Hello hello! So I’m trying to broaden my culinary horizon right now, things have gotten a bit stale since I have a mild case of ARFID and tend to fall back on safe foods (protein bars, fruit pureés, burritos) when I don’t keep an eye on my diet. Ideally I’m looking for something that’s healthy and reqires little prep. And it should be obtainable in Germany. But if the title speaks to you in any other way I’m interested to hear your thoughts anyway.
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what food item are people sleeping on
I sleep on a mattress, actually.
Fucking trust me on this - roasted radishes.
Try it and thank me later.
I’ve really been enjoying chia seeds recently. They are great in smoothies. Spinach too, it’s essentially undetectable so you can just add a handful of either. Works great in any type of smoothie, and feels like “dessert” even when it’s just fruits and veggies and seeds. Plus, you can freeze (or buy) frozen produce, or freeze what you can’t eat, so it keeps for ages.
Unflavored yogurt tends to work best, imo.
How do you feel about oatmeal? It’s healthy and has much more potential for adding flavors to than most people ever consider. It’s pretty neutral and makes a good canvas for other flavors.
For example, you can add cheese to make something like a healthier Mac and cheese. The starch makes it sort of creamy.
But you might want to upgrade from rolled oats to steel cut oats. You get much more “tooth” to your oatmeal and not just mush. Unless the mush is what you like. You can also use whole oats for even more “tooth”.
Rice cooker saved my life. I add whatever I have lying around that doesn’t require cooking like ham, pickles, canned veggies or fruits, fresh or dried fruits, etc, and if I’m feeling fancy I might boil eggs. Plus mushroom sauce, oyster sauce, fish sauce, or soy sauce. If you can find black rice in asian supermarkets it’s even better.
Nutritional yeast, aka flake yeast.
Intense flavor, goes with damm near anything parmesan goes with, and things it doesn’t. It’s fairly cheap, lasts ages when stored decently, and it packs a nutritional punch.
People like to talk about how umami’s spread as a specific flavor into awareness in the west was a massive shift. But a lot of people got locked into the soy and fish sauce focus that was the first thing that western tastes became familiar with as umami. Even when folks are aware of other things, they still tend to think in terms of sauces and complex recipes for pastes and fermented products. But good old yeast is right there, cranking out a deep and rich flavor.
So it gets slept on pretty hard. It doesn’t help that it isn’t marketed well. A lot of people that have heard of it think it’s more along the lines of a vitamin you take on its own, or lump it in with woowoo nutrition in places where it’s called nutritional yeast.
One of my favourite things that really focus on it as a major flavor component is roasted cauliflower. You mix it with the spice blend, and toss it in a bowl, and it opens up with that rich, heady scent that yeast has. I don’t measure for it, it’s just dumping a bit of garlic and onion powders, salt & pepper, then some paprika. Then maybe two to three tablespoons of the yeast. It’s mouth watering, just the smell. Fuck, my mouth is watering thinking of it.
You get that amazing caramelized flavor from the roasting, that delicate floral note that some cauliflower has, the slightly sulfuric tang too. Then the spices lift those, and the yeast ties it all together and becomes greater than the sum of its parts.
I like it on corn. Cheese grits with cheddar & nutritional yeast; on popcorn OMG like it better than Parmesan (and I say this as a woman fascinated by cheese) and on corn on the cob.
I do not like it on tofu as sub for scrambled eggs. Nope. Mostly use it for grits and popcorn.
Oh, heck yeah! Elotes en vaso especially. It still needs the cotija or parm, but the yeast bumps it up.
Grits are the same; still needs actual cheese, but the yeast amplifies it. Popcorn, it can just go straight on!
I’ve eaten roasted cauliflower with parmesan before and it was delicious so I’m gonna have to give that one a go!
the first thing that western tastes became familiar with as umami
This is absurd. Are you claiming that western peoples never ate meat? Mushrooms? Etc?
No, they clearly meant that umami wasn’t recognized as the fifth taste until recently.
But never mind that; I just want to chime in that garum (fish sauce) has been a thing in the west since ancient Roman times, if not earlier.
I recommend the Tasting History videos about it, BTW:
No I think what they mean was that we did not discover (or the Japanese, rather) that we have separate receptors on our tongues for umami until fairly recently. We knew what it was, but didn’t have a proper name for it.
I mean, you quoted the line and missed the last two words as umami. That’s absurd, it’s right there to see.
Up until the term umami spread outside of Japan, nobody called the flavor that. And it still took longer before people figured out that it was its own taste in the same wau sour, bitter, salty, and sweet are; that it has distinct receptors.
Before that, there wasn’t really a specific term in use. When people referred to what is now called umami, the vocabulary was different. Savory and meaty are the two I remember being most used, and they have other usages for food. Savory is very often just used as an antonym for sweet, and meaty just means “meat like” without drawing a distinction between the saltiness and slight metallic tang of meat from the part that is umami.
