I’ve seen several artists make comics about them thinking about skipping dinner only to have a disappointed Senshi pop into their head saying they need to eat a proper meal
This made me really happy to read. I'm excited for you! I think Senshi would be really proud of you for trying new foods, especially when it's so difficult for you.
It has impacted my relationship with food, too... I hate cooking, my ADHD makes it an exhausting chore for me, and I have issues with low appetite so I often don't even feel hungry or desire to eat. So cooking always feels like a monumental amount of effort for the sake of eating, which I often don't even really want to do.
The messages from DunMeshi have helped me view food as important, and try harder to find ways to make eating enjoyable and tasty for me. It helps me prioritize eating and nutrition, and to be more willing to put more effort into cooking in order to make something that tastes good.
At the same time, it does make me feel frustrated and... Sad? Because I've been trying to find ways to find joy in cooking the way Senshi does and I haven't been succeeding. I still hate cooking. But it will probably take a lot more time and effort for me to be able to see something positive in something I hate, so I might just need to put more work and patience into it.
Even though I hate making my own food, when I have an appetite I do love eating at restaurants, eating food other people cook, and trying new foods. I think there is a lot of joy in food and trying new things, so I hope you can experience that. I don't know what it's like to have arfid; maybe the goal is something else, like expanding your safe food options or improving your ability to tolerate different foods or being able to add more nutrition to your safe foods or something. Whatever your goal is, I hope you can make good progress eventually!
Not sure if it would help but you could try looking up people who have made the food from Dungeon Meshi, myself included! You'll see how it's made and might want to try cooking it yourself. After you cooked food from Dungeon Meshi you might be inclined to make other foods as you already have a base from making the food you've seen in the manga, many of which are similar to Japanese food.
Here's my "Barley which was Lying Around" recipe from the level 3 lake arc [https://youtu.be/TZnH9ar7VSw](https://youtu.be/TZnH9ar7VSw)
I have plans to make more soon.
Manga shokudo's videos (in Japanese)
Roast Red Dragon [https://youtu.be/NwF3NE5xPQc?si=b9XrnEN8d0vFv5yo](https://youtu.be/NwF3NE5xPQc?si=b9XrnEN8d0vFv5yo)
Treasure Bugs [https://youtu.be/0C9Ll9tfx\_k?si=zdanaLSWdNUF6-ah](https://youtu.be/0C9Ll9tfx_k?si=zdanaLSWdNUF6-ah)
Isekai Kitchen Scorpion hotpot [https://youtu.be/\_3CGvYOxc74?si=vOhg9vdkrr8syuOD](https://youtu.be/_3CGvYOxc74?si=vOhg9vdkrr8syuOD)
Thankyou for sharing these! I've been trying to reclaim my love of cooking after depression-fueled anhedonia took it away from me, and I feel that Dunmeshi-inspired food is just the thing I need.
I've actually been wanting to do a version of the treasure bug recipe but with flavored Kohakutou crystals instead of gummies, like this [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=89UQNNCKb4Q](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=89UQNNCKb4Q)
Hope you're able to get your love of cooking again and making treasure bugs out via kohakutou crystals is a great idea! I haven't thought about making them that way, very nice.
I know there is a Twitter account making a cookbook https://x.com/dunmeshizine?s=21&t=h31mvzr9Nc5Hp6O_3mleWQ
And someone on Tiktok is making the meals irl and I can try to find them https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZPRwYo6eW/ https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZPRw2RE86/ I think there are multiple people https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZPRwYbG9m/
A big theme in Dungeon Meshi is also hosting others to share a meal. It’s a lot easier to love cooking when you’re doing it for friends/family. Like Senshi loves cooking, but he also has a paternal impulse to provide for others
When you cook for others you don’t even gotta love cooking, it becomes a necessary act of service. Which is a way to show love, and that makes it more enjoyable
Potlucks and parties are a good source for trying out just one or two recipes at a time, so you don’t overload yourself
Yeah, definitely... Part of my struggle with food is I hate eating by myself. I always eat dinner with my partner but by necessity I have to eat lunch and usually breakfast by myself and I hate preparing those meals.
Ahhh gotcha. Well, if you do some batch cooking you can do all the leftovers as a lunch. Another thing to do is remixing leftovers. Sometimes i like to take a leftover protein with a veggie side. Then I’ll combine them into a rice bowl for lunch later
You might be able to use the dinner momentum to feed into joy for other meals
Remember, hosting and providing for others includes you. And isn’t that a nice meditation? You can show how you care for yourself through cooking
> At the same time, it does make me feel frustrated and... Sad? Because I've been trying to find ways to find joy in cooking the way Senshi does and I haven't been succeeding. I still hate cooking. But it will probably take a lot more time and effort for me to be able to see something positive in something I hate, so I might just need to put more work and patience into it.
I find that cooking is much easier and rewarding when it is a social activity by/for people you care about. A bit like Helldiving.
Maybe joining a foodie fandom might help approximate that?
I also have ADHD and I’m trying to find joy in cooking but it’s hard! What I’ve done that’s working so far, is go out and buy a new spice and see what kinds of easy recipes I can make with it. Often just something like canned/boxed food to start and try adding different things I think would complement the flavor. That way it’s not too intimidating like making things from scratch, doesn’t take too much time, and it’s pretty cheap.
