My most fond and most repeated memory of just how picky I was came one night when we had hotdogs. My mom had apparently had enough at this point and didn't make me an option - a hamburger - like she always did. No, on my plate was a hotdog, sheathed comfortably in its bun, and a pile of fries. I ate my fries happily - I had a great love of the starchy fried sticks - but the hotdog remained untouched. She had tried coercing me into eating hotdogs before by cutting a small bit of hers and leaving it on my plate. The first time I'd believed her claim that I'd like it since I liked hamburgers, but the moment the little sliver touched my tongue I knew she lied! I didn't like this at all! It was bitter, salty and had an offensively spongy texture. In short, there was nothing I was ever going to like about hotdogs. Its sensory offences are such that hotdogs will never be redeemed. But that night, my mom insisted. A standoff ensued.
I sat staring at that hotdog long after the rest of the plates had been washed. My mom huffed and sighed as she moved about the kitchen, occasionally uttering "just eat the hotdog and you can go play" in a short tone of voice. It wasn't that simple for me. I knew I couldn't eat this and all the time I sat there my stomach continued knotting up at the thought of it because I knew I wasn't going to get away from the table without downing this damned hotdog. Throat tight, eyes closed in agony, I eventually ate the entire salty, spongy, and, by now, cold hotdog, forcing the half-chewed chunks down my throat with mouthful after mouthful of milk. "There, that wasn't so bad, was it?" my mom asked, and moments later I replied. A few heavy lurches and splatterings and my plate was filled with the chewed up, milk- and stomach-acid-infused remnants of the hotdog. Yes, yes that was pretty bad, mom. I told her I didn't want that hotdog, and no doubt she now knew I was very serious.
Article comments
1 - Kurt Nordstrom
See, I'll be honest. If I go and get, say, a Big Mac, it isn't the same thing without the sauce and condiments and whatnot. Man was not meant to consume it without these things. That might be squirrel instead of cow between the layers, but hey, the entire package sure tastes good.
2 - Eric Olsen
Tom, eat your vegetables.
3 - boomcrashbaby
In N Out burgers is due to their sauces and condiments, not the meat. Eaten plain as I do, their burgers are very bland, dry, and unremarkable. They have nothing on Whataburger, let me tell you.
I don't know what the fascination with In N Out is, out here in Ca. They're good, but don't really stand out more than any other burger in the fast food world.
I have to agree with you on Whataburger, though. I've only seen those in the midwest, and haven't been to one in about 14 years, but even after all this time, every now and then I crave one of their burgers. They REALLY salt their ground beef, probably as a preservative, but remarkably it worked, it was salty and juicy. They are my favorite fast food of all time.
4 - Jim Carruthers
I used to work as an institutional cook, and picky eaters just pissed me off. Then I had a girlfriend who would only eat at MacDonald's, whereas I refuse to eat that crap.
I've been to the street night market stalls in Hong Kong (as one person said to me as I struggled with an all-Cantonese menu, it doesn't matter if I you can read or speak, you know how to use chop-sticks, you'll be alright - though I draw the line at stinky tofu).
I love food, and I love a challenge. Restricting yourself to pablum seems rather sad.
Like Chow-Yun Fat tells Mark Wahlberg in The Corrupter: "You wanna be Chinese, you gotta eat the nasty stuff". When you go for dim sum, you will eventually face the dreaded chicken foot (but the sauce is really good) or tripe.
I guess you're not a sushi or fugu fan?
5 - Tom Johnson
Restricting yourself to pablum seems rather sad.
Did you actually read this, Jim, or did you just read the words "picky eater" and decide to go off? I explained in pretty good detail, including a link, why someone would "choose" (hint: there's no choice involved here) to be picky.
6 - Jim Carruthers
No, I didn't go off, I just call bullshit on the suspect background of the whole "supertaster" scam. Just because some guy in a lab coat says something, doesn't make it valid.
It's like fat, lazy people who say they have "big bones" or "glands". Prove it. The link doesn't, it is anecdotal at best.
Mere Proustian madelaines, but turned sinister.
