Just Eat The &*%#$! Food!!!

[Ree]

I was forced to eat cabbage rolls as a child.
I despise the taste of cabbage, raw or cooked.

I gagged on it, and threw up.
I was told that I had done it on purpose, and was spanked and forced to stay in my room the rest of the night.

To this day, I cannot eat cabbage rolls and even the thought of them makes me ill.

[RecoveringKinkoid]

Man, what is it with parents or caregivers who just can't accept that little johnny might simply really not like a certain food?

Fortunately, my parents never forced food on us. We had an insane neighbor when I was little who did with his kids, though. This guy was an awful person, for many reasons. But he'd keep serving the kids the same nasty food FOR DAYS until they ate it.

They're all probably lying on a shrink's couch with anorexia and other eating disorders. He's probably dead, murdered by them and buried under his perfectly manicured garden.

Jerk.

I have some in laws that have "the clean plate club" in their house. You have to clean your plate, obviously. They're pretty much all overweight and have portion control issues. Imagine that.

[Ree]

We had an insane neighbor when I was little who did with his kids, though...
...he'd keep serving the kids the same nasty food FOR DAYS until they ate it.

I went to school with a girl who would give away stuff on her lunch, because if she came home with it in her lunch, she got it the next day.
Of course, it would never occur to her to just throw it out, because everyone knows wasting food is a sin and one burns in the fires of hell forever for something like that.

Sorry...messed up childhood triggers.

[SongsOfDragons]

I have some in laws that have "the clean plate club" in their house. You have to clean your plate, obviously. They're pretty much all overweight and have portion control issues. Imagine that.

My mum's mum was a bitch (her words, not mine; this is just coming out from mother dearest a year after Nana died!! ) but she even in the 1940-50's knew this mentality made you into hogs and/or sent you to the shrink. She refused to accept this from her peers and instead implemented the '15 minutes' plan - you sat at the table for quarter of an hour if you hadn't finished, and unless you were visibly stuffed she would throw the offending food out and never ever give it to you again. If you wanted it next time, tough, you should have eaten it last time.

Somehow, it worked.

[Lace Neil Singer]

My parents used to say this: "If you don't like it, leave it on the side of your plate. But we're not making you seperate dinner." I wasn't picky at all, cept I hated mushrooms and spinach (I still do), spotty bananas and visible sweetcorn. Basically, I only eat bananas if they're yellow with green at each end and sweetcorn if it's mixed with other stuff. I hate looking at it cuz it reminds me of teeth.

[kerrisan]

I was forced to eat cabbage rolls as a child.
I despise the taste of cabbage, raw or cooked.
<snip>
I gagged on it, and threw up.

I had a similar experience with coleslaw. I had tried it before, didn't like it, and they didn't believe me.

My parents made me take a HUGE bite of it and I, obviously, threw it and the BBQ brisket I had eaten earlier up onto the floor.

Sheesh.

Man, what is it with parents or caregivers who just can't accept that little johnny might simply really not like a certain food?

I think the rule is, if you try it 3 separate times and don't like it, you never will. Some parents are just so misguided that they think forcing a child to eat something is the best way to go. Unfortunately, this is wrong: having coleslaw served at a meal still brings up feelings of resentment and anger in me for my parents not believing that I do not like it.

[NightAngel]

Anybody here a "supertaster?"

I believe I am. I remember once, many years ago, in Science class the teacher gave us these paper strips to put in our mouths. He said that he didn't really expect anyone to taste anything other than paper but just MAYBE someone would taste something more.

I stuck it in my mouth and was immediately overwhelmed by the taste of dissolved asprin and spit it out.

No one but me could taste it- he said he could tell by the disgusted look on my face that I was a "high taster" or something like that. That mxed with my insanely acute sense of smell- when I don't like a food I REALLY don't like a food!

[kerrisan]

NightAngel, we did that in my college chemistry class and half the class tasted it, including me. Blech! I took them home to my parents to see who had give me that ability and apparently it was my dad. I forget what that "dissolved asprin-tasting" strip was, but that don't know if that was the supertaster test. However, I do not have any extra sensitivity to seasonings and looooove lots of salt on some foods.

[Dreamstalker]

You name it, thanksgiving, christmas, he basically sits at the table with a hot dog (if they remember to bring one). no turkey/ham/other good things like that. when he was ten he got a hot dog maker for christmas. TEN YEARS OLD AND HE GETS A HOT DOG MAKER. wtf?

Once he knows what goes into hot dogs he may not be lusting after them so much

My two cousins are 8 and 10 and both are the same way. The mother is extremely overprotective; we think that's where they got it. She was always saying "oh he won't like that" (not something to say to a chef). The younger one used to get so worked up when faced with new foods that he would literally puke. All they'll eat is hot dogs and ice cream.

I've always been very adventurous with food. I think it started when my mom fed me oyster stew as my first-ever solid food (apparently the pediatrician flipped out ). I was eating Peking duck at two years old (and specifically requesting it at times..excellent Peking duck restaurant in VA where I grew up).

[karma_gypsy]

karma_gypsy, if your stepson likes cheese, you might try melting some Velveeta over broccolli/carrots/etc. That used to be the ONLY way I would ever eat broccolli, and now just so long as it's steamed and salted I love it!

I know this is an old post, but I gotta respond

You know, we've tried that . . . my husband and I love broccoli and cheese, we tried offering to him, but it was a no go. And onions, if there is the tiniest amout of onions in anything, he won't eat it.

