Eating at “Blandy’s”

Blandy’s is a fictional restaurant I eat at whenever my stomach is messed up, invented by author and illustrator Lisa Hanawalt. Because when your stomach is messed up, the more bland, the better. At Blandy’s, they only serve dishes like white rice with chicken broth, banana oatmeal, or poached chicken with steamed squash. Every meal comes with a cup of ginger or mint tea. Sometimes is just a few meals there, sometimes it’s a whole week I eat at Blandy’s until my stomach feels like a neutral space again.

I do season everything, so the meals aren’t actually bland, but I keep everything very mild with minimal spicy while my stomach is healing. It makes me more intentional about what I eat, and is easy to communicate my situation to my boyfriend by saying “im eating at Blandy’s this week.”

It’s silly, but giving a name to it helps me stay consistent and makes me feel less isolated. I got Blandy on my side! And Blandy knows how to heal me!