I have tried eating steak for the past 11 years, and not once have I been able to eat it. :C I either have to choke it down with a lot of liquid, or I end up throwing it up later. i CANNOT eat steak, it's just nasty to me. the texture and taste both. and of course, i come from the family of friends who make steak with everything.

I'm really picky, more about texture than taste. I can see something that looks and smells delicious but if it doesn't feel right in my mouth i can't swallow it. I already have a hard time swallowing (why, i dunno. i must have almost choked to death or something when i was younger). If i really need to eat something, I can down it with a glass of whatever drink, which usually ends up with me getting 4 refills for 3 bites. i hope my taste buds change though, i don't like my picky-eating-ness jagk it's really annoying.

I'm a really bad picky eater - I just really cannot stand eating some textures/flavours... which is fucking annoying as it cuts out a lot of 'healthy' food from my diet. For example, the textures of some fruits make me cringe so much I can't swallow them. My mum insists I used to eat them when I was a small child and she has tried forcing me to eat them since I stopped, but to no avail. My taste buds must've changed lol. My grandparents were the worst for forcing me to eat food I couldn't stand, but I grew to dislike them because of that. I never got 'used' to the food I hated no matter how much I or someone else forced me to eat it. Even if someone tries to sneak stuff in undetected it always fails ):

As for OP, you could just explain that your mum DID try to make you eat a certain way, but failed. I don't really come across this problem with friends too often, but sometimes I get the "oh you're so fussy" eyeroll, and I'm just like "lol, oh well" and alll is well.

Eat what you want to eat - its your body. I dont think your friends mom has a right to comment on what your parents do anyway.

I've been sick for 2 years now and I can't always eat a majority of the things normal people can, like cereal, toast or veggies (extreme stomach pain, anyone?) for the life of me. I've been called spoiled because of it, and I get SOO angry...

I can't eat things so I'm spoiled? aklsjdhfalkjhsdkjf idiots.

I can understand where you're coming from.

I'm also a very picky eater. I hate eating potatoes and we eat potatoes almost everyday at school. What I hate about potatoes or some other vegetables is the texture. But I have to admit, for me, it all depends on how it's cooked. When dealing with important people that I want to impress, I just eat it, no matter what it is.

If anyone speaks bad of your eating preferences, it's best to either explain yourself to them or just ignore them. Depending of the level of stubbornness, of course.

I would take Sugah's advice: just simply state you have a sensitive stomach or allergy. It's better than having to go through why you don't eat certain things.

I can't eat carbs- veggies and fruits included- without gaining weight. So, I eat nothing with carbs. A lot of people don't get it so I just state that I'm allergic to them, which is sort of true. Problem solved. I always volunteer to buy my own food whenever I visit someone so I don't inconvenience them. I also cook my food separate from everyone else's or plan a day ahead so as not to interfere in their cooking time.

I suppose I could be considered a picky eater: anything pasta makes me cramp, same with certain desserts and greasy food. Surely it is less rude to politely avoid the food I can't eat than to roll around in fetal position on their floor? If I'm having dinner at someone else's, I might prepare myself so I can stand a little bit of it, but I won't do that every day... I have other things to worry about than my food.

I also used to -hate- mushrooms more than anything else in the world. My brother's allergic to most of them and being his biggest fan I grew up hating them too :P However, after I went to china and stayed there alone for a while, I bloody well got used to them. Despite hating the flavour and texture and EVERYTHING, just wanted to vomit the first times, I ate them. It would have been a pain to explain why not :P Plus there are much nastier stuff you're expected to eat in China, mushrooms really were rather appetizing in comparison.

I'm still not a person who'll eat mushrooms raw, but I don't mind them much in food.

That said, despite eating it every week for 6 months, I can not for the life of me eat coriander (cilantro) without projectile vomiting. They also trigger migraines and all sorts of shit :( I feel very rude when I remove it but hey I obviously can't take them.

You gotta listen to your body. Within limits.

Eh. I'm a picky eater. But its not because of my parents.

There are foods that look, smell or taste bad and i don't want anything to do with them.

Mushrooms, green peppers, sausage, carrots, blah blah

My parents made me eat MOST of it when it was on my plate, and i never grew into liking them. My mother cannot eat certain types of cheeses as they are migraine triggers. I cannot eat many potato type products in a day or they turn into migraine triggers for me.

The person that told you that is an idiot who obviously has no idea what the hell they're talking about.

Some people just don't like certain things. End of discussion.

My parents used to force me to eat foods I didn't like.

But they knew that there were some foods I absolutely CAN'T STAND because of the texture. So they were let me stay away from them. :P

I was never spoiled, and being picky has nothing to do with being spoiled. That person was being an idiot.

I'd say most children are "picky eaters" to be pains in the ass. If you were the exception to the rule, this post doesn't apply to you, sensitive-tummy super-tasters who are nauseated by the merest mention of a "bad food". ;)

But me, I was picky about the foods my mother couldn't cook to save her life. Like... porkchops. She wouldn't stop slathering them in disgusting amounts of applesauce, so I developed a "tummyache" every time I had her porkchops... Same for her awful, overcooked, plastic steak... And I was so sensitive, kid's TV dinners always made me sick enough that I had to lay in my room afterwards. My parents didn't give a rats ass about coaxing me along to eat, especially since we didn't really have the money to buy luxury food items for a grade-schooler, so eventually I would slink back to the kitchen and pick my leftovers. I was a skinny kid, but now I'm a chef who will taste anything she's not allergic to.

