What regional foods do you really enjoy?
I was a terribly picky kid which drove my mom insane and irritated the hell out of her as well. I especially didn’t like mom introducing new foods outside of what I was used to even if it looked appetizing. I heard a lot of “Try it, you’ll like it.”
It really wasn’t till I was 11 when I started changing my own attitudes about food. We went to Tampa Florida for a family vacation and my dad shunned every restaurant that mom or we pointed out to until we found ourselves at a dive oyster bar that scared the crap out of mom. I didn’t want to eat raw oysters, but I was also hungry. Turns out, I enjoyed eating raw oysters much more than I realized.
The raw oyster revelation was merely a crack in the door which remained semi closed till I was in university that I began eating foods outside my experience. Kingston Ontario isn’t exactly where one would think you would find a variety of restaurants from different cultures, but here we were.
Still not a fan of organ meat or various exotic body parts (Mom and dad used to eat tripe a lot… nope) but I’ll eat whatever I can. I’ve eaten and enjoyed Asian, Western European, some Eastern European, some African, Mediterranean, North American, Mexican, but haven’t done much eating of food from south of the equator.
Most exotic food, I’ve eaten? Abalone, fugu and Geoduck (my parents loved it but not me as I still find myself picky about what seafood I’ll eat…my parents sometimes wondered if I was switched at birth.)
I’ve eaten armadillo and gibnut before in Belize. Good times. Iguana too, but that’s not really any more exotic than alligator.
I really enjoy fresh seafood, probably as a result of living in the midwest where there is no fresh seafood. So whenever I’m at a saltwater area I try to find local fresh seafood.
Also!!! Apparently my LDL is high and the primary care doctor gave me their own special sheet of nutrition guidelines, even though I told them I have already started seeing a nutritionist.
Pearls of wisdom include:
Apparently there was no need to give guidance on things like lunchmeat, fried foods, chips/pretzels/etc, in case you’re wondering.
I had that chat with a dietitian, and I think the much better approach is focusing on ways to load your diet with good stuff and worry less about the shalt nots.
Oh 100% agreed. That’s the perspective the nutritionist has, too. Which is great.
I was just like hey I didn’t ask you, I told you I am seeing a nutritionist, your advice sucks, and you’ve asked nothing about my food history and the stuff you’re saying in addition to this sheet is basically exactly what you don’t tell someone who has had disordered eating issues, mmmkay?
Anyways, I see the nutritionist again in January and I’ll tell her about the high LDL then and see what her thoughts are.
That’s outdated advice and you know your nutritionist is going to roll her eyes.
I just also fucking loved being told to replace wheat flour with flaxseed flour.
Because that will be a great baking experience! Nothing can go wrong with that plan!
Like tell me you’ve never baked a fucking thing in your life without telling me that.
I don’t think I would get along with your primary! I do the opposite of everything on your list! Then again, I don’t want to live past 80 so I’m going to enjoy until I die. My wife farms me off to another NP but she has a pretty good life insurance policy on me so is okay with my plan. I do eat a lot of seafood & poultry but when you fry it or bury it in soy sauce, probably not super healthy.
Your primary clearly hasn’t read the science on grass fed meats and eggs.
I had hyperlocal superfresh farmed oysters a few weeks ago and they were great.
Evidently in that general area there’s a waterfront owner who’s been fighting oyster farming on the grounds that the boats and bouys would disrupt the “traditional” views of the water, or something like that.
Which is wildly antihistorical, of course. Going back to colonial days and well before, people were going to town on oysters. The idea of the water having nothing but a few pretty sailboats is only from about 1970. We really ought to do more to bring back the days when everyone made more use of the shore for more than sun tans.
Aren’t the oysters also important for shoreline management? Like water filtration and erosion management?
They definitely help improve water quality, and getting more people engaged in the water economy means politicians take the environment more seriously — instead of just thinking about what a few wealthy landowners want.
It was Kingston in which I first became privy to Indian food and I haven’t gone back since. It’s the best. I enjoy telling people from northern India that curry isn’t curry if there is no coconut as much as I enjoy telling people from southern India that curry isn’t curry if it has coconut in it.
Now that they all know me enough to know that I am really just an asshole on purpose…they all share with me awesome recipes. It’s wonderful.
I’ve been immersed in Italian culture for about forever longer than I would have ever wanted to be and went to an Italian restaurant for dinner with a client this week…and, up until then, was blissfully unaware of the fact that there is a seemingly popular RAW BEEF dish.
Fucking gross! Almost as gross as the raw beef-eating bit.
*No Italians were harmed in the making of this comment*
Also, I will share with you one of the items I ordered (and @bluedogcollar might appreciate this) which was the “veggie plate” containing eggplant, zucchini, and red peppers.
It was good and everything but technically they should call that a “fruit plate” as there was no sign of veggies.
I digress.
Mycophile is awfully close to Myopicprophet, and you know what a Mycophile is? A lover of mushrooms. The vegetable that isn’t even a plant.
Lemme yell it again — cranky ahistorical word redefiners can take a long hike off a short pier.
I love mushrooms but I think you’re taking this too seriously, my friend. I thought you were a fun guy.
Badum tsss
Oh, now you’re accusing me of being some kind of spoil spore. Why, I’m up to the gills with this. Some people have no morels, no morels whatsoever.
Oh yes, beef carpaccio! My father loved it but I never tried it. And never will.
You mean beef carpaccio, the lesser version of steak tartar?
My dad loved steak tartare too. I don’t want to yuck anyone’s yum but it’s not for me.
Curry Village?
It was there I had my first taste of Indian food, too. Also my first experience with napalm like Vindaloos.
I’m a cowardly eater and usually stick with old favorites regardless of where I am. But I surprised myself by trying conch fritters on a trip to Key West, I was probably drunk, and now I eat it whenever I’m in the Keys. And I tried collard greens for the first time a couple of years ago when I visited my sister in Georgia. That was a revelation and a new favorite.
I eat everything and generally try everything. I don’t seek new things out. I have to be with someone who has eaten x before and recommends it. One thing I have tried multiple times and can’t stand is durian. My mom’s family is big into the King’s fruit.
I have not yet become comfortable cooking for special diets. All my lifetime’s worth of cookbooks are now invalid. I can’t “just wing it” any more. I am slowly learning which substitutes work (coconut oil) and don’t work (recipes that increase eggs for protein). But texture is big issue with these recipes. I do have a dark chocolate brownie recipe that uses prune baby food for moisture that is pretty good. Serving size for those is 1″ square.
Arrrrg I’m disappointed that Henry Cavill got pulled away from The Witcher by Superman only to be kicked out of Superman. Probably not as disappointed as he must be.
My options growing up were eat what’s in front of you or starve. Sometimes I chose to starve but most of the time I ate even if it meant just choking it down. So I have a pretty wide open mind when it comes to most foods. Just ask Mrs Butcher about the time she swindled me into trying sushi.
My mom and grandma used to do Feast of the Seven Fishes every Christmas Eve. Everything was freaking delicious and I ate it without question, even the babbalucci (snail stew). One year – I was about 9 – I went into the downstairs bathroom and there was a live eel swimming in the bathtub. I freaked out a little bit, but I’m pretty sure I tasted him the next evening. I remember going to the Fulton Street Fish Market with my dad and grandpa and it was really hopping a few days before Christmas. Lots of sweaty paisans in stained t-shirts throwing fish around and screaming cursewords, which was like disneyland for me.