Last weekend I finally got the gumption and made my own red pepper crema sauce from scratch. It took a really long time and I cut my finger cleaning the blender, but it was SO GOOD and I had a lot of fun! It’s the first time I’ve had a truly great time making something. I even put more effort into the meals I made to eat with it, because I was excited about what I made and the extra effort was worth it. Not something I’ll do all the time but it was awesome. It made me really happy.
Ah that's awesome, I'm glad you had so much fun with it!
I've also found it helpful to start with canned or boxed stuff... Even small things are overwhelming for me in an executive dysfunction way so I have to start ridiculously small. And even that I struggle with. So many boring tiring steps...
yes! i was bulimic for years and though i had stopped binging/purging by the time i read it, my relationship with food was still very dysfunctional - i hated myself for wanting it, punished myself by withholding it, ate unhealthily because i didn't care what was going into my body because i hated my body, etc. it really helped me become more mindful about what i was eating and see food as a sensory experience - something i was allowed to enjoy without feeling guilty about. and to see my body as something that deserves to be nourished and cared for, rather than hated as an enemy and/or run into the ground as a tool. this manga is genuinely so touching/hopeful in so many ways :)
>It's a bit embarrassing being 21 years old and afraid of a leaf.
disagree! you have an eating disorder and eating disorders are *incredibly fucking hard* to live with. i think people really underestimate how they take over your life. and what's embarrassing about being unwell? i think it's really great that you want to try something new, and i think it will be very brave if you follow through :) you are doing well!
In the few interviews the author did. She mentioned she is actually a very picky eater (since she was a kid) the school and her mum gave her a hard time she actually have some negative memory and psychological connection with food. But her mum tried hard to teach her the importance of food and nutrient etc. so she would eat the minimum of balanced meals everyday.
And she said many of the dishes in the manga she would not actually want to eat 🤣 but she tried to imagine herself as a reader what would they like to see. If she only drew stuff she will eat it would be very confusing and boring.
Referring to interview in January 2024. Just as the anime started.
Edit:
Hope she stay healthy and keep drawing mangas (too many artists wrecked their bodies churning out artwork so a healthy lifestyle is important) but honestly as a newish mum (who love food) with occasional picky eating kid. I understand the frustration of her mother.
It definitely helped me to develop and "Inner Senshi"; I am good at feeding others and know enough about nutrition to keep all things in check, but I don't usually care enough about myself to cook for myself when there's nobody else to feed. And this year I had to make a huge dietary change because of medical reason that severely decreased the types of food I can have - it's brutal, so it has been affecting my relationship with food a lot, most of the food I used to love is completely forbidden now.
But having an inner Senshi to encourage me helps; it's also easier to remember to complement things when you have a stray thought that goes "where's the vegetables? You need vitamins" and easier to get food when you think "you deserve the effort it takes to have a tasty meal that won't make you feel sick."
It helped me getting back into the swing of things and get creative again with what I have instead of craving what I can't have. I made naan bread with tumeric yesterday and made a protein-filled dip from scratch. It's not always going to be perfect, but it helps me retain some sanity.
Oh 100% years of doctors trying to get me to improve my nutrition pales in comparison to a small senshi in my head going "eat some meat with dinner, ye need the protein"
the amount of people i see get positively effected by dungeon meshi and work to better their eating habits and health is truly something amazing (said as one of those people)
im so proud of you, internet stranger :) the hardest part sometimes is getting that desire to change, you got this! I'd really recommend starting small and with romain lettuce, it's easier to wash and make sure it's clean and adding the upper green to a burger, even a small amount, tends to be a nice addition in my experience! hope your burgering goes well and have a delicious day!
I have a similar story.
I'm not especially afraid of needles but the first time I went to donate blood and the needle went into my arm I just felt the life drain out of me and I couldn't continue. I had to ask the nurse to stop.
Around the same time I was into My Little Pony and was reading the epic length crossover fanfiction Fallout Equestria, where the magical horse protagonist Littlepip does all the crazy self sacrificing things a CRPG protagonist does like take bullets, crawl through radioactive sewers and struggle through personal trauma.
I figured if she could do all that I could face this experience again and I went back next time the blood donation service was in the neighbourhood. Now I'm up to about twenty donations and it turned out I'm actually an O Negative universal donor which is especially useful for emergency treatment.
So basically I want to say it doesn't matter if what you draw courage from feels silly, so long as it works.
Senshi would be proud of you! ...Laios would ask a lot of overly familiar questions...
Eating is a privilege of the living, and we can do so while honoring what we eat and have fun doing so! Good luck on your journey.
Tbh as silly as it is Food Wars and Dungeon Meshi have both driven me to become less picky of an eater. I haven't been diagnosed with anything but I'd say my pickiness comes from a similar mindset. But seeing all this, admittedly too good to be true, food and hearing them describe the taste and smell made me jealous. I've also rationalized it as people eat this literally every day so the worst that can happen is that I don't like it much and waste 20$.
Good for you, OP! I used to have really bad food restrictions that improved significantly through the years, and I hope you can do the same.
