Ah, voluntoldment. We just had a big round at my workplace, but at least no one only a couple people up the chain are engaging with the autofellatory fiction that AI will pick up the slack. Even still, they canned the hypercompetent plant engineer that everyone liked, so half his team left and a couple of our projects are dead in the water because of it. /vent
edit: chemical manufacturing, not software












Milk, PB sandwich, cream-of-wheat (esp. with maple), low-caffeine and -astringency teas, Kraft Mac for all of 15 min before the gutache sets in (homemade mac is better if I have the time, but cooking is decidedly not soothing), egg on bagel with cheese (yolk must not be runny), chicken and rice or noodle soup without too much sage or rosemary where the veggies have become properly soft, properly seasoned black beans (see, my food does have color sometimes), and instant mashed potatoes.
This does not include foods that I often enjoy but are not (to me) soothing such as funky cheeses, most Indian curries (to the wonder of my parents), burritos, and mom’s spaghetti, all of which are exciting, tasty, and attention-grabbing but are not soothing per se.
Texture for the longest time has been the issue; anything without a texture surprise and that does not have an overpowering flavor (super sour, bitter, or, when I was younger, spicy) tends to be at least tolerable. I get most of my fruits and veggies by either stewing them to death in soups or blending into smoothies… or as raw bell peppers, for some reason.
Unasked-for list of unpleasant food textures
Wet crunch of veggies in soft pastas or soups (undercooked onions, green peppers, celery), lettuce of all kinds (plus it’s bitter, but no one seems to agree), the russian roulette that is a box of fresh berries, oranges with too much pith (and seeds!), the weird semisoft texture of white midwestern stir-fried vegetables, chewy chunks of fat or gristle in meats, sea bugs