Picky eaters tend to gravitate to certain foods, including blander products that are often white or pale colored, like plain pasta or cheese pizza. For reasons that aren't clear, almost all adult picky eaters like French fries and often chicken fingers, health experts say.
This article gets at some deep questions as to the differences (or possible lack thereof) between disorders, differing capabilities, and differing tastes. The stories are interesting, but it doesn't get far on developing a good conceptual framework…
Interesting. I was a rather picky eater up to and including half of college. My favorite dish in high school: Plain pasta with a little butter and parmesan.
In college and grad school though my tastes changed radically and now I can’t get enough of spicy foods and love anything with peppers (which I used to hate).
Mushrooms still utterly disgust me in taste and appearance.
I’m a data point against this. I’m a picky eater and I hate bland foods, and don’t particularly care for fried foods.
I think this would depend on why you are a picky eater? Is it psychological, preferences, or some foods just don’t agree with your digestive system? Are we considering vegetarians and people with religious dietary restrictions to be “picky eaters”?
I think this actually comes down to more of a physiological difference in the tongues of individuals. Some people are super-tasters, meaning they have more taste buds. It affects their perception of most foods.
Ed’s comment is really interesting, esp. regarding religious dietary restrictions. Does following a strict religious diet make your more or less picky within the range of acceptable foods? If people are born into significant communities where making the choice to drop the religious diet is involves a lot of negative social pressure, then it would be closer to an exogenous decision. With smaller and weaker religious groups or with vegetarians, preferences against meats or towards acceptable alternatives would make it easier to comply, and thus less of an exogenous variable.
DPR: Does the ordering part or the picking out part annoy you? Also, people who are lying about why they do not eat some things are probably both self-conscious and lack a degree of self-confidence – it is not always easy being part of a minority and people find different ways to cope with such a situation. The fact that picky-eaters annoy you, and the assumption that you’d probably feel some degree of empathy for someone with a physical disorder, is likely a large reason why people lie to you.
And of course people seek comfort in the familiar; the majority of our lives is lived while performing repetative and familiar tasks. As for inconsistences you are quite right. For whatever reason certain foods have become an acquired taste and anything different, no matter how similar, needs be acquired on its own merits.
I see two distinct aspects of picky eating. 1) The self-confidence issue related to being comfortable in the fact that you are different, not wrong, in being a picky eater. 2) The physical issues that arise when the limited menu consumed by a picky eater is not a healty one and contributes to other physical health issues. Picky or not, though, what kinds of foods are being consumed, and in what portions, are much more important than the actual variety of foods. Other than the rare occasion where a host is preparing a single meal for all to enjoy (as opposed to, say, a buffet or prepared-to-order dining) the actual impact upon the daily life of a picky-eater is likely minimal (say around 1% of meals in a year).
In the case where a host is preparing a meal self-confidence becomes an issue. Are you able to ask them for the menu and maybe get at least some side dishes you like tossed in while you eat your main meal prior to the party? People worth socializing with will likely be supportative (or at least not take it personally) while those who are not supportative probably are not worth the time anyway. We all have our personality quirks but in most cases, and this is one of them, they rarely directly affect the well-being of the people we are around – even if we do unintentionally annoy them sometimes.
Perhaps it’s a question of their ability to taste (though not in the ‘intensity’ or ‘range’ sense). Frequently we start out as picky eaters because we have too many taste buds. As these die off, we start enjoying more foods. Similarly, ‘super-tasters’ tend to be pickier eaters.
Perhaps these people aren’t super-tasters per se – they don’t experience a far greater intensity or range – but instead have differently wired responses to the taste of food. One could imagine that the wrong taste buds die off to make a supertaster, leaving an adapted system that sends similar signals of distate without the signals of intensity or range. Or something.
These folks seem to have genuine psychological issues. The picky eaters that are annoying to me are more along the lines of “How do you know you don’t like it if you won’t even try it?”
