Were you ever forced to eat certain food as a child?

I’ve never liked stuffing. I was forced to eat it during thanksgiving. Literally forced. I ended up puking. To this day just the smell of stuffing makes me gag.

No. Never forced. I was encouraged to try things though. I think it is awful to force a child to eat something they don’t like.

I agree that forcing your child to “clean your plate” is inappropriate. I had divorced parents growing up. My mother never made me clean my plate. My father always did.
I was a very picky child. Neither parent would fix me something special to eat if I didn’t eat my dinner and I was okay with that. But I absolutely did not understand why I had to clean my plate. I would cry into my food for hours, literally, not understanding the point behind it. I wasn’t going to like the food or eat it next time around. Anyhow I think it causes health problems in the long run, people feeling they need to eat all that is on their plate is a problem for many people who are obese. Although I think the general concept of not wasting is fantastic but it can be taught other ways.

A good point of information I learned from watching PBS. Children truly have different taste buds than adults. And only half the children have this type of taste bud that honestly makes them hate certain foods, particularly veggies. It is science and your kid really does hate it. They aren’t just being difficult.

I was made to eat chitterlings (pigs’ intestines) that had been first parboiled, then baked, exactly once. Ugh, the smell! I threw up right at table. Never again.

@aprilsimnel

When I was little, my parents wanted me to try tuna and I didn’t want to because of the smell, but I decided to eventually and it probably stayed in my mouth for about 3 seconds before I threw up…never had it since. That was the only time anything like that happened, surprisingly. Other foods have grossed me out and I never had them again, but only tuna made me throw up like that.

No, my parents had a rule that we had to eat whatever we choose to put on our plate, but they never forced us to take food we didn’t want.

I once took a huge piece of cake, and my Dad sat there and made me eat every bite, after which, I threw up all over him. I also learned not to take more than I can eat.

@DominicX – Aw, pauvre! Well, at least we know what we don’t like!

I’m sure my parents encouraged both my sister and myself to try lots of new foods, but as neither of us were terribly picky eaters I don’t ever recall being forced to eat certain foods. I didn’t like asparagus until very recently, so my parents just didn’t make me asparagus. Because I wasn’t a picky eater, I think they realized I genuinely disliked it and didn’t believe in forcing me to try it.

Brussel sprouts. I remember my father getting angry at me one night for refusing them. I now really like them.

My Mom was a firm supporter of the Clean Plate Club. I remember sitting at the dinner table for hours on end, refusing to eat certain foods (mostly meat). Eventually she would HAVE to dodge out of the kitchen at which point I would feed the dog the offending items.

After a while she got hip to this, and so I resorted to hiding the food in the folds of my napkin, then flushing it in the bathroom afterwards. Eventually I think she either grew tired of this insanity or maybe figured out she was wasting a bunch of food, and allowed me to plan my own meals.

This was around the same time I became interested in vegetarianism and learned that entire cultures existed and prospered worldwide sustained only by plant-based diets. I have been a veg head now for +20 years. She still thinks it’s a phase!!

Only once. It was brussel sprouts and I have no idea why my mom was so determined that one night, but I had to sit at the table for a very long time. I can’t remember if she ever got one in me or not, but I do know that I have never eaten one since.

An effect that she probably did not expect is that I now do not ever make brussel sprouts, which means my daughter doesn’t even know what they are. We all went out to dinner the other night and mom ordered some, so I asked my daughter to take a bite figuring it might be her only chance for a while. She took a bite, swallowed it, said it tastes kind of like broccoli (which she loves) but that, no, she did not like it and did not want anymore. OK by me.

Oh yes.

- Shellfish (I once sat at the table for around two hours, cutting up the oyster into tiny bits I could eat without throwing up)
– Prawns
– Squid
– Crab
– Lobster
– Liver
– Seaweed soup (even if it made me puke)
As you can see, I was quite anti seafood.

The rationale behind it was that it was good for me.

Except for scallop (for some reason I’ve always loved scallop), I still hate with a passion all shellfish. But it’s interesting, because now at least I can stomach (and at certain times love) certain foods which I used to dislike (like prawns). Besides that, I eat pretty much everything.

Fried pig’s intestines anyone?

I never understood why anyone would force someone to eat something.

That sentence feels really weird

Seafood, any type of seafood they made me eat. The smell of it was probably the worst, and I remember they didn’t let me get away from the table without eating it. That was the first thing I stopped eating before I became a veggie.

