Complete with Crayons

We have all been there. Going out to dinner with our family and ordering off the kids menu. No matter the type of restaurant, our choices are always the same: cheese or pepperoni pizza, chicken fingers, grilled cheese sandwich, perhaps a Mexican option. In addition we get an awesome plastic cup with a cool straw and about four sips of the only soda our parents will let us drink, Sprite and maybe some kind of fruit or dessert is included too. While we wait for our food we have the joy of participating in a variety of fun activities that range from tic-tac-toe to coloring to word scrambles to connect the dots on a creatively themed children's menu that comes with a three or four pack of crayons. These 10 years were definitely the best years of most of our lives.

Then... suddenly, we started eating the more adult choices on the big menu at the restaurant. We tried new foods at restaurants rather than sticking to the comfortable, familiar, and cheap grilled cheese and fries. When did we become so fearless? What would ever motivate us to order the alligator meat when there is the option of a cheese pizza? What if a particular dish at the restaurant you have chosen is just far too flavorful and overpowers your senses? Perhaps it will be too bland...

As a twenty year old who should have outgrown the kid's menu a decade ago, I still go through this debate on the reg. How can I try something on the menu with a fancy name that I've never tried before? I wish I had some type of thesis statement or reasoning etc. but I don't. I would consider myself a fairly adventrous person, for example I have taken a diving class, been stung by jellyfish (and therefore swam in jellyfish infested waters), participated in a SegWay tour, and nearly drown under a beaver dam. However, despite having all of these risky tasks under my belt, nothing makes me more worried, concerned, or gets my heart beating faster than trying a food I am not familiar with. Is it possible that this is just one thing that's impossible to overcome? I recently saw a video about the science behind picky eating. Apparently, some of this distaste is genetic, a matter of a negative reaction with one's taste buds. However, I wonder if perhaps there is also a fear mechanism of some sort. 

Though I do not have an answer, I continue to eat my bean and cheese tacos, cheese pizza, plain pasta, PB&J and grilled cheese, because quite frankly, I'm still so excited about those connect the dots and free crayons :)