Gourmands

I do like to eat!

But I would never label myself gourmet. Gourmets have a “refined” palate. Only the best for a gourmet. I on the other hand simply like to eat. Ideally good food. But if I am hungry enough, simple food will work for me. And I am always hungry!

As a result, I have never been one to be afraid to try something once. Admittedly there may be one or two things out there I might not try a second time, but I rarely won’t try something a first time. With a few possible exceptions. For instance stuffing a live squid in my mouth really does not appeal to the senses.

Despite my willingness to experiment, I do often wonder how anybody came up with the idea of eating certain things in the first place. The squid for instance. Somebody must have been seriously hungry to grab a squid, still squirming, and just start munching. I mean really now.

Another example. Lobster. Don’t get me wrong, I love lobster. But have ya looked at them. Big damned cockroach. And if you don’t cook em just right, they will make you sick. Guess another seriously hungry person. Or how about Fugu. If prepared incorrectly, it will kill you with a potent neurotoxin. I mean ok eat it once. But somebody dies … seems odd to keep trying to eat it til you figure out how.

There are all sorts of foods that make you wonder how or why. Birds nest soup? Sorry honey, we have no meat or veggies. But I did find this nest. Looks yummy boil it up and we will make some soup!

And the king of why would anyone eat it. Pretty much anything that comes out of a fast food restaurant. Yet somehow the staple of the American diet.

Seems that gourmands have actually shaped the world as we know it. If it were not for people liking to eat, there would not be so many types of foods. And cultures are strongly defined by the foods they eat. You ever been at a Jewish holiday gathering? All of a sudden everyone speaking Yiddish with an accent. All because of the food.

Now I am hungry!