Food Discrimination

Food Discrimination. Sounds like something a little overly dramatic but hear me out. There are some food avoidances that make sense to me. One, those that are avoided because of an allergy or intolerance. Two, those that are avoided because of a religious or cultural belief. I get those and am not judging those. There is, however, a third category of food avoidance, which I would label discrimination. People for whatever reason develop an opinion about a food whether it be a bad experience, someone elses bad experience or simply perception that tells them not to eat something. This is the kind of discrimination I wish to abolish.

I don't know how many times I have had someone come to dine with us who tells me they hate something and would never order it off a menu anywhere else, but since they had no choice in the matter they tried it and loved it. The question that always arises in my mind is why would you deprive yourself of a potential wonderful experience because of a preconceived notion that you won't like something? What is the worst that could happen? You still don't like it. Big deal. Then you don't have to eat it. But if you don't try, you'll never know if your palate has changed or if you simply had something cooked improperly the first time around. Do I sound like your worst nightmare of your mother when you were a child?

Food, like life, is an adventure. The most wonderful experiences in life often arise out of change or out of unexpected circumstances. Why not allow ourselves the opportunity to be unexpectedly surprised by food? I challenge all of you, the next time you are offered something, don't simply dismiss it as gross or something you don't like. Give yourself the opportunity to make a discovery, to learn something new. You might just find something wonderful that will change your world forever.