Local Food??

I have been asked a couple of times now what kind of local food I have had on my travels... to be honest it doesn't even cross my mind.  I am not someone who eats out all that often.  I will go as a treat to myself and I am one who will eat at a sit down restaurant by myself.  I don't make a lot of money so to me eating out and spending a day or more worth of food money on one meal just doesn't make sense to me... so it is definitely a treat when I do eat out.

Maybe it is from having an eating disorder in my past that I don't really think about food in the way of a pleasurable activity... or it could just be it doesn't interest me.  My parents will go out for a day ride on their Harley with friends and stop at a new BBQ joint for lunch.  I go out on a day ride and bring a lunch.  My friends gave me a hard time when I rode from upstate NY to Maine and back in one day and didn't get any lobster in Maine... I brought my own lunch.  I could go to Maine and back in a day because I didn't spend a tank of gas on food because I brought something from home.

I also have a lot of weird issues that prevent me from going into a restaurant by myself and order something I have never had before.  Usually when I go with someone I have them pick out something for me that I haven't had before and it almost always something I quite like.  Myself, I go and order a cheeseburger or something I know what is coming and I know I like it.  I have some texture issues that I have become more aware of over time.  I probably have a pallet of 12 year old but I am improving around the texture issues.

Also I have a learning disability that comes out more in certain situations but I can work around in other situations.  Menus are a little much for me to read... too many distractions and a whole lot of things I have no idea what they are... I guess if I was proactive I would google everything as I go along but who wants to spend that amount of time ordering something off the menu. I also have a bit of delay when listening to people talk so someone explaining something I know nothing about really doesn't help since I miss a good chunk of the conversation.  It is a bit frustrating to me because I can't get as much information as I would like because of my learning disability.  I have lived a good chunk of my life just nodding my head and agreeing with things that I don't know what it means.  I have adjusted by taking all the information in a situation from facial expressions, the way someone speaks, putting together bits and pieces so I know what people are talking about.  I also have the tendency to say 'what' a lot and it isn't that I haven't heard what someone said because I will answer right after saying 'what'... I guess it just gives me that extra moment for my brain to catch up.  It is the same way with reading.  I can read the words but I have to put together different parts of sentences and fill in the blanks.  Luckily I have gotten pretty good at it and I can live life to the most part without any one knowing I work so hard to get very basic information.

Anyway back to the food.  Maybe I am the only one that eats to live... it really isn't something I plan more than to get what I need to be healthy.  It has never been enjoyable to the point I want to try tons of food I've never had before or whatever.  I enjoy eating out on occasion and with friends but more for the social aspect than the food.  Maybe it is eating disordered but really there are many things that make this not as enjoyable for me... financial, understanding, textures... and I don't even realize I am missing out until someone tells me so.  Maybe it is something to work on but if I don't feel I am missing out I don't know what I am working on.  So if you ask me what local foods I have had and I have no answer or give you a weird look it is because it doesn't even cross my mind... and to be honest I am all good with that for now.  ;)