Picky eaters! Please come in.

[Agent Foxtrot]

I didn't want to derail this (http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=641000) thread about someone's picky-eater girlfriend, but since my own girlfriend is a picky eater, I have to ask: If you're a picky eater, why? Does most food just not taste good to you? What stops you from trying new things? This thread isn't intended to bash picky eaters, but for me to educate myself.

P.S., I have asked my girlfriend why she won't eat this or that (she refuses to eat sandwiches!), and she simply shrugs and says she doesn't like them. I'm very adventurous with food and I have to fight her tooth and nail to get her to try new things, some of which she's thanked me later for.

[Moonlitherial]

How about a (mostly) recovered picky eater?

My mother was/is a beyond horrible cook. I grew up thinking that I only liked packaged food because that's all that was edible. I then joined the airforce and lived in barracks and ate institutional food for the next 3 years. I was in my early 20's when I was able to consistently eat good food and my late 20's by the time I actually did.

I had to treat myself like most people treat their children. Try everything at least 10 different times before determining you don't like it.

I think my last holdout is sushi. I have determined that I absolutely do not like the seaweed wraps so it's a little rough there and I'm still working on the texture of raw fish.

The process has been worth it though - 20 years ago I wouldn't eat avocado, black olives, green olives, most vegetables and sour cream. All of those are now on my favorites list.

There are a few things I won't eat - but I don't think it's outside of the realm of normal now. Cilantro, really spicy things, curry and cottage cheese.

[enipla]

I don’t really consider myself picky. Though some I’m sure will.

I don’t like fish or seafood in any form. I’ve tried it many times and I just detest the flavor. I would like to like it, but really, it’s not a big deal. The seafood restaurants that I have been to always serve a good steak. Though the smell of the seafood is very off putting.

I dislike mushrooms as well. Combination of flavor and texture.

Don’t particularly like the spice curry, though I love all other hot/spicy food. Cilantro is OK in small doses.

[amaguri]

It's not taste so much as texture that bothers me. But I definitely have some 'rules' that surely make me seem insane, like:
- Raw onions are ok, but I absolutely hate cooked onions.
- I can't stand cherry tomatoes, but thinly-sliced tomato (like on a sandwich) is tolerable
- I generally hate sushi, but I can deal with something like a tempura roll because there's enough crunch to offset the squish

That said, I am a polite picky eater and try my best to enjoy whatever's put in front of me.

[Silver Tyger]

I used to be a picky eater. I've gotten better, mostly by eating places where not everything is out of a freezer or a can.

There are very few things I absolutely don't like - I don't drink soda (I don't like carbonation or really sweet drinks) and I won't eat potatoes (I'll have a bite or two of mashed potatoes and I'll eat them if they're in something). I also don't like salad - whether of the random cold stuff variety or of the random vegetable variety, but I like vegetables and if you put it in a sandwich I'll eat it. Or I'll just pick out the good stuff and eat that - I just am not fond of lettuce on its own. Oh, and cantaloupe. Just the smell makes me sick.

I only really come across as picky if I'm at someone's home. If I'm anxious or stressed or 'off' in any way (including low blood sugar, which, as you might imagine, makes things difficult), I don't want to eat (and it happens easily). So, for example, I have a hard time when I'm visiting my grandparents - usually I'll take some cereal, because breakfast is the biggest problem. And I have a hard time eating in the dark (it mostly only comes up when I'm camping, but I hate dark restaurants).

I have texture issues as well. I don't think there is anything I can't eat at all because of texture, but really smooth and bland things I can't eat very much of. Eggs are the biggest problem, which is annoying because I like eggs. But I've had problems with everything from grilled cheese sandwiches to cereal. I literally start gagging, and if it's really bad I'll have to spit it out. I haven't had a major problem with it in several years, but it's something I have to watch for.

I'll try anything at least once. Some things don't taste good. Some things upset my stomach (mostly greasy foods). I can usually find something to eat, even if I don't enjoy it.

[Lightray]

There are quite a few things I won't eat for various reasons. Some, I'm allergic to (nuts, berries). Some, are vile and loathsome (mushrooms, cilantro). Some, I'm not interested in eating because they're incredibly unhealthy (fast food, snack chips).

Not anybody's damn business why I don't want to eat them. No one's place to be passing judgment on me when I politely decline them. And someone "fight[ing] tooth and nail" to get me to eat them? Won't be having anything to do with that... person... any more.

I'm more than happy to eat bread or just have some water if what has been offered isn't to my taste. I'm an adult; I won't starve. And I'm not rejecting the person person because I don't want to try their OMG! teddy grahms with garlic powder and cheddar cheeze flavorings that they're raving about.

[Dr. Drake]

I posted a lot in the other thread, so I'll be brief. Basically, nobody told me that your first reaction can change. There are a lot of tastes I just find unpleasant. Add to this the fact that I don't crave variety the way some people do. I was always quite happy on my limited diet. I would eat fruit and some vegetables, so malnutrition wasn't an issue: I had no incentive to change. Why add unpleasant tastes to your diet when there are a sufficient number of pleasant tastes?

(I'm still in recovery with a long way to go.)

[Robot Arm]

I don't consider myself terribly picky, but there are a few pretty common foods that I don't care for; shellfish, mushrooms, olives, raw tomatoes, sour cream, guacamole, and probably a few more. Sometimes it's the taste, sometimes it's the texture, sometimes it's a combination of the two. I just tried a new Chinese restaurant that puts sliced water chestnuts in the Kung Pau Chicken; there's something about those things that just doesn't do it for me. But it's not the end of the world.

That said, I'll go back and try them again from time to time, to see if I've grown to like them. Or if I'm eating out or at someone's house, I'll try to be polite about it. I guess my one pet peeve is when something is served in such a way that the part I don't like contaminates the part I do. If I get a sandwich or a burger with a slice of tomato on it, I like to take it off (eat it, ignore it, give it to my mom who loved tomatoes) so that I can enjoy the rest of the meal without it.

And I still try new things even if they don't sound terribly appetizing. I've had chicken hearts and salmon roe sushi; neither of which became favorites but I'm glad I tried them.

[rhubarbarin]

Well I was a pretty picky eater as a kid, grew out of it by 17-18 and now I will eat almost everything (though I surely have my preferences and now that I cook for myself I eat nearly the same things each day). I had both texture and taste issues and for a very long time, could only eat certain foods (pasta, cheese) by swallowing small pieces whole without chewing at all... I was a crazy kid in other ways.

When I was 'picky', it was because the smell, taste, or mouthfeel of foods I 'didn't like' filled me with a visceral disgust and sometimes, nausea. Often if I chewed them up (since my mom forced me to eat a lot of things), I would be unable to swallow for minutes and start gagging and drooling. Often the nausea would linger after I had to eat something gross, though I never threw up from it.

It seems to be the same for a lot of adult picky eaters I know (my recent ex-bf was one). Though some are more just stubborn/stuck in their groove, than others, and can branch out with coaching, I think some people are truly much more sensitive about food in both a physical and psychological sense and they are certainly not living on chicken nuggets just to be difficult.

[pbbth]

For me about 75% of the issue is food texture. For example even though I love their flavors I hate the texture of most raw vegetables and several cooked vegetables. I hate the texture of some heavy sauces. While I love the flavor of yogurt I've only found one brand that doesn't make me gag because of the texture. The other 25% of the issue is flavor. Things with a bitter flavor are horrifying to me. The taste and smell of seafood of any kind grosses me out. I don't like the flavor of turkey, lamb, or game meats.

I've made incredible progress in improving my diet though. I've found that the foods that I have texture issues with aren't a problem if they are diced small enough. I would never be able to sit down in front of a salad with lettuce, onion and red peppers but I just ate a wrap that had all of those things in it because they were diced very small and mixed in with black beans, corn, and chicken. Mushrooms (the worst of the texture issues for me) also don't bother me when diced up which means now I get to enjoy things like stroganoff or beef bourginon (sp?).

A large part of the reason I've been able to stretch my food boundaries is because of my husband. He absolutely respects that I am an adult and able to make my own decisions about what I will and will not eat. He doesn't cook salmon with a side salad and then make sad faces because I don't want to try it. Instead he finds ways to help me cook foods in such a way that they won't bother me. He knows that the bitter flavor of broccoli is not acceptable, but what if we saute it with garlic in some olive oil and then add some soy sauce? Then it is perfectly fine. Not my favorite thing in the world but I can absolutely eat broccoli cooked this way. The texture of onions is not okay but if you dice them up and saute them a little bit they can be added to almost anything and I have no problem with that. In fact many of the things I cook now start with dicing up an onion and frying it with some garlic. Because he has been so accepting of my issues with food and not judgmental of me for it that makes me want to expand my palate enough that we can go to restaurants that don't really appeal to me because it would make him happy. I used to not even be willing to walk into an Indian restaurant at all but now I will go in and sit with him while he eats and have some garlic naan. He does the same thing for me. He thought he wasn't a big fan of German food until I took him out to a lovely little German place downtown and now it is one of his favorite things. He swore he hated pot roast but because I love it he tries it when I make it. Sometimes he likes it and sometimes he isn't impressed but he makes the effort for me which makes me want to make the effort for him.

