Any other food sensory seekers?

[ofwarren]

Most things you read about autism and food seem to talk about food aversion when I'm the total opposite.

I seek out food that is strong tasting and has interesting flavours and textures. I like to mix up all my food so my mouth experiences as much texture as possible and also different temperatures too.

An example of foods I enjoy are:

Fizzy/sour sweets
Pickles of all kinds
Curries but not extremely spicy ones that burn your tongue funnily enough
Pre mixed up foods like chunky soup, stews, granola
Crunchy foods like crisps

I have a preference for savoury but complex tasting sweet things with maybe a tart element to them are great, so lemon in dessert or popping candy.

Any other sensory foodies here?

Yes and no - I love food, I love cooking, I love eating, BUT THERE ARE RULES!

I will eat most things (as a pescatarian, so the normal restrictions apply), but okra and 'runny' egg yolks are absolutely verboten - they are disgusting, and I don't say that lightly.

I used to be very restrictive about food touching (and I do still tend to eat my foodstuffs one at a time so that the textures and flavours don't mix), but, having lived in Japan / Korea, I got much better about 'a bit of this, a bit of that'.

The 'no touching' rule now really only applies to the 'Western' food I was brought up with.

I also have a very savoury bent with a preference for salty or umami and really no taste for sweet things at all: as you say, @ofwarren, tangy citrus desserts are my favourite or, at a push, something like a pavlova (which is also one of the very few exceptions to the 'cannot touch or be mixed' rule).

Oh, and I don't like particularly hot or cold food - my OH knows to serve my soup lukewarm while he heats his to something approaching the centre of the sun, for example.

Also can't really be doing with ice cream or lots of ice in cold drinks.

You lived in Japan and Korea??
I'm soo jealous!
I could easily have a million questions for you right now ha ha

Ask away!

I lived in Osaka, Kyoto, Busan and then Seoul for just about short of a year in total for work.

Wow, that is absolutely awesome!
Is it easy as a westerner in those countries? The culture looks so different yet fascinating.

Did you prefer Japan or Korea and why?

Living in the big cities is pretty easy - most suburban Japanese / Korean people speak very good / fluent English (although some older people can be a bit shy about speaking English to Westerners).

I'm good at languages (I'm bilingual Gaelic / English, speak fluent French and CEFR B2 / C1 level German and Spanish) and I learned enough of both languages to be able to be polite when I travelled outwith the cities, which made life a bit easier, as English fluency is less common there.

It took me a little bit of time to get to grips with social mouers, but actually, once you're roughly up to speed (and especially in Japan, I had a Japanese 'work buddy' who kind of acted as my minder / cultural instructor for the first month!), it's quite easy - and as an autistic person, I appreciated the rules and lack of physical contact!

My favourite place was probably Seoul, which is AMAZING. It's very cosmopolitan and has quite a young, very well-educated population, which makes it very vibrant. Korean people are quite different to Japanese people, in that I think they're more forthright, and also the food is spectacular!

Oh, I forgot to add - although I managed to learn a reasonable amount of spoken Japanese and Korean, I didn't do so well in learning written scripts, so it was quite weird to find yourself as a basically functionally illiterate adult!

I did manage to memorise the kanji / hangul for 'Ladies' and 'Gents' and the metro stops closest to where I lived, so that got me by.

Also, socks - I have enormous feet for my height (UK 8.5 / 9) and did have to get emergency socks sent from home, as it's very difficult to find ladies' socks in those sizes!

But - and I promise this is the last thing for now! - no non-Japanese person will ever really 'get' bowing.

It's very, very nuanced, down to the most minute angle, and the age of the person you're meeting, your familial / social / professional relationship to them - it's very complicated.

However, Japanese people don't really expect that level of understanding from non-Japanese and, as long as you make an effort, you're fine, even if it's not quite right. It helped that I was there as a senior subject matter expert, so most people I was meeting were my professional 'subordinates'.

Sorry to derail the derail but yes, I'm quite sensory seeking with food too, and like trying new things. Certain things are a no for me though - fruit and chocolate are much better separately. Pies and crumbles are much better cold, and never with custard or ice cream.

I do notice though that my tolerance for "interesting" flavours, textures and spice drops precipitously if the environment I'm in is overstimulating though. So, the same spicy curry I could happily eat at home or in an empty lunchtime restaurant (with plenty of daylight) would be way too much during a busy dinnertime service with music and dimmed lights. My stomach will also shrink right down, so I'll only be able to eat a fraction of what I usually would, and feel pretty ill quite quickly. I'll often have a panic attack triggered by what I'm eating, and have to hide in the loos for a while midway through. Eating something predictable and minimally stimulating (like a pizza) won't have that effect.

I'm the same!
I cannot eat in a stimulating environment, I physically feel sick.
I often have to tell one of my children to shush because they are making me feel sick when I'm eating.
I've never heard anyone else talk about this.

@ofwarren me neither!! I like this board.

Tepid food always seems easier to eat.
Also never alcohol or fruit in chocolate (which I don't much care for anyway- prefer savoury things). "Unitised" food much preferable like baby bel rather than cutting slab of Edam, or pot of yogurt rather than scooping into a bowl from large tub. Suspect Just cos it's quicker and easier -

Totally agree with the tepid food. My DH always pulls a face because I never warm up my food if its gone a bit cold.

I don't have many food issues, and love strong flavours like sardines and chorizo. I also like mixed up things like stews, and crunchy things like crumbles.

I can't have chilli, alcohol or caffeine, but that's not an autistic thing it's because it triggers heart spasms and angina.

The thing I do have trouble with is texture, I can't stand anything wobbly like undercooked egg, or anything too smooth like mayonnaise or custard.

If my anxiety is bad food gets more juvenile and restricted. Bad days can see me eating fish fingers and spaghetti hoops or cheese a