Eliminating “most American dishes altogether” sounds like a psychological issue of its own, unless you are simply ignorant of the gamut of “American” dishes and the degree of fusion between ethnic and American cooking. This seems to be a common refrain of food snobs who, while truly enjoying other types of food, develop a psychological issue _against_ “American food” – or at least behave as though they do. In foodie circles in particular it seems to be expected behavior. These are the things that annoy me – not picky eaters.
Aside from that, while I absolutely love spicey food, I have a serious love for the food at a local authentic Vietnamese restaurant, and I’ve spent a lot of time around the world in ‘good’ restaurants and below eating fantastic food, I cannot imagine simply abandoning American staples. If I ever lose the ability to appreciate a good American hamburger, or start using food as an attempt to signal my sophistication (including to myself), I’ll know it’s truly time to pack it in.
(And what is one to do if a dish includes ingredients that do not agree with the tongue other than remove them? I do this with only a handful of foods, and I am not a “picky” eater, but I cannot see why this causes distress to anyone.)
A percentage of people are also non-tasters: a low number of taste receptors. It would be instructive to see if picky eating correlates to any of the taste types.
DPR: I’m one of those who do not like tomatoes, but enjoys ketchup (and marinara). They taste very different to me. I also love milk chocolate, but find dark too bitter.
>> If I ever lose the ability to appreciate a good American hamburger, or start using food as an attempt to signal my sophistication (including to myself), I’ll know it’s truly time to pack it in.
True story. Not a picky eater here. Will eat just about anything put in front of me, except mayonaise. I love the staples, though. Lately Ive been making penne pasta with just some olive oil, salt and pepper to season it, as a side to the grilled chicken breast/sausages I have during the week. Simple, but satisfying. Not that I wouldn’t mind a nice arrabiata sauce on there, but variety is the spice of life.
Not only that, but pepperoni pizza is still my default choice, though Ive tasted some great other topping/sauce configurations.
So, what would happen if you kidnapped one of these people and dropped them off in, say, China, with no immediate way of getting out?
Would they just not eat anything and starve themselves to death? I think that would be absolutely hilarious to watch.
I’m an adventuresome eater, myself. My brother and sister are the same. I note, though, that we always have been. My parents wouldn’t limit our food selection because we didn’t like one thing or another, but we liked most things anyway. No dessert until we finish our veggies? No problem, yummy veggies! About the only thing I didn’t like was butter, and I’m lactose intolerant, so I don’t particularly crave dairy. I used to think I didn’t like fish, but what I didn’t like was the poorly-preserved cod of the 70s and early 80s. (Heck, sushi is a lot less appetizing when you hear “raw fish” and see and smell that old cod.)
It’s kind of funny, reading the article. The “you wouldn’t put a handful of grass in your mouth and chew it up” quote made me think, “Heck, sure I would! I might be a little particular on how the grass was raised and washed, and its nutritional value, but otherwise? Yummy grass!”
I haven’t met (or at least know of) picky eaters like those in the article. I do know a lot of meat-and-potatoes types and flavor-fearers who refuse to venture from their comfort foods, but nothing to that level.
I’m sure part of it is what we are used to growing up; my wife grew up in Germany, and her tolerance for spice was near-nil when we first met (red bell peppers were too much, I remember). She’s not picky, however, and now likes Indian food (although she prefers mild alo gobi) and my enchiladas (which she eats with a box of tissues handy). Her interest in things sweet and milky, though, knows no bounds. Since I’m lactose intolerant, that’s my limit–although she has been conditioning me to handle more dairy. All in all, I think we’ve been good to each other in stretching our culinary experiences.
It’s definitely possible that there is a (perceived) digestive intolerance issue here–I have a tendency to reject milk and dairy as it enters my mouth/taste buds. European milk chocolate? Vile, slimy stuff. Full-fat ice cream? The smell churns my stomach. If you think it’s bad for you, you’ll reject it quickly, and its flavors and smells become markers for bad food–like the old cod.
Are these picky eaters able to eat their preferred foods blindfolded? Do they have to know what it is first before they even introduce it?
