Picky eaters

[Cardigan]

Was a big time picky eater as a kid. What I really hate are the evangelical foodies…Here, you just gotta try this broccoli soup. No thanks, I really don’t care for broccoli. Well you just haven’t had it prepared well before. I’m sure you’d like this if you try it. No, really, I’ve tried broccoli any number of times and I just don’t like the taste. Sorry. Here, just try this one bite. I guarantee it’s different from any broccoli you’ve ever tried before…

[puzzlegal]

@Rilchiam

I’d been hearing the Saga of the Spoiled Potato Salad since I was three, the year after it happened. I didn’t get sick, because I was deemed “too young” for potato salad. Naturally, the lesson I got from that was “S/he who doesn’t eat is saved.” Also afraid of a socially embarrassing reaction. I once nearly choked on a mozzarella stick, and my sister’s then-boyfriend made fun of me all the rest of the day for it. Also that I’ll find it utterly vile. When I was a pre-schooler, I was made to drink powdered milk (I forget why) and it was never properly mixed up. Half water and half grainy stuff. And some people were not above holding my nose and pushing the glass against my mouth.

Oh my God, that sounds abusive! I’m so glad I never ran into anything like that.

I actually experienced a “saga of spoiled food”, getting food poisoning from Kentucky Fried Chicken at a big event at which everyone who had the chicken was sick that night. I still like fried chicken – I even like KFC chicken, in moderation.

[jnglmassiv]

@Rilchiam

“The lettuce in this burrito feels like spiderwebs!”

This sentence has me giggling here at work.

@Fretful_Porpentine

what specifically are you afraid of?

A somewhat picky eater I know said, “I might not like it.” I don’t understand that policy of not even trying something new myself but he’s comfortable with it.

[eschrodinger]

@needscoffee

Here’s an article in The New Yorker about a small group of fisherman adrift at sea for several months. They were able to catch sea birds and occasional fish, but one of them couldn’t bring himself to eat raw meat. He starved to death. Eventually the rest were rescued.

I was thinking about that idea as well, and the people who’ve died rather than resort to cannibalism in extreme circumstances. Sometimes there’s this idea of, if the picky eater gets hungry enough, they’ll eat. That may generally be pretty likely, but clearly it’s not a law of nature. Some will literally starve to death rather than eat certain things. It should be fairly clear that some of these issues are not just a simple choice to be “picky.”

The disgust can make the person regard the food in question as non-food. I have an ex who was vegetarian all of her life. She remained vegetarian as an adult on ethical grounds. The idea of eating meat was as disgusting to her as the idea of eating feces. I’m pretty sure she’d be in danger of starving to death if provided only meat to eat.

[P-man]

When I was a kid we had three dogs who really hated one type of dog food we gave them. “If they get hungry enough…” didn’t work, because they worked together to catch rabbits to eat. It was easy enough to just get them another kind of food, since they didn’t want expensive food.

[thorny_locust]

@Omar_Little

It’s a choice, not a biological condition. It may be a choice that is difficult to overcome, but nonetheless a choice.

@Kimera757

Nobody would die rather than eat something that smells, feels, or tastes nasty.

When I was a child, tomato sauces and some pastas would nauseate me to the point at which I couldn’t help puking. And I hated puking. No, it was not a choice.

I don’t know what would have happened if there’d been nothing else to eat for weeks; but I suspect I’d have tried to eat the stuff, and puked anyway, and eventually died.

My parents, luckily for me, didn’t try to force their children to eat anything we really couldn’t stand. I love tomato sauces now – most pastas, not so much, but some of them are fine.

@Odesio

When I was growing up, there were some years where mom cooked spaghetti about 2-3 times each week and I grew to despise it. There’s nothing in spaghetti I don’t like, and will in fact eat the same dish with a different pasta in it, but to this day I avoid spaghetti. I also won’t eat hot dogs if I don’t have proper hot dog buns. If you just put a hot dog in a regular slice of bread it makes everything taste like poverty.

@Die_Capacitrix

My grandmother grew up in the depression and her father sold fruit to make money. They ate what didn’t sell, which was a lot of melons. She never ate melons

@carrps

I hate mac and cheese. I refuse to eat it. I know it’s a psychological issue – we were poor growing up and mac & cheese is about the cheapest meatless dish so we ate it most Fridays – it brings up bad connotations.