[monstro]

I'm not picky. I'm not a very sensitive taster or texturer, so unless it's really gross (liked canned asparagus), I'll eat it.

But I do tend to look askance at spicy foods. I don't like the "spicy" burps that usually follow. If one considers my diet, they'd think I was a very boring person. I usually eat the same bland things day after day. The first food that always comes to mind when I'm planning a meal is pizza. And then I'll have to remind myself that I had pizza yesterday and the day before that. Sometimes this isn't enough to persuade me against having pizza yet again! Every day at lunch I eat cheese toast, which is just a dumbed-down form of pizza. It's a running joke at work.

I don't think I've always been like this, at least to such a weird degree, but now I can't seem to break out of it. I have more success breaking out of my routine with breakfast, though. The new thing for me is to try to eat at least four different things at breakfast. All last week it was brown rice, eggs, smoked salmon, and cream cheese. Today I had oatmeal, sugar, butter, almond milk, and cinnamon. It's my small way of diversifying the palette.

So I don't consider myself picky, just not very interesting. If someone wants to eat some exotic food, I'll partake with them and even be a good sport if I'm not overjoyed. However, because I tend to eat so blandly, I'm likely not going to like something that is too complex flavor-wise. But chances are I won't hate it either, and I'll eat it all up if only 'cuz I'm paying for it!

[Mr. Accident]

I'm a picky eater because certain foods will make me gag unless used in a certain way.

Chicken. The only way I can eat it is Cici's bbq chicken pizza, or when it's ground up and cooked in pepperoni or brunswick stew. This one I can trace back to my elementary school serving chicken coated in peanut butter and peanuts. I haven't been able to eat regular chicken since.

Turkey. I love the taste of turkey. Unfortunately, if I manage to get it down to my stomach, I'll throw up within minutes. Usually I'll gag so much trying to swallow that it won't reach my stomach. No clue what causes this. The only exception I have found to this is turkey pepperoni.

Fish. I can't stand fish unless it's in some type of sushi. I can eat tuna, as long as it's packaged in water and not oil.

Pork I just don't care for, unless it's sausage or bacon.

I don't care for steak. I love the taste, but hate the texture. If I can grind it up and cook it burger style, I'll eat it. Same goes for deer meat.

Can't stand the taste or texture of any shellfish.

I don't care for mushrooms except when used in gravies and sauces. Or when I'm using porta bello caps to make veggie burgers. I love those.

I'll try new foods, even if it contains foods I normally don't eat.

[Sattua]

I'm not picky but there's a category of food I can't make myself eat--organ meats. I've tried to eat them several times, going into it with an open mind and enthusiasm after watching River Cottage and Hairy Bikers and all that. And every single time, I've nearly thrown up two or three bites into it. Liver. Heart. Tongue. Chicken feet. Fois gras even.

So I have sympathy with people who literally can't get (or keep) certain things down.

[brainstall]

I never really thought I was picky, but I've realized there are a few common things that many people eat that I just can't stomach. Top of the list is any cooked vegetable that is cabbage-y. Maybe that comes from the epic dinner table stand-off that ended with me in tears unable to get even one mouthful down... nope, not even the filling, still tasted like cooked cabbage. I have the same aversion to broccoli and cauliflower. No problem with them raw, but just blanche them a little and they become inedible.

I was picky and unable to eat pretty much any cooked vegetable as a kid, but somehow I've managed to acquire the ability to eat some of them on the way. I no longer get the same gag reflex I did when I was younger and enjoy them now, but that sure wasn't from being forced to choke them down as a kid, it was more from trying them well prepared of my own free will.

I don't eat chicken or any bird meat now. I had chickens and parrots as pets and the thought of eating them squicks me out, just as eating cat or dog meat does for many people. Many people find that odd, but to me no odder than any other dietary meat restriction, be it religiously imposed (no pork, or no beef) or personally chosen.

I think I retain some of the food sensitivity of my childhood around berries and some fruits. I don't mind fresh berries now, but couldn't eat them as a child. Just didn't like them. Processed fruit - either in jam or in pies was totally out. Still not fond of any processed berries - raspberrry coulis makes me gag and totally ruins a chocolate dessert, jam is still off the menu, but I can choke them down if I have to to be polite.

Sushi, cilantro, mushrooms, onions... all ok with me.

[ugly ripe tomato]

I don't know if I'm exactly picky because the amount of things I will eat way outnumbers the stuff I won't, but there's enough things I'm fussy about that it probably counts.

I'm another seafood-shunner, unless it's battered and fried fish, because that tastes like fried batter rather than fish. The smell of seafood just turns my stomach and the critters either look like boiled bugs or giant loogies. It's not a problem, though, because every seafood place has steak or chicken on the menu.

I don't like blue cheeses or cottage cheese, and I'm not crazy about Swiss. I'll eat it if it's melted in something, but not a slice on a sandwich or something.

I don't like poultry on the bone or with skin, though if it's served that way I'll still eat it with the skin peeled off. The only exception is wings, which I won't eat no way no how. And yet I love pork rinds, and yes I do know what they're made of.

If there's visible fat on a piece of meat, I will very carefully trim off every last scrap of it because the texture of it makes me want to ralph. If that meat is steak, however, I'll be eating it bloody rare, which usually grosses out my tablemates enough to make them quit picking on me for cutting the fat off :D

[kenobi 65]

It's not taste so much as texture that bothers me.

I'm a picky eater, as well, and that's usually the crux of it for me. It's usually been vegetables (particularly raw veggies, or at least ones that haven't been cooked to death) to which I've had that sort of reaction.

I'll also say that, for most of my adult life, I've truly wished that I weren't a picky eater. I feel embarrassed when I'm out to eat, or at someone's house, and I don't like the food that's presented. I hate feeling like my fussy tastes limit what other people can do with me in social situations.

And, like Dr. Drake notes, I'd decided, as a kid or a teenager that I didn't like certain foods, and never went back to them until recently (I'm in my 40s). Thanks, at least in part, to a friend who very patiently has worked with me on trying things, I can now say that there are a fair number of foods (particularly vegetables) which I would have classified as "hate them" five years ago, and now can eat them. I'm probably still a ways away from considering a salad to be a meal :), but I'm thrilled that there's progress.

[Leaffan]

A recurring theme here is texture. This confuses the hell out of me frankly. Why does texture matter? I'm asking this only to get some perspective.

[diggerwam]

A few things are just too messy to eat. Wings ribs crab legs etc. Too much work involved. Other things I just don't like. Coffee pickled stuff. Cottage chs. I'm slowly coming around to blue chs mainly in pasta or on top of a steak. I just wasn't exposed to a lot when I wad young. Difference is that I like to try new things and I live flavors. I'm a lot better than I used to be. When I first starting dating my wife I called non American chs gourmet cheese.

[CrazyCatLady]

I didn't want to derail this (http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=641000) thread about someone's picky-eater girlfriend, but since my own girlfriend is a picky eater, I have to ask: If you're a picky eater, why? Does most food just not taste good to you? What stops you from trying new things? This thread isn't intended to bash picky eaters, but for me to educate myself.

P.S., I have asked my girlfriend why she won't eat this or that (she refuses to eat sandwiches!), and she simply shrugs and says she doesn't like them. I'm very adventurous with food and I have to fight her tooth and nail to get her to try new things, some of which she's thanked me later for.

People don't always know exactly what it is about something they don't like, be it a food, an outfit, a piece of art, or a person. Sometimes stuff just rubs someone the wrong way for no immediately obvious reason. If they think about it long enough they can usually articulate it, but most people aren't going to sit and ponder like that about something unless it's pretty important to them. So it really doesn't surprise me that your gf doesn't have a ready answer about why she doesn't eat something.

Some of us just perceive things differently than other people. I'm not a picky eater, but I pick up a lot of bitter or sulferous flavors that the people around me just don't taste, and a lot of seasonings just generally taste a lot stronger to me than they do to other people. It makes me pretty meh or blech about a fair few foods other people shovel down, and makes me really enjoy things other people reject as being bland or overly sweet. If this perception difference were stronger, or if I had grown up in a less "shut up and eat around it" household (my parents wouldn't even discuss getting a half and half pizza, ffs) I might well be a picky eater.

