Culinary ennui / Ever get bored with food?

[Feedbag]

I mentioned on another thread that this might be considered

sacriligeous on a forum such as this, but man, sometimes

I open the fridge, stare inside and think, what can I make tonight

that's different? Would anyone give a flying fig if I made nothing?

Just the thought sometimes of venturing up to the butcher, monger,

produce stand and bakery, hunting and gathering for the evening's

repast is just so draining. I get bored to tears at the thought of

making another meal. Maybe I just rely too much on old standbys.

Nothing excites me anymore, not even restaurant food. I stare

at my plate and think, yeah, so what.

Anyone else suffered from such a disorder? What's the cure?

[WHT]

I mentioned on another thread that this might be considered

sacriligeous on a forum such as this, but man, sometimes

I open the fridge, stare inside and think, what can I make tonight

that's different? Would anyone give a flying fig if I made nothing?

Just the thought sometimes of venturing up to the butcher, monger,

produce stand and bakery, hunting and gathering for the evening's

repast is just so draining. I get bored to tears at the thought of

making another meal. Maybe I just rely too much on old standbys.

Nothing excites me anymore, not even restaurant food. I stare

at my plate and think, yeah, so what.

Anyone else suffered from such a disorder? What's the cure?

←

Take-out or delivery food.

[Pam R]

shhh.. promise not to tell anybody but yes. I am always searching for new produce because I am so bored with what they offer in the grocery stores. I commented today that I need to move to another climate so I can get more variety.

I also find that I often try to decide what to make for a meal and find that I have no cravings for anything. It's hard to make a meal when you don't want anything.

[handmc]

This is what I am going through right now. over the past 3 days I have 1 hot dog, 1 sandwhich, a glass of tomato juice and 4 pringles. That's it.

I'm in a serious rut. Nothing interests me except the food in this week's blog and since I don't cook indian food I won't be eating that either.

[SG-]

Yes, quite often these days. No good food around where I live unless I'm up to braving a 45min drive and then gods knows how long it'll take to find a parking spot and prior to that have to make sure I call way in advance to get a reservation. Uninsipiring shopping at local food stores.

Really being so into food can sometimes be a real curse. Really depressing, I've go all this gear at home to cook with $600 knife, Copper pots etc but no ingredients... what's the point.??

[fifi]

I think this is a common affliction. It comes over me fairly often and usually lasts a few days. I mean . . . NOTHING sounds good. Even favorite dishes at favorite restaurants don't appeal so it isn't the act of cooking that loses appeal. Oddly enough, a lot of fruit snacking is my usual fate. Then, I will think of an idea for a recipe. Or, more commonly now, I will see something intriguing here and off I go again. I think this is probably pretty natural. Most folks can't really sustain a very high level of enthusiasm for any one thing for very long at a stretch. Fluctuations of interests are the norm, I think.

[snowangel]

When this happens to me, I take to my bed with a cold compress and a stack of cookbook.

[appreciator]

There was another topic along the same lines a while back. Here's the link: Food fatigue, What former favorites no longer appeal?

[nwyles]

Sometimes all I want is a cheese sandwich and a glass of milk. Am I weird ? Will I be kicked out of "foodclub". Food fatigue is a good term for this.

[Pan]

Sometimes all I want is a cheese sandwich and a glass of milk. Am I weird ?  Will I be kicked out of "foodclub".[...]

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Yes. Hand in your ID at the door.

[Pam R]

Sometimes all I want is a cheese sandwich and a glass of milk. Am I weird ?  Will I be kicked out of "foodclub".[...]

←

Yes. Hand in your ID at the door.

←

I was going to say that I hardly know you, but I think so.

I find it especially hard when I'm trying to come up with recipe ideas for my column and all I want is a piece of toast - how many columns do you think I can get out of the subtleties of toast?

[michaeldauphinais]

The cure for food blahs, IMHO, is doctoring, plain and simple.

Never underestimate the power of a flavorful hot sauce to do the trick.

[Pan]

I find it especially hard when I'm trying to come up with recipe ideas for my column and all  I want is a piece of toast - how many columns do you think I can get out of the subtleties of toast?

←

Well, at WD-50 in New York, they use toast oil.

There are also a heck of a lot of things you can put on toast. Call the results crostini, for example.

[Kevin72]

I went on a cooking break and let my wife cook for three weeks last fall; combination of burnout and a bad luck streak. It helped alot to re-energize.

[Susan in FL]

Anyone else suffered from such a disorder? What's the cure?

When this happens to me, I take to my bed with a cold compress and a stack of cookbook.

←

Honestly I cannot say that has ever happened to me, but if it did, I would do what the other Susan does, with the addition of food magazines and probably without the cold compress. (Seriously. Such is often my reading material when I go to bed early.) The compress might interfere with positioning needed for turning the pages, depending of course on what body part a compress is placed. (I will place a smilie after that statement.)

Substituting a glass of wine for compresses could work, too.

