Reminds me of a guy at a party where my Japanese wife had prepared sushi: this berk ate the entire teaspoon-sized serving of wasabi in one swallow. When he had finished turning purple and regained the ability to breathe and speak, he said in strangled tones “That guacamole was really hot!”
I’m a sort-of picky eater; sort-of not. I will try almost anything at least once, except… I absolutely can’t stand tomatoes (except completely pureéd) or onions (unless in such tiny bits and thoroughly cooked that they are not noticable.) I mean I HATE them – cooked or raw. It’s not so much the taste as I just find something incredibly offensive about the texture and feel of them in my mouth. I also can’t eat spicy-hot foods, and by can’t I mean that even “mild” salsa will make my mouth feel like it’s on fire. If I’m served a dish with something I don’t like in it, if I can pick it out/eat around it I will, otherwise I’ll just politely refuse or stick to whatever they have that I do like or can at least tolerate. Like I said – I’ll eat almost anything and I’m all about the ethnic foods, I love Chinese, Japanese, Mediterranean, etc. As long as it doesn’t have the Tomatoes or Onions of Doom [sup]TM[/sup]. Those I will eat for no one, short of my life literally depending on it.
But I don’t make a big deal about it, and honestly I can’t say I’ve ever been to a restaurant where there was nothing on the menu I wanted or was willing to at least try. Yeah, if I want the chicken pesto pasta, I tell them to hold the tomatoes, it’s just one less thing they chunk in the bowl when they mix it up so who the Hell cares? Sometimes the burger place misses my special order and accidentally sticks lettuce and tomato on my sandwich, but you know what? I just pull it off and chunk it in the trash and eat my food. I may be picky but I don’t bother anybody else about it. The only people who have the right to comment on my eating habits are my parents and my boyfriend, and some random assclown on the internet is neither, so shut the fuck up already.
Really… if you’re “sad” for me or anyone because of something they won’t eat, or think they’re a lesser human being because their tastes are different than yours, then you’ve got far more problems than anyone with finicky eating habits does.
If you have issues with Picky Eaters because they’re rude or whiney, then it’s because the picky eater is being a damn asshole and/or a poor guest, not because they’re a picky eater.
You sure haven’t.
Pretty good.
My favorite so far.
No, maybe this one is my favorite.
I am amazed and amused that such a stupid topic can generate so much angst.
I don’t understand foodies. If there was a way I could go without eating at all (and not feel hungry) I would do it. Sure, I like eating, but only in that I enjoy the feeling of going from hungry to full. I look at eating the same way I do shitting and sleeping: something my body requires me to do but is generally an inconvenience and a waste of time.
So, yeah, foodies seem weird to me. And yes I am a picky eater…but if someone’s cooking me dinner I will try to eat as much as I can unless I start gagging on it. This was a huge problem for me when I did a student exchange, meals would always stress me out. Meh, I TRIED it, I still don’t like it. What do you want from me?
How does these staements contradicy anything I’ve said about people being pains it the ass about their childish food issues?
That’s it. If Picker Eater is quietly eating their chosen foods at a restaurant, not complaining or holding anyone else up, it’s nobody’s business.
It’s when Picky Eater complains loudly, makes a scene, or always insists that everyone eat at Crappy Restaurant instead of Cool Restaurant That Everyone Else Wants To Eat At, then they are a pain in the ass. I don’t want to deal with them and I have little sympathy for them.
Yes, but how can you have any pudding if you don’t eat your meat?
You’ve been waiting for a chance to use a Floyd lyric in some relevant way to a topic at hand ever since you joined, haven’t you? 
But I’m one of the good ones! 
Seriously, I’ve known a lot of people who simply hate certain foods. I can’t imagine anyone knocking them for it. Pickiness is something entirely different.
How the HELL is that happening? Let’s see, I eat over your house. You say, “Guin, would you like some broccoli?”
I reply, “No thank you, could you pass me the potatos, please?”
Very good point!
See, this is what really causes problems, IYAM. So many people can’t comprehend that second sentence.
Foodie: “Do you want some of this? Why not? Have you ever tried it? Well, maybe it wasn’t as good as this. C’mon, try it! Just a little! There’s nothing wrong with it! Just try one bite! Why aren’t you eating? Whaddya mean you don’t like it? What’s wrong with you? Everybody else is eating it!”
Rilch: “I’m fine; I just don’t want any of that.”
Foodie: “Jeesh, Rilch is such a pain!”
Yes, I am a picky eater. But this is a problem or not, depending on who I’m with. My dad’s family is Italian, and all that that implies, and you’d think my pickiness would be a huge problem with them. Instead they have the very reasonable attitude that if there’s one person out of twenty who’s eating a lot less than the others, what’s the harm? Nothing’s going to waste; the other nineteen get their share increased exponentially, and my almost-empty plate goes unnoticed in the general din.
My mother’s sister is totally white-bread, and thinks not eating the heavy, starchy junk food she serves is a sin. Took her a long time to accept my pickiness, but what helped is that usually when I’m at her house, it’s a huge gathering that requires a buffet. Bustling about serving and clearing up is a great cover for not-eating.
