Fussy Eaters

[ShrikeAttack]

This is a bit of a TAAT so apologies!

A very beleaguered OP currently has a thread running about her fussy-eating husband. Loads of posters have piled on to proclaim they are emphatically 'Not Fussy Eaters', but wouldn't eat pulses, most vegetables, vegetarian food, etc.

To me they are fussy eaters. I understand about conditions involving anxiety around certain foods and sometimes the need for limited diets, but to me, 'non-fussy' eaters eat pretty much anything (barring vegetarianism or religious constraints).

Having said that, I'll eat any food, as long as it's well cooked, I've had some dreadful meals that I really didn't want to eat. I'm not a human dustbin!

It genuinely is a disorder for some people that they cannot try new foods, psychologically cannot do it.

I think a lot of fussy eaters don’t want to be fussy and find it very embarrassing, rather than them doing it to be awkward.

I got 11. I don’t like Mayo though. So for that reason I don’t like taramasalata though.
There are things I might like in the right circumstances, but I’m put off liver for life from bad cooking.

I think a lot of fussy eaters don’t want to be fussy and find it very embarrassing, rather than them doing it to be awkward.

Usually people with actual disorders talk differently than people who just "wouldn't eat that". Nearly everyone here turned their noses up on sauerkraut until I changed from "fermented" to "pickled" cabbage. Then it's suddenly actually tasty🤷🏻

@SchrodingersImmigrant how would someone with a disorder speak differently, just out of curiosity?

My life would certainly be easier if I liked fruit. It would be much easier to get my 5 a day for a start, and it’s a perfect, portable, healthy snack! But the texture of anything but apples makes my throat close and my eyes water. No one wants to see an adult gagging over a satsuma or a blueberry

Unfamiliar food causes autistic DS so much anxiety (which he has enough of in the first place) and he’s such a people pleaser. Seeing him, eyes full of tears, trying to choke down rice at a friends house because he didn’t want to be rude was heartbreaking.

So yeah, there probably are some people who are attention seeking or just don’t care about being awkward, but I’d agree that plenty of fussy eaters wish they weren’t.

[quote Morris125]@SchrodingersImmigrant how would someone with a disorder speak differently, just out of curiosity?[/quote]
It's hard to explain but it's usually clear it's really not just the "bleh no". This is generally truth about most things, not just food. It's the different tone. I had friend who couldn't absolutely stomach certain textures. She physically shrugged when facing them. She never did cause a fuss. She just simply said "Sorry, I can't eat it" in a nice way. On the other hand I met someone so bloody dramatic about food, it was right pita.

I just did that BuzzFeed list and ticked 5 out of the 87 things and actually I will eat Marmite and cheese pastry savouries so technically I could have left that one. Most of the things I don't eat on the list are texture related. I have some sensory issues and texture of food is one of them - kidney, shellfish, tofu. As for parsnips - they're just downright rank! LOL

I think there are way more fussy eaters than there used to be. Some of it is probably due to non-exposure as children. I am a primary teacher and I like to do topic related tasting sessions at least twice per year. The amount of children that simply won't even attempt to try something that resembles a vegetable is really quite astounding.

My three children will eat most things that are put in front of them as there's very little they don't like. Somethings I know they don't prefer but they will eat it with some grumbling. It won't actually make them gag. Things they genuinely hate with a passion, I don't give them. As neither my husband or I like shellfish, my kids haven't really had this so I'm not sure how they'd react to it. I'd imagine they wouldn't like it because of never having had it, but perhaps not. They do like calamari (which I can't stand, texture!). When we went on holiday to Italy, they were given veal and none of them liked it, but not because of what it was, it was because it was, in their words, 'greasy and slimy' (I concurred!). They did all try it though.

Exposure to different tastes and textures is definitely key.

I ticked 2 items although there's a lot of things on the list I wouldn't choose to eat if I was cooking for myself and picking from a menu but I would eat them if someone served them up to me. Even the 2 i ticked i could force one of them down to be polite but i'd struggle with marmite!

I will eat anything apart from beans, pulses and lentils. That's quite a broad category, so in that sense I am fussy, but beyond that very specific list of no-nos, I am definitely unfussy.

I'm not apologetic about it, either - beans make me gag; why would I force myself to eat something that I find intolerable?

I've grown up being told i'm fussy (I accept that I am but maintain that I can't help it). It's a bit weird for me though. I cannot tolerate most vegetables, fruits and salad things. I can eat potatoes, cucumber, lettuce, and carrots now but it's taken years (I'm in my 30s). It's the crunchy wet feeling, it makes me gag and I physically can't get them down. Spag Bol? Lovely. Lump of onion in a Spag Bol? Gag. Smooth sauces for me unless they're big lumps I can avoid. I get good use out of my blender! I also regularly try to eat things at home and always try new stuff (which as long as it's not crunchy and wet at the same time I often like!).

However, I will eat a lot of food that some non fussy other people won't touch. Blue/strong cheeses, smoked salmon, raw things like a meat tartare, sushi, oysters, escargot even! Strong flavours like garlic, hot spicy food, any sort of Chinese, Indian, Thai, Italian etc - I just avoid the veg and order meat/rice/noodle based things.So I hope I'm not a pain to eat out with.

It wasn't until I had my children, and despite my best efforts weaning them with a huge variety of foods including things that I can't eat that I realised that my eldest is exactly the same as me. Age 3, diagnosis of ASD, and an explanation that the food thing was quite common. I also have other traits. I won't seek a diagnosis because I function perfectly well, but it certainly would explain why I 'can't' eat some things rather than 'wont'.