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Location: Los Angeles>Little Rock>Houston>Little Rock
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My son had sensory issues growing up and still does to some extent. He would not eat or even try most things. Burgers couldn't have "salad" (lettuce/tomato) on them. He would not eat fish, Mexican food or anything the least bit spicy. Even normal holiday foods like Thanksgiving stuffing or the Yorkshire we have with Christmas dinner he wouldn't touch.
He is now 22 and likes most Mexican, loves clam chowder, likes the holiday foods, and is open to trying new things. It took introducing new foods to him at every opportunity. Just keep at it!
I have family members and friends who are picky eaters. I'm sorry but I just don't get it. I like pretty much everything and frequently order foods I've never eaten when I go out for dinner just to try them out. Oh well, different strokes......
I have family members and friends who are picky eaters. I'm sorry but I just don't get it. I like pretty much everything and frequently order foods I've never eaten when I go out for dinner just to try them out. Oh well, different strokes......
Just out of curiosity have you never tried anything and simply not like the way it tasted or the way it felt in your mouth? This is the way it is for me for most foods.
Perhaps start with things that are similar to foods you already eat but not exactly the same. Do you like pinto beans, do you like mashed potatoes? Then you'll probably like bean dip. If you like bean dip, then you'll probably like hummus.
Try a squirt or two of lemon juice and a bit of butter on your green veggies.
Put a little sauce on the side of the plate and dip an edge of your (already known like-able) meat into it (BBQ sauce, gravy, warmed onion jam, etc.). You don't want the piece coated, just a little different flavor added to it.
Raw veggies with different dressings used as a dip to try out different flavors is another good thing to try. Once again, try flavors similar to what you know. French dressing? Try Catalina or a Dijon vinagrette. Ranch? Buttermilk dill. Italian? try Greek.
At home I stick to simple stuff like pastas and bland food like chicken with just a touch of oil or salt and pepper and some boring veggies like asparagus, green beans, potatoes etc...
I guess you could say I'm a meat and potatoes and pasta type of guy. When I go out to restaurants I'm always the guy ordering plain burgers, plain everything. I am always saying hold the mayo, lettuce, or SOMETHING.
The thing is, I'm not happy being this way. I really wish I could learn to love all sorts of other foods and go out to a restaurant and order something with a lot of ingredients off the menu and eat it as-is. I just really don't like the taste and texture of a lot of the foods I've tried. I try to experiment but always end up chickening out or only being able to get one bite down.
Can anyone relate? Can anyone offer any suggestions to opening up my palate? Is there any hope for me or will I always dislike most flavors and textures?
I'm not picky, but I relate. I like simple food and make no apologies. That's not being picky, IMO. I just don't eat certain things. Everyone doesn't eat some things.
I don't eat beef. Most people eat beef, but most people don't order veggies or a big salad for a meal. So that is their "I don't eat...." thing. I DO eat salads for meals.
I don't eat mayo, either. It's no problem. A lot of peope don't eat mayo.
Sounds like people you know give you a hard time about your eating habits, when your habits are perfectly normal. Just not normal compared to them.
A lot of it is just how you are built. Your taste buds ( and maybe body) only likes to process certain things because of whatever reason. Texture, taste or possibly digestive. My son has always been a gamer to new foods and will try ( and like ) most anything. My daughter? Eh not so much.
We have staple food ingredients that everyone likes, so we build a varied method/menu based on that. Like roast or braised venison, sometimes in an Irish stew, sometimes kabobs. Try using ingredients you know you like and maybe look for recipes that will add something 'new' to the staple. Like creamed chicken with asparagus and dumplings instead of just chicken alone with a side.
I am not picky, but there are certain things I can't eat -- like onions. They make me ill. And peppers -- spicy hot foods I can taste, but the heat turns off my taste -- so food then has no flavor. Till the heat wears off. So what's the point?
But eating different foods? That's a palate training. I didn't like veggies until I had to -- and then I found ways to make them yummy that didn't involve coating them in sauces. (Oven roasting things is AMAZING!) Until grocery stores got large boxes of triple washed mixed greens -- salads were out. I HATE making salads. Now I grab a large handful of greens, toss in some sunflower seeds, dried cranberries and crumbled feta cheese, and top with a little Paul Newman's Olive Oil and Vinegar dressing... toss well... yum. I eat them at least daily, if not twice a day -- for a change I dice up an apple, change out the cheese...
But I had to make myself eat this way for three or four weeks before I learned to prefer it. It's not a one and done thing. For me it was a case of it was time to grow up and eat like an adult.
Just out of curiosity have you never tried anything and simply not like the way it tasted or the way it felt in your mouth? This is the way it is for me for most foods.
Heck, I eat insects. I guess I'm the total opposite of a picky eater.
Kids are all finally gone, I made spaghetti for Thanksgiving
The spaghetti was really good too, made from scratch. With love.
Last kid out of the house called Monday asking if we had plans for Thanksgiving. I said no, no plans. He said ok and hung up. I felt .003 guilty for not offering a better response leading to a more family friendly answer. But I didn't have a better answer.
This is the first time in 30 years I have not been on the hook to provide Thanksgiving dinner to holiday dinner attendees.
30 years. I've been cooking them holiday dinners for 30 years.
Nobody even likes turkey anymore, everybody is burnt out on it. Most of them dislike green bean casserole as well. Yet every year I have been expected to produce this holiday Americana cuisine that nobody really wants to eat - - - because. And so I have.
I'm free! No more Thanksgiving dinners everyone expects, but no one wants to eat. I'm done!
And tomorrow? No leftover turkey tetrazzini, no turkey noodle soup, no turkey tacos, no fridge with a hulking turkey carcass hogging all the shelf space. Maybe we'll have tuna fish sandwiches?
Life without kids is so much better than I expected.
(I had feared it for a while, the empty-nest thing and all. I was so wrong)
The spaghetti was really good too, made from scratch. With love.
Last kid out of the house called Monday asking if we had plans for Thanksgiving. I said no, no plans. He said ok and hung up. I felt .003 guilty for not offering a better response leading to a more family friendly answer. But I didn't have a better answer.
This is the first time in 30 years I have not been on the hook to provide Thanksgiving dinner to holiday dinner attendees.
30 years. I've been cooking them holiday dinners for 30 years.
Nobody even likes turkey anymore, everybody is burnt out on it. Most of them dislike green bean casserole as well. Yet every year I have been expected to produce this holiday Americana cuisine that nobody really wants to eat - - - because. And so I have.
I'm free! No more Thanksgiving dinners everyone expects, but no one wants to eat. I'm done!
And tomorrow? No leftover turkey tetrazzini, no turkey noodle soup, no turkey tacos, no fridge with a hulking turkey carcass hogging all the shelf space. Maybe we'll have tuna fish sandwiches?
Life without kids is so much better than I expected.
(I had feared it for a while, the empty-nest thing and all. I was so wrong)
sounds like my niece, talked to her a couple days ago; she and hubby always have Thanksgiving with his family and there are a lot of them; they decided this year not to travel, stay home and have a pre seasoned prime rib, just the two of them. On the other hand there ended up being 20 of us; the thing we were thankful for the most, along with good health was the surprise visit from our son but I will add it was a houseful. Our granddaughter does have over 4000 sq ft, and I think there were screaming kids in every single foot of the house. I would say it is a love/hate situation. We love the family, are so lucky to have so many of them living close but hate all the confusion.
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Kids are all finally gone, I made spaghetti for Thanksgiving
