Ditto Mark,
The first meat I ate was a filet mignon cooked very rare. I had to cut it into small pieces but was it tasty! It's a funny thing about the taste buds also. Natural flavors seem to work most of the time but processed food still doesn't taste very well. I am kind of surprised that after only 50 days, I can taste most things already. Chicken seems to be the worst - it might start out moist but after chewing it it goes down like sandpaper. Pasta's work really well for me - I can usuually swallow it without sipping water with it. The trick is small bites and small swallows. If I take too big of a bite it tears up the side of my throat where the tumor was. You have to be creative when you don't use a feeding tube.