Your Mom's Cooking

Survey your friends to see what they learned from their Mom's about what to eat. Ask them about favorite foods that they ate when they were young. Is there something Mom made that no one else can match? Compare your Mom's chili/fried chicken/pot roast recipe with their Mom's. Is there something they eat that you would never eat?

Bonus points: Survey someone from another country or a different state. See what they eat that you would never have thought of eating. See what you eat that they think is horrifying. I had a roommate from France who almost barfed every time he saw someone make a peanutbutter and jelly sandwich. He just KNEW that jelly didn't go with peanutbutter!

Double bonus points: Get your kids or your friends to go with you to a restaurant that serves very unusual food. Pick the strangest thing on the menu as if you knew what you were doing, and get your friends and family to eat it.

Take a walk in an animal's hooves!

Here are some things you can do at home to give you some first hand experience with what an animal goes through when it's deciding what to eat and where to live.

Searching for food in familiar and unfamiliar environments
Equipment needed: a watch with a second hand or a stopwatch

Go to a grocery store that you are familiar with and search for the following items: kool-aid, Parmesan Cheese (the stuff in the can not fresh cheese), fresh garlic, milk and drain-o. You may not ask for help to find these items. Time yourself. Now go to a grocery store you are unfamiliar with search for the same items and time yourself again. If you are not familiar with any store because someone else in your house does the grocery shopping then ask them to go with you. Time how long it takes them to find the items and how long it takes you to find the items. (You may not follow them around to locate your items).

Which took longer?
Could you guess the location of some items from one store to the next?
Were some items harder to find than others?

Imagine if you were in a foreign country and all the labels were written in another language or the foods you are looking for simply don't exist in that country. In that case, you're just like an animal who doesn't have the benefit of labels when moved to habitats where their favorite foods don't grow.

I'm Ready for Digestion!