Keeping an open mind is not always easy to do. Our fixed ideas of what is good and what should happen can box us in. Expanding our likes can only happen through new experiences.
Who doesn’t like to travel and see new places?
Do you know anyone who doesn’t like to holiday and explore new cities and countries? I for one love to holiday in new locations. In all honesty, though I do travel in a safe way. Of course, having a disability is an important reality that causes limitations. Taking risks is not smart.
Going on a cruise or to an inclusive resort is safe traveling. Simply because you know what to expect. Tourism of this nature prides itself on catering to visitors’ wants. Exposure to the everyday life experience of people who actually live and work in sunnier resorts is filtered for tourists. We. go for our own enjoyment, not to advocate for an equal world.
Foods we enjoy
The cuisine is a big part of every country. In Canada, we have a variety of global food goodies available. We have exclusive restaurants for Chinese food, Thai food, English fish & chips, Italian food, and on and on. I am not certain if they offer Canadian food in China or Thailand. In fact, the idea of a Canadian take-out restaurant sounds funny to me; I can’t imagine what they would serve. Although the globalization of McDonald’s is a good representative of an American take-out, I don’t consider that Canadian.
Our daily food pallet of likes and dislikes comes from our early family conditioning. Basically, whatever our parents fed us during childhood created our diet of choice. Our tastebuds do fine-tune preferences but what was repeatedly offered created a foundation.
My partner hails from the United Kingdom, and food such as fish & chips, bangers & mash, Sunday roast dinner with Yorkshire pudding, is the norm. All these dishes all well known to me because my Grandmother also was British.
Haggis adventure
However, my partner also lived in Scotland for many years, and there they too have their special dishes. One is Haggis, which is considered the national dish of Scotland. Haggis is a pudding composed of the liver, heart, and lungs of a sheep, and is mixed with onions, oatmeal, suet, and spices.
It is traditional to serve Haggis with mash potatoes and turnip on January 25th, known as being Rabbie Burns Day. This celebrates the birthday of Robert Burns, a Scottish Poet.
It would be fair to say that I did not welcome this as a meal choice, but I was gently reminded about the importance of keeping an open mind. And to be fair, a second choice was provided as a backup in case I did not like it.
Keeping an open mind
Cautiously, I took a small taste and initially was undecided. It was suggested that I mix it with the turnip and potatoes, and that did help. It would be a stretch to say I enjoyed it but I also did not totally dislike it. I felt proud that I took an open-minded approach to this cuisine challenge.
In the end, we discovered there is indeed gluten in this dish, which my partner is now aware she must stay away from in her diet choices. This may very well be the end of my Haggis adventure.
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