# How do you define a picky eater? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [February 13, 2005, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-define-a-picky-eater/289871 "2005-02-13T14:09:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Q.N.Jones](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/3da27b/32.png) [@Q.N.Jones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.N.Jones)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2005, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-define-a-picky-eater/289871/21 "2005-02-14T01:49:21Z")
> [@StGermain](#): > > And if that bothers you, tough. It’s my meal, I’ll eat what I like. That’s fine by me, but it gets frustrating when a picky eater’s pickiness interferes with my own food enjoyment. For example, when my sister delays ordering for half an hour while she agonizes over a menu. I actually really like that 2 of my sisters won’t eat “fungus.” They throw their mushrooms on my plate. More for me! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2005, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-define-a-picky-eater/289871/22 "2005-02-14T03:49:36Z")
> [@clairobscur](#): > > And the reverse is true : it’s not because one is picky eater that one necessarily appreciates much what one eats. Actually, I know one of these people (an ex) who is a picky eater and don’t even like the few food items she’s willing to eat. It’s all just food for her (apart from desserts, that she enjoys). The blander, the better. I’m one of those people. Of the things I _will_ eat they’re divided into two major catogories: Things I Like and Things I Don’t Hate. I like some breads, some meat, some fruits, some pastas (but no tomato sauce, I don’t want to get sick) and too many sweets. That’s about it - well, except corn, carrots and potatoes, which is good since I actually like stew. The things I’ll drink are even more narrow. The Don’t-Hate list is about as long as the Like list; you often have to eat things you don’t particularly like, or you’ll starve so things with little flavor are good compromises - for example, I don’t like salisbury steak or baked macaroni (the frozen kind, homemade is good) , but I will eat them since they’re not _really_ objectionable. I think most picky eaters are eat-to-live rather than live-to-eat, but of course there are exceptions. ---
**Author:** ![interface2x](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c0e974/32.png) [@interface2x](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/interface2x)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2005, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-define-a-picky-eater/289871/23 "2005-02-14T03:55:12Z")
> [@FairyChatMom](#): > > I’ve gotten grief because I don’t like Mexican food - specifically, I don’t like chili powder, cumin, or peppers. I don’t like the taste and I don’t like the smell. In fact, I really don’t like any kind of spicy food. Thank you!! I also don’t like Mexican food in any of its incarnations and I catch more grief than you would ever believe. People act like I’m a total freak for not liking Mexican food and, at times, they act like I just eliminated 90% of our restaurant options because I’m not interested in eating it. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2005, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-define-a-picky-eater/289871/24 "2005-02-14T03:55:51Z")
I don’t think having certain things that they don’t like makes someone picky- it’s when they only have certain things they DO like that makes them picky. It’s like the majority of them haven’t grown out of that pickiness that three-year olds have. \*\* Casey1505 \*\* hit the nail on the head- it’s the wholesale culling out of food types. I knew a guy in college that wouldn’t eat “white sauces”. No mayonnaise, no alfredo sauce, no poppyseed dressing, no cream gravy, etc… I tried to tell him it was a pretty dumb-ass preference, in that mayonnaise and cream gravy have nothing in common beyond the white color, but he wouldn’t listen. Luckily, my constant “Quit being a baby, and try something different.” repetition worked, because these days (13 years later), he happily eats just about anything and enjoys it. ---
**Author:** ![pasunejen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/58956e/32.png) [@pasunejen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pasunejen)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2005, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-define-a-picky-eater/289871/25 "2005-02-14T04:03:50Z")
> [@interface2x](#): > > Thank you!! I also don’t like Mexican food in any of its incarnations and I catch more grief than you would ever believe. People act like I’m a total freak for not liking Mexican food and, at times, they act like I just eliminated 90% of our restaurant options because I’m not interested in eating it. Yeah, I have the same problem, particularly when eating out with my family–they all love this one Mexican restaurant near us. I’ll suck it up and go half the time, and I can usually find something tolerable, but it’s brought up first on the list every single frickin’ time we go out, and every once in a while I have to naysay it in favor of food I’m actually going to enjoy (pretty much anything else, so it’s not like I’m really restricting their choices). When I do this they act like I’m being completely unreasonable and making it impossible to eat out at all. Jeezums, people! Sushi bars, pizzerias, Thai food, on and on: I’ll eat anything besides Mexican, but apparently it’s a dislike that’s Not Allowed and Makes Life Difficult for Everybody Else. ---
