I’m a picky eater. I don’t like cheese unless it’s on pizza, or Parmesan on spaghetti; but, I don’t like lasagna. Tomatoes are fine in a sauce form like ketchup or spaghetti sauce, but not when they haven’t been pressed to a pulp. Mayonnaise, relish, mustard (except for the mustard on MacDonald’s hamburgers), and salad dressings need to stay far away from me.

When I moved to Japan, I ran into a lot of strange and interesting food. Horse, chicken, and most seafood are often eaten raw. Parts of the body not usually dined on in Western countries are considered healthy and delicious there. Raw liver, intestines, and the heart are common choices at restaurants serving meat dishes.

What this meant for someone like me was a need to be very careful when eating out. This was not always possible, however, when eating with certain experimental friends or with Japanese colleagues who found my limited eating preferences a challenge rather than a restriction. Therefore, I often found myself forced to try new food. Sometimes the result was as expected, but other times there was a pleasant surprise (chicken cartilage is amazingly good!).

My eating habits pretty much reflected how I lived my life before going overseas: I stuck to what I knew. Nights out were spent at the usual places, nights in were usually centered around a movie. I rarely went to new restaurants or exploring downtown, and as a result the people in my life stayed the same from year to year. That’s not necessarily a terrible thing, and I certainly was comfortable and was usually having fun within my routine. But I could feel myself slipping into a rut, and made the (huge) decision to try life abroad.

Moving to a new country was the first step. Exploring the city I lived in, and then the rest of the country were the following steps. I also traveled to other countries in Asia either on my own or with the new friends I had made. Professionally I also began to take more risks and try new things. As an instructor I made it a point to try new teaching techniques that I either came up with or that I borrowed through research. Later, as I became a manager I found my efforts to try new ideas and approaches provided me with the most rewarding moments in my work life. Colleagues and those I was supervising (usually) appreciated my attempts to make a difference by breaking away from the norm.

Leaving my home country to experience life abroad has made me feel much more fulfilled. By putting myself in situations where I had to try something new on a regular basis, I now have a broader understanding of not just the world around me, but of myself. And though I still enjoy the simple things in my free time, I now make a conscious effort to take risks. Finally, though I still don’t like sushi or mayonnaise, I can now eat and (believe it or not) enjoy tomatoes that are in their non-pulp form. If that can happen, then almost anything can if you’re willing to try something new.