My father had a stage in his childhood during which there was nothing much to eat but lentils. (Poland, Jewish family, around 1920.) He said that he was very glad to get them at the time, but he never wanted to see lentils again if he could help it.

[Fair_Rarity]

I have a heightened sense of smell, weird texture issues, a strong gag reflex, and acid reflux. And some recently identified allergies/intolerances, which might actually be causing my picky issues. Like my brain on some level knows which foods cause issues later and tells the other parts of my brain “DO NOT EAT IS YUCKY STOP”.

I know a lot of it is texture because I love a lot of fruit candy but can’t eat the actual fruit. Or ketchup and tomato sauce? I drown my food in it but there is no way I am voluntarily putting even a raw cherry tomato in my mouth.

A few times I’ve been really sick or in the hospital and my pickiness is almost completely gone, but as soon as I’m well, I’m back to old eating habits. It’s kind of like all my heightened senses are low enough to not put up a fight.

[Tamerlane]

@kitap

Tomato soup, for example.

@eschrodinger

Genuine curiosity: how is tomato soup texture different from other soups?

This is an interesting one to me because it reminds me of one of my little peculiarities around bananas. I rather like those unhealthy Jamba Juice-style smoothies, but I really dislike bananas blended in them. And it isn’t really the flavor - it is the distinctive velvety texture of blended bananas, which I swear I must be able to discern to 1 part/million . I can tolerate this, but it really does kinda ruin the experience for me.

I loathe the texture of peach skin as well, even though I love peaches. Have to laboriously peel the damn things.

[FriendlyCurmudgeon]

I was a picky eater when I was young. Not because my palate wasn’t open to suggestions, just due to certain foods that were never prepared or cooked correctly.

Over-cooked minute steak with zero seasoning was the worst - best compared to chewing on a leather belt.

[thorny_locust]

@eschrodinger

Genuine curiosity: how is tomato soup texture different from other soups?

Coming back to this: it is, for me at least. Other soups are flavored liquid, possibly with pieces in it; or else they’re creamy. Tomato soup is . . . I don’t know. Granular, sort of, on a very fine level? A really thin pea soup might be similar, but I make my pea soup a lot thicker than that.

It doesn’t bother me; but it is a different texture, somehow.

[needscoffee]

@FriendlyCurmudgeon

Over-cooked minute steak with zero seasoning was the worst - best compared to chewing on a leather belt.

You’ve brought back some awful childhood memories - I could have even lived with the leather texture, if the overcooking didn’t ruin the taste so badly. What the hell cut of beef were those things, anyway?

It’s amazing that I’m not a picky eater, what with some of the dreadful food of the '60’s.

[thorny_locust]

@needscoffee

What the hell cut of beef were those things, anyway?

They’re very good if you cook them very fast.

[needscoffee]

In less than a minute?

[FriendlyCurmudgeon]

Usually sirloin.

My mother did her best, but cooking wasn’t her strong skill. We also had a “you’re not leaving the table until you’ve eaten all your food policy” The family dog knew which knee to lay it’s chin on under the table while we were eating.

[carrps]

@thorny_locust

My father had a stage in his childhood during which there was nothing much to eat but lentils. (Poland, Jewish family, around 1920.) He said that he was very glad to get them at the time, but he never wanted to see lentils again if he could help it.

My mom said when she was a kid (and still in the “country”) in the late 20s, all they had to eat one month was pickled herring. A big barrel of it. She refused to touch it afterwards. She also worked as a soda jerk as a teen (6 days a week; six hours a day – after school on weekdays – for $.10 an hour). To make up for the poor pay, she could eat as much ice cream as she wanted. We thought she was weird when we were kids because she didn’t care for ice cream much. Though it’s a bit different than pickled herring!

My mom was a terrible cook and relied on a lot of “convenience” foods. Like potato flakes. When my little brother was about 8, he said he couldn’t eat them. He’d throw up if he did. She made him eat it, and he ran to the bathroom and threw up. Never had to eat it again!