It is funny when you travel that there arises two types of eaters that fall along a continuum. On the one end there are the safe eaters, only eating at the national chains or things they have eaten at before. I am not sure if these people have just had a bad experience or if they just enjoy the predictable. The kind of souls that eat a McDonalds in Thailand. We move up the scale to the "that looks safe" group. These are the people who eat at a place because it looks similar to a place they know or has high reviews on the internet. Next, we move into the "let us try something new" group. These people are willing to try some new food but will likely order the safest item on the menu. Finally, there is the food adventurer. This person will not only try everything but seek out these experience.
So, what is my point in bring up this food continuum?
Well, it really sucks when all (or a few) different types of eaters try to go out to dinner together. Case in point. This week I traveled to Harrisonburg, VA with a small group of people. We wanted to go out to eat and try something new. We decided to use Yelp to look up highly reviewed restaurants in the area. There were three that were highly reviewed.
One of these restaurants was Blue Nile Ethiopian Cuisine which sounded good by the reviews. All in the group agreed that they had never had Ethiopian food before and it would be fun to try. Then to interesting events happened
1. The dining experience was described as," Be prepared to eat family style with your fingers".
2. A Yelp member had posted this picture:
As a result of these too events members of the group quickly changed their minds about going. I asked one party member why they did not want to go anymore they stated, "I do not want to sit in a circle on the floor, taking turns feed each other baby crap with our fingers!"
I guess family style to them meant that you feed each other food and not yourself, and I admit the picture was not the best. This moment demonstrates what happens when individuals lack Inter-Culinary Competency which is the ability of successful eating with food of other cultures.
1. Can we just admit that picture are not the best gage of the quality of a food. In cookbooks food and photos are doctored up like high end fashion models.
2. Can we not be scared of difference, eat with your finger!
I was robbed of a new experience by people playing it safe, and such is the sad story of all food explores who eat in non-exploring groups. I will add that the steakhouse we went to was probably one of the most amazing experiences I have ever had at a restaurant. So, I am not bitter, if fact it taught me an important lesson, sometimes in my quest for the completely different meal I miss the subtle differences that local restaurants can have.
P.S. If you are ever in Harrisonburg, VA eat at the Local Chop & Grill House and get the ice cream sampler for me
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