**Author:** ![Dvorak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/6de8d8/32.png) [@Dvorak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dvorak)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2005, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-define-a-picky-eater/289871/26 "2005-02-14T04:14:56Z")
> [@bump](#): > > I knew a guy in college that wouldn’t eat “white sauces”. No mayonnaise, . I would have to agree with him here, mayonnaise is the devil’s semen. ---
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2005, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-define-a-picky-eater/289871/27 "2005-02-14T04:22:47Z")
> [@QuickSilver](#): > > I think it’s relative. Anybody who won’t eat the things that you enjoy is by definition, a picky eater. It is reasoned, thoughtout sparse posts like this that can get your memberships revoked, **Quicksilver**. ---
**Author:** ![jabiru](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/bbce88/32.png) [@jabiru](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jabiru)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2005, 5:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-define-a-picky-eater/289871/28 "2005-02-14T05:11:53Z")
I’m regarded as a picky eater. I don’t like creamy sauces or mayonnaise. I’ve tried shellfish but I don’t like it. I have no intention of trying oysters. I’m also fussy about removing the fat from steak etc. Nor will I eat the skin from chicken, turkey etc. I’ve never had trouble ordering in a restaurant, though. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2005, 5:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-define-a-picky-eater/289871/29 "2005-02-14T05:31:31Z")
I am an extremely picky eater. I don’t eat vegetables or fruit, and even when eating meant there’s only about four different options I will even consider - chicken, sausages, meat pies, and sheep. Oh, and fish. And even then, they shall be prepared only in certain ways. This makes finding any kind of restaurant I will eat at almost impossible. Back home in NZ, not so difficult, as most restaurants had a wide family kind of menu, but here in Melbourne (and probably most other metropolitan cities around the world) restaurants are now very culturally specific and have a very exotic range of foods with multiple ingredients. i.e. zillions of things I won’t eat piled on top of a couple of things I might pick at. This doesn’t bother me, as I know it’s my own fault I have this non-eating tendency. But it does bother others, who feel I’m not really participating properly if I’m not also eating alongside them. Therefore, I find it much easier to not even bother with going out to restaurants most of the time, it’s a hassle for everyone that I’d rather avoid. This isn’t exclusively the case, though. Probably in about half the restaurants around there’ll be some kind of chicken dish I will venture. Amongst my many other reasons I have come to dislike socialising, the not-eating of food and not-drinking of alcohol are the ones that are really the worst and the most prevalent. I like being a hermit, but I’m starting to feel awfully lonely. ---
**Author:** ![Q.N.Jones](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/3da27b/32.png) [@Q.N.Jones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.N.Jones)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2005, 8:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-define-a-picky-eater/289871/30 "2005-02-14T08:01:05Z")
> [@GuanoLad](#): > > I don’t eat vegetables or fruit I’m not picking on you personally, but I know a ton of guys who say this (and no women). What’s up with that? Are you guys afraid veggies will cause your manhood to shrivel? ---