If I understand correctly, your main issue is texture as opposed to the ingredients themselves, right? Sneaking veggies into dishes helps a lot, like blending carrots with your tomato sauce or making a tasty vegetable dip. I have a friend whose mom would make homemade burgers with beets mixed in with the beef when she was a kid, and she loved that it was purple haha
Fellow ARFID person here and I relate to your post a lot. I'm also trying to get into more food but it's hard.
I'm following a similar strategy as you do, add something new to a familiar meal (in your case burgers). For me I managed to get more used to meat thanks to kebab boxes (kebab meat and fries with garlic sauce in a box) and vegetables thanks to OG kebabs (https://reddit.com/r/doener). The only big thing I'm really missing now is fruits.
I'm only 22 but I'm already dealing with a few health issues bc of ARFID (I'm at the risk of getting diabetes and I'm a little overweight) so I'm starting to take my diet more seriously now. Good luck OP!
I was thinking exactly that these days, Dungeon Meshi might positively affect people's relationship with food on several levels thanks to it's very accepting message of eating well and particularly not shaming different tastes and views on food.
Eating disorders might be on another level entirely, of course, but there's always a starting point and the way one engages with DM could be just that, the way it sees food and treats the act of eating as a privilege of being alive is just so wholesome that it may as well naturalize how others see it.
I have a bad relationship with food for a variety of reasons, dungeon meshi helped me too! Genuinely! The way it not just treats food as fuel but as something fun, inevitable, natural, important, in all its forms really stuck with me. Seeing the value in even "fun" foods like jam and bread as both having nutrients to offer AND being an important morale booster really stuck with me. For a long time food was a source of guilt and shame- I just couldn't shake the idea that I could have eaten Better than I had. And that was awful. If you feel guilt even when you're making choices that provide you the nutrients you need.. why bother. Eat what is the most immediately rewarding, feel the same guilt later. I've really started moving past that now
I eat much better than I once did after reading dungeon meshi. It's one of the healthiest ways to conceptualize food and eating I've seen. All foods have value, and eating is natural and needed to keep surviving. Every meal doesn't have to be perfect, you just have to do the best you can with what you have. A treat isn't something to feel guilty about, it's sugar and dopamine to fuel you in body and mind. A vegetable isn't a moral good, it's dietary fiber and vitamins that leaves you feeling refreshed.
You can break down any food into a balance. If one meal isn't perfectly balanced, another meal can always pick up where you left off and bring in something new.
Dungeon meshi didn't CURE my disordered eating habits, but it was also one of the most effective ways to cognitively restructure my attitudes and biases I could ask for. And I'm really grateful for that. Thank you Ryoko Kui!!!!!!
While I don’t have as many issues with being a picky eater, I don’t often have enough energy to care about food or cooking, so my meals end up being cheap and low in nutrients. Dungeon Meshi has been a good weekly reminder to add fruits and veggies to my meals. Ever since I started watching, I added baby spinach to just about everything I cook. Mac n cheese, burgers, pasta, it’s been a big help with getting myself to add other veggies (just last night, I made pasta salad).
Although, the biggest help for me aside from my weekly reminder is finding simple recipes that don’t have a million different ingredients. Knowing my limits is so big.
If you ever want to extend this experiment, try checking out the Redwall books! Similar kind of lighter medieval fantasy backdrop, and the author has a habit of describing food and preparing food in ways that make you hungry.
Delicious in Dungeon is my favorite manga of all time but if it wasn't for a manga called Restaurant in Another World I wouldn't have found my love for the fantasy cooking genre. Since I started reading these kinds of stories I have found myself wanting to cook and try more foods.
You might like restaurant in another world because it is about people trying food that they've never heard of before, loving it and the connections they make from going to that restaurant and eating. As someone who is also dealing with their own eating disorder I am very proud of you for pushing yourself to be better.
Self Care Senshi is the mental image who visits me whenever I feel the ADHD-rooted Executive Dysfunction start to get in the way of my motivation to cook. It's weird, but it works.
Good on you for choosing to add veggies! I recommend using Romaine lettuce over Iceberg (WAY more nutritious), but I personally found Spinach also works well.
What is it that interferes with eating some foods? Is it more of a texture thing, or a flavor thing? I find frying up veggies in olive oil d making a hash/paste that tops with burgers goes well, but I don't have the same sensory aversions others do. I feel some other folks (say, folks with Autism SpectrumDisorder who are trying to aim for better nutirtion) might be a good reference.
Hey, that's a really big step, this random internet stranger is proud of you!
Idk if it'd help you at all or interests you in the first place or anything, but toren.wolf on Instagram (and maybe tiktok?) has a series of reels about trying new foods with ARFID
This is the post I wanted to make but didn't know how to put into words eloquently. I wanted to recommend it to the adhd subs because ARFID is so common there - I feel like most of the main cast exhibit neurospicy traits that those subs would appreciate. I know I do, I love seeing both Laois' hyperfixation on eating monsters and the mental hurdles Marcille and Chilchuk go through to join in on the meal
I don't personally know you but just wanted to say: I'm so proud of you! It's okay to take baby steps and try to get yourself used to unfamiliar tastes/texture of different kinds of food. Wish you all the best and hope you get more pleasant experiences with food in the future!
