Are you a fussy eater?

[HuskyPup]

Why are some people fussy eaters while other people are very adventurous? I’ve long wondered how this develops. Part of it, I think, has to do with one’s parents, and childhood, and how relationships to food were established. I’m not at all a fussy eater; I love cooking, was a sommelier for many years, and worked in a number of ‘fine dining’ restaurants that served everything from rabbit to monk-fish osso bucco. Growing up, I lived on 240 acres of land in the wilderness, and my parents loved gardening, and I would help. There was something fun about planting seeds, watching them grow, and then eating the food that resulted. There wasn’t a fruit or vegetable I didn’t like as a kid growing up, from apricots to zucchini. We also gathered a lot of wild foods; wild asparagus, blueberries, morel mushrooms, stump mushrooms, beefsteak mushrooms, an edible weed we called ‘pig-weed’ that tasted like spinach. And we fished, would eat frog legs, turtle, many thing the land and water offered. I loved it all, it was like an expression of the beauty and variety of nature, as sentimental and affected as that might sound.

Another theory I have is that many fussy eaters fall on the anal retentive side of the personality spectrum: they like to keep things in, are set in the ways, and generally not as outgoing or open to new experiences. A lid is kept on emotional expression, as well as on what one takes in, figuratively and even literally. Of course this is only a loose theory, and one which will no doubt have many exceptions.

Are you a fussy eater? What was your childhood like in relation to food? Did your folks encourage you or make you eat many different things, or did they spoil you with Fruit Loops and wieners? :P

On one hand, taste seems purely subjective, but on the other hand, I believe it goes though a formative process, and keeps evolving. But as Gertrude Stein is quotes as saying in The Joy of Cooking, ‘Beauty to the toad is the she-toad’.

[Goat]

I am not a fussy eater at all... and I never was when I was a kid either. My parents claim ignorance as to how that came to be.

BUT I can tell you how my own kids have learned food habits.

Kid #1 is 8 now, and he is very fussy. When he was first learning to eat he would eat anything I gave him. He loved all kinds of food. Then at one point I had to enroll him in a daycare center. Now, these daycare centers present the parents with wonderful menus of widely varying foods. And they do fix these foods for the kids... but the first time a kid complains about the food the kid is given a cookie instead.

So, within a few days, all the kids have figured this out, and they are eating nothing but cookies at the daycare center.

Within a week, I also noticed that he was refusing food at home. I went to the daycare center and gave them the order "no more cookies period". To which they responded "ok, if you bring a doctors note saying he can't have cookies". I unenrolled him that day.

But the damage had been done. I withdrew all candy, cookies and junk food entirely from his diet. That boy could hold out for a week if he thought there was cookie at the end of it. Unfortunately his mother did not help, and she took the attitude that she'd rather not let him starve, and so she gave in. She never seemed to understand that when he got hungry enough, he would eat the food I gave him.

Ok, so fast forward to child #2. Also not a fussy eater at the beginning. Would eat anything I gave him. Asked for lots of interesting foods.

Ah, but every boy looks up to his older brother, and when his older brother refused to eat something, the younger brother would refuse too.

Fortunately, I think this fussiness is short-lived. When his brother's not in the picture, he eats anything and everything.

So there you have it.

-Goat

[Stereosteveo]

Yes, I fuss when there's nothing to eat.

[yeahgr8]

Very fussy indeed, i like to eat healthy now which is hard to do when living in a Hotel!!!

[Lenina]

I don't think I'm a fussy eater. I like lots of different foods and I'm not afraid to try something new.

I was recently informed that I only eat one item at a time. I never noticed I did this. Hubs tells me I start with portion, finish it and then move on to the next. It's not like I mind if the food touches. I guess I just like the flavors separately. I do like sauces and gravies though on my food when appropriate.

Anyone else have "quirks" like this?

Love,

Lenina

[Stereosteveo]

Originally Posted by Lenina

Anyone else have "quirks" like this?

