Column: Favorite foods

What’s your favorite food?

It is difficult for me to narrow down my favorite to just one, but there are few things in life I enjoy more than a goat cheese and pine nut flatbread pizza or a cup of pistachio
gelato.

As much as you love your favorite food and as hard as it is to imagine your life without it, there was once a time when you had never tasted it before. This is why it is so important to have an open mind and try new foods.

Trying new foods is one of my favorite activities. Having an adventurous attitude toward eating is a trait I admire greatly in individuals. I never could imagine having dietary restrictions for what I eat, such as no dairy, no meat or no wheat. I absolutely love this world of so many delicious tastes and types of food available to experience.

I recently stumbled across a list of 100 foods to eat before you die and can say that I have knocked off 61 of them. The average user’s score is about 25, so my adventurous nature when it comes to food is obviously not shared by all.

Some of the more notable foods I have eaten include alligator, eel, haggis (a pudding containing sheep’s liver and lungs) and rabbit stew. Though I could not imagine eating these things daily, it was interesting to try them once.

The 39 foods I have not eaten include frog’s legs, squirrel and snake, all of which I am not sure I will have the opportunity to try anytime soon.

Other foods on the list I have never eaten, including Spam, head cheese (a jellied meat and cheese dish) and Frito pie, I am not so excited to try.

As much as I dislike being a food snob, I have little desire to try processed and unhealthy products and am more motivated to try dishes made with natural and fresh ingredients.

As Little 500 week rages on across campus, the catchphrase YOLO — you only live once — is on many students’ minds.

The sentiment of the musical artist Drake’s YOLO expression is something I think about a lot, especially when it comes to being adventurous in the kitchen. 

I hope that others can learn to channel the spirit of the saying and realize what a world of deliciousness is all around them.

­— hsspence@indiana.edu