[Lightray]

A recurring theme here is texture. This confuses the hell out of me frankly. Why does texture matter? I'm asking this only to get some perspective.
My nephew explained it this way: "It tastes like eating boogers, Uncle Lightray."

[CrazyCatLady]

A recurring theme here is texture. This confuses the hell out of me frankly. Why does texture matter? I'm asking this only to get some perspective.

Just like some things smell bad or taste bad, some things just feel bad in your mouth. Is that really such an out there concept for you?

[pbbth]

A recurring theme here is texture. This confuses the hell out of me frankly. Why does texture matter? I'm asking this only to get some perspective.

Imagine having a mouthful of feathers or sand. Something that has a distinct feel and is definitely not food. That would be really unpleasant, right? For a lot of picky eaters, myself included, there are some foods that just feel wrong in your mouth the way feathers or sand would. Even things that I really like sometimes get to me with their texture. Yogurt, pudding, and other things with that smooth texture can be delicious but my brain actively rejects it so often I can only finish half a container of yogurt or a third of a serving of pudding before I know that next bite is going to make me vomit. The moment I bite into a raw vegetable my brain freaks out, screaming "Food shouldn't feel like this!"

[Ogre]

My nephew explained it this way: "It tastes like eating boogers, Uncle Lightray."I get that. This may seem like castigation, but it's not. It's genuine curiosity: Why is it impossible to rationalize that it is not a booger? Lots of things are like something else. A roller coaster is like falling off a building. Swimming is kind of like drowning.

[Silver Tyger]

How many of you have family members who are also picky eaters?

My dad is not an adventurous eater. He'll eat whatever is put in front of him, because he doesn't like to make waves, but he wants meat (well-done) and potatoes. My sister is somewhat better - most of her pickiness is due to allergies - but even things she finds out she likes, she won't eat later (mostly anything beef. She'll eat ground beef, but according to her anything else is too tough. But she's eaten tri-tip and other tender cuts and liked it, but then ends up refusing to eat it later.)

[Leaffan]

Imagine having a mouthful of feathers or sand. Something that has a distinct feel and is definitely not food. That would be really unpleasant, right? For a lot of picky eaters, myself included, there are some foods that just feel wrong in your mouth the way feathers or sand would. Even things that I really like sometimes get to me with their texture. Yogurt, pudding, and other things with that smooth texture can be delicious but my brain actively rejects it so often I can only finish half a container of yogurt or a third of a serving of pudding before I know that next bite is going to make me vomit. The moment I bite into a raw vegetable my brain freaks out, screaming "Food shouldn't feel like this!"
Thank you. That was a helpful explanation at least and not snarky.

I can honestly say that texture just isn't anything that enters into my mind at all when tasting food. I mean, I'd think something was wrong if I bit into, say, a crunchy banana, or if the crackers were chewy, but that's because the texture would be unexpected. When I eat yoghurt I expect it to be creamy, and I expect carrots to be crunchy.

I really don't know at all how this plays out in other people's brains.

[kenobi 65]

I get that. This may seem like castigation, but it's not. It's genuine curiosity: Why is it impossible to rationalize that it is not a booger? Lots of things are like something else. A roller coaster is like falling off a building. Swimming is kind of like drowning.

You're asking someone to use rationality to overcome a visceral, irrational reaction to a food. Some people can easily do that. Some can't.

(BTW, as long as you mentioned them, I hate heights and thrill rides, and I can't swim, either. So there!! ;) )

[Lightray]

I get that. This may seem like castigation, but it's not. It's genuine curiosity: Why is it impossible to rationalize that it is not a booger? Lots of things are like something else. A roller coaster is like falling off a building. Swimming is kind of like drowning.
Interesting that you mention swimming, since I used to teach swim lessons, and rationalization has very little power over a visceral fear. It helped people terrified of the water not at all to simply be told that their fear was irrational. Showing them it was irrational -- usually, a teeny-tiny step at a time -- eventually got them into the water. But they had to want to do it (i.e., not simply because they were being nagged). And it was exhausting work for them.

IIRC, it was calamari that my Number One Nephew said tasted like boogers. And it kinda does have that mouthfeel. You know, the really wet and slimy long stringy loogie boogers you get with a chest cold. So it's not like there's even a rationalization there to argue against his reluctance. And as his safety is not imperiled by not knowing how to eat calamari, he really has no strong incentive to try it. (unlike, learning to swim.)

Number Two Nephew -- who usually cannot wait to do exactly what his brother does -- ended up liking calamari. And agreed they kinda taste like boogers. (That may've been the appeal for him.)

[Blackberry]

I'm a picky eater because I'm a squeamish person in general. A lot of foods are just gross to me. I don't eat any meat, I've hated all seafood ever since I was a tiny kid (and my mom did try many times to make me eat it, so THERE to all the people in the other thread claiming that picky eaters are raised that way), I can eat some dairy if I don't think about it, and some textures just don't appeal to me.

But even though I'm a picky eater, I don't think I'm a difficult eater. I can eat wherever, and if the entree doesn't work for me, I'm happy to have sides. I'm happy to eat nothing but a salad or pasta with marinara sauce or whatever. It only gets awkward if the other people make a big deal of it. I have an ex whose mom took it personally every time we went to her house and she couldn't fix me a plate. She meant well, but it made me feel bad, and it just wasn't necessary. I appreciated the offer and declined graciously and that should be enough.

[pbbth]

How many of you have family members who are also picky eaters?


I do. My parents both eat a pretty wide variety of stuff but my grandfather had many of the same food texture issues that I do. My brother is significantly worse than I am and I believe he is only still alive because of multivitamins. He will eat meat, white bread, white potatoes, a few condiments, the very occasional slice of pizza, and booze. He only gets fruits in his system in dessert form (pumpkin pie, apple crisp, etc.) The only vegetable he has ever willingly eaten is canned green beans and when he got to about 16 he decided even those weren't okay and I don't think he has eaten another vegetable since then. He works out like a fiend though and looks like he belongs in an Abercrombie and Fitch catalog so most women ignore his food issues because he is so built.

[kenobi 65]

How many of you have family members who are also picky eaters?

When we were kids, my sister was an even pickier eater than I was. However, now that we're adults, she is far less picky than I am. In recent years, she's taken some sorts of foods out of her diet due to digestive issues, but I don't think of that as "pickiness".

[aruvqan]

Well, I am not a picky eater per se, I have food allergies one of which causes me to use an epi pen, which is not fun as it is followed by a trip to the ER. The second food allergy causes projectile vomiting, and the third keeps me in the bathroom for anywhere from an hour to 2 days, and the last is similar though it has kept me in the bathroom for almost a week previously. I scrupulously check ingredients. I do have a short list of food dislikes, but I *never* call those an allergy or sensitivity, I will flat out tell you I do not like <whatever it is> as honesty is best. And yes, I have had someone feed me mushrooms deliberately, which resulted in the use of a fairly expensive epi pen and trip to the ER.


I think my last holdout is sushi. I have determined that I absolutely do not like the seaweed wraps so it's a little rough there and I'm still working on the texture of raw fish.
.
They make soy wrappers (http://www.soywraps.com/recipes.html) for sushi rolls that are wonderful, ask to see if they have them. You can also ask that they leave off the little seaweed twist tie - I do that all the time. And sushi does not have to be raw seafood - a soy wrap california roll is a soy wrap, rice, crab sealeg cucumber and avocado. I have been known to bring my own package of soy wraps, my grocery store carries them =)

- I generally hate sushi, but I can deal with something like a tempura roll because there's enough crunch to offset the squish

Have you tried the roll that is tempura onion, tempura sweet potato fries, rice and toasted sesame seed sprinkles?
There are quite a few things I won't eat for various reasons. Some, I'm allergic to (nuts, berries). Some, are vile and loathsome (mushrooms, cilantro). Some, I'm not interested in eating because they're incredibly unhealthy (fast food, snack chips).
.
Cilantro is one of those things that is a genetic quirk - to some of us it tastes incredibly vile. Also cruciform veggies like cabbage and broccoli are horrible for 'supertasters' to deal with.

I love trying new things, but my major turnoff is uber fishy tasting fish, it is like being slapped in the face with a rotting dead mackeral. I like neutral fish like cod and haddock. Sometimes even salmon is too fishy for me. Usually mrAru will order something and I will try it so we don't waste an entire meal. I will get some meal that I know I like. That is how I determined that tilapia and red snapper have flavor components I find unpleasant. I decided to do it that way when I got an order of catfish that tasted like a mouthful of mud. Doesn't matter, farmed or wild, catfish tastes like ass to me.

