Today I got an appreciation of how much I’ve learned the
last 6 years of being a nutritarian. A
co-worker was curious about my squash and I said “it’s squash mixed in with a
little veggie bean soup.” I gave her a
taste and she said, “You must have added lots of spices.” I said, no that’s actually the taste of the
squash. It’s very flavorful. She said, I have no idea how to cook that. I said, I just threw it in the oven for an
hour. Someone else chimed in saying you
need olive oil to keep it from drying out, and I said, no, just put it in whole
and the moisture stays in. I think when
the conversation ended, my friend still felt that squash was beyond her skill
level (despite her Ph.D. in astrophysics).
I suspect she thought you had to do something fancy to make it taste
that good. That was me too 6 years ago. I didn’t realize how good fresh high quality
produce could taste. I thought you had
to know a lot and put a lot of effort into making food taste good. I relied on restaurants to supply me with the
really good food. I figured, they were the professionals. Now I realize whole foods
hold fantastic flavors. Processed and
restaurant foods can’t compete.
It’s good to realize this because I sometimes get the silly
notion that I am deprived because I don’t get to enjoy the same foods as
everyone else. Sure, my food can’t
compete with ice cream for pure stimulation.
But pretty much everything else I make tastes a lot, and I mean, a lot,
better than what I used to eat.
5 comments:
Your mention of ice cream points out that much of what is eaten in this era is really engineered and manufactured food-like substances. Ice cream is an impossible combination of fat and sugar that does not exist in nature. It is "hyperpalatable"--- beyond the natural range of taste stimulation--- and seizes one's attention with a taste overload. Such foods always make think of a bad rock band that turns up the volume so loud that you have no option but to listen. It's really just a coverup for the low quality and superficiality of their music.
HI Darryl,
I think many of us wish we were where you are, where this doesn't even appeal. I can say that most of the time, but not all of the time. I am to the point where I usually don't want to indulge because I know I will feel strange and yucky for quite a while and ruin tomorrow as well as today (detox). But I still think I would enjoy the taste, at least of the vegan stuff--the dairy tastes yucky to me now.
-barb
The funny thing to me is how I build up this craving in my mind about how good some "forbidden" food is. Then when I actually cheat and take a bite of someone elses, it doesn't even taste that good.
I was craving french fries so bad, for quite a while now. My husband had a plate full and they looked so good. I thought one couldn't hurt much, so I stole one. It was nothing like I remember. I don't really know why I ever liked them.
yeah, it's interesting how your tastes change!
I don't know! A frozen banana blended into a puree with a T. of chopped almonds on top tastes nearly identical to the stuff I used to eat a cold stone creamery.
I used to detest squash but now love the way it tastes. Probably, eating it without butter and brown sugar is the key. The flavor isn't that great if we try to make it desertish (except pumpkin custard), but it is out of this world as a veggie.
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