To think if you like eating something, you'll eat it in most forms?

[Nobodyknowsme101]

My 13yo has been fussy with food literally since birth! Very restricted diet.
What recently is driving me mad is the fact that I've noticed he'll eat a certain food in one dish but refuse to eat it in another saying he doesnt like it 🙄
Examples :
•Will eat cheese on a pizza but insists he hates cheese and wont eat it in burgers, pasta, on potato etc.
•Eats chicken nuggets/breaded chicken burgers and roast chicken as part of a roast dinner but refuses chicken in any other form saying he doesnt like it such as cold in a sandwich or in homemade chicken nuggets which to me were not much different in taste to the frozen ones.
•Will eat fish from the chip shop but insists he doesnt like fish when I've given him homemade fish nuggets or even frozen fish fingers.
•Will eat bolognese or chilli from a jar but when I've done a homemade version it's too disgusting for him to even try. (Despite me and others trying it and it hardly tastes any different to the jarred ones)

I can't think of anything I like to eat that i dont like at all in certain dishes. I have preferences for the way I eat things but I cant say oh I love scrambled egg but hate poached because at the end of the day egg tastes like egg in most forms surely!?

Is he just being fussy or am I being unreasonable? Would love to hear feedback if you can relate to the way my son thinks because I just cant understand it 🙃

My husband is like this.
Doesn’t like dried fruit but loves Christmas pudding?!
Soooooo inconsistent.
It drives me nuts.

*bolognase

The thing about not tasting it I sympathise with you. But I do think the food fear is real. eg, I'd struggle to force myself to taste snails. But for someone with food issues, even something as simple as a piece of chicken can have the same fear.

There's definitely a difference between a chicken breast at home with a roast and a chicken breast in a burger at a restaurant. Home cooked roasted breast will be much softer.

Ditto, home cooked chicken nugget will not be as soft and mushy on the inside as one from the frozen food aisle.

Have you tried him on the vegetarian nuggets/burgers etc? The texture is often very smooth, soft and mushy but as they're veggie, there's a slightly higher nutrition factor?

The chilli etc from a jar is likely to be a smell thing as much as a texture thing. I saw someone on here on a different thread suggest basically a similar approach to when you want to change your cat's food - prepare the jar meal as usual for him but add a tablespoon of your home cooked chilli and mix in. Then each time, add more of your home cooked. Until the slow change is accomplished. Ideally, as he's 13, I'd be trying to get him to be supportive of this strategy but you might need to do it on the sly. (at 13, I'd expect him to understand the concept of eating that is not particularly healthy and be wiling to work with you to come up with solutions that work for you).

he ate muffins as a child so assuming he still does, perhaps start baking savoury muffins or sweet ones with fruit/veg. Or, even better, get him to make them with you. DS's favourite banana muffins are filled with bananas, bran, nuts etc. V nutritious.

My sister loves potatoes in any other form than a jacket potato.

My husband is terribly fussy and one of my greatest fears was that my children would turn out the same. Fortunately they didn't. As children they ate just about anything I cooked for them. In particular I was relieved that they happily ate fruit and vegetables (husband likes mushrooms, and will reluctantly eat peas and carrots, but won't eat any other veg or any salad/fruit.)

One will no longer eat anything, but that's because she become a vegetarian in her late teens!

Nah OP

Friend egg is gross, scrambled is yummy
Pizza is good, cold cheese is awful
Milk in tea is fine, milk on its own is vile
Custard is nice, cake with custard is awful it changes the cake texture.

I like tinned tuna but not when it’s hot.
Tinned salmon but not fresh salmon.
Love cheese but not in sauces. I could vomit at the thought of macaroni cheese.
DH likes all potatoes except mashed (because of texture).
DS doesn’t like steak or meat from a joint but will eat things with beef in.

I’m sure there are lots of other examples I haven’t thought of so I think it’s quite normal.

I think maybe you have a very insensitive palet and he has a very sensitive one. Food tastes hugely different depending on temp and what it's mixed with.

Milk in tea is fine, milk on its own is vile

So true. Too many being forced to drink slightly warm school milk associations.

@waltzingparrot I think you're married to my son! (Your DH is 11, right? )
That's just how he is.

I could vomit at the thought of macaroni cheese

Yep. I like pasta, I even like cheese sauce. But the 2 should never mix.

The whole basis of cookery is that preparing and cooking things in different ways makes them different!

Growing up I hated eggs that looked like eggs (boiled/poached/fried) but was ok with omelette. Still not convinced by boiled eggs and egg mayo sandwiches are the work of the devil. I think I dislike the texture of solid boiled egg yolk but like the white to be properly cooked without gloopy bits and achieving that is very difficult in a boiled egg.

