I have always been notoriously picky when it comes to food. As a kid, for the longest time, I would only ever eat breakfast foods, or so my mom has said. At some point as a grade-schooler I gave up butter on my sandwiches, because of one incident where there was so much I gagged. I stopped drinking apple juice because we had it so often I got sick of it. Then, I would start deciding I didn’t like something even before I tried it. Then, when I tried it, because my mind was already so convinced I wouldn’t like it, I actually didn’t. Mind over matter in the worst possible way.
I had my first strawberry when I was eighteen.
College helped me substantially. I had grown up with a schedule. Breakfast every morning, sandwich for lunch. Almost the same dinner each Monday Tuesday Wednesday, each Thursday, each Friday. Breakfast. Every Friday was breakfast for dinner.
Jessica and Thea and Katie helped change that. I tried more. They gave me enough crap that my mind became less convinced about liking something and I discovered to my surprise that, what do you know, this is actually pretty dam good! Brian even convinced me I might like some seafood after all. At least I liked that freshly speared Ling-Cod of his.
I’m still skeptical about trying some new things, at restaurants especially, but I’m getting better all the time.
This field season is no exception to the improvement trend. It too has been good for me. Thanks to Jessica I now eat tofu and lentils, bell peppers and beans and even some peanut butter, all things I had either never tried or decided long ago I didn’t like. Then there are just those things I’ve never had the opportunity to try: Sage Grouse, for example. And now, thanks to Stan, I can now officially say I’m a big fan of Antelope and Moose and Elk. Yummy yummy.
I guess it’s two thumbs up for the game meat for me!