I don’t know how old you are, so you may or may not have been around during the spread of the term and its eventual discovery of having its own receptors. But it was “viral” in the way it initially crept in, then exploded as every cooking show started talking about it and familiarity with the term spread. There was a collective “ohhhhhh! That’s what I’ve been experiencing”, and the word got adopted. Now it’s a part of the collective lexicon.
Nutritional yeast is great for scrambled tofu. You can of course season scrambled tofu however you like, but for one block of tofu (quite forgiving in terms of quantities, I think this will work well for anywhere between 200g to 400g of firm or extra-firm tofu) I do:
- Generous bunch of nutritional yeast. Like a good pinch between all of your fingertips.
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- 1/4 tsp ground turmeric
- 1/4 tsp ground black pepper (you can up it to 1/2 tsp if you prefer; I used to do 1/2 tsp then I think I got oversensitive to it so halved it)
- sprinkle of salt
- Add dried parsley at the end as a garnish
Keep in mind I don’t make any attempt to make mine taste like eggs. If you want scrambled tofu as an egg substitute then you could leave out the cumin (which gives it a more curry flavour) and add stuff like garlic powder, onion powder, and black rock salt at the end (add black rock salt at the very end when it’s off the heat, otherwise it will lose its eggy flavour). But personally I prefer a more curry flavour than an eggy flavour!
Nutritional yeast also works well to top avocado toast with. I do toasted sourdough, smashed avocado mixed with lemon juice, nutritional yeast sprinkled on top, then toasted sesame seeds sprinkled on top of that.
Take vegetable. Saute with olive oil, a little salt, and some seasoning. Vegetables taste amazing and people just don’t eat enough of them, and I think it’s because they don’t cook them right.
Piggybacking this comment because similar:
Chop up some veggies (I like zucchini, yellow squash, onions, and maybe carrots), toss them in olive oil, salt, some seasoning, and an acid like lemon juice or wine (or a little balsamic vinegar if you want that vibe), then throw it into a lubed pan and into a preheated oven until roasted to your liking (probably like 15-20 minutes at 400°F).
I like this method because it’s largely passive, so this can happen while you deal with some other part of your meal. Sauce, meat, rice, whatever. Plus it’s pretty hard to fuck up unless you forget to use a timer lol.
I personally love roast veggies. The issue with eg stir fried or sautéed vegetables, for me at least, is that they don’t microwave well because for both stir fry and sautéed veggies, part of the appeal is some crunch that remains in veggies like broccoli, carrots, baby sweetcorn, etc. But microwaving them to reheat just makes them go mushy. With roast veggies, they are quite soft anyway, so as long as you are not going for a crispy exterior they will microwave well.
I guess that’s one of my big issues with vegetables, is that I feel I usually have to cook them fresh. Otherwise the texture is not nice to me if I cook a lot of veggies to reheat over the next few days.
For roast veggies: olive oil and whole cloves of garlic with the skin on. You can smash them to release more flavour, but that also makes it more likely that the garlic will burn, which is a shame because roast garlic makes for a delicious garlic-flavoured spread on toast. Add whatever seasoning you like; I go with rosemary and then whatever spices on my spice rack look good.
Since you’re talking about Germany: Tofu has been unfairly demonized here (maybe because it can serve as a meat substitute).
It is a great source of nutrients and protein. It can be prepared in many different ways. It is environmentally friendly, can be conveniently stored and has a relatively long shelf life.
Tofu has been unfairly demonized here
Could you give me some more context on this? Is it the usual “phytoestrogen will make you a girl” or agricultural industry propaganda?
I feel like the EU in general has been quite pro-animal agriculture (for example plant-based milk can’t be sold as “milk”), but how is it in Germany specifically?
Most of the experience, including your examples, is not specific to Germany. The notion that tofu is not for “real men” can be seen in other meat-heavy societies. Just like the idea that tofu is not a filling meal. In pop culture, it is often associated with weak traits (e.g. “soy boy”), and described as tasting bad or bland in general.
In Germany, a special permit was required until the 1990s to produce certain types of tofu. If you offer people something with tofu, many still turn up their noses or laugh because they think you’re joking. I don’t notice this as much with any other widely available food.
There is also far too much discussion about whether something can be called tofu sausage, tofu burger or tofu butter. But I think here we’ve passed the low point and common sense is slowly gaining ground.
Sometimes you still come across the false claims that tofu raises estrogen levels and that the rainforest is cut down to produce it.
Thank you for the insight. Yeah, I expected the “cultural” talking points to be pretty similar across the western countries, including Poland, where I live.
The vast majority of pro-meat arguments I hear are based on these conservative ideas mixed with a large dose of protectionism, so any progress tends to be very slow.
But I think here we’ve passed the low point and common sense is slowly gaining ground.
This topic got ridiculously politicized, so hopefully once people get tired of the debate they will be more willing to consider the economic/health/environment/etc. aspects, not just cultural.
See, this is why I come to the comments: To pick up tiny little bits of interesting cultural knowledge.
A family member said they disliked it because of it being gummy.
