Non-Foodie Asks: How to Like Eating?

When I was a teenager, many people thought I must be anorexic/bulimic, because I am taller than average and have never weighed more than 105 pounds. (My maternal grandmother's family were this size, so it's genetic. I have never had an eating disorder and have always been very healthy!) But I just don't enjoy food. I basically like to eat five things.  These days I must menu-plan and cook for normal people who like several things, But it is very difficult for me to think outside my usual box. Do I need to cook with fresher herbs and seasonings? More fats? Eating is an unavoidable means-to-an-end for me, why do other people like food, and what can I do that they do?

My mom is somewhat similar, while my grandmother was a total foodie and so am I.  In my mom's case, she has certain food aversions.  In other folks I have encountered, it is that the palate was not developed as a child.  Were you exposed to a great variety of foods and flavors as a child?

Rachel Lindsay wrote:Eating is an unavoidable means-to-an-end for me, why do other people like food, and what can I do that they do?

Rachel! when I was in college I was very much like you. I grew up with people who didn't particularly like food, and in college food (and money!) was essentially scarce: i maintained my kiddie love for pizza and ice cream, but other than that i and my crew basically survived on peanut butter toast (learned that from an engineer who had researched the bare essentials for survival. had there been soylent green, i would have done that, for convenience...
If i had money to splurge there was ice cream, and of course there was beer (it was college, after all).
I went to college knowing how to make two foods: rice with chicken and red sauce for pasta.

When i moved to japan i learned that there were fresh ingredients and things i had never tasted before. it opened my eyes up to eating, but i still couldn't cook to save myself.
i did a few homestay type things with old ladies to learn how to make a few more things (curry, eggplant, omelet). palate started to get more curious.

fast forward to married (my husband was the cook) and then with kids (lots of things from cans, but trying to introduce "healthy" and veg to the kids, i tried new things)

then moved to south america, where convenience foods were minimal and i had to learn to cook, with new ingredients, from scratch, if i wanted to eat.
i learned to cook, and be a good cook, only from age 33+.


I truly don't think there is anything wrong with not living to eat. You can be totally healthy and eat well without dazzling variety. Also, cooking is hard work, and we all have a bunch of things to do.
Unless the troops are restless about a lack of variety, there is nothing wrong with rotating the same 5 things. My mother did it like clockwork (pasta wednesday, fish friday) and now I understand it was to save her own sanity.
Still, if you want to jazz it up, I'd say talk to your household and maybe ask someone to help you sit down and meal plan for two weeks. What do they want to eat, pick a few ingredients, and then search for "what to make with xxx" or "best XX recipes". It took me a bit of time to find maybe 10 trusted blogs or cooking sites that have the kind of food i like to eat. This way you can also take best advantage of seasonal produce and waste less, if you plan.
also, maybe look at cookbooks, library is good for this. leaf through, see if anything appeals to you. some you'll eventually find out are real dogs, some won't be suited to your palate, others will be amazing and you'll love them (same as the sites). i often photocopy pages from a cookbook from the library and then only go back and check it out if those first recipes turn out okay.
(sorry for all the editing, i got lost in the page)

Judson Carroll wrote:  Were you exposed to a great variety of foods and flavors as a child?

A medium variety I would say--my mother opted for culinary arts training instead of college, and we rarely ate out, but I am not like she is in that way at all! I would rather clean the kitchen than cook in it, ha!

Treat it like a sensory exploration. Don't try to judge, it's not about what you like or dislike, or what's good or not good, just... note what you sense.

As an example, a raw apple.

Touch it, feel the skin. Feel the shape and the weight. Sniff it. Look it all over, see the colors and spots and speckles. Push on the skin, feel the density. Maybe taste the skin. If it's got a stem, feel the stem.

Bite or cut into the apple. Hear the sounds, smell the scents of the apple now that the skin is cut. Feel the piece or bite in your mouth. Notice the textures, the temperature, the differences between the inside and the outside. Take another piece from the top or the bottom or the other side, note what's similar and what's different.

ah and another thing: my spouse is food blind. i don't know what else to call it. he can literally eat the same three foods for three months and not care to change at all.
I can make a 6 course gourmet meal and he will mix it all up in a bowl, put ketchup on it, and say meh. also, i can ask him what he had for lunch and he won't be able to tell me.
I find it pathological... in the same way that he finds it pathological that i can't tell him the horsepower of the last 6 cars i've owned, or remember baseball statistics. different strokes!

Rachel Lindsay wrote:

Judson Carroll wrote:  Were you exposed to a great variety of foods and flavors as a child?

A medium variety I would say--my mother opted for culinary arts training instead of college, and we rarely ate out, but I am not like she is in that way at all! I would rather clean the kitchen than cook in it, ha!

It may well be that you have fewer taste buds than others - that is often the case.  The more taste buds one has, the more one may enjoy the complexities and diversity of flavors.  IF that be the case, I'm not sure anything can be done.  Perhaps working through a book like THe Flavor Bible would help you find out wone way or another..... as for your husband.... I'm betting on few taste buds!

What are the five things that you like? Maybe you have five meals to get a head start.

What kind of meats do you like?

When I had kids to plan meals for I made a meat dish and two vegetable dishes.

My kids were not picky eaters so I did not have a problem there.

I was never a big desert fan though I did like to serve dishes with fruit, like pineapple and cottage chees, Waldorf salad, and carrot and raisin salad.

Now that there are only two of us, I eat what I like usually meat and vegetables that I like such as broccoli and cauliflower.

Dear hubby has cornflakes or raisin bran for supper.

To answer the question of how to like eating, I would say eat what you like and plan meals around that with thing you family likes.