Watch out for raw greens and other raw vegetables that cause digestion system upset. It only takes small amounts of some raw vegetables to cause a lot of discomfort. Use small quantities of an untested food to begin with until you know how well your body deals with it. The body will adapt to some food over a period of weeks or months but results vary from food to food and, I suppose, from individual to individual. Some raw foods I avoid because of previous bad experiences are green beans, asparagus, and beet leafs. I don't eat more than a tablespoon of raw parsley pesto in a day. The same for kale. I don't eat more than the equivalent of 1/4-cup pesto of raw Chinese cabbage.

To develop a liking for a new food, eat it at the beginning of a meal when you are most hungry. Being hungry greatly improves the ability to appreciate the taste of a food. Eat only a small amount of the new food at each sitting. For some food, a tiny bite, just enough to sense its flavor, is enough to handle at first. Don't give up easily on a food that at first seems too strange to be enjoyed. Some foods will require dozens of 'get acquainted' trials.

Other strategies for liking new foods:

- Read about nutrition and health to know the benefits of a changed diet.

- Be aware of how much time you spend shopping for food and other food related tasks. Would you rather have some of that time available for other things? Non-traditional foods can use preparation methods that take less time.

- Make a choice about the money you spend for food. Atypical foods may be less expensive than traditional and popular food. Getting the most bang for the buck can add to the pleasure of eating.

- Make a decision to increase the pleasure in your life. Your success in developing a fondness for a new food, will encourage you to try other kinds of new pleasures.


Have reasons in mind to try unusual foods:

- to be able to enjoy healthy foods.

- to enjoy low-prep-time foods.

- to use what you can grow in your garden.

- for the satisfaction of acquiring new pleasures.

- to increase your enjoyment of eating.


Know why liking new foods is difficult. This is the know-your-enemy principle. It seems to help me. People have an instinctive protection against eating toxic foods. Nature has provided you with a mistrust for new, unfamiliar food. If the food is enough different from what you are used to, it will not be immediately liked. This is a necessary instinct that keeps you from poisoning yourself by eating the wrong mushroom, for example. Evolution along with chemistry eliminated the gulp-down-anything individuals from our gene pool. The little-by-little taste-developers survived.

If it's the sugar, salt and spices you depend upon to enjoy food, other flavors will go unappreciated. To help your fondness for new foods come easier, ease up on spices, salt, and sugar. That encourages your taste to appreciate a greater variety of flavors. You then can more appreciate the sweetness of cherry tomatoes, the sweetness of raw pumpkin, and the sweetness of sweet potatoes, for example. You can enjoy the mild flavor of raw chestnuts, the richness of nuts, and the subtle starchiness of cereal grains. Your palate will be more adept at experiencing the pleasures of subtle flavors. A great many foods that previously seemed mostly tasteless, can then be enjoyed for their unique flavors.

Your enjoyment of stronger tasting food will be helped by reducing sugar and salt use. You will be switching from depending on saltiness and sweetness to getting pleasure from other flavors.

Finding new foods:

- Browse at a health food store, a farmers market or an ethnic food festival.

- Take the time to look at all the items at a local supermarket.

- Browse at local ethnic food markets: Middle Eastern or Greek, for example.

- Try raw foods and whole grains.

- Use native plants and foraged plants. Know what you are doing, there are poisonous plants that resemble edible ones. A few plants are toxic even when eaten in small quantities.

- Do your own cooking and gardening, if you have the time and space.


A few unusual recipes can be found at www.leisureideas.com/easy recipes unusual recipes.htm
About the Author

Alan Detwiler is the author of several books. To find them, do a search for his name in the Ebooks and Docs category at Amazon.com He has a web site about ideas for having fun at www.leisureideas.com