LOL. Add me to the list of finicky people.

I'm really picky about potato salads. Not many that I care for. Hated it as a kid. Don't care for grilled pineapple either. And I wouldn't miss the coleslaw either since I don't particularly care for it, But I love tomatoes. In fact tomatoes and a little onion are the only thing I would want on my hot dog. Now that said, I would have been polite and had a little of everything that you served.

Because I'm picky, I don't have a problem with others that are picky. Although it does help to know in advance what some one likes or dislikes. But it doesn't sound like your DIL went home hungry. She liked the hot dogs and the chips.

Ann

Add me to the picky list, too.
I like ketchup, and tomato soup, but not tomatoes.
No cucumbers, peppers, peas, broccoli, etc.
I like good cole slaw, potato salad..a teaspoon maybe!
I'd eat the pineapple, not the hot dogs, I'd prefer a burger or grilled chicken.
If she didn't complain, I wouldn't worry!

My sister in law would have fit right in....her mother was orphaned at 14 and sent to live with her father who died when she was 3 aunt. They gave her a wonderful 4 years and turned her out into the world with about $1800 to live. She developed an ulcer at an early age and never ate lots of stuff. So SIL never "liked" those things either....among them were potato salad ( some people don't realize that potato salad can be many things! depending on who makes it) watermelon, baked beans, raw cabbage etc.
She would have had a hard time with your meal, I on the other hand would have loved it!
Went to a cookout last night, and I raved over the potato salad so much they sent me home with some!!
Linda C

I have a couple of finicky eaters in my extended family and like Rachelellen, I consider them like vegetarians. I also have a couple of those, lol. I refuse to become a short order cook. I just offer a lot of variety and always include a few simple things like cottage cheese and canned peaches, which almost anyone can eat, even if it's not their favorite.

Years ago when my children were little, my DMIL would come for extended visits and she was the pickiest! A simple ham sandwich lunch would take an hour (which I didn't have to spare). (Wrap the ham in foil and heat it in the toaster oven (but not in the microwave), crust cut off of bread, tomatoes dropped in boiling water to remove skin and seeds removed, lettuce washed and patted dry with paper towels, coffee reheated 3 times or more because it was never hot enough, arrgh! It still gets to me!) Now that she's gone, I miss her, but not the pickiness.

I cook because I'm picky! Have DIL input on a dish next time. Important to make her part of the group. Give her a big hug to make up for the comment. Putting up with behaviours you don't undersand is a big part of grace.

I hate raw tomatoes! Warm them up a little and I love them. I don't even know why. I love every other citrus fruit raw. I don't like salt on my grapefruit but can't imagine a tomato without salt.

If it were not for picky people we would all be eating Purina People Chow!

: )
lyra

I'm not very picky really. I have preferences but I will eat lots of different things.

Sunday at my girlfriend's house, we made dinner together and I dressed the salad. Girlfriend's DH, "Mr. X" is notoriously finicky and drives Mrs. X batty.

He whined, "Mrs. X there's too much dressing on the salad." I replied that I dressed it. He said nothing further about it and ate all of it. LOL.

When Mr. X comes to my home I make sure I have fresh French bread and butter on hand. He's happier than a pig in mud with that.

How about the finnicky eaters that are bored with their OWN slim pickin's, but refuse to eat anything else? That is true misery! My sister's family, argh!! They will only eat certain foods prepared certain ways (usually over-cooked and dry is their preferred method), but they constantly complain that my sister keeps cooking the same things over and over and they are bored with her cooking!! They don't eat onions, peppers, ANYTHING green, yellow or leafy, only beef & chicken, no seafood, only fried or charred, nothing too moist (including their meat!), only salt, pepper and parsley for seasonings. But give them something new and all you hear is "what's in this?" "how did you cook this?" blah, blah, blah, "I'm not eating it"....fine, starve then! After 25+ years of this, you kind of don't even listen any more. Her husband always asks why my potato soup is better than hers, well, could it be that mine has onions and celery for flavor? Her's is potato & milk! Once I was at her house and he asked for me to make my soup. He came in while I was sauting the onions, celery, & garlic. He freaked out and made me throw them out! Totally frustrating cooking for these people!!

While I agree with others usually a picky eater would be polite and eat what they could. But then again you DIL in family and maybe it's better to know some of her dislikes and likes so you can have something she will eat. (I don't think the whole meal should be about the picky eater though.) Our SIL was a really picky eater and I found it easier once I knew what he would eat.

