[thebighat]

nancya makes a good point at the end of her post. I've been cooking and baking professionally for 26 years and I am scared to death to eat anything I'm not "supposed" to. How can you eat a balanced diet working in a kitchen where you can have a bite of this and a nosh of that all day long? Who has that kind of self-control? Plus, you wind up working right through your mealtimes anyway. I'm surrounded in my home by cookbooks and I know I will more than likely never make anything out of them. That's depressing. Then there's the other extreme. Guy across the street from me, a gifted three-fingered woodworker, cooks all afternoon and actually sits down and enjoys it! He's got that Weber kettle going 10 months out of the year and he gets truly creative with it. He's ordering in white truffles for his risotto, buys himself the good balsamic vinegar, gets olive oil from his gualiones in the old country and homemade soppresata from his pallies in the next town. Makes me crazy that I don't have the nerve to layer the liverwurst and red onion on one of my own stupid loaves of bread. And I'll read MFK Fisher and Calvin Trillin into the night.

[Isa]

In France, food is now part of the curriculum. By this, they want to show kids that there is more to food then McDonald. Professionals are teaching kids about different foods and they also make sure kids taste a wide variety of food.

Well my theory is that those poor folk who have not had enough (maybe even no) exposure to good food. Around the Mediterranean this doesn't happen. In Britain with lingering memories of wartime shortages and a tradition of boiling far too much for far too long, there is a whole bunch of people who have no real interest in food. In the US the rise of bland TV dinners, pre-prepared food and fast food chains seems to dull the palate of some folk. Many people, sadly, have never had the opportunity to eat superb food whether it be great fresh ingredients simply cooked or a true gourmet restaurant, so they think all food is plain, bland or boring. Maybe we should start a campaign for REAL food.

[shroomgirl]

Well I'm back my friends....I've gone the southern Mo. junket...
More than a few of my group rap poetry about food...most have not paid more than $30 pp
for a meal....but to think good local food comes prepacked is pretty discouraging.
So....I'll type more tomorrow on my trip.

[davewarne]

These are sweeping generalities BritCook. If all us Brits are only interested in bland and boring, how come the T.V is wall-to-wall chefs and cooking? Whilst perhaps the quality of 'T.V. Dinners' may be questionable, the varity is massive. If you remember the Birds Eye Roast Beef Dinner you'll know what I mean. When I opened my place in East Anglia, the customers thought they were being robbed if they could see the pattern on the plate. Things are changing. The food has to be good around here to succeed. I worry about the young. My youngest brother lives on Pizza etc and thinks he's a cook when he makes Chilli. He also eats my food, but does he know the difference?

Enjoying good food is a taste and pleasure one learns.
I grew up on beef roasts, canned green beans and boiled/baked potatoes. Steak on Saturdays, burgers on game night, pancakes on Sunday morning. There wasn't a thing my mother made that was great. It all pretty much tasted the same. The experience was the same for my husband. During our single years, food was to get us to survive except for the occassional dinner outting. Living in Chicago (once off the MI farm) I learned there were all kinds of dishes out there beyond steak on Saturday night. Working at Armand's I learned to make meals of things I never thought I'd eat. But it's all learned.
I feel sorry for those who think of food as only a way to survive. Many is the night our house is filled with happy people, fun conversation, good wine and great dinners that last till the wee hours of the morning.
My husband and I have been married for six years now. During the first four years, I made something different for every meal. Variety and taste were great. We've grown to have favorites and I include them often. The fear of eating at my mother's house is tremendous.

[Shimmer]

I remember being so jealous of other kids when I was growing up. Instead of Twinkies and Hostess cupcakes, I was sent to school with homemade granola, grain bread sandwiches, fruit juice, and homemade fruit leather. When I was young, those foods seemed so plain compared to the overprocessed commercialized foods my friends were eating.

Now, I don't really buy pre-packaged over-processed food, except for canned soups. I have so much more enjoyment of making things on my own and experimenting with recipes, etc. So I'm grateful for being taught early on how making things yourself felt.

My family, however, only goes to two restaurants total, both Chinese. They don't really believe in venturing out. It was wonderful when I went to college, and even better when I started dating, because then you have an excuse for going to all sorts of different places and trying everything new.

