Cooking
I've always thought that cooking was sort of a silly activity to get into. I could never understand why people got so into it. I mean, it is just food. And food is something that is just there to get you from one place to the next. You eat food so you can live, and you live so you can run, play, program, slackline, love, watch movies, play legos, go outside, play badminton, backpack, stay inside, etc, etc and so on.
I think this might be a side-effect from the fact that I've been conditioned most of my life into thinking that I don't really like food.
Now, I'll be up front, being hungry doesn't phase me. I get hungry, and then I continue running, playing, programming, slacklining, loving, watching movies, playing legos, going outside, badminting, backpacking, staying inside, etc, etc and so on. But eating is never a necessity for me, never an urgency. If I'm having fun doing something, why would I want to stop doing that something and interrupt my focus, to do something else?
So, I think that is one facet in the puzzle as to why I've always thought I don't like food. I just don't have the same relationship with food that seemingly everyone else has (except for maybe Omer*). Eating needs to fit into my schedule, not the other way around.
The other obvious facet is that there are a lot of foods out there I don't like. I'm what you'd describe as a "picky eater". Now, I'll be upfront with you. A large part of being a picky eater is psychological. Eating food that matches specific patterns is hard, scary, terrifying, paralyzing, stomach wrenching, uncomfortable etc, etc and so on. But have you ever heard the expression that starts out "fool me once..."? I'm a smart guy, and I can easily pick up on the fact that every time I eat raw tomatos I get a gag reflex. Some foods just taste bad.
Now being a picky eater is not something that is really all that accepted in the world. It is thought of as rude or immature. And I'm sorry, but that's ridiculous! There isn't anyone out there who can honestly say that they like everything (except for maybe this guy). And if they try and claim they do, I'll get them some cat turds from the litter box and test that theory. Most people like most foods, but for some people a lot of foods are physically hard to eat. I am one of those people. Trust me, it is not a matter of choice. Life would be easier if I liked everything. I am not trying to be rude so I'm sorry if I come across that way, and I don't see how learning to say 'no' and take care of yourself from an early age is an immature thing.
[As an aside, I'm a much pickier eater when I'm out and about than in the comfort of my own home. I don't like not liking other people's food, so I'd rather say 'no' completely than to have to say 'no' after one bite. I'll try anything once, just as long as I don't have to look the person who loving prepared it in the eye and tell them what I think.]
Anyway, I digress.
With all that taken into consideration, it makes sense why I've never thought of food as something I loved. Food was the source of embarrassment, fights, shame and frustration.
But, have you ever seen me attack strawberry crepes? Or Tostadas? Or cookie dough? Or the corn or rice Chex in Chex Mix? Or banana bread? Or candy?
There are certain foods I love, love, love! And I pretty much can't get enough of them. Ever. I ate bean and cheese burritos for dinner for the vast majority of my meals from 2006 to 2008 (and then Keri insisted we have variety in our diet, can you believe her?) and they are still my favorite meal to this day. Every time I go to Panera, the Olive Garden, Chipotle, Noodles and Company or Taco Bell, I get the exact same thing. I'm one of those people for which there practically isn't no such thing as too much of a good thing.
I love food! Just not more than I love running, playing, programming, slacklining, loving, watching movies, playing legos, going outside, badminting, backpacking, staying inside, etc, etc and so on. And I don't love the same foods you love!
To bring this full circle, I've always thought of cooking as sort of a silly activity to obsess over. Mostly because food is such a silly thing to obsess over. But what I'm slowly discovering is that I love food and I love to cook.
But really loving to cook shouldn't be a surprise. You take a bunch of small building blocks (ingredients) and a variety of tools (cookware) and then put them together in interesting ways to make something bigger than the whole (your meal). That sounds to me like precisely everything else I get excited about.
I still think people take cooking a little too seriously, but I generally think most people take a bunch of things too seriously. So, there isn't anything inherent about cooking that makes that happen.
And I always thought that cooking was just about food (and obviously that's a part of it) but really I'm learning (by doing it more and more) that cooking is a fun activity because it is creative, it is hard, it takes practice and you get to do it with other people. It is something to do in addition to all the running, playing, programming, slacklining, loving, watching movies, playing legos, going outside, badminting, backpacking, staying inside, etc, etc and so on that you do in life, and not just a necessity.
So, here's to dropping prejudices and discovering new activities to throw yourself into!