Well invite me next time 'cause I would have loved that meal. I'm not picky but I do have dislikes, like beef ! If asked I say I don't care for beef (other than ground) but if not, and it's served, I eat it happily....or so it would appear to the hostess.

Chris is picky, picky, picky! No mayo, no sour cream, no cream cheese, no cream sauces, no tomatoes. Clive will not eat anything remotely spicy. Meredith is pretty good but gets picky around veggies. Amity has an intolerance to gluten. When we are all together I seem to resort to about 5 or 6 menus that please everyone....ugh!

It can be frustrating trying to cook for someone with narrow tastes. You would like to please them. Better yet, you would like to please them with something you consider good. Call it bonding. I pity anyone who doesn't enjoy a lot of foods. As for my own tastes, when there is something unfamiliar on a menu, I order it to find out what it is like.

Jim

MY DH is picky. He's funny though because I can fix him a corn dog and a glass of milk and he's a happy camper but I can spend all day in the kitchen cooking and he will pick. I figure he's a big boy and if there is something I make he doesn't like then he can either pick it our or he knows where the cereal is.

I would also eat the hotdog and chips only. I don't like potato salad because I don't eat mayo. If it's a nonmayo version I would at least try it. I don't like tomatoes although I like spaghetti sauce and I would eat the grilled pineapple but I much prefer it plain.

I know I am a picky eater and I try not to be but there it is.

Theresa

You have my pity! My DS, DD, DSIL, my parents and DGS Jayden are picky and/or intolerant of some foods. What's left? We grill a lot of steaks, pork tenderloin (my original recipe only...sigh) and chicken. It's not much fun to cook for that crowd!

Mayonnaise is controversial. A lot of people really dislike it. I've known that for a long time. Same with fresh tomatoes. I love both of them and there are a lot of us who do. As a matter of fact, tomatoes and mayo make a wonderful combination between a couple of slices of good white bread.

Jim

I don't dislike mayo...I destest mayo & it would try my ability to be gracious if put in a situation where I needed to eat something like a potato salad made with the stuff. The sight of it triggers my gag reflex. OTOH, I love fresh tomatoes but do not like tomato sauces such as marinara or ketshup although I do eat them when necessary. I love grilled fresh pineapple; but it doesn't like me so much so I've eliminated it from my diet. Actually, I don't eat any of the condiments...mustard, relish, chutney, mayo...nope, don't eat them.

I also don't eat green peppers. That has proven a problem when I'm in the great southern part of our country. Seems many of their dishes begin with the 'trinity'. Last time I was in Charleston, I ordered breakfast of an omelet with just onion & cheddar. My waiter seemed to understand...no green peppers, please. Then, wouldn't ya know it, my hash browns arrived next to the omelet with green peppers. I never even thought they'd put it in the potatoes. The smell made me have to leave the table without breakfast. Ahem. Yep, I struggle in the south since I also don't eat fried foods. Thank goodness for sausage/biscuits & chicken 'n dumplings! I'll be spending Thanksgiving in Savannah this year & I have no idea where the green pepper might be lurking? lol

Funny how these food phoebias develop. I know where most of mine originated. There's just a couple of things I dislike & don't know of an incident that caused me to dislike that particular food.

/tricia

If there is medical reason for not eating certain foods, tell the hostess beforehand. Otherwise, keep your mouth shut (except to eat what is offered). I have given up on cooking for "picky" eaters. If someone comes to dine and spends most of the time commenting on what they don't or won't eat, they aren't invited again.
Cooking for others should be a pleasant experience, not a trip through a minefield.

We were always taught that "picky eaters go hungry". What that means, is that if you are a picky eater then you eat what you can, leave what you don't like, and NEVER complain LOL.

I don't consider myself picky at all. There are only two foods I can think of that I don't like. Those two are hot dogs and bologna. And, I will literally gag if I try to eat them. So, I would have eaten everything at your lunch except the hot dog (Now, I'll do brats, salsiccia, etc. just not regular type hot dogs).

