When I was young, I had gastroenteritis. Before this, I would eat anything. But I couldn't keep anything down. I lost half of my body weight while being a skinny child anyway. I was dangerously thin, which meant I was tube fed. At one point there was a malfunction or something, which meant the mushy food supposed to be in my throat, was shot in to my mouth and down my throat. It was a revolting, vile texture. I then (squeamish warning) threw up in my mouth, with the mushy food still there, and ended up swallowing the mixture.
I then ate nothing but dry, bland food. I was incredibly frightened of new food, anything bitter, anything wet or mushy. It wasn't helped by relatives who would make me sit and eat a now cold plate of mashed potatoes or something equally horrid. At one point a relative pinched my nose,pryed my mouth open and shoved a spoon of mashed potato in. I chucked all over Christmas Dinner. This continued in to my teens.
It has only been through being independent, and being patient with myself at university, that I was able to try new food. I still dislike most food with sauce or anything too exotic, but Ill always find something at a restaurant.
Interestingly, my mum took me to a nutritionist. My diet at age 8 was basically plain chicken, bread, meat, multivitamins and lots of fruit. I tried my first burger at age 11 for example. The nutritionist said that as long I'm hitting something out of the major food groups, who cares? I wasn't gorging on nothing but chicken nuggets.
It really upsets md when people assume I'm being picky or childish. It is a lifelong, very real food phobia. I will not apologise. Its none of your business why people eat the way they do. You don't like fussy eaters? I don't like people who look down their nose at everything.