I’ve Eaten Only Mac & Cheese for the Past 17 Years, Here’s Why

This video is why we have to be careful to not judge a book by its cover. I started watching this video thinking this guy was crazy. He was missing out on so many incredible food experiences. For me, eating, especially trying new food, is one of life’s great joys. I couldn’t imagine not trying all kinds of different food but then there’s this guy who only eats mac and cheese. Don’t get me wrong, I love mac and cheese but I get nauseous thinking about eating it for every meal.

Then he says he has selective eating disorder so I’m start feeling a little bad but caught myself falling into the “he just needs to get over it” trap. Mental health issues are very tricky because sometimes the line between legitimate and illegitimate is very blurry, but I start to want to give this guy the benefit of the doubt.

Finally, he starts talking about childhood trauma and how that trauma may have led to eating only mac and cheese. At that point, I started feeling really terrible about myself.

While my feelings about this guy in a random video had no direct impact on the world, it made me keenly aware of my own biases and how easy it is to pass judgement based on limited information. The human condition is to make assumptions because it’s the only way we can attempt to process the world. However, we have to be careful about these assumptions and wait to act on them until we have an appropriate amount of contextual information.

In my limited time on this earth, I’ve found that I can almost always come to sympathize with a person’s point of view whether I agree with it or not. Take the time to listen and understand because often people are not as different as we think.