On the other hand, I will eat pretty much anything except insects - game, nontraditional animals [horse, rabbit, dog and monkey, rattlesnake, alligator, frogs legs so far] and organ meats [heart is yummy, not fond of the texture of tongue, don't like gizzards, most liver, kidneys, lungs and brains. Foie Gras is interesting, depends on how it is prepared.]

[jackdavinci]

It's a combination of fear, actual dislike, actual preference, and reasons unrelated to taste.

I've generally gotten over my fear of strange foods, but it's going to be a lot easier to convince me to try a small bite of something new than commit to a whole meal of it.

And, generally I know what I like, and what I dislike. Why should I eat something you like if I don't. Or even, if I don't mind it but there's something I desire more?

Also some people eat things for reasons other than taste - vegetarian, or diabetic, or allergy, or dieting.

I've found as the years go by I've lost my taste for certain things (cow, dairy) and started liking others (onions, sushi).

I've never understood food busy bodies though. Why do you care what I eat? A certain person I know spends more time pointing out things on the menu she thinks other people might like and asking what they are going to order than picking out her own food. Drives me crazy.

At one restaurant I used to get the chicken and shrimp dish without the chicken and shrimp, because I liked the sides and toppings it came with.

[Ogre]

I've never understood food busy bodies though. Why do you care what I eat? A certain person I know spends more time pointing out things on the menu she thinks other people might like and asking what they are going to order than picking out her own food. Drives me crazy. In my case, it's a combination of scientific curiosity - I'm interested in how other people think, and the fact that it has personally affected me. A few years ago, my wife and I gave a close friend of mine, someone who was extremely down on his luck, a place to live. We picked up all his expenses as well, since otherwise, he would have been eating out of a dumpster somewhere. During the time he lived with us, we found that he had severe food neuroses. They were totally inconsistent, irrational, and utterly maddening. I'm not saying this about anybody else but him, but his issues appeared to us to be almost childish - like a kid holding his breath out of pure stubbornness to get what he wants.

Example: my friend could tolerate a particular brand and style of a frozen, pre-packaged stir fry. Broccoli, bell peppers, soy sauce...the usual. Nothing exotic. One night, so we could all sit at the table together and have a meal, I made the exact same thing from all fresh ingredients. Exactly. The. Same. Thing. I slavishly imitated his preferred bag-o-whatever.

He wouldn't touch it. He wouldn't even try it. It even looked and smelled identical to the frozen stuff. He hovered at my elbow the entire time I was preparing it, expressing his enthusiasm and how happy he was that I was doing it, and then when I put it on the table, he wouldn't even deign to try it.

It was incredible. I was infuriated. Life and relationships are complex things, and he and I have been through enough together that our friendship will likely never go away altogether, but I have to admit - I was insulted. That damaged our relationship.

I'll probably never fully understand what was going through his head, but in my mind it was insufferable rudeness and childishness.

[Spectralist]

If you're a picky eater, why? Does most food just not taste good to you? What stops you from trying new things? This thread isn't intended to bash picky eaters, but for me to educate myself.

Yes a lot of food just tastes horrible. Some of it, such as raw tomatoes and mushrooms, is so bad it activates my gag reflex. And most of it is just mildly unpleasant.

Nothing stops me from trying new things. I'm almost always willing to try something new unless I've good reason to think I won't like it. Such as if it features prominently ingredients I don't like. There are things I'm somewhat irrationally opposed to trying but that's true of most people I think. Bugs, for example.

There's also the matter of degree. Though I don't like most foods I've tried I'll still eat them if necessary. But I rather enjoy eating and don't get anywhere near enough exorcise to just eat whatever I want without worry of gaining weight so why would I choke down 500 calories of something that tastes bad or mediocre, let alone terrible, when I can just wait till I get home and cook something I'll find delicious?

And there's a handful of foods I've found that follow an odd pattern of tasting fantastic on the first mouthful but seem to become more and more disgusting each subsequent bite until I just cant make myself go on. Tapioca and Spaghetti Squash are two such. I have no idea why that happens and it's quite annoying.

[Blackberry]

That's a weird kind of picky eater, Ogre. That does seems immature and strange.

After reading some of these stories, maybe I'm not as picky as I thought. Other than meat (which is the main problem for me, but still just one category), I think I could eat enough of almost any food to not cause a scene. I just usually don't, because it's not necessary. For example my mom is constantly offering me normal foods like a banana, peanut butter and jelly sandwich, fudge with nuts in it, grapefruit, squash, food with butter on it, etc., and I decline because I don't like any of those and it's no big deal to not eat them. But I could eat any of them if I found myself in a situation where it would be rude not to. I wouldn't eat a lot, but I'd eat enough to be polite. I just consider myself picky because I'm not an adventurous eater and there's not a lot of variety in the food I pick for myself.

[Rachellelogram]

A recurring theme here is texture. This confuses the hell out of me frankly. Why does texture matter? I'm asking this only to get some perspective.
It just matters a lot for some people. I am not at all a picky eater, I grew up on wild mushrooms and venison because my dad was a hunter (so really I don't belong in this thread, but just to answer your question). Anyway, there are exactly two foods I cannot stand due to texture. One is squid sushi (the white stuff with like lines on top), because it turns to liquid goo in my mouth. It feels like trying to reingest vomit--thus my gag reflex is triggered. Can't eat it.

The other is cooked pinto beans, which were the only food I could not eat in childhood. My mom engaged me in multiple battles of wills over this one dish, which was truly absurd because I would eat anything else that was ever put in front of me. I used to get gold stars all the time in kindergarten for eating all of my spinach and brussels sprouts (and going back for seconds!). But she made the pinto beans an issue, and I always hated the nasty grainy texture. Even the thought of them makes me a little gaggy (there's a lot of resentment over that dish). I have never successfully eaten more than 5 pinto beans without barfing. One time I sat at the kitchen table all night because I would not, could not eat them. I'm pretty sure that's the last time she tried to force them on me (thank god).

Refried pinto beans are cool, though, I love the taste and texture of those. Just not in their plain bean form. gah! eugh!

[Becky2844]

A couple things happened around the same time when I was a toddler that made me go basically non-dairy. First, I was put in the hospital for malnutrion because all I would take was my bottle. Apparently I lived on milk. In my crib on the children's ward they tied my knees apart and put an IV into my inner thigh. That was Clockwork Orange enough to turn me off milk forever. Sometime after that, back home, I got a hunk of cheddar out of the refrigerator and took a big bite. I didn't know it wasn't supposed to be covered with furry mold. (My mother was a bad housekeeper, cook...:rolleyes:.) After I finally stopped throwing up I guess I decided dairy products weren't so good. I do like mozerella on pizza tho and can even tolerate mushrooms on it which are another dislike, if I have to, so I use that as an excuse to eat a lot of pizza. :D I also can eat a little butter (1/8 of a pat?) on potatoes now so I'm not totally deprived.

[amarinth]

A recurring theme here is texture. This confuses the hell out of me frankly. Why does texture matter? I'm asking this only to get some perspective.I've heard it described by foodies as "mouth feel" - how a certain food feels in your mouth - e.g., creamy, crunchy, dry, slimy, squishy. When I find the texture unpleasant, I'm not going to like the food.

I've posted before, I'm a picky eater. I dislike foods for a variety of reasons, smell, texture, and taste.

My mother is actually a great cook (she's done catering, in fact), my father isn't a bad one, and when we were little, we were exposed to a wide variety of foods from different cultures - my parents are both adventurous omnivores. My siblings and I weren't catered to or spoiled as far as what was served or what we were to eat. Neither of them are picky eaters, in fact quite the opposite. I'm the only one who found many foods didn't taste good and now, I choose not to eat them.

I'll try anything once and most things more than once. If I'm served something at someone's home, I'll take at least partial servings of most things and say things like "it smells/looks so wonderful, unfortunately I had a heavy lunch, but I must have at least a bit of this delicious __________." I will then get it down, drink a lot of water, and have something else later.

At restaurants, I'll tend to be unadventurous because I don't like wasting food and I don't like wasting money. I know that I'm picky and I know that I can generally find at least one thing to eat at most places, so if someone says "We're going to __________," I'll go. I don't comment on anyone's else's food. I may order the most boring thing on the menu, but that's because I don't want to take 3 bites of it and then push the rest around my plate for an hour. That's a waste of perfectly good food, the chef's time, and my cash. Since the chances of my not liking something are so high, I'd rather order something that I know I will like or at least not mind.

One thing that no one has mentioned, there are also certain foods that I don't like in combination. As an analogy, I like Mozart, I like the sound of birds chirping, I like 50s rock, I like pop music, and I love showtunes. However, if you play them all together at the same time, it's just headache inducing noise. To me, a lot of food combinations taste like that sounds - I assume this isn't true for other people, because I see them enjoying foods put together in ways that I do not tend to like.