Since Principal Skinner learned to like the taste of fermented fish sauce while in a tiger cage, I'm convinced picky eaters just exist to piss me off.
7 - Jim Carruthers
After re-reading all your picky-eater posts, what really shocks me is that you are being picky about crap food.
Really. Being picky about degrees of fast food is like debating who is dreamier, Jimmy Osmond or the winner of Norwegian Idol?
Now, excuse me, I have to decide between a hot Italian veal sandwich with peppers and eggplant, a delicate and robust bowl of pho or some slow-smoked ribs with extra hot sauce. Hmm, or maybe check out that new roti place up on Bloor?
8 - Tom Johnson
Jim, you can file this one in your cabinet under "just don't get it." You're so concerned with being superior that you can't actually understand something pretty simple: the food you talk about would make me sick, physically sick, ill, vomiting. How much more simple can it get than that? I shouldn't be surprised - this is typically the kind of response I get from food-snobs - they simply cannot understand that it's more than just what they perceive as "unrefined tastes" that prevents people from enjoying clams or whatever crap is under discussion at the time.
Just because some guy in a lab coat says something, doesn't make it valid.
Then what exactly would? If you can't take the word of someone who lives the life of a supertaster, and you can't take actual, certified experts who have actually studied the phenomena, exactly whose word would you trust?
Jim, I invite you to do some simple, second-hand research on supertasters, please. Here, I'll make it easy for you: clicky. How about some proof from Yale? Is Yale good enough for you? They might be wearing white lab coats, so I'm not sure if this qualifies for you or not. Here's a little quote from it anyway, "So what are some of the differences between nontasters and supertasters? The tongue's anatomy is such that there are clusters of pain fibers associated with each taste bud. With a higher-than-average number of taste buds, supertasters are also super-perceivers of oral pain, such as the burning sensation of capsaicin and ethanol." (emphasis mine) But please do read the whole article - it's short, and it might actually open your mind a little bit. Just try and get past that distrust of reasearchers . . . or anyone, for that matter, since it appears no one and nothing can convince you that something is real unless you yourself experience it.
And here's the report on a symposium about taste, which focuses on supertasters. Still think this is fake?
9 - Jim Carruthers
So what you're saying is you're disabled. You just need a wheelchair for your tongue. I'm sorry.
It's really too bad you won't ever be able to enjoy food, flavours, and scents (since almost all of taste is actually scent).
In almost all of my experience with picky eaters, it has actually turned out to be mostly sheer, willful ignorance, fear and negative reinforcement, since almost all taste is acquired, not inherent unlike allergies which are linked to protein reactions.
And from your account, it sounds like a lot of conditioning, which is too bad, because you seem to be missing a lot, just like people who say, that's not music, that's just noise, and I have sensitive ears.
10 - Lee
I'm sorry Jim, but I hate to say you are wrong. I used to think all my life that I was a picky eater. I used to think that it was just my own scewed perception. But I grew up in an Italian family, and have always been taught that all food is wonderful and delicious.
Then why can I only eat carrots in what to others is a sickeningly sweet cake format?
I am a supertaster, (the word does sound kind of fad-ish to me. But I don't follow most fads anyway, so I'll use whatever is being used to describe it) and have to add sugar or salt to everything I eat in order to enjoy it.
Its not because I force myself to hate things. On the contrary, I desperately want to love all foods. In my Italian family I had access to a large palette of flavours and experiences, was fed quite a few different foods, and taught that food is a gift not to be ignored.
But I was still always picky. Carrots made me vomit, I couldn't go near pizza until I was in my teens, when I was finally able to stomach sauce and pepperoni. To this day I can't so much as taste or even smell onions without feeling faint or vomiting. Its serious and its true. I should love onions, since its the #1 loved food amongst my family (they put it in everything) but I can't even smell an onion without feeling ill.
And its not just foods either. Certain chemical smells that other people are ignorant to cause me to flee in disgust: methane, gas, alcohol, cigarette smoke or household cleaners. 9.9
I firmly beleive I'm a supertaster, and I don't want this as an excuse not to eat vetables. If people are willing to admit this exists, then maybe more research will be done into finding a way to help supertasters be able enjoy foods that normally they couldn't.
