To not understand how a fully grown adult..

[LifesLittleDeciders]

Doesn’t like any vegetables at all?
I was just watching a video about a man who wanted to find recipes he could eat that don’t contain vegetables as he doesn’t like any veg.

I mean come on.. there’s as many flavours in different vegetables as there are colours in the world.. yet he would proclaim to ‘hate all colours’

I just don’t get it. Kids I sort of understand; especially when they descend from fussy parents. But I just think ‘grow up’ when I read about adults not touching vegetables. I’m not talking about “I don’t like broccoli or carrots” - won’t eat vegetables at all.

And the “salad? Do I look like a rabbit?” Slur that comes from people

Who won’t eat anything remotely green or healthy, that saying really boils my piss. Just say no thank you?!

I know IABU as it’s none of my business but it just made me roll my eyes and would be interested to hear others opinions on it.

@MishaHarrow

I like vegetables, but will never accept a salad as a lunch.....im not a rabbit.

That is the kind of childish attitude that is irritating

I believe some children just don’t grow out of the fussy phase around vegetables and if they don’t have a strong influence at home encouraging them to keep trying different types of foods, it can persist

There are quite a few examples of this in my wider family - often it's a very fixed idea that they don't like something often reinforced by other family members for years but when they eat it unknowingly or cooked differently or a different type ie thinking they hate all cheese but being given grilled halloumi andthen later cheese cake then later still soft spreads or hating fish but finding actully like prawns then lemon sole then sammon and then finding actaully they like most types.

I've seen it with my children - serving dished on table are quite good for letting them try as and when they want.

I’ve known people like that who have sensory issues - their issues with veg are more about texture than taste etc. People with ARFID often face issues with veg.

As others have said, for those with no sensory issues - many grew up with only having veg boiled, so that probably means they don’t associate it with taste and flavour. I admit my childhood was the same way. It wasn’t until adulthood when I tried roasted veg tossed with a bit of olive oil/sea salt etc - it blew my mind!

My friend (male) doesn't eat any. None. No orange juice, piece of onion in curry, nothing
He does take a shot of greens powder daily but that's it

LifesLittleDeciders

Broccoli much better 😂

A salad in my house contains cherry tomatoes, spring onions, mushrooms, olives if we have any, peppers, even occasionally avocado or chopped walnuts. As well as leaves.

I think a lot of this is down to being shit at cooking and/or being fed unappetisingly prepared veg growing up. It’s hard to love vegetables if you only encounter them when they’re boiled soft with no seasoning.

I hate fruit and veg, I eat it because I’m adult but still hate it. I spend a lot of time homemaking curries and pasta sauces from purée veggies to sneak extra in. Then I force myself to eat additional veg on the side.

I think it’s unreasonable to not eat veg but not unreasonable to just dislike it.

It's to easy to say someone's autistic or on the spectrum as a reason for them not to eat vegetables, I work in a property with 7 young adults with autism , all without exception eat a wide variety of fruit and vegetables without any problems, they all enjoy well balanced meals with all types of fruit salad and vegetables . If your looking for excuses for fussy eaters please stop using autism

I like raw veg but I struggle with cooked veg. I eat carrots and peas but anything else is a bit yuck. You need a good sauce or gravy, or to hide it in soup.

However, I eat salad until it comes out of my ears. I will happily snack on tomatoes and carrots.

I fear that I have bred a son who won't eat salad though he will eat cooked carrots, broccoli and sprouts, of all things.

Yeah, adults that have ASD are completely childish and stupid for not liking vegetables, how fucking dare they not grow up!!!

@knottz if you worked with adults with ASD you should know damn fine about intolerances to textures and flavours. Stop trying to dump all autistic people in the same group, we’re very widely varied with our needs and our restrictions

@knottz I suppose posters are just being careful not to discount ASD or other sensory issues as a possible reason for fussy eating in kids, not implying that all children with such disorders are restrictive eaters.

@RampantIvy

A real meal always needs protein and carbohydrates. Salad can be a side.

With the exception of real sensory issues ( I genuinely mean that ds1 has some but fortunately not around vegetables) I find it incredibly irritating.

Or rather I should say particularly performative fussiness.

I genuinely do not understand as an adult that even if raised not to like vegetables we know to an extent they are an important nutrition source so retraining yourself is actually quite important , especially setting an example to DC.

Exdh was terrible for this , taught by his dm that vegetables and fish were for posh people and disgusting. Sparks flew when he complained about me eating fish fingers ( alright hardly the epitome of culinary excellence but I was hankering after my university days staple of a fish finger sandwich) and was quite silly when at a wedding some fish was put in front of him (that I ended up eating ) .

It just seems entirely infantile for an adult to claim they don't eat any fruit and veg. My DP was raised on beige food but he also grew up homeless and hungry at times and rightly says that food is food and be glad you have it in the first place.

Mostly though I can't bear performative fussiness. Ds1 genuinely cannot bring himself to eat anything like porridge or mashed potato. He has a genuine diagnoses sensory issue and yet somehow he manages to not make performative gagging noises and dramatics if its accidentally given to him or someone else is eating it.

