Background

Last year, my little one and I went to a farm for u-pick apples. In both of our memory, it was fantastic, especially the food. I even remember telling a friend that I usually don’t like food from a farm, but the food at that farm was so good that I loved everything. So this year, the whole family is going together.

Still many people, and still good apple picking experience. Unfortunately, this time, we did not like any of the food. Everything was like a huge let-down, even the apple cider! We thought the apple cider was delicious last year. The apples were also not as sweet as we remember.

I asked my kid: “what is happening to this farm, why this time everything tastes so disappointed?”.

She gave me a very creative response: “maybe we entered a different dimension, where everything tastes bad”.

I can’t help but agree with her. This is totally possible.

The idea

Here is an idea of a story: a world where everything tastes bad.

This story is about a group of friends on a road trip. The GPS loses signal when passing a big fog and they make an unexpected turn. Once the fog is gone and the GPS is back online, everything seems to be normal. In the next town, they start realizing something strange.

They first find out that their snacks taste terrible, so they stop by the town and buy some food. But everything they order from a restaurant taste awful. They complain to the owner, but the owner and everyone else in the restaurant don’t feel the food is bad, so everyone feels this group of friends are just messing around. They even find ice cream taste bad!

The first thing, of course, they look up online for reviews. They read a lot of positive reviews about the food they just taste. It seems everyone else can’t get enough of those food. They don’t understand. How is possible the food are so bad but so many people still think they are good.

They end up going to grocery stores and buy something they all always love. Everything tastes still terrible. They feel they are probably sick. They make some phone calls, and they go to the nearest city and see doctors. Their road trip is now totally interrupted. They decide going back home and discuss with their family.

This is the story about friendship, adventure, family, and food. A story about how to find the light when you have nothing to love. Think about it, everything you taste is bad, how can you love anything else?

It’s different to anorexia, which is usually lacking interest to eat or refusing to eat. This group of friends, they are starving, and they want to eat, but the food just taste bad.

Here could be a funny dialogue:

(let’s assume there will be a character named Daniel, Jimmy and Grace)

Daniel: How the heck is possible for all of us, every food tastes so awful?!

Jimmy: Do you think it is because we accidentally enter a different dimension, where everything tastes bad?

Grace: Stop it, Jimmy, that is not possible.

Daniel: Wait, if that is really happening, does it mean it is also possible that things we used to hate to eat might taste better in this dimension?

Grace: What? No, Daniel, you can’t be really thinking that is what is happening.

Jimmy (look at Daniel): Yes, you are right. We should find it out … (nodding his head and thinking) … what is the worst thing we ever want to eat in our previous dimension?

Daniel: Ah, I know. Shit!

Jimmy (raise his eye bow): Can you be less adventurous?

For now, I don’t really know how the story will go and end. But I feel it involves that they connect with each of their family, look for the food they love and hate when they were a child, and never give up each other and hope to have their taste buds back. Every story needs to have a sort of conflict. What is the conflict in this story? I haven’t fully figured it out yet. Will there any bad guy? I also don’t know. But it’s an idea.