My parents indulged my younger sister's finicky eating habits, and now she's a carbitarian... she doesn't eat meat... but she also isn't precisely a vegetarian. For eight years now, the spoiled picky eater has been living off of spaghetti and marinara sauce, cheese and ketchup pizza, macaroni and cheese, and cans of tuna. She found out one that my yummy soup she had been eating had chicken stock in it, and dramatically informed us that her digestive system was shutting down and she was dying, because she couldn't process meat anymore, then proceeded to hork loudly into the toilet for the rest of the night. I have prepared her eggplant parmesan, seasoned tofu bites with vegan dip, vegetarian pot pies, vegan chili, veggie lasagna with homemade tomato noodles... and every dish, she turns her nose up at and claims to "smell" things she doesn't like, and will not lay a taste bud to my efforts. She turned eighteen in January.

My boyfriend is also a picky eater. He's a good sport about it... he gets a laugh when I listen to him complain about how he hates okra, it's slimy and disgusting and the taste is like pure death walking, and then an hour later, when dinner is done... "What's this green shit in the pasta salad? Its soooo fucking good, buttery and tender..." "Okra. Sauteed okra." "Mmm, I can't believe this is okra! It's great!" And we are slowly expanding his culinary palate.

I say, sometimes you need to crack down on your kids, IMO. Most of the time, its probably actually an issue of mom's bad cooking, not any legitimate sensitivity. I think food should be fun for kids, but also healthy and straight-forward. That BS about disguising spinach in brownies and veggie puree in macaroni and cheese in the interests of "getting your child to try new things" isn't the answer. If you're actually hungry, instead of just having vapours, maybe that food will go down a bit easier, eh? ;)

I get exactly the same, and my parents are not understanding. Luckily now that i'm older if i dont like what my family is eating i can make something different, but when i was younger i was forced to eat loads of foods i didn't like. Unfortunately there is little we can do to change other people's misinformed opinions. All of my friends mum's know me as a 'fussy eater', and i guess they can't understand because it's not them in my position.

Yeah I definitely agree with you! I eat anything but I have one friend who is very picky and that's okay with me.

I understand if you're old enough to make decisions yourself and truly just can't stomach the food. But you have to admit that some little kids have to be encouraged and do grow out of the "fussy eater" phase.

I used to avoid eating at friends houses to get around that. People stop commenting when they no longer feel your parents should be controlling your behaviour, so when your old enough it should stop. I had a lot of people tell me I was being childish for refusing to eat certain things. I also had a lot of food practically forced on me. My parents weren't as understanding as yours. I still sometimes have to remind people of my particular tastes.

I'm a finicky eater and eating horrid tasting foods just makes me naeseous or in most cases, puke.

I have the same problem. I'm 25 years old and there are a lot of foods I can't eat either because they make me want to urk or because I won't eat them for moral reasons. I don't eat red meat or wild game because I don't feel it's right and I never liked it anyways. I also can't stand lettuce...even getting it near my mouth makes me sick. I get the worst, most annoying comments from people. The one that pisses me off the most is "You don't know what you're missing." Oh.my.GOD. People? Hello? I HATE IT, therefore I'm not MISSING anything! Jesus, people can be so damn pigheaded sometimes. I don't give a crap what they eat, I don't say anything to anyone about what they eat - that's their business, so why do they have to get in mine? OY.

I'm labeled a picky eater :[. There are some foods that... Hold absolutely no appeal to me. Sometimes, as some other people have mentioned, the flavor I actually don't really mind, but the texture I can't stand. Thankfully, my parents are pretty understanding.

I'm like you. I'm a very finicky eater. There are things I actually HATE, but can stand in some ways. (Ex: Tomatoes. I hate them, but I like catsup, etc.) There are others that I can't stand because they make me feel sick, as not-melted cheese. (Yes, I know. Weird.) But, there are things that make me throw up just by their texture and/or smell, such as the avocato. Thank god, my parents know how I am. They make me taste pretty mych everything that doesn't have a thing that makes me throw up, such as seafood.

You should really tell her as you did here. It is a really good explanation. :)

Glad to know I'm not the only one. IMHO "forcing" someone, especially a child, to eat something is just a way to make them resent you and to lose your credibility as a parent. Over the years I developed a taste for artichokes, something that i could never stand as a kid. My parents never forced it on me, it was just something that developed on its own. My tastes are slowly expanding (I like chinese food now when i wouldn't touch it as a kid) but I am still quite leery about some foods, and i have actually lost the ability to eat others. Greasy food and pizza I can no longer eat because it does horrendous things to my digestive system.

theres this japanese fast food noodle place where i always order a "tofu yakisoba with more noodles and less vegetables, no beansprouts or mushrooms". they actually have pre-set buttons to press for all of that customization.

I'm a really finicky eater too, there is a lot of stuff i don't like that makes me feel sick when i eat, and this isn't because I'm allergic or anything but the very taste of the food really makes me hurl.. or the substance does- i have a huge fear of choking as i choked on ice cubes when i was young, and since there have been alot of things that sets me into panic mode when i eat, such as hard things (pills, etc) or things that run slowly down the throat (jelly things, mooshy meat, hard-chewing food) and on top of it my stomach can't handle heavy things such as beef, corned-bread and such so I'm SUPER finicky and even my mom doesn't know what she can serve me to make me eat...

And when i say finicky i mean finicky! i can't eat fish/sea food, i won't eat meat less it's some special kinds, there is alot of bread i can't eat and there is a couple of vegetables including potatoes that i reject eating... now what do i eat? rice, salad, bird, a couple of sorts of meat, vegetables and fruit.. i manage nicely but imagine the fuss when i visit people that don't know of my diett! people usually complain for my fussyness when it comes to food... so i know the pain, even if my pain there is mostly self-caused... but i really do get sick of the taste and such...