Why does it matter if someone doesn't like a wide variety of foods? How does it affect you? If anything the picky eater will be much more willing to give away some of their food because there's a good chance, unless they custom order it, that there will be something they don't like. But seriously why do people act like you're cussing out their mother because you only like a few foods. It doesn't matter the reason, if it be autism, ARFID, just not liking many foods, ect. You don't get to dictate anyones taste buds if you are so pressed that someone is a picky eater then get a life. It doesn't affect you in anyway you just want a reason to complain.

Also it's not the parents fault (there might be some exceptions) if their child is a picky eater. I've always been a picky eater, my mom tried to get me to try new things. Alot of the times when I would try new things I would either feel like I was going to throw up and would barely be able to swallow without physically gagging, or I would have to force myself to eat. I don't know about you but when I eat something I want it to be enjoyable and I don't want to force myself to eat it.

(I ask this question without any hatred, judgment or call to act differently. I am simply interested in knowing why!)

I've met a lot of picky eaters in my life, but most of them prefer junk food. No veggies, fruits, juice, or meat. I'm a picky eaters myself, but I get sick if I eat something greasy, deep-fried, etc. I hate the oil and all those spices, and I don't understand how people like it.

Is there something behind this, or is it just preference? I know that all people are different, but still, why does it happen most of the time? Especially with children.

Apparently, this dumb advice is being given frequently. People who have ARFID need to just grow up and eat repeatedly the foods that makes them vomit, if it takes hundreds of times, so that their plates can look just like everyone else's.

To the people giving this advice, it doesn't matter that repeated vomiting can cause:

1. Death due to bleeding esophageal varices

2. Tooth loss due to acid damage

3. GERD or can worsen existing GERD

4. Can cause aspiration and worsen conditions like asthma

5. Would likely result in severe aversion to the foods in question

6. Esophageal cancer

People keep posting this nonsense advice, but please do NOT eat foods that make you vomit.

Edit: ... and people STILL keep commenting that ARFID is not real, we don't have it unless we've been hospitalized, or keep eating the foods that we can't eat... and they will be blocked.

I just can’t do salads. I’m sure many of you understand.

Attending my cousin’s wedding a while back, I was served a salad despite my insistence that it wasn’t going to be eaten. I decided to make the most of it and add my own touch to the leafy centerpiece at my table.

I know it’s not as funny as I thought it was at the time, but I still laugh when I think about it.

My girlfriend eats mostly flour based food (bread, spaghetti, etc), rice and meat. The only vegetables she eats is cabbage, lettuce and carrots but only if they are prepared as salads. She eats potatoes, but only fried. She eats pizza but only meat toppings.

She allowed me to add veggies into her meals if I can make them as unnoticeable as possible. And thus I got the idea of making her patties with pumpkin and it was a success! She loved them.

The thing is pumpkin is easy to blend into food because of how it can be mashed like potatoes, so adding it to the patty mix is easy. My problem is I'm not sure what else can I do this with.

She hates things like soups and stew, so that's out of question. The only possibility I could think of is adding the veggies into food I can fry. Food she can eat along her spaghetti and rice. Is troublesome because for example if there's corn on her salad that she can clearly see she puts it aside and won't eat it.

I think she prefers food that's solid or crunchy. Things like pudding or mashed potatoes are disgusting to her. I was thinking adding for example broccoli or cauliflower into the alfredo sauce (she loves it). But other than that, I'm fresh out of ideas so any recommendations are welcome!

Edit: Wow, I honestly wasn't expecting so many useful tips, but I'm impressed and honestly very grateful for all the recipes and advice! I can't wait to try them. You are all awesome.

And I’m talking specifically about picky eaters who know they don’t like something because they actually tried it and didn’t like the taste of it—not the ones who refuse to eat something without knowing how it tastes.

Do they think if they talk down to them enough or yell at them enough, the picky eaters taste buds will automatically transform and they’ll start liking the taste of it? Not every picky eater is picky because they enjoy being stubborn. Some of choose not to eat certain things because we already *know* we don’t like them. Getting frustrated with us isn’t going to suddenly rewire our taste buds.

I straight up despise most fruit. From avocado to tomato(including sauce, ketchup, paste) to dates to apples to berries to watermelon to pineapple.

I also dislike quite a bit of flavorings. Onions, garlic, celery, cinnamon, nutmeg, mace, rosemary, cilantro, turmeric, cumin, parsley, and arugula. I won't eat these at all.

And I also dislike corn syrup. Most sauces, ice cream, desserts, no marshmallows, etc.

But my favorite foods ever that I will guzzle like ambrosia are liver, kidney, heart, pig brain, marrow, suet, lamb, goat, pig hocks, headcheese, oysters, scallops, anchovies, herring, fish sauce, blue cheese, aged gouda, gruyere, limburger, broccoli, cabbage, turnips, beetroot, spinach, eggplant, zucchini, squash, cranberries, figs, canteloupe, grapes, and cardamom. I also don't mind any beans, nuts, seeds, grains, etc.

