Tuesday, March 22, 2016

Adventurous Eating

I am not an adventurous eater. While I wouldn't call myself a picky eater because I like a lot of different things, I don't venture out of my comfort zone very often to try new things. Especially if they contain one or more ingredients that I don't like. But last night I did.

Image result for caviar
Caviar  (Photo source)
Ward and I went to a dinner at a friend's house. We thought we were going to a casual open house, but as it turns out we went to a traditional Russian birthday dinner for our friend. I say traditional, but I'm not sure. When I was in the Russian club in college, our traditional dinner was borscht and a doughnut. This was a little different. There were 30 people there and there were more dishes than there were people. We sat down to a beautifully spread table with copious choices, many of which, we weren't sure what they were. The mostly Russian crowd tried to help us as we were handed one dish after another. There were many kinds of sushi, beet dishes, salads, pate, scalloped potatoes, beef and mushrooms, meat and cheese platters, and fish, fish, fish. Everywhere you look, another fish dish. And did I mention caviar?

Ward and I and the couple of other uneducated eaters, sampled this and that until we were getting pretty full. Then one of the informed diners said that this was only the cold course--like hors d'oeuvres. The hot course was still to come. What?!! Our eyes bugged out of our head and got almost as big as our stomachs were at that point. If we'd known earlier, we would have paced ourselves a little better. But more steaming dishes of salmon, chicken, beef (tongue), pork, and vegetables came out of the kitchen to fill our plates. I had to pass on some of this because I only had so much room. However, Ward was enjoying it all.  He leaned over at one point and said that this reminded him of when we were in Japan. (That's a story for another day.)

Then the food slowed down. We wondered if there would be a dessert. We thought maybe when there was this much food in the main meal, they don't have a dessert. However, later, several kinds of cake, fruits and chocolates came out. And during the whole evening, there were many toasts made to the birthday host, who was running around coordinating everything. (Remarkably, the host put almost all of this together herself. She said that shopping for it took the longest.)

So when the evening was over, I was still walking around astonished because I couldn't imagine how someone puts together a meal like that in an average size kitchen.  I was also pleased with myself for going out of my comfort zone and trying so many new things especially since I don't like fish.  But the lure to try caviar for the first time was all the motivation I needed. I've had it now, so you can sign me up for the "Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous", but you better do it quick, because I didn't like it. Too fishy. :)

(I wish that I had gotten some pictures because each dish was beautifully served, but whipping out a camera at someone's dinner table seemed rude.)



9 comments:

  1. Kudos to you! I'm like you--I don't think of myself as a picky eater, but some foods (caviar would be among them) just don't appeal to me and I would have to make a conscious effort to try them. The party sounds fun and like a wonderful cultural experience!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. For me, trying the caviar was a big deal. I wasn't really interested, except, it was something I had heard about all of my life from cartoons to movies to books. I pushed to go out of my comfort zone to taste it and I'm glad I did. Not because I liked it, but because I made the effort and tried it. Sometimes it's the small things.

      Delete
  2. I am glad you pushed your food comfort zone and ventured into food from a different culture.I have found whenever I am eating with friends who have a different country of origin to eat very light, because I have been overwhelmed with the amounts/number of dishes before. If I am still hungry at the end of the meal I can always eat something when I get home vs. being miserably full.
    I will eat almost anything except beets, fresh bananas (its a texture issue) and liver( Ok i don't do offal of any kind), even though there are things I am not fond of I can still eat them.
    Cavier__Meh! A little goes a long way and no one ever has to serve it to impress me. If it is part of a canape I will eat it, but I never go out of my way to add it to anything.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I love beets, but my husband says they taste like dirt. I said he hadn't just had the right ones. I served him ones right out of the ground, sweet as can be, and he still says they taste like dirt. It's interesting how we all have different taste buds.

      You have good advice on how to eat a meal from a different culture. I tend to eat very light anyway because I eat a little all day long. But this time, I was trying to be more daring and try more things, so I filled up pretty fast.

      Delete
    2. I am with your husband. To me they taste like dirt and if they are pickled it tastes like pickled earth to me. I have never met a beet I like.

      Delete
  3. Sounds like a massive amount of food. I've never tried cavier. But I make borscht here a lot because I love it and its very affordable to make.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I haven't made borscht in a long time because my husband doesn't like beets. However, I gonna have to put it on the menu soon because I still like it.

      Delete
  4. I didn't think I was a picky eater until I read the list of foods you had to choose from, there were only a couple I would have been willing to try. I'll skip the caviar that's one I never had the desire to try.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. There were two reasons I tried it. One was it is mentioned often in books, movies, cartoons, etc. I felt like I should for part of my cultural literacy. Two was I was trying to do something totally out of my comfort zone. This was a small thing, so maybe I can work up to something big--like my fear of heights.

      Delete

What do you think?