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.