Dad would on occassion show his Clean Plate Club leanings, but generally, no… my parents (especially my mum) were of the view that if I couldn’t/wouldn’t eat it, fine – but there was nothing else instead. We would be encouraged to try stuff, though. I’m still pretty picky, but I figure there are so many things out there to eat, why should I eat stuff that smells/tastes/feels disgusting?

Cream of Wheat…bleck!

lima beans. haven’t we all had to eat something we didn’t want? just the other day i choked down shrimp which i hate .. just to be polite. Humans are stupid creatures.

@NaturalMineralWater

Well, you’re tough. I would never eat anything I didn’t like just to be polite. I would eat something I didn’t prefer, sure, but not something I truly thought was gross.

well it’s not like I gag on every bite.. just ⅔rds of them

@NaturalMineralWater

Reminds me of this scene from ELR: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RLrNiVfF1Sg

It’s a good thing to make them try everything if they don’t like it then don’t eat it. My mom and dad did that to me and everything i tried I ended up enjoying spinach,liver,squash, yum, beets, brussel sprouts, good for you too.

My mom didn’t really enforce it, but my grandma did. I remember gagging down meatloaf, liver and onions…not much else. I do remember eating and enjoying cooked (and raw) spinach, beets, beet tops, collard greens, kale, broccoli, cauliflower and cabbage. So I’m not that bad. :D

(However, the things I don’t like tend to be very popular with vegetarians/parents, which makes me seem more picky than I am: namely, bell peppers, onions and raw tomatoes. And celery. :P)

However, my mom was big on: “If you take it, eat it. Don’t take it if you’re not going to eat it.” (So if you’re not sure if you like something, don’t take a lot of it.)

I’m still picky (I suppose), but I’m usually willing to try new things, unless they have red-flag items in them. I’m generally more open to new foods than either my grandma or my mom, which is sort of funny, in retrospect.

I was forced to eat whatever was given to me. And I’ll tell you what I could never stand
grits, oatmeal, cream of wheat, hominy ( don’t know if it’s spelled right) hush puppies ( fried cornmeal), stuffing, cranberries, strawberries, eggs, milk, hot dogs, tabouli, and dark salads. I would rather eat wild asparagus, and garlic. But I am a very picky eater because of it.

I wasn’t really forced to eat a lot of foods, but if I was, it was because I was at somebody else’s house. But I can’t stand yogurt,cottage cheese, or mayonnaise.

My parents made us eat whatever they were eating for dinner. I wasn’t that picky of an eater, but I clearly remember being forced to eat liver and onions, lima beans, chicken livers, and fried corn. I had to sit at the table until I’d eaten a certain amount of each food, and sometimes that took quite a long time. I still can’t stand those foods, by the way.

We don’t make our kids eat things they don’t like, but we encourage them to at least taste something before they turn their noses up. We have one kid who has pretty normal tastes, one who will eat almost anything, and one who is very picky. The picky one has greatly improved over the years, so I hope that by the time he’s an adult he’ll have developed a broader range of acceptable foods. He’ll taste things, but seems to truly not like the taste. I think for him texture is as important as taste. He has a sensitive gag reflex, and maybe those things are related.

@RedPowerLady Do you happen to remember the name of that show on PBS? I’d be interested to see it. My picky eater won’t eat any veggies at all. He has never liked them, and would gag on strained veggies as a baby.

When I was 4, my mom and I went to visIt my aunt and uncle. I remember my mom saying that we were to have lunch there. My aunt had made
tomatoe soup and sandwiches. My aunt told me I had to eat the soup even though I told her I didn’t like it. I too threw up all over the table after swallowing one spoonful. I HATE tomatoe soup!

Every Friday night was salmon, macaroni and cheese and peas. The salmon was dry and had bones in it, the mac and cheese was dry, and the peas were overcooked. Dinner was a nightmare on those nights for me, as clean plates were required, and I didn’t get to chose the size of the portion. I would sit at the table long after it was cleared off. I barely tolerate any fish to this day, and eating any kind with a bone in it makes me stop eating immediately. My aunt made really creamy mac and cheese, and I devoured it, much to my mom’s annoyance. It is still not a favorite. Peas and I are on good terms, once I discovered frozen peas and the microwave. with a little butter and dill, they’re yummy

@RedPowerLady, I think I saw that too. Somewhere I heard or read that many foods children have an aversion to is because they are allergic to that food.

I was never forced to eat anything. I was encouraged to try new things though. I still remember the first time I ate broccoli, I was about 6 and my mom kept telling me…just try it, just try it, it’s good! So I ate some and turns out it’s one of my favorite foods. The gentle encouragement never worked with liver for some reason though.