And sooo many people call others picky for just not liking certain foods, but will look at me eating liver, goat shank, raw oysters with fish sauce, blue cheese, figs, and roasted beetroot with suet, and gag and won't even bother to try it. These people don't hate you for being "picky", they hate you for not liking the foods they like. That is all it is. They think you should obviously love their favorite foods because they do and cannot comprehend disliking them. True pickiness is only eating a small range of foods that you are okay with and not trying new foods. And instead of that, having differing tastes is 99% of what people call picky.

My 12 yo son has been picky his entire life, always small, never ate enough. He’s made major strides in the last few years (a food therapist helped), avocado, steak, chicken on the bone, burgers, and his overall quantity has increased. But boy he loves his carbs, is very particular, and just got diagnosed with Celiac.

First, there’s the guilt that he had this all along and that’s why he was picky but we didn’t know.

Second, the idea of switching his safe foods is terrifying. Chicken nuggets, cereals, breads, pizza, pasta. He is a texture kid. Whenever I tried healthier pasta he balked

Third, I was just feeling better about traveling and not worrying so hard about him and now this.

Any great advice?

How come that every SINGLE TIME you start the conversation that there is nothing wrong with being a picky eater, people have to chime in with "well but when picky eaters FORCE US to eat at the restaurants they want and make faces at food and I have to cook for them and-"

THAT'S A BEING RUDE THING! Anybody can do that if they lacked enough social decorum! People who simply aren't in the mood for a specific food, vegans, rabid meat eaters, people who just want to have the final say, it isn't an inherent trait to specifically picky eaters! It's like when people have to be like, OH, I DON'T HAVE A PROBLEM WITH VEGANS, BUT WHEN THEY'RE PREACHING TO ME or OH, I DON'T HAVE A PROBLEM WITH QUEER PEOPLE, BUT WHEN THEY'RE IN YOUR FACE ABOUT IT AND ALL THEY TALK ABOUT, LIKE THAT'S NOT AN INHERENT TRAIT!!! OF THAT GROUP OF PEOPLE!!!

YOU just don't like rude people, as EVERYONE else does, that's normal! That's called, being a person! But why do you need to bring it up every time people want to discuss that some people are dickheads and can't mind their own plates when you want to eat what YOU want to eat rather than force yourself to have a "refined pallet"?

I'm genuinely not even that picky, like I'm getting the food groups I need just fine, but people still love to comment when I just don't like the texture of a straight up piece of tomato or because i really only eat two cheeses. Like if the restaurant can't make the altercations I need, I'll just order something else! But it's not a crime nor some sort of shame to ask!

I'm genuinely convinced they don't actually think about "the rude picky eaters" when these conversations come up and just want an easier, softer way to say "yeah I hate you guys and think you need to grow the fuck up and magically change your taste buds". Which, nothing I haven't heard before, but at least you wouldn't be dancing around it!

Our daughter is 2.8 yrs old and is an incredibly picky eater. She gained maybe 1 lb over the last 8 months. She is on a specialized diet due to her diagnosis which narrows our meals to essentially dairy free & no red meat. She has an ultra rare genetic disorder (Zellweger Spectrum Disorder) however, she’s on the milder end of it and can eat independently.

She usually eats in daycare (thank god), but the second she’s home, it’s a battle. She doesn’t care for food unless it’s dessert, which we don’t give her unless she eats her dinner.

Basically the only foods she eats for dinner are: Pasta with marinara sauce, Rice and mixed veggies, Cold ramen noodles, Oatmeal, Rice with marinara sauce. Each of those we try our best to sneak in some protein but she usually sniffs it out.

The biggest issue is the habit we’ve fallen into. She won't sit at the table. If we force it, she just makes a big mess, has a meltdown, and we’re all miserable. We’ve resorted to entertainment eating. We end up spoon feeding her in the living room while she plays just to get calories in her. Now there’s two messes to clean up.

We know this is a brutal habit but if we draw a line and she doesn't eat, she wakes up starving at 2am and the next morning she’s 5x crankier. Domino effect. With her diagnosis and the lack of weight gain, we have a hard time letting her go hungry. Sometimes it feels like a risk we can't take, other times it feels like we’re just being pushovers.

I know she’s capable of eating. I’ve seen her eat independently many times, usually in social settings. She has us wrapped around her finger with dinner time and it has become the worst part of our day. I feel like dinner time shouldn’t be this exhausting.

Anybody have any similar stories? Any advice, recommendations, or resources would be greatly appreciated.