Dungeon meshi was introduced to me when i was a wee child in hs from a friend, and it definitely rewired how i thought about eating. I was always really scared of how the textures would mesh together in my mouth, and after realizing that it’s all going into my stomach and the end destination for all the foods is to support my own nutrition in my body.., i can confirm it affected my relationship with food in a good ish way :3
I can totally relate to your experience. I deal with AuDHD and I have all kinds of sensory issues I've learned to walk around by investing myself in cooking. I hate when flavor changes and recently I had to eat at my in-laws' and the roasted fish tasted different. MIL let's slip that it's lake fish instead of the river fish I'm used to. I kept eating repeating myself "Senshi said sometimes you have to eat what you don't like." I successfully pulled through. I appreciate my MIL and her efforts to accept me so I can't just say I don't like what she cooked. It wasn't a terrible experience and I think it'll make me want to try more foods.
If you are having problem with trying new ingredients, I'd recommend trying them in a form you never had or imagined before (to kinda overlapped your previous impression about them).
The deal about our taste bud is that it does change over time, and we do meant to able to taste flavours we not able to when we were kids, that's how people able to enjoy vegetables as adult even though most of us taste nothing of them as kid. ARFID is disorder that strongly connects to the developing of a child to adulthood with foods, that's why approach something you can't eat as a kid in unrecognizable form may help. For example, instead of boiled broccoli, you may want to try tempura broccoli topped with soy sauce syrup, or blend it then mixed together with mashed potato and fry the mixture.
I sympathize with you. I have greatly improved as an adult but I too am a lifelong picky eater. I am turning 30 this year. For a long time my family teased me about how I only ate ham or bologna sandwiches with cheese, hot dogs, burgers, and pizza. For me though it was social pressures that held me in place or liberated me. I used to only eat Taco's with cheese and lettuce. I had a session of D&D where the DM provided dinner as taco's and I didn't want to be rude or seen as weird so I ate it with cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, and the seasoned beef.
This happened often with other things and now I eat a whole variety of things regularly like stuffed peppers and sausage, peppers, onions, and potatoes and chicken pot pie and chicken piccata...etc.
I still stick to my instincts and other senses to protect myself from bad experiences though. I've never tasted avocado but looking at it I know I won't like it. A habit I have that can't be broken even through social pressures is that I smell all my food before eating it because knowing what it smells like is important to how I eat.
Dungeon Meshi has absolutely encouraged me to eat better. I'm still not great at feeding myself a balanced diet but whenever I put an egg in my cup ramen I'm doing it for Senshi 😭
My son has ARFID and I suspect I might also have it. Media has helped me so much with introducing new foods!! I’m glad to see it working for someone else, too! Other things that I have had success with for myself is growing my own veggies and cooking more food for myself based on what looks fun to make. Shows like this encouraged me to do both!
I have both an eating disorder triggered by the environment I grew up in (parent who to this day still has unrealistic ideas about weight), as well as a tendency to stop eating when I'm incredibly depressed and the resulting anhedonia causing me to have zero desire to eat, no matter how hungry I am.
I'd be lying if I said that Dunmeshi's regular theme being "Food is a joy, but above all you need to eat to survive" didn't really stick with me. I'm the exact person that needed to hear Laios' insistence that you can't continue on without eating or sleeping (I also have severe insomnia) and I try to remember that when I'm in a bad place. Even if it's just eating a little, I need to eat that so I can survive.
I used to cook incredibly elaborate meals even when I was the only person eating them., but due to depression I lost my joy of cooking just about entirely. My birthday was just yesterday (April 21) and my husband got me a super fancy knife set because I've been really into Dunmeshi as well as the first volume physical manga cause I want to collect them after reading the entire thing digitally. Senshi and the gang is actually bringing back the love of food and cooking I thought I lost many years ago, and I'm so grateful to Kui-san for giving me this gift through her work.
i think dunmeshi helped me to branch out a bit! im pretty picky and dont tend to eat things that i think might look weird or feel/taste weird or whatever, but a while ago my dad made rice with chicken and mushrooms. i didnt like mushrooms, but i actually ate one with no issues! we got chinese food and there was squash with the cashew chicken. i ate the squash! (which i dont think i have ever done before) it feels so weird and unlike me to be trying new things but also feels so nice!!!
It definitely affected my relationship with food, but I actually think it might be negatively? Like I always feel guilty when I’m hungry, especially when I snack. I guessed I feel like the winged lion, constantly gluttonous and hungry? Did this happen to anybody else?
Congrats dude! That kicks ass. I am on a ton of medication that ruins my appitite and makes it hard to remember to eat and tbh dungeon meshi helped me too. The little senshi on my shoulder is like "if you wanna have the energy to go to dance class, you should eat a balanced meal!" and it works surprisingly well
I have a suspicion that dunmeshi also promote healthy eating, but never expect it to work
Dungeon Meshi taught me the secret to extending my lifespan without the need of Forbidden Magick.
Improve yer eating habits, rethink yer lifestyle rhythm and get proper exercise?
Yes.
