One of the things most people don’t necessarily know about me is that I love watching cooking shows.While I can’t cook at the same level as most of the people I do somewhat know how to cook. But what makes it strange that I like watching cooking shows is that I tend to have a pretty bland diet in terms of variety.

There are some different explanations for why I don’t necessarily branch out in a ton of ways. The first explanation is probably the easiest. I tend to be very texture oriented in things I don’t like. So when foods have a similar texture to something that I don’t like, why would I want to try that? Sure it might be slightly better than something, but similar to something you don’t like tends to negatively impact such things.

Next there are enough things that I already enjoy that I don’t get to have on a very consistent basis, why would I want to add new things? Again this seems like a negative thought but again there are SO many types of food that exist in the world. You aren’t required to try all of them or like all of them. In fact there are enough things that I could eat a different meal quite consistently, but why would I want to? It’s not like routines are actually a bad thing.

I know what I like, so why would I want to branch out and potentially try something else? Obviously there is a chance that something new COULD be better, but at the same time it could also be worse. Notice there is clearly some thoughts holding back the logic here. This probably isn’t limited to just my taste in food. Of these thoughts this is probably the one that holds the most intrigue for trying new things. It’s also one of the reasons that I tend to pay attention to cooking shows. There are some things that are completely opinion based, but when the same things come up over and over again, then maybe there is something to it. Similar to the idea that I already know what I like, there are times when I’ve tried food that others I respect recommended and I liked it, therefore, I trust their opinions going forward.

While I could easily continue talking about food, and learning about culture, and fun things like that, the real reason I bring this all up is simple, food is a necessary part of life. People need food. Yet most people don’t always think about their food. Similar to their sleep, or their shelter, most of us are in a position where we can even  complain that we don’t have enough variety in our life.Besides education, hunger tends to be one of the topics that I tend to be most passionate about. The fact that we have enough resources to take care of world hunger and choose not to is a very troubling trend. Granted for some they might not want to help make change similar to why I don’t want to make change to my diet. Things out of the ordinary can be annoying or hard to talk yourself into. I understand that, but that’s also why I talk about my diet. Not everyone who reads this will be motivated to make a change, and that’s fine. But maybe just one person starts to look at their life, maybe even at their diet or some of their causes, and starts to realize that maybe there is room to improve. Maybe someone starts thinking that maybe there is room to branch out and listen to some of their friends or people they trust and start something new. After all life is way more fun when we are in community.