Might also be a brand thing because silky tofu from the asian store was just silky but tasteless and would need some type of marinade.Tofu tastes like soy! It’s a very mild flavour but I can definitely taste and smell it in tofu and soy milk. I suppose people who are not used to eating tofu might think it has no flavour at all, but as someone who’s eaten tofu their whole life, I can definitely recognise soy as a flavour. Just a very subtle one.
Maybe it was the brand/dish I used it (once) with didnt make it very obvious.
oh well. Maybe next time :)I think people who didn’t grow up eating tofu, or just haven’t eaten a lot of tofu, may easily believe that tofu has no flavour. Or maybe if your nose/tongue is just less sensitive. I can most easily smell it when tofu is frying in a pan, personally. Like I said, it’s really subtle, and easily overpowered.
I haven’t tried tofu many different ways, but I worked at a tex-mex restaurant in high school and I’ve enjoyed it the way they made it ever since. Squeeze the excess water out, dice it, marinate it in the same marinade you would use for tex-mex steak, saute it, and serve it in tacos or burritos or whatever.
I could take or leave tofu, but I really like tempeh.
My son has ARFID. He’s 15. It’s really hard. He’s seeing a therapist. But he’s still seriously underweight. I don’t have any food recommendations, but I do wish you the best with your progress.
I’m sorry to hear that. It often gets much better with age though! I’m 29 now and I can eat most stuff without feeling any aversion. It’s more that I prefer my safe foods but I can thoroughly enjoy other meals too. Cooking can still be tricky sometimes but I don’t let that ruin my diet. I hope your son can find a calorie-dense safe food. My go to in that regard are almonds, cashews, peanuts, pumpkin seeds and if all else fails gummy bears.
My bed, normally, with a rare nap on the couch. Why would anyone sleep on food?
You just had me look up the idiom to make sure I got it right 😅
Let me rephrase in accordance with the definition that came up: Which important or impressive food items are people not paying enough attention to?
Due to disability I practically live in my bed. I often sleep on nuts, noodles, peas and rice. Once I slept on a chicken nugget.
Personally I think it’d be nice to sleep on a giant, freshly baked loaf of sourdough bread.
O_O
Edible insects! They yummy!!! 😋😋😋
And there are many established culinary practices for cooking them from vastly different cultures, so there’s also a good variety of recipes you can find and try out!
Hard boiled eggs, super food, very portable, easy to throw in a backpack or lunch box. Available in most convenience stores
Get a rice cooker with a timer. Aside from steaming rice to perfection it can also make perfect omelets, al dente pasta, soups(no raw chicken! Not hot enough) I replaced my old gas stove for this and a microwave to effectively reduce my energy bill. So slowcooker + microwave for sauces and garlic infused bread you can make very diverse combos of 15 minute meals. I am on a lean meat and vegetarian diet.
Also a cool hobby is fermenting and preserving. Like making your own jam from leftover fruits.
Get a rice cooker with a timer.
This! My wife and I got a fancy Japanese rice cooker that will keep rice warm for hours. Comes out perfect every time and it’s a vehicle for all kinds of delicious things. Eggs, tofu, chicken, all sorts of veggies and sauces.
Various spices and dried herbs? Get a whole bunch of different ones, perhaps even some premixed from India (though unnecessary, but may be available even in places like Lidl every now and then IIRC)
I always fall back on chicken breast, what most people seem to find bland and dry. Well, you can mix up some spices together, figure out some combinations you like and put them on your protein/vegetable of choice (will work well with olive oil too as another person mentioned). Want it done quick? Chop it up into smaller pieces and throw in a frying pan. Don’t want it oily? Swap it out for butter (just use lower heat) although I prefer sunflower oil.
You’ll probably have few that you eventually always use in combination with others. E.g. my favorite to use are sweet paprika, coriander and turmeric. Turmeric seems kinda crap on its own, but works well with other spices. Coriander doesn’t need much added, if anything and smells good imo and paprika just goes well on lots of various stuff (note that smoked or plain paprika is also very different from sweet kind though)
Lidl
Curry (powder) is tricky because it can contain so many different things. The cheapest (and Lidl is always the cheapest, despite colorful packaging) usually sucks.
It’s good that you’re looking to expand your food repertoire
If you’re dealing with arfid though you should consider a desensitization protocol to help deal with sensory or phobic response driving the arfid. What this looks like varies because it depends on what drives your arfid: is it a fear of aversive reaction, is it sensory, disinterest, etc.
That said building on what you have can be helpful. Changing the burritos slightly - change the protein, add a new vegetable, add guacamole, etc. try a new flavor of protein bar, etc.
If you’re looking for something in the healthy/low prep side of things I tend to make one big meal on sundays for the week and portion it out. It takes about 30-60 minutes depending on what I make. Japanese curry, various pastas, salads, soups, etc. how healthy these are varies. I am vegan so they tend to be a little bit better than the typical recipe you’d see online but some are still not the most healthy (Japanese curry for example is fairly high in fat but portioned correctly with rice is still filling and a reasonable amount of calories)