As I said earlier, I really will try almost anything. But I'm not going to keep making and feeding myself something I don't like in the hopes that it becomes something I do. That seems ridiculous.

[Johanna]

Everybody keeps talking about "texture." What's the deal with that? I never had any consciousness that texture could make a difference in liking or disliking food, until I started cooking for my GF and she would occasionally reject some things purely on the basis of texture. The whole concept of texture being a deal-breaker was completely strange to me. :confused:

I don't know if I qualify as being a picky eater or not; probably not. I'm 100% vegetarian, so every sort of meat is out of the question, but within the wide world of vegetarian food, I love it all. It's very simple.

[Qadgop the Mercotan]

I was a moderately picky eater as a young kid up into my late teens, and it was primarily a textural thing, which would kick in a gag reflex real quick. It was no fun, and I really, really hated it. Fortunately it wasn't extreme, and didn't get me ostracized much.

Eventually, I just 'got over it' for lack of a better explanation. It occurred during college, and the only possible (if unlikely) reason I can think of is that having the occasional 'munchies' helped me overcome it. My mom nearly fainted when I came home from college one holiday break, sat down at the dinner table, took some salad, and ate it.

Since then I've become very adventurous with foods.

[jabiru]

I'm a picky eater. I won't eat shellfish, avocado, oysters, eggs or asparagus. I'm sure there are a lot of other foods I don't eat if I were to dig into the inner recesses of my brain.

As others have said, texture is a big one - oysters just look and feel vile. Ditto asparagus. The smell alone of eggs or tuna (there's another one) just makes me gag. I wish I did like eggs because they're quick, easy and nutritious but they just make me heave.

It doesn't worry me and I won't force myself to try new things because there are plenty of other foods which I do like. As another poster further up mentioned, I certainly wouldn't be trying new and unusual foods at a restaurant because I dine out infrequently and want to enjoy the experience and not waste food and money by selecting something I may not like.

[even sven]

I've never understood food busy bodies though. Why do you care what I eat? A certain person I know spends more time pointing out things on the menu she thinks other people might like and asking what they are going to order than picking out her own food. Drives me crazy.

It's like how a movie lover might recommend movies to a friend, or a book lover might point out all books they think you'll love at the bookstore. It's a friendly sharing of enthusiasm.

[ugly ripe tomato]

Everybody keeps talking about "texture." What's the deal with that? I never had any consciousness that texture could make a difference in liking or disliking food, until I started cooking for my GF and she would occasionally reject some things purely on the basis of texture. The whole concept of texture being a deal-breaker was completely strange to me. :confused:

Think of a physical sensation that feels unpleasant: stepping barefoot into a pile of cat barf, sitting on a wet bench and getting soggy butt, grabbing a garden slug while weeding, stuff like that. Having an aversion to a food texture feels like that inside your mouth. Maybe it's not rational, but to someone who feels it it's very real and the first instinct is to get it the hell out of your mouth, and trying to choke it down anyway will make you want to yurp.

[Hello Again]

It's like how a movie lover might recommend movies to a friend, or a book lover might point out all books they think you'll love at the bookstore. It's a friendly sharing of enthusiasm.
Its really more like how a movie lover will castigate someone about their crappy, childish taste in movies, if "busybodies" has its usual meaning here.

[KAndre]

Texture/mouth feel is primal for me - I am one of those who can't stand underdone meat and jiggly, undercooked fat is the worst of all. I'll bite into it and feel it on my tongue and it's like someone lightly brushing the hairs on my arm the wrong way - it just gives me a instant creepy feeling. I can force it down if I have to, but if I don't have to, it is coming out. It's the opposite of the feel of crunch - a good crunch can raise the level of how good food is for me. And I really can't stand the taste of bitter (even though it's supposed to be more "sophisticated") or excessively spicy. All I taste is nasty and the pain. Beer, dry wines (and frankly most alcohol), cabbage, grapefruit (even Ruby Red), most peppers, etc. - again, I can force myself to swallow it but tend to avoid them whenever possible.

[Dr. Girlfriend]

<snipped>
If there's visible fat on a piece of meat, I will very carefully trim off every last scrap of it because the texture of it makes me want to ralph.

I do this too... I also pick visible fat out of ground beef. Just the thought of eating overly fatty meat squicks me out!

I have eaten and enjoyed alligator and sushi, and I can tolerate calamari as long as the pieces are small. But don't come near me with an onion or mushroom. If either of those are in my food I will find them and pick them out.

[Ruken]

I have varied tastes and love trying new things, but for some reason yogurt makes me gag. It's annoying, as if my body has some faulty security system for detecting and purging rotten dairy. I want to like yogurt. It's psychological too; I'm fine if I mask it with enough fruit in a smoothie. I sometimes have the same problem with cottage cheese, which is especially weird because I usually like it. One time I took a big mouthful and ended up puking up a small bit of the salad I'd just eaten.

[monstro]

Texture for me is context-specific.

Like the texture of canned asparagus? I don't even want to describe it because it'll make me gag. As a kid, my parents used to serve it with dinner and they were not the "just taste a little bit of it" type of folks. They would beat you if you even looked like you were going to gag (once I almost got a whuppin because my father caught me frowning up while chewing on a pork chop. And then he switched gears when he saw blood gushing out of my mouth, a loose tooth dangling by a thread.)

But take that same texture and apply it to something else, like mushrooms or meat? No problem. So for me, it's a combination of texture and taste.

Picky eaters don't like to be made to feel bad for having visceral reactions. If something makes you gag, sorry, but no amount of guilt or shame is going to make it go away. And foodies don't like to hear about someone's negative preferences all the time. They like to gush about food and use strange words like "mouthfeel" when describing things.

People like me often wish both of them would just shut up. Really, I don't care to hear what you love or hate in food unless I'm planning a menu just for you and you're about to die tomorrow and Jesus and Michael Jackson are also coming to dinner. But I blame the no-nonsense parenting I received as a child for my low tolerance in this department. All that anger at the dinner table taught me some things.

None of us are right or wrong. We just are. :) Can't we all just...get along? Here, have some chicken nuggets tossed in balsamic vinegrette and cilantro.

[CairoCarol]

Don’t particularly like the spice curry,

Nit-pick (that is to say, a "picky-eater nitpick", which is even better):

curry is not a spice, it is a mixture of spices, and the recipes vary substantially. Your average grocery store curry powder tastes strongly of turmeric and fenugreek, so maybe it's one or both of those you don't like. Depending on the mix, curry powders also contain coriander, cardamom, clove, cinnamon, pepper, cumin, and probably other spices I am forgetting.

[Omega Glory]

I will try things, so maybe I don't belong here, but I was considered to be picky because there were a lot of common foods that I didn't like. The main thing that seems to bother some people is that I'm okay with eating the same things over and over again, week after week. I made an effort to stop a couple of times, but keep falling back into old habits. For me it's just food, and some people take the process of eating and sharing it too far. It makes sense that someone would want to share food with their friends or family, but then it's not enough that the person politely took a bit, they want you to take more, and they turn it into a big production.

[Fair Rarity]

When I was 'picky', it was because the smell, taste, or mouthfeel of foods I 'didn't like' filled me with a visceral disgust and sometimes, nausea. Often if I chewed them up (since my mom forced me to eat a lot of things), I would be unable to swallow for minutes and start gagging and drooling. Often the nausea would linger after I had to eat something gross, though I never threw up from it.


If I had to make myself puke on cue, I could probably do it just by concentrating on corned beef and cabbage.

So yes, as an adult my diet is very limited. It sucks. I'm not trying to offend anyone, but I was a picky eater as a kid and bad parenting gave me non-physical food issues on top of it. And sometimes I try to give myself a break because being very attuned to slight variations in food smell, taste, and texture probably gave an ancestor of mine an advantage over a competitor who ate something that gave him food poisoning and died.

While I am not self-diagnosing myself as a supertaster, I do react more strongly to stimuli than other people. Noises, taste, the feel of certain fabrics on my skin, etc. So if I like to keep the volume on the tv down, stay away from strobe lights, be careful wearing wool, don't wear turtlenecks, why is it that much stranger to stay away from foods that smell like ass and, as stated before, feel like eating boogers?


But even though I'm a picky eater, I don't think I'm a difficult eater.

I think that is the key part here and it needs to be reposted every time we have one of these threads. I know I'm picky. I won't go to someone's house unless I know what they're serving or a restaurant unless I can peek at the menu first. As long as I can have one tiny thing that I like, I will be super happy with the company. I won't ask people to accommodate me. I won't make faces or complain. I'm happy eating crackers and cheese.

