Food is an important part of the travel experience for me. I do not consider myself a “foodie”. In fact, I am a rather picky eater at times. Regardless, I am in the camp of people who live to eat. Some people eat to live. I did not realize how many people do not like to eat food at all.
People Who Do Not Like to Eat Food?
One sign that a person does not like to eat food is when he or she is presented with an option. “I don’t know” is typically the answer to the question of what he or she would like to eat. Everybody utters that answer once in a while; but people who do not like to eat use that answer far more often.
I have asked several people for the reasons as to why they do not like to eat. They eschew all of the choices that are involved with the aforementioned options, which can be tiresome. They find that eating takes too much time out of their days — especially when shopping, preparation, cooking, and cleaning up after the meal are involved, which usually require a considerable amount of effort and energy. Restaurants offer some respite from all of that; but not much…
…and speaking of restaurants, eating also costs money.
On a social level, people who do not like to eat feel like they are under pressure: will the other people who will be joining them be happy and satisfied with their choice? Will they be criticized for what they eat and how they eat?
People who do not like to eat also do not like to be involved as to whether the food they eat is healthy for them — especially when they do not enjoy eating in general.
One Experience
A friend who I helped move from one city to another promised me a steak dinner when we arrived.
After driving for several hours and a lot of hard work after that, we wound up getting fast food instead of that steak dinner. I even supplied the coupons to save money.
Years later, I asked him about that. He admitted that he just did not like the idea of eating at all, which sounded bizarre to me. How can someone not like to eat food?
Another person I know said to me that the more she thinks about eating, the less she wants to eat. This especially occurs when she is not feeling well. She also is less interested in eating anything as more time elapses while she is hungry. She will go beyond hungry to the point of not wanting to eat at all.
Final Boarding Call
I find not enjoying eating food to be foreign to me — although I better understand the reasons why some people feel that way. I can understand not enjoying eating when the food is not exactly desirable. Give me a lean pastrami sandwich from a Kosher delicatessen or a pizza from a Brooklyn pizzeria or a prime filet mignon from a steakhouse any day of the week. I will enjoy it. Eating a pizza from a chain restaurant is a different story: with a couple of exceptions, I would just as soon rather not eat than ply myself with something I do not enjoy. Some people call that type of eating “empty calories”.
Conversely, of the people I know who do not like to eat in general, they have all admitted to me that they do enjoy eating when they are in the mood for eating a specific kind of food — say, tacos at a Mexican restaurant as one of many examples. They also seem to favor dining more when traveling than when at home.
I enjoy the entire experience of dining: the aromas, the presentations, the colors, the textures, the flavors. I can think of few other experiences that are so satisfying.
Are you a person who does not enjoy eating? If so, please explain the reasons why in the Comments section below.
All photographs ©2022 and ©2023 by Brian Cohen.
