I just overheard a coworker saying “Oh, I would never try that in my life!”, in a discussion of food. (This was about consuming a steak cooked less than medium well). It made me wonder what life is like for those who refuse to try new food, especially those who refuse to try mundane things like fried shrimp.
Why limit yourself? It seems like such a closed-minded way to view food. Help me understand?
EDIT:
I wasn’t going to do this, but I’m tired of replying to people and will post this at the top.
The person that prompted this question is a close-minded piece of crap. He has no sensory issues, just a shitty mindset, with ignorance and prejudice on display with no shame. I have the pleasure of hearing his annoying shit every night.
The knee-jerk reactions I have received from people in this post have had me examine my own knee-jerk reactions, attributing malice to that which may be misunderstanding rather than bigotry or hatred. This is what I am taking away from this post. That even I should take a chill pill every now and again; it’s not all a tragedy.
I will not delete it, because there are some very thoughtful replies that explain different viewpoints, that people took time to type out. It would be disrespectful to them to do that.
Call me what you like. Don’t care. I will not be replying to any other replies.
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For the same reason I wouldn’t willingly get stung by most stinging insects. It’s an unpleasant and unnecessary sensation.
Why do some people feel a need to pressure people to do things that make them uncomfortable? Who am I hurting by choosing what I eat?
I have ARFID. Lots of tastes and textures are the same as torture for me. It sucks.
I’m a somewhat picky eater, not to the extreme that some are but I do limit myself to foods I am sure I will like.
I’m autistic and have sensory issues. I also have a tendency to throw up a lot. I need to choose safe food that I know won’t make me gag and that I’m sure I can physically eat
I reject the tone of this question because I wasn’t given a choice in my sensory issues and you turning it into a mortal judgement about me is fucked up.
It sucks that there’s not more awareness about ARFID. It took me a while to understand it and not judge people (usually autistic people) that have it.
I can’t eat raw veggies, salads and anything stringy. It makes me feel all kinds of bad. I hate the fact, but I can’t help it. I really can’t. Most people don’t believe me. It took me a long time to come to peace with that.
I fully empathize, the same has happened to me.
“Why are you gay?” Meme
I’m sorry that you feel that way. Do you intentionally avoid food because of a narrow-minded world view? Or do you have sensory issues that make it difficult for you to handle certain textures/flavors/smells? I thought I was pretty clear in that I am asking people who avoid food because of prejudice why they do such a thing.
But yeah, this is somehow a moral judgment about you. 🤦🏻♀️
You sound fairly narrow-minded in describing not liking food as a worldview.
Dislike of food is a viceral thing.You normally explore what makes you feel good and rather than defining it. Basically you are a tall person berating people for being short.
Can you ask a question without judging and insulting the people you’re asking?
🙄
And there’s the response most neuro-typicals give when asked to self reflect. Well done being a stereotype.
Chill, friend. No one was attacking you.
Attacking? No. You were just making insulting assumptions about people different than you and spouting off without thinking. Maybe you’ll do better next time, but this conversation leads me to believe otherwise.
Are you usually this angry? Looking for things to be upset about?
Every now and then I’ll eat food that I didn’t like the last time I tried them. I still don’t like pickles, mustard, eggplant, etc. and might never like them. There are other foods I don’t like the texture of, e.g. seafood with rubbery textures. There are other foods I don’t try because they just sound fucking gross, e.g. chicken feet. I understand the arguments for trying chicken feet, but it’s a psychological thing preventing me from trying them. My brain just doesn’t want a fucking chicken foot in my mouth. There are other foods that I’ve tried and might have even enjoyed, but I don’t want to create more demand for that food for one reason or another. I’m fond of ducks. Ducks taste good, but I want ducks to live. I’m increasingly fond of cows, which are delicious, so I rarely eat beef now. I’ve had foie gras and I will never have it again. Geese are assholes but they don’t deserve what humans do to them in order to make foie gras.
If I try to eat something I don’t like, I’ll throw up. It’s a waste of money and food, and gross for anyone around me.
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Throwing up because you don’t like the food isn’t the same as an allergy
Bro doesn’t know what an allergy is
no rawish shellfish, or some fishes. the textures is to gagging.
Not picky. allergies. But it is the real assholes sure love to treat those with allergies like we’re just picky.
either way: what i chose to eat and like is none of all your damned business.