My husband's the other way, more like your DIL. He seems to prefer kid type food, IMHO... mac n cheese(only boxed kraft), sloppy joes (only Manwich), hot dogs (only the cheaper types), jello, chips but doesn't always like more complicated or homemade type foods and won't consider touching exotic type foods. It is embarrassing when we go to people's houses (usually the better the cook, the more embarrassing it is). One time he wouldn't eat the fresh whipped cream on the strawberries because he'll only eat cool whip. I tell you, it takes all kinds!

I've got to say I'm getting a kick out of this thread -- never knew there were so many other mayo haters out there! And I feel like tricia is a kindred spirit, as I too can't eat any condiments -- ketchup, mayo, mustard, relish - all make me gag... I've always sworn that if I ever have kids I'm going to spoon feed them condiments from birth, as I find it is a big pain to be condiment phobic in a world that is full of condiment lovers!

Oh, my gosh, Cool Whip over fresh whipped cream? Never would I choose cool whip over fresh whipped cream.

I've been surrounded by mayo lovers and potato salad lovers all my life, so it never occurred to me that anyone hated them. Well, I guess there was one radio talk show host that was actually hostile about people that put mayo on burgers. It just wasn't done, wasn't patriotic, wasn't ethical, whatever. He actually hated people that put mayonnaise on their burgers.

I have to admit that I cause hosts/hostesss problems because of my being vegetarian, so I shouldn't at all complain. When I talk to DH about picky eaters, he gives me a look like I shouldn't talk, and I guess he's right, but I like food, all kinds of food. I choose not to eat meat, but there's not too many non-meat items I turn my nose up at.

I guess I just get frustrated because just about everything we love, at least some family member hates or can't eat, especially my DIL. As long as I have cheese, bread, peanut butter, garlic bread or any kind of bread, and tomato soup, I'll be able to feed her. Beyond that, it's a challenge.

Sally

I'm finding this hilarious. I'm married to a picky eater, but actually it's only because his mom's cooking skills were limited so his taste buds just never developed. Carla's comments "the better the cook, the worse it is". Fortunately he eats potato salad and mayo, thank you God. I'm surprised to see so many don't like mayo. I try to fix a variety of foods so everyone can find something to eat. I have vegan grandkids, strictly meat eaters, some won't eat green, some no yellow, no potatoes, no rice, no red, raw onions, cooked onions, no nuts; one can go crazy. I really appreciate it when one doesn't have to hear what someone can't stand to eat while everyone is eating. We all get together for reunions, with cooperative meals, and everyone goes away happy. At least no one has starved to death in three days, LOL.

Why is it wrong for someone not to eat pineapple or potato salad? I know lots of people who don't eat them, including me.

It can be frustrating to try to please someone whose tastes are very different from one's own. But the fact of having different tastes doesn't automatically make them picky and finicky. The DIL did not make demands, or even acknowledge her preferences until she was asked.

Should she have lied?

We all like mayo, except my son, who has hated it from childhood. Go figure. He eats almost anything else.

Regarding food dislikes: everyone has some, even non-picky eaters. What is interesting to me is that everyone has one thing that they don't like that most people consider a HUGE treat. Like that occasional person who hates pizza or ice cream. For me, it's chocolate and fruit together -- everyone thinks it's divine, but I absolutely don't get it, at least for acidic fruits like strawberries, cherries, apricots, pineapple (bananas are okay). To me, it would be like chocolate with tomatoes. We hosted a dinner the other night, and I knew there would be lots of leftover cake, so I ordered chocolate raspberry so I wouldn't want to eat it! (Although I like chocolate, and raspberries are my favorite food.)

I was never crazy about potato salad; just kind of boring, and there is usually also cole slaw, which I love. But then my friend taught me to put a little mustard in it. MAGIC! Now I love potato salad, because even if there isn't mustard in the recipe, there's usually some around at a meal including potato salad.

Likewise, a young man who lived with us a few months before the 2004 election (I'm in Ohio, remember) asked if we had any Tabasco sauce one night when we had chicken salad. He said he always adds it to any creamy or mayo dish. Now I do, too! I liked tuna salad, chicken salad, etc. before, but now I like them even more.

Ok now I'll show you a real challenge... Just TRY cooking for hubby and me...

He has been known to storm out of the house for a few hours and not eat a thing at home for more than a week just because he smelled onions or garlic cooking when he walked into the house... Yet, he came home one day and announced that he really loved the Pizza he had for lunch, at work.. Yet he still won't eat anything at home with garlic or onions...