Ewwww! I hate liver! And Lima beans! And oatmeal! Haaaate! And I can say this because I did the adult thing once I grew up and gave them a try to see if I liked them any better, and I did not.

@aprilsimnel With you on the Lima beans…I’d sooner starve! Oatmeal, however, is a staple in my diet, I eat it almost daily!

My dad used to make me eat lima beans, but what I still don’t understand is… they were in the mixed vegetables he bought. If I picked out the lima beans, I was still eating all the other vegetables. But I still had to eat the stupid lima beans. And why couldn’t he just buy the vegetables without the beans?

Also, LaChoy canned chow mein.. God, I used to want to cry every time I saw a can of that stuff taken out for dinner. I HATED IT. But he loved it, so I had to eat it. Bah.

The only things I was forced to eat were asparagus (canned – blech!) and broccoli. I still don’t like broccoli, but I love fresh asparagus. It’s odd, my mom would sometimes make liver and I didn’t have to try it, let alone eat it. I wasn’t a big fan of fish as a kid, unless it was in a stick form, so I was allowed to have a sandwich instead. I’ve never understood why I had to eat the broccoli and asparagus.

We had no say in what went on our plates when I was a kid, I’d TRY by saying “I don’t care for any lima beans, thank you” because I’d seen dinner guests do that and it worked for them… my Dad would give me “the look” and I’d shut up.

I wasn’t a picky eater either, my sisters would throw Brussels sprouts on my plate when Dad wasn’t looking, because I was the only one of us girls that would eat them (come to think of it, I ate most of their veggies growing up)

We weren’t allowed to leave the table until we ate whatever was on our plate…. And the longer we sat the madder my father would get (he was an absolute OGRE about dinner)

One night, mom made “baked beans” from these HUGE friggin lima beans… I wasn’t a fan of baked beans in the first place and lima beans were always tough for me to choke down.

I ate everything else on the plate…my father was FUMING because I had been sitting there for what seemed like forever with this heap of baked lima beans in front of me…

My sister, thinking that she was helping me, told me to wash them down with my drink… we always had to drink milk with dinner… sure enough, I took a bite of limas chewed, choked, swallowed some milk and…. PUKE… all over the place

Interestingly enough, that wasn’t a deterrent to my father’s continuing to force us to eat what was on our plate… he did the same thing to my sister one night, shrimp scampi…. She puked too! (you’d think he’d learn?)

To this day, my Dad denies all of the above… but I have witnesses.

Yes. I was even smacked a couple of times because of it. It was always over vegetables or some weird meat; I remember lengua and soggy
cauliflower, specifically.

I dislike most vegetables and won’t eat most meat. Coincidence? Hmm…

When you are the 4th of 5 children you learn quite early to clear your plate. By any standard, we were a well fed bunch, but as you can imagine, there were few leftovers after each meal. There were, and still are, one or two items I will not eat, but I don’t remember being forced to eat.

Cheese omelets. To this day, I can’t even stand the smell of them.

I was required to taste everything that was offered, but once I had tasted it, I wasn’t required to eat any more of it. However, once I was older and we passed around dishes and served ourselves at dinner, if I took something to put on my plate, I was expected to finish it.

@J0E: Wow… just wow. That served… what purpose?

@poofandmook Just weighing in on the situation.

I remember one incident when I was about 7, where I didn’t want to eat my corn because I didn’t like it still don’t. My dad spanked me for for it, and my mom got all upset (crying and such). That was one of the two times I was spanked.

I wasn’t necessarily forced to eat things as a child, but I was chastised for not eating certain things.

What’s odd is that now that I’m older, I’m starting to like some of the things my parents wanted me to eat.

Except for unaccompanied tomatoes. My family will eat them like an apple. No thank you.

@J0E

Lucky for you I don’t consider being treated well as a child a bad thing. I had no control over what my parents did. Talk to them if you have an issue.

It is not possible to mean “spoiled” in a positive way. All definitions of “spoiled” are negative. So unless you truly didn’t realize that, you are being quite phony.

Spoil: to impair, damage, or harm the character or nature of [someone] by unwise treatment, excessive indulgence, etc.

Please explain to me how not being forced to eat food impaired, damaged, or harmed me and we will go from there.

@DominicX There is being treated well as a child (like I was) and then there is being spoiled (like you were). I had a great childhood, and surprisingly enough I was taught to finish all my food, not to drink before 21, and I also wasn’t give $2,000 to buy a laptop. I’m not saying you should be punished for being in a wealthy family, but you may have missed out on some life lessons because of it.