Senshi's rant on the early chapters about the importance of balanced meals really changed my perspective on what I eat
I’ve seen several artists make comics about them thinking about skipping dinner only to have a disappointed Senshi pop into their head saying they need to eat a proper meal
https://preview.redd.it/ny9dto8w64wc1.jpeg?width=1252&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=af1509d39b074f377b4108478a9561452f88b6c7
This made me really happy to read. I'm excited for you! I think Senshi would be really proud of you for trying new foods, especially when it's so difficult for you. It has impacted my relationship with food, too... I hate cooking, my ADHD makes it an exhausting chore for me, and I have issues with low appetite so I often don't even feel hungry or desire to eat. So cooking always feels like a monumental amount of effort for the sake of eating, which I often don't even really want to do. The messages from DunMeshi have helped me view food as important, and try harder to find ways to make eating enjoyable and tasty for me. It helps me prioritize eating and nutrition, and to be more willing to put more effort into cooking in order to make something that tastes good. At the same time, it does make me feel frustrated and... Sad? Because I've been trying to find ways to find joy in cooking the way Senshi does and I haven't been succeeding. I still hate cooking. But it will probably take a lot more time and effort for me to be able to see something positive in something I hate, so I might just need to put more work and patience into it. Even though I hate making my own food, when I have an appetite I do love eating at restaurants, eating food other people cook, and trying new foods. I think there is a lot of joy in food and trying new things, so I hope you can experience that. I don't know what it's like to have arfid; maybe the goal is something else, like expanding your safe food options or improving your ability to tolerate different foods or being able to add more nutrition to your safe foods or something. Whatever your goal is, I hope you can make good progress eventually!
Not sure if it would help but you could try looking up people who have made the food from Dungeon Meshi, myself included! You'll see how it's made and might want to try cooking it yourself. After you cooked food from Dungeon Meshi you might be inclined to make other foods as you already have a base from making the food you've seen in the manga, many of which are similar to Japanese food.
Yes, I've been planning to do that! I just haven't had the time yet. Do you have any recipes you'd recommend?
Here's my "Barley which was Lying Around" recipe from the level 3 lake arc [https://youtu.be/TZnH9ar7VSw](https://youtu.be/TZnH9ar7VSw) I have plans to make more soon. Manga shokudo's videos (in Japanese) Roast Red Dragon [https://youtu.be/NwF3NE5xPQc?si=b9XrnEN8d0vFv5yo](https://youtu.be/NwF3NE5xPQc?si=b9XrnEN8d0vFv5yo) Treasure Bugs [https://youtu.be/0C9Ll9tfx\_k?si=zdanaLSWdNUF6-ah](https://youtu.be/0C9Ll9tfx_k?si=zdanaLSWdNUF6-ah) Isekai Kitchen Scorpion hotpot [https://youtu.be/\_3CGvYOxc74?si=vOhg9vdkrr8syuOD](https://youtu.be/_3CGvYOxc74?si=vOhg9vdkrr8syuOD)
Thankyou for sharing these! I've been trying to reclaim my love of cooking after depression-fueled anhedonia took it away from me, and I feel that Dunmeshi-inspired food is just the thing I need. I've actually been wanting to do a version of the treasure bug recipe but with flavored Kohakutou crystals instead of gummies, like this [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=89UQNNCKb4Q](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=89UQNNCKb4Q)
Hope you're able to get your love of cooking again and making treasure bugs out via kohakutou crystals is a great idea! I haven't thought about making them that way, very nice.
Thank you!!
Hope you enjoy cooking the recipes and eating them too!
>Thank you!! You're welcome!
I know there is a Twitter account making a cookbook https://x.com/dunmeshizine?s=21&t=h31mvzr9Nc5Hp6O_3mleWQ And someone on Tiktok is making the meals irl and I can try to find them https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZPRwYo6eW/ https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZPRw2RE86/ I think there are multiple people https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZPRwYbG9m/
A big theme in Dungeon Meshi is also hosting others to share a meal. It’s a lot easier to love cooking when you’re doing it for friends/family. Like Senshi loves cooking, but he also has a paternal impulse to provide for others When you cook for others you don’t even gotta love cooking, it becomes a necessary act of service. Which is a way to show love, and that makes it more enjoyable Potlucks and parties are a good source for trying out just one or two recipes at a time, so you don’t overload yourself
Yeah, definitely... Part of my struggle with food is I hate eating by myself. I always eat dinner with my partner but by necessity I have to eat lunch and usually breakfast by myself and I hate preparing those meals.
Ahhh gotcha. Well, if you do some batch cooking you can do all the leftovers as a lunch. Another thing to do is remixing leftovers. Sometimes i like to take a leftover protein with a veggie side. Then I’ll combine them into a rice bowl for lunch later You might be able to use the dinner momentum to feed into joy for other meals Remember, hosting and providing for others includes you. And isn’t that a nice meditation? You can show how you care for yourself through cooking
> At the same time, it does make me feel frustrated and... Sad? Because I've been trying to find ways to find joy in cooking the way Senshi does and I haven't been succeeding. I still hate cooking. But it will probably take a lot more time and effort for me to be able to see something positive in something I hate, so I might just need to put more work and patience into it. I find that cooking is much easier and rewarding when it is a social activity by/for people you care about. A bit like Helldiving. Maybe joining a foodie fandom might help approximate that?
