Autism, at least for me. If my brain decides to reject it there’s little I can do. I once ordered filet mignon in a fancy steak house, then couldn’t eat a bite of it because my brain decided it’s not good.

I will actually skip a meal, or leave an event to buy my own food, instead of eating food that I don’t like.

When the alternative is actually and literally fighting against revulsion and gag reflex and nausea, or getting my hands and face dirty with food that can’t be eaten cleanly, why would I subject myself to that if I’m not literally starving?

Best example I can think of is a work trip last year for which I marked myself “vegan” instead of “vegetarian” for meal restrictions. One outing had a bunch of pizzas ordered. The only meatless pizza had mushrooms. I hate mushrooms on pizza and the act of picking ingredients off of pizza is so degrading and so disgusting, not to mention they still leave their tastes behind anyways, so I just went out of pocket and got food somewhere else after I left.

Always been like this. Arguably I’ve put a ton of effort into trying new foods and I’ve been lucky to have traveled to a lot of foreign countries - I’ve had live grilled abalone (which I regret every part of), century eggs (tasty as fuck, would eat again), have developed a decent spice tolerance too (not easy growing up in the midwest USA :P). But some stuff still just is forever gross to me.

Also, fuck sandwiches and burgers that fall apart in your hands or have things fall or slide out or liquids or sauces drip stuff while you bite down. I am so repulsed and irritated by this that I feel actual rage.

If the texture/flavor triggers my gag reflex and I can’t physically swallow, the question is not “why am I limiting myself?” but rather, “why would I attempt to abuse myself?”

Trying new food can be risky, its not cheap and if you cant eat it you just wasted your money and the food. Food also takes time to prepare which you may not have the time to make or order something else which then can snowball into larger issues. Not to mention the social pressure/judgment to finish a meal you wish you could force down your throat and getting accused of being dramatic and wasteful.

I like to try new foods here and there but I need to be able to get a small portion to avoid waste and know theres a back up I can eat to avoid skipping a meal altogether. It also needs to be with a crowd that I feel safe enough with not to get shat on if I cant eat it.

That being said I can only imagine making a blanket statement that I’d never try something if I already know it’s very similar to something else that I can’t eat.

I’m a picky eater, but I will try things and do like a lot of different foods, but once I try something and don’t like it, it gets added to the “nah” list, and there’s a bunch on that list and some is “normal” stuff. For example, fuck green bell peppers, red bell gang all day.

Slimey vegetables make me gag.

They’re probably babies imo who since as children have only eaten Kraft Mac and Cheese and were never forced to try different foods.

Fun fact, the main reason for nut allergies is because little children not being exposed to nuts so their immune system don’t know how to handle it.

I wouldn’t eat coconut for years because when I was 7 I was eating a bag of coconut shavings and my dad and uncle convinced me they were toenail clippings.

I don’t consider myself a picky eater but there’s stuff I don’t like. I don’t like the kinda sweet after taste of bell peppers so I avoid them if possible. Sea snails, it was an unpleasant texture and the taste was too bland to counter. Land snails, I’m in no rush to go to taste them, maybe one day if I get the chance, there are plenty of restaurants near me that have them on the menu.

wHy LiMiT yOuRsElF

You think I want to live like this? That I’m choosing to? Bewildering.

Disgust is an emotional response. No one can choose their emotions.

I’ve always been a picky eater before meeting my husband, who has vastly opened me up to new foods.

I grew up in a household that could not cook. Pepper was too spicy, boiled frozen chicken breasts, potatoes, and carrots in water with no seasonings was a staple “soup”. And of course my mom never taught me to cook, so if it didn’t come in a package I didn’t know how to make it. I was also poor, which limited my ability to be adventurous in my food. If I got something and I didn’t like it, I’d be out of food for a period of time.

So I played it safe, and it became the norm. But being poor I also couldn’t resist free food, so my husband lured me out of my comfort zone by giving me food he made for himself. He also sneaked a lot of things into my food, like pepper, because he knew I wasn’t allergic, just picky. Over time I got better about it.

But there are some foods I still cannot stand. Fruit for one. I literally don’t even bother trying fruit, because every single fruit I eat makes me gag, it feels like rotten sweet goop and makes me want to throw up. People called me picky and dramatic, it wasn’t until I was 33 that I was diagnosed with OCD and food texture issues specifically around feeling of rot are a common manifestation of that.

I’m better than I used to be, and I try to eat a bite of something at least twice before deciding I don’t like it. But there is still a lot I don’t like so I’m still pretty picky I guess.

I consider myself a picky eater, although my tastes have evolved over the years. There are certain types of food that I have never liked (but will eat). I do not like extremely bland food, like cooked potatoes or certain cooked vegetables. What I also dislike is food that tastes processed, like store bought pasta sauce. I do try almost every food.

Your colleague just sounds narrow-minded. Their loss.

For me, personally, ADHD plays a part in my food. I crave routine.

Growing up, my family has always accused me of being a picky eater, and it comes up every time we’re eating together. Every family get-together, it’s always a big deal whether I’m going to eat the prepared meal or not. My sister especially likes to offer to make a separate meal just for me because I’m “sooo picky!”

I can’t get it through their skulls that I’m less of a picky eater than they are - I’m just vocal about the very few specific foods I decided I don’t like. Which happens to be in a lot of recipes my extended family makes.

I spent 20 years traveling the world with the US military and I made it a point to try local cuisine everywhere I went. I became a bit of a foodie, and some of my favorite foods are from foreign countries. Every time family members came to visit me in other countries, I’d spend half of their visit just introducing them to amazing cuisine in the local area.

We’d eat out practically every day to give them a taste of the local culture. And surprisingly, most of them didn’t care for it. They wanted their “American food” instead. They weren’t very adventurous when it came to trying new things. There’s nothing worse than going to a ramen shop in Japan or a döner shop in Germany and having your family ask if we can go find a McDonald’s instead.

But sure, I’m a picky eater because I’ve hated squash since I was a child, and that’s apparently a staple of every family banquet.

I think of myself as an adventurous eater and my tastes and grown less picky over the years. But the few last idiosyncrasies I have are just about texture and sweeteners which can ruin the experience of eating for me.

Sweeteners I won’t know about until the food is in my mouth but if I can see something has the consistency of creamed corn, there just isn’t going to be a flavor or aroma that saves it for me.