He will not eat artichokes, asparagus, avocados, bamboo shoots, broccoli, brussel sprouts, cauliflower, greens of any kind ( cooked or raw ), eggplant, kale, mushrooms, okra, parsley, parsnips, any type of hot or mild peppers, au gratin or scalloped potatoes yet loves plain white potatoes, won't touch spinach, squash ( any kind but pumpkin, in a pie, once a year ) or sweet potatoes... And that's just the veggies...

He won't eat, apricots, raw apples but loves his apple pie and apple sauce, the only berries he'll eat are strawberries, won't go near dates, figs, grapefruit, kiwifruit, lemons, limes, mangos, oranges ( but will drink the juice ), papayas, prunes but will eat plums but not raisins and can't chew nuts...

Add to that he is now on a low salt, low fat diet for medical reasons and I have to severely restrict his meat and dairy intake... And he's not a big fan of any type of spices... Thankfully he's never added salt to his food.

As for me I will not eat anything with oregano, I get bad reactions from it... I'm not a big fan of spices either but I love my salt... ( If I can't put salt or sugar on it I won't eat it. LOL )... I won't go near cooked greens, give them to me raw or not at all... I can't handle a cup of coffee or a whole can of cola either, anything with that much caffeine will keep me hyper for a week... Yet chocolate doesn't bother me a one little bit... lol

I will not eat lamb, rabbit, deer, muskrat or any wild game, goat or anything from it... Can't get past the idea of eating anything cuddly or Bambi or Thumper or a rat or anything to do with goats, their eyes scare the pee out of me.

Now then, how would you like to plan a weeks menu for us... LOL

Rita

Livingthedream, it's not wrong, and I didn't mean to make it seem like I feel she's wrong. Likes and dislikes of food are just that, and there is no right or wrong to them. However, it's frustrating to try to prepare an interesting, or even a boring traditional hotdogs and potato salad meal, and find out that most of what you're fixing she doesn't like. I should have known better. I've known her for over 3 years now, and have cooked for her before. From now on I'll make sure I have plain spaghetti sauce and spaghetti, (she doesn't do onions), plain peanut butter, cheese, tomato soup, bread, crackers, and diet Dr. Pepper, and I should be able to keep her fed. Anything beyond that she either doesn't like or can't eat. It's just frustrating and boring, not wrong.

Terrapots, your household sounds like an interesting one. Having pot lucks where everyone brings what they like to eat sounds like a happy solution.

Rita, your husband sounds like my co-worker, who doesn't eat anything green, and is mostly a meat and potatoes person. She does eat cheese and fruit, and likes yellow or orange veggies, but no green ones.

Gellchom, you make a good point. One of the few foods I don't like is bananas, but I think a lot of people are like me on that one. I also don't like sushi nor arugula, which is probably the only green veggie I don't like. I guess we all have something(s) we don't like.

Sally

LOL, gellchom. I hate and detest pizza, or at least the ones with that red sauce on them. I don't like white pasta very well, I'd rather have whole wheat, but I'll eat the white. I don't like red spaghetti sauce either, and between that and the pizza, I've been accused of being a communist. (grin)

I also don't care for ice cream and although I like chocolate and I like fruit, I don't want them together. I also don't care for chocolate milk, chocolate pudding or chocolate ice cream. I drink lots of plain white milk, though, and love lemon curd or sorbet. Go figure.

Sally, I don't like bananas either. (grin) I'm still not as picky as my son in law, though. He won't eat any vegetables except corn and green beans. No rice, no whole wheat bread or whole wheat anything. Pork only smoked or with BBQ sauce. No eggs, no milk, no dairy except cheese. No gravy, no sauces, no fruit, not even in pie. He doesn't care for turkey but will eat a lot of dressing at Thanksgiving. Chicken should be fried only. He adds catsup to everything, but only Heinz. Yes, everything, including macaroni and cheese and mashed potatoes. Oh, and he won't eat any cereal, neither cold nor cooked and with the no eggs breakfast tends to be fried potatoes, pancakes and bacon/ham/sausage. With a side of Mountain Dew.

Annie

Sally2, I was just trying to be funny.

I too have a DIL whose preferences are quite different from ours, but as long as DS doesn't mind, it's no matter. However, I ask and ask and ask (usually DS to avoid polite answers on her part) because it often turns out that she's adventurous in ways we don't expect. For example, she doesn't like Tex-Mex, a favorite of ours. But it isn't hot pepper as I had assumed, because she loves Indian food. She has also raised our consciousness about sustainable oceans and (to her amazement) changed the way we buy fish.

