New Food November
In my last post I shared about the importance of waking up to our five senses. Today, I want to focus on one of these senses that we use every time we put something into our mouth…taste! Sometimes even looking at a picture of a particular food or smelling it cooking can cause our mouth to begin to water. Hot apple pie straight from the oven, soup that has been simmering all afternoon, freshly baked bread, sizzling bacon. Ok, you get the idea.
When I got engaged, my roommates threw me a bridal shower and gave me a jar of spaghetti sauce and some frozen pizzas as a joke gift. In my early years of marriage, my lack of knowledge in the kitchen was quite embarrassing. My husband, Mark, knew even less than I did, and was used to a steady diet of turkey sandwiches and apple juice. I worked at Burger King and Mark worked at Pizza Hut. Between fast food, cold sandwiches, and microwavable food, we survived.
Fast forward to having kids, I don’t think things improved all that much. I had some mom friends that passed along their recipes and gave me a few tips (thanks Brooke and Christa), but we were still in survival mode, eating to live, not living to eat. Our regular rotation was tacos, pasta, pizza, waffles, and chicken. Somewhere along the line, I started paying attention when I was around people who were cooking and asking them questions.
My lack of confidence in cooking had nothing to do with a lack of interest in food. It had to do with my fear of failure. I didn’t want to work hard to preparing a special meal, and then have it end up in the garbage.
A few years ago, I realized that I really do enjoy cooking. I decided to make something that I wanted to make for myself one day a week. Once I got past my need for approval, I found myself really enjoying the time in the kitchen.
I am still a pretty “safe eater” that gets into a rut when it comes to grocery shopping and cooking. I decided to challenge myself this month with a simple idea, and I hope you will join me.
The challenge is this:
Eat at least one thing you have never tasted each week during the month of November.
For the adventurous eaters, you may need to try a new combination of foods or a new spice mix. For me, it will be no problem to find new foods. I could probably fill a whole cart in every aisle with the things I have not tried.
Grab a friend and try a new food together. If you are already having a get together in November, tell everyone its “New Food November”
I would love to see what’s in your grocery cart. Hopefully, we will all find some delicious new flavors this month and our taste buds will thank us!
