Picky Eaters (S/O from Snow Flake thread)

[SiotehCat]

Growing up, my father did all of the cooking and he wasn't the best cook. He had all kinds of "creations". Lima beans with cheese. Ramen noodles with chopped up hot dogs. Ground beef and corn/green beans/other veggies, etc... His motto was that if we were really hungry, we would eat it.

So, now that I am older, I eat whatever I want. If I want pizza 5 nights in a row, I'm going to eat pizza 5 nights in a row.

I also don't make DS eat anything he doesn't want to eat. I will cook him a completely separate meal if he doesn't like what I am making. If I am going to eat something that I like, so is he.

[Venus193]

Brunhilde has problems arriving at menus because her husband and her son are both less adventurous than she is... and she has her own food phobias (as in no fish or seafood and it's not an allergy).

She's not sure why picky eating runs in her husband's family, but her husband is funny about fruit.  He will eat blueberry pancakes but not pie or the fresh fruit.  It took many attempts to get him to eat asparagus.  He still will not touch brussels sprouts no matter how she prepares them.

Her son finally will eat her excellent red cabbage.  However he now refuses to eat meat gravy -- even on mashed potatoes -- and will not eat salad.  She only gets to eat salad when she eats out.

[Hmmmmm]

Growing up, my father did all of the cooking and he wasn't the best cook. He had all kinds of "creations". Lima beans with cheese. Ramen noodles with chopped up hot dogs. Ground beef and corn/green beans/other veggies, etc... His motto was that if we were really hungry, we would eat it.

So, now that I am older, I eat whatever I want. If I want pizza 5 nights in a row, I'm going to eat pizza 5 nights in a row.

I also don't make DS eat anything he doesn't want to eat. I will cook him a completely separate meal if he doesn't like what I am making. If I am going to eat something that I like, so is he.

Oh my, your post made me thankfull for my mom because I can so see that being my Dads perspective.  Though he was an excellent cook, he'd cook what he liked and to tarnation if some one else didn't like it.  He considered me a picky eater because at 5, I didn't eat raw oysters and Mom would "spoil" me by boiling shrimp for me instead. 

[Kendo_Bunny]

I was pickier as a child, because I'm a super-smeller. Not a super-taster, exactly, but I have an incredibly powerful sense of smell. I can break down the ingredients in just about any dish I'm served, and anything with a particularly strong smell or an odor I found unpleasant I couldn't bring myself to eat. I also have some texture things, have an overactive sense of "spicy" (and a corresponding underactive sense of "sour"), and have a few moderate phobic reactions to some foods.

Since we had a succession of nannies, they all handled it differently. Some thought that I was just being a picky brat, and made me sit there anyway, until I literally would get sick from eating it (stress plays a number on my stomach). Others just assumed that I just wanted pure bland food and made nothing but microwave pizzas and chicken nuggets, even though I loved flavorful meals. I just needed them to have the right smell.

Eventually I just took over the cooking, because it was easier than waiting for someone to take what I liked into account. I turned out to be fantastic with spices, because I spent afternoons smelling everything in the spice cabinet, and was able to intuit well what would taste good with what, based on how it smelled. But I still can't cook things that smell wrong to me - I've never made asparagus or Brussels Sprouts, because they just smell off to me.

[Dazi]

<raises hand>  Hi, I'm a supertaster and a super smeller.

I can't count the times I've been told I was too picky an eater.  I average about 40 tastebuds in a 7-8 millimeter area. 

I actually really like robust, complex and even spicy food.  I'm especially fond of Indian curries and Thai.  Even some foods that bother other super tasters, I don't mind (spinach, broccoli, brussel sprouts).

Things I find completely revolting:

Tarragon
Anise
Fennell
Coffee
tonic water
Beer
Most wines (a few I can cook with, but can't just drink...especially red wines)

They all have this extremely bitter, astringent, metallic taste and smell.

Things that are borderline revolting ( I can eat them, if I must, but really, really don't want to):
Chocolate
Overly sweet foods (donuts, glazed anything)
Salted food
Fatty foods (goose, duck, dark meats, salmon, mackerel, sardines and other really fishy fish)
Green tea (it taste like dirty grass...and I can say that with confidence because my 3 year old self did once eat dirty grass)


As a supertaster, I can also enjoy the delicate favors of other teas, white fish, foods that others find very bland like naked baked potatoes.  As a super smeller, if it smells bad, I can't eat it.

On the plus side I can almost always copy a restaurant meal I loved because if I've tasted an ingredient before, I can pick it out easily.  Not too long ago I ordered a dish I'm weird about and the waitress wasn't sure what all was in it.  She kindly brought me a small sample, which I sniff tested, took a bite and rattled off all the ingredients, including the brand name of a specific one.     I don't think she believed that anyone could do that, so she went back and comfirmed with the chef.  He was quite impressed that I didn't miss anything.  Ftr, it only took me 2 tries to copy it at home.

[oceanus]

When we were young children (below age 10) my father and his side of the family had a rule:  Eat what is put in front of you and be grateful for it.  There was none of that “eww, I don’t like that” stuff.  One of my aunts used to make me eat butter (a lot of it) on bread.  To this day, I cannot stand butter (although I will eat margarine).

I can’t stand anything ‘ranch’.  The thought of bleu cheese or Roquefort dressing makes me ill.  Also hate sour cream, cream cheese, and cream of mushroom soup (or cream of anything soup).

