I am a self proclaimed picky eater-though countless other people have proclaimed me to be the same thing. When I applied for the World Race, one of the things I put on my application under “allergies” was I’m kind of a picky eater, though I suppose I’ll get over that. During my interview, Laura made sure to ask me exactly how big of a deal that would be for me on the Race. Upon entering training camp in July and launch in October, I won’t lie when I say it was on the top of my list of concerns. However, 6 months into the Race I am proud to announce that I am still alive. Not only am I alive, I think I have also found a couple pounds. Here are some thoughts for potential racers concerned about eating (or not eating) while on the Race.
–Peanut Butter is rumored to be able to be found anywhere. I have been in a few small stores where it’s not available, and in some places it can be upwards to 5 bucks for one regular sized jar (Thailand) but for the most part it is accessible. It’s nice to have sometimes, but in some countries you will literally have a PB&J every day. Coming into the Race I said that I would never get sick of PB&J’s, noodles, or rice. I now consider that to be false.
–Rice and Beans. In Central America (and I assume South America as well) we ate a LOT of rice and beans. We would switch it up occasionally and have beans and rice. Sometimes mixed, sometimes separate. Beans have been served blended, smooshed, hot, cold, boiled, refried.
Rice carried over into Asia, where we have eaten rice almost religiously for meals. Breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Philippines put garlic in it. Thailand we had it with some sort of soup to top it off. Malaysia we’ve eaten it with curry or some spicy sauce. Rice, rice, rice. Learn to love it-because you might not for years after you get back.
–Vegetables. Not gonna lie, if you enjoy vegetables, you might do very well for yourself on the Race. I don’t mean if you eat carrots occasionally, or peas from a can. That doesn’t make you a vegetable eater. Veggies come in almost every concoction ever fed to you. If you are not a vegetable eater, the chances of there being one on yoru team is extremely high, and food passing is not looked down upon in most cultures. Otherwise, it’s relatively easy to eat around them. Except in some fried rice, and vegetable soup, at which point you just have to suck it up or give it to your team and fast for the meal.
–Meat. Chicken is a norm. Though in some places you won’t have much meat, and some you will. Sometimes you’ll get beef. Sometimes chicken has a bit of blood in it still. Sometimes you’ll get meat that is completely unidentifiable, for 5 meals straight, only to later find out that it was chicken gizzards that you snuck to the dog all week. Chicken, though, is pretty safe. And often delicious.
–Miscellaneous. You will have the opportunity to try or not to try many different cultural foods. Cacao fruit (in Panama), for instance, looks like a brain but is really tasty. Halo Halo (“mix-mix” in the Philippines) is the most odd assortment of foods that should never be put together on top of shaved ice. Balut (partially developed duck egg, a delicacy in the Philippines) should be tried simply for the experience.
Other Items. When you take your own portions, take small ones to start. If you don’t like something, offer it to the team, or smash it around your plate. The trick in Malaysia when people like to pile more and more food on your plate is to take a little, and then continue to slowly add food to your plate as you go, that way they see you are eating and continuing to eat and you won’t end up eating more than you can handle.
Try it. You might like it. If not, they’ll understand. You will not spend an entire month being fed blood or Balut. The occasions where that happens are few and far between, making them an experience and not a horror.
