Sounds like most of the readers in this thread have to put things into context so they are talking about the same thing.
Picky Eater vs picky eater
Nice Guy vs nice guy (lots of threads on this one!)
see the parallels? I think that everyone is talking past each other in this thread. I don’t think that Miller, QED, etc are Picky Eaters, they are picky eaters. Doesn’t sound like these guys are who the foodies (I hate that name by the way) are talking about. Is that a fair statement?
So Dio, Shagnasty, etc–are you talking about Picky Eaters or picky eaters? Seems to me that you should have no issues with a picky eater–since I am quite sure that each and every one of you foodies has some food (or more likely several foods) that you won’t or can’t eat. I love lots of foods and there are several foods I won’t eat. You not eating that certain food doesn’t make you a picky eater either. Nor should Miller not eating seafood make him a picky eater (and he isn’t a Picky Eater at all). He sounds like he loves a wide variety of food and can usually find something on a menu to his liking. Sounds like a perfect companion out to dinner. He is happy, I would be happy–so what is the issue?
So are you guys talking about Picky Eaters or picky eaters?
I gotta go with DtC on this one, a lot of picky eating is just people being childish and wanting some attention. Now, I consider picky eating as not only declining what is offered, but someone who feels the urge to explain why they aren’t eating. I cannot stand sitting down to eat with friends/familiy and someone has to go into a long story about how they cannot eat half the meal because as a child they were “forced” to eat something and now its just to much for them.
I lump these people into the same group of people who when you talk about a TV show feel the need to explain they dont have a TV or even watch TV. Some people just like being different, and to make sure everyone KNOWS they are different go about telling everyone how different they are.
Again, I dont lump people with true medical issues with food into this group. I do not consider them picky.
Of course not. But, as I have said many times, I would be stunned if someone didn’t provide the widest array of food they could manage to ensure everyone can find something they like. If you don’t do that, or if you don’t settle on a menu ahead of time, you’re being an inconsiderate host in my view. Have your jambalaya available, that’s awesome, but have something else in reserve as well.
Well, yes, it did at the start of the thread, in which I, at least, noted that a picky eater who’s being an asshole is being an asshole, just as a ‘foodie’ (I have never heard that term before this thread. It’s kinda weird, but I’ll go with it) who’s being an asshole is being an asshole. Got nothing to do with which side you’re on, it’s got to do with whether you’re being an asshole or not.
Kasper Hauser specifically brought up a scenario in which saying “No thank you” to a dish hurts the host’s feelings for the rest of the night, and I responded as appropriate. You’re taking my response to him and trying to apply it to the rest of the thread. Won’t wash.
Dude, you’re fucked up. Refusing the meal is rude to you, unless they have some overriding ehtical or medical reasons, so unless they offer a detailed explination of their problems, you’ll consider them rude. WTF? If you offer me shrimp, I’m just going to say “No thanks.” If you take offense at that, then too bad. I feel no need to tell you I have an allergy to them. So you know what, consider me rude, I consider you an ass for be so fucking judgemental.
You’ve got a lot of nerve saying that after all the other shit you’ve posted in this thread.
You might notice that this is a position with which nobdy disagrees. It is also completely at odds with everything else you’ve posted here, you hypocritical asshole.
And I think you are lying when you say this. Like the old saying goes, bird gotta fly, fish gotta swim, Diogenes gotta be a stuck-up, judgemental prick.
I don’t understand it either, but I have seen it happen. My wife, who is one of the most un-picky eaters I know, has difficulty if she’s eating any kind of meat with small bones in. T-bone steaks or prime rib are fine; on the other hand, the tiny bones and bone fragments common to certain regional types of Chinese cuisine can cause her to fly into a dramatic coughing fit.
However, she has actually learned to control the gag reflex to a remarkable degree, partly because she likes the dishes in question otherwise, and partly because a lot of my mother’s cooking does happen to contain such things. She’s also become quite adept at quietly disposing of an unchewable bone fragment into a folded napkin when no one’s looking.
I’ve grown up crunching small bones in volumes that would credit any hyena (small frogs fried whole? bring 'em on!), so I obviously don’t suffer from the same issue, but I could understand how someone who didn’t grow up eating that sort of food might have trouble.
I think that’s the crux of the issue; frankly, it seems that a lot of people don’t know how to be good guests (at someone’s home or at a restaurant) anymore.
I know a fair number of picky eaters, and they range across the entire spectrum from juvenile pains-in-the-ass to very polite folks who never gave me any inkling. Obviously, I have no problem with the latter types, but I do find I have very little patience for the former.
Examples of the former:
(Disclaimer: these are all people who we know well and have eaten with on many occasions; they have denied any food allergies.)
My wife makes a very tasty shepherd’s pie with (among other things) ground turkey and eggplant. This particular couple pretty much inhaled their first servings and asked for more. On seconds, the wife asked what the recipe was, so she could try it. We listed off some of the ingredients. When we got to “eggplant”, her husband paused for a second, then said, “Huh. Finally a form of eggplant I can eat” and resumed shoveling. The wife went pale and spent the next twenty minutes trying to pick out what she thought might be pieces of eggplant from her bowl.
This is the same couple who often insisted on ordering delivery Chinese food, then complaining that the (whatever they ordered) had zucchini in it, regardless of the fact that in San Francisco, zucchini is the obligatory “filler” vegetable in practically every dish in the local menus (and we had ordered Chinese food enough times for them to be quite aware of this). Lengthy whining about the disgusting traits of zucchini generally ensued, regardless of the zucchini content of everyone else’s food.