I don’t care what the definition of ‘spoiled’ is, I can have a conversation about it without being negative. If there is a better word for it let me know.

@J0E

I was taught that drinking before 21 was not a good thing, but I do it anyway. The only reason my parents know I drink is because I told them. How else would they have known? I could easily tell them that I’m going out with some friends and I come home after it has worn off and they wouldn’t know. But they asked me and I told them the truth. They know that the only way to prevent me from doing it 100% would be to not let me hang out with anyone ever. So instead their goal becomes to ensure that I’m safe about it. Which I am.

I’m sorry, but I just do not believe forcing a kid to eat things they don’t like is proper and evidenced by the responses I received here, I am far from being the only one who thinks that and I am not the only one who wasn’t forced.

And if you were not raised in a wealthy family, you have absolutely no concept of what it’s like; if you want to know more about it, PM me. I will not discuss it here.

And Joe, I’ve noticed that you like to come into questions sometimes and post irrelevant comments about the person who posted the question. Next time you have something to say about me that you want to “get out” so badly, I’d prefer that you PM it to me. I know it won’t get you the attention you want, but it doesn’t belong in the question. I could have easily asked your first comment here to be removed, but since I already responded, that would make me a hypocrite.

And you cannot be nice about. You are calling me spoiled. You are calling me damaged, impaired, harmed, which I am not. So I disagree with what you are calling me. That would be like me saying “I don’t care what the definition of a moron is, I can call you a moron and be nice about it.” No, I can’t.

My parents made us at least try everything. If we hadn’t had it before, it had to go in our mouth before we could declare it not worth eating. We also had to eat a green vegetable with diner. We could request the veggie or make our own green veggie, but a green veggie had to be eaten.

My sister was forced to drink a glass of milk a day as well. I would have been, but I love milk so they weren’t worried that I wouldn’t drink enough. She strongly preferred water, so she was watched about the milk thing.

When we were old enough to serve ourselves, we were more or less expected to eat what we took, but it was always emphasized to us that if we were full or just not interested in eating, we shouldn’t. (Not eating, however, did not mean we got to skip dinner. And it mostly applied to being full—they didn’t want us overeating just to clean our plate.)

Margerine. My parents were vegetarians and then vegan and used to buy some horrible margerine stuff to put on delicious home baked bread.

No. Not at all. I didn’t force my kids either. One time I had to send my son to this lady’s house all week for daycare, because I was out of town. I got back, and a couple of days later I served up some green beans. My little son (about 4) said put up his hand and stated firmly “Don’t even menshion green beans!”
I said, “What? You like green beans!”
Turns out the daycare lady made him sit at the lunch table all freaking after noon, trying to force him to eat green beans. Let him up just before Dad picked him up. Geez. It was probably a year before he’d eat them again…..I am SO glad that for the most part I didn’t have to put my kids in daycare….

@Facade THAT is ridiculous! Corn doesn’t even DO much for you! Pretty much goes straight through!

There were only two things I never wanted to eat, peas and lima beans. Whenever we had those for dinner I was given a smaller portion and expected to eat them.

It didn’t really do much because I still don’t like either of those things.

I was never particularly forced, but was always told to eat all on my plate. When I tried being a vegetarian for the first time it didn’t work out because they always put meat on the table and told me I had to eat it. It was not until I was in 7th grade they finally excepted me being a vegetarian. Other than that no force feeding.

My sister-in-law told me tonight that a rule they had growing up was to eat everything on their plate, even if they were already full. She said she thinks thats why they all (my husband and siblings) have issues with food and not knowing when to stop, sort of like overeating as children made them lose the ability to recognize now when they need to stop :( I can’t imagine forcing a child to eat it ALL. I mean, to me that seems like a cruel punishment.

Brussel sprouts! I don’t know why my Dad insisted on making me eat them, when I barfed everytime. After which, he’d snatch me up and beat my ass! My mother drew the line with liver, thank God. On liver night, she’d make us kids pot pies. To this day, I can’t even stand the smell of BSs or liver. I mean, c’mon, people – it’s a FILTER!!

Am I the only one who’s never even tried liver or Brussels sprouts?

I’ve had liver, but never brussel sprouts.

See what your missing? They could be your two favorite foods ;)

I’ve had brussel sprouts, but never had liver. But from the description of liver, I would rather eat brussel sprouts anytime, any day. I think their good if made right.

I’ve never had brussel sprouts. I’d be willing to give them a try. I never thought I’d like snails, but when they’re done right they are fantastic!

