Why do people have a problem with "boring" food?
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Plenty of successful and/or celebrity chefs run on the “simple cooking” mantra. Jamie Oliver for example continues to be famed for his no-nonsense and grassroots cooking methods and meals. He’s even got a 28-minute telly program where he makes “30-minute meals”. Gordon Ramsey when he’s not screaming at the floundering owners of disaster midwest family diners has books named “10-minute meals”, “simple home cooking” and “quick & delicious”.
Thursday night’s dinner was rice, turkey, shredded veg from a bag, hot sauce, and sushi ginger from a jar.
So why do so many people have a problem with “boring meals”? Well, simple cooking is not the same as boring meals (whatever that means).
I hear people say regularly how they “can’t eat the same meal every day” and I have a few thoughts about that;
I'll bet the same people already eat the same meals every day. In fact, I’ll put money on it (if you eat a different flavored clog bar for breakfast and a burrito bowl one day and a taco salad the next, they’re the same meals.
Identifying food as either boring or exciting is part of the problem. If every day at work was different and you never knew what you were walking into (HR office job one day and skyscraper window cleaner the next) I can bet that people would very quickly turn from excitement to exhaustion. Repeatability is positive in most cases.
More adults would absolutely benefit from eating a more conservative, predictable, and scalable diet on a daily basis. Particularly the ones with overall improved health (physical, mental, emotional) in mind.
When people say they "can't eat the same meal every day because it gets boring", what they often mean is that they don't like, or feel like they don't have, proficient enough cooking skills to make more than one meal. Basic cooking skills are one of the highest value tools in improved health and one of the most successful clients work to develop.
But most importantly I feel here is thinking of food as an outlet for excitement/experience just too often, because if every meal is an experience then no meal is an experience. We accommodate the excitement and it becomes the norm. So we hunt for better, more creative ways to get our kicks and in the US, that often comes in the form of more. Daily food experiences or at least every weekend become the norm and before we know, we haven’t cooked a meal for ourselves in months and it’s as if we’ve forgotten that eggs on toast are a completely reasonable and tasty meal to eat on a Tuesday evening (it’s bloody brilliant FYI). I understand, appreciate, and promote food as an experience. And at the same time, too much of a good thing can easily stop being a good thing.
I plan to discuss some foundational low-tech cooking skills, batch cooking options, food prep strategies, and the concept of “utility foods” in an upcoming article so look out for that. If you liked this article then you’ll likely appreciate my training and nutrition content on Instagram here - I also routinely showcase Molly, so give me a follow if only for that.
Cheers!
