I tried another new thing at lunch today!
When I get the thought in my head to try a new food, it’s always a pretty risky maneuver. I mean, what if I buy this thing, and don’t like it, and then am hungry for the rest of the afternoon?
That would be Bad. Not only wasting the money, but also leaving me hungry, and therefore susceptible to the temptations of the junk in the vending machine.
So, I try to buy one or two things I know I’ll like, and experiment with the item in question.
This afternoon the new item was a bean, cheese & rice burrito. Not sure what to expect. I had worries about it being chock full of gross crunchy veggie chunks, or all spiced up with onions & stuff. Or maybe the cheese will be all stringy like. I know – that probably sounds good to most of you out there. Yes, I know I’m weird. Love me or leave me.
I followed the directions and nuked this thing in the microwave. I took it out and let it cool off a bit. Still wary of the contents, because I can’t see what’s inside the tortilla wrap. After a couple of minutes I took my knife and sliced one end off…
Hmmm, that doesn’t look half bad! I see some beans and some melted creamy cheese. The label talks about rice, but I didn’t notice any. I cut the end in half again, and stuck it in my mouth. I chewed a couple times, waited, let my tongue get a taste of things. While I didn’t hate it, I didn’t really love it either. But – I thought I could tolerate it, and might in fact like it.
I took a few more bites, and noticed that I didn’t like the seasoning too much. It was very mild, but still a bit too spicy for what I would choose on my own. Then it happened.
I glanced down at the burrito on my plate… and what the hell is that in there – nestled up next to a bean??!! I probed a bit with my fork & knife, and it was a chunk of some green colored vegetable or spice! Eww! Aw man! Now why did they have to go and do that to me?
I wish you all could have seen this thing. It was absolutely minuscule. The average person would not have even noticed. But me, having a full blown phobia of onions or other colorful crunchy organic foodstuffs, picked it right out of the “where’s waldo” picture of beans, rice, cheese & tortilla. Incredible. I wish I had taken a picture.
So, I scraped out the rest of the insides of the burrito, picked through the resulting mound of beans, rice & melted cheese, and got rid of most of the “chunkies” that I didn’t like. I ate most of the surrounding tortilla, and mixed in a bit of the “bean mound” here and there. But, I admit, I was tainted by the experience, and didn’t eat as much of the beans & stuff as I would have without those added goodies.
Maybe I should stop looking at the food I’m eating? I ask myself if I would have even noticed that little bit of whatever it was if I hadn’t seen it.
Probably not.