On this diet thing

(And when I say diet, I mean way of eating, not going "on a diet" to lose weight.  Though I do hope that will be a result from our change in "way of life".)

One of my biggest concerns is that I won't like the food.  I grew up not eating many vegetables.  My dad doesn't like vegetables.  He is the second pickiest person I know (my sister is the first.  Seriously, if it's not orange and it's not processed, she won't eat it).  So, we ate what I like to call the holy quartet: corn, green beans, peas, and carrots.  And lots and lots of potatoes, but anymore there seems to be a lot of confusion about whether potatoes are really a vegetable or a carb.  If I was lucky, Mom would go out on a limb and make sweet potatoes (or yams) or broccoli and cauliflower with cheese for herself and me.  But seriously, that was it.  I didn't discover artichokes until much later, and most other vegetables I've had only a smattering of experience.  So, what if I don't like all these vegetables?

Nick may not be any better.  He hates onions and peppers (the foundation veggies for SO many vegetable dishes, especially onions).  I once used onions for a soup I was making for a Bible study lunch, and he was grumpy the rest of the night because of the aroma (he'd say stench) of the onions cooking.  It greatly saddens me not to be able to cook freely with these things.  But, that is to say that Nick may not like the vegetables any more than I do.

I've been thinking about instituting a rule. It's pretty much this: try it three times before you decide you don't like it.  During my walk this morning, I discussed with a friend how we may just have to learn to broaden our tastes; develop a taste, or at least a tolerance, for foods we otherwise thought we'd turn up our noses at.  Or are tempted to turn our noses up because it is such an unfamiliar and pungent flavor, or an unfamiliar and in-your-face texture.  If after three separate occasions (not counting leftovers, I'm thinking), you still don't like, well, alright, then.  But we know from reading the baby cereal boxes that it can take anywhere up to eleven times to try to feed baby a food before baby will accept it.  Are we the babies in this scenario?  I think we are: because we are having to introduce ourselves to a wider range of plant-produced foods than we were as children.  Oiye.  Here goes.