I didn’t know I was posting on here under the name of Scarlett67…
For example…peas. I HATED peas with a vengence. However, when I moved out and ate peas at a nice restaurant…I found out I loved em. Same with beets, green peppers etc.
My parents cooked everything to mush…and it tasted bad. I know…I tried the peas again when visiting…blaaaaaaak
Attention self-identifying picky eaters who don’t like the criticism: unless there is nothing you are willing to eat at least one of these 3 cuisines: Chinese, Italian, or Mexican, and you’ll only eat chicken tenders if they’re from one specific restaurant you are not a picky eater.
I know two people I would classify as pathological picky eaters, therefore pains in the ass. One is bizarre in her pickiness, such as she can eat hamburger but not *in *something, any meat has to be thoroughly overcooked, tough and dry, including her Thanksgiving turkey, the seperate foods on her plate couldn’t touch at all, etc. The other one can’t eat with anything except a spoon, at all times. If she doesn’t have access to a spoon, she just won’t eat. Her boyfriend carries a spoon around in case she needs to eat and doesn’t have one. She also doesn’t eat any kind of salad, which may not be pathological, but I find it bizarre.
This is common. I’m not sure if it’s Sturgeon’s Law (most cooks really aren’t that good), or different tastes in food between the 50’s-70’s (when a lot of our parents learned to cook) and now, or what.
Do I get extra credit if I’m eating sushi right now?
Right. So the majority of Hindus are picky eaters.:rolleyes:
That isn’t picky; that’s mentally ill.
It’s worse than that. Food taboos are common in many cultures and religions. A lot of people are squeamish about foods that are taboo in their religious or cultural tradition. I suspect for most people, there’s at least one food they wouldn’t eat if given the opportunity.
What if you won’t eat something not because there’s a specific health reason why you can’t, but just because you don’t think it’s very healthy? Picky or not? I won’t eat liver because it’s too high in cholesterol (also because I hate liver). I could physically eat liver (if I managed to keep it down) once in a very great while without physical harm, but I choose not to. Is that being picky? I don’t eat kids’ sugary cereals because I know they aren’t very good for you. Picky?
Exactly. The “just try it, you’ll like it” crowd are a bunch of dirty stinking liars who derive perverse pleasure from watching people gag and spit their food out on their napkin. One should never take their bald unvarnished word about wether something is edible or not - sure, they might be telling the truth this time, but it’s not a safe bet.
If you won’t tell me what’s in it, I won’t try it. The only reason I can think of why you wouldn’t tell me what’s in something if I ask is that there’s something that I don’t want to eat in there that you’re trying to trick me into eating.
Oh, and I think ‘hiding’ ingredients in food might be acceptable for a parent to do to their own minor child in some circumstances, but is never acceptable to do to an adult.
Great username/thread combo.
Here’s an example. I don’t eat seafood. I’ve tried fish; I don’t like it. I refuse to try crustaceans or mollusks. I don’t go to seafood restaurants. If my friends wanted to go to one, I’d tell them in all honesty to go have fun. I’m not here to hamper their fun, but neither am I going to eat something that revolts me just to go along with the group.
Someone upthread gave a good definition of “picky eater”: if it’s easier to list the things you WILL eat than the things you won’t.
I think it’s a bit disingenuous to call someone who doesn’t like liver, green peppers, mushrooms, or coconut a “picky eater.” You can still order off pretty much any restaurant menu or eat in someone else’s home and still avoid those items without making a stink. There’s also a difference between (1) quietly picking out the green peppers and setting them on the side of the plate and (2) declaring that you won’t even touch something that’s been in the same kitchen with a green pepper, no way, nohow.
To my mind, a “picky eater” is one of those people who will eat only plain pasta, white bread, corn (the only vegetable they will eat), mashed potatoes (but NO LUMPS EVER), potato chips, bologna . . . in other words, a limited list of very simple foods. If it’s not on the list, they’re not eating it.
And yes, of course we all have food preferences. A “picky eater” makes their existence public knowledge when their preferences are so limited as to affect where/what they can eat AND/OR when they get obnoxious about it.
It’s possible to be a picky eater and not have it affect others. I don’t think we’re talking about those people here.
“Safe bet?” I’m not sure if you’re cracking a joke, or if food actually scares you.
You can use any food issue to create drama and make yourself the center of attention. You could even use a real food allergy this way. You can use any food issue to make rude comments about what other people are eating. Nobody should do those things.
True, but not everybody can pick the green peppers (or whatever) out of their food and eat the rest of it. Someone with a severe food allergy couldn’t do this, nor could some people who keep kosher. I don’t know if the Muslim or Hindu dietary laws allow you to eat a dish that you’ve picked pork or beef out of. And there are things that you physically can’t pick out of a dish after it’s cooked, like eggs, milk, or meat stock.
There are, of course, polite and impolite ways to ask if a food has an ingredient you can’t have, and you should always try to be as polite as possible.
Try the third option: what I actually said. Not all things that are purported to be good-tasting are. And the “you should eat everything and like it” crowd are the worst folks with regard to telling you that foods will be tasty, for pretty obvious reasons. A rational person could quite easily develop a distrust of the food recommendations of such people.
And it’s not necessarily because they’re really lying - sometimes their tastes are simply different. My personal experience with this is with hot spicyness. I’m very sensitive to it - far more than most people, and more than some people seem able to even comprehend. So when a person says, “Oh, it’s not all that spicy, it’s really mild, try it!” I immediately assume that it’s going to burn my soul from my body and leave me a melted cinder. Not because the spice-lovers are sadistic monsters, but because all their taste buds have been burned off, and they’re simply not qualified to recommend food to me on the basis of its spiciness.
Now, sometimes I try the stuff anyway - often with the expected consequences (which typically baffle the spice-lover). Fortunately for me my friends aren’t assholes who insist that everybody is morally obligated to like everything they do.
It actually sounds like the second option, in that you really, really don’t want to even take a chance on tasting something that you might not like, because it may not “be safe.”
I’m in the same boat re: seafood. But, I have always found that you can always get a good steak at a seafood restaurant. Heck, I can find stuff to eat at sushi places.
I never included food allergies or religious restrictions in my definition of “picky eater.” As far as I am concerned, those are entirely different situations and (along with vegetarianism/veganism) absolutely legitimate reasons to (politely) refuse a food. I was talking about people who simply “don’t like” and/or refuse to try most foods.
I used to go for sushi with a guy who loved sushi–as I did. And his wife, who didn’t. So she ordered a few pieces of tempura & a few mai tais.
And I found that mai tais go quite well with sushi!
If you ignore everything I actually say, I’m sure it can sound like whatever you like.