Food Neophobia: Meat Is My Novel Food.

As a child, I can't remember being extremely picky when it came to food. If it was in front of me and I thought tasted good, I ate it. It used to be such a simple concept. I didn't show much food neophobia because I grew up with grandparents from Germany and Italy, and sometimes the food we ate was more on the novel side, and it didn't seem to bother me. I remember eating liverwurst and loving it, which now repulses me (being that it is grounded up pork liver in a spreadable form). As I grew up though, I slowly started to part ways with all these novel foods that I once thought tasted good, as I became more conscious of what I was actually eating. Eventually, at the age of 15, I became a vegetarian, and have been for 7 years now.

I don't eat any meat, including poultry/chicken, any seafood, or eggs. It got to a point where I was thinking too in depth about what I was actually eating, and it bothered me. According to the Food Neophobia Scale, questions such as willingness to try, expected liking, actual liking, and willingness to try these foods again are addressed. All these questions have been posed to me while I've been a vegetarian. "Do you think you'll ever try meat again? Do you just not like it? Have you ever tried it?" When I answer these questions, I find myself a definite neophobic. My willingness to try new foods, especially meats, is not at all. I've developed such a simplistic pallet being a vegetarian; I do not stray from the same few things that I eat on any every day basis. Therefore meat and seafood have become such a novel food for me, although it's technically considered a familiar food within our culture.

Food preference is considered a universal motive, however our personal preferences can be so different it makes you wonder what triggers these likes and dislikes between each individual. Many people also ask me if I had to eat meat to survive, would I? Of course I would. However, to just eat any type of food (especially coming from an animal) just to try it, I never would. Unless someone's betting me money to do it, then maybe. But it'd have to be a lot of money. One of my favorite channels is the Travel Channel, and on it is a show called Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations. On it, he travels to different countries and experiences their food culture; he is an example of the exact opposite of me, a true neophilic, or someone who is willing to try new food. He not only is willing to try anything and possibly like it, but in the video below he eats one of our universal fears: a beating cobra's heart.

Neophobia is based on its survival value; we limit ourselves to what we choose to eat so we do not become ill or poisoned by consuming something of the unknown. However, it's also important to not become too neophobic and not eat a proper variety of foods for good nutrition. I have to take a handful of vitamins everyday and get bloodwork done more often because of vegetarianism, which is not extremely ideal. However, I can't see my food neophobia diminishing any time soon, so I must keep up with this lifestyle in order to stay healthy.