[chizzuk]

I'm a fairly picky eater, though I will try almost anything once and I can force most things down if I don't get a huge helping and there's plenty of time to eat it.

Most of it for me is texture. I can't stand many things that are soggy or mushy. I can manage a few bites and then my brain will suddenly think "OMG this is nasty" and I can feel my gag reflex trying to trigger and my stomach clenching. That's generally the end of it. Bananas. Oatmeal/porridge/grits/cream of wheat/whatever. Eggs that are anything other than hard-boiled or omelet-ified. Cereal with milk, though I will eat both dry cereal and milk by themselves. Sandwiches where the bread got wet (can't put tomatoes on, though I like them in isolation). Greasy pizza. Anything with too much tomato sauce. Ricotta cheese. Cooked spinach. Most leftovers and TV dinners don't heat/reheat well and are by definition soggy, so I never buy frozen entrees and except for a few things that reheat acceptably, once I've finished the first round, the leftovers have to go in the trash because I'll never eat them.

The rest of it is items that just don't taste good to me. Peanut butter, yogurt, green peas, guacamole, fruit punch, bacon, ground beef. I love Coke but aside from that I don't have much of a sweet tooth and think a lot of things are just too sweet and make my stomach feel like I ate a brick, which eliminates most cookies, pies, a lot of candy, and those nasty snack cakes.

Onions and garlic are body reactions: I get headaches and nausea even from small amounts and have to avoid them. For some reason, Snyder's Honey Mustard & Onion pretzels make me throw up every single time I have more than 4 of them. Which is too bad, because I love them.

It's not always consistent and sometimes I'll be willing to eat something and other times know that I just can't/don't want to. I have never gone to a restaurant where I couldn't find at least two entrees on the menu that sounded appealing (except Applebee's), so it's not socially crippling. I can be polite. It generally manifests more in the privacy of my own home where I basically eat the same foods over and over again.

[flatlined]

I consider myself to be very lucky to be able to eat what I want now. When I was homeless, I'd eat anything that didn't smell spoiled. Wait, that's not true. I remember crying because my milk was spoiled and I was so hungry and it was all I had. I shared it with my cat, but he wouldn't drink it, so I drank his as well.

Now that I don't have to do that, I eat what I want and I don't eat what I don't like. I'll try anything, but if I don't like it, I won't try a second time. I don't have to.

I don't like beef. Taste and texture. If I'm at a run and the food is hamburgers, I'll eat the side dishes and give the meat to someone else. I don't like mushy overcooked veggies, but if I have my choice between them and a hamburger, I'll eat the veggies.

[BigT]

You see, I don't consider myself a picky eater, since I almost never encounter food I can't eat. But I also hate a certain slimy mouthfeel that I've found in both sushi and slimy seafood like oysters and mussels, though the latter I can stomach on a limited basis.

Texture is also part of the reason I don't like lobster, but I like that same texture fine in shrimp, so there must be another factor.

But, like I said, I almost never run into this as a problem, as no one cooks this stuff at home around here, and I have a choice when eating out.

[Tracyfish]

I am a picky eater. The things I don't like could be due to texture or taste. Sometimes it's also the smell, which is linked to taste anyway. In college, one of my roommates once heated up something (a Reuben sandwich, I later found out) while I was still asleep. The smell was so bad that it woke me up and made me feel sick to my stomach. If something makes me feel ill just by the smell, why would I want to eat it?

Being a picky eater doesn't mean you don't try new things, though. I don't like seafood, but I've gone so far as to try California rolls and eel sushi when out at restaurants when they were offered to me. My husband calls them "adventure noms" when we go grocery shopping. Sometimes we find something I'll eat again, sometimes we don't. If we buy too much stuff that I end up not liking, I can get depressed about the money we're wasting on stuff I won't finish, and that puts me off of trying new things for a while.

People in this thread and the other one have claimed that you just have to keep trying it to like it, but my mom served sweet and sour Chicken Tonight I don't know how many times when I was a kid, and I never liked it. It tasted disgusting every single time we had it. My brother still hates ham, and we had that often enough, too. As a teen/adult, I kept trying shrimp any time it was available for a while, thinking I just hadn't found any that's prepared a way that I might like, and that still tastes horrible, too. How many times do I have to try something before I'm allowed to say I don't like it?

[Broomstick]

I didn't want to derail this (http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=641000) If you're a picky eater, why? Does most food just not taste good to you? What stops you from trying new things? This thread isn't intended to bash picky eaters, but for me to educate myself.
For me, the big problem is food allergies. There are common foods that can send me to the hospital almost immediately, possibly even kill me. This can really put a crimp in your diet.

Because I am willing to try things NOT on my forbidden list I"m a very odd cross between an adventurous eater and someone completely paranoid about what's on the plate.

For me, the most dangerous things wasn't flying airplanes, it's eating in restaurants or anywhere I"m not in complete control of the food.

[Ulfreida]

Wow, I guess I'm not as picky as I thought!

Or, better stated: I eat and enjoy more things than some people do, evidently.

"Picky" is a stupid descriptor for something which is involuntary. The word usually describes someone who has strong tastes or preferences in a particular area, like someone who is really careful about their knives always being kept sharp, or hates hearing the word "utilize." Picky might describe food snobs who won't eat fast food because it is all processed & greasy etc. Or vegans who won't eat food cooked in a pan that once cooked meat.

People who have a limited food palette are the opposite of picky. They can't pick, because it isn't choice-driven, okay?

People who can't understand why what tastes great to them might be like eating a glob of cow snot to some other person appear to me to suffer from a lack of empathy, compassion and tolerance. Greater failings than not being able to enjoy the taste of cilantro, in my opinion.

/rant

[HeyHomie]

I'm only a picky eater when it comes to four things; I won't even touch anything on this list:

1) Anything that's still wiggling.
2) Organ meats (or anything derived primarily from blood, like blood sausage).
3) Freshwater fish.
4) Anything above mild-to-medium (think Taco Bell™ Medium sauce) on the spicy scale.

Other than that, I'm game.

Mrs. Homie is a somewhat adventurous eater, with this caveat: Her meat has to be cooked until you can snap it in half. :rolleyes:

[Broomstick]

"Picky" is a stupid descriptor for something which is involuntary. The word usually describes someone who has strong tastes or preferences in a particular area, like someone who is really careful about their knives always being kept sharp, or hates hearing the word "utilize." Picky might describe food snobs who won't eat fast food because it is all processed & greasy etc. Or vegans who won't eat food cooked in a pan that once cooked meat.

People who have a limited food palette are the opposite of picky. They can't pick, because it isn't choice-driven, okay?
While I entirely agree with you, in my experience, those whose diets are limited due to medical reasons are, in fact, frequently accused of being "picky".

[Johanna]

Think of a physical sensation that feels unpleasant ... to someone who feels it it's very real and the first instinct is to get it the hell out of your mouth, and trying to choke it down anyway will make you want to yurp.
OK. I remembered an example I can relate to. When I was in Malaysia I went to dinner with a bunch of friends at a friend's place and they ordered out a bunch of meat pies called murtabak. They turned out to be nothing but thick greasy slabs filled with gristle. It was the nastiest, most inedible damn thing I ever tried to choke down. I couldn't do it. There was nothing else to eat except a salad made of raw onions with a dash of beets. I had to fill up on that. Maybe my most unhappy meal ever. Gristle, eeewww yuck! Coincidentally, or perhaps not coincidentally, I went back to being vegetarian not long after that.

So yeah, I get it now.

[kushiel]

I'll try almost anything, but I guess in some ways I'm still a picky eater.

I'm not big on spicy foods or certain ethnic spices. Some of this comes from being raised eating bland food. Now, I could train myself to become used to these foods, but I mean, where's the fun in forcing yourself to acclimate to something you don't like? Smell is a big thing for me, and East Indian spices are just way too strong for me. Even if I ask for milder versions of food, the cooking smells are very strong and overwhelm me. But I wouldn't reject a meal, I would just probably spend most of it eating naan bread and rice.

I'm more picky about sauces and spices than the base. I use less salsa with my nachos, but I still like them. I use less peanut sauce with my noodles, but the hint is enough for me. I like some barbeque sauce on my ribs, but please don't slather them.

[CandidGamera]

Texture, smell and taste are my main roadblocks, and my range of acceptable food is narrower than most peoples, and I'm always reluctant to try new foods because if it's something I don't enjoy, more often than not, it's something I don't enjoy to the point of extreme revulsion.

So I've adapted by eating fairly repetitively.

Now, when I do try new foods, it'll be something that has passed the look test (for approximating texture) and the smell test (for approximating taste), and it'll have nothing to do with how 'weird' the food is. I ate rattlesnake meat on a boy scout campout once. But I won't eat fried eggs.

