I made a habit of getting drunk before trying new foods. I’m not sure I’m healthier as a result. I eat a larger variety of healthier foods now (mostly vegetables), but I’m still anxious about eating with people I don’t know really well because I don’t like a lot of common foods that aren’t particularly healthy.

The other upside is that trying different things gave me ideas for how to cook and season vegetables that I didn’t like in ways that I would like them, which opened up that whole arena a lot more. My mom usually served canned vegetables with pepper and it gave me a bad idea of what vegetables could be. Then again, maybe having those bad experiences early on made it easier for the good ones to take later.