![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
articulation of autism
Content note: discusses food & eating.
I've talked before about how A & I are in many respects Complementary Autistics: he gets overwhelmed by working out which pans to cook in and I get overwhelmed by working out how to get pans out of cupboards, and so on and so forth.
Sometimes this turns into teasing about being The Wrong Kind Of Autistic. I am the kind of autistic who wants silence; Adam is the kind of autistic who wants background noise. Adam is the kind of autistic who Prefers that Foods Not Touch; I am the kind of autistic who wants some of all the foods in each mouthful.
Yesterday, after I flapped a bunch about What Even Is Food, we (... A, while I sat on the sofa) ended up hauling a pot of tagine out of the freezer and making that be dinner. Yes good, I said partway through, this is doing all the things I wanted from misery pizza[1] only it's Nicer.
"............. you WHAT," said A, approx.
It transpires that: A is predominantly texture-driven, and I'm predominantly flavour-motivated. (It's not that I don't get texture cravings -- I absolutely do -- but even then, items to satisfy said cravings have to be The Correct Flavour.) Tagine and couscous, from A's perspective, is an entirely different textural experience to misery pizza -- whereas as far as I'm concerned, it's Flavours Tomato Sauce With Vegetables (And Cheese) on Carbohydrate, and can therefore occupy the same niche.
I hypothesise that this explains the food-order thing: I tend to prepare meals with complementary flavours, so I want Some Of All The Flavours, and as a secondary consideration I include texture contrast. A, as a primary consideration (we think), wants Separate Textural Experiences.
All of a sudden I feel like I understand him much better. <3
[1] i.e. pizza that you make the internet (via the medium of actual humans) bring you when you are Miserable because it is Stodge and Fat and Salt
I've talked before about how A & I are in many respects Complementary Autistics: he gets overwhelmed by working out which pans to cook in and I get overwhelmed by working out how to get pans out of cupboards, and so on and so forth.
Sometimes this turns into teasing about being The Wrong Kind Of Autistic. I am the kind of autistic who wants silence; Adam is the kind of autistic who wants background noise. Adam is the kind of autistic who Prefers that Foods Not Touch; I am the kind of autistic who wants some of all the foods in each mouthful.
Yesterday, after I flapped a bunch about What Even Is Food, we (... A, while I sat on the sofa) ended up hauling a pot of tagine out of the freezer and making that be dinner. Yes good, I said partway through, this is doing all the things I wanted from misery pizza[1] only it's Nicer.
"............. you WHAT," said A, approx.
It transpires that: A is predominantly texture-driven, and I'm predominantly flavour-motivated. (It's not that I don't get texture cravings -- I absolutely do -- but even then, items to satisfy said cravings have to be The Correct Flavour.) Tagine and couscous, from A's perspective, is an entirely different textural experience to misery pizza -- whereas as far as I'm concerned, it's Flavours Tomato Sauce With Vegetables (And Cheese) on Carbohydrate, and can therefore occupy the same niche.
I hypothesise that this explains the food-order thing: I tend to prepare meals with complementary flavours, so I want Some Of All The Flavours, and as a secondary consideration I include texture contrast. A, as a primary consideration (we think), wants Separate Textural Experiences.
All of a sudden I feel like I understand him much better. <3
[1] i.e. pizza that you make the internet (via the medium of actual humans) bring you when you are Miserable because it is Stodge and Fat and Salt