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Thursday, September 01, 2005

September is Eat Uncomfortable Month

Dear food bloggers, readers, and those of you who've come to this page through googling "ass", "meat", and "stripper":

In the newfound tradition of food bloggers issuing challenges to their readership, I would like to inform you that I can get in your face, poke you in the chest, and roll my head around just as good as the next guy/gal.

Yes, this is a challenge. You say, "just bring it"? I say, "it's been brought"!

Stand back sucka, cause this challenge ain't for tha weak. This challenge is designed to make you all sweaty. This challenge is designed to place you in a room full of people who scare you. This challenge is designed to make you go where no you has gone before.

No doubt you've heard of the "Eat Local Challenge". Well, this is a little ditty I call the Eat Uncomfortable Challenge.


For the month of September, I challenge you to eat cuisines you would never eat, dine in locations you would never dine, and create food you would never otherwise consider. Hell, I challenge you to even take out your hateful brother-in-law, boss, or neighbor to dinner, lunch, brunch, or breakfast. I want you to place yourself and your tastebuds in a situation that is alien or awkward to you, and I want you to come away from that experience by telling us how it changed you or didn’t change you, or just reaffirmed what you knew or made you aware of what you didn't know.

Damnit! I want to see some transformations, people!

September is a month of livin' fast and dangerous and if you didn't know that by now, then I've already put you on the right path for this challenge.

If all of this seems over-the-top, let me ask you: when is the last time you challenged your tastebuds? When is the last time you challenged your assumptions about people different from you, and what they eat, and how they eat? When is the last time you stepped out of your secure environment and had your eyes, nose, and mouth treated to something unexpected.

OK, don't answer that (you can email me, though).

And what the hell is in it for you?

How about opening your frickin' mind? How about discovering something new about food? How about discovering something new about yourself? How about giving you the impetus to learn? How about giving it your best shot and coming away with something you didn't have before (a better relationship with someone, a better outlook on life, a better idea of the world around you, a better place to call in food to go, etc.)

To tell you the truth, this challenge is designed in the interests of the "won't-step-outside-of-my-boundries" folks in mind, and chances are those who could most benefit from challenging themselves won't answer the call. That's OK, because I know that even some of you worldclass eaters out there will find this challenge difficult. And while I also will struggle to live up to this challenge, I can't promise you anything other than this:

Do you see that little column to the right? Well, if any of you decide to step up to the Eat Uncomfortable Challenge, your funkay little website link or name (readers without sites welcome!) will go right there. And if that isn't good enough for you, maybe I'll send you a little gold star or something.

Other than that, I wish you luck, my companeros.

k.

4 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Love this idea. I will have to see if I can work up the cojones to attempt it before September is up. :)

11:18 PM  
Blogger Kari said...

Where do I send the hospital bills for all these escapades when something goes horribly wrong?

4:58 AM  
Blogger s'kat said...

I've eaten with my family twice this month, and was driven, purely out of desparation, to a bad chain restaurant. This counts, right? :)

2:58 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I ate menudo on Wednesday! you know they make it on saturday for sunday hangovers...the waitress looked at me and said "you look really crudo(hungover), I gonna bring you a big bowl", they must have wanted to get rid of it....it was literally a pound of tripe in a little bit of tasty broth.
I didn't get sick, so no blood no foul.

11:56 PM  

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