To be annoyed with fussy eaters?

[FromRussiaWithLove]

Am I being unreasonable to be annoyed with people who are fussy about their food? As in eating things separately, this can't touch that, not eating mushy/solid/green or whatever? Gets me so frustrated. Just bloody eat it! So many people out there would give everything for a fraction of it and yet you're here being awkward! Just needed to get this one out...

are you just one of those fussy eaters and I've offended you?

I'm not a remotely fussy eater more a human dustbin but you've offended me.

Ok. Next time I'll just start a thread on how often you take a shower/clean your toilet/change bedding. These seem to go down a storm without anyone calling poster a bitch I honestly don't see how my post is offensive. Again, I would like to point out I am talking about people with pretend intolerances, or vegetarians who eat chicken, or those who eat spaghetti but not noodles (same shit).

He is a real pain to cook for and it is embarrassing when we eat at other peoples homes.

This is what I find the most annoying. It's so limiting and inconvenient for other people to have to work around you, to eat with you or cook for you. It can suck all the joy out of what should be a pleasurable social activity. For example if I invite you for dinner and you tell me you are a vegetarian, no problem at all. But if you then say 'oh by the way I also hate mushrooms, cauliflower, spinach, chick peas, goats cheese, pasta…..' I'm going to wish I'd never invited you.

You didn't say that in your op to be fair. As a fussy eater I also think people who are vegetation but eat chicken or say they are intolerant because it's the latest fad annoying if I think about it but honestly I don't care what other people do or do not eat.

Your OP says, Am I being unreasonable to be annoyed with people who are fussy about their food? As in eating things separately, this can't touch that, not eating mushy/solid/green or whatever?

That's offensive in my book and to anyone with a condition such as ASD.

Sauvignon, my post didn't say people with asd are less of a human being than anyone else. I merely stated my annoyance with fussy eaters. So I guess I AM being unreasonable and will just shut up about it. None of the people I thought of when I posted have any reasonable excuse and are just being weird. I didn't even know asd can cause such problems so please don't make it all about people with asd.

are just being weird.

Also, how do you know whether someone has a genuine reason for being a fussy eater or not? People don't go round wearing signs saying "I have x" or "I have y". Some people just might like to keep things like that to themselves.

I think people who gag, moan or act deliberately difficult in order to turn all attention on to them kinda loose the right to "keep it to themselves"

but then they usually have no problem explaining right down to toilet habits why they won't eat it.

genuine people rarely such a fuss

My friend at uni became increasingly fussy, developing all kinds of intolerances, dislikes etc as time went on. I think her fussiness level was related to how stressed she was, and was a kind of coping mechanism (she was super sensitive, and found exams etc very hard to cope with).

Because we knew it was a kind of outlet for her, we never brought attention to the fact that her 'severe dairy intolerance' mysteriously disappeared at the end of a night out when she would happily order and scoff a pizza, or that her vocal disgust at some ingredient or other would come and go depending on what day of the week it was (and whether she could remember that she wasn't supposed to like it). I think it must have been a form of eating disorder - it was a massive control thing for sure. The rest of the time she was lovely!

People with ASD don't wear a badge OP, my DS looks perfectly 'normal' but he's one hell of a 'fussy' eater.

I'm glad this thread has educated you about that. I acknowledge that there are some wierd people out there too.

You have some good points there. In this country we have a huge amount of kids crap for sale. It's cheap and marketed at children. It's the norm for alot of people. have a play date bring out the orange. have a treat and go to Macdonalds. none of which bear any resemblance or taste anything like a burger or chicken.

I can understand final families where money is tight and no one can afford to throw food away and meats face it cheap meat tastes like crap and you need to have the means and the time.take it taste good.

Kids parties is all sausages and pizza. lunch boxes are full of cheap processes bread and sandwich meats and high sugar kids yogurts.

and school dinners well, kids just eat what they want and leave the rest so easily live off pasta and cake. processed food is allowed up to twice a week. vege options usually consist of processed quorn or cheese. veg is a soggy mess that no one touches.

as a country we regularly "play it safe" when catering fir children. We assume kids we don't even know wont eat stuff. We all have the habit if sticking to the food we know they will eat because we havent the time.or the money to experiment and throw food away.

obviously many get the balance right or be lucky and their kids will eat stuff and grow up happy to try new things all the time. and obviously medical or psychological food issues are separate from this. but American kids if you believe what yku see on TV that is, are growing up with no idea what vegetables look like or that chicken nuggets cone from a. real live chicken. and it's been said we are going then same way on regards to what food we consume and obesity rates.