**Author:** ![even\_sven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dfb087/32.png) [@even\_sven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/even_sven)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2005, 9:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-define-a-picky-eater/289871/31 "2005-02-14T09:04:06Z")
People are so attached to Mexican because it is cheap, flexible, hard to screw up and very filling. The vegetarians and dedicated carnivores can live in peace. The dieters can stick to tostadas piled high with rice and beans and veggies while the piggies can dig in to some cheese enchiladas. The carb cutters can have a nice hunk of carne asada while everyone else fills up on rice and tortillas. Cheapskates can share a plate of nachos, while others can live it up on fresh seafood and big hunks of meat. Chips and salsa are free and plentiful, and pitchers of margaritas are one of the cheapest funnest ways to drink with friends. And for a lot of us it’s comfort food…it has the fundamentals of cheese, carbs, and tomato sauce. In most situations it’s one of the easiest things for a group to agree on. So it really does throw things off when one person refuses. I’d also like to refute that non-picky eaters lack discretion. I most certainly do have a full set of preferences and tastes- which change with the weather and a few random factors, but they are flexible, broad and are always overpowered by my desire to try new and wonderful things. Sometimes I crave a hot plate of greasy Chinese noodles. Some days I want a bowl of strawberries with home made whipped cream. But I will always want to try the new Afghani restraunt down the street. ---
**Author:** ![Pensandfeathers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a183cd/32.png) [@Pensandfeathers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pensandfeathers)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2005, 9:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-define-a-picky-eater/289871/32 "2005-02-14T09:27:39Z")
When I was a kid, I use to love tomato soup…but I didn’t know it was actually made from tomatoes because my dad always called it “porridge.” When I found out the truth, I refused to eat it. I also shunned spaghetti sauce when I found out its origin and had “naked spaghetti” for two years. I won’t eat onions, peppers, tomatoes, cabbage, mushrooms, garlic, or pork. I won’t eat anything that has been pickled (except for actual pickles) or anything “creamed” …especially corn. I also won’t eat raw meat of any kind. I will never eat sushi. There are exceptions to some of these. I like ketchup and I’ll eat tomato sauces that don’t have chunks in it…but I won’t touch stewed tomatoes. Its a consistency thing, it sets off my gag reflex. I try to make myself eat tomatoes by putting them on salads and in sandwiches…but thats really pushing it. I love garlic bread, but thats as far as I go usually. I guess I am pretty picky. I’ve never had problems at restaurants though, and I’m polite when I’m over for company. I can usually force myself to eat most things, but if I just can’t, I try to quietly eat around whatever I don’t like. ---
**Author:** ![yosemite](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/3ab097/32.png) [@yosemite](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yosemite)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2005, 10:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-define-a-picky-eater/289871/33 "2005-02-14T10:00:55Z")
Picky eaters are a problem when, like others have said, they interfere with everyone else’s restaurant choices or make things more of a hassle. If not for that, I wouldn’t care all that much. I had this group of friends I’d hang out with where two of us were vegetarian, and we sometimes were the _least_ picky. We’d eat anything as long as it was vegetarian, and most places have some side dishes—at the very least—the are meatless. I’ve never found a place that couldn’t at least serve a salad and a baked potato. Compare that to the picky eaters who won’t eat anything green, won’t eat anything with tomato products, etc. Oy. I confess that I have little patience for ultra-picky eaters. If everybody but Picky Eater is happy to go to the Chinese Restaurant, I say, let’s go to the Chinese Restaurant. The Picky Eater should have to deal with it some of the time. (I’m not saying to _never_ take Picky Eater’s preferences into account—everyone should have their “turn”—but I don’t see why Picky Eater should always be able to nix Chinese Restaurant _every_ time. (Which I’ve seen happen.) ---
**Author:** ![calm\_kiwi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9fc348/32.png) [@calm\_kiwi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/calm_kiwi)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2005, 11:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-define-a-picky-eater/289871/34 "2005-02-14T11:36:19Z")
I was bought up in a family that believed picky eaters= rude. Sure in your own home or in a resturant you can be as picky as you please BUT if you are in someone elses home, then you eat what you are given and compliment the cook. My Dads’ favourite meals were lambs fry and bacon (lambs fry is kidney…I think) and steak and kidney pie. Nana used to love making steak and kidney pie for dad. We were told “swallow the kidney if you must BUT DO NOT OFFEND YOUR GRANDMOTHER”. I spent years swallowing the kidney. The lambs fry and bacon was an “at home” thing. My brother and I had showed enough displeasure that we were let off that one, we had spaghetti on toast on lambs fry night. With the child, who has certain do-not-eats (basicaly fish, eggs and cabbage) I try to hint at them to the host before time but he KNOWS he must be polite first and and suffer later. I do not believe that, other then for ethical or religous reasons, you have the right to be a fussy pig in someone elses home. For me it is more important that my host feels they have done well, then if I had to eat dessert (I hate sweet stuff). I can choke down a cheesecake, ice cream whatever to make them feel happy. If you are in a resturant indulge your likes. If you are in someone elses home and what you are served will not provoke a health, religous or ethical issue then just bloody eat it and shut up. Fussy people drive me nuts…and I will only eat desert at their house. ---