Reading through all the replies, I’m getting the sense that perhaps your coworker is a bit racist but you did a poor job explaining that in your post. Your post comes across as judgemental of all people who avoid certain foods because you did a bad job of explaining that you meant people who avoid foods because of cultural prejudice. I don’t think you’ll find many people on lemmy who are prejudice against other cultures. I’m not sure what answer you expected. There are some who are just racist, others who may not be racist but just don’t trust food they aren’t familiar with because they’re unsure what’s in it.
I think most people avoid certain foods because they either have a medical condition, ethical concerns, or sensory sensitivity. It sounds like you were looking for an answer from the few who are just racist and I’m not sure what explanation you were expecting for their prejudice.
I cook meals from other cultures a lot but I have to be sure I like all the ingredients first.
Why would I force myself to eat something I will not enjoy. I will try a bit but I am not lrdering stuff I don’t like the sound of.
Sometimes the smell which often relates to taste is the first indicator of something tasting not to my liking but if I know I don’t like something (eg mushrooms, I hate those, both taste and texture) I am not willing to try anything involving large quantitiey of said foodstuff
Autism.
Textures & temperatures are problematic. I stay with what I know so minimise the chance of freaking out.
Autistic and the total opposite here for home cooking. The (allegedly greater) magnitude of those flavors and textures makes trying new things so enjoyable that it’s worth the risk.
That said, I used to be similar, having a rotation of a few select meals; I’d get “hooked” on a specific food for an unreasonably long time. But nowadays, I get the benefits of both.
I make whatever at home because I know exactly what’s going into it and roughly how it’ll taste, and I’m naturally limited to a few vegan options at restaurants so I can live the dream of having one or two favorites I get every time. It’s a win–win.
Proves again we’re all different. I too am on the side of trying but also need some fixed things.
On the spectrum myself and I am a foodie with an insatiable apetite for new and interesting. My general rule is if it was good enough for them, it’s good enough for me. I don’t always like everything, but I’ll try anything.
I agree Autism too and I always stick with the things I know. Cannot be dealing with unfamiliar textures.
Agree, I’m not a picky eater (but somewhat autistic) and eat basically anything, but there is some texture I can’t, like avocado or liver, I can literally puke.
Sounds like you’re lucky enough to not have any sensory problems - you probably don’t get overwhelmed by textures, flavours or smells. Not everyone is like that. You also don’t seem to have any particular cultural or ethical concerns about your food choices. My family is vegan and very neurodivergent; none of us would ever consider steak or shrimp, for ethical reasons, and most of us have texture and flavour sensitivities that mean that certain foods are off limits for some of us. We generally buy within those parameters, but some of us really like things others really hate, so cooking can be a nightmare. In many cases, it’s the texture of food that causes this - often borderline textures going from firm to soft, too granular, “wrong” like soft when should be crunchy etc.
But I bet you have some things you wouldn’t try, based on cultural or texture preferences, which some people love. What about…
- Soft biscuits (cookies) - baked crunchy, but have gone damp and soft?
- Dry, stale bread - baked soft, but just dried out and stale?
- Witchetty grubs - moth larvae from Australia?
- Dog meat, eaten in some Asian countries?
- Fermented shark meat, stinky and rank, eaten in some Nordic states?
- Reindeer poo - traditional Finnish cuisine sometimes uses it?
- Natto - stringy, slimy soya beans fermented by a bacteria, very strong flavour, popular in Asia, especially Japan?
- Tempeh - soya beans colonised by a particular edible mould fungus, eaten widely in Asia?
- Tofu - bean curd in various textures, but very little flavour, eaten widely by vegans and in Asia?
- Furry tofu - tofu colonised by another edible mould fungus, eaten widely in Asia?
Pretty much this, I have tried a lot of foods and some of them just make me want to puke just from texture alone. A great example is bean sprouts. Another example is if you put too many chunks of various foods in a rice or pasta dish, I get completely overwhelmed.
I can force myself through the food if I need to, but it’s just a horrible experience akin to being stabbed. It’s not me being closed minded or childish, and I’m tired of people being condescending to me because of this.
Reindeer poo is just candy. Not actual poop.
I don’t eat seafood because I have a weird hypersensitivity to it. Normally I can’t taste anything subtle, but even the slightest bit of seaweed sets off my receptors in an unpleasant way. The smell of seafood alone makes my stomach turn. It’s like the feeling when you realize what you just ate was spoiled.
You might be mildly allergic I had a weird reaction to shellfish before becoming full-blown allergic face swelling up trouble breathing etc .
Imo the modern picky eater is a byproduct of food abundance. Acquired tastes were pretty necessary for survival until fairly recently. That said for the life of me I cannot make natto palatable no matter how hard I try
