Were you a fussy eater as a child?

[WomenHour]

I wasn't but know others who were.

Appallingly so. Hated fat, (so did dad) so meat had to be lean, only ate chicken breast, hated garlic (thanks mum), only veg were peas and carrots, no onions,didn’t eat much (very skinny kid). When I started eating out and cooking for myself that all stopped. Still hate fat though.

Yes I was. I have issues with a lot of textures of food.
My mum wouldn't cook me seperate meals or anything, it was just take it or leave it... And I mainly left it.
I'm still fussy as an adult. I don't like vegetables (with a couple of exception), it's mainly the texture.

Yes, I was quite fussy. My parents handled it very well IMO. I was never forced to eat anything. They never engaged in any pointless bargaining (“Eat two bites of vegetables and then you can have dessert” or any of that nonsense). There was always something on the table that I could eat. Above all, my parents removed any emotion from mealtimes. The dinner table never became a battleground. As an adult, I will eat almost anything.

I truly think many fussy eaters are born, not made. In my case, I simply couldn’t cope with strong flavours or certain textures. It had nothing to do with the way my parents raised me. The sibling closest in age to me was always an adventurous eater. Purely the luck of the draw. (We were also complete opposites when it came to sleep. I was the angelic child who would say, “I’m tired, Mummy. I want to go to bed.” In contrast, my sibling was awake until all hours throughout childhood. Again, nature rather than nurture.)

Fussy eaters really are born not made.

I have one DC who eats barely anything, another who will eat everything and I mean everything even non-food items, and two who eat normally.

I lived off Heinz tomato soup and crumpets For nearly two years!! I just hated food until I hit thirteen, then I just was so hungry I just began to eat everything, I have loved food ever since.

Yep then and now
But i dislike many textures and food wasnt a big thing as a kid. It was barely about so i never grew a love for it
I do not understand peoples love of spice and eating food so hot you sweat

I was a very fussy eater right up until my mid 20s.

I come from quite a large family and my mother had an (almost) zero tolerance approach to fussy eating and few concessions were made. She cooked one meal and if you didn't like it... tough.

Looking back, I think my fussy eating was driven by attention seeking.

[quote SchrodingersImmigrant]@WiddlinDiddlin are you my sister I never knew about😂 Same was in my home.[/quote]
Horrible wasn't it..

Did you get SPAM with the disgusting jelly on the corners?

@WiddlinDiddlin Spam? I didn't grow up in UK, we had non canned meat. Oh my. I've just realised I've never eaten spam!

No. I had a childhood lacking in food and was too hungry to be picky.

I’m in my 50s. Not allowed to be fussy. But you could tell what day it was by what was on the table, so not huge on variety. One thing I wouldn’t eat for years was smoked sausage (hot) with hot sauerkraut and boiled potatoes. The smell of it cooking used to make me feel sick.

DD2 was quite a fussy eater. If she really didn’t like what was on offer, she could have bread and butter, a piece of cheese and some fruit. She would have lived off chicken nuggets, chips and chocolate given half a chance.

My mum did not tolerate food likes/ dislikes. It was a case of this is what is for dinner and you eat it or go hungry. One of my real dislikes was braising steak which I called brave steak at the age of 3 and as I said if that was what she cooked then it was hard luck but one day she overheard me telling a doll “ you must be good today otherwise you are having brave steak for dinner “ she said she couldn’t believe I disliked so much I appeared to think of it as a punishment. Needless to say I didn’t have to eat it anymore. Well until I was 7 and she dished it up calling it savoury mince which apparently I loved

Yep and still am

One of my brothers has autism and sensory issues with food. Mum and dad didn't want to cook many different meals at different times so me and my siblings all ate the same thing (which was bland for my brothers sake) and then my parents ate later

This led to me never really getting to try new foods and it's stuck

I'm more adventurous now but not much (as in I no longer scrape all the sauce and toppings off pizza I can have a normal margarita pizza now)

Yes by standards then. No by standards now.
Probably a good thing my parents didn't pander to it, else I'd have barely eaten anything.
I can't say I'm a massively adventurous eater but I'll eat most things if they're put in front of me
Cheese and celery are the big hold outs.

To me being fussy is nitpicking over all the finer details of food, how it is cooked, seasoned and not eating it because of something insignificant. Simply disliking some foods isn't fussy imo and I'm always surprised when people say they like everything and think there must be one food or flavour you dislike!

My mum never pandered to me so I went without.

Severe asthma and eczema saved me, as dairy and red meat were cut out. I had long hated meat. I could not chew or swallow it, refusing to eat most meat and completely stopping trying at age 8 or 9.

I do not eat
raw tomatoes
Fish and seafood except tuna rarely
All Meat
Dairy Milk
Eggs
Cabbage
Soft cheese
Cheese with holes except sliced edam with no holes
Most Juices with sweeteners
Celery
Trifle
Jelly
Tapioca and lots of things with these type textures
There are more things I don't eat ever but the list would be long....

I dislike rice, turnips, Brussels but will eat them if necessary. I don't like icecream except if very hot, a couple of times a year.

I dislike most cakes., ie since age 7 or 8 I have called fruit cake "fly cake" and looking at it makes me sick. If I eat it I will close my eyes, literally. Do not get me started on marzipan, batten berg and the like, had to go without desert for years as mum would buy them as everyone else loved them. Have never eaten most peoples wedding cake and loved my own with no marzipan.

I love but avoid bread as it triggers me to overeat. I also constantly try to avoid chocolate and sweets but fail.

In any restaurant, I can usually have chips, a pasta and a veg pizza and a vegetarian choice.
The Vegan choice annoys me if it means they removed the vegetarian choice, as I want and love hard cheese.

Dairy milk as opposed to nut milk, not the chocolate bar!

I was very fussy but now I will eat or try most things (with the exception of offal!). My eldest was very fussy as a toddler but has a great varied diet now. My toddler isn't as fussy as my eldest but is still a bit fussy for now