An army marches on it’s Stomach.

Welcome back to another blog hop, with #OpenBook. Here’s this week’s prompt.

Don’t forget to click the link to see what everyone else has to say on this week’s subject. It’s at the end of my post.

Did you try any new foods last year? How did that go?

First, a bit of background.

When I was a young lad, travelling the world, I’d eat just about anything, anywhere. Snake, Fugu, unidentified parts of who knew what, I’d give it a go. Which is weird, because as a child, I was what my mother called a “fussy” eater. I can remember being made to sit at the table until I’d eaten all my vegetables (surely that would now be classed as child abuse?).

To be perfectly honest, once I started trying things, most of them tasted pretty good. I even ate green vegetables, where appropriate.

Maybe it was the exotic locations, or peer pressure, that changed me?

Many of my voyages were on ships with Chinese or Indian crews. I used to ignore their attempts at English food and eat their own, authentically cooked, meals.

Fast forward to my days as a pilot, and I had a few culinary surprises. The semi-raw chicken eaten in the dark and the pig’s head on a platter for breakfast, swimming in grease, were just a couple. Once, I was served a particularly revolting lunch and managed to tip it over the ship’s side while the crew wasn’t looking.

They took this to mean I’d enjoyed it and bought me more!!!

Back to the subject.

I’m just as adventurous now, although there appear to be fewer new ingredients for me to try, merely variations on familiar themes.

Maybe it’s an age thing?

It doesn’t stop me from trying food that sounds interesting when I can find it, either dishes or venues. However, I am often disappointed, as they just don’t seem to be as authentic to their roots as I remember.

I’ve also noticed that, since the pandemic, there seems to be a lot of similarity between the same dishes in different establishments, which makes me question the overall provenance of the food.

Is it all produced in one huge, amorphous kitchen somewhere and transported around the country to be reheated?

These days, if I’m not buying the ingredients to recreate my old favourites at home, I prefer the simple foods of Devon.

Things like Clotted Cream, Ruby Beef and local Seafood.

What do you think about this week’s subject?

Let me know by leaving me a comment.

While you’re here, please click the InLinkz link to check out what my fellow writers have to say about this week’s topic.

I’ll be back with another post on Thursday. See you then. Meanwhile, have a great week.

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