* As I was writing this post I was also chatting with Omer online and he actually said the following at 1:19am his time, "I'm debating whether I want to watch something... I should probably eat dinner.", about 8 hours after most people eat dinner.
12 March 2011 10:22am UTC • 286 views • 11 comments
Tagged with cooking, passion, food, eating, pickyeating, love
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11 comments
Sailing Master Keri
12 March 2011 05:43pm UTC
I totally understand about the gag reflex. When I eat foods that I don't like, or sometimes even foods that are on the acceptable list (like spinach), I get an uncontrollable gag reflex. I know saying uncontrollable reflex is silly, since that's what all reflexes are, but I want to be clear that I do not do it on purpose. There's a famous story from my childhood where my mother was forcing me to eat asparagus, and I threw up all over my purple corduroys. To this day, she still thinks I did that on purpose to rebel against asparagus, but I honestly just had a very strong gag reflex in response to the gross food she forced me to put in my mouth. It was awful!
Anyway, the best thing about cooking from a picky eater standpoint, is that you can choose to omit any ingredients on the no fly list (usually onions) from any recipe. So keep cooking, Benj!
Dread Pirate Benjamin
12 March 2011 06:00pm UTC
I would like to add that my parents really weren't apart of the problem about food! They quickly realized that making me eat food I don't like made us all unhappy, so I had a wonderful childhood filled with Kraft Macaroni and Cheese!
Also, I know how you feel Keri! And each subsequent bite it gets worse!
Lisa Volke
13 March 2011 12:54am UTC
I'm with you guys! I have a very strong gag reflex and just can't choke down foods if they are bad. I love cooking for myself now because, exactly like Keri said, you can take out everything you think is gross and only make things you like.
I consider myself a very picky eater. Anyone who cooks for me generally knows this and checks menus in advance. Including my mother. She also did not force me to try things I didn't want or didn't like so I ate a lot of soup and peanut butter and pickle sandwiches. She also tried to prepare meals she knew we would each eat at least some of (there are 4 kids in my family). Once my dad told me I couldn't leave the table until I tried green beans (my mom was gone) and after about an hour he gave up and that was the end of making me try things.
Now I try several things I never would have a few years ago. But, I have one of those people who will eat just about anything (as long as it's food) as a husband. He doesn't understand the gag reflex and sometimes make things I think are not so good. I always try them, but sometimes have to dump it on his plate.
Swabie Scabbie
15 March 2011 01:21am UTC
Studies show that simply exposing kids to a new food 10-14 times will make them like it and increase their consumption of it (http://eprints.ucl.ac.uk/1530/) - so if you really want to expand your palate, all you have to do is keep putting it on your plate and trying it day after day. If you're a kid. And not too stubborn.
I consider myself to be just about the world's least picky eater - I've eaten food from street vendors on 3 different continents - but I'm also a vegetarian, so it's hard for me to judge people with dietary restrictions. But I think life is better with more flavors in it!
Dread Pirate Benjamin
15 March 2011 02:01am UTC
I've heard of a similar study where they just started putting tofu on children's plates in a cafeteria and at first the kids just poked it, and by a week (or something) most kids were eating it just fine. I'm planning on using a similar technique with my kids!
I think with a lot of things in life you want to avoid bad first impressions, so forcing a kid to eat green beans in order to get their vanilla pudding dessert (one of my most vivid memories from day care as a kid) doesn't seem like the best way to give him positive feelings about the food. So, it makes complete sense. Give the kid an opportunity to eat when their ready and don't force it on them!
That said, I still don't believe it is possible for every body to love every food. Some stuff tastes bad. My best example of this is that these days I like spinach salads. I have spinach, almond slices, carrots, ranch dressing, croutons and romain, and sometimes I really get into it. So there I'll be, I'm just loving my salad, and BAM! I get a gag reflex. Some bit of vegetable has had the wrong taste or texture. Now in this case, I don't think it is psychological. Yes, I knew what I was eating, but I was enjoying my salad, and it still happened. Usually when it does it is just one bite or two and it passes.
Another time this will happen is that I used to eat taco bell burritos a lot and I loved these burritos. I'd get two of them (minus the red sauce and onions) and also order a side order of nacho cheese (the stuff that comes with their nachos!). then I'd dip each bite of the burritos in the cheese for amazing cheesy deliciousness. Now sometimes a stray bit of onion would sneak into the burritos (usually just one small tiny piece) and I'd bite into it and BAM gag reflex. I'd compare it to getting your teeth drilled at the dentist. You've been numbed up, but sometimes the drilling just sends this shooting pain down the tooth and through your jaw. Now bad food doesn't hurt, but it has that same sort of instantaneous shooting reaction over my whole body.