I’ve heard the obligatory “how can you eat that slimy stuff?” when ordering udon. Needless to say, we don’t dine out with that person anymore.*
Less annoying are the folks who don’t give you grief over your food, but make theirs into a major stage production. I won’t go into the details of the person we know who says she can’t eat onions or garlic, but insists on going to Italian restaurants. :eek: Or the person who loudly proclaimed that she had nearly “ended a friendship” over being “tricked into trying” sweet red bean paste in a pastry, while I was enjoying my incredibly-unhealthy fried sesame ball at dim sum.
At the other end of the spectrum are a lovely couple who still surprise me sometimes when one of them says (usually in response to a question about a specific dish), “Oh, I don’t care for ”, because they never make a point of it.
My vote: I don’t pit picky eaters, I pit people who lack manners.
*There were, of course, many other reasons for this as well.
Please kindly point to me where any of the ‘foodies’ have requested you eat anything as absurd as this. Boiled egg=! emu bladder. Most of the picky eaters I have known have made it a pain to eat at such exotic locals as TGIFriday’s, Chile’s, Red Lobster, Olive Garden, any of several chinese buffets, you get the idea.
See? If you don’t make my life more difficult, you are by, by definition, not a picky eater. And whatever I personally think of your food choices, like **Dio ** has said, that’s my business. I have not, to the best of my knowledge, made anyone feel uncomfortable over their food limits- but it does limit my association with them.
Well, I won’t answer for them, but I’ll answer for myself, as one of the self-described foodies. The capitalized kind (Picky Eaters). And yes, there are things I prefer not to eat. Eggplant (except in babaganoush–must be the skin I don’t like), raw molluscs, organ meats by themselves (as in, not mixed up in a pie or loaf or burger with other meats and stuff). I can take or leave (but would prefer to leave) zucchini, tofu, and scallops (I just don’t think they have much flavor). And then there are things I haven’t tried, but suspect I wouldn’t like, like lutefisk or the above-mentioned eyeball soup. I’d have a hard time making myself try them. Don’t actually know whether I would or not.
This is an easy cheap shot and impossible for me to defend, since anyone here can call anyone else a liar about what they do IRL. All I can say is that my MB demeanor tends to be quite a bit more contrarian and cantankerous than my RL. demeanor where I’m relatively quiet and non-confrontational. Are you exactly same off the board as on it? Is anyone?
You’re right, I shouldn’t have said that. Anyone who lets one little thing like that bother them is a hopeless mental case (maybe even more than hair-trigger projectile vomiters). I should have said that a lot of little things like that, taken together, can help ruin a host’s night, and that by subjecting yourself to just one tiny, teeny bite of something you don’t like and then pretending it’s delicious is a courteous thing to do, especially for someone who made an effort to make it for you.
Well, the problem is, we have only your demeanor here to go by. So that’s how we judge you.
I consider myself a moderately picky eater-there are some things I’m particular about, but I’m willing to try things, depending on what it is. (Escargot, yes. Yak’s ovaries sauteed in goat semen with a sprinkling of grated elephant’s tongue, no.)
It’s not supposed to be defensible. It’s an insult, not a debating point. What the hell would be the point of posting differently towards you? You’ve shown you have no interest or capability of being reasonable in this thread. Like every other fucking thread you’ve posted in for the last year, your chief motivation here seems to be acting like as big a dick as possible. Congratulations, you’ve been as successful as always.
In the culture of my people, it is impolite for guests to refuse repeated kicks in the groin. It is a sign of wisdom and maturity when a man finally learns to overcome his psychological inhibitations and embraces the impact of a swift boot straight to his nuts. Y’all a bunch of whining little boys if you don’t actively resist your childish aversion to bruished gonads. Real men aren’t like that.
As for myself, there are foods that I dislike though I’ve yet to try one that makes me puke. However, I CANNOT take liquid Nyquil. It really does set off my gag reflex. I don’t know why and there’s nothing I can do about it. One swallow and I’m pukin’. (I now take the gelcaps when needed.)
Picky eaters can be a pain at times, but generally what’s the big deal? We’re lucky enough to live in a rich country that has a wide variety of foods available so why not induge our indivdual tastes? I’m sure if starving people in third world countries had this option they’d damn well take it. I don’t feel guilty about this at all, though I do realize I’m damn lucky to be able to do so.
Stick your finger downt he back of your throat and tell me that.
Or people who have adverse reactions. My body finds that large amounts of Iodine are a poison to it, so if it encounters a large amount in my stomach it attempts to cure that problem by getting rid of it before it will be introduced to my body. I’m sorry that this documented medical condition doesn’t jive with your reality. Maybe you should get some help.
The allergy to iodine is a pretty common one and I’m not the only poster on this thread who throws up because they eat shrimp. Hell, I LOVE fried chicken. But the one time I visited Hooters I got sick because they used the same frier for both shrimp and my chicken. I didn’t even KNOW it until AFTER I got sick.
So again, fuck off you insufferable prick, I don’t have any patience for bigots like you.
Oh, and may I add, if you’re going to whine about indefensible allegations of dishonesty, it’s best not to do that in a thread where you started out by accusing someone of lying about their subjective sensory experiences.
Or about their level of control over autonomous functions.
Or about their motivations in refusing certain foods.
And all that’s just off the first page of this thread. I’m surprised that you can consider yourself a gourmet when you spend so much time with your foot wedged so firmly in your mouth. Howzabout you shut your pie-hole for a little while until you can at least be a consistent asshole? The tenor of the boards as a whole could only be improved.