The picky eaters in the article don’t refuse to eat a few things — they refuse to eat anything _except_ a few things. These different levels of “picky eating” might be differing degrees of the same thing, but could also be different phenomena entirely.
Either way, it’s simple for mildly picky eaters to get over it — start eating the things you dislike and you’ll start to like them. You may think that you eat what you like, but in fact you like what you eat. This makes evolutionary sense. It’s a mechanism to keep you eating known, safe foods by making them taste good (and making unknown foods taste bad). If you’re forced by circumstances to eat something new, and you do it a few times without dying, then it’s safe, so your body adds it to the safe list and the taste changes to match. Oversimplified explanation? Sure. But not crazy.
A good article about overcoming picky eating:
http://www.slate.com/id/3152
@agnostic… there’s no fat or protein in chicken fingers? What chicken fingers are these? And although these aren’t mentioned in the article, most people I know who are picky eaters will eat at least one, and usually all, of: peanut butter, hot dogs, burgers. Anecdotes aren’t data, I realize, but… just a thought.
“It’s even more annoying to see a picky eater order a dish with an ingredient and then watch them pick it out and set it aside like it’s a contaminant.”
What’s most annoying to me is people who turn their attention to what is happening on my plate, rather than minding their own @#$%ing business.
“What I dislike most are people who claim to be “allergic” to things they simply dislike.”
Maybe they just don’t want to get a bunch of grief from judgmental busy-bodies who have nothing better to do than police what other people aren’t eating. I’m sorry, but as a somewhat picky eater, I’m sick of hearing the opinions of people like you. If you want to eat something, you can go ahead and eat it without everyone else eating it too.
Since arguments about what are acceptable and unacceptable eating habits often morph into laws and regulations, I think it behooves the traditionalists to fight hard to establish the “norms” of reasonable eating. [Just consider two only slightly outlandish future scenarios: In one of them, all meat eating is banned by vegetarians and enviros. In another, picky eating is designated a protected illness and restaurants that don't have menus addressing their "needs" are severely fined, sued, or driven out of business. I find both scenarios improbable but not implausible so I prefer that we stigmatize non-allergic picky eaters as "weirdos."]
I’m not a picky eater, but for some reason can’t abide grapes, cherries, or other small fruit. I have no problem with them if they’re in a pie or a smoothie, but the feel of biting into them always makes me think I’m eating a bug.
OTOH, I’ve eaten actual bugs (on purpose!) and had no problem with it
And I have no problem with olives (love ‘em, actually), mushrooms, or all manner of other food.
GOD the Chicken Finger thing. i have a nephew who eats nothing else. Other than spinach salad. My sister put down her foot a few years ago and decreed that he would choose ONE green vegetable to eat. He chose spinach salad. He has some baby spinach every night now.
ok, I’m a picky eater. I grew up eating very basic midwest meat and potatoes. I’ve lived and worked most of my adult life near universities where ethnic dining and “adventurous” eating is highly prized and confers status and eating mainstream American food is looked down on.
Such is life. What I do is before meeting friends at the latest Thai or Ethiopian restaurant I’ll swing by Wendy’s and get a chicken sandwich and fries. Then I’ll just eat rice or bread with my friends. It’s a pain, but otherwise I have to endure being a punching bag in the food status games of my peers. If it’s a restaurant I know I typically can find a basic dish (chicken w/rice) that I can tolerate, but I’ll always eat first before going to a new restaurant. I enjoy dinner conversation and companionship, I just don’t like the food.
I recognize the food status games are an important part of the culture I live in, so there’s no point complaining. It’s a status game I know I lose, so I just don’t play it. My solution seems to work with a minimum of fuss.
Picky eaters should be exported to wherever it is that they eat lutefisk. That’ll show ‘em!
I’ve heard cilantro is one of the most polarizing herbs: love it or hate it. Anyone agree?
