Picky eaters, check in!

[LaraMN]

I think I am the most boring eater on Earth. The list of things I don't like or am repulsed by is exceedingly long. Foremost, I won't eat:

Dark meat
Pink meat
Meat on a bone
Meat with visible fat
Seafood
Fish
Steak
Pork
Milk
White bread
Juices that are mixed flavors ie; cran-raspberry, apple-cherry
chocolate- cake, ice cream, frosting, or solid chocolate.
cookies (although I like cookie dough.)
bars
Peppers, squash, spinach, asparagus, cooked carrots
Anything with a white sauce
Anything with a wine sauce
Anything BBQ-flavored

I know I can't be the only one with a dull palate; who else is really picky?

[Hugin]

1. I'm quite the opposite...

Very eclectic palate here.

[MissMillie]

5. me too

though I won't eat raisins

and I don't care much for the mushy squashes (butternut, acorn, hubbard....)

and three items never to be found in my kitchen are: cool whip, spam and miracle whip

[zappa_parappa]

2. So what exactly do you eat?

seems like your poor taste buds are being denied some of the greatest pleasures in life.

[MissMillie]

4. she eats boneless skinless chicken

plain

I don't see that she leaves herself open to much else

[LaraMN]

6. White meat/ boneless, skinless chicken breats, turkey,

and some ground beef (ie; I'll eat a hamburger if it's grilled, and not at ALL pink.)

Whole wheat bread, cereal, salads, soup, pasta. I don't have alot of variety, admittedly. I tend to eat the same thing for lunch for weeks, until I get sick of it.

I make things for dinner that I don't like, because the rest of my family is more dietarily versatile than I.

I do like most fruits (except melons) and there are a fair number of vegetables that I do like. I like dairy, except milk.

[ghostsofgiants]

3. I'm horribly picky as well.

Though I do like a few items on your list. A list of the foods I dislike would be ridiculously long.

[LaraMN]

7. Good! Then I'm not alone!

Alot of my dislikes revolve around meat (I'm not crazy about eggs, either). I did the vegetarian thing for about six years, but it didn't stick for me, permanently. I do like to eat SOME meats.

[LynneSin]

8. There is a website for folks like us and even a yahoo group

WashPost did an article about adult picky eaters (and I'm a serious one!) and one of the items they discussed was the 'super-tasters'

BTW my list includes
Onions
Pickles
Peppers
Mixed Vegetables (My salads are literally romaine lettuce and dressing)
I do not like my foods mixed up or touching other foods)
I drink milk but won't put milk on my cereal
The only apples I'll eat are red delicious (I'm not as fussy as what was used if the apple is cooked)

Hell, I'm even brand senstive - I love 4% small curd (not large) cottage cheese from Shop-rite or Acme. I once tried organic cottage cheese and threw the container out after one bite.

[LaraMN]

9. I seem to recall hearing something about "super-tasters," once.

Can you tolerate artificial sweeteners? I can. not. stand. any of them. I don't particularly like my foods to mix on my plate, either.

[Scout]

10. i've heard something about super-tasters...

for instance, some of them have very sensitive taste buds for bitter tastes ... more sensitive than those of the average person.

I am definitely a picky eater. Lots of times I don't care for the texture of the food as you chew it. And if I don't care for the smell, I definitely don't like the taste. (Brussel sprouts and asparagus stink!)

I was finicky even as an infant ... so the doctor told my mom to put corn syrup in my formula! Thus a carb addict was born.

The only vegetables i care for are corn, carrots (raw or stir fried crispy), steamed green beans (not canned!), cabbage in cole slaw (not cooked unless in a spring roll), black beans, pinto/refried beans.

Fruits I like are apples (not cooked, not in applesauce), bananas, pineapple.

I eat beef (not veal), ham, chicken and turkey (don't care a lot for dark meat), bacon, pork chops/roast/ribs. Sometimes eat brats and italian sausage.

I don't care for onions raw, and only rarely cooked (like in spaghetti sauce). I HATE lettuce and can taste even a small amount, like if it gets into my taco by accident. HATE raw tomatoes.

I love most kinds of bread, pasta, cheese, milk, large curd cottage cheese, butter, mayonnaise, and of course desserts and snack foods.

[S n o w b a l l]

16. That's interesting...

My 9 yo nephew won't eat anything except (& never has since a toddler):

macaroni & cheese
pizza
french fries
plain spagetti
ketchup & cheese sandwiches

That is all he'll eat. He gags on anything else. They've taken him to a nutritionist and doctor...nothing works. He just won't eat anything. We go to a restaurant, they order him fries...if they're not cooked just right, he won't eat them. Too soggy, too crisp, too done... he won't eat them.

They claim, without using the phrase, he's a super taster.

I'm afraid I'd have to starve him to death before I only fed him that crap & put up with that.

[Arkansas Granny]

26. It sounds like you subscribe to my theory.

If they get hungry enough they will eat the food that's served to them, assuming that it is fresh and well-prepared.

