There’s a word for people who hate me 
I like things that are coconut flavored, but I won’t eat coconut because of the texture. I don’t like how the little pieces of shredded coconut float around inside my mouth.
I can’t handle raw tomatoes (unless they’re in a sandwich, where the texture is disguised). Slimy AND mealy.
When I was about 4, someone handed me a cup of Tapioca at a big family get-together. Pudding!! I grabbed a spoon, and was just about to shovel a bunch into my mouth, some ancient uncle looked at me and said “you know what those things in there are, don’t’cha boy? Fish eyes!! Heh heh.”
I dropped the cup and ran screaming to hide behind my mom’s thigh. Never really gotten my brain wrapped around Tapioca ever since - even though, on a camping trip, I *have *actually eaten fish eyes :eek:. Ah, the traumas of our youth.
But, yeah, when I was having a food texture discussion some 20+ years ago, I used Tapioca as my example and spontaneously came up with the phobia. Been using it ever since.
No disrespect. 
Yes, food texture is important to me.* I love most sushi, but I’ve had issues with some kind of octopus or squid (I forgot which, so I just avoid all the tentacly stuff) that straight-up turns to goo in your mouth after chewing twice. It’s. so. gross.
Also, I gag/almost choke on things that are too dry. It only started happening lately, not sure what’s up with that. Stuff like popcorn or fried food with too much breading… it just gets caught in my throat. There are these little baked cheese bites my fiance loves. But they’re mostly bread, and I can’t even eat them. A little lump gets stuck in my throat and I can’t tell if it’s going to go down my windpipe or esophagus and it’s scary and ugh! :o
although the phrase “mouth feel” makes me want to see how my fist would feel in the speaker’s mouth*
**not literally
Food texture is hugely important to me. It is much more likely that a food I’ve rejected has a texture problem than a flavor problem.
Typically in my experience, people who are simply picky eaters have more issues with texture than anything else.
That said, texture is important to me, if not quite the show-stopper that it is for others. I guess that’s because to me, texture’s important in the context of the dish as whole; sometimes crunchy, soggy, mushy or slimy can be fine if it works in the dish, and all can be unwelcome as well. I don’t have issues with particular textures that I’m aware of.
But I know people who just can’t do French Dip sandwiches because they can’t handle the texture of the bread dipped in the jus, and they can’t handle other bread dishes where the bread is the least bit soggy.
Yeah, I’m very particular with vegetables. For instance, a slightly crunchy (stir fried) carrot is good. But a carrot that’s been boiled to a state of mushiness is awful.
Yes, texture can be an issue for me. I did the swallow a fishbone thing when I was about 4 years old, and was pretty traumatized by it. To this day, if I am eating something that is not supposed to crunch, and I hit something hard like a bone fragment [some pork chops will have tiny bone chips from being sawn into size] or fishbones [or even an eggshell fragment] I have to spit out the entire mouthfull or i will vomit even if I have picked out the little chip of whatever. Frequently, I will simply stop eating whatever it is and get something entirely different because now to my mind the entire item is grossing me out. I also have slime/spongy issues with deli meats - so we tend to stick with the nonformatted stuff like real roast beef or turkey breast, or bone-in leg of ham [we prefer to buy a leg of picnic ham and slice it ourself, the commercial spiral cut hams are sliced too thin. We like nice thick slices.] About the only non hunk of meat stuff we might get would be something like a salami/sopressata or braunschweiger or mortadella. That meat glue composite crap [formatted luncheon meats] are nasty.
Yes, but I like all sorts of texture, from gelatinous/fatty to tough and stringy (like jerky.) But I have certain preferred textures for food. For example, I don’t like my ribs totally “fall off the bone” where they’re so soft you don’t need teeth to eat them. They should be tender, have some resistance and chew to them. But I don’t like them to be so tough that I have strings of meat catches themselves in my molars. The texture does detract from my enjoyment of them. Same thing with brined meats. Oftentimes, they become too squishy for my tastes. Or steak that is overdone–it becomes too rubbery and chewy for my tastes. Or hamburger. It should be light, airy, and juicy, not tight and dense like a sausage. Those kinds of things. Now, I’ll eat anything, but I’ll have my opinions.
Yup. This. Exactly.
Absolutely. Two of the immediate examples that pop to mind are mushrooms and seafood. They’re just…wrong.
::shudder::
Only if it’s slimy stuff, like a lot of non-fish seafood. It’s also why I hated the first and only sushi I’ve ever eaten. (Not much choice around here.)
My sister is much more sensitive. I also think she might be a supertaster, since bitter bothers her way more. Though she doesn’t have a problem with cilantro, so I don’t know.
Taste is far more important to me than texture, but there is the occasional texture that bothers me. I opened this thread while eating a California cheeseburger. It sounded tasty to me when I ordered, but there was something distinctly off about it, and I realized that the mushiness of the avocado just wasn’t working for me.
Of course texture is rarely a dealbreaker for me – I just finished the burger. One texture that I don’t particularly like is canned tuna fish, but I eat tuna melts once or twice a week – the taste trumps the texture.
Sorry to hijack, but have you considered you might have a problem swallowing in general? What you describe happened to me too, out of the clear blue, somewhere about my mid-twenties. Eventually, I had it checked out and apparently, my esophagus had basically gotten out of whack; like the food would be at the back of my throat, I’d begin to swallow, and as it all would start to go down, my esophagus would contract further down (or up) then I needed it to, leaving the food kind of hung out in the middle. Very disconcerting until you get used to dealing with it regularly. However, the good news is that if it ever gets bad enough, there is a surgery to correct it. A friend of mine has had it and has now been fine for decades. Just a thought.
/ hijack
To answer the OP though… I only mostly care about texture when it comes to beans or peas. They’re like something rotted, waiting to burst. It’s about the only thing I can’t tolerate and I even like both oysters and rice pudding.
Texture does matter to me. I like the taste of pork, but not the way it feels in my mouth or the way it gets stuck in my teeth. Though oddly, I don’t have the same complaint about beef.
I only like bacon when it’s hard and crispy, not when it’s limp and chewy.
I can’t think of anything I won’t eat because of texture. And I like mushrooms, okra (done right), oysters, mussels and other seafood, liver etc.
Thinking of the few foods I genuinely dislike (salt and vinegar anything, kim chee, hot dogs and cheap “lunch meat” anything with too much of a salty or bitter taste profile) it’s the taste that puts me off and not the texture.
On further reflection one exception would be canned mushrooms. They’re sort of slimy and rubbery.
I am so not a picky eater but, although I like the taste of pears and strawberries, I hate the seedy/gritty texture. It feels like I’m eating dirt.
Must. Practice. Restraint…
Thanks! I don’t want to derail the thread, but I didn’t know this existed as A Thing. I **really **appreciate you bringing it to my attention.