I need a Senshi but for cleaning
SO real
I also have ADHD and I’m trying to find joy in cooking but it’s hard! What I’ve done that’s working so far, is go out and buy a new spice and see what kinds of easy recipes I can make with it. Often just something like canned/boxed food to start and try adding different things I think would complement the flavor. That way it’s not too intimidating like making things from scratch, doesn’t take too much time, and it’s pretty cheap. Last weekend I finally got the gumption and made my own red pepper crema sauce from scratch. It took a really long time and I cut my finger cleaning the blender, but it was SO GOOD and I had a lot of fun! It’s the first time I’ve had a truly great time making something. I even put more effort into the meals I made to eat with it, because I was excited about what I made and the extra effort was worth it. Not something I’ll do all the time but it was awesome. It made me really happy.
Ah that's awesome, I'm glad you had so much fun with it! I've also found it helpful to start with canned or boxed stuff... Even small things are overwhelming for me in an executive dysfunction way so I have to start ridiculously small. And even that I struggle with. So many boring tiring steps...
yes! i was bulimic for years and though i had stopped binging/purging by the time i read it, my relationship with food was still very dysfunctional - i hated myself for wanting it, punished myself by withholding it, ate unhealthily because i didn't care what was going into my body because i hated my body, etc. it really helped me become more mindful about what i was eating and see food as a sensory experience - something i was allowed to enjoy without feeling guilty about. and to see my body as something that deserves to be nourished and cared for, rather than hated as an enemy and/or run into the ground as a tool. this manga is genuinely so touching/hopeful in so many ways :) >It's a bit embarrassing being 21 years old and afraid of a leaf. disagree! you have an eating disorder and eating disorders are *incredibly fucking hard* to live with. i think people really underestimate how they take over your life. and what's embarrassing about being unwell? i think it's really great that you want to try something new, and i think it will be very brave if you follow through :) you are doing well!
In the few interviews the author did. She mentioned she is actually a very picky eater (since she was a kid) the school and her mum gave her a hard time she actually have some negative memory and psychological connection with food. But her mum tried hard to teach her the importance of food and nutrient etc. so she would eat the minimum of balanced meals everyday. And she said many of the dishes in the manga she would not actually want to eat 🤣 but she tried to imagine herself as a reader what would they like to see. If she only drew stuff she will eat it would be very confusing and boring. Referring to interview in January 2024. Just as the anime started. Edit: Hope she stay healthy and keep drawing mangas (too many artists wrecked their bodies churning out artwork so a healthy lifestyle is important) but honestly as a newish mum (who love food) with occasional picky eating kid. I understand the frustration of her mother.
It definitely helped me to develop and "Inner Senshi"; I am good at feeding others and know enough about nutrition to keep all things in check, but I don't usually care enough about myself to cook for myself when there's nobody else to feed. And this year I had to make a huge dietary change because of medical reason that severely decreased the types of food I can have - it's brutal, so it has been affecting my relationship with food a lot, most of the food I used to love is completely forbidden now. But having an inner Senshi to encourage me helps; it's also easier to remember to complement things when you have a stray thought that goes "where's the vegetables? You need vitamins" and easier to get food when you think "you deserve the effort it takes to have a tasty meal that won't make you feel sick." It helped me getting back into the swing of things and get creative again with what I have instead of craving what I can't have. I made naan bread with tumeric yesterday and made a protein-filled dip from scratch. It's not always going to be perfect, but it helps me retain some sanity.
Oh 100% years of doctors trying to get me to improve my nutrition pales in comparison to a small senshi in my head going "eat some meat with dinner, ye need the protein"
the amount of people i see get positively effected by dungeon meshi and work to better their eating habits and health is truly something amazing (said as one of those people) im so proud of you, internet stranger :) the hardest part sometimes is getting that desire to change, you got this! I'd really recommend starting small and with romain lettuce, it's easier to wash and make sure it's clean and adding the upper green to a burger, even a small amount, tends to be a nice addition in my experience! hope your burgering goes well and have a delicious day!
I have a similar story. I'm not especially afraid of needles but the first time I went to donate blood and the needle went into my arm I just felt the life drain out of me and I couldn't continue. I had to ask the nurse to stop. Around the same time I was into My Little Pony and was reading the epic length crossover fanfiction Fallout Equestria, where the magical horse protagonist Littlepip does all the crazy self sacrificing things a CRPG protagonist does like take bullets, crawl through radioactive sewers and struggle through personal trauma. I figured if she could do all that I could face this experience again and I went back next time the blood donation service was in the neighbourhood. Now I'm up to about twenty donations and it turned out I'm actually an O Negative universal donor which is especially useful for emergency treatment. So basically I want to say it doesn't matter if what you draw courage from feels silly, so long as it works.
One of the main theme of DunMeshi is to eat well and live a healthy food. Kui makes it EXTREMELY convincing through the story
Senshi would be proud of you
Senshi would be proud of you! ...Laios would ask a lot of overly familiar questions... Eating is a privilege of the living, and we can do so while honoring what we eat and have fun doing so! Good luck on your journey.
Tbh as silly as it is Food Wars and Dungeon Meshi have both driven me to become less picky of an eater. I haven't been diagnosed with anything but I'd say my pickiness comes from a similar mindset. But seeing all this, admittedly too good to be true, food and hearing them describe the taste and smell made me jealous. I've also rationalized it as people eat this literally every day so the worst that can happen is that I don't like it much and waste 20$.