Though, I am making the assumption here that psychological aversion to food comes from knowing ahead of time what you are about to eat, expecting it to taste bad, and then surprise surprise, it tastes bad. So, in these situations I was expecting a bite to be GOOD or GREAT but a food still gave me the same reaction.
Now Blair, have you ever had food that you just didn't like? Even though you are the world's least picky eater?
All that said, really the point of this post wasn't supposed to be about picky eating. It was that cooking is fun. Anyone have any responses to THAT?
Sailing Master Keri
15 March 2011 02:06am UTC
Sometimes I gag when eating salad or raw carrots too! I hate it!
Erik the Redish-orange
15 March 2011 02:49am UTC
I love cooking!
I started to really enjoy cooking because I really enjoy eating. I just think food is so fantastic and so good and so fun. Eating makes me happy, so I started cooking. And now cooking makes me happy.
Sometimes to be mostly silly I will say that my secret ingredient is love. But it's sort of true. Cooking has evolved into something that I enjoy, but it is also a labor of love. I am much more likely to pull out a bunch of ingredients and put a lot of time and energy into cooking if other people are around than if I am just making food for myself.
Also, I don't really enjoy cooking for cooking's sake all that much. I have a hard time with the idea of putting pork chops in a dish, pouring cream soup over them and plopping them in the oven for a while. Even though I think that tastes good and enjoy eating it, it just isn't involved enough for me. In my mind that is making food just so it is there to eat. What I enjoy is creating something. I like chopping and dicing and seasoning. I like many steps. I like being creative. And I like putting time, effort, and energy into what I am making.
What I really like is being able to whip something up that is quick and both tastes good and meets my criteria for not being ordinary.
The bottom line is that I like to cook! And, it is a bonus that if I am cooking I know it has ingredients in it that I like!
Dread Pirate Benjamin
15 March 2011 06:01am UTC
p.s. I can't tell you how frustrated I am that I accidentally referred to my wife only by name in this post. WHAT WAS I THINKING?
Swabie Scabbie
15 March 2011 10:44pm UTC
When I was a kid I hated pea soup. My mom started making it every Halloween, because she knew I would eat it if she told me I couldn't trick-or-treat for candy until I did. I will not address the lessons I learned from this regarding the balance of good and evil, cosmic injustice, or the motivations of a mother with such nefarious dietary plans, but I will say that I hated pea soup more with each bowl.
Until I grew up, moved out on my own and, in an attempt to be as adventurous as possible, purchased a can of organic pea soup, which was delicious.
Peon Peetie
16 March 2011 06:40am UTC
i love pea soup! if there's no ham, at least!
and if you're ever in chicago, it's worth a trip all the way to the burbs to get split pea soup from capt'n nemo's!
Peon Peetie
16 March 2011 06:48am UTC
my feelings about eating and cooking have completely changed since i moved to china. i love to eat, and always have, but it's a bit more of a chore here. before, i enjoyed eating most of the time, but if i was busy doing something else (say, programming), there were lots of options just to not be hungry any more. and i love those options too: pbj, bowl of cereal, or even an apple with peanut butter. but here, because western food is so hard to come by, it's a bit more of a chore.
then recently my wife moved in. she is chinese, and in china, people cook. in fact, there are really only four things people do in life: sleep, work, eat, and maybe fill the time in between with tv or majiang or something. i'm hardly exaggerating. daisy's parents spend several hours a day preparing for dinner, and a bunch of time for breakfast. i don't know about you guys, but the time i spend preparing breakfast is usually about the same as time spent eating it -- several minutes at most.
we've actually had a bit of a hard time adjusting, because the number of days now that i want to eat just to not be hungry has increased. eating has become such a chore that, except on weekends, i want it to be done with so i can do other stuff.
don't worry, nutritionists and concerned friends. i still eat well. and when i get back to the states, i fully expect to spend lots more time cooking just because it will be a choice rather than a chore. and man oh man do i miss eating pizza and avocados and all that other delicious stuff that doesn't exist here.
(by the way, i had homemade chex mix just the other day!)