trying new foods

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about 3 years ago, tried a new food: la cascada, lentil salad (about $7 for 10 ounces). liked it a lot. about one year ago, tried instant oatmeal. (which is doesn't really count b/c it's so similar to granola, which i used to eat a lot of).

today, finally summoned up the energy to go to an international supermarket. (it takes some time, energy & $$$ to get there, b/c it's not close to where i live or work).

for the first time, purchased:

natto (japanese beans, probiotics, $16 for 8 ounces, expensive)
tempeh
seitan

(wanted "stinky tofu" too, but could not find it).

took a taste of the natto. so bitter. usually, i'm receptive to bitter foods, but it just didn't taste good.

tempeh and seitan, according to the directions, have to be cooked. however, expiration date in june and it is only april right now. i hardly ever cook. just microwave.

maybe i could cook tempeh and seitan in the microwave.

there's something wrong with everything.

maybe i should've done more research before wasting $$$.

usually, i eat the same foods, every day. obsessive compulsive disorder.

getting tired of eating the same foods every day.

Don't know why, but it's unusual for me to get tired of the food I eat every day. Might be the effect of getting hyperfocussed on special interests all the time - I forget to eat until I'm starving to death, at which point even a chair leg would taste good. I've got food preparation times down to a bare minimum because I tend to see it as an unwanted chore, so going hunting for new foods and figuring out and minimising new preparation procedures would become an unwanted distraction. Plus, judging by previous attempts, I have little faith that I'd find anything I prefer to my current diet.

But if my current special interests cease to develop in a fascinating way for a while and I get bored, I might be driven to trying such a project. I've nothing ideological against it, and occasionally I've noticed the odd food item in a supermarket and bought it on a capricious whim if it doesn't look hard to prepare. I once had a vague idea of becoming an amateur confectioner. Also as the owner of a digital mini-oven that does fermentation and slow-cooking, I keep wanting to make more use of it than just raising and baking loaves. I have little interest in ready-made processed food but I like the idea of starting with simple ingredients and making something according to a procedure over which I have lots of control.

I've been trying to eat better as of late, it's worked, I've lost a little over 10lbs thus far. I'm fairly consistent with food, as I have GI issues, so I know what I eat isn't going to set off my digestive issues. Once in awhile I'll take a shot at something new but I eat the same stuff all the time as a rule.

I don't have a microwave and I'm hella disorganized with cooking because of timing all the different parts. Also my oven doesn't work worth a crap and can take 3-4 hours to reach temperature sometimes if it happens at all. That means I usually just do stove-top stuff, or lots of toast and salads.

If someone else were cooking and/or paying for the food I don't have a problem with new things, but otherwise i've got my "same foods" down pat and I don't vary much.

I often think it would be nice to try new foods, since eating the same things all the time can get boring.
But every time I try to do this, I realize how hard it is. A lot of foods just don't work for me. I despise tomatoes and mushrooms, which eliminates 90% of any restaurant's menu. It usually gets too difficult to try new things and I just go back to my usual.
My mom knows how to make food I like. I only moved out eight months ago and I already miss always knowing she'll make something good.

I get round that by only having one "complicated" recipe which I make in bulk every week or two. As I've performed the procedure in pretty much exactly the same way many times over, the timing is now more or less part of my routine and it works every time. Takes me about 80 minutes including washing the containers and implements. It's a very robotic and standardised thing so it no longer confuses me. But I still have to hyper-focus so completely on the actual job that I've not been able to take note of how I do it in any detail, so if I ever stop for more than a few weeks I'll forget how.