HOTDISH!
Awesome.
Don’t kids still read Green Eggs And Ham? In hindsight I credit it with my childhood non-pickiness (no celery or raw carrots or canned salmon, everything else fine, feed me.) My mom once put canned salmon and peas in lime jello. Once.
Eww, just eww. I have no issues with any of them on their own but together like that big giant NOPE.
I’m told it’s a similar story with Singapore noodles.
Yep, I still don’t like 7-Up (or Sprite). I still associate that flavor with being ill, although I re-acclimated myself to ginger ale, and never had an issue with instant ramen.
My mom has never drank milk since her parents tried to slip her some medicine in it when she was little (impossibly large pill or some such).
Other then her aversion to milk, she and I seem to be the only ones in our family who did not pick up some kind of food sensitivity (my dad and sisters have, all within the past 5 years or so).
I really like a vegetarian Chinese restaurant that’s in the area, but unfortunately too far away to regularly visit. Their menu is the complete opposite of gluten-free.
My grandmother gave all her grandDAUGHTERS* a copy of her small town’s Women’s League cookbook once. She was very proud of it. In the salad section, every single recipe included Jello and not a single one included lettuce or other greens. Canned vegetables in Jello, yes, and various versions of marshmallows and canned fruit in Jello. But fresh vegetables? Pshaw.
*Not really much of a loss for the grandsons.
See, I would understand where they were coming from if it had been the unfairly-maligned aspic. But why sweet lime of all things?
Soooo hungry right now.
And so missing my Iowan grandma.
I have a gut feeling (ha!) That aspic will make a comeback. Also jello is seriously underrated. But jello and fish…?
When it comes to Jell-o “salads,” I now rely on a line a friend wrote in our college playwriting class:
“If God had meant peaches to float in mid-air, he’d have filled 'em with helium.”
Sounds like many of my grandmother’s recipes. She also used number sizes for cans (No. 2 instead of 20 oz. or whatever it is). Also called margarine “oleo.”
I guarantee it is due to greater usage of glyphosate and the raise in allowable concentrations by the EPA.
I’m surprised by this policy. The restaurant I frequent here in the Midwest loves me. I order a day in advance. All the ingredients are organic. They swoon when I say “no msg, please” We talk at length about the difficulties of finding authentic ingredients. I may start importing for them, just so they can “wow” me on a weekly basis.
Classic Swedish and Norwegian dish that can exactly be described as fish-jello
I vividly remember one Christmas at my aunt’s, my mother telling me to eat some lutefisk or they’d send me out to the car for the rest of the night. I honestly said “no, it’ll make me barf” they then said take it or leave it, so, being the vindictive little dick I was, took a huge bite, and barfed all over the table. Spite can be so sweet.
Besides lutefisk, there’s the traditional East End dish of jellied eels. Could easily see that making a comeback.
Artisanal, working class, Victorian cachet and jealously guarded recipes with only a few traditional producers left… could be the next big thing amongst hipster chefs bored with modernist cuisine.
I find absurdly picky eaters annoying and exhausting, mainly those that go to places where they should know better (like this Chinese restaurant no doubt). They unfairly give food aversions and picky eating a bad name as a whole.
I too could be described as a “texture-sensitive super-taster”, and I think that most people just don’t realize what it’s like. For a particular person’s worst aversions, attempting to eat them activates the involuntary gag reflex (sometimes just contemplating eating them is enough). What does anyone honestly expect that person to do? If it’s something truly unavoidable (few things fall into that category thankfully), the person can probably train themselves to not gag, but it can take a lot of effort and they’ll probably need to do that at home (you can guess that the chances of it happening are not great) not in a social setting where people are saying “come on, try it” or whatever.
The one non-seafood thing that really does it for me still as an adult (late 20s) is squash, any type. Can’t do it. As others have written about, that does have something to do with a particular childhood experience I still remember vividly, but it’s not just that. From your list I also don’t usually do mayo-based salads (it took me a while to realize what that meant, haha), and I eat eggs occasionally but I too get the very strong sulfur taste. Some bitter green stuff (kale, brussels sprouts) are ok (not when I was a kid, but now) but most salads are right out, for my next reason…
I despise vinegar - it doesn’t make me feel like retching, so it’s different, this is more of a supertaster thing… I’m so sensitive to vinegar even a tiny amount overpowers every other flavor. I can eat it, it’s just rather unpleasant. There are some cases where I can’t taste it very strongly, but I’m not exactly sure why, must react with something to soften it - but, for example, I can taste it when it’s the base of even the hottest of hot sauces. Put sriracha, though, which normally I don’t use because it’s vinegary, into pho and it’s really good - don’t know.
As for texture… that’s the main reason I don’t like most seafood. In the worst cases this still activates a gag reflex for me. I can’t fathom eating a shrimp. Also, I get that fishy taste really, really strongly. I really like some types of sashimi, though, when it’s nice and fresh - you can’t assume anything about picky eaters (no octopus etc. though, thank you).
Like you, I’m now quite an eclectic, adventurous eater, probably far more so than most of the people who have goaded me to eat one thing or another over the years. Like you hint at, part of that is probably due to being excluded from many extremely popular things (like salad) and having to look for alternatives. Not eating most seafood is somewhat limiting, especially in the various Asian cuisines, which I’ve been surrounded with for ten years or so because of my social circle and various places I’ve lived - I’ve tried a lot of weird things. I’m OK with that though - there’s always something different.
I too get migraines, though not chronic. Certain foods can trigger them although for me it has to be something really overwhelming (or caffeine, which I cut out completely a few months ago after not realizing it was my primary migraine trigger my whole life previously because I drank it so much…). If I already have a bad migraine, even foods I normally like can make me nauseous just from looking at them, and things I don’t like would be just awful.
Finally, unless you’re one of those people with the ridiculous substitutions and complicated orders (I assume you’re not self-aware if you’re like that), it’s really rather embarrassing to be a picky eater. When people respond with ridicule or complete lack of understanding, it feels really, really bad. Potential friendships are ruined. I know it’s tough because of the really annoying picky eaters, but just don’t assume anything, don’t be a dick, and if you are annoyed just avoid that person - no harm there.
Better to say “Please be nice”. Say what you want people to do rather than what you don’t want them to do. People tend to miss the negation in negative statements, as in “Please … be an asshole.” And if I saw such a sign, I’d assume the restaurant is plagued with assholes, so much so that they had to post a sign.
How true. Never put salt in your eyes.
