Everyone loves food, but not all of us appreciate it in the same way. Some are far more adventurous than others, and as a result, are willing to try new foods anytime they have the opportunity to do so. I am most definitely not one of those types of people.
Every week, when shopping at my local fruit and vegetable vendor here in San Miguel de Allende, I tend to buy the exact same things week after week. I overlook dozens of exotic-looking fruits and vegetables that I see others eagerly picking up. Why don’t I buy them? I’m not exactly sure.
I grew up in rural Wisconsin, an area not exactly known for its variety and diversity of food. Many of us Wisconsinites still feel that beer, cheese curds, brats, and corn make up the four food groups! Throughout my professional career, I traveled extensively around the world — what better time to try new foods than with local hosts and on a corporate expense account? But alas, I was always the person at the table saying “no way!” to trying the chicken feet and duck tongue in China, the odd-looking sausage in Germany, the exotic sushi in Japan, the weird-looking cut of meat in Argentina, or the chapulines (grasshoppers) and ant eggs here in Mexico. I traveled so much to China that the first words I learned in Mandarin were “white rice” and “Coca-Cola” — which is what I mostly survived on during my trips there.
I once took a taxi for 90 minutes each way from a hotel in rural China to a Pizza Hut in Shanghai. I am not pro.