If your DIL eats spaghetti, maybe she'd be okay with macaroni salad. Personally I've never cared for potato salad but like macaroni salad. Or maybe she'd like noodles (AKA thin spaghetti)in peanut sauce, starting with a plain sauce and over time increasing the seasoning.

Anyway, anyone who also likes diet Dr. Pepper can't be all that bad. ;-)

I'll have to ask her about macaroni salad. She and my wonderful little grandson will be spending the night with us this weekend, so I want to have things on had she'll enjoy eating.

I wonder what it is about tomatoes. I love fresh tomatoes, tomato and V8 juice, some tomato soups, (but not most canned, or at least, not the canned concentrate), but I don't like ketsup, nor catsup (lol) nor barbeque sauce. I'm okay with marinara sauce, but I prefer almost any other topping on my spaghetti.

I love chocolate, but don't like Tootsie Rolls nor Oreos, cause neither of them really taste like chocolate to me. I guess the more I think about it, I can be pretty picky myself. lol

Sally

"I will not eat lamb, rabbit, deer, muskrat or any wild game, goat or anything from it..."

Now, that's picky! I don't think I could live with a woman who wouldn't eat muskrat. Have you tried putting some mayonnaise on it? LOL!

But seriously, goat is very good, IMO, although I have seldom have the opportunity to eat it except in Mexico, where it is popular.

Jim

LOL

Jim, I prefer Miracle Whip over mayo... LOL

Nope, no goat for me, in any way shape or form, the mere mention of the word and I see those scary eyes staring at me trying to steal my soul.

Ok, so I'm not only a picky eater I'm a bit strange too... LOL

Rita

Scary eyes????? But goats are so cute!

Sally

Rita, if it helps, I agree that goats have strange eyes. I'm not sure they want your soul, though, I think they just want to eat whatever you might have that's edible, LOL.

That said, I agree with Jimster, goat can be good if prepared correctly. It is very lean, usually, and reminds me of venison, kind of.

Annie

I guess I'm pretty lucky; DH will pretty much eat anything I put in front of him, exotic or not. I'm not picky either, but like Annie, I don't like bananas. I like things that taste like banana, to an extent, but to eat one makes me gag, especially if they're even a touch overripe.

And don't get me started on okra (shudder).

But we have friends that are incredibly picky. One thing I've noticed though, is they will eat any kind of "fast food" (pizza, fried chicken, chips, etc.) but will turn their nose up to real food. I don't understand that kind of living and we've stopped inviting them over for dinner.

I like Michael Polan's thoughts on food: "Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants."

my SIL eats from the three major food groups:
Pizza
Fried Food
Chinese Food as long as it contains something fried.
... my two grandsons are even worse and don't ask about my daughter. Thank god, for my granddaughter, the only one is the group that I like to feed.

Well...I have been called "picky" because I can't stand poorly prepared food....not stuff made with a can of soup ( I can taste that artificial "whatever" in it) and don't care for the flavor of jello...even if it's so full of stuff it doesn't wiggle.

I like almost everything if it's well cooked. Went to a luncheon this week....the main dish was chicken breast, layered in a 9 by 12 casserol, topped with boxed stuffing mix and some sort of creamy sauce on top....and baked until the chicken was dry and stringy and so hard on the bottom you had to saw with your knife to cut it. I ate just enough to be polite.

I simply don't understand people who won't eat "usual foods"...like mayo, tomatos and tomato sauces, cheese, eggs greens etc. were you not served those things as a child?
A friend of my daughter's wouldn't eat any mustard or anything that looked like it might have had mustard in it....until one day she somehow tasted dijon mustard. She was hooked! And now likes all sorts of mustard, just not that awful yellow stuff that is so high in tumeric.

My husband wouldn't touch raw tomatoes, but liked juice, sauce etc. So as a new bride, I sliced the first tomato I had grown in the yard of our first house and pouted and said...it's my first home grown tomato...at least eat a slice....and he did.
And I repeated that scene for 4 or 5 years...only at every meal during the season.....and eventually he and I would fight over that last tomato slice on the plate.
My Son in Law wouldn't eat sourkraut when I first knew him... 6 or 7 years later I saw him piling it ontop of his bratwurst and asked him "I thought you didn't like kraut?"...he said he had never tasted it.