Seriously though, I have a niece who is extremely picky about foods, so much so that I worry about her nutrition and health (she eats very few vegetables, no fruits to speak of, and the only dairy she eats is cheese, mostly processed American). I had always attributed that, in part, to the fact that her pediatrician advised that babies shouldn't have solid food until they were over 6 months old.

My kids, on the other hand, were not picky eaters at all, but my pediatrician recommended introducing solid foods into their diets when they were just a few weeks old. There are very few foods that I don't like so I served them everything that I thought tasted good assuming that they would like it too and they did, mostly.

I don't know if the timing of solid food has anything to do with it or not, these are just personal observations.

[dropkickpa]

19. Hear ya on the sweetners

Aspartame gives me migraines, the rest are just nasty nasty nasty tasting (even splenda). I am baking a flourless chocolate cake with splenda for my mom's b-day on sunday (she's diabetic). I'll make Dropkid taste it.

[Omphaloskepsis]

11. I'm the same way..

Thing I do eat from your list:
steak
white bread
bbq-flavored

Maybe this is why I'm 6' and 140 pounds.

[1gobluedem]

12. Picky, picky, that's me...

My list of loathing includes:

Mushrooms
Eggs (hard boiled are okay)
Seafood (but I like fish)
Mustard, mayonnaise, pickle relish salad dressing, almost every condiment or gravy/sauce
Guacamole
Rare meat (I like it cooked through)
Dark poultry meat
Squash and zucchini
Hummus
Tofu
Falafel
Any milk under or over 1/2%
Liver
Cauliflower
Sweet pickles
Dark chocolate (not a huge chocolate fan to begin with)
Veal
Canned vegetables

I could go on and on but....won't.

[SKKY]

13. OK Lara, I just realized something very important about Jack...

...his eating "tendencies" you mentioned a while back have nothing to do with that extra chromosome. It's in the genes!!!

[scarlet_owl]

14. I'm a very picky eater. My husband, on the other hand, will eat anything.

[dropkickpa]

15. Kinda picky

I will NOT, under any circumstances, eat the following:

Broccoli
Cauliflower
Lettuce (but love spinach)
Cherry anything (candy, fruit, medicine, etc)
Watermelon anything
Salmon or any similar fish
lobster, shrimp, or crab (love clams, oysters, and other bivalves though)
Bamboo shoots
olives
green or red peppers (like em as flavoring in things, but won't eat them, I pick 'em out)
cooked carrots (see peppers)
jalapenos (like other chile peppers, HATE jalapenos though)
peas by them selves (have to be in something)
Cake Icing (bleech!)
Swiss cheese
White chocolate
mushrooms (see peppers)
tomato guts (hate sliced tomatos on sandwiches, love 'em when the guts are gone/hidden)
okra
celery
baked beans (make me barf, childhood issues)
fennel
caraway
pepperoni
red onions
milk by itself (I can NOT drink a glass of just milk, the flavor has to be hidden)
cucumbers
pickles


I'll eat just about any kind of bread-type product except those containing any of the above. I don't have a huge sweet tooth except for fruit desserts, so cookies are a take 'em or leave em, not a big cake fan, and I eat ice cream about 2x a year.

[alphafemale]

17. I once was. My range of foods was once very limited.

Ridiculously limited. Mostly through ignorance.

I've mostly coaxed myself out of it, gradually over the years.

Though I still avoid tuna or most other fish.

I can do most shellfish though...even intense shellfish like clams or oysters without a problem.

Thinking about it just now, my aversion to fish may be the fear of the "bone thing." The thought of that spindly, pokey thing catching you in the mouth or throat....shudder.

And I hate the taste of tuna.

And mayo.

I've gradually learned to like most other foods, though.

Which is a blessing,

Who wants to insult or inconvenience friends if they invite you for dinner?

"Ewww, I don't like that. Can I have cereal?"

[bigwillq]

18. I'll eat mostly everything

except seafood.

[MsKandice01]

20. VERY, VERY picky eater here...

Here's a partial list of things I won't eat...

Chicken or turkey on the bone, liver, shredded beef.

Pretty much all vegetables, except lettuce, collard greens, corn and other starchy things that don't really count as vegetables. I FREAK if someone puts tomatoes on something like a burger and I take the tomato off but that seedy-slimy residue is left on my burger. I can't eat it after that.

Any berries of any kind (it's not the taste, it's the seeds), oranges, pears, peaches, plums (my dislike for those is texture-based). I like watermelon but usually will refuse to eat it unless it's seedless. I'm way paranoid about inadvertently biting into a seed.

So basically, I'm a little phobic when it comes to certain textures and seeds. And the taste of most vegetables literally makes me gag.

[mykpart]

21. I'm extremely picky, but I am better than when I was younger.

Here are some things I learned to eat and enjoy late in life that I wouldn't eat when I was young:

Peanut butter
Gravy
Pizza
Tacos
Pinto beans
Mushrooms
Spaghetti
Garlic
Swiss cheese
Cream cheese
Green beans
Broccoli (but not the stems!)
Carrots, raw or cooked

The smell of cooked cabbage, pickles and mustard still nauseate me, and I will never be able to eat olives, although I like olive oil.