Also hate tinned tuna, love tuna sushi.

Pizza cheese is very different to burger cheese or uncooked cheese, I happen to like them all but could totally understand not likely certain types

@BestZebbie

The whole basis of cookery is that preparing and cooking things in different ways makes them different!

Exactly this. Otherwise we’d just eat everything individually in its basic form!

Oh I’m sorry @dolphinpose I tease her about it but tbh if it’s your preference what matters? DSis is fussy I’m many other ways but I’ve always found it entertaining that she insists they taste different! Or maybe you’re my DSis 😂

I wouldn't say I am a fussy eater but I can see where your DC is coming from.
First of all home made stuff always tastes different to shop bought - usually in a good way - the flavours are much stronger.
I love most forms of tomato but hate tomato soup.
I love to drink coffee but don't like it in cakes or chocolate.
I like fresh ginger and ginger cake but don't like ginger biscuits or preserved stem ginger.
I will tolerate scrambled egg but hate it poached, boiled or fried - can't stand yolk.
Despite my pickiness with egg and the fact I hate mayonnaise, I do like egg mayonnaise sandwiches.
I like sweetcorn but won't have it on a pizza.
I'm sure there are more. And I really do eat most things and am ok with most textures.
So yeah, YABU.

I love apples but I hate apple pies or anything else where it's been cooked.

@ChinDiaper

Milk in tea is fine, milk on its own is vile

So true. Too many being forced to drink slightly warm school milk associations.

I've never understood how people can drink milk, the taste of it seems so wrong to me. But I'm fine with it on cereal.

DS1 has sensory issues.
He can't cope with too many textures. A tomato has the fleshy outer, the soggy insides, and the seeds that get stuck on your teeth. That's a lot of sensory information to deal with!

He likes consistency.
This is where processed foods are favoured because you know what to expect every time. If I open a tin of fruit cocktail, it will always taste and feel the same. If I make a fruit salad, the apple might yellow, the banana bruise, the orange be chewy, the peach hard and sour.
Processed "beige" foods are popular with people with food issues because they are cooked in very consistent ways.

He likes distinct portions of food. Hates casserole type dinners because there is too much visual information of different colours, shapes, tastes and textures. He also likes one food type at a time.

Doesn't cope with the unexpected. Eating out is a minefield for this, downmarket works better! Doesn't like unanticipated sauces or garnishes.

I too don't think it is unusual to prefer cheese in some contexts rather than others. The same goes for other foodstuffs. My DC weren't particularly fussy although I would describe one as a conservative eater. I would say , I know it is not 'your favourite food 'but 'have a little 'and continued to offer. I didn't mind a short short list of really not liked foods but expected them to eat things that weren't their favourites . I would always have something on the plate that I knew they would eat. I was probably lucky.

Agree, don’t think it’s that unusual. Dd will not eat cooked fruit so apples are ok, but no apple pie. I will only eat cheese on a pizza. Neither of my dc will eat not eat cold roast chicken and dh will not touch cold roast lamb despite lamb being his favourite near. Apparently cold lamb is lardy!

Those all sound like texture differences.

I'll eat potatoes unless they are mashed. Raw carrots but not cooked.
I know people who won't eat a banana but are fine with cooked banana.

texture plus he is obviously more sensitive to taste than you are.

I eat most things but there are still some things that i don't like together though they are perfectly normal to others. Onions with egg is one, so I wont eat quiche or frittata with onions in them but I eat onions in anything else and eggs in any other form (not keen on boiled but I wil eat them).

DS will eat tomato based sauces but not if the tomato is in chunks or lumps and wont eat them uncooked.

He was similar with chips and roast potatoes as PP above and would only eat french fries for a long time as the rest are too potato-ey. He does eat them now as an adult (except boiled/baked) including mash.

Neither of us like food randomly touching but will put different foods on a fork together. DS2 doesn't mind things touching but will eat each thing individually - e.g. meat, then potatoes and then veg.

DH has shit taste buds and no textural hang ups so will eat anything in any format. Poached eggs on top of lasagna for example

Both my sons are like this , but over different things ... I’d assumed it’s just a childhood thing . One hates eggs apart from bought warm quiche , one hates potatoes apart from frozen roast potatoes . As they are both quite fussy I welcome any choices which make the choices wider ! The frozen roast potatoes was a game changer .

Nope .
My dd loves cheese but won’t eat it melted , she also hates cooked mushrooms and mashed potatoes but will eat them any other way .
Dh is an absolute cheese fiend and he likes cauliflower but hates cauliflower cheese.