My view is that this shouldn't be a big deal to anybody, and people who get upset about picky eaters perplex me.

[Ulfreida]

While I entirely agree with you, in my experience, those whose diets are limited due to medical reasons are, in fact, frequently accused of being "picky".

Yes, in food matters, "picky" is an accusation. I'm kind of amazed at how angry the picky girlfriend thread made me. Guess there's a lot of past ridicule and past suffering I'd buried.

[Sally Mander]

I kind of get the texture thing. (I'm not a picky eater by any means.)
The one that gets me is over-ripe bananas. I love bananas, but they have to be under-ripe, still firm with green on the ends. Once they start getting brown spots, the texture changes immensely, and I can't stand them. It's the mealy texture they get at that stage. It's almost enough to make me gag.

[Broomstick]

On the other hand, I don't like bananas until they start going brown... to each their own. I will, however, make a standing offer to take off your hands any bananas you think are just a bit over-ripe. :)

[Lord Il Palazzo]

I don't consider myself a picky eater anymore though I certainly was one as a child. There are still a fair number of foods I don't like, but I'm willing to try almost anything at least once or twice. Actually, I'd probably say that willingness to try things I didn't think I liked is a large part of how I stopped being so picky. Around the time I went to college, I resolved to try more foods and it turned out that I liked (or at least could put up with) a lot of foods I'd ruled out years earlier.

The foods I still don't like are varied enough that I have a hard time pointing to one thing that makes me dislike them all (it's not as though they all have a common texture or flavor) but I can't think of any foods I dislike entirely because of their texture (though it's part of the reason I dislike some foods, like bananas.)

[Annie-Xmas]

For 20 years of my life, I was either dieting (and not eating when I was hungry) or binging (and eating when I was not hungry). I finally took a year to learn to eat what I wanted when I was hungry. In short, to eat like a regular human being.

Yes, I am very picky about my food. I want it exactly right.

[alifeworthliving]

I can't stand picky eaters, because the ones that I know I perceive as "stuck in the mud." I feel that it's not just about the food, it's about hang-ups or blocks that they have...For instance I had a friend who loved calamari, but once I told her what it was, she was angry with me. OF COURSE I can't speak for all...but that's just my experience. I could never see myself with a picky eater :D

[Ulfreida]

I can't stand picky eaters, because the ones that I know I perceive as "stuck in the mud." I feel that it's not just about the food, it's about hang-ups or blocks that they have...For instance I had a friend who loved calamari, but once I told her what it was, she was angry with me. OF COURSE I can't speak for all...but that's just my experience. I could never see myself with a picky eater :D

I believe you are in the wrong thread. See OP.

[ugly ripe tomato]

OK. I remembered an example I can relate to. When I was in Malaysia I went to dinner with a bunch of friends at a friend's place and they ordered out a bunch of meat pies called murtabak. They turned out to be nothing but thick greasy slabs filled with gristle. It was the nastiest, most inedible damn thing I ever tried to choke down. I couldn't do it. There was nothing else to eat except a salad made of raw onions with a dash of beets. I had to fill up on that. Maybe my most unhappy meal ever. Gristle, eeewww yuck! Coincidentally, or perhaps not coincidentally, I went back to being vegetarian not long after that.

So yeah, I get it now.

:eek: yeah, if I tried to get that down I'd probably go veggie myself.

[Lamia]

I don't consider myself to be particularly picky and I don't think I've ever been accused of being picky, but while I like eating and I enjoy a variety of different foods there are several fairly common foods that I avoid.

There are some that I'm pretty sure gross me out because of unpleasant early childhood experiences. One of my earliest memories is of a time when I was about two years old and managed to get a jar of mayonnaise out of the fridge. I thought it was frosting or ice cream or some other sweet substance. I opened it up, ate a BIG handful, and had a very unpleasant surprise. I can't recall if I was actually sick from this, but it basically put me off mayo for the rest of my life. I'm fine with it as a component of certain dishes like potato salad, but it grosses me out to discover it on a sandwich or something. If the sandwich is otherwise appealing I'll do my best to wipe off the mayo and eat it anyway, but I don't like the taste of the bits of mayo that remain.

There are other foods that I've had an aversion to for so long that I can't remember ever even eating them, or that I have tried as an adult but felt an "irrational" aversion towards -- they don't taste bad to me exactly, but definitely didn't feel right in my mouth. I thought for years that this was a texture thing, but not that long ago I figured out that I probably have oral allergy syndrome (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oral_allergy_syndrome) (OAS). There are a number of fruits, vegetables, and nuts that contain proteins that are similar enough to certain types of pollen that they can set off a reaction in people with pollen allergies. It's usually nowhere near as dangerous as other food allergies, but it can be pretty unpleasant. What I experience is an itching, burning, or tingling on my lips and in my mouth and throat, and on some occasions my lips have visibly swollen or developed hives.

I'm self-diagnosed so I can't say for sure my problem is OAS, but I do suffer from hayfever and while I have no problem with many of the listed foods, everything in my personal "icky but I can't explain why" category is on the list. There are also some fruits/vegetables that I'm fine with cooked but that bothered me when raw, which is consistent with OAS.

I would guess that a number of "picky eaters" do suffer from OAS and realized at a young age that certain foods weren't fun to eat but didn't understand why. Since people with OAS can have reactions of varying severity or even no reaction at all to the same food depending on whether it's cooked, whether their pollen allergies are in season, and whether they're taking medication for their pollen allergies, it may be difficult to connect a particular food to the unpleasant reaction.

[elmwood]

Checking in, having been a participant in picky eating threads in the past.

Through the years, my diet has expanded enough to the point where I really no longer consider myself a "picky eater", but rather a "timid eater". Instead of the short list of foods I can eat when I was younger, there's now a short list of foods I feel uncomfortable putting into my mouth. However, that list still includes some items that are often unavoidable, especially in settings with catered or box lunches. "Okay, you've got a choice of tuna, egg salad, or ham and pickle sandwiches." The explosion in ethnic cuisines in the US, tapas restaurants, four years in New Mexico, and patient girlfriends have been a godsend in expanding my palate.

My experiences echo some others on here. For me, pungent vegetables and food with odd textures remains untouchable, triggering my gag reflex. I have ADHD, so maybe my aversion to certain foods, along with some supertaster traits, is related to being on the spectrum. Maybe part of the blame lies with my parents, who indulged in bland, overcooked 1950s-style cuisine, rarely venturing out past anything more exotic than Chinese buffets when they left the house. (I introduced them to Indian and Mexican food!) Dishes that looked like they came off the pages of cookbooks seen on The Gallery of Regrettable Food (http://www.lileks.com/institute/gallery/index.html) were a regular part of family gatherings.

It's ironic that on the SDMB, many of the people that deride picky eaters are also the same ones that go on about how revolting they find the food at Applebee's, Olive Garden, Chipotle and other chain restaurants. Why aren't always-on foodies considered picky eaters?

[Sally Mander]

On the other hand, I don't like bananas until they start going brown... to each their own. I will, however, make a standing offer to take off your hands any bananas you think are just a bit over-ripe. :)

Well, I could let you have one, I guess. Over-ripe 'nanners go in the freezer to be made into banana bread.

[aerodave]

I'm really suprised that some people can't understand an aversion to certain textures. Surely you recognize that every food feels like something in your mouth, and not all the same. For some people, it's quite possible for something to hit the mouth in a gag-inducing way, and not because of taste. It's not something you can reason your way past; It's a lowest-level, visceral reaction.

For me, the vast majority of things on my will-not-eat list are there because of texture. I can count on one hand the number of common foods I avoid because of taste alone. Because of that, I can't say "I don't like onions", because I eat them all the time...in all varieties, too. But I don't like onions as they end up in many dishes. Finely diced onions are great, sauteed onions are superb, and onion rings are fucking fantastic. Hell, most of the things I cook start with me chopping up an onion. But I cannot stand a big hunk of onion, especially raw. And no slices on my hamburger, please.

In the other thread, I expressed the same issue with tomatoes. Tomato juice, ketchup, spaghetti sauce (smooth) are all great. I love tomatoes once they've been mashed up beyond recognition. But a slice of tomato on a sandwich, or a chunk in my sauce, and I'm squicked out. Chunky salsa or pico de gallo is also not gonna happen. But put that shit in a blender and I'll practically drink it.

I actually have a situational kind of pickiness that is the somewhat the inverse of Ogre's anecdote. I am far more likely to find an "iffy" texture palatable if I've cooked it myself. It's like whatever deep-seated, instinctual mistrust I have for the odd texture is eased by handling the ingredient from start to finish. So in my own cooking, I'll leave pieces of onion in the food far larger than I'd ever be able to choke down in another setting. There are a lot of things I'll only eat readily if I made them.