I have another friend who "won't eat lamb"...but I have seen her eat moussaka and love it and another lamb dish....she just once had mutton and hated it.

All you "food haters" try it another way....try making your own mayonaise.
try something another way...my son "doesn't like peppers" pickes htm out of things...but loves things with roasted red peppers in them, turns out it's the skin on the peppers he doesn't like.

The ultimate picky eaters, my twin grandsons! would only eat pizza, with cheese and sauce, Kraft mac and cheese PB and J sandwiches, grilled cheese...the only veggies or fruits were apple juice, orange juice and the jam inside of pop tarts! It was so bad they would pack a lunch to take to a birthday party!
Well, through perseverance, insisting they taste certain things and refusal to make special meals for them, they are now eating almost normally...almost! LOL!
I took them to MacDonalds recently...and the usual order was chicken nuggets...but Brian ordered a cheeseburger...Alex stood dumbfounded....and Brian said..."Try it Alex, it's not too bad!" LOL! They really wanted to eat like other kids.

What a nuisance to be a picky eater! I fairly regularly make lunch for 100 or more people at church. In the summer one of my most frequent salads is a mix of veggies, broccoli, cauliflower if it's cheap, raw tomatoes, zucchini, cukes, onion, peppers both red and green, pea pods if they are on special, mushrooms if they are cheap, carrots, celery...
Well you get the idea. And you would think there would be a lot of people who wouldn't eat a lot of that stuff....and I occasionally find a little pile of broccoli at the side of the plate or a little pile of green pepper....but virtually everyone who goes through the line takes some....and very very few pick out "stuff"...like 5 people out of 100.
Another meal is chicken or turkey with broccoli carrots and peas in a creamy cheesy sauce ( think alfredo)....and again 99% of the people eat that ( sometimes I have had a request for a lactose free meal) and only about 3% pick out the peas or the broccoli. Even people who "don't eat onion" eat it...because the onion is chopped very fine in the food processor and sauteed before mixing with the sauce.
Try it another way.
Linda C

My husband is a chef and his mother was a food scholar. My mother, bless her, opened cans and hoped for the best. I used to be incredibly picky, according to DH, but it's because I'd never been exposed to very many foods. Now, I eat everything except beef liver and chicken feet, and both our kids--despite being very picky as little ones--eat everything and anything.

My son is a super-taster, and I'll cut him some slack on strongly flavored vegetables. But in general, I'm annoyed by adults who are picky.

ideefixe, my doc says I'm a super-taster too, but apparently we have different "tasters", even among super-tasters.

I don't care for sour/bitter things like olives, dry wine, sour pickles, blue cheese. I can taste the preservatives on the vegetables at places like Subway, an odd metallic flavor. It's the same flavor I get with processed meats like hot dogs and bologna and some deli meats, many canned sauces and vegetables.

Add the issue that anything with tomatoes and onions together is going to give me terminal heartburn and so I avoid pizza with red sauce and spaghetti with the ever present marinara. Luckily I don't care as much for cooked tomato in sauces, I much prefer them raw or roasted.

Some things are simply a texture issue. Bananas are mushy. I can eat them if they are very firm, sliced very thinly and covered in Hershey's syrup, LOL. Raw oysters are like having a mouthful of, well, snot, and so is slimy okra. Jello is just disgusting, as is the gelatinous goo in commercial pie filling.

So, some of my dislikes have to do with the extra tastebuds I have that make me taste bitter/sour more intensely than other people do and explains my inability to enjoy wine. Some I know are going to hurt me and some just feel icky.

Will I die because I won't eat Jello or bananas? No, probably not. Jello is mostly gelatin and sugar, and very little nutrition anyway. A baked potato has more potassium than a banana, so I'll eat the potato. (shrug)

So, picky adults are annoying? Oh well, don't invite me to dinner. I judge my enjoyment of meals with others first on the company and then on the food. I can always find SOMETHING to eat, but good friends and family that you enjoy are much harder to come by and I refuse to judge any of my friends by what they choose to eat or not eat.

Annie

I'm not exactly sure what picky means. The online dictionary uses words like "hard to please", "particular about how food is prepared", "fussy" to define picky.

