To get a bit impatient with really fussy eaters (adults)

[atthewelles]

I'm not talking about people with medical conditions which preclude certain foods from their diet or people who have anxiety issues re certain types of food/ different foods touching each other on the plate etc

But adults who just turn their noses up at anything other than plain meat and potatoes and act as if vegetables, pasta, fish, anything containing spices or garlic or cooked in a sauces is on a par with serving up roasted worms are a bit irritating - difficult to cook for and impossible to please when trying to meet up in a restaurant.

AIBU to think grown ups should at least try a few different foodstuffs and be a little bit open minded about what they're prepared to eat?

[Pobblewhohasnotoes]

flatbread Thu 21-Feb-13 20:30:43
Yes, that is fussy

No one is saying eat coconut everyday. But if you are invited somewhere and there is coconut in the meal, just eat it without comment. It is not going to kill you

No it won't kill me. But it'll make me retch and I won't eat it. Is that polite?

And why would you want to make your friends do that? I care that my friends enjoy their food if I cook for them.

[PuppyMonkey]

You're a bit weird flatbread.

Just say no sometimes, it won't kill you either.

[IneedAsockamnesty]

In all fairness its very easy to tell the difference between a real retch and a staged attention seeking one, well if you've ever been near a faker before.

There is a world of difference between a person with a genuine food problem and someone who uses food to control others

[CuriosityCola]

I don't think it's the fussiness that tends to be the problem, it's the drama that comes with it. A friend and I used to have quite similar taste in food. I would look at the menu and choose something. Ask the waiter to have it without whatever I didn't like e.g. No olives if possible please. She would make a big drama of why she couldn't eat each thing on the menu and get everyone worked up about what she was going to possible eat.

Funnily enough it was that friend and another fussy friend that made me try more foods and become less fussy. Just didn't want to be like that. I still have likes and dislikes though.

I do think people are often missing out, but that's their choice. I used to meet my friend for dinner in central London and she would always pick the same dull restaurant that sold a, 'nice plain omelette'.

[limitedperiodonly]

I was sent a box of Lindt Lindor Limited Edition coconut chocolates today. I will give them away because I find the taste of coconut unpleasant.

This will make me wildly popular with the person who receives them. It will help me live with the disapproval of those who think I should stomach it out of propriety .

[CuriosityCola]

Talking about retching. I can't eat a couple of things due to being forced to as a child. It's definitely not a lack of control and I find it quite embarrassing.

[PuppyMonkey]

Honestly, limited, just eat the whole box of chocolates and put up with stomach cramps for a few hours, ya big attention seeker.

[PuppyMonkey]

Which reminds me, don't like coffee or coffee flavoured chocolates either. Or beer of any sort. I like all other types of alcohol though, phew.

[limitedperiodonly]

puppy I have to give them away. I'll feel a bit better because I was also sent a mummy rabbit and four babies, two mini eggs and a big egg with truffles.

They may make me feel sick but hey, puking would be polite.

[limitedperiodonly]

Also I agree. If this was a world with beer only I'd have no problem being teetotal.

[discrete]

By your standards I'm an incredibly fussy eater. I can't do garlic and spices (you really have to be used to them or they will make you feel quite ill), or fish (unless I really, really have to and then only on sufferance) or most nuts, beans or pulses.

But frankly, I've worked bloody hard to get to where I am and able to eat a varied, healthy diet. It may not be particularly restaurant friendly in the UK where garlic seems to be a staple, but it doesn't stop me eating well and healthily.

I've also lived in 6 different countries (including Japan, land of the fish) and tried loads of different cuisines (and cook many of them too, I just leave out any garlic/spice and adapt them to my limitations).

So, in so far as you think that being a really fussy eater is the result of not trying 'a few different foodstuffs' YABU, if it annoys you then that's just one of those things, provided you don't make yourself a PITA then YANBU.