Tom, congrats to you and Alissa, it really must be nice to have somebody not only understand you, but lives the same life that you do. :)
Lee
11 - clelba
wow! thank you! someone like me!
i'm not alone!
you've made me happy...
i am a supertaster!
now i shall go and tell my mum ;-)
^. .^
= ' =
12 - Karen
These stories sounds exactly like mine! If I eat something I don't like I gag and just can't swollow. Almost everyday of my childhood involved sitting at the table after everyone else left, chewing and chewing without being able to swallow. I cant stand veggies, but I try to force them down with little success. I really want to like all the food everyone else loves, but its just impossible to me. For me - being invited to dinner is a nightmare. Believe me, this is something I really dont want to live with, but I (and now i realise, others too!) am born this way.
13 - notthislittleblackduck
I too am a lifelong picky eater - though I was like that even as a toddler. My mother should be grateful I'm not as picky as some of the commentators above - at least I ate carrots & cheese! But I too was the same way - some stuff like brussel sprouts just repulsed me so much I'd have to swallow them whole if I was to eat them at all.
As for scientific validity - the tongues of supertasters are visibly different from those of others.
I too can smell things no one else can - certain chemicals I find overwhelming while others have no idea what I'm talking about. I still do hate most veggies and beer, some wines taste like turpentine to me, though oddly, I love spicy food.
14 - Beatrice
I started to laugh when I started reading because this sounds like several of my 6 children not to mention their father. Thanks for helping me see that my hubby & kids aren't picky by choice. Now we can stop the dinner time war trying to get them to eat things they really can't stomach.
15 - Susan
Hi Tom -
We have just discovered that our 9 year old daughter is a supertaster. We have been battling these food issues since she was an infant and just thought she was the pickiest eater around. However, since I have been doing the research on supertasters, everything I've read is absolutely her! My question is this: I know what my daughter will not eat. What do supertasters eat? Right now (today), she will eat peanut butter, strawberry jelly (not jam), on white bread, no crust, grapes and pretzels for lunch. Breakfast is Grape nuts with organic milk and her vitamins. Dinner is always a toss up. I always try to make a chicken dish of some sort. However, she is very particular about that too. Even if I make the same chicken dish from one week to the next, she may eat it one week, but not the next time. She drowns all her meat in Ranch dressing or she won't eat it. She has never been on the growth chart for her age and height. She is extremely thin, which I have no problem with if I know she is healthy and strong. I would truly appreciate your thoughts on this topic. Any ideas on what I can feed her or at least have her try would be welcomed! Thank you so much, Susan
16 - Susan
Too funny about the peas - I had the exact same experience as a kid. I would try to eat them, hold my nose -do anything to get them down - but I would just gag.
Not funny at the time, but now funny to look back on!
17 - david
Whataburger is for people who like McDonalds. In-N-Out is fast-food for people who like eating REAL food, not the processed, oversalted junk food.
18 - Gregg
So great to find others like me. This story is so close to home, it feels as if I could have written it. I found a couple of friends who are supertasters as well. But they think I'm nuts, because I don't eat ice cream. I say, I win. Anyway. Honest question: Any of you also diagnosed with ADD? Just wondering if there's some sort of connection.
19 - Gregg
Jim,
I can assure you, it's a real thing. It was real for me before it had a label. Real for my family, who had to suffer through it on their end. For my wife, who has to balance teaching her daughter how to eat healthy, while I get away with the diet a 9 year old would kill for. For all the stress it causes me in social situations, and fear it gives me for my health. For the sleepless nights it gave my parents. For the hours I spent in therapy, explaining that I just couldn't "try" an orange. Even though I like OJ, the texture of an actual orange might as well be like steel wool when it gets near me. You don't understand it, so you dismiss it. I totally get that. It sounds made up. Sounds like an excuse. But I promise you, whatever "IT" is, has caused us all much more pain and trouble than we'd ever want. Is it in our heads? Possibly.
Instead of judging or assuming, try looking it at from our eyes. We hear all these great things about trying foods. The adventure, the joy it can bring. And we feel its a party we're not invited to.