@MissAusten That’s one of those things that I will probably never ever try. Maybe for 10 grand or more…

@DominicX Never say never!

@aprilsimnel I actually changed my mind about lima beans, which I never thought would happen. Mom gave them to my daughter and it turns out she loves them, so I make them for her and found I don’t mind them so much.

@DominicX No brussel sprouts or liver? You are so lucky!!!! although I am a big fan of fried chicken livers

I don’t hate lima beans and I never have, but I’ve always thought they were so mediocre. Almost no one loves lima beans; they just tolerate them. :)

My mom hates them, but my grandmother loved them; she also loved cooked spinach. Up until my mom was like 50, she hated broccoli, then suddenly changed. Weird. :P

I’ve always liked broccoli, though. When I was little, I would dip cooked broccoli in mayonnaise and just eat it. Bleh. I hate mayonnaise now…

Did somebody mention escargot? Yum.

Okay.. Maybe it doesn’t really count because they were so deeply fried with garlic that it simply tasted like garlic..

My kids have a choice. They don’t have to eat anything, although if they want desert, they have to finish their dinners. They do have some dislikes, like fish. We only get to eat fish when they are not at home. Sigh. It’s too much of a pain to make two different meals each night. Occasionally, I’ll just serve them cold tofu if they don’t like whatever protein we’re having. My son hates fat, so if I give him a piece of meat, he cuts out ever little molecule of fat he can find, which means the meat is minced by the time he’s done, and little or none has actually made it into his stomach. Tofu is so much easier.

He likes squash; his sister doesn’t. She’ll eat pork, but he decimates it in his search and destroy mission for fat. He loves salad, but she won’t eat any saladlike item unless it’s a tomato with fresh mozzarella. Thankfully, no one like brussel sprouts.

I acquired a taste for Brussels sprouts in the UK, which I have not lost; and have always liked liver. Here liver is cooked highly seasoned with as much onion and black pepper as the law allows. Unfortunately, I am in a minority so I seldom get to eat liver (let alone Brussels sprouts).

After reading through responses, it’s almost a comfort to find out how many others barfed at the dinner table from being forced to eat something

I love Brussels sprouts, but it’s really tough to tell whether a particular batch of them are good or not. They tend to go bad from the inside, and there’s not much more disappointing than sitting down to a plate of Brussels sprouts, cutting into one, and realizing that the whole batch is bad.

My dad grew up in a third-world country; he can’t stand waste. We were never forced to eat anything and I don’t remember my mom fixing anything that I didn’t like. However, my dad had a way of shaming us into eating everything on our plate. I just made sure that nothing ended up on my plate that I was not going to eat.

I have several children of my own now. With my first child, I made him eat everything. When number three came along, I allowed all the children to have one dislike. When that item was on the menu, they were not forced to take it. When number four came along, I just explained to everyone that we were not running a restaurant. Therefore, if you don’t care for what is on the table, you don’t have to eat it, but you are not allowed to say, “I don’t like this” or ask for something that is not being served. But, they are more than welcome to tell mom, “Thank you for the meal”.

@valdasta

And what if the child has more than one dislike? You can’t control how your children perceive food.

I can’t answer for Valdasta, but I look toward getting different foods into my kids diet over the course of a day, rather than on a ‘meal by meal’ basis
so if she doesn’t eat the cut up veggies I pack her for lunch, I let her have input on what the veggies are going to be for dinner.
(plus she’ll eat most any kind of fruit)
if there’s something for dinner that she doesn’t like, she doesn’t have to eat it, she can just have a little more of whatever else we’re having that she does like

(spelling edit)

@valdasta Your fourth one was best! What I don’t understand is if someone cooks for four kids something for dinner that they know one of the kids doesn’t like—why don’t they cook less of whatever? Why cook four full portions? Why not three and don’t even offer it to the kid who doesn’t like it? That’s saves the waste…(Plus, sometimes, after a while, in the absence of any fight, they tend to get curious and might try whatever when you aren’t looking!)

@DominicX we do have children with more than one dislike. I guess the idea was to be not so extreme or overbearing.

@Val123 We cannot avoid making food that one of the kids will not like (unfortunately each child has their own unique dislikes). One kid doesn’t like pizza, one doesn’t care for hot dogs, another hates sloppy joes and spaghetti, and yet another can’t stand beans – of any kind. These are foods we just can’t get away from making.

As far as portions go, it is no big deal to fix more or less of an amount; it will not go to waste (we believe in left overs).

@valdasta I wasn’t referring to you. Sounds like you have it together!

@Val123 aren’t you kind.