Years of time in social care including learning disability , elderly care , physical disability. The need for actual gagging is rare. Whilst I accept it genuinely is on rare occasions a physical response , it really is rare. Its usually performative crap where someone thinks they need attention. Its a running joke on a local care home that I used to work with with a member of staff who is ridiculous with this. So the cook stopped cooking for her wouldn't allow her any staff meals so she had to bring in her own. Took a week before she miraculously managed to control her apparently uncontrollable gag reflex.

My husband was an extremely fussy eater when I met him. He wouldn't even eat garlic despite never having eaten it. He did eat some veg though but he would rather avoid that. That said, his parents are the fussiest eaters I have ever met. And I've owned three toddlers! They'll eat the most basic of home cooked stuff. Egg and chips with bacon grill, spam suppers, roasted cheese (cheese on toast for non-Scots) beef stew, sausage stew or a basic roast dinner. All the vegetables (carrots, neeps, Brussels and mushy peas were only) are boiled within an inch of their life, steaks are oven cooked only and well, well, well done.
They don't eat things like bell peppers because, "Oh no, we don't eat none of that foreign fancy muck!"
No pizzas, nuggets or other beige foods either.

DH considered a Chinese takeaway meal to be fancy enough when all he bought was a portion of chips and a tub of curry sauce. If you'd suggested a Chow Mein or sweet and sour dumplings he would look at you in horror.

Now he eats real, properly cooked foods from all around the world (as long as there's no seafood or blue cheeses in it which is fine with me ) including a selection of vegetables. If they're cooked as they should be and not mush then he loves them. He's also a massive garlic fan too.
I still struggle to get him to eat fruit though. I can't make that tastier but even he admits it's all in his head.

I don't understand it either - there has to be a psychological element rather than just taste or texture because 'vegetables' and 'fruit' are such broad categories with so many different tastes and textures - at some level it must be a decision that 'I don't like vegetables' rather than a genuine aversion to each and every one.

I do find that these people are normally really unadventurous in other ways and for that reason I find it a really unattractive trait - I once went on a date with a guy who only ate beige food and although it wasn't the only reason it was a major reason why I didn't feel attracted to him after that date!

I like most vegetables, but they don't all like me! I cannot digest onions or sweetcorn; carrots, tomatoes and peas give me stomach ache. The only ones I can eat are French beans, asparagus, courgettes, babycorn (surprisingly), broccoli, cauliflower, mushrooms and potatoes. It is really annoying!

@MishaHarrow but a salad can have that in!
I make a salad with roast chicken, Parmesan, handful of quinoa, salad leaves, cucumber, spring onion, tomatoes...
or roasted veg with cous cous and feta

we really need to stop the narrative of fussy kids are naughty, its was sort understandable back in the past but theres no excuse now when we have better understanding of sensory issues and just preference but i think that kind of resistance comes from being told your just naughty i think.

A friend is like this, if was out for a meal and orders steak which comes with triple cooked chips and onions and mushrooms and a salad garnish, will then ask for ketchup and cover the steak with it and leave everything else as he doesn't "do" fruit or veg, the chips are potato so a vegetable so won't touch it, considers ketchup as his concession to veg. Makes fun of everyone else as how we are eating. - he has good points I swear

As a child and when he was growing up his parents would cook separate meals for all the family, like a short order cook. He is from a large family. 🙈 He won't eat anything remotely healthy and then wonders why he is constantly ill. His sister is a vegetarian who doesn't eat fruit or veg, then wonders why she is constantly run down.

He will eat pasta but only with a cheese sauce not tomato as he sees it as could be used to sneak stuff into him. I offered him some shepards pie but he picked out all veg from the pie and scraped off the potato to the side and nibbled at the meat.

Beige food mainly cooked by someone else as he is nearly 45, lives at home and his parents will make food to order and clean up etc. He takes no responsibility for anything (his parents still buy his clothes, pay bills etc), he does pay an amount of "keep" but to be honest £20 a week won't go to far. It does worry me down the line as he won't cope when they pass.

Fruit and vegetables wise it's like they might be healthy and thats an adult task to try to be healthy and he wants to be a child but is stuck in an adult body. No sensory issues, no eating disorder (by a diagnosis) and is bipolar.

His other siblings eat anything at all as do his parents, the only thing his dad won't eat is prawns due to anaphylaxis which can totally understand.

I’ve turned to twice a week stir frys to give myself more veg. I agree with pp that as an adult you just have to eat it because it’s healthy.

My 22yr old son doesn't eat cooked vegetables. He doesn't eat potatoes in any form either. He doesn't eat fruit. He does eat raw veg and salad though.

I can't see any reason for this. He ate everything I gave him up till about the age of 9 and then gradually he stopped eating things he had previously enjoyed. I've always been home and all meals are cooked from scratch daily. DH is vegetarian and my 19yr old loves everything and is very adventurous with food.

His previously really restricted diet is slowly improving though so maybe he will indeed 'grow out of it' one day.

I’m not a big veg lover, I eat loads of fruit and I enjoy salad but carrots and broccoli type veg isn’t for me. I’ll eat it all on a toast dinner but not with anything else, I’d rather have a salad.

*roast dinner not toast😂