Here’s the truth: I’m really picky, but I like to think of myself as texture sensitive. As a child, I was definitely the one who lived off of peanut butter and jelly. It’s not that my mother didn’t try; oh she tried for hours sometimes. But I just couldn’t/wouldn’t eat mixed foods or foods that felt weird to me. I hated/hate when any foods touched. I remember sitting at the table for a long time one night refusing to eat meat loaf and yet another night where my arch nemesis was eggplant. Eggplant and I have since come to a truce, but I will stare down meat loaf any day of the week.
Reading all the food blogs I read only highlights my weirdness more. I look at some of the foods that people eat , and it’s amazing to me that they can tolerate so many foods and textures mixed together. Brandi, over at Branappetit, is always putting all sorts of things into her oatmeal. A little brown sugar and peanut butter and I’m all set. Usually when I see interesting foods, I try to figure out a way to simplify them or separate them into different courses. My ideal fine china would have sections. It’s not just foods; my texture sensitivity extends to clothes, footwear, even material on furniture.
The last few years I have made an effort to try new things. I’m not 100%, but I do try. In Italy this summer, I tried things that were way out of my comfort zone. For example, before I went to Italy, I rarely ever at tomatoes.
Tomatoes are everywhere and on everything in Italy, so I ate them.
Italian tomatoes are so rich, and I firmly believe that you can literally taste the sun in them. Tomatoes in New Hampshire do not taste the same. Another thing I ate in Italy was a stuffed fried zucchini blossom. Oh so tasty, heaven really.
I feel this sensitivity really limits me in my food consumption. On Tuesday or Wednesday of this week, I’m supposed to be making Sheppard’s pie. We’ll see if this happens. I want to make it, I know Jeremy will love it even though I’m using chicken instead of ground beef, but the thought off all those different foods mixed together. I don’t know if I can do it.
This could be a really big hurl hurdle for me.
