MrAoD wrote:

Now if you would, could you regale us with the gustatory adventures you
experience whilst sneaking off on your own? Not the whole itinerary of course,
merely the high notes?


I'm glad you asked:-)

In a Tunisian restaurant in the Latin quarter, the waiter (owner?) put
down a small dish of something orange and said that it was "piquant." I
asked Jim what it was, and he'd heard "pecan," but I still wasn't sure
so I let him try it first. It turned out to be cooked, cold carrots in
the most wonderful spicy paste. We ordered tagines there. Mine was
chicken stew cooked in a sweet raisin liquid. Jim's was lamb with
prunes and a bean like a mung bean.

We went to a French restaurant in the Latin quarter twice where Jim got
duck. He liked it so much that he ordered it again when he went back.
I saw "pintarde" on the menu and asked what it was, learned that it is a
sort of guinea hen closely related to chicken. I'd never had it before
so I ordered it and liked it but liked the side dishes more-- scalloped
potatoes, carrot puree and those thin green beans. The vegetable purees
are something we don't get here. They're a vegetable and cream mixture
that comes out thicker than soup but thinner than what you usually think
of as a vegetable. When we went back, I got a curry lamb that came in a
big pot like dish that it was cooked in.

We went to the same restaurant twice because we had a bad experience at
a different place, were tired and not in the mood to take chances.
(This had nothing to do with the coworkers.) The bad experience had an
inexpensive prix fixe in the window that wasn't offered to us when we
sat down. Then a noisy group of smokers sat down near us, and the place
filled up which made it more of a nightclub type bar than a quiet place
to eat. Nonetheless, my food was great. I got the potato and chevre
appetizer that I mentioned in another thread and a beef and chestnut
bourginone that was hot and wonderful. Jim's duck was overcooked there.
The waiter asked if he wanted it done medium. He emphatically said
that he wanted it rare, and we wonder if the waiter misunderstood his
emphasis for sarcasm.

While on my own, I tried to limit myself to fruit from the outdoor
markets and pastries. I liked the almond croissant on the first day so
much that it took an act of will to make myself eat the strawberry
tartes and sable cookies for variety.

A big part of the appeal is in the service. Breakfast in the hotel was
croissants, french bread, butter, jam, juice and coffe or tea. That's
nothing special, but the breakfast room was so small and cozy (not fancy
at all), and the waiter was so kind that it made me wish I could eat
that way all the time at home until I remembered that I do eat good
bread and butter and jam at home.

A more elegant meal was in the cafeteria in the Musee d'Orsay. We were
eating at 3:00p so there was a limited menu, but we got salads with
cheese on toasts that were very good. Still, the memorable part of that
meal was the amazing elegant high ceilings of what might have been the
restaurant when the building was a train station.

I also enjoyed the epicerie that's part of the department store Bon
Marche. Some of the items are available in the U.S. like the
chocolates, but the variety and the displays were wonderful.

I love the informal couscous restaurants where you get a steaming plate
of couscous with a tomato broth that has big chunks of carrots, turnips
and zucchini in it to spoon over. That's something I have to remember
to make at home.

--Lia

Naomi Darvell wrote:

I think you're right; it is a continuum. A book by Jeffrey Steingarten, The Man
Who Ate Everything, has a chapter on how people come by their food aversions.
Most of it's in childhood.

I looked at the Steingarten book the last time it was mentioned here. I
thought he had a lot of good points about food aversions but didn't
agree with him when he got on the subject of food that causes symptoms.
He made it sound like all the people who are sure certain foods upset
their stomach or give them hives or make them sneeze are crazy. If
that's the case, I'm glad to be crazy because I feel much healthier that
way.


I can remember how strong food aversions felt then
(do you have more taste buds when you're younger?).

The scientists do say that children are more drawn to sweets while
adults will tolerate and enjoy hot and bitter foods, but for me, my
aversions had nothing to do with taste and everything to do with not
liking the idea. If I'd had the vocabulary, I wouldn't have said "I
don't like it." I would have said "the idea of eating something green
and slimy doesn't appeal even though I honestly don't know how it
tastes." That was the essence of my parents' argument. They'd say "how
do you know you don't like it when you haven't tried it," and I didn't
have an answer that I could express in words. There's no way to express
that emotion. (Whenever I see parents forcing children to eat something
they have a strong emotional feeling against, I like to imagine reticent
kids 15 years later being convinced to try illegal drugs for the first
time with the argument that they should just try it. A little caution
about new things is good.)

My guess is that with most
people aversions tone down (like the way you describe it happening for
yourself) or at least don't get any worse with age. But with some people,
there's some mental or physical block. I would love to read more about it.

Yes. Usually the discussion revolves around etiquette and how annoying
picky people are, not the physical or emotional reasons behind it.