[AdakAK]

There really was no "children's food" when I was growing up; you ate the same stuff as your parents or went to bed hungry.  There was nothing wrong with that.  Why on earth is that no longer true?

Currently I believe they recommend that you not turn food into a power struggle with your children.  Cook a variety of foods, don't give up after one taste but don't engage in a battle of wills over food. 

Those children resented it, grew up and vowed never to do that to their own children?  I once went to sleep at the table rather than eat something I disliked as a child.   Stubborn?  Me?!   I decided that type of parenting would not be something I did to my own children.  Eat a few bites to taste it, yes.  Force them to eat it, like it or not?  No.  My children are too much like me for that to work anyway. 

[katycoo]

I was a picky child, but am not now.  I am still not good with hot/chilli foods though.

DH is much pickier but he will force most things down, bar seafood.

There are plenty of green vege I prefer with a sauce over plain.  I just use them as a side to a casserole or in a pasta/stirfy.

[CakeEater]

I don't see myself as a picky eater at all, but there are a few really common foods I don't like, so I'm sure I seem picky to others.

I don't like eating cereal with milk - I don't like the texture of cereal that starts out crunchy, but ends up soggy. I can snack on a lot of cereals dry, but not with milk. Although I like porridge - I guess it's because it starts out soggy, so I don't mind. Weird, I know.

I quite like quiche, and I can eat scrambled eggs with enough onion, bacon etc in it, but I don't like fried, poached or boiled eggs hot, although I like cold boiled eggs in things.

I also don't like watermelon.

These combined make my inlaws, whose breakfast consists of either cereal or bacon and fried eggs,and who love watermelon, think I'm very picky, but it's honestly just thos three things that I really don't like. I'll eat practically anything else.

[Kendo_Bunny]

I don't like eating cereal with milk - I don't like the texture of cereal that starts out crunchy, but ends up soggy. I can snack on a lot of cereals dry, but not with milk. Although I like porridge - I guess it's because it starts out soggy, so I don't mind. Weird, I know.

I don't think that's weird at all - crunchy food is supposed to be crunchy and soft wet food is supposed to be soft and wet. People would think it was weird if you soaked your potato chips in cola before eating them.

I don't like cereal with milk either, but it's more because I don't like milk. I got used to people giving me funny looks when I told them I preferred dry cereal, even after I explained that I can only stomach milk when eating very rich chocolate or very warm cookies. I hate the texture of oatmeal and porridge, so I've never really been able to eat it.

[RubyCat]

My mother was the picky eater. Dinners were pretty much the same thing every night. A piece of meat, either fried or baked, potatoes, usually mashed, and a vegetable (corn, peas, green beans) out of a can. No seasonings except salt & pepper and some butter. She only made the potatoes for the rest of us - the only potatoes she ever ate we're fried. 

I am mostly not a picky eater though the one thing I can't usually force myself to eat is oily fish. I used to buy a can of sardines about once a year hoping to find a way to eat them because they're so healthy. I would open the can, gag at the smell, and give them to the dog, who absolutely loved them. 

[Venus193]

I like sardines, but in mustard, tomato sauce, or hot sauce.  However, I don't like tasting them four hours later.

I also don't like milk; the sight of it in a glass makes me gag.  I put some in coffee and cook with it if need be, but don't drink it.

With all the different foodstuffs in the world nobody is expected to like everything.  However, excluding entire normal categories (not because of an allergy or religious rules) or kicking up a fuss over something someone is serving goes into Special Snowflake territory.  That is neither charming nor cute.

[blue2000]

Sweet potatoes or white? That's not safe, is it?

Perfectly safe. Mother used to love snacking on white potatoes. I don't. They are too starchy for me.

[blue2000]

<raises hand>  Hi, I'm a supertaster and a super smeller.

I can't count the times I've been told I was too picky an eater.  I average about 40 tastebuds in a 7-8 millimeter area. 

I actually really like robust, complex and even spicy food.  I'm especially fond of Indian curries and Thai.  Even some foods that bother other super tasters, I don't mind (spinach, broccoli, brussel sprouts).

Things I find completely revolting:

Green tea (it taste like dirty grass...and I can say that with confidence because my 3 year old self did once eat dirty grass)

This made me laugh. I think it tastes a little like grass as well - and I know that because I used to love eating grass when I was a kid!

I have allergies and I still get the 'picky' label from some people, unfortunately. But one of the foods I truly hate is one that I'm not allergic to in the least - badly cooked squash. I adore dry mashed squash. Love, love love it! But some people make it wet and stringy. Ugh!

I've tried brussel sprouts as well, and they always turn out bitter. I'm told they aren't supposed to be. But until I get a good batch, I'm not eating them.

[squeakers]

Sweet potatoes or white? That's not safe, is it?

Raw white potatoes.  Sprinkled with salt or without.  Crunchy, sort of sweet (I think some people taste a bitterness but that could be the peel) and very tasty. Just be sure they are washed well and/or take the peel off, don't eat green potatoes or sprouted potatoes.

Both white and sweet potatoes can be eaten raw but! you don't get much nutrition from them as it takes cooking to get the starches where humans can actually digest them.  Since we can't fully digest them raw it can cause some gas issues.  The kids and I just eat them as a snack and not as a meal so that usually doesn't happen to us.