EDIT: Read the whole post before you comment anything lololol chances are whatever you’re going to recommend, it’s written in the post already :)))

EDIT 2: If you’re someone who orders “Dry” burgers, PLZ lmk where you are from! I’m not sure if this is a regional thing because i used to work in food service for three years and i eat out quite often and i have never, NEVER heard the term “dry” burger!!! this is very interesting to me. the first time someone commented “Plain and Dry” i thought they were trying to be funny but this genuinely seems to be a term people use lol

EDIT 3: I answered my own question. No wonder i’m so confused lolol. Dry burgers are a regional thing. Heavily tied to the southern united states according to google? I live in the midwest, we don’t say that shit here 🤣🤣

need someone to help me understand what is so confusing about someone requesting a PLAIN cheeseburger. I will break it down in every single facet.⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ “Hi😊! I don’t need to look at the menu I know what I’m going to get. Can i just get a PLAIN double cheeseburger… so only meat, cheese, and bun, and then the special sauce on the side? please do not put the sauce on the burger. I want my burger plain.” ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (No this isn’t everytime, i ask for sauce on the side only if burger already comes with a special house sauce 😊👍🏽👍🏽) And they’ll look at me and nod their head, and when they read the order back they’ll be like, “so you only want ketchup?” when the fuck did i ever say that actually. Plain ≠ Only ketchup ≠ Plain but put a couple pickles on there. Or they’ll look at me perplexed when i break down the burger!! they’ll be like “so… just cheese, meat, bun.. and just condiments?” NO! THATS NOT WHAT PLAIN MEANS?!?!?why did i just receive my PLAIN double cheeseburger w 6 pickles?!?!?!?!?!!!!???!?!!? Ragghghghhh now i can’t eat the food because the food is contaminated. Doesn’t matter how little of a deal u think it is, plz listen to food requests 🙃 u have no idea why they’re asking for it that way

I don't know why, but I am revolted by pretty much every condiment. I worked at a movie theater last summer, and I legit couldn't wipe up a drop of mayo off a table without gagging. It's pathetic. I don't mind some sauces, like teriyaki or soy sauce, becoming more comfortable with the BBQ sauce my dad makes, but I cannot do ketchup, mustard, mayo, ranch, any kind of gravy, any kind of dressing, etc. and, as I get closer and closer to graduating high school, I really want to start trying more foods, but my hatred of condiments holds me back more than anything. I think it has more to do with texture than flavor, but I don't think I can fix it. There are so many foods that I WANT to try, but just haven't gone for it. With condiments, I don't think trying more of them or eating them more often is going to make me like them. I guess I just have to keep finding ways to navigate around them lmao.

I am sure there are people out there that genuinely are not picky eaters, but I think a lot of adults are picky and they just forgot.

I know I'm a picky eater, but I come off as a lot less of a picky eater as an adult. I live alone and my partner stays over generally half the week, so I buy what I like and don't keep foods that I don't. On the super off chance that he makes something that I don't like, I'm allowed to say "thanks for making dinner baby, but I don't really like XYZ so I think I'm going to make myself something else" and no one is mad or screaming or crying or starving or throwing up. It might be something I haven't had in a while or something new, and I can take a bite of his and feel comfortable and safe making a sandwich if I don't like it. I'm allowed to try new things at my own pace, so I usually do try them. But I'm equally allowed to eat my safe foods for every meal if I'm having a rough time and need something consistent. If I was put back into a situation where meals were out of my control and I was not allowed to make my own food instead then I would revert real quick back to starving or vomiting when being force-fed or sitting at the table for hours. But it's unlikely that I'll ever be in that situation because you don't do that to an adult, I'll eat a polite amount if I can stomach it but I'm far more likely to say "I appreciate you making this meal, but I'm really not into it" or just not bring attention to myself not grabbing a plate know that I'm allowed to get food later and that's usually fine.

I know a lot of people in the older generations who are very big in the mindset of "if a child is hungry then they will eat what you give them" but only eat a handful of meals themselves and have told family not to choose a seafood restaurant for that family member's birthday meal because they don't like seafood and can't even get other menu items from a seafood place (dislike, not allergy related). I know so many people who are so particular about food but also complain about picky children as if they aren't making their favorite meals over and over because the child has no say and will eat what's served. I've asked these people what they'd do if served a meal they hate, or been in situations with them where I saw it, and they always make themself something else or leave for fast food or otherwise refuse the meal. There are so many people that I think are picky that just genuinely forget that they are constantly catering to their own preferences, and they forget that children do not have that option (especially if they aren't given that option). I can understand not wanting to make seperate meals for picky kids, but if they're old enough to make themselves literally anything else then I can't understand what is wrong with letting them make their own meals. These people usually are not consistently eating foods that they hate without being allowed to get something else, why are they doing it to their children? Because they forget that they are picky too, or forget what it's like to be picky without also being in control. I've seen so many people cater to their picky partner's wants (someone who presumably has their own money and basic cooking abilities and access to the kitchen) but tell their children to eat what's in front of them or starve.

