i have a confession to make: i’m a picky eater.
it’s not something i try to hide, but recently it’s become a thing with certain people i know. i once tried to create a general “rule” for things i don’t like to eat in order to make it easy for friends or family to grasp my dislikes: anything white, creamy and savoury. not white or creamy or savoury, but anything which is all three i will pretty much refuse to eat: mayonnaise, sour cream, cream cheese, alfredo sauce, cream of anything soup, etc.
of course, like any rule there are exceptions. i will eat caesar salad, which has a creamy dressing, but not regular salad with ranch dressing. i will eat sour cream’n’onion chips, which is a flavour concocted in a laboratory, but not chips with oniony dip. i will also eat cole slaw, which is made with a mayonnaise-like dressing, but not potato salad.
i’m also not that huge a fan of cheese. it’s best as a journey rather than a destination. i like a hunk of good medium cheddar with pickles or crackers, melted mozzarella on anything italian and, of course, parmesan on my spaghetti and caesar salad, but that’s about it. the one time i tried swiss i nearly threw up all over Morgan and any of the stinky cheeses just make me queasy. don’t even try to get me to eat the creamy cheeses like ricotta, mascarpone or cottage. that’s a double-whammy of grossness.
i stopped eating cow and pig for about eight years, not for any likeability issues, mostly for health reasons. now, i only tend to avoid sausage-like products and ground beef (have YOU read fast food nation?). i quite enjoy a nice piece of steak on occasion. i had never eaten a prawn or shrimp which wasn’t deep-fried before three years ago, yet now i love them like crazy. mm, yummy shrimpy goodness.
the thing people don’t seem to realize is that i’m a much less picky eater than i used to be growing up. i am far more willing to try new things than i was as a younger person. dear god, i eat thai, vietnamese, indian, greek and japanese food now. before ten years ago, you never would have caught me even contemplating trying such scary foods.
i know people who are phobic about mushrooms & celery or say they’re vegetarians while they eat deep-fried, battered fish, yet people bug ME about ordering a burger without mayo or greek salad without feta. it just doesn’t seem right, somehow. i don’t have issues with vegetables. i don’t exclude entire food groups from my diet for some random philosophical reason. i’m willing to try new things, within certain limits, but if i don’t want to eat your spinach dip, why do you have to make such a big deal about it? i’m almost 34 years old, i buy and cook my own food, let me eat in peace already.
I hate mushrooms, unless they’re chopped up finely. Otherwise I may gag. It’s mostly the smell.
I’m a picky eater too, but I’ve been forced to go outside my safety zone for the sake of not looking like a fool in front of the workmates. I’ve now eaten a lot of food I wish I hadn’t.
It’s all personal taste, of course. No one should criticize you for not liking certain foods, as long as you’re willing to try them once in a while, which you are :)
My “thing” is squash. I literally can’t get it down without gagging. One day when I was little my parents tried to fool me, saying “oh no, spaghettis squash is like spaghetti!” Boy, did THEY have some explaining to do to Child Services.
I don’t like Jello…it’s the texture. Or fish roe…it’s the texture. Or sashimi…it’s the texture. Do you see a pattern here? *lol*
eat whatever you want, whenever you want. really.
for me, although it sounds like i’m grilling you (no pun intended), i’m just more interested in what you will and won’t eat (the exceptions). mostly because i love food so much, i’ll eat anything anywhere anytime and it’s foreign to me when people dont like food (especially food i love)
dearheart: i’ll eat your share of the sashimi :)
not even Wendslydale? *gasp*
Uh… who eats a burger WITH mayonaisse? Gak!
Uh…me! Mayo on a burger is a necessity!
And Col…it’s all yours! We should set up a sushi date soon!
I’m also up for sushi (or hushi!).
Chris is a picky eater too, but he’s definitely widened his horizons since I’ve known him. He’s discovered salad (starting with ceasar and moving on to healthier things like spinach), developed a taste for beer, and eats way more vegetables than he ever did growing up. He loves spicy food and so Indian and Thai go over well; Greek and Japanese are ok too…but nothing with fish (or anything else that lives underwater). Still, I want him to try more things because there is so much good food out there!
I *told* you — even back in the day — that the shrimp rings would 0wn y00. I was right. So there. :-P
Pass me a shrimp, woman. Please. :-)
You know, I was totally going to have a shrimp ring at my wee soiree, but forgot to pick one up. You’ll just have to come to the next shindig I have so you can partake.
Perhaps I’ll put it on the invitations: party. my place. shrimp ring.