I used to hate brussel sprouts. It took a huge hunger and some well prepared ones to get me past a terrible phobia. Now they’re among my favorite vegetables. I didn’t like fish at all until I ate sushi on a date with a gorgeous woman. I hated Thai food the first time I ate it; now I eat it five or more times a week. Tastes can change, but I think it takes a large incentive to break through a threshold of fear. Many things are an acquired taste. I’m not sure it’s about maturing taste buds as it is about changing attitudes.
There’s also culture: Americans usually don’t eat organ meat like hearts, lungs, brains, kidneys. When I hosted Asian students, it was tough to get them to eat anything but rice and fish. I’ll eat tripe, tendon, squid, octopus, eel, and chicken feet but I really can’t figure out why people enjoy them; bland and rubbery.
The tomato/ketchup connundrum continues in the debate. I think it comes down to texture: people don’t like the tomato squirting when they bite it.
I’m also reading a common theme of how being forced to eat things affects preferences. Psychological.
It’s interesting how little of “taste” is actually taste. It’s a much more sophisticated sense than we give it credit for. It provokes strong emotional responses.
I’m with agnostic here; he beat me to the punch. What do these things have in common? Lots of starch and sugar! n=1 here; I’ve always been somewhat of a picky eater and I’m at least a taster if not a supertaster. Up until I kicked my starch habit a few years ago my favorite things to eat were pizza or a cheese sandwich on baguette…not something stinky but that orange processed stuff. Out of laziness I stopped buying bread or preparing rice or potatoes…and my craving for these things went away (and I was no longer groggy half the time). It was an addiction. The thought of going out for pizza nowadays or even drinking beer doesn’t appeal to me in the least.
Rucola, green peppers, and raw mushrooms are still the work of the devil, but my tastes have definitely shifted toward the savory side of things.
babar: You’re absolutely right. Discrimination causes far too much trouble in the world. Adventurous is the way to go.
DPR: Green and red bell peppers do taste different. The difference is subtle, but since the red pepper is just a riper form of the green pepper, there are higher concentrations of lycopene and capsaicin. Now, we’re talking about going from 1 Scoville unit to 3-5, so it’s still just a very subtle difference, but it is there, and it is detectable if you’re sensitized to it. The ripeness factor is also why red peppers are sweeter than green peppers.
I was a picky eater until college. I had never eaten a salad until my sophomore year, when I went to lunch with a professor and felt obliged to order as he recommended. It was delicious. The biggest influence expanding my palate has been alcohol, however—when I’m a little drunk I’ll try eating anything, and foods I’ve eaten drunk don’t bother me sober.
A deep recession, high unemployment, failing banks, financial collapse and which article grabs 50+ comments and provokes such anger? Picky eaters. Hoodathunkit?
@Aric: 21st century psychiatrists STILL consider homosexuality a personality disorder IF and ONLY IF it causes a person internal strife. If the cause of picky eating is from phobias, it’s a psychological disorder. If you are distressed in social situations because you think people MIGHT disapprove or treat you differently, then it’s a psychological disorder. If you overreact to gentle ribbing over your food choices, you have a psychological disorder. Last I checked, people weren’t losing jobs, being murdered or being beaten up because they wouldn’t eat a delicious vine ripened tomato.
@eddie: Come on, you don’t sound like you’re the touchy type.
if you don’t think it’s a problem, then you don’t have a problem. I often feel uncomfortable ordering meat around my vegetarian friends especially when they look at my plate and put a disgusted look on their face. I have sometimes ordered tofu just to be part of the crowd. I don’t feel distressed about being an omnivore in a city of grass-eaters. Sometimes I eat their weeds, sometimes I politely decline. This article clearly distinguishes “picky” as a condition causing considerable distress and possibly leading to incomplete nutrition. If the shoe fits, wear it. If it doesn’t fit, I must acquit.
DPR: red, yellow, and green peppers are absolutely not identical in taste. They taste profoundly different, and dislike of green peppers is very common. I am amazed that anyone could think there is no difference in taste across peppers. Perhaps you are a severe non-taster, which would also explain why you do not understand picky eaters.
Comments on this entry are closed.