Picky in the sense that they like food prepared certain ways does not bother me. If I am on a date with someone and I notice an overly bland diet or an attraction to fast food etc. I see it as a red flag basd on past experience. I have no problem with fast food now and then or when traveling but I would hate to be involved with someone who saw it as a primary diet.
I don’t think this comment is warranted, since I admitted that I’m one of those who orders the same thing.
And I didn’t say that “not playing the game” is rude. Just like ordering milk at a bar is not rude. But both are a departure from social expectation. When people depart from the conventions of their social circle, there’s always going to be some sighs and eye-rolls. Deal with it like the little iconoclast you are.
Or make friends with people who don’t care.
It’s not that big of a deal either way. Everyone needs to lighten the fuck up.
I do know one person who pretty much only eats chicken nuggets, teriyaki beef, and coke. He’s the severely autistic child of a friend. And actually, his food issues do greatly limit where I can eat with my friend. In particular, I can’t invite them over for dinner unless I am willing to cook an entirely separate meal for him.
But yeah, I don’t see that as a common problem.
Lots of my friends and family have food issues of one kind or another. Vegan, celiac, lots of weird allergies, kosher… mostly, I enjoy the challenge of cooking delicious food for them. I like to cook, and I get a lot of brownie points for accommodating them generously. But chicken nuggets are not in my repertoire.
That may be what some peoples’ expectation of a dining experience is but I don’t think it is the default by any means. At least not with any crowd I’ve been around. And no, I don’t have equally picky friends or family. Certainly they all have broader tastes than I do but I never see them making a big deal out of tasting each others’ dishes.
I think you make a good point that many people put a lot of emphasis in the actual food part of communal dining but there are many that don’t. Why is one more valid than the other? It sounds like some people are just pissed that someone else doesn’t view / do things the way they do.
The basically no vegetables or fruits, hardly anything that has whole grains, lots of fast food lunches and pizza or mac and cheese for dinner as the mainstay, is more common than you may think. I cannot speak for the op but I take the op at face value, asking about those people, not the true celiacs or trendy gluten-frees, or food allergy, or autistic, or orthorexic, crowds.
Unless I’m missing something, it sounds like “an entirely separate meal” consists of buying the kid some frozen chicken nuggets, putting them on a cookie sheet, and baking them.
That hardly counts as “cooking another meal”. It’s more like “warming something up in the oven.”
This assumes an awful lot about Bob and his personality and intentions.
I don’t go out to eat with friends a lot, although I guess more so now than a few years ago. So when I do, I generally lean towards getting something I know I like. And using your example, I probably get ice cream fewer than 5 times a year. If I’m out getting ice cream, I am probably getting a flavor I’ve tried before. There’s a crushing disappointment that comes from using your once a month chance at something to try something different and hating what you end up with.
I’m looking at you, wasabi-strawberry swirl.
I’ve been on the receiving end of people like tenacious j describes, and it’s not at all that I care that they only want to eat (IMO) bland, boring stuff. That’s their business.
Where it becomes a problem to me is when their preferences are being imposed on the group unduly. Typically, it’s not like there are 5 people in the group, and everyone rotates picking a place. Instead, there’s an attempt to come to a consensus, and there’s ALWAYS that picky bitch who won’t eat Indian, or doesn’t like Mexican, or whatever, so in the interest of consensus, we always cave to that person and go somewhere boring. And what frustrates me is that ultimately, it’s not any different than me pitching a fit and saying “I fucking WANT gumbo today!” and not relenting until we go to the cajun place, except that if that happened, I’m the dick, but if it’s done in the context of food sissiness, it’s ok.
And that’s what bothers me; why can’t they suck it up and deal with being out of their comfort zone a little?
Good point. Why does Bob have to forgo his chance to enjoy his favorite vanilla just so he wont seem dull in the eyes of Watchy McJudgment? For some of us, going out to eat isn’t an every day thing. Why *wouldn’t * we take the opportunity to enjoy that dish that we’ve been looking forward to eating again since the last time we had it at a given restaurant?
