Well that is beyond picky; now he’s a bit cheap as well. Even I might avoid dinner with that one.
By that definition, all social interaction is a negotiation. But before you call in Kissinger to handle this food war we’re apparently waging, think about all the times in society that people may have “negotiated” for your needs. Maybe you get car sick, and need the front seat, or the window open. Maybe you had to change a date that everyone got together for a visit, due to a prior engagement. Maybe you’ve called in sick for work and someone had to shoulder a little more that day. That’s called living in society, that’s called compromising, and it’s pretty important to getting along.
We all have problems, some big, some small. I find pickiness to be pretty far down the list of issues, but apparently, you don’t. Don’t be friends with picky people, then, I guess, if you can’t handle it.
ETA: “I need a name for insulting people who are mildly inconvenient to me for reasons of unknown origins” is a bigger problem person than a picky eater.
Well hey, it sounds like it’s the solution that works the best – you go to the kind of food he likes when he’s there, and save the other stuff for when he’s not. Is this a medical thing?
I don’t see the problem as being picky about food. I see the problem as just plain poor manners, or people overly worried about what others eat.
Why do you assume there’s anything exotic or high falutin about it ? One of the picky people I mentioned earlier only likes fast food. If it’s left to him to suggest a place to eat he might suggest 7-11. Nothing exotic or high falutin about that - and also nothing there I’m willing to eat. It’s just my impression, but it seems to me that your view is that people should accomodate the person with a very limited list of foods/places he’s willing to eat- but he need not accomodate those of us with a limited list of foods/places we won’t eat.
The other guy I mentioned earlier, who left the restaurant because someone ordered oranges? I can’t wait to see his reaction when I leave the table the next time his wife gets cocktail shrimp and salad from the buffet at 6 am. (she always gets that and sits next to me and I can’t stand those smells first thing in the morning) Somehow, I don’t think he’ll see it the same way.
And here I come back to my earlier statement: Go bowling with these people. Go to a movie. Go for a walk. Go for a run. Go to a museum. Go shoot pool. Go shoot guns. Go to a fair. Go to a bar. Go for a swim. Go to a parade. Go to an art class. Go to an orgy. Go to a concert. There are around 16 waking hours in a day. Something like one and a half of them are spent eating. This really is not that difficult.
But then, no one actually wants to solve any problems, do they? They just want to bitch about them.
If any of you spent half as much energy considering this as a minor logistical issue and not as an opportunity to try to fix another person’s bad habits (which will never ever work ever), you’d have nothing to worry about. I’ve been on the Straight Dope for some time now. You guys are smart. Give it a try.
No, it’s not a medical problem. He just bitches and moans when anyone suggests a restaurant that isn’t very basic fare. And I disagree. He is a picky eater. We are not “worried” about what he eats. We just get tired of being restricted by it.
Why do you care what other people don’t want to eat? How about a word for that?
Noseybusybodyarian?
Just get the crispy chicken salads at the cheap burger joints.
Sure, that sounds nice until you consider that a day at a museum or a theme park or something generally includes a meal. We didnt have much a a issue with ours until we went on a WDW trip together- and all he wanted to eat was hot dogs and hamburgers and not try any of the cool restaurants at EPCOT, for example. Or how about a Birthday dinner for one of the group? We either go to a cheap burger joint or exclude him. Which is it? I mean say it’s Bobs birthday and he wants to go Thai- exclude Pete the picky? Pete wont even eat pizza.
Honestly, when we asked him to pick his Birthday dinner he choose Costco for their hotdogs.:eek: Now, that’s his Birthday, so sure, but there’s almost nothing for several of the group to eat.
Bob gets to pick on his birthday. Pete should come along, sit, have a drink, and eat his hotdogs later. If he really, really wants to skip, well, fine.
If Pete wants a burger at Disney, let him go get one, and everyone else eat what they want and everyone can meet up later. You’re all adults, right? You don’t need to stay with the class?
If Pete wants to have Costco hotdogs for his birthday, sit with him, have a coke. No problem.
If Pete give people grief about this, then his problem isn’t that he’s picky, it’s that he’s rude. It is not inherently rude to be picky. That doesn’t mean that picky people can’t be rude. It sounds like your friend doesn’t play well with others.
He sulks & complains about needing food for his blood sugar. Sometimes he’ll take leftovers out of a bag and chomp on them. He never orders anything but water.
We finally did that.
Speaking only for myself a) sometimes it is that difficult - you try going on a group trip where the pickiest person also doesn’t drive and see how easy it is not to have meals with him and b) I was responding to someone who suggested that non picky people should sacrifice by eating something not as " exotic" as they would prefer. I have no issue with solving the problem - but it’s not going to involve me eating at 7-11.
Costco hotdogs are rather good, and cheap as hell ($1.50 or $2.00 IIRC, including fountain drink). That’s all you eat? Weird. You want it for your birthday over fancier fare? No problem.
Yeah, we had no problem covering his bill, that’s for sure. 
At that time you could have pizza or a hot dog- and you have to admit that does give some other people food issues.
FFS. We have just spent 6 pages explaining this. The pickiness places restrictions on everyone else by limiting restaurant choices on group outings.
Occasionally. On day long trips. Because no one can bother to plan ahead. Or split up for mealtimes and regather later. And everyone, apparently, has wildly rude friends.
I wouldn’t eat at 7/11 either. But I’d stop and let a friend pick up a hotdog, then drive my ass to the Micky Dees, or wherever. Also, “7/11 or death!” is pretty out of the ordinary, even for people with food issues.
I wanted Cajun seafood for my birthday dinner, which didn’t fly with my older sister. She went along and sat there, while the rest of the family ate. She ate at home. A few days later, she took me to a Mexican restaurant that she likes, and bought me a second birthday dinner. She’s a lovely, generous person, who has some food issues.
You guys are friends with assholes who have food issues.
Seriously, and it seems both sides have control issues.
7-11? Costco? Who on earth are these people that can’t go to a pub and find something? I have never, never, ever seen anything like this.
The only time I’ve really been crimped by a pathologically picky eater (PPE) is when the group is a workgroup.
In an office setting I haven’t always gotten to choose all my co-workers. And even when I did choose them all, I sure wasn’t interviewing them about dietary habits.
Since we all have to work together 8+ hours a day 5 days a week, ostracizing the PPE at lunch every day is impractical. So they and their food issues often loom large.
As folks have said, for many friends for many occasions there are decent workarounds. Not so much for coworkers.
Curious LSL, you ate lunch together every day with your co-workers? What kind of job? I’ve never been stuck in that sort of situation.
Why not then have a dinner at someone’s house, and have a potluck? Everyone brings something different, Picky Eater can bring plain food, Foodies can bring exotic food, and everyone’s happy.