I can almost pinpoint the year when my tastebuds started changing. I will try ANYTHING now and usually enjoy it. Food for me is an adventure. When I'm hungry, if I'm looking for something to eat in my kitchen and nothing sounds good, I can't eat. It definitely isnt' about simple function at all. My husband and I have been guilty of whining "there's nothing to eat" with cupboards full of food because we both get in food moods.

In fact, now that I'm thinking about it, sushi sounds awfully good right now....

~~Shimmer~~

[shroomgirl]

My brother is a "eat to live not live to eat" kinda guy. He is a chiropractor that teaches healthy eating classes....but there is no passion for food....he loves what I make but is really satisfied to eat leftover shtuff daily. We grew up in the same house and yet have dramatically different ideas on playing with food/priorities.I just got back from 3 days on the road eating "industrial food". I cannot convince anyone about flavor unless they try it....There have been some incredible meals filled with wonderful conversations and great networking but as a whole I don't know if 95% have ever experienced fine dining or even white linen medium range local fresh food dining.
These are the movers and shakers and decision makers in Mo. They make the policies that influence the development of business. So we talk about Mama's cooking
and how the fresh flavors from the farms are still happening just not enough to fill the demand....politicians need to know that farmers are a national resource and that people do care about what they eat and where it came from (how far it travels)

I can't figure it out hear I am working with massive amount's of food cooking for a thousand everyday and I have had to start to take my vit's again to stay healthy! sure I taste everything that goes out during my service but it is unheard of for me to sit and eat my 3 squares a day. food is one of the biggest sourse of love in my life..when I am cooking for the ones I love I am using my best wooden spoon and stirring with nothing but love and it comes thur in the end. In every corner of the World I have been to the memories I always come back with is how good the food was...like the cheese in Italy or the Pinapple in Jamica or the Potatoes in Ireland or the Whey butter in Quebec....who knows eh?

Hi all,

I love to eat, and experiment
with new recipes and ideas. My
wife on the other hand eats to
live. her idea of a quality meal
is spaghetti and meatballs. Her
taste for food just isn't the
same as mine, I try new things
and she just doesn't seem
interested.

Now don't get me wrong I love a
good meat and potatoes meal just
as much as the next person, but
I also like other food like
seafood. If I make something
with Shrimp, Tuna, or Salmon she
just turns her nose up and
usually fixes something else.

My kids on the other hand like
to experiment with me, so I
guess you could say the chain
has been broken. My nine year
old daughter loves to cook in
the kitchen with me. She's
pretty good too. Sometimes she
ask's a thousand questions, I
don't mind though cause she just
takes it all in like a sponge.

[Isa]

Svadhisthana and Jay's message reminded me of my favourite aunt. She was fun and easygoing always ready to try anything except when it came to food.

She loved Red Lobster and Chalet Suisse. She always refused to go for Chinese food. Until one day I told her you know Chinese food isn't chicken pineapple or cspare ribs. You really should try it, we went for sechuan. She loved it. Who wouldn't like ginger lobster or orange beef.

After trying the Chinese food and loving it she was always ready to try just about any kind of food. I never managed to get her to try sushi though.

[Svadhisthana]

This is such a wonderful topic! I'm surounded by people who only eat to live. My Dh is happy with the same meals week after week after week..... We grew up similarly, eating mediocre if not bad food. Canned veggies, low quality cuts of meat and prepackaged "meals". I've alwyas had a hunger (no pun intended) to explore other foods, various ethnic cusines and try out new recipes. I love to cook and bake and I love food. He, on the other hand has to be practicaly forced to try new fare. If I mention a restaurant I'd like to go to he says "Will I like it?", meaning do they have familiar food. On the occasions that I am not there or unable to do the cooking he'll order pizza (with the same toppings every time) rather than cook, even thought he is able to. I'm sometimes amazed at how different he and I are. With my family, there is a slightly different angle. They love to try out new restaurants........IF it's a chain. T.G.I.Friday's, Chili's, Olive Garden, what have you, they want to eat there. They would be appalled to see a menu with prices higher than $20 pp. I wonder what makes us so diverse in our eating habits.

[shroomgirl]

Think about how brave you have to be to try something that looks totally foreign or actually almost replusive...think raw oyster.
To take someone on a culinary adventure they must instill alot of trust in their leader or have alot of daring to stick strange foods in their mouths.

[Isa]

Think of the first guy who ate a lobster, he must have been really hungry.

[Papa]

Think of the first guy who ate escargot!