Whatever it is.
Posted on 01/13/2008 1:33:14 PM PST by Graybeard58
A few weeks ago, I shared my dirtiest picky-eating secrets and listed the foods I refuse to try — from grapefruit to beans.
I asked readers to tell me about their finicky ways. It turns out I'm not the only one out there. Read what they said.
Mushrooms? No way.
Kevin McDermott, Waterbury
I wouldn't eat a banana on a dare. In the late '60s, one of our neighbors had visitors from Delaware and they introduced all the kids to baked bananas. Yum! You cannot even imagine the smell of oozing nanner guts in the oven. I can actually get sick thinking about it.
I didn't try gravy until I was in my 20s and still only use it sparingly. Mushrooms? Forget about 'em. Especially canned ones. The smell of the brine permeates everything. To this day I will only eat a hot dog or hamburger at a picnic. "Other" people's food freaks me out and I imagine all types of horrors going on in unforeseen kitchens. Some day perhaps I'll try so and so's beans but for now, I will have to live without the implied wonderfulness.
The best gift Santa ever gave us was a sandwich grill. It was like today's Panini grill. Mom would buy Velveeta and Wonder bread and we were able to make our own sandwiches any time, day or night. She felt that this combo was more nutritious than most of the other foods hitting our stomachs.
My lovely wife is an adventurous cook, blending all sorts of things together for dinner. Just recently I was informed via cell phone that dinner was to be a chicken tortellini dish.
I was actually excited about it until I came home and found that I would need to fish out the spinach and mushrooms before I could eat it. I have come a long way though. Not too very long ago I wouldn't have even considered fishing, I probably would have just made a grilled cheese instead.
If I live to be 100, I will never figure out why I decided to try something called mahi mahi at Outback Steakhouse. My wife chastised me for ordering flipper and I spent some very good money on a doggie bag.
Now that you think I am a food freak I will let you in on this little tidbit. I will eat tuna salad just about anywhere. From diners to Subway to delis to home I will try the tuna. I could eat it every day and sometimes do.
My personal lunchbox mainstay sandwich is Majesty ham, Land 'O Lakes American cheese, Hellmann's mayo and Gulden's mustard on any variety of bread. It has to be made in a specific order though. I would be embarrassed to admit how often I eat these.
@Copy of Briefhead:It's in the family genes
Megan Plourde, Watertown
I am a picky eater. My parents are picky eaters. My sister and four brothers are all picky eaters. All of our friends and other family members get so annoyed by our eating habits.
I, also, do not eat condiments. No ketchup, mustard, mayo, salad dressing, cheese, tomatoes, etc.
The meat I eat has to be cooked well done. I don't drink milk. I eat my cereal dry. I do not like pasta sauce, so I eat my pasta dry. But I do love cheese pizza. I do love salt. My family members are saltaholics. I would love to sit down and eat a lobster, but I just know I won't like it (never tried).
This list could go on and on, but it must be hereditary since my family is all the same.
@Copy of Briefhead:Picky eaters choose to be picky
Carolyn A. McDonough, Canaan
This is an interesting subject at this time of year when families are gathering together and suddenly learning that "Suzy" is now a vegetarian and "Little Billy" won't eat anything but Cheese Puffs.
Picky eaters are made, not born. I think it is an attention getter. It works for a while until everyone is just bored with it.
Once no one comments, the problem seems to go away. I don't like raw onions (except red or Vidalia onions), but love them cooked in any way. I prefer not to eat organ meats, but love liver pate! I ate an oyster once and that was enough, but love snails!
I will try almost any food. A taste doesn't mean you have to eat the whole thing!
I think people miss out on a lot of pleasure and enjoyment by obsessing about food!
@Copy of Briefhead:Hold the pickle
Stephanie Sims, Cheshire
I am 26 years old and have always had a thing with many types of food. Well actually, I should say condiments mostly. I was told by my parents that I would grow out of it.
But here I am years later and staying strong. I just like what I like. I don't like pickles, mustard, ketchup, mayonnaise, hot sauce, relish, coleslaw, tartar sauce, etc.
Being in the same room with someone eating it can even make me nauseous from the smell. In fact, most times I go out to eat, I order something that won't have the option of a pickle being on the plate. I can't just eat around it.
The juice has seeped into the food and ruined it. I usually just tell the waiter I'm allergic to pickles. And most times that works.
Otherwise, they aren't too sympathetic to someone who just doesn't like pickles.
I figure it's not really lying because if a pickle does show up on my plate I WILL have a reaction.
Nice to hear there's other people out there who are considered abnormal.
That’s how I am about raw tomatoes. From my age of first cognizance, 3, I have lead a life totally free of raw tomatoes - and that is well over a half-century.