Don’t why you would put up with someone like that. Seriously. I myself have never seen that type of behaivior, nor have I ever seen an adult order chicken nuggets in a resaurant even as an appetizer (unless you count fast food).
Cite? ISTR that the biggest cost difference between the US and Canada/Western Europe is that we spend a lot more for the same hospital care and medical procedures than they do. But I’m willing to admit I’m wrong if you’ve got a cite that says otherwise.
Exactly. Maybe bump’s group should rotate letting each person pick the restaurant. Since they’re all easy to please there shouldn’t be any problem, right? Then they only have to suffer through a bland meal one out of every 5 times.
Exactly. And if the obnoxious rude one doesn’t want to go 4 out of 5 times, it’s a win/win IMHO.
Here’s an interesting conundrum. Say I went out to lunch with a group but one of the people always insists on Applebees so the group usually goes to Applebees. I don’t like Applebees much as the food isn’t very good but at least I know I like their chicken strips. So I’ll probably order the chicken strips most times. I only chose that because I was forced into this restaurant choice…but how many people here would misassociate me with one of those dreaded “picky eaters” who “only eats chicken strips”?
Regardless, I am picky in the sense that I dislike some food textures - notably almost gummy/slimy (I will gag and retch and have an upset stomach). But it’s easy to work around this and try plenty of different food. And yeah, there’s something to be said for blowing your one night out this month trying something new that ends up awful. So I tend to re-order foods I’ve found are excellent.
I think this plays a big part in why many people make the food choices they make. I have food texture issues and am a fairly picky eater (though apparently not as bad as I thought I was as I can go to almost any restaurant and find something on the menu I’d like) and I am very hesitant to order an $18 entree only to discover that it is absolutely terrible. Even places where I know I like pretty much everything I’ve tried there I’m still leery of wasting money on food that could potentially be just awful. You know what restaurant is excellent for people who are concerned about this? California Pizza Kitchen. I know, another chain restaurant, but they have a policy of being willing to exchange anything you don’t like for something else if you do like instead with no charge for the item you hated. I’ve tried more new things on their menu than any place else because they have clearly stated that they will give you a replacement meal without charging you for the thing you didn’t like.
I think this plays a big part in the way people on constrained budgets feed their kids as well. If you are trying to feed your family of four on $350 a month then watching your kids push broccoli aside and refuse to eat it is gut wrenching because not only are they going to bed hungry when you don’t have the ability to feed them something else but they’re also wasting precious grocery money that was already limited. Financially speaking, buying less healthy foods that you know your kids will eat means full bellies and significantly less waste.
Watchy McJudgment is my new favorite name. The next time my husband faux-sighs and says, “Let me guess, you’re getting the grilled scallops” (my go-to, same old, same old dish), I’m going to call him that.
I was wondering about this, too. I’ve never seen chicken nuggets even on the grown-up menu at a sit-down place. And no truly picky person would eat that pink slime shit anyhow.
This is an interesting conundrum, but I have a couple of solutions. Either, upon ordering the chicken strips, you could announce loudly that you’re no food toddler but that you think Applebee’s sucks and that’s the least objectionable thing you can find on the menu, or you can bend to peer pressure, try something new, and gag and retch ferociously right at the table.
Take that, Watchy McJudgments of the dining-out world!
Anyone who choses Applebees for dinner has no right to judge any decsion ever made by another adult in the history of humanity, so you’re good to go.
Oh boy, I bet if I did the gag at the table thing, they’d decide, “well, maybe we shouldn’t go to Applebees, it disagrees with her stomach”
Can you guess where they’d go next?
That’s right, Fridays!! :eek: 
Thankfully when I eat out it’s usually a date with my husband so we can do “ethnic food” all we like. But hold the tomatoes, please.
I think I would push to disinvite said person. it’s one thing if people rotated picking the place to go eat, and that person normally picked Applebee’s. But if the group pretty much always goes to Applebee’s because of this one person, then that person is completely unreasonable, and should be booted from the group. That goes beyond “picky eater” all the way to “self-centered jackass.”