[even sven]

Ui

[Fair Rarity]

For me, the vast majority of things on my will-not-eat list are there because of texture. I can count on one hand the number of common foods I avoid because of taste alone. Because of that, I can't say "I don't like onions", because I eat them all the time...in all varieties, too. But I don't like onions as they end up in many dishes. Finely diced onions are great, sauteed onions are superb, and onion rings are fucking fantastic. Hell, most of the things I cook start with me chopping up an onion. But I cannot stand a big hunk of onion, especially raw. And no slices on my hamburger, please.

In the other thread, I expressed the same issue with tomatoes. Tomato juice, ketchup, spaghetti sauce (smooth) are all great. I love tomatoes once they've been mashed up beyond recognition. But a slice of tomato on a sandwich, or a chunk in my sauce, and I'm squicked out. Chunky salsa or pico de gallo is also not gonna happen. But put that shit in a blender and I'll practically drink it.

Onions and tomatoes are two of my weirdest foods. I'm like you in that I like them in almost all forms, but have severe reservations about others. Potatoes are like that for me too. Love cheesecake, won't touch cream cheese on a bagel. Even as far as pasta goes, I'd rather eat just about any kind but spaghetti and similar. Its mouth-feel just is ick to me.

I've also relatively recently realized that basically, I like simple foods. Even things I like separately (pizza, meatballs) I don't like together (meatball pizza). I love lettuce. Put lettuce on a sandwich and I gag. I gag when I don't even see it, so it's not even just psyching myself out. I love watching cooking shows, but I wouldn't eat half of what I see because it's too complicated. Too many flavors, too many textures.

I will try new foods, mostly when something looks and smells good AND when no one is pressuring me.

[elmwood]

"Picky" is a stupid descriptor for something which is involuntary. The word usually describes someone who has strong tastes or preferences in a particular area, like someone who is really careful about their knives always being kept sharp, or hates hearing the word "utilize." Picky might describe food snobs who won't eat fast food because it is all processed & greasy etc. Or vegans who won't eat food cooked in a pan that once cooked meat.

In my experience, this is the mindset I seem to encounter when it comes to food preferences:


Foodies who shun chains, food that isn't artisanal, etc: not picky.
Hardcore organicvores, locavores, etc: not picky.
Vegetarians, vegans: not picky.
Those who don't eat seafood or mutton: not picky.
Those whose gag reflex kicks in on slimy and/or pungent vegetables: OMG SO PICKY YOU'RE SO RUDE AND INSENSITIVE TO OTHER CULTURES TOO HERE HAVE SOME CHICKEN FINGERS YOU BIGOTED IMMATURE CHILD

[gracer]

"Picky" is a stupid descriptor for something which is involuntary.


But clearly there is a degree of it being "voluntary". Many people in this thread are describing trying foods and finding that they like them, or eventually get used to them. They decided to voluntarily change their behaviour. To not even be open to trying to change can in many cases be rude (and it is often immature).

Your own experience is perhaps somewhat different, as you described quite some trauma related to food. But many people are simply picky about what they want to eat due to an unwillingness to try new things or accustom themselves to a food. Many of them start out like that having not been exposed to many options from a young age, decide they want to change and do so.

As for my own pickiness: as I mentioned in the other thread, my only problem is with Ribena. I have a pretty good palate and sense of smell, and I pick up a chemical that is also found in cat pee. So Ribena tastes of cat pee to me.
If there were a good reason to learn to appreciate it (like someone offering home-made Ribena) I would try to get used to it. I'm pretty sure that would work, I got over my vomit-fuelled dislike of Tequila that way (which was actually for an experiment, to see if I could get over it).

[CandidGamera]

But clearly there is a degree of it being "voluntary". Many people in this thread are describing trying foods and finding that they like them, or eventually get used to them. They decided to voluntarily change their behaviour. To not even be open to trying to change can in many cases be rude (and it is often immature).

You don't understand. The aversion is involuntary. Yes, that aversion can sometimes be overcome by act of will - but that's not a trivial matter, and many of us don't find it worth the effort.

It's like asking your significant other with a crippling fear of heights to go skydiving with you. He or she might be able to do it, on the right day, under the right particular circumstances that help ameliorate the anxiety. But more often than not, they won't be able to. Thinking of them as 'childish' for it says more about you than them.

And that's what the picky eating boils down to for me - a deep-seated anxiety that is triggered by certain smells, tastes, textures. It probably relates to my deep-seated aversion to vomiting. I still manage to try certain foods occasionally, but I'm careful and damn slow to do it.

The foods I added to my approved list this past year include sausage links and red velvet cake. And I was pleased to do it, but it took some effort. (Particularly the sausage links - I don't like most pork, and I don't like foods that feel like I'm biting into a finger, but if the links are properly prepared, they're good. The cake was easy, especially once someone told me that it tastes like chocolate.)

[Dogzilla]

I thought I was a picky eater until I started reading these threads and I realized, I'm not really all that picky. But I do get the texture thing.

My shining example is this: I love peanuts. I love peanut butter. I love peanuts just about any way you can get 'em.

Except for boiled peanuts. I grew up Up North and had never been exposed to boiled peanuts until well into adulthood. The first time I tried one, I was cool with sucking the salt out. And then I bit down on the peanuts. W.T.F? Peanuts are supposed to be crunchy! They are not supposed to be soft. Even though the flavor is essentially the same, I can't handle boiled peanuts. It's the only form of peanut I'll decline.

Note: My dogsitter has reported that my (now dearly departed) dog loved boiled peanuts. I always shared my roasted ones with her, the smell is the same, so clearly, dogs do not care much about texture. This tells me its a mind-over-matter thing. If I was starving to death and the only food available was boiled peanuts, I'm sure I'd find a way to get over it.

[Lightray]

But clearly there is a degree of it being "voluntary". Many people in this thread are describing trying foods and finding that they like them, or eventually get used to them. They decided to voluntarily change their behaviour. To not even be open to trying to change can in many cases be rude (and it is often immature).
No. The rudeness and immaturity is on the part of the people sitting in judgment of others who do not conform to their ideas of proper eating.

If someone else is not eating up to your standards, it's none of your business. They may have to deal with unfortunate consequences of their food choices, still none of your business. They'll have to deal with those consequences; not you.

[Vinyl Turnip]

Female picky eaters, how do you feel about giving blowjobs? Can't stand it? Willing to consent, but don't enjoy it? Favorite thing ever?

I have a theory that could use some more anecdotal evidence.

[Qadgop the Mercotan]

I have a theory that could use some more anecdotal evidence.
Be a field researcher then. Don't just sit back and gather data!

Or maybe that is the thing to do!?

[Krouget]

I'm recovering from being a very picky eater, myself, but as most have said, it's mostly been due to texture. I think we all have our preferences in taste, which doesn't necessarily make someone picky (IMO). But outside of any food allergies, texture would be my biggest hangup.

The interesting part is that it's mostly a matter of perception, since I've certainly eaten foods I otherwise wouldn't have, given they were mixed in or chopped well enough. So presentation has a bit to do with it, as well.

That said, I've mostly grown out of it and come around to trying a host of new things.

[Consensus]

I think it all happens in your head based on personality and experience.

I'm more of visual oriented person so I'll gladly eat a hotdog knowing full well what kind of 'meat' is in there. And where other mouths water at the sight of a juicy steak I just see blood dripping from muscle tissue that used to be part of a cow.
As a kid I had a traumatic experience swallowing sea water. As a result all oceanic food has that same unpleasant taste to me.

[ZipperJJ]

I don't think I'm too picky. But my body is averse to fish and seafood. Can't do it. Tried, tried a lot. Can't do it.

Same with spicy stuff. It physically hurts me. Anything spicier than ketchup can make me turn colors.

But I'm cool with textures. Don't really have anything I refuse to eat in small quantities (except the above two items) or at least try. But not eating fish or spicy food does cut out a lot of options. I don't quite care.

[missinformation]

My ex husband was this way...he only ate hamburgers, rib-eye steak, pepperoni pizza, french fries, and junk food.....he was raised in the way that he did not have to try anything...

Only things I refuse to eat are: grits, cream of wheat (had to eat both in the hospital after my first surgery after car accident with bad internal injuries...was not allowed to eat anything else, so it all reminds me of that time...), and anything really spicy. That also messes with the aforementioned injury....

[Vinyl Turnip]

Be a field researcher then. Don't just sit back and gather data!

I would, but I'm not a picky ea... oh, I see what you mean.

Sorta prevented from field work now, being married and all. (To a non-picky eater, thankfully.)