I'm thinking he must have sensitive tastebuds, like onions or vegetables must taste bland? I don't know, I think I heard somewhere that if you had sensitive tastebuds (or maybe it was having more tastebuds on your tongue than the average person) that food tastes differently. . . and I know ADD/ADHD and medication doesn't have anything about being a picky eater, just if he's on the medication, he'll be less likely to try new things because its an appettite suppressant.

I'm assuming he'll probably grow out of, maybe in his teens when he'll see all of his other friends enjoying good food. . .

[LostMyMind]

No one but me could taste it- he said he could tell by the disgusted look on my face that I was a "high taster" or something like that. That mxed with my insanely acute sense of smell- when I don't like a food I REALLY don't like a food!

I'm going to guess that you can taste metal and plastic too.

Like others have posted, my parents was of the same mentality. Eat the food on your plate. Until they tried to get me to drink that nasty stuff called V-8. I warn my dad that it will make me , wanta guess what happen? After that, I wasn't "forced" to eat anything I disliked

[stormtreader]

My mum made me try 1/2 a sprout when i point-blank refused to try them - apparently i got so worked up, i had a pyschosomatic allergic reaction to it

I also cant stand 'slimy' textured food like raw bananas and tomatos
Dried or cooked ones are fine though.

Id like to try the supertaster test, anyone know where you can get a test from?

[varmintjane]

I also eat food in a particular way...it takes me ten minutes to eat a swiss cake roll because I have to bite the surface chocolate off both ends, then off the bottom, then I have to peel it off the rest of the roll, then I eat as much of the cake as I can, then the filling...you get the idea. But at my age I can definitely attribute it to being Asperger's.

I thought I was the only one. For some reason it doesn't taste as good if you eat it any other way.

[Jester]

Wow. So much here to talk about. Heheeheh....

First of all, I should say that many many kids are picky eaters, and most of them grow out of it when they get older. Unless the case is extreme, I don't think there is too much to worry about.

Myself, I was a rather picky and rather light eater as a child....until I turned 8. then virtually overnight, as my parents would attest to, I suddenly started eating tons and trying EVERYTHING! I was eating kids as a child that my parents thought kids would never like. I was eating broccoli on my salad in FOURTH GRADE! Heck, I was mad later in life at my mom for not having let me try things like liver, crab, whitefish, etc., which I did not get to try until much later in life. (She had a defense with the crab, in that she had it once and had a severely allergic reaction to it.) To this day, I will try anything at least once or twice.

That does not mean I don't (or didn't) like things. I suffered through lima beans as a child, which he had OFTEN, and it wasn't till years later that I found out from my mother than not only didn't I like them, but neither did my two sisters or my mom! Basically, we were all forced to suffer through those nasty things because my dad loved them! Ugh! To this day, I despise lima beans. One time at a very nice restaurant, their vegetable was lima beans, and I politely mentioned that I did not care for them...at all. The server said, "I didn't either till I tried these...these are awesome!" Being adventurous, I figured why not? After I tried them, I told the server, "These are the best lima beans I have ever had....and I still can't stand them!" He laughed.

I actually can't stand ketchup, which to some people makes me very un-American. Also hate tomato juice/V-8, which is weird, since I love tomatoes and tomato sauces of all hues. Also can't stand olives, London broil, bologna, cauliflower (it's unfinished broccoli!), grapefruits or grapefruit juice, avocados, or guacamole. My friends think I'm picky, and I'm not....just that the things I don't like, I can't stand!

But I will try anything, and that has brought me to other things I didn't like. Perhaps the most notable was uni. Uni is sea urchin, often served at sushi restaurants. I rarely let texture bother me, I am more of a taste man. But both the taste and the slimey texture of uni grossed me out! But hey...at least I tried it, right?

My little sister is strange...she hates a few things, as we all do, but she still (in her thirties) reacts almost like a kid about some things. For example, she hates mushrooms. Despises them, won't eat them. No big deal, right? Right. Except for the fact that she has been known to try something, love it, and only later find out it had mushrooms in it....and then suddenly she won't eat it anymore, even though she loved it. Guess just the thought of a mushroom freaks her out.

Speaking of freaking people out, in high school biology class, one day while the lesson was going on, somehow myself and two classmates, Dave and Kerry, got into a conversation about sausage, with Dave and myself grossing out Kerry telling her what sausage actually is and how it is made. Finally having had enough, she interrupted the teacher, raising her hand and shouting out, "Mr. Mick! Mr. Mick! These guys are lying to me!" The teacher asked her what she was talking about, she told him, expecting him to soothe her. Instead, he seemed interested, and went into a far more detailed and hilariously disgusting explanation than Dave or myself ever could have. Kerry turned several shades of green, and Dave and myself couldn't breathe from laughing. Kerry didn't speak to us for about a week.

One more thing....maybe those of you with kids can tell me if this is something common. As a kid, I ate things in order around the plate. For example, I ate all the meat, THEN all the potatos, THEN all the veggies, etc. My family, both parents and sisters, mocked me incessantly about it. (Our pediatrician told my mother that this is called "clock eating.") They gave me so much grief about it, in fact, that to this day when I eat a meal, I eat a bit of this, a bit of that, and basically eat everything on the plate evenly until the end, completely the opposite (but still as obsessive) of clock eating. Anyone else seen this?

[Crazyredhead]

I was eating kids as a child...

WOW!!!! Did they taste just like chicken?? LOL

and I used to think that I ate alot.