Really? I love chewing the meat off hot wings. I’m happy to wander around chewing on a T-bone, too.
One day I’m going to prepare marrow bones and eat them with the long silver spoons you’re supposed to use. Not sure where to find them, though.
Whatever it is.
I will eat anything that doesn’t eat me first, LOL!
The only thing I can think of that I truly don’t like is canned asparagus. Can’t stand the mushy texture. I’m spoiled with an asparagus patch of my own, so give me fresh, any day.
However, I like cream of asparagus soup. Go figure!
My friend Lynn is a freak about eating mushrooms. I love going out to dinner with her, because she picks them out of her food (she loves Chicken Alfredo which usually has mushrooms in it) before her first fork full and gives them to me. :)
I couldn’t believe a comment in the article about not liking Mahi Mahi! Husband took a fishing charter when we were in MX once, and he caught the most beautiful Mahi Mahi. For lunch, they ate it raw with salt and lime juice. For dinner, we went to a restaurant that would cook your very own Catch of the Day for you, and it was the best meal I’ve ever had; even better than various 4-Star restaurants I’ve been to, back when I used to be a spend-thrift. ;)
My 34 year old son has always been that way about tomatoes too. I never remember him even trying them but he says he did. I know he won’t come near them, I love them though.
There are a lot of foods I haven’t tried but they sound gross enough that I never will. I can’t think of another single “common” food item, other than chicken, that I absolutely refuse to eat and I’ve never met a vegetable that I didn’t like. Not overly fond of watermelon but I can eat it.
Feel free to borrow mine. Sterling silver marrow spoons. Dig in! ;)
That's not "picky," that's just good sense! Ick.
Looks like maybe you’d use those on a long roasted femur bone?
Well, it’s nice to have enough to where you can make a choice like that.
On the flip side of the coin, there are a number of foods, mostly fresh fruit and vegetables, that I would love to be able to eat but simply can’t because I have allergic reactions to them. Eyes water, throat gets very itchy, hyperventilating...
No succulents of any kind. No tomatoes. Definitely no tropical fruits. Citrus fruits and apples are OK.
Strangely, and I don’t know why, I can eat almost any of them when cooked. The only exception is avocado, that I can not tolerate in any form. One spoon will be enough to put me in the hospital.
Texas crawdad, I believe! And of course I’d eat it!
Oh I can’t most canned food aside from the few things I can here at home. For the most part veggies have to be fresh or frozen for me to touch them.
The huntin’ dogs fight me for those, LOL!
My Grandma used to eat the marrow out of any bone. She’d think nothing of cracking a chicken bone to get at the meager marrow in those. Of course, she was always the one to claim that the chicken neck was the best part...so we kids all had enough to eat. Man, I miss that woman!
Actually, when I make broth from a chicken or turkey carcass, I always crack the bones before I boil them up.
I agree. I guess I never thought about disliking canned veggies because all of my adult life I’ve never bought them.
I’m learning so much about myself on this thread, it’s scary, LOL!
I don’t eat watermelon, either. Inherited that one from my dad, who got it from his dad.
ping
Ooh, I’m so jealous! I’m marrow brown with envy!
My child takes the same things for lunch every single day and has never purchased a lunch from the cafeteria. A chunk of shredded Boar’s Head Oven Roasted turkey; shaved. If the turkey *feels* a “little wet,” it won’t get eaten. Baggie of Triscuits. A Fruit Roll-Up- Tropical Tie Dye. Sometimes a banana. Sometimes pretzel sticks.
Will eat nothing with tomatoes or tomato sauce except pizza and Ketchup. Cereal (only Raisin Bran, Cocoa Puffs & Frosted Flakes) always without milk. Peeled Granny Smith apples, but they have to be cold and freshly peeled. No other fruit. No bread. No eggs. No hamburgers. Only freshly steamed broccoli with Molly McButter, corn and a bit of mashed potatoes. The darkest parts of Romaine lettuce - only salt, no dressing. Green peppers sliced with salt. Bacon. Hot dogs sliced. Steak and chicken (white meat only - no outside spices, skin or grill marks). Orange juice no pulp.
That’s about it. Any new food that is tried and eventually remains is celebrated in our Christmas Newsletter. It’s that big of an event.
I never buy that canned garbage, only fresh.
I’ve roasted marrow bones and eaten the marrow before - but gadzooks, it’s a lot of trouble for very little reward.
I’ve been wondering what oxtails are and if they’re like marrow bones. There is a local restaurant that advertises on TV every day called “Just Oxtails.”
When they show pix of the food, it’s just a mound of brown stuff, not bones. They seem to be a “soul food” place.
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