**Author:** ![calm\_kiwi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9fc348/32.png) [@calm\_kiwi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/calm_kiwi)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2005, 11:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-define-a-picky-eater/289871/35 "2005-02-14T11:38:43Z")
Well not a desert…just a dessert. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2005, 11:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-define-a-picky-eater/289871/36 "2005-02-14T11:44:03Z")
> [@Q.N. Jones](#): > > I’m not picking on you personally, but I know a ton of guys who say this (and no women). What’s up with that? Are you guys afraid veggies will cause your manhood to shrivel? I’m pretty sure in my case it’s a phobia. By definition, irrational. ---
**Author:** ![SkeptiJess](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ea666f/32.png) [@SkeptiJess](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SkeptiJess)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2005, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-define-a-picky-eater/289871/37 "2005-02-14T13:14:42Z")
George Carlin says “picky eater” is a euphemism for ‘big pain in the ass.’ I think this is the crux of the issue – you can have whatever esoteric food issues you please so long as you’re not a pain in the ass about it. My brother is a pretty fussy eater – no veggies (except for green beans and he likes _only_ Del Monte blue lakes), no fruit, few sauces, blah, blah, blah. But all these restrictions are in his own home only. If he’s going out to eat with friends, he goes to the restaurant the majority chooses, even if it’s a place that features food he isn’t fond of. Once there, he finds something on the menu he can tolerate (often a hamburger) and eats it without complaint or endless discussion of why he won’t eat this, or that. And, if he’s invited to a friend’s house for dinner, he goes and eats what he’s given, even if he has to swallow most every bite whole, like a pill. And then he tells them how good it was. So, although he’s picky, he isn’t, IMO, a Picky Eater. A Picky Eater is someone who, when you’re picking a restaurant, vetos every one, even if the whole rest of the crowd wants to go there. Someone who, when forced to go to a restaurant featuring food he doesn’t like, bitches loudly about how nasty it all is, and about how he _can’t_ eat any of it. If you invite a Picky Eater to your house for dinner he might accept provisionally, demanding full disclosure of menu and preparation techniques and offering such helpful critiques as, “Salmon on the grill? Eww! How can you eat that? I can’t even stand next to a grill with _fish_ on it. Maybe I’ll come by afterwards, for dessert. Unless you’re serving something wierd. I hated that peanut butter pie thing you served last time I was there.” Or, worse, he comes to dinner and reacts to your carefully prepared meal as if it were radioactive dog shit. Even a simple meal is grist for his mill: “What’s this? Virginia ham? It doesn’t look right. Is this mac & cheese made with Velveeta? Sharp cheddar? Eww! I only like Velveeta. Broccoli! Eww! Broccoli makes me gag. Strawberries! Eww! I hate strawberries, I’ll just have the cake. What? Biscuits instead of Sara Lee poundcake? I only like strawberry shortcake with Sara Lee poundcake and without the strawberries.” And so on until you want to knock him over the head with a frying pan. A Picky Eater _is_ a big pain in the ass. ---
**Author:** ![Jennyrosity](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/2bfe46/32.png) [@Jennyrosity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jennyrosity)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2005, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-define-a-picky-eater/289871/38 "2005-02-14T13:36:48Z")
> [@mike1dog](#): > > I guess I would be called a picky eater. I will try anything. Once. The problem I run into is people always say I should try whatever it is I don’t like again. I’ve done that, and still didn’t like it, so I don’t try things I don’t like over and over. Some people tell my I’ll “acquire” a taste for something if I eat it enough. I’ve never understood why they think something I hate will suddenly taste good to me if I eat enough of it. I dislike Mexican food as well, though not because it is spicy. It takes approx. ten tastes before you like anything. That’s why, when weening babies, it’s important to keep trying them with food they keep spitting back out at you. As a child “I don’t like that” was never an excuse - the standard response was “well, just have a little bit - it’s good for you”, and now, as an adult, I eat just about anything. I think it’s significant that the only thing I absolutely will not eat - Marmite, bleugh! - I didn’t try till adulthood, when there was no-one around to make me keep eating it. So, there is some truth in the acquirred taste thing, but nevertheless, I think I can live without Marmite! ---
