To ask for the definition of a fussy eater?

[chronictonic]

What's your definition of a "fussy" eater?

Always been interested in this as my 10 yr old could be labelled, and is labelled, a "fussy" eater.
But after 10 years of parenting, I've come to the conclusion that every child I've know is one (or could be labelled one) in some shape or form.

My child hates pizza, lasagne, spag bol and lots of other things that most children love.
But she will gladly polish off a huge plate of steamed vegetables and a steak/fish etc. And is quite adventurous in some ways (loves all smoked fish etc) but she would only eat pasta plain for example and would be alarmed by a speck of pepper! But give her a still moo-ing steak and she's in heaven.

Her best friend on the other hand enthusiatically eats lots of the usual kid's favourites: pizza, pasta, chips, a roast, without fuss, and with great gusto.
But she'll always leave the green beans & broccoli etc. And look truly disgusted by them 😂 The other day she was appalled by the idea of having rice... but her mother describes her as unfussy.

Would it be fair to call either of them a "fussy" eater? Or both of them?

What makes a child NOT a "fussy" eater?
If it means they eat EVERYTHING I am yet to meet one!

Even the most adventurous and 'foodie' child I know refuses simple green veg. Will gladly polish off a seafood curry, risotto, dumplings, sushi, ramen, pies, falafel etc. though! (Not all at once!)

So are all kids basically "fussy" eaters these days or shall we just abandon the term and just call them Kids?

Side note:
I do know some children with very limited & therefore problematic diets due to sensory food aversion & I don't think it's fair to label them "fussy" as it's so much more complex than that.

I was a fussy eater as a child. I would eat only “green dinner“ (pesto pasta) or “Red dinner” (tomato pasta), fish fingers, chips, pizza (no “real” tomatoes or toppings)… That was it for savoury. Huge rows at the dinner table over my refusal to eat any veg.

As an adult I’m not fussy but it took until university - when I consistently cooked for myself and ate out with friends - for that to happen. I think where it wrong as a child is partly that it made my mum so angry I didn’t want to give her the satisfaction of changing my mind.

Huh, I’ve only just figured that out. I must remember that as my baby grows up…

I think the term fussy is really unhelpful and mostly quite judgemental. Look at some of the posts on here. Some people feel very superior if their kids eat ‘everything’, like they’ve done something ‘right’.

Lots if kids that are called ‘fussy’ have sensory issues with food and/or ASD for example. For those children, e posing them to ‘everything’ at a young age, won’t necessarily help. Lots of kids with autism regress with good. If they can explain their issues and you actually listen, it’s not fussiness. One of my kids has autism, might be unhelpfully classed as fussy by others but her diet is actually very good overall.

I’ve been called ‘fussy’ because I’m vegan. I’m not fussy, I just choose to not eat animal products.

We don’t make issues about food, no one gets called names due their preferences.

For me a fussy eater would be someone who doesn't eat a whole food group or the majority of it- so no veg or only carrots for instance.

Mine -

doesn't like fish, minced beef (so shepherd's pie, lasagne, chilli con carne), anything with cheese (even pizza), shellfish, pasta, anything with lemon or lime flavouring it, offal (I can't blame him for that).

A fusy child? No, my 64 year old husband!

Sometimes MNers mention their fussy eater, then describe a huge long list of foods the child eats: I get shirty about this, I would have been delighted if DS ate half on their list.

What makes a child NOT a "fussy" eater?

I would say, NOT fussy = if they generally eat or will at least try (no instant refusal or protests) many items (don't mean every item, but a wide range), especially from these groups:

meats, vegetables, fruit, foods with sauces, cheeses, crisps, icecream.

to give examples of my Fussiest eater:
... vegetables: for a long time only brocoli, than only carrots (until he was almost 7yo); now really only eats 4 types of veg
... fruit ... only fruit leathers & Schloer
.... sauces, only ketchup; no gravy or custard of course.
... crisps: I actually danced a jig when he tried Wotsits, that was so novel
... dairy: only cheese on pizza, no other time
... ice cream: he will now eat some besides Magnums

Weirdly, unlike rest of my kids, he quite likes white fish and has even tried a prawn

He's now 15 (years, not months) & will actually eat (mildly protesting) a pizza with a range of toppings on it, like olives, ham ,peppers. This only happened in last 9m. I'm still reeling from it. He got a 7 in GCSE catering last year, cooking quinoa lasagna. Not like he ever tried a bite of it AFAIK. We had to do all the taste-testing for him.

DS still organises food on his plate, doesn't like mixing.

No SN. Some people just get stuck in their ways.

The terms picky and fussy are unwarranted in regards to this subject.
there are many more people who have intolerance to the bigger selection of ingredients available now.ditto more dislikes as more options.Then there is the consideration of vegan food,eating organic food and being aware of what eating certain goods is doing to the climate due to flying them around the wor

You say no kids eat green veg - well mine wouldn’t be spectacularly adventurous and all 3 love broccoli and green beans.

Anyone who makes their preferences my problem. Sigh.

I think it's far better to say what they eat rather than what they won't

That helps people if cooking /feeding them

Fussy is probably not finding anything on an average menu in a restaurant or at a friends house where given various options and say no

Dd6 will eat most things - loves for example chicken mince lamb sausages veg fruit roasts omelette pasta whether plain spag bol lasagne pesto , jackets , beans on toast

Prefers fish in breadcrumbs /batter rather than plain

Not a huge fan is mash but loves sausages and mash at school 😂

But will eat a jacket scraped out with cheese /butter. Which is basically mash