[SeattleGirl]

22. I'm picky in a weird way.

I will eat hamburger, but not steak. (But I can barbeque a mean steak, so I'm told.)
I hate tomatoes but love tomato soup and tomato sauces.
I will not even try sushi.
Hotdogs must have mustard on them, not catsup, but little smokies are okay with catsup.
I will not eat ham as an entree, but I love cubed ham scrambled up in eggs.
I love grilled cheese sandwiches, but will absolutely not eat a cheeseburger.

I have many other picky things about eating that I can't recall now, but if MrSG weren't already asleep, he could remind me of what they are! :rofl:

[QMPMom]

23. There are only a few things I refuse to eat:

Bananas - hate them with a passion and refuse to eat anything that has them in it.

Applesauce - YUCK!

Tarragon - Nasty herb, tarragon is.

Coconut - I will only eat it in a Chinese Coconut Bun or in Coconut Cream Pie. I can't stand it in any other way. Well, raw is okay.

Cooked Carrots - Double Yuck!

Kidney Beans - I don't like their slightly sweet taste and tough skin.

[fizzgig]

24. my father calls me picky

what i won't eat:

eggs
shrimp
scallops
clams/oysters (unless they are smoked and come in a can)
crab/lobster/etc unless it is mixed in with other stuff
things unfathomable to my western brain (brains, tripe, etc. i'm not saying these things are gross or anything, i just can't bring myself to eat them)

that's it. i will eat anything else and my father still calls me picky

[GoneOffShore]

25. What started you down this road?

It's always interesting to me, as an eclectic eater, when others say they won't eat something.

Did you have bad food experiences as a child?

Most of the "picky eaters" I've run across are either English or American. Something about the attitude of both cultures to food that would seem to encourage the syndrome. What I'm reading throughout this thread looks like the picky eaters are denying themselves the actual pleasures that are found in eating a diverse diet. I have run across people who have no sense of taste or their sense of smell is so limited that food is totally uninteresting to them.

The super taster thing is very intriguing. I don't know anyone with that issue.

I really curious about this phenomenon.

[Akoto]

27. I truly loathe fatty meat.

If I can see the fat, and especially if I find myself biting into it, it grosses me out. Don't know why, I've always been that way.

I also don't eat any seafood.

[Bassic]

28. I'm not very picky with one notable exception

I cannot eat anything that has once lived in water. With the occasional exception of some fish, when I'm really really in a good mood.

[GalleryGod]

29. No wonder you are so very thin !?

THIS guy would find something for you !
(5* Chef George Perrier of Le Bec Fin)

[Qanisqineq]

30. Picky eater here

I get worse as the years go by, too. Seafood and fish are two things I will not touch. I ate something the other day that had a smidgeon of tuna in it and I didn't know. Until I put it in my mouth, that is. I gagged the whole time I was trying to swallow it.

When it comes to meat, I'll eat pork, beef, turkey, or chicken breasts. The meat cannot be even the slightest bit pink. Everything else as far as meat is off limits. No organ meats. Nothing unusual.

I don't like eggs, hate 'em. However, I do like Egg McMuffins, go figure.

I don't drink milk but do put it on cereal (one of my favorite foods) and end up throwing most of the milk out.

I don't like really slimy or chewy things.

I don't like white sauces either. I don't like things with sauces like that in stew or chicken potpie or the like -- reminds me of canned cat food.

If I can't identify it, I can't eat it.

I do eat most vegetables and fruits. There are a number of other things I won't eat but they don't come to mind right now.

The main thing is no seafood, no fish, and no eggs.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

31. I'll eat damn near anything.

Which probably explains why there's more of me than there needs to be. About the only things I won't eat are:

Raw onions
Fish with the heads still on (like restaurants usually serve trout; it creeps me out)
Oysters
Brussels sprouts
Lamb and veal (but not because of the flavor)
Sauerkraut
Miracle Whip
Liver

I love spicy food, ethnic food (especially Thai, Vietnamese, Indian), and will eat almost anything if it has cheese on it. Also chocolate, in any and all of its wonderful forms.

[Digit]

32. Impossibly picky

When I go out for dinner, if they have green beans as a side dish (for example), I have to ask if they put those red things in it...cause I won't eat it if it does.

Then there was the time I ordered a BBQ sandwich and they put COLESLAW on it! I had to send it back. I will not touch coleslaw, potato salad or any of that junk.

If they bring a plate with beets on it for garnish, and the juice has touched any of my food, I have to send it back.

I can't eat crunchy mixed with smooth foods: chunky peanut butter, candy bars with nuts, ice-cream with nuts.

I do make a casserole using cream of mushroom soup, but will have to pull out the larger pieces of mushroom as the consistency drives me crazy.

I won't eat any type of fish, but will eat shrimp, and lobster.

No raw tomatoes and if someone were to put on on my burger, and left the slime behind, I would return it.

I have realized I can totally stay away from gourmet pizza places...they will never prepare food to my liking.

No raw salads as it tastes like lawn. No raw veggies, period although my favorite vegetable is broccoli (well done).

Sigh, it is such a hassle to go into a restaurant and have to ask detailed questions on the food beforehand.