My sister’s first husband is from a Norwegian family, and I was at their house constantly when I was young, because my niece “Mandy” and I were likethis. (We’re one year apart.) “Annie”, Mandy’s paternal grandma, was the kind of person I described above. (Although she never called me a PITA, as far as I know; just a challenge that she would conquer, oh yes she would!) I still remember the time she started out saying, “Now I won’t ask you to try anything; you just let me know what you want” and then proceeded to harangue me about each and every item, until “Neil”, her husband, bellowed something in Norwegian that was clearly an order to lay off. And the funny thing is, she’s not that good a cook, even. Mandy told me afterwards that she (Mandy) would always eat everything Garfield-style: swallowing with as little chewing as possible, so she wouldn’t taste it much.
Mr. Rilch accepted this about me a long time ago. He knows that I have my ways of getting by, and luckily, we’re in Los Angeles, the eating-disorder and bizarro-diet capital of the world. so I’m hardly a sore thumb. He did ask me recently, “What did you do when you were in Europe?” and I replied that, first of all, I planned ahead and brought granola bars, and beyond that, employed my usual survival method of bread, salad, fruit, and whatever I could pick at.
But what killed me on that Europe trip was one girl who was the kind of person some people in this and the IMHO thread were complaining about. We got hamburgers one night, and she didn’t like the taste, and she immediately started twittering that this must be horse meat! And got on the phone to her mom, who called all the other kids’ parents, shrieking about horse meat! (FTR, it was not horse meat. Just some knd of marinade none of us were familiar with.)
And then there was the girl in college who looked at my ketchup-slathered hash browns and inquired, “How come you don’t like normal food?”…but I think that’s enough anecdotes for now. The point is, you don’t have to take my pickiness into consideration, and if you choose to do so, then don’t fucking martyr yourself. I’ve been employing these survival tactics for years. I can deal. (Exceptions would be my birthday, and occasions like the graduation dinner I mentioned in the IMHO thread, because those really should be my day. But other than that, I’m good.)
Get off the cross; we need the wood.
It sounds like the main issue most people have is when someone is being an asshole about their diet, or when someone is being an asshole about someone else’s diet. Maybe the issue is with people being assholes, not people being unable or not wanting to eat tomatoes? Just a thought.
I have a food rule, which I’ve solidified over the years. I won’t eat anything that had less than two legs or more than four. I’d probably eat human before I eat shrimp. 
Could I? Probably. Is it an issue? Only if you make it out to be. I don’t like food in that category. If you think it’s irrational, hey, great. I think eating sea insects is irrational, too, but I don’t talk about how shrimp is gross and disgusting and why are you eating that at my table? (Yeah, I know they’re not really insects. Close enough for my mental image.)
It’s when a person stands up and starts declaiming one side or another that people start getting pissed, no matter which side it is. Hell, in this thread alone Diogenes provides us with a wonderful example of such.
You think it’s an issue, that’s the only childish part about it.
I would rather not eat something I am sure I will not enjoy. That’s not being childish, that’s common sense.
The quotes I referred to speak clearly. It seems that you like to belittle those that don’t like the things that you do.
I think cilantro tastes extremely soapy, and I like it!
Once again I’m amazed at what I learn at the SDMB, even in the Pit. I never knew that there were people who thought that cilantro tastes like something other than soap. The soapiness is what I like about it – you don’t taste that every day, it’s fun, it’s different, and it’s … well, it’s like soap.
Oh, and to piggyback on Rilch’s last post, even sven, we are NOT wallowing defensively in our dislike of certain foods. In fact, were people like YOU not bothering us every time we were both in a situation in which food is available, we would be quite capable of finding something we DO like to eat on the menu, quietly and without whining or complaining. The problem comes when SOMEONE ELSE makes it a big deal and FORCES us to “whine” and “complain” because they simply won’t lay off!
I understand that foodies find food and eating to be great adventures to be explored and the secrets to be rooted out. We don’t. All we want to do is eat something we enjoy. Which we’re not allowed to do quietly when a foodie starts harping on us to “try something new!” I know it’s hard for a foodie to understand, but we simply don’t give a flying shit about “something new”. We want our mac & cheese.
Eh? If one doesn’t eat EVERYTHING they’re served, they’re a prima donna and insulting their host? Jesus christ, get a fucking grip.
If I’ve pissed off the restaurant staff by asking for my sandwhich with no mayo, then they’re a bunch of assfucks. If that throws off your day, find another fucking proffession. I’ve never objected to going anywhere with a group. I’ve never ‘held up an order’ unless you counsider 5 seconds of requesting no tomatos or pickles and add some BBQ sauce for my burger. Oh my God, now I’ve destroyed your damned eating experience and made us late getting back.
I’ve never made my friends and family cook seperate dishes as long as they didn’t include something I was allergic to in it.
If my host can’t accept ‘No thanks’ as an answer, that’s not a host I’d care to associate with. If the people around me think I’m a ‘prima donna’ because I don’t eat everything on my plate, those are people I’d gladly never see again. If you were completely full you would you stuff a piece of pie down and throw up to avoid being a ‘prima donna’? Don’t you think your throwing up might be rude?
How does my not eating something make ANY difference in your life? Do you go around at parties telling people to finish all their food? Do you eat the fat and gristle from a steak you’ve been given?
Why don’t you grow up and tolerate people who aren’t like you?
You know, maybe we should have people feed their kids cilantro when they swear.
:d
:d