Today, I am annoyed by picky eaters. Not the people who don't like the taste of particular flavors, or who decline based on moral or religious priniciplies. No, it's the pickiness that's born of fear of the unknown, the ones that won't even try new foods.

I'm annoyed because their narrowmindness is so often accompanied by rudeness. Because food should be viewed with celebration, with excitement, not with suspicion. Because they willfully and without any good reason deny themselves the wonderful flavors and tastes and experiences that comes from culinary adventurousness. Such yumminess in the world! Such succulence! That they won't even try!

Mostly, though, I'm annoyed because I want to enjoy the cornucopia of foods, and I can't. After a round of testing, it turns out I'm allergic to Balsam of Peru, an aromatic liquid from the bark of a particular tree found in El Salvador. The allergist has put me on a diet low in balsam-related foods for one month, which means no citrus fruits, no chocolate, no pickles, no ice cream, no tomatoes or tomato sauce (ouch!), and no spices, including cinnamon, ginger, curry, cardamon, cloves (ouch! ouch! ouch!).

It doesn't seem fair that so many people, who can have all these tasty things, won't even try them, while so many others, who want them, can't have them.