Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2021/01/18/whats-with-men-who-eat-like-little-boys.html
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What’s with men who eat like little boys?
Well, a lot of them are just emulating their hero.
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Some people just dont like the taste of “adult” foods.
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I have an acquaintance who won’t touch a vegetable with a ten foot pole. I tell him, dude, expand your palate. A potato is standard with a burger, and by the way guess what the bun is made of? I’m not kidding. He thinks fries are a vegetable, but white bread is ok. It’s weird to see such a picky eater with no repertoire.
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I know folks like this, and I don’t think the problem really originates with food, at least in the cases I can observe. It’s more about their view of the world. What they know and are comfortable with are the only things really of value to them.
I eat a lot of the things listed, but I have an incessant hunger for new things I haven’t tried. The folks I mentioned don’t seem think that way. If you try to suggest new foods, it is almost as if you’re suggesting an ordeal. It’s like “why would I subject myself to that?” The look on their face is a weary rolling of the eyes.
So I think it has more to do with the fact they see expanding their diet in the same way people back in the 19th century saw cars. Instead of “Get a Horse!” it’s “Get some McNuggets!” Change for them is scary and uncomfortable and unnecessary.
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Gotta love “men who XY like little boys” meme.
I don’t suppose there are any “women who XX like little girls” out there.
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I’ve never understood this phenomenon. Do they still dress like children? Do they still draw with crayons and fingerpaints? Do they only listen to nursery rhymes? Exploring new sensations is one of life’s great pleasures, and we all eat, so why not expand your horizons and discover new tastes? What exactly are they afraid of?
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A guy I know eats mostly meat. He grew up in a hunting and fishing family. Fries are okay, but no other vegetables or fruit. He had acid reflux, but that problem is gone now because he take prilosec every day. His caffeine-delivery vehicle is diet Mountain Dew.
He’s unapproachable with advice or offers of something new and tasty that would actually be good for him. This middle-aged guy thinks he’s fine, but I wonder just what kind of cancer is finally going to catch up with him. Bad habits really do die hard. It looks like my friend may well die first. 
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Like this guy…
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My knee-jerk reaction was the same, but honestly? I don’t know a single woman who eats that way.
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The pickiest eaters I know (excluding the people with food allergies, of course) are all men, and to the best of my understanding, are all either on the autism spectrum, have anxiety issues, or both.
I’m sure there are plenty of picky eaters whose narrow diets are due to upbringing and simple resistance to change and growth, but at least in some cases, it’s a side effect of deeper issues.
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I’ve known a few, and they were all, to be blunt, morbidly obese.
Men seem to burn calories more readily than women do. Eating mostly junk often doesn’t seem to cost them as much in the excess weight department.
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I know both types, but it manifests differently. With the women, it’s specific dislikes, such as mushrooms, celery, carrots, oily fishes. With the men, it’s less targeted and more to a category: no veggies, no citrus, no dairy --I’m not allergic-- I just hate it.
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Well, I don’t know a single man who eats that way. I live a sheltered life, I suppose.
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I think there are a lot of women with this problem too. Teenage girls who lived off toast was definitely a thing when I was growing up. In my case I stopped eating meat when I was 15 and I didn’t think it was right that my mother had to cook specially for me so she was happy to help me learn and got me veg cookbooks. Everywhere I’ve lived since then I’ve done the cooking, everyday, even in large communal households.
Despite being coeliac I am the least picky eater in my family with the widest range of food I eat regularly. I occasionally do count up the last few days to see how many different veg I’ve eaten, the range of colours, and seasonality. Not to beat myself up, just to see if I need a bit more diversity.
I must admit I’m very mean to man babies who can’t cook. I think it’s quite unmanly (in my definition) to need women to look after you.
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Agreed, wholeheartedly.
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I had one adult picky eater friend (a woman, in this case) who had four food groups:
Grilled chicken breast sandwiches with nothing
Chicken fingers
Grilled cheese sandwiches
French fries
Also ice cream, but that’s a dessert, not a food group.
She was actually working with her therapist to get past her picky eater-ness. It was a giant win for her when she touched her tongue to a cucumber.
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Says you.
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I know a woman who only eats carbs. I watched her meticulously tear apart three croissants over the course of an hour and call that “lunch.”
She grew up the only girl in a sports obsessed family (father and brothers all coach, some at collegiate level) so hers is a special case.
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As much as my parents were dysfunctional, they were not the type to let us eat what we wanted. Not to say we didn’t have common meals we all loved but if it was pork chops (and to be honest even today I still don’t like them) then that’s what we had. It’s just sad to see that men won’t or don’t have any curiosity with food. That’s also a thing my parents didn’t mind letting me and my sister do: try foods. One day we went to one of those Hawaiian themed restaurant back home (I think it was called Aloha it doesn’t exist anymore but a Chinese place is there now). I ordered some fancy fish meal and found out I couldn’t eat it cause they served it with the head lol. I mean I did eat some of the fish around the head but damn me I couldn’t look at my dish while I did.
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