Lenina

Yes, I'm the opposite. If I have 3 courses I have to put a bite of each into my mouth all at once then chew them all together. It doesn't matter whether the combination really goes together either. It gets weird and tricky with more than 4...I'll leave it at that...

It's like socks and shoes. It's blasphemy to put on a sock and shoe, a sock and shoe. It has to be 2 socks then 2 shoes, or I'll die.

[shaun00]

As long as its dead........im gonna eat it..

if it isnt dead and im hungry.......man watch out.

even the dogs hide in my house when im hungry.

[MsPINKAcres]

I am probably the "pickiest" eater you will ever meet in your life.

I don't think it has anything to do with up bring, my parents, the way I was raised, my personality - or any other thing like that FOR ME - maybe for others but not for me.

I like what I like and what I don't like - I truly DON'T like - I'm not one of those that can eat something I don't care for and be ok with it.

I don't like a lot of the usual things most people LOVE such as:

Ham
Caramel
Dark Chocolate
Coconut
Sweet Potatos
Fish (any kind - fried, broiled, baked/Fresh Water or Salt Water)
Tomatos
Mayo
Mustard
Onion Rings
hot dogs
Fruit Pies (Apple, Cherry, Strawberry, etcl)
I'll eat strawberry flavoring but not the actual berry)

BUT there are somethings that my friends NOT from Louisiana think is CRAZY that I'll eat (and love to eat but I won't eat your normal HAM)

Crawfish
Venison (Deer)
Fried Alligator Tail
Wild Bird such as Duck & Geese
Rabbit

My standard thing to eat is PB&J Sandwiches!

So yes I'm a little weird - but very content in my weirdness!

Oh yeah - AND I'm a COOK too - I have no problem cooking those things that I don't like either - My friends and family LOVE to come to the house for me to cook for them.

So I'm on the weird side when it comes to the food thing - but I'll bet there are a few more out there like me -

This has been fun!
Rita

[Stereosteveo]

Ya I too will eat MudBugs, GatorTail, and Snake. But I can't believe you don't like Caramel.
What about Cow Tounge, aka Lengua here in the SW?

[Fandy]

there a few things I detest, mostly fried and greasy chicken and certain soups.

other than that I like a variety of foods, grilled shellfish and chicken is my favorite and i love a good steak (rare)....as for sweets, dark chocolate, a crumb topped apple pie to die for, fresh fruits.

[MsPINKAcres]

Originally Posted by Stereosteveo

Ya I too will eat MudBugs, GatorTail, and Snake. But I can't believe you don't like Caramel.
What about Cow Tounge, aka Lengua here in the SW?

nope - I'm not eating snake or tounge -

fried greasy chicken (or chicken fried steak) - sounds absolutely wonderful - especially if you pour some cream gravy over it with mashed potatos

it's 8:30 am - and now I'm starving!!!!

how long til my lunch break . . . . . . . .

[justjo]

If i remember to eat, anything will do!

[Ceres]

Take a bunch of addicts and alcoholics and ask them if they take risks with food? ;-)

No wonder the poll looks the way it does!

[Live]

My food rule...if I didn't have to cook it, I am gratefully ready with fork and spoon! LOL
There are a few things I won't eat...most are animal parts (I love liver, tho')...no brains, tongue or blood (as in blood sausage or pudding, rare steaks are the best however).

I did see a special that showed that our taste buds do differ in what we taste and discern in some foods....the people who do not eat green vegetables actually taste something nasty and bitter that I do not have those taste buds for...(thankfully!)

I was raised to eat whatever Dad paid for and Mom cooked...some local & familial diversities but I later learned much more diversity in being exposed to different people and places. I also learned how to swallow a spoonfull of peas with a quick sip, so that no one knew that I gagged to taste them.
I think it has something to do with the unfamiliar..do we think of it as an adventure or not to be tried?

I love food. Now I am hungry...who is cooking???????????????

[Bamboozle]

I'll generally try anything once...but I can't say I've ever had roadkill...and I wouldn't eat roadkill.

As long as I know I'm not going to get some kind of parasite(s) or infection I'm good.

I'd perfer that what I'm eating is dead, though.