Picky Eaters, All Growed Up

[gategrrl]

Here's an article in the Washington Post online paper. Makes me soooo thankful that for the most part, my husband and I have roughly the same palates and love most of the same foods (with the exception of lobster and scallops, yech, I can't stand them).

We have a friend who was like most of the picky eaters in this story. He had a child's palate. I've heard that he's since started expanding it a bit, which is good, because he's getting married. But it seems to me that many of the picky eaters have had their choices politicized by their mates, and have dug in their heels, or have gotten to the point where they absolutely refuse to try anything new even if they wanted.

Also, the possibility of any of these people, like the woman Ashamalla, (I love that name!) might have sensory issues that have gone undiagnosed wasn't mentioned. She seems the likeliest candidate for that. I personally couldn't imagine not wanting or being eat anything more than the ten things she'll accept. I nearly went nuts in Korea when I was there, because there was simply no selection of foreign foods there to vary the tastes. There was one little tea shop that also served curries, a pizza place, a McDonalds, Chinese food slanted to Korean tastes (nothing like Americanized Chinese food), no Thai food, nothing of that sort.  Anyhow, Ashamalla probably has sensory issues or perhaps is very sensitive to texture.

Comments

[captain-tiv.livejournal.com]

:: Raises hand ::

Picky eater here too.

Sometimes, it's not that I won't eat something but rather I can't eat something. I can't eat spicy foods (there's really only one barbecue house I can go to because they don't put barbecue sauce on the meat as it cooks). I'm not that fond of veggies. Hamburgers are meat and bread because I can't handle the smell of mayonnaise, mustard, ketchup or pickles. I can't eat lettuce or cabbage -- it just doesn't break down when I chew it. I'm not fond of cheese because I absolutely get weirded out by the texture although I love cheese on my pizza and on macaroni and grilled cheese sandwich. I do put a slice of white American cheese on my ham sandwich, but nothing more.

If I can't handle the smell of a food, I really can't eat it.

[gategrrl.livejournal.com]

Smell is so intimately interconnected with food. My mother lost most of her sense of smell when she fell and hit her head last winter. She barely ate before, and now she finds she doesn't enjoy the food she DID like because she can't *taste* it. She can barely taste wasabi!

You also don't like the texture of mushrooms, either, am I remembering correctly?

Korean food can be really spicy, and I ate a particularly spicy seafood soup for breakfast for months while I was there. I loved it. But then one day my stomach couldn't handle it (or rice, weird) and for a few years after I got back, I simply could not handle ANY spicy food at all, to my sorrow. It's only been the past five years that I've been able to get near anything above a mild spice. And rice still gives me heartburn if I'm careful.

So I understand where you're coming from.

Are there tastes you'll try as long as the smell and texture doesn't weird you out?

[captain-tiv.livejournal.com]

Actually, mushrooms hate me. Food allergy. :(

I used to eat mushrooms in other foods like soups or when cream of mushroom soup was an ingredient, but I can't anymore.

I'll try foods -- goodness knows my diet needs the extra input *g* -- but if it's one of those smells I absolutely can't stand, I won't go near the food.