To me that describes someone that is a royal pain to feed. To have a dislike for certain foods isn't picky, it's quite normal. I think it's quite unusual to like all foods and beverages. How you handle your dislikes is more the issue.

I would never be offended if someone passed on something I had prepared. I might be worried that they had had enough to eat but I would never be annoyed or offended.

This is all so interesting to me. Obviously we all have likes and dislikes. I was a very picky kid, but I was brought up by parents who ate just about anything (my dad was a dirt poor farm kid where take it or leave it were his only choices), and never catered to my likes or dislikes. I always hated raw onions, but my mom put them in everything so I just learned to pick them out. I'm a million times better now than I was as a kid, but it's been a long road of trying new foods or cooking them differently than my mom did, as Linda said. I went to France several years ago and our first night there, our hostess whom I had never met, produced this unbelieveable meal of gazpacho, quiche, etc....made only with one burner and a toaster oven in her tiny apartment (are the French born knowing how to cook?). Anyways, I hate cucumber and green pepper but trying to act like an adult and because I knew my mom would expect me to, I made an effort to eat that gazpacho. And you know what, it didn't kill me and I didn't insult my hostess :)

Now as a mom, I've got two fairly picky munchkins (payback, I know), but I feel it's my job to "educate" their palate because it's hard being a picky eater! I know many people who's food choices never grow out of childhood beyond basic bland foods, and that's sad. I was this way for a long time, but I'm learning and trying with many thanks going to this forum. And like I said, there are certainly a few things I'm never going to love, but I now eat more foods that I wouldn't have touched as a child because I made an effort to like them.

Tracey

I'm not offended by people that don't like what I prepare, but when pretty much everything we have in the house is stuff she (or whomever) doesn't like or can't eat, it gets annoying, yes, but mostly frustrating. Some have mentioned junk food eaters, and I thing that's the thing with her. I shop the perimeters of the store, buying mostly fresh fruits and veggies, milk and cheese. I'll buy frozen fruit and veggies and flour and stuff from the interior, but rarely anything designed to be poured out of a box, boiled and served, except for pastas and rice. I have a couple of junk food vices, being frozen pizza and the rare occasional box of red beans and rice. When I have someone to fix food for that hates veggies, it's hard to come up with a compromise. We'll work something out, though.

LindaC, I feel strange asking this to someone as experienced as you, but aren't onions one of those things that some people are allergic to or have digestion problems with? Wouldn't it be a good idea to let people know onions are in the food you've prepared? It wasn't onions, but my mother became very ill after eating some food that had crab in it at a luncheon. She didn't know it had crab, and she was allergic to shell fish.

Sally

Like Sharon, I am not offended if someone doesn't like a particular food. There are many foods that I don't particularly care for, but most of them I would eat to be polite if they were put in front of me. I'll even politely choke down carrots if I have too. It is possible to be both a super taster and a picky eater.

We had a rule that Matthew had to taste something before he was allowed to say he didn't like it. I see no point in making someone eat something they don't like. Matthew still doesn't like mushrooms or seafood, but he continues to try things and likes many things that I don't.

Jim, I love baby goat. Twice in the last four years I've bought a baby goat from a local farmer. He is also a butcher. What I like about baby goat is that the total amount of meat is only 20 to 25 pounds and it is all cuts that I like. Very little waste.

Ann

Sally, I have a friend who says she is allergic to onions, but i have seen her eat them when she doesn't know.
Most people who have an allergy to something as ubiquitous as onions ask..."are there onions in this?"..just as people who are allergic to nuts ask or crab. I have a son in law with the opposite problem. He's allergic to some fin fish but not to shellfish and the allergy us life threatening so he doesn't take chances with the unknown. But it seems tacky when at someone's house and served crab cakes to ask.."Is this real crab meat?" LOL! That fake crab could be very dangerous to him.
As for having a digestion problem with onions, I have found that very nearly all the onion digestion problems come from the fats that are also in the recipe, or raw onions. In a low fat sauce, onions don't bother many people at all.

Yes picky people drive me nutz...I have more than once been going through a buffet line with a man and his wife....where he would turn to her and ask "Honey, would I like this?" AARGH! Try it and see!
Linda C

Ann,

The first baby goat I had was one bought a very long time ago from an acquaintance who raised them as a hobby. It was butchered, wrapped and frozen. Knowing nothing about baby goat, and thinking in terms of lamb, I chose to have it completely cut up into steaks, chops, etc. You know how small lamb loin chops are. Well, those baby goat chops were tiny!

