I was 7 so there wasn’t much I could do except rebel further by dragging it out and letting the carrots grow even colder. As usual, my defiance only made it worse for me.
“You’ll sit at the table until you finish your carrots!” mother admonished.
Lest you think, “You selfish brat! Carrots aren’t so bad.”
You have to understand that these were mushy, tasteless, canned carrots.
This routine would repeat often, alternating with peas, spinach, and green beans.
I could do the corn, yellow beans and beets without a fuss though.
My world views changed regarding carrots when I was 21. My cool new girlfriend took me out for Chinese food.
It was my first experience with these exotic food choices, so she ordered.
Lo and behold carrots arrived in the dish. “I’m doomed,” I thought. Minutes from now I will be exposed as the picky eater that I had become and this will be our last date.
Girlfriends have a certain influence though that mothers can only hope for.
She encouraged me to “just try” everything without passing judgement first.
It was an oral awakening to say the least.
This Chinese food was good. Very good!
Having grown up on meat and potatoes, this strange cacophony of veggies and meat paired with rice was a buffet for the taste buds.
Turns out I did like carrots. Real, fresh carrots are nothing like their canned cousins.
I liked the dreaded broccoli too. And green peppers and red peppers and snow peas and water chestnuts.
My mom was a great cook, but her menu was limited by her own pickiness and life experience.
She never ate rice, so we didn’t. She never ate spicy, so we didn’t.
A whole new world of food experiences opened up to me that night at Happy Jack’s Chinese Restaurant in Fort Erie, Ontario Canada, thanks to my girlfriend.
30+ years later, Happy Jack’s is still my favorite Chinese Restaurant. Ownership has passed down to the sons now. Miraculously, the food tastes just as great now as it did at my first visit. Only my dining companions have changed!
Chasing good food would become a lifelong passion after that. There would be Japanese sushi and Italian Pasta, Indian Chicken Tikki Masala, giant Mexican Burritos, Korean BBQ, Filipino Lumpia.
Dining out and trying new foods would become fun nights out for the whole family.
We’d become a family of amateur restaurant critics!
This new interest in food prompted the whole family to search out new recipes for meals we could make at home. We got good at it too!
(Hats off to Tim Ferriss’ book, “The 4 Hour Chef” for teaching me a whole bunch of stuff I never knew I needed to know about combining ingredients.)
Dinner at our house is always an event to be cherished. Guests rave at the tasty foods prepared. I’m grateful each night for the wide variety of good foods we cook up.
Food is something we often take for granted in our lives. “We gotta eat, lets just grab something.”
But try eating the same bologna sandwich or Big Mac every day of your life and you’ll quickly come to realize that our mouth needs a change of scenery just as often as our eyes do.
Trying new foods can lead to a greater appreciation of other cultures and places.
My love for Chinese food made it easy for me to go to China.
Imagine my surprise when I discovered that what we prepare here and call Chinese food has only a slight resemblance to the actual food prepared in China. (hint…it’s better there!)
The paradox of the human condition is that we fear change, yet we crave it simultaneously.
“I’m bored!” we lament. “Same old, same old” is never spoken with excitement and conviction.
Our skin craves new touch, our eyes need new scenes, our nose delights in variety. In fact, we could be in the smelliest environment and after a short time, our nose just stops noticing. It gives up and goes to sleep
Our taste buds crave variety too.
Eating out, trying new foods is a great opportunity to sit down with old friends, new friends, family, and even yourself, and stimulate your body and your brain.
Trying new foods is a great way to “wake the fuck up!” and be
Try something new today, even if it’s just a crazy new flavor of Lay’s potato chips, like Wasabi Ginger!
Feeling more adventurous?
Good for you… that’s why I wrote this. You should be rewarded!
Send an email to: bob@elderbob.com Subject: Chicken Soup and I’ll send you the recipe for the best, healthiest, easiest to prepare homemade chicken soup you ever tasted.
You’ll get Elder Bob’s “not so secret anymore recipe” (don’t tell him I sent it!)
Elderbob annoys me most of the time, but he’s been around a long, long time and gained some mad skills in the kitchen. I gotta give him props for this ultra-healthy, super tasty soup recipe that anyone can make in 20 minutes or less.
One of the greatest pleasure in life, one that’s often overlooked…
…the unsung oral pleasure of eating.
Taste buds. Thanks God for taste buds!
“Bene Vivere!”
Elder Bob Schwarztrauber
