I have usually been fairly open about trying new things. When I moved to Japan when I was 8 years old I was kind of forced to try food I never would have imagined eating in the U.S. My dad convinced me that if I didn’t try it I would never know if I liked it or not. So, even things that didn’t sound terribly appealing to me, such as eel, octopus, and raw fish, I tried. And I ended up loving all of them! I have even tried foie gras (goose liver) and escargot (snail) when I visited Paris, but I was not a fan. How was I to know if I never tried it though? As I got older I grew more accustomed to drawing a line at a certain place, and I ate only what I was used to. In Shanghai, earlier this summer, I wouldn’t even try eating some of the popular items there, such as chicken feet or fish heads. I was sure they would be disgusting and I wouldn’t like them, so why bother, right?
Just this past week I’ve tried things I never thought I would want to eat in my life. We went out to yakiniku where you cook your own meat one night and I actually tried tongue, cow’s tongue. It actually didn’t taste much different than any other part of a cow, and was rather tasty! Last night, my friends and I went out to dinner. It was their last night in Tokyo and they wanted to eat a yakitori place. One of them decided to order ‘hearts,’ sure that it wasn’t actually chicken hearts. Yet, when it came out, sure enough, they were hearts. You could actually tell by how it looked. He tried it, though, because we had ordered it, and he said it was really good. I figured I might as well since we were paying for it, and it actually was Really good! I was so surprised! We all ended up liking it, and ordered two more sticks!
My motto this trip will be: TRY EVERYTHING (legally). I don’t want to miss out on things, not just food, but also going places and doing new activities, because I’m too scared or uncomfortable. I don’t want to miss out on having the experience of a lifetime. I’ll keep you all posted!
Loving Life 