem in alium]

[quote name='AnneLine' timestamp='1347814141' post='2483014']
Liver.... a totally different story. Can't stand it...
[/quote]

!!!! Liver = (or maybe that's just me being a person with more unusual tastes).

In Australia, liver is so cheap because so many people hate it. But you'll find plenty of farmers and country folk tucking in to liver, kidney, whatever. My mother is from a large family and grew up on liver. I didn't like it until recently - we used to have cooked breakfasts with liver quite regularly, and I'd never eat it. But I don't really know what happened..now I love it, either with tomato sauce or mustard, or even on its own.

[quote name='coralieprincess' timestamp='1347887539' post='2483270']
:D British food is my favourite!! Especially bangers & mash, baked beans on toast, and meat pies...
[/quote]

I love all of those! I like making beans and cheese on toast, I don't have it that regularly, but when I do it's fantastic!
Meat pies are very popular in Australia too (probably considered by some people to be a national food, haha).

Edited September 18, 2012 by Spem in alium

[maximillion]

This has become an wonderful thread!!!!

Just love all the food stories....er, well, wouldn't want to give y'all the impression I became hedonistic since leaving the convent but er...

Yoghurt. I had never had yoghurt before I entered the convent in France, where they made their own. I asked what it was and was told (literal translation French-English) 'fermented milk'.
Eeek, Urg, Yuk!!!

So I delayed as long as I could while I offered up other food related likes and dislikes and after about five months (I was picky too!)
finally got round to tasting the yoghurt.
Oh. What was all that fuss about, the stuff is great!
Major embarrassment.

What I dreaded was 'la soupe aux chiens' , basically scraps usually saved for the dog. These were cooked together on the stove overnight on Maundy Thursday, and eaten on our knees on Good Friday for lunch.
Since we were a veggie community, I actually quite enjoyed it!
(But then, I am one of those weird English people who cook with vinegar!)

[Pax_et bonum]

I found that having a cold helps I ate a number of things I wouldn't normally over the weekend, but I don't know how much was due to me not being able to taste as well as normal. The sisters don't buy anything, so they eat whatever they're given--that helped me too for some reason.