If I were to get another baby goat (cabrito in Spanish), I would roast it whole, maybe on a spit as is often done in Mexico. It's similar in size to a large turkey.

Jim

For those of you who have little patience with "picky" eaters, I beg indulgence for those of us who are cilantro "tasters."

There is a chemical in cilantro that something like 80% of the population cannot taste at all. To the remaining 20%, it tastes AWFUL -- not a food taste at all, but like something is wrong with the food. Many people say it tastes like dish soap spilled in it. (I think this is what is on those little pieces of paper that science teachers give students to taste; most of the kids say "Mine is just plain paper," but a few yell "YUK!" I think it has to do with Ph levels in our mouths, and it can change over time.)

Anyway, believe us, it is NOT simply a matter of an "acquired taste" -- we cannot believe ANYONE could like it. There are things that I hate a lot more than cilantro (I can tolerate salsa with a little cilantro, but I have to spit liverwurst into a napkin), yet somehow I can understand how someone else might like it. But cilantro -- well, it's like biting aluminum foil. Almost more an unpleasant sensation than an unwelcome flavor -- does that make sense?

Any other "tasters"? Is this forum community close to the 80/20 proportion I read somewhere?

My taste for cilantro was definitely an acquired one. I planted some for no good reason and was so disgusted by the mere smell of it that I tore it out without using any. I think I can understand your reaction to it, although I'm not sure it is the same as mine was. On my first trip to Mexico I became extremely fond of cilantro, and still am.

Jim

Gellchom, that's how I feel about arugula - it tastes like soap. I don't taste that so called peppery taste that t.v. chefs love to talk about. There for a while it seemed like every recipe I saw in a magazine or on t.v. had arugula. I can't wait till it goes out of style.

My daughter is a super taster, hated the taste of those wafers, but loves cilantro. Go figure.

I love the smell of cilantro. I love the taste of cilantro. I even occasionally make cilantro pesto. Mm-mm-mm-mm-mmmmmmm!

Sally

Well Sally we would have happily eaten your menu and enjoyed it. There's almost nothing that we don't like.
The exceptions would be frogs, snails, some shellfish and certain sea creatures with tentacles lol.

Since my DH lived through WW2 in Europe where food was extremely scarce or non existent, he became accustomed to eating whatever could be found. He's still very easygoing and will eat most everything. He doesn't like sandwiches or things inside buns or wraps though, but will happily eat the individual items separately, just not bundled together.

I just have an aversion to eating some of the things that we had to dissect in biology classes, although that was years ago lol.
I can't imagine not liking tomatoes or pineapple though. And I love potato salad!

SharonCb

My husband gets physically ill at the taste of eggs. And with mayonaise, he can taste the eggs. I don't particularly like it either so we are a Miracle Whip household.

He won't eat regular potato salad at all, but loves German potato salad. I love my mom's potato salad, but have not liked ANY I have found in stores yet. Nor most of what I have had at potlucks, etc.

I don't know if I would be adventuresome enough to eat grilled pineapple, and I like pineapple.

I can relate to some of these posts about picky eaters. My oldest son will not eat fresh tomatoes but will happily consume spaghetti, chili and pizza all of which use tomatoes in one form or another.He would not eat greens of any kind until he had a kidney transplant. Then he started eating greens. His donor's sister confirmed that her brother(kidney came from him) really like greens . My daughter said that she can eat potato salad somewhere and it will have a different taste from the one I make. She loves my potato salad. My potato salad is made with what ever kind of potato I have on hand, chopped onion, 2 or 3 hard boiled eggs , chopped ,sweet pickle relish, and mayo and mustard. The difference is most people use the old ball park yellow mustard. I don't, I use a spicy brown mustard.

As a child if my mother fixed cube steak for our evening meal after she had fixed liver and onions for her lunch, I had to actually test a small piece of the steaks to make sure she was not trying to slip liver in .She was the only one in the family that liked liver and onions .

I got lucky with my husband, he will eat anything placed in front of him.If he doesn't like it, he will say do not fix this very often but if it is something he likes , he will say this is a keeper.

Try the grilled pineapple, Little princess! It's yummy! I sprinkle brown sugar on both sides as I grill and it's DH's favourite summer dessert, topped with good vanilla icecream.