My picky boyfriend

I’m from California. I like avocado toast and anything dairy free, and I watch my added sugars. My boyfriend is from Connecticut, so burgers, mozzarella sticks, breakfast sandwiches and blue Gatorade are all up his alley.

We have a hard time eating food together.

There’s a stereotype for girls that we can never figure out where we want to eat. In my relationship, I suggest plenty of dinner options every night, and then we have a 20 minute conversation debating whether we should go to Skippers for chicken tenders, or Moonstone for sushi.

I like to say that he’s the picky one, because he hates avocado, hummus, tomatoes, mushrooms and other foods that I consider to be “adult.” But I have a lot of dietary “preferences” that I like to think make me a mindful eater — it has a much more sophisticated taste right to it, right?

I don’t eat red meat, I won’t cook chicken because raw meat grosses me out, I’m lactose intolerant, and if I eat too much fried food I get a tummy ache. He’s lactose intolerant too, but will throw that by the wayside for a bacon, egg and cheese from any deli worth a damn.

As I write this, I regret to inform you that we had to cancel our dinner plans tonight due to tastebud discrepancies. I was going to make brown rice with sautéed vegetables and potatoes I cook in my air fryer topped with curry sauce. He decided he was going to make his signature shrimp pasta, so I will be dining with an episode of New Girl tonight.

It’s easy to think he doesn’t try, but he’s eaten the dish I mentioned above and he actually liked it. In fact, anything that I ever cook he tries at least one bite. Even if it has something in it that he knows he doesn’t like.

At the beginning of our relationship, this was more of a struggle than it is now. But, it’s been almost six months, and we’ve finally found a vast middle ground that makes dinner plans a lot easier.

Gaslight Brewhouse is a great option for us. He likes the meatball sub and I would eat their cauliflower wings with some sweet & spicy brussel sprouts every week if I had the money. Paesano’s is also a nice place to go when we’re in the mood for something fancy — I mean, who doesn’t like pasta?

As for cooking, there’s one thing we love to make together. Fish tacos play into our strengths: he gets to season and cook the fish, and I get to make my favorite rice and my gloriously-reviewed guacamole.

The silver lining of our differences is that we both have expanded our pallets since knowing each other. He has reinvigorated my childhood love for Cheez-its (I know I’m lactose intolerant but even though the box says “made with real cheese” I never seem to feel a thing, so what’s the real truth?) He has started to make healthy swaps for his everyday favorites; turkey bacon, unsweetened ice tea and gluten free waffles are all things he buys on the regular now.

Our taste buds couldn’t be more different, but variety is the spice of life. So, after I have my sushi tonight, I’m going to go to his house, watch a movie and eat some damn Cheez-its cause those things are awesome — just like my boyfriend.