Relative Something

con•trar•i•an
noun
a person who opposes or rejects popular opinion

adjective
going against current practice

I don’t know exactly why I developed an inclination to go against the grain, but more often than not, the first thing that pops into my mind is in direct opposition to the statements I hear. I think one offshoot of that tendency is my reaction when I become aware of a pattern in my behavior. When I discovered that my trip journals centered on the food served at every meal, it resulted in a period of specifically avoiding mentioning food at all. But we are what we eat! I no longer resort to entirely neglecting mention of the things on which I dine.

Even some of my eating habits have developed from conscious decisions to go against current practice. Soda pop is one of the big ones. Even before pop became an injection of high fructose corn syrup, I had rejected it for the potential ill effects of the carbon dioxide. It pleased me to be moving away from drinking soda pop while so many others seemed to be making it an increasing habit.

After my father’s first heart attack, and subsequent diet changes, I aligned very quickly with his move toward avoiding salt. After I gave my palate time to adjust, I found I actually preferred popcorn without butter or salt. It tastes like corn! Same thing with potatoes. There are so many different flavors of potato. Now I have discovered an unsalted potato chip that has won my favor. Michael Season’s sells a great unsalted version of potato chips.

I’m lucky that my avoidance of many current main stream food options has enabled me to steer clear of the less healthy choices, but more than that, I consider it luckiest of all that I enjoy the tastes of the less popular foods even more!