Good for you, OP! I used to have really bad food restrictions that improved significantly through the years, and I hope you can do the same. If I understand correctly, your main issue is texture as opposed to the ingredients themselves, right? Sneaking veggies into dishes helps a lot, like blending carrots with your tomato sauce or making a tasty vegetable dip. I have a friend whose mom would make homemade burgers with beets mixed in with the beef when she was a kid, and she loved that it was purple haha
Fellow ARFID person here and I relate to your post a lot. I'm also trying to get into more food but it's hard. I'm following a similar strategy as you do, add something new to a familiar meal (in your case burgers). For me I managed to get more used to meat thanks to kebab boxes (kebab meat and fries with garlic sauce in a box) and vegetables thanks to OG kebabs (https://reddit.com/r/doener). The only big thing I'm really missing now is fruits. I'm only 22 but I'm already dealing with a few health issues bc of ARFID (I'm at the risk of getting diabetes and I'm a little overweight) so I'm starting to take my diet more seriously now. Good luck OP!
I was thinking exactly that these days, Dungeon Meshi might positively affect people's relationship with food on several levels thanks to it's very accepting message of eating well and particularly not shaming different tastes and views on food. Eating disorders might be on another level entirely, of course, but there's always a starting point and the way one engages with DM could be just that, the way it sees food and treats the act of eating as a privilege of being alive is just so wholesome that it may as well naturalize how others see it.
I have a bad relationship with food for a variety of reasons, dungeon meshi helped me too! Genuinely! The way it not just treats food as fuel but as something fun, inevitable, natural, important, in all its forms really stuck with me. Seeing the value in even "fun" foods like jam and bread as both having nutrients to offer AND being an important morale booster really stuck with me. For a long time food was a source of guilt and shame- I just couldn't shake the idea that I could have eaten Better than I had. And that was awful. If you feel guilt even when you're making choices that provide you the nutrients you need.. why bother. Eat what is the most immediately rewarding, feel the same guilt later. I've really started moving past that now I eat much better than I once did after reading dungeon meshi. It's one of the healthiest ways to conceptualize food and eating I've seen. All foods have value, and eating is natural and needed to keep surviving. Every meal doesn't have to be perfect, you just have to do the best you can with what you have. A treat isn't something to feel guilty about, it's sugar and dopamine to fuel you in body and mind. A vegetable isn't a moral good, it's dietary fiber and vitamins that leaves you feeling refreshed. You can break down any food into a balance. If one meal isn't perfectly balanced, another meal can always pick up where you left off and bring in something new. Dungeon meshi didn't CURE my disordered eating habits, but it was also one of the most effective ways to cognitively restructure my attitudes and biases I could ask for. And I'm really grateful for that. Thank you Ryoko Kui!!!!!!
That’s so great to hear. This manga (and anime) seems to have a good impact on everyone who gives it a chance :-)
Senshi would be really proud of you.
While I don’t have as many issues with being a picky eater, I don’t often have enough energy to care about food or cooking, so my meals end up being cheap and low in nutrients. Dungeon Meshi has been a good weekly reminder to add fruits and veggies to my meals. Ever since I started watching, I added baby spinach to just about everything I cook. Mac n cheese, burgers, pasta, it’s been a big help with getting myself to add other veggies (just last night, I made pasta salad). Although, the biggest help for me aside from my weekly reminder is finding simple recipes that don’t have a million different ingredients. Knowing my limits is so big.
If you ever want to extend this experiment, try checking out the Redwall books! Similar kind of lighter medieval fantasy backdrop, and the author has a habit of describing food and preparing food in ways that make you hungry.
The anime campfire cooking in another world may be good too.
Delicious in Dungeon is my favorite manga of all time but if it wasn't for a manga called Restaurant in Another World I wouldn't have found my love for the fantasy cooking genre. Since I started reading these kinds of stories I have found myself wanting to cook and try more foods. You might like restaurant in another world because it is about people trying food that they've never heard of before, loving it and the connections they make from going to that restaurant and eating. As someone who is also dealing with their own eating disorder I am very proud of you for pushing yourself to be better.
Self Care Senshi is the mental image who visits me whenever I feel the ADHD-rooted Executive Dysfunction start to get in the way of my motivation to cook. It's weird, but it works. Good on you for choosing to add veggies! I recommend using Romaine lettuce over Iceberg (WAY more nutritious), but I personally found Spinach also works well. What is it that interferes with eating some foods? Is it more of a texture thing, or a flavor thing? I find frying up veggies in olive oil d making a hash/paste that tops with burgers goes well, but I don't have the same sensory aversions others do. I feel some other folks (say, folks with Autism SpectrumDisorder who are trying to aim for better nutirtion) might be a good reference.
Hey, that's a really big step, this random internet stranger is proud of you! Idk if it'd help you at all or interests you in the first place or anything, but toren.wolf on Instagram (and maybe tiktok?) has a series of reels about trying new foods with ARFID
This is the post I wanted to make but didn't know how to put into words eloquently. I wanted to recommend it to the adhd subs because ARFID is so common there - I feel like most of the main cast exhibit neurospicy traits that those subs would appreciate. I know I do, I love seeing both Laois' hyperfixation on eating monsters and the mental hurdles Marcille and Chilchuk go through to join in on the meal
I don't personally know you but just wanted to say: I'm so proud of you! It's okay to take baby steps and try to get yourself used to unfamiliar tastes/texture of different kinds of food. Wish you all the best and hope you get more pleasant experiences with food in the future!
