PSA, especially if you are chronically ill: learn how to season your food
one of these days you will likely be faced with a situation where eating food is hard. where you will have to force yourself to eat. whether from disability, fatigue, pain, grief, illness, hardship, forgetting to go shopping
maybe all you have left is a can of plain beans. plain something. and sometimes in those situations, your health may depend on making whatever food you have taste less like shit, so you can eat as much of it as you can. currently going through that myself, I never thought I would have to try harder to eat. but here I am
if nothing else, when you are at the lowest of your low, if you have a sense of taste, knowing what seasonings you like can make it all a whole lot fucking easier. you are allowed to try and sprinkle some goodness onto the misery, whether or not that even involves food. something that makes your day easier
seasoning does not have to be hard really. get spice mixes. freeze dried shallots. freeze dried vegetables. salt. cheap black pepper grinder. MSG. shelf stable stuff you can basically forget about in the pantry. stuff you can just shake onto food. you can play with fresh herbs and shit too, but make sure you have shelf stable stuff. you can get really far with just salt, black pepper, and MSG.
for mixes, make sure you look at the ingredients. if you have the cilantro soap gene you probably want to avoid cilantro, you know? and if you have an allium allergy, you may be surprised to learn how many spice mixes have alliums, especially garlic. and not all spice mixes are gluten free even if they seem like they should be.
experiment! take a can of beans, few different spoonfuls onto a plate, season them all differently. try with soups, instant noodles, vegetables, rice, lentils, chickpeas, eggs, meat, fish, dehydrated food, canned food - - test with whatever you want, whatever you have around!
learn over time. which seasonings you enjoy and which you hate. how many shakes it takes for that amount of food, really not necessary to measure precisely. take notes. take pictures. aim to make things taste better! and what that means is up to you.
your goal is to get a better idea of, “this could really use…” while eating. before you need that information. before you need to force yourself to eat.
you will suffer in life. unexpected things will happen. people will die. pain. things will happen that you wish never happened at all
and I wish life could be kinder to you. to all of us. now and forever
learn how to be the one to show yourself that kindness. and one great way to do that is experimenting with food.
no matter what hardship you encounter in life, if food is something that can cheer you up, I hope at least you will be able to eat something delicious.