I judge people based on their ability to enjoy food.
It might sound strange, but it's true. I might be judgemental, but so
is everyone in their own way.
One of the things that first attracted me to Hubby was the fact that
I'd introduce him to new dishes that he's never tried before and he'd
be excited and enthusiastic about it. He'd try anything. I love that!
Also, he's so appreciative every night of the dinner that I make.
("Yay! This is yummy! This is my favourite dinner ever!!") Even if
he's done all the chopping of ingredients and cleaning up. Even if
it's just my "concept" and he's done all the actual cooking according
to my instructions - lol. (He loves helping out as "kitchenhand" and
tends to get home a little earlier than me.)
A person's taste in food and their ability to enjoy food and
appreciate food says a lot about them. It speaks volumes about their
attitude towards life, their ability to take risks, their enthusiasm
towards change and their abilty to enjoy themselves.
Example one.
I have a friend from highschool whose mother cooks the same dish
according to the day of the week. It went like this: Mondays - roast
chicken and chips, Tuesdays - lamb and vegetables, Wednesdays - pork
chops and vegatables, I forget Thursday and Saturday but I know Friday
was baked fish and Sunday was roast beek. Now, her mother cooked well
- her food was freshly prepared and well-made. But I couldn't take
that kind of gastro-monotony! I'd find it so very bland, no matter how
nice the food was.
Maybe I'm spoilt because of my multi-cultural background, but eating
according to the day of the week is like wearing a specific outfit on
Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays - you just don't do it! It's so very
boring and it's as if they were living their lives with blinkers on,
unable to change, unable to adapt.
It's not surprising though. The friend in question often comes up with
remarks that make me think she's still living under a rock. One such
instant was when she only discovered last year that different
countries have different-looking plugs for power sockets. And last
week - I found out that she's never used chopsticks in her life! I
have no idea how a girl can grow up in a city like Sydney and never
use chopsticks? How is that possible?
I was thinking about meeting up with her next week and I know that I
have to be careful about which restaurant I choose. She'd be
bewildered if it was, say, a Thai restaurant. She wouldn't know what
to order or how to eat it.
The other friend I'm supposed to meet up with, example two, also has
food problems. Her problems is that she views food solely as something
to stop her from feeding hungry. It's obvious from the way she eats a
creme brulee - ignoring how wonderful it is to crack the top, ignoring
the texture - she just shovels it in. It's awful. This girl also makes
lasagne like this: cook minced meat, add can of tomatoes, layer with
the pasta sheets and top with plastic cheese. Bake. Serve with a few
pieces of iceburg lettuce. No herbs and spices, none of that! Not even
pepper. Yes, I've tried it and yes, it's awful and completely
tasteless.
My sister-in-law, example three, is also useless with food. She looks
suspiciously at anything she doesn't recognise and prods it. If she
*does* taste it, it's with that look which says "this is weird, I
don't know this, this will be awful." I hate that look. It speaks
volumes about the person. Volumes. And yes, my sister-in-law eats at
the same place every Friday night and orders the same dish. Would you
expect anything else?
A huge turn-off for me is when people don't "get" spice. Especially
when people don't understand the amazing chilli and all the heat,
passion and depth that a tiny amount of one of the varieties of this
fruit can add to food in so very many different ways. Instead they say
"Oooh, that's very spicy. I don't like a lot of spice." Blah.
Another turn-off for me is when people lump the cuisine of an entire
culture into one category. Like when they say "I don't like Asian."
That means nothing to me.
I feel like explaining to them that they're talking about an entire
continent and that the variety of cuisine in even one country in that
continent is beyond their entire comprehension.
(Although to be fair, I have to say that in many countries in Asia,
you can find a "Western" stall in food courts which sell chips and
deep-fried unidentifiable meats. If you lump myriad cultures into one
category and forget the complex nuances of their cuisine, they do the
same to you.)
An inabilty to enjoy a variety of food with all manner of spices and
flavours indicates to me that the person has all the passion and
interest of a floppy supermarket sausage.
It also makes me see them as ignorant of other cultures and other ways
of doing things. It makes me think that they are unwilling to change,
to explore, to learn, to adapt, to really live with excitement and
joy.
In other words, people who don't understand food are boring.
5 comments:
I can remember when I was little, and we'd never even had spaghetti because my mom would only cook things that she was already used to. Little by little she tried other stuff, and we finally had things like tacos. (It took a long time to get that to happen.) My hubby now is afraid of trying new stuff, so I usually have to coax him into it. Sometimes, he just loves the new food, and we have to have it over and over for a couple of weeks, lol. Other times, he doesn't. But it's always a challenge to get him to try whatever new thing I'm bringing home. I'm pretty much open to trying anything once, I guess. I'm even getting over things I hated as a kid and finding out now that they actually are pretty good - example: figs.
Kira should have a good comment for this, if she has time. She's a fellow foodie.
Japanese has become my favorite cuisine, but I'm still new enough to it that sometimes I don't have a clue what I'm eating. That doesn't stop me - I just have to endure a brief moment of "What's this, and how do I eat it?" I can intuit how to handle new Western foods, but Japanese sometimes gives me pause.
I also think it's funny the way people here lump things into the Asian category, foods and other items. To me it's the same thing as saying "We're eating European food tonight." What would that be - kidney pie, bratwurst, escargot, and baba ghanoug?
Agreed.
I have tried a world full of food. I can say I honestly don't like Kim Chee or andouille. That's about it. The rest is good!
And aren't I lucky to be able to say that?
I'll eat virtually anything except for offal, seafood and random assorted vegetables (sprouts, squash, peas [unless I really have to], radishes...)
Never been a big fan of seafood, unless it's a really nicely done fish-and-chips (or even a poorly done fish-and-chips).
What a great post, and one with which I agree absolutely 100%. Food is so important, so senuous.
I also subconsciously judge people by their attitude towards food, people who enjoy food, who embrace different tastes and flavours invariably embrace life and are fun to be with. This view probably also has something to do with the fact that I love Italy so much.
Great post, thank you.
HMHB
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