BTW, I'm not criticizing the way you handled it. I've traveled and dined with
people who had all kinds of weird habits and usually I just put up with it, and
leave a big tip for anyone who waits on us.


Thanks. The funny thing about the whole situation is that I've done
such a flip-flop in my own mind. Whenever people on this list have said
something about inviting people over and serving foods they know the
guests won't like, I've been the first to say that having guests and
friends is not about making a point. Being a host is about making
guests feel welcome and comfortable, not about proving that their habits
are wrong. The calm, rational part of me is sure that it isn't my job
to teach this guy manners or eating habits. That was up to his mother.
The irritated part of me is thinking of all sorts of tricks I could
have played on him.

--Lia

Dan Abel wrote:

I am a picky eater. Like you, I was even pickier as a child. However, my
parents *did* punish me. I spent many hours at the kitchen table, long
after everyone else had left, because I wouldn't eat something, usually
meat. My father had taken a college nutrition class back in the dark
ages, and was taught that meat was the only source of complete protein,
and so everybody *had* to eat meat or be malnourished. My mother came
from a poor family, and they could only afford meat once a week. I missed
a lot of desserts. I did grow, to 6'2", and although I was healthy, I did
not have a normal weight. Try to imagine 135 pounds spread out over
6'2". It was not a pretty sight. Not only did I have no fat, there
wasn't enough weight for most muscles either. My arms and legs looked
like sticks. In PE, I was not able to do the things that most kids
could. I could run fast for a short distance, but couldn't run, even
slowly, for longer distances (the asthma didn't help either). I don't
believe I could do a single pushup.

Like you, once I reached college and didn't have anybody telling me what
to eat, I started to gain weight. Unfortunately, I didn't stop gaining,
and was over 200 pounds at one point. My doctor told me that it wasn't
healthy to be that heavy, due to high blood pressure and borderline
diabetes, and so I cut back on the food and lost 30 pounds. I've gained
about 10 of it back, but I'm still at a pretty good weight.


How awful! I never know what to say when I hear about people's
experiences with early child abuse (and what your parents did was a form
of it no matter what their misconceptions and motivations). It sounds
like you've done wonderfully well at overcoming it-- maybe not a perfect
job, but pretty good.

I can't agree when you say you were healthy. Not being strong enough to
run with the other kids doesn't sound like good health to me.

As for managing your weight now, I know I should leave that to you and
your doctor, but I can't help mentioning exercise. It is so normal for
discussions of weight to center all on food when exercise is such a big
part of the equation. I've never been particularly overweight, but at
my age (45), I'm discovering how important aerobics and weight training
are in a healthy diet. (I hate them both and begrudgingly admit that
they work.)

--Lia

Naomi Darvell wrote:
Julia wrote:

I looked at the Steingarten book the last time it was mentioned here. I
thought he had a lot of good points about food aversions but didn't
agree with him when he got on the subject of food that causes symptoms.

Oh, on the subject of diet, he seems to be deliberately perverse sometimes. He
recently wrote about being on the Atkins diet. He couldn't understand why he
wasn't losing weight-- and he was living on Scotch and foie gras, or something
like that.

I just saw him on some morning show just this week, I didn't
recognise him immediately, he was quite large.

nancy

On Tue, 25 Nov 2003 06:39:38 -0600, "jmcquown"
wrote:

Padraig Breathnach wrote:
COTTP wrote:

This is why they consider most Americans so crass. I will not permit
myself to set foot into any part of Europe that doesn't have English
as a native language until I learn the language of that country.

Agus cathain a bhfuil sé ar intinn agat cuairt a thabhairt ar Eirinn?

Sorry, but I lost my Gaelic dictionary

Jill McQuown

i think they call it 'irish' now.

your pal,
blake

On Tue, 25 Nov 2003 02:21:45 GMT, "Jack Schidt®"
wrote:

I'll go on record and take the lumps but it's been my experience that picky
eaters are lousy in bed. No syrup on that vanilla.

Jack Pick

this is an interesting hypothesis.

your pal,
ruth

COTTP wrote:

This is why they consider most Americans so crass. I will not permit
myself to set foot into any part of Europe that doesn't have English as
a native language until I learn the language of that country. I expect
my experience would be much different if I were able to speak the
language - that's my only criteria.

It is certainly not my criterion. I have can speak enough French and German to
get by, but it was more usual for them to resort to English, since most
Europeans can speak English. Between the three languages I rarely had trouble
communicating. I as usually looking for food or accommodation, not
conversation, and never had trouble getting what I wanted. I would hate to
have ruled out a trip to Denmark for lack of learning a language that is
extremely difficult to master, but almost everyone there speaks English.