FOOD.
Okay, since I have everyone’s undivided attention, let’s begin.
I am and have been THE pickiest eater since I was a little girl. Not only was I selective with my choices of food since my daycare days, but I also was not happy about/willing to try new kinds.
I was pretty weird about it, too. I liked ketchup, but not tomatoes- shredded cheese, but not sliced- cinnamon sugar toast, but not bread. (??? I seriously did not like bread for whatever reason, but did it ever cross anyone’s mind to tell me that cinnamon sugar toast LITERALLY requires bread?? No? Okay.) Also, I HATED eggs. Whatever though, the point of this is not to try to explain how weird I was with my foods, it’s to tell you that taste buds seriously do change.
I used to hate vegetables and fruit. I literally gagged trying to eat yogurt, and don’t even come near me with those scrambled eggs. But now, I will go for a nice egg white omelet, Chobani Flip Greek yogurt, and would eat fruit and vegetables for breakfast, lunch and dinner…..WILLINGLY. (Ok but now that I think about it, when did I ever become this way on purpose? And why? I could still be on my strict Goldfish diet.)
The evolution of my taste buds not only came with my change in lifestyle, but also my change in attitude about food. Especially this past summer, I got a job at a fresh, healthy-eating, foodie restaurant and started trying new foods. I soon found out that different foods I would’ve passed on before are actually pretty good, and others–let’s just say I knew I avoided them for some reason!
I thought I’d share a few of the foods I tried with y’all! To make it a little more fun, we’re going to turn this into a cute Tinder-themed game, swiping right for the foods I liked and left for the ones I didn’t.
Let’s eat!
1) Falafel: swipe RIGHT
Truth be told (and I’m sure many others share the same truth), I had no idea what falafel was before June of this year and even when I tried it, I had no idea. But I worked at a restaurant this summer that had it, so I learned that it is a patty-like protein made of chickpeas. My next question, what are chickpeas? The list goes on.
Regardless of being clueless, I tried it anyways and let me just ask you first… y’all remember those dino nuggets that used to be in those frozen kid cuisines? THOSE. FALAFEL. There’s really not too big of a difference in my opinion except falafel is better and seasoned a lot yummier. Granted, falafel is a meatless protein, and the dino nuggets were– are we actually sure those were chicken? I’m sure I’ve persuaded NO ONE to try falafel but it actually is good and even though I compare them to dinosaur nuggets, I honestly recommend giving it a try.
2) BBQ Jackfruit: swipe RIGHT
Jackfruit is–you guessed it–a fruit, and apparently, when marinated correctly, can be a substitute for meat. In this case, I had jackfruit at a graduation party substituted for pulled pork/brisket. At first I was like, “NAH, NO WAY is there a fruit out there that actually could take the place of beef or pork,” but then… jackfruit. It seriously tasted EXACTLY like pulled pork or shredded BBQ brisket or something of the sort. I was amazed and a little concerned how it was legal for anyone to even think of making fruit into a barbecue dish, but ok.
3) Sushi: swipe LEFT
I FREAKING TOLD YOU ALL. EVERY ONE and I mean EVERY ONE of my friends/acquaintances who tell me sushi is good are OBSESSED. It’s one of their favorite things and I honestly was just kind of tired of being left out on their little sushi dates, so I tried it just in case I was being picky and not giving it a fair shot. At that point I was thinking that there might be something about eating raw fish that I’m missing, like who knows, right? WRONG. It was like eating orbeez or boba or something. That texture on top of it being combined with uncooked fish parts, soy sauce, and *inhaling with disgust* avocado, I was most definitely not a fan. And y’all can miss. me. with. that. “Well, that kind is bad, you should’ve tried the mahi, California, shrimp-fried rice, seahorse roll… ” No. One and done, and it’s over. It doesn’t matter that it was a free sample at KU’s Unionfest either, okay? Was not a fan.
4) Frozen Keifer: swipe LEFT
I’m not sure if y’all have any idea what this is, but you’re really not missing out in my opinion. So you know how there’s frozen yogurt? It’s good right? Okay, now imagine frozen GREEK yogurt. That’s what keifer is and truthfully, it is not the best. It is a dessert- your taste buds are preparing for it to be sweet but they are then disappointedly surprised at the sour taste of keifer. Granted, keifer takes on the flavor of whatever you put on it, so alone, keifer is the worst version of itself. This can usually be fixed by adding fruit, granola, or honey, usually. Still not worth it in my opinion when frozen yogurt and, um HELLO??!, ice cream exist.
5) Açai: swipe RIGHT
Last and most certainly not least, the goddess berry that is açai. Despite not having any idea how to pronounce this word to order it, (“Could I have the ack⋅eye bowl please?”) I’m so glad they understood what I was trying to say. Açai reminds me of a blueberry, a raspberry and a strawberry all in one super berry that is like their sweetheart mom, but at the same time the cousin they all wish they could be. The DNA is there, but something just didn’t line up correctly in their nucleotides, so they ended up as a blueberry, raspberry, or strawberry instead. Don’t get me wrong, these berries are perfect in their own way, but for real, açai was life changing and yes, most definitely worth the basic instagram foodie photos.