I agree up to a point, at least with people eating a very limited range and mostly processed food, but it's not only that.

In my extended family, we have similar eating habits and the children are exposed to different foods, but they behave differently with some being more picky than others. The same with me and my siblings.
And taste evolves, not necessarily through exposure. It has happened to me, where years later I find I'm happy to eat some foods that I really disliked when younger.

I think there's also an immense panic too. kid won't eat give an alternative. snacks shoved in their hand all the time. Kids don't really get to feel being hungry and that must have some factor in why going without a meal is not an issue. because they aren't hungry enough for it to bother them. that that's it there's no more.

In fact many Consider it cruel to let your kid go without.

and also alot of food we share with other countries and cultures has been so heavily processed or altered it bears no resemblance to the dish that inspired it. so you go on holiday thinking you will be fine you eat X and then are put off when it's not what you expected.

places are so used to that from us that things like chips are available everywhere so people can go entire holidays and eat the same crap they get at home.

(again not applicable to medical issues)

If you ask other nationalities they will tell you that our food is terrible

What unites the world is the eagerness of every nation to slag off at least one other nation and usually several while proclaiming their own superiority.

If we could only bond over that, there'd be no more war or fatuous comments.

A sub-section are the people who slag off their own nation or culture in a bid to display their cosmopolitanism and distressing ignorance of the people they call their friends.

YABU. People don't have to like everything. Why eat something if you don't enjoy the taste?

YABU. People don't have to like everything. Why eat something if you don't enjoy the taste?

passmethewineplease YY. I also don't have a problem with someone declining to try something they don't like the look of so long as they don't make unpleasant comments about what other people are eating.

People who say you can have dispensation only if you've tried something are probably those people at weddings who drag you out of your seat and force you to dance.

I just don't understand why it bothers people so much. as for attention seeking? Yes it's utter attention seeking to say no thanks I'm not keen on such and such. What utter BS.

It's weird how much it winds people up, especially when it has little to no effect on you.

Food is supposed to be enjoyed. Not forced down to appease those who clearly have a problem with people not liking things.

with many people it goes beyond just politely declining.

have you not read the thread?

people moaning and whining or gagging or pulling stuff apart making damn sure everyone knows what they are doing and why.

Giles yep I've read the thread.

I have never done that nor have I ever known anyone else to do that so can't really relate to that point.

I think the majory of fussy eaters aren't like that tbh.

I've encountered children who live in obscure countries who happily tuck into a plate of raw, live worms.

In fact, it's not even a plate. That's just my petit bourgeois Western construct.

What I meant to say It's a simple leaf fallen from a rainforest tree and they eat that too.

They are happy, laughing, skipping about and full of beans I mean worms

Luckily now I'm home I can source it from a little artisan shop in Crouch End.

Meanwhile my friends' children gorge themselves on Happy Meals.

Again not all fussy eaters are like that! Most do just get on with it and don't kick up a fuss.

Gagging and whining and pulling stuff apart is not fussy eater behaviour, it'a just rude behaviour.

Quite frankly I'm getting fucking sick of explaining this.

I have never encountered an adult who needed the stuff on their plate kept separate who wasn't decidedly on the spectrum, you know.

People who feel strongly about mushiness? Also on the spectrum.

Fact is,very few people will literally eat anything. If they're lucky, their preferences are closely allied with the foods popular in their culture, and they will rarely ever encounter stuff they couldn't stomach. And then they will get to feel smug about it. But be warned. Culture changes. Witness the folks who grew up thinking of themselves as "good eaters" who never wasted food during the post-war rationing. They do not see themselves as fussy, their parents did not, but their adult children castigate them for their inability to eat curry and similarly untraditional types of food.

The same could happen to people of our generation who identify as unfussy on this thread. It just needs something foreign and new you're not familiar with to become hugely popular with the next generation, doesn't it?

"Mum just won't eat grilled cockroach, the fussy... It's so frustrating."

This reminds me of my ex, who considered me fussy, but he didn't like fish that tasted too much like fish, and things like that. In his family, each person disliked different types of meat, which made cooking a family meal fairly difficult.

But I was the fussy one.