I wanted to share here both to encourage anyone who's not quite there yet as well as to (slightly) brag, lol.

For the past three decades, I have been the stereotypical picky "cheese only!" pizza eater. Plain red sauce, only mozzarella. When my parents or friends would order pizza or go out for it, I'd always just order a slice of cheese/personal pan cheese or else satisfy myself with an order of breadsticks.

I've recently been working on "food chaining". Introducing tolerable veggies into dishes I enjoy, letting those veggies become normalized in settings where they were previously unfamiliar, adding larger amounts of them, etc. I am not going to have the medical mishap that I did a year ago where I had to go in for multiple blood panels because I O.D.'d on my oh-so-healthy yoghurt. (I think I posted about it on this sub, my calcium levels were so high that my doctor was convinced it was a glandular problem rather than an absurd yoghurt fixation). I need more foods in my diet, lest I become a pincushion.

I've only had success with a few veggies so far, but they've managed to transfer beautifully and transcend food barriers. The onions from my soup. The sweet peppers from my veggie fajitas. The jalapeños from my tacos. The pepperonis from my sandwiches.

It's maybe not a regular combo you'd see at Pizza Hut (whose sauce I hate anyway), but strategically placing the perfect ratio of these toppings which I prepped myself (helps with inconsistencies, etc.) onto a frozen cheese pizza I've loved for years... You guys. I was shocked how delicious it was, very first try. I started with just one slice in case I hated it, but I went back and made more of it.

I felt like a real, functional, grown-up adult happily eating my meat and veggie pizza. Protein and veggies! And yeah, it took like a year of food-chaining to get me to eat something that most people automatically say yes to, but I'm surprised how quickly some of this food-chaining is falling into place once its gained some momentum. Very rough at first, but it gets so much easier as you go.

That's the take-away here. Food chaining looks (at least it did to me) rather futile and slow at first. The idea of adding in minuscule amounts of something borderline-gross in the hopes that it may someday become tolerable in the hopes that it may someday become acceptable?? When, let's see here, oh, approximately 95% of food is objectively repulsive? Psh. Yeah right.

But I've managed to do it with at least 4 vegetables and (to a lesser-extent) one meat, so far. Over the course of a year. Realistically, there are lots of foods that I doubt I'd ever be able to do this with, but I'm glad I gave it a go with some of the ones that seemed a bit more promising. Especially if you feel like you are hitting a wall or are experiencing health problems because of ARFID... start small and slow, expect to be a bit discouraged at first, but take the little wins as they come.

And of course they got offended by my answer, because god forbid someone's ED mildly inconveniences their perfect lives.

Visiting my mom in nyc. She couldnt understand how my 4 uear old son wouldn't eat one of the 15 things she's offered him today. She was angry and told me he'd eat of hungry enough. It was a long and stressful day that ended with us ordering McDonald's via ubereats because every pizzeria was closed (he will eat pizza).

Anyways, just here to say it fucking sucks. I've come to terms with it for the most part but it's hard to see others so horrified and think it's your fault that they are picky.

The term "picky eater" has always bothered me. Ever since I was little, people would make rude comments about how I was so picky. It was a bad thing. What people don't know is I have SPD Sensory Processing Disorder. It's not just "texture" issues. Everything affects me and aggravates my senses. It overwhelms me. Not only that, but I have autism on top of that. Calling me picky makes me feel bad about myself.

Some foods even make me throw up when I eat them because of the texture.

I used to be that picky eater.

The one who’d sit at Christmas dinner with just some bread on my plate feeling embarrassed. Panicking while the waiter goes around the table at a restaurant knowing I have no clue what I’m going to say.

Then when I started working out I spent hours in the gym but made little progress because I simply wasn’t eating enough. I forced down protein shakes but it was never enough. So eventually one day I’d had enough and told my mom I wanted to start eating chicken. At the beginning I would just smell it, then a small bite, then a little more with dinner every night. Then Surprisingly I started liking it. So I tried again with beef to see if would work again and it took longer but still worked. However, the whole process was difficult, and since I didn’t track it, progress would take months

That’s why I built PickyPal a free tool I wish I had years ago.

🟢 Tracks your “goal foods” (the ones you’re working on) 🔵 Builds off your “base foods” (what you already like) ⚪ Uses smart AI recipes that only include foods you’re comfortable with, or just a little outside your comfort zone and always avoids allergies

At least for me, and I’m sure a lot of others, it was about getting over the anxiety of a new food with the weird taste texture and smell.

So let me know if you guys are interested by up voting, commenting or dm’ing me because I’m looking for people to test the website and give me feedback