Iceberg to Arugula

With all due respect and thanks to MFK Fisher……..what do you think of oysters?

Do you consider them food…..or not?

When I was a culinary student, I took a course in Gastronomy. One day on entering class, I encountered a photo projected on a very large screen that was fairly disturbing. The picture was of a Southeast Asian woman happily gnawing on the leg of a (freakin’ HUGE) black spider. Spats of shocked discussion pulsed throughout the room where we spent the lecture time discussing food fears and taboos. For many of us, it’s uncomfortable to eat outside our established food boundaries. Frequently anything that falls outside those boundaries we simply don’t consider food.

We tried three unfamiliar items and were not told what they were. The object was to evaluate the food item solely on flavor, aroma and texture and develop an opinion about it. For the most part it went well, the first item was Tamarind Candy, the second was sort of a dried, pressed fish jerky with added sesame seeds. I had no problem with either of these and actually rather liked the tamarind. However the appearance of the third item, well, frankly made me want to hurl. It reminded me of being in eighth grade biology class and looking under a microscope for the first time at a paramecium. In fact, it looked like a whole cupful of gelatinous paramecia eying me and daring me to drink them. The rest of the class was having difficulty with this item (which was Asian Basil Seed Soda) as well and the tasting went sort of like this (just imagine these kids are all wearing Chef’s whites and you’ll get the idea):

I think food fears actually have little to do with the actual flavor or gastronomic experience of a food. Rather they rest in our perception of what it is (brain, liver, insect, paramecium looking thingy).

So what does your personal “taboo” list look like?

Some personal examples: 

Goat cheese: yeah, I know, I know, it’s really gourmet has a very distinctive pungency and nice texture….but goats just kinda weird me out, you know?

Tongue: I just can’t get over the fact that I’m tasting something that at one time would have been capable of tasting me back.

And, yes, oysters. I mean, let’s face it: to the uninitiated, eating a raw oyster is kind of like trying to hork down a lumpy wad of snot.

As a Registered Dietitian, the thing I wonder about is if it is indeed possible to improve the quality of the diet by confronting these fears. There’s quite a bit of research that indicates that the more varied the diet the healthier it tends to be. Most of us tend to eat roughly the same types of foods day in and day out. Don’t believe me? Try keeping a food journal for 1 week and write down everything you eat and drink. More often than not, you will see some sort of pattern emerge that is more or less typical of what you eat the majority of the time.

As a fervent foodie, the thing I wonder about is what potential gastronomic delights I am missing out on because I can’t disengage my brain at the table.

In his book The Man Who Ate Everything, Jeffrey Steingarten talks about how he had to get over his most persistent food dislikes in order to do his job as a food critic for The New York Times. He is my hero for that, because it shows that it is possible to set aside what you personally think of a food in order to evaluate it objectively.

With this goal in mind, I found that in time, I was able to taste goat cheese and appreciate its exquisite silky texture and the musky gaminess it adds to a dish. And once I was able to get past the texture, I REALLY was able to taste and experience the brisk, cold freshness of the ocean in an oyster. Mind you, I still don’t go out of my way to eat these things, but in the event I am presented with them I am less likely to bolt for the door.

As I have said in previous posts, I think that challenging and maturing your palate is a great way to become a better eater. It helps you focus on your food, eat slower and frequently eat less as a result. If you are confronting a food fear, my advice is to go to a really good restaurant where the chef knows how to correctly treat the item. So if I had the luxury, I would have Eric Ripert prepare oysters for me. However, since I don’t have that luxury, I will seek out fresh tiny briny Olympia oysters when I visit Seattle.

However, having said all this, I must confess that even the best chef in Asia would not be enough to get me to happily gnaw on a spider!