Umm, what is this?

So, in addition to this being the most frequently asked of my questions at most tables I’m at, I thought it would also be a good way to start explaining why I’ve started this Tumblr.

A little background. I really enjoy eating. And most people who enjoy eating, would say they enjoy food. And most people who would say they enjoy food, would say they enjoy good food. This construct has been an evolution for me. I was brought up eating only bland food items that could be found in boxes or cans. My idea of ethnic food was Italian… as in spaghetti noodles with butter, and maybe some Kraft grated parmesan to add a little dimension. The only spice I ate was salt. I don’t believe my parents were xenophobic; I do believe they had a lot of kids to feed, and not much money or time to do it with, and so they picked things that made sense to them. We also didn’t go out for dinner very often. And I grew up in a place with very little diversity, so going out for dinner usually involved a pizza place or an Americanized Chinese restaurant - the grocery store didn’t offer many more options. I grew up really liking these foods. And eating a lot of them.

As an adult, I started to encounter more food. I moved to bigger cities and traveled more and encountered things I had never heard of. I grocery shopped for myself and encountered more options than I knew existed. I went out to more dinners in different places and in some cases had to choose things I wasn’t familiar with. I didn’t plunge into trying new things in these settings. I managed to find a way to ask “what is this” before eating anything, and using tight criteria to keep me from eating just about everything. It was often pointed out that I had managed to find chicken fingers at every restaurant I’d ever been to. So, I started letting more things get through the criteria (there are still a lot of things I won’t touch).

This blog is to capture the things that I’ve let slip through, and in a lot of cases actually really ended up liking. There’ll be stories about why I thought a food would be gross, why I decided to try it, where, and why I decided it actually isn’t gross, after all.

I hope I’ll be able to inspire some other bland-aholics to step outside their boundaries and experience, and learn to enjoy, new kinds of food. I should also say that I (at this point) will not be covering things like bugs, intestines, etc. The foods I explore are probably pretty normal to some people (e.g., guacamole, hummus, chicken curry), but to me, they were exotic and untouchable, and now they’re part of my journey toward accepting trying most anything once and actually liking good food.