[Boutdesouffle]

I think the point made up thread is a very good one, about exposure to food. If you are exposed to different foods you may come to like them, or at least tolerate them. I think that is why so many people say they don't like something, because they haven't tried them enough.

[PuppyMonkey]

I don't want to expose myself to more beer. I'm perfectly content not liking beer at all.

[noblegiraffe]

I find it utterly bizarre that someone would eat something that they know will give them stomach ache rather than simply saying 'no thanks'

[Boutdesouffle]

I doubt that beer is unavoidable though. (unless you come round mine!) but when people can't eat out because the food isn't plain enough, or offend their hosts by moaning about the food surely they can learn to tolerate different foods?

[PuppyMonkey]

So would you be "offended" if I came round yours and you offered me a beer and I said: "No thanks, I don't like beer"

Or would you just think "ah well" and move on?

[Boutdesouffle]

I don't really see it as the same thing. This thread is about fussy eaters and I agree with the OP and get quite impatient with them as it does show small-mindedness to not even try foods. Beer isn't really ever going to be something that limits where you go though is it?

[limitedperiodonly]

But in most restaurants the food is plain enough boutdesouffle.

I'm not talking about all the Indian restaurants that do omelettes but all the French restaurants where it's perfectly acceptable to eat steak and chips.

I've never had a problem eating out enjoyably with someone with the blandest palate. It's not a problem and I don't understand why people are claiming it is.

[Boutdesouffle]

No maybe it isn't a problem, it is just so boring and unadventurous. I would hate to miss out on new experiences, especially when traveling and not being able to try local delicacies. I think a lot of food fussiness is avoidable.

[limitedperiodonly]

But you can eat what you like while the person sitting opposite you can eat what she likes. So again, what is the problem?

[Boutdesouffle]

It has affected me in the past, when my companion will only eat pizza, or plain chicken. It means that one of us will be disappointed. I feel that adults should be able to experiment with unusual foods without fussing.

[Shagmundfreud]

My rule for eating around other people's houses: unless something made me physically puke or I was allergic to it, I'd eat it, say it was lovely. If I didn't like it I wouldn't ask for seconds. But I'd eat it. Even if I didn't like it.

Was the way I was bought up.

Fussy guests who say they can't eat something when what they mean is they just don't like it are rude. That's the sort of behaviour you should grow out of.

[PuppyMonkey]

My analogy with beer shows how daft it is to be arsed what other people like and don't like.

[limitedperiodonly]

So go to a general restaurant that serves grilled or roasted chicken along with other things, or a pizza restaurant. Or don't you like pizza?

As it happens, lots of places don't do chicken because people who don't really think about cooking automatically think it's bland, which is very blinkered of them.

To me, a decent piece of chicken casseroled, grilled or roasted is really good and I would order it if I saw it on the menu and I'd definitely cook it at home.

In fact, it's what I cooked tonight in a mustard sauce. If I was cooking for someone who didn't like mustard, I'd plainly roast it. It would still be really nice. What do you want your food to do for you?

[IneedAsockamnesty]

Limited to save you from yourself chocolate in plain brown packing PO box 1222

Only joking.

How it can impact on others an example. A few years ago I went out with my estranged husband and a group of about 30 of us for a meal ( he was not estranged then) it was mine and one of the other girls birthdays. We traipsed around the town for nearly 2 hours whilst he had hissy fits outside every restaurant we wanted to go in because he didnt fancy anything on the menu.

When his best mate finally told him to stop being a twat and accept that he was in a large group on an event that was not about him. He sat down and spent the entire meal muttering about not being fussy normally eating anything then proceeded to pick apart the menu loudly banging on about what he couldn't possibly eat. They had steak and chips on the menu he could have picked but he just refused to pick anything because he was being an arse.

He wanted to demand we all went to McDonalds. A few hours later after he got pissed enough to forget the entire exchange he tried to drag I'd all back into the same place for steak and fucking chips.