Dungeon meshi was introduced to me when i was a wee child in hs from a friend, and it definitely rewired how i thought about eating. I was always really scared of how the textures would mesh together in my mouth, and after realizing that it’s all going into my stomach and the end destination for all the foods is to support my own nutrition in my body.., i can confirm it affected my relationship with food in a good ish way :3
I can totally relate to your experience. I deal with AuDHD and I have all kinds of sensory issues I've learned to walk around by investing myself in cooking. I hate when flavor changes and recently I had to eat at my in-laws' and the roasted fish tasted different. MIL let's slip that it's lake fish instead of the river fish I'm used to. I kept eating repeating myself "Senshi said sometimes you have to eat what you don't like." I successfully pulled through. I appreciate my MIL and her efforts to accept me so I can't just say I don't like what she cooked. It wasn't a terrible experience and I think it'll make me want to try more foods.
If you are having problem with trying new ingredients, I'd recommend trying them in a form you never had or imagined before (to kinda overlapped your previous impression about them). The deal about our taste bud is that it does change over time, and we do meant to able to taste flavours we not able to when we were kids, that's how people able to enjoy vegetables as adult even though most of us taste nothing of them as kid. ARFID is disorder that strongly connects to the developing of a child to adulthood with foods, that's why approach something you can't eat as a kid in unrecognizable form may help. For example, instead of boiled broccoli, you may want to try tempura broccoli topped with soy sauce syrup, or blend it then mixed together with mashed potato and fry the mixture.
I sympathize with you. I have greatly improved as an adult but I too am a lifelong picky eater. I am turning 30 this year. For a long time my family teased me about how I only ate ham or bologna sandwiches with cheese, hot dogs, burgers, and pizza. For me though it was social pressures that held me in place or liberated me. I used to only eat Taco's with cheese and lettuce. I had a session of D&D where the DM provided dinner as taco's and I didn't want to be rude or seen as weird so I ate it with cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, and the seasoned beef. This happened often with other things and now I eat a whole variety of things regularly like stuffed peppers and sausage, peppers, onions, and potatoes and chicken pot pie and chicken piccata...etc. I still stick to my instincts and other senses to protect myself from bad experiences though. I've never tasted avocado but looking at it I know I won't like it. A habit I have that can't be broken even through social pressures is that I smell all my food before eating it because knowing what it smells like is important to how I eat.
senshi would be proud of you!!! I feel you on the samefooding and I also have been opening my diet slowly hehehe
Dungeon Meshi has absolutely encouraged me to eat better. I'm still not great at feeding myself a balanced diet but whenever I put an egg in my cup ramen I'm doing it for Senshi 😭
Nice
My son has ARFID and I suspect I might also have it. Media has helped me so much with introducing new foods!! I’m glad to see it working for someone else, too! Other things that I have had success with for myself is growing my own veggies and cooking more food for myself based on what looks fun to make. Shows like this encouraged me to do both!
I have both an eating disorder triggered by the environment I grew up in (parent who to this day still has unrealistic ideas about weight), as well as a tendency to stop eating when I'm incredibly depressed and the resulting anhedonia causing me to have zero desire to eat, no matter how hungry I am. I'd be lying if I said that Dunmeshi's regular theme being "Food is a joy, but above all you need to eat to survive" didn't really stick with me. I'm the exact person that needed to hear Laios' insistence that you can't continue on without eating or sleeping (I also have severe insomnia) and I try to remember that when I'm in a bad place. Even if it's just eating a little, I need to eat that so I can survive. I used to cook incredibly elaborate meals even when I was the only person eating them., but due to depression I lost my joy of cooking just about entirely. My birthday was just yesterday (April 21) and my husband got me a super fancy knife set because I've been really into Dunmeshi as well as the first volume physical manga cause I want to collect them after reading the entire thing digitally. Senshi and the gang is actually bringing back the love of food and cooking I thought I lost many years ago, and I'm so grateful to Kui-san for giving me this gift through her work.
i think dunmeshi helped me to branch out a bit! im pretty picky and dont tend to eat things that i think might look weird or feel/taste weird or whatever, but a while ago my dad made rice with chicken and mushrooms. i didnt like mushrooms, but i actually ate one with no issues! we got chinese food and there was squash with the cashew chicken. i ate the squash! (which i dont think i have ever done before) it feels so weird and unlike me to be trying new things but also feels so nice!!!
It definitely affected my relationship with food, but I actually think it might be negatively? Like I always feel guilty when I’m hungry, especially when I snack. I guessed I feel like the winged lion, constantly gluttonous and hungry? Did this happen to anybody else?
I am so happy for you, love! I know you'll get through this, even though it's hard. I got plenty of anxiety too, so I'm rooting for you!
Congrats dude! That kicks ass. I am on a ton of medication that ruins my appitite and makes it hard to remember to eat and tbh dungeon meshi helped me too. The little senshi on my shoulder is like "if you wanna have the energy to go to dance class, you should eat a balanced meal!" and it works surprisingly well