Picky Eaters
Do grown-up picky eaters have an actual mental disorder? Some researchers think so. Some of those people sound genuinely phobic, and their stories about never sharing a meal with their kids (for fear that their kids will emulate the parent’s pickiness) are heartbreaking. Still, most of the picky eaters I know are unrepentant about their limited diets. That I don’t get. It just seems lazy and juvenile to honestly claim you prefer french fries to all over foods in the world.
Edited to add: The MetaFilter discussion was pretty fascinating. I fully recognise that my foodie evangelism is a bit over-the-top because I’m a reformed picky eater myself. And I really get that it’s nobody’s business what people do or don’t eat. I just can’t help but see it as a moral failing to have a food blacklist. I’m incredibly grateful that the Snook didn’t see it as a relationship deal-breaker and that he managed to cure me of it.
4 responses
I’m with you, Kris–I pity (yes, condescendingly so) picky-eater adults. A “food blacklist” is absurd and childish, and while it may not be a moral failure, I think it’s a character flaw–does it display barely-hidden selfishness? Refusal to compromise? Lack of curiosity? Unwillingness to engage the world? Who knows–but it bugs the crap out of me and I say so, sometimes rudely. 🙂
I’m with you on the don’t get picky eaters thing. I understand if you don’t like certain foods, I have a list of things I would prefer not to eat, but to be so unwilling to even try them is just such a depressing thought. But then, I love food and I love learning and trying new things.
You should take some credit too, Kris, for being open to change.
I found the metafilter thingy quite interesting and challenging to my natural foodie-ism.
I couldn’t agree more with Max – I find picky eaters to be either selfish, childish or just plain annoying. But of course, also that’s my problem. Why do I even care what people do or don’t eat? And, usually, I don’t – unless I’m cooking for them or going to a restaurant with them.