Picky Eating KBE: Tales from Thailand

As most of you know, I spent two and a half months in Thailand. I was teaching at a small university in Bangkok in their Department of Music.

The coolest part of my trip was participating in the culture, and that includes the food. I ate so many things I never thought I would ever eat in my life.

One of those foods I thought I would never eat was squid. The kind with the little tentacles. YUCK. But--I faced my picky eating habits, and I ate the squid--with the little tentacles.


In this video, I ate cow stomach lining. No joke. I don't have me actually eating it, but I did try it. You can skip forward to about 1:53, and you'll find a picture of it.



I am a person who eats by textures. I hate squishy things--or at least I did before this trip. Squid... cow stomach lining... and even oysters and mushrooms. All of these foods have similar textures: squishy. Blegh! But you know what? I actually tried them... and I LIKED them.

I made a video of most of the foods I had in two volumes. Volume 1 is more pictures, and Volume 2 is more video.


In this video you'll see me talk about Durian. It's a fruit that has a very strong smell and a very bad taste. And it's also squishy! If you ever go to Thailand, try it just for the experience of trying one! You will also see me eating an oyster at 2:13.

Where do our picky habits come from? I think they come from our culture. Most people in America would even think of trying cow stomach lining. The thought of that may actually make you want to barf. We are conditioned somehow--I'm not sure how--to think it is disgusting. It certainly isn't a regular part of our diet like it is for the people of northeast Thailand. I am not a big fan of asparagus. I actually used to love it. I remember eating it at dinner one night, and my older brother, whom I looked up to and adored (still do!) thought it was gross. I stopped eating it after that. I was influenced by my brother. But, I guess now that I've been to Thailand and I've eaten things like cow stomach lining and oysters and squid, I can probably eat anything, even asparagus. :)