[chile_peppa]

My household consists of guys who would be just as happy with a can of Chef-Boy-Ar-Dee as with a real home-cooked meal (and in fact, look askance upon some of my more "exotic" concoctions). After a long day of programming and politics at the office, I sometimes yearn for a bit of cheese, a cracker or two, and a good stiff shot of Jameson's (or three). I mean, why bother? On the other hand, some days, there's no better therapy than trying something new in the kitchen. A few days of takeout or leftovers or diner meals usually cures the kitchen blues.

[NulloModo]

Hmmm, I can't say I have ever had the problem of nothing looking interesting, if anything, I have the opposite problem: so much looks interesting that I can't decide and end up making something simple like a salad because I dilly-dally too long trying to decide what to make.

And props to Michael Dauphinais for the hot sauce idea, it truly does solve many duldrums ;) Also gives me a lot more respect for pastry chefs that he suggested it first ;)

[Feedbag]

yep, abstinence makes the buds grow fonder.

I'll just chill for a few days, eat salad and something

out of a can, then I'll be re-energized for something

better.

I think the new cookbook idea is a good one, too.

When I'm like this, I can't imagine being a chef.

Where do they get the energy, the inspiration?

Thanks all for sharing. Glad I'm not alone.

(I like the term food fatigue, too!)

[CharityCase]

I've come down with food fatigue too. It's not a lack of interest in eating something good, more a lack of enthusiasm in preparing such things.

In my moments of weakness I usually end up ordering take-out, or eating something from the freezer which is probably the worse option.

[mizducky]

Another periodic victim of food fatigue here. I think of it as kind of equivalent to that classic girly phenomenon in which you paw through an entire closetful of clothing, every item of which now looks either boring, cheap, unfashionable, or just "what the hell was I thinking when I bought this," finally arriving at the conclusion that you just have "nothing to wear." Yeah, on a certain level I laugh at myself about both phenomena, but they both do happen--so what do you do?

For myself, I find I can often get out of the culinary version of this phenomenon by visiting a food market I've never been to before. When confronted by whole new arrays of ingredients--or sometimes even the same ingredients but just arranged in a more fetching manner--my cooking creativity usually reawakens and goes "oooooh! lookit all the purty toys to play with!"

For the sartorial version of this phenomenon ... well, sometimes Goodwill is the beneficiary of my boredom.

[mizducky]

Oh, another thought on this: I'd wondered about my bouts of food fatigue before, thinking gee, is this a manifestation of a jaded gourmand who's lost touch with the primary function of food as fuel/nourishment in a scramble for culinary novelty for its own sake? Is my palate just getting dull from age? Is it just that a lot of foodstuffs just don't have as much flavor as they used to due to the whole farming-as-industry thang? Maybe, to a certain extent all of the above are involved.

But I finally decided there was also a possibly positive reason for food fatigue, due to evolution of all things! Since optimum nutrition (without resorting to vitamins and other nutritional supplements) results from eating a wide variety of different foods, maybe humans evolved some kind of internal "food fatigue" behavior that would *prompt* them to grow bored with eating just one thing all the time and instead seek out variety.

I dunno--this surmise could be simply bunk. But at least it amuses me.

[Feedbag]

Interesting theories, ducky. You may just

have something there....

But I think I may be on the way outta the darkness and

into the light, thanks to the "What did you make for dinner"

topic on the Cooking thread I just discovered. (I think

that's what it's called.) Anyhoo, interesting contributions,

and the pix even look appetizing.

I'm gonna take some of those ideas and see what happens.

[Susan in FL]

Since optimum nutrition (without resorting to vitamins and other nutritional supplements) results from eating a wide variety of different foods, maybe humans evolved some kind of internal "food fatigue" behavior that would *prompt* them to grow bored with eating just one thing all the time and instead seek out variety.

←

I think you have something there. Even though I haven't really been afflicted with the food fatigue thing, I have always found that I "need" to eat a variety of food and my appetite follows that accordingly. For example, if I have been having a lot of one dish meals like pasta, stews, etc. without an assortment of vegetables in my diet, I get hungry for a bunch of fresh vegetables, almost to the point of craving whatever it is I haven't had recently. Like last night, we grilled a little roast of beef, and had with it a plate-full of mushrooms, baby artichokes, broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, etc. Of course I also need a big serving of some greasy junk food if I do low fat eating for an extended period of time!

[Nyleve Baar]

It has happened to all of us - no matter how food-obsessed. Suddenly, and without warning, you open the fridge and nothing looks good. ( ) It's not a matter of boredom, exactly, more a lack of inspiration to do anything at all. How do we combat this creeping malady? Do we cook up something totally weird and unfamiliar? Or do we simply make a batch of chocolate chip cookies and try to get over it? Any ideas?

[Carrot Top]

For me when this happens a good solution is to visit a small exotic food store where nobody speaks any language I understand, and where they can not understand me either.

That leaves the ingredients on the shelves up for analyses that are completley hopeful based on past experience and knowledge.

The strangest items can then come home to enter the cupboards and fridge, and either be cooked with fingers crossed, or left to sit and be stared at in bemusement while the things that originally bored one sort of gain a grudging acceptance in the idea of cooking with them, just out of fear of the other stuff.

The other solution is to go out to eat at the worst chain restaurant in town. After that, anything you have gains in favor just by comparison.