**Author:** ![down\_by\_law](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/65b543/32.png) [@down\_by\_law](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/down_by_law)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2005, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-define-a-picky-eater/289871/39 "2005-02-14T15:27:08Z")
> [@Jennyrosity](#): > > It takes approx. ten tastes before you like anything. That’s why, when weening babies, it’s important to keep trying them with food they keep spitting back out at you. As a child “I don’t like that” was never an excuse - the standard response was “well, just have a little bit - it’s good for you”, and now, as an adult, I eat just about anything. I think it’s significant that the only thing I absolutely will not eat - Marmite, bleugh! - I didn’t try till adulthood, when there was no-one around to make me keep eating it. So, there is some truth in the acquirred taste thing, but nevertheless, I think I can live without Marmite! my dad used to stand behind me with a yardstick when i ate. if you refused to eat everything on your plate, you got smacked. so i learned to pretty much eat everything as a little kid. i feel sorry for the super-picky. i mean, not eating vegetables? damn, that’s just sad. and unhealthy. i eat pounds of vegetables a week. just cutting out onions would decimate my menu. i probably eat an onion every day. and tons of mushrooms, beans, carrots, corn, celery, cabbage… while my friends complain at the chinese restaurant about their general tso’s having 3 sorry broccoli florets in it, i’m asking for more vegetables and less meat. and those people that only eat steak have to spend a shitload and the grocery, too. ---
**Author:** ![elmwood](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmwood/32/3060_2.png) [@elmwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elmwood)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2005, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-define-a-picky-eater/289871/40 "2005-02-14T16:03:07Z")
Christ … I would like to tell all of you here who despise picky eaters to “fuck off!,” but this isn’t the Pit. Yes, I’m a picky eater, although my diet is much larger than in the recent past. My problem, though, is something embarassing that I absolutely, positively cannot control: gagging. If the taste and texture of a type of food converge in just the right way, for the life of me I simply cannot swallow it. Love cherries, but I can’t eat cherry pie; I simply cannot swallow it. There are some foods I simply will not eat; I’m physically repulsed at their taste and texture. Olives, mushrooms, beans, broccoli, beets … forget it. I can’t stand most salads, although I usually don’t have a problem with ingredients in other settings. Can’t eat potato salad. Can’t eat certain types of cheeses. I don’t mind the use of eggs in dairy products, but I can’t eat them individually, in any form. Just watching someone eat a hardboiled egg will kick in my gag reflex, and may even cause me to retch. (I coughed just now even thinking about it.) I can find something to eat at just about every restaurant I go to, no matter how exotic, but I’m very careful when trying new foods. I avoid settings where box lunches are distributed, or any environment where I have no control over what food is being served, such as a corporate luncheon. I hate explaining why I’m picking stuff out, or why I won’t eat this wonderful salad. If there was just one thing I could change about me … just one, it’s that I DON’T WANT TO BE A PICKY EATER. It’s fucking hardwired, though. It’s not because I protested when my parents tried to feed me beans as a toddler, or because I crave the state of meat. IT’S BECAUSE I SIMPLY CANNNOT SWALLOW CERTAIN FOODS. I’m upset and frustrated at the animosity shown towards picky eaters, especially in this thread. It’s considered very rude to harangue those with vegetarian, kosher or halal diets, so why is it okay to force picky eaters to eat something they wouldn’t like otherwise, or judge them as lesser people? Why question them about their eating habits? My friends have learned to stop bugging or polling me about the types of food I like and don’t like. Why can’t the rest of you? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-define-a-picky-eater/289871.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-define-a-picky-eater/289871.md?page=3)