Food

I have been thinking about food lately.... and eating a lot of food lately. It's been hard to get back in the swing of things. Ever since this weekend, a couple of food events have stuck in my mind.

We have some picky eaters in my family and I think a sister called it "scary" food... like onions & mushrooms. A good example of picky eating was this weekend and two sisters ordered American fries. One ordered it with onions and cheese and the other ordered it without. I should say she ordered the waitress to have the cook "make mine (her fries) on a separate grill!" A separate grill that has not had the touch of onions on it. I didn't know that we could have kosher grills for American Fries. Needless to say, several of us - especially those of us that have worked short-order grills - burst out laughing at her request. What's even funnier was that she was dead serious! When it comes to onions, you don't mess around with this sister. We finally convinced her that requesting the cook make her fries first would be an appropriate request. She still really surveyed those fries before eating them.

Then in response to the comment about scary food, my hubby had to reply... "what will happen next year when you come to Texas for WWW and you're faced with menudo (stomach lining), barbacoa (beef cheeks), or churizo (highly spiced pork)?" Yes, I have tried all three of them and let's just say.... "I've tried it." You won't see me taking second helpings of the menudo, perhaps the barbacoa if it's not too fatty. But my Texan friends "love" it.

The other day one of our volunteers brought into work some sweet treats that I had not seen in a long time. This volunteer is Anglo and he brought graham cracker "sandwiches" with chocolate frosting in the middle as the filling. I had not had this treat in years so I grabbed one and devoured it. At lunch I was sitting with some of my Texan co-workers and one of them looked at the plate of treats and said, "What did Russell bring today?" The other two looked puzzled, perplexed and said as they wrinkled their noses, "I don't know what these are." I thought they were joking. I said laughingly, "What do you think these are?" I told them it was graham crackers with chocolate frosting. They said they had never heard of such a thing and they would not try them.... for fear of ....... I don't know what!

Yes, that was scary food for them. I guess there is scary food for all types of people, food that made us sick as children and we just can't quite swallow it as adults. Food that we have never seen or tried before and can not quite acquire a taste for it as adults. Food! So many different varieties and preferences.

I just wish that food was more scary and that I was a picky eater.... maybe it would be easier. You think?