I am a really picky eater--if I'm being honest with myself about it--which I'm usually not when it comes to this topic. Maybe it seems silly, but I'm afraid that when someone asks me where I want to go out to eat, if I suggest something someone will respond, "Yuck! How can you eat that crap?! That place is so gross! I can't believe you would suggest that! What is wrong with you??" So instead, when someone asks me where I want to eat my typical response is, "I don't care. I'm not picky."
Which as previously mentioned is so not true. Unless its macaroni and cheese, pizza or PB&J, I'm usually not interested. But I figure that at the very least, pretty much anyplace will have a basic salad that I can tolerate. Even if I'm not in the mood for salad, or even if it won't be filling enough to satisfy my current hunger level, it doesn't really matter. It will be good enough for the time being and I can always have a snack later if necessary. To me, that still seems like a better option than making a suggestion that someone else might not be interested in. So for the official record, when it comes to going out to eat, I'm "not picky."
Last week I was in Chattanooga on business. Some of my Chicago coworkers had already been down there for 2 or 3 or 4 weeks and were familiar with the area. But for me as the newbie, I had no idea what places were available for lunch and even if I had known, I wouldn't have made a suggestion anyway.
So my first day there, noon comes around and my Chicago buddy says to me:
B: What are you doing for lunch?
Me: Tagging along with you and N if that's okay?
B: Yeah, that's what I figured.
Me: Thanks. I just don't know what's around here and I don't really want to eat by myself anyway.
B: That's cool. We're going to an Indian buffet. Are you okay with that?
Me: *slight hesitant pause* then enthusiastically, "Sure! That's fine with me!"
I've never had Indian food before. And maybe it's really super delicious. But it's not peanut butter and jelly, so I was really not too excited about it. And my basic fall-back option of the garden salad was certainly not going to be available at an Indian buffet, right? For a second I considered that I might be better off eating alone at Panera or even better, ordering a sandwich to go and bringing it back to my desk. But I didn't want B and N to think I didn't like them, and I wanted them to still like me (as if they would certainly stop being my friend if I said that I didn't like Indian food). So I went along with them.
I can't say that I ended up enjoying the Indian food. I suppose that in order for me to be able to say that, it would have required me actually trying the Indian food, which I did not. Instead, to my great surprise, the buffet did indeed include a garden salad. Iceberg, cucumbers and tomatoes. The dressing off to the side was some strange mint thing that was much too foreign for me to try, but plain lettuce was better than nothing. I also enjoyed the pita bread, which I think was supposed to be used to sop up the curry sauce that the meats were cooked in, but that pita was delicious on its own. And plain white rice has never tasted so good!
N looked at my plate and asked:
"You're not going to try any of the Indian food? This chicken is really good!"
Me: No, I'm good with plain rice.
N: Don't you like Indian food? You should have said something. We could have gone someplace else.
Me: Oh, it's fine. I'm not picky.
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