I just overheard a coworker saying “Oh, I would never try that in my life!”, in a discussion of food. (This was about consuming a steak cooked less than medium well). It made me wonder what life is like for those who refuse to try new food, especially those who refuse to try mundane things like fried shrimp.
Why limit yourself? It seems like such a closed-minded way to view food. Help me understand?
EDIT:
I wasn’t going to do this, but I’m tired of replying to people and will post this at the top.
The person that prompted this question is a close-minded piece of crap. He has no sensory issues, just a shitty mindset, with ignorance and prejudice on display with no shame. I have the pleasure of hearing his annoying shit every night.
The knee-jerk reactions I have received from people in this post have had me examine my own knee-jerk reactions, attributing malice to that which may be misunderstanding rather than bigotry or hatred. This is what I am taking away from this post. That even I should take a chill pill every now and again; it’s not all a tragedy.
I will not delete it, because there are some very thoughtful replies that explain different viewpoints, that people took time to type out. It would be disrespectful to them to do that.
Call me what you like. Don’t care. I will not be replying to any other replies.
I’ve always been a picky eater before meeting my husband, who has vastly opened me up to new foods.
I grew up in a household that could not cook. Pepper was too spicy, boiled frozen chicken breasts, potatoes, and carrots in water with no seasonings was a staple “soup”. And of course my mom never taught me to cook, so if it didn’t come in a package I didn’t know how to make it. I was also poor, which limited my ability to be adventurous in my food. If I got something and I didn’t like it, I’d be out of food for a period of time.
So I played it safe, and it became the norm. But being poor I also couldn’t resist free food, so my husband lured me out of my comfort zone by giving me food he made for himself. He also sneaked a lot of things into my food, like pepper, because he knew I wasn’t allergic, just picky. Over time I got better about it.
But there are some foods I still cannot stand. Fruit for one. I literally don’t even bother trying fruit, because every single fruit I eat makes me gag, it feels like rotten sweet goop and makes me want to throw up. People called me picky and dramatic, it wasn’t until I was 33 that I was diagnosed with OCD and food texture issues specifically around feeling of rot are a common manifestation of that.
I’m better than I used to be, and I try to eat a bite of something at least twice before deciding I don’t like it. But there is still a lot I don’t like so I’m still pretty picky I guess.
I love budgetbytes.com because they specifically do cheap thing with excellent spices (so deliciously flavorful). I credit them for teaching me a lot of “how to cook” between the frequent “you can add or substitute xyz” and step by step pictures.