Just how picky do you have to be to be a picky eater?

I like to pick food off the buffet table. I do sick of eating liver and fish. I’ve eaten a river of liver and an ocean of fish.

If they don’t like what I like they are picky.

I have been labeled a picky eater. My food can’t touch, I don’t like green vegetables except for lettuce and green beans only if my brother cooks them.

I consider my oldest son a picky eater. He only eats about fifteen different things. At one point, when he was around five, he ate about four different things. We are gaining ground!

To me a picky eater is one who feels that it is necessary to point out that he/she won’t eat this or that. The one who only eats what he/she wants without calling attention to it isn’t picky.

As picky or pickier than me.

@YARNLADY Does that go for those 3–6ish who don’t really know to not call attention to it?

Someone that has a LIST of foods (relatively normal foods) that they won’t eat… as opposed to two or thing things that they just don’t care for.

For example : I despise tomatoes. I won’t eat onion if it is raw. The only seafood that I like is crab and fish, but only white fish. I don’t like fatty fish, like salmon. I don’t eat pork (and not for any religious reasons), and cole slaw makes me gag. I could go on, but I think you get the point. So anyone as bad as, or worse than me, I would describe as picky.

@TheOnlyNeffie I probably have tons of foods that I hate, I’ve just never compiled a list. There’s usually something I’ll eat, and if not, I’ll stick to iced tea or water and eat when I get home.

I am called a picky eater when I am with Americans at lunch time, either someone’s house or a restaurant with a limited lunch menu. With people from other countries, and for dinner I have little troubles. It’s basically a sandwich problem. I don’t like mayo smeared on anything. I don’t like fresh tomatoes. I don’t like creamy salad dressings. I don’t like cold cheese, it must be melted. I don’t like things made with a lot of garlic. I don’t like anything that is soggy like croutons at the bottom of my soup, or an open face something with gravy. I can always find something, but I probably won’t be happy with most of the choices, at minimum I will have to 86 something.

Take me to an Italian, Indian, Chinese, you name it, someone’s home or restaurant, and I’m good.

Nightmare foodie me:

No ketchup except to dip french fries into.
No mayonnaise unless it’s homemade without vinegar.
No vinegar unless balsalmic with particular asian foods or jarred dill pickles.
No garlic.
No cooked tomato pieces.
No cooked onions bigger than small dice.
No margerine.
No fake sour creme.
No Tabasco sauce.
No BBQ sauce unless it’s Bullseye.
No apples cooked into anything unless it’s a pie.
No carrots unless the peeled.
No meat fat.
I won’t most vegies unless they come in stir fry.

I love food though.

@JLeslie I didn’t realize you weren’t American. What are you?

I am so not picky, I like almost everything. lol

My daughter is picky, anal about foods touching, certain things at least. I always ask her if what combos of stuff I can serve on the same plate. lol

But..she has few dislikes.

Picky is a guy I knew years ago that only ate bbq’d meat, potatos and plain lettuce and corn. haha

He was one of some guests to dinner and I had made these great salads and made the mistake of asking him if he liked olives. It morphed into every other item in the salad till there was nothing left but lettuce. No tomatos, cukes, onion, olives. I was so irritated picking everything out of this guys salad and I accidently dumped his bowl on the floor, served it to him anyway. lol

@papayalily American. LOL. But, I married a Mexican to make my life easier at lunch time. Hahaha.

Actually, I send my husband off to work with lunch almost every day that I prepare. Never a sandwich. He takes pork with potatoes, or pasta with homemade meatballs, or salad with chicken, you get the idea. When I am too lazy to bother, he takes a frozen Stouffers.

A picky eater is one that doesn’t seem to like anything you have to offer them. I’m pretty picky and though I’ve never actually thought out a list of the foods I don’t like, I do know that there are a lot of foods I don’t like. I have texture issues with a lot of food.

@JLeslie I don’t like sandwiches or burgers. I do very poorly in typical “American” restaurants – burger joints, diners (although that’s because I’m against all the types of food poisoning), bars, BBQ, etc.

@papayalily I would not say I don’t like them, but I have to make them exactly how I want it. I have to have total control over what will be on it, if it is hot or cold. Picky.

it just seems that the pickiest eaters are the ones who are overweight. I swear !

<——I’m not overweight @woodcutter. Just saying…

@chyna Ha ,I know. but you’ve got to admit you know!

@woodcutter I disagree. I have not found that to be true at all.

@woodcutter: Nope, I’m 100lbs dripping wet skinny minnie.

I have actually noticed that picky eaters are not overweight.

All of the picky eaters I know are average weight or underweight.

Well I sure have seen a few. You’d expect a small person to be picky, But I have in many situations been with some of the heavy set going down the list of stuff they won’t eat? Huh? Of course I remain polite and that small voice that only I hear whispers “well you sure are getting your share of whatever you do like”. Of course I would never say that out loud but I think it would be a flash thought most of us would have even if we felt bad about thinking it. I have known many thin people who ate like a linebacker and wondered, “where are they putting it”? I’m not thin and I’m not particularly picky about what I eat as most would be able to tell.

@Neizvestnaya You would be a good contestant in those wife carrying races. We would kick some ass. You are a girl? no?

@woodcutter: I’m a female and I do love a good piggyback, especially if the man’s got enough hair I can wrap up in a fist to help me hang on by.

@Neizvestnaya Ha! I think the preferred carry for those who are serious about winning there is to carry the female upside down, her legs wrapped around the guy’s neck…bizarre :)

@papayalily Young children who are still learning manners can be excused for bringing attention to their choices. They can be persuaded to eat unfamiliar foods, and to keep their pickiness to themselves.

I would rather starve to death if I really must eat something I don’t want to eat. I believe most picky eaters are reasonable eaters. Vegetarian people wouldn’t want to eat meat product because it’s not healthy for them,or else. Celebrities will reject oily/fried food since it’s not good for their beauty. And many other reasons.

I think when they are eating a completely different dinner to everyone else in company then i would class that as being picky

@YARNLADY I’ll tell you what, it depends on the kid. From the age of twelve months my kid could not be persuaded to try any unfamiliar foods. I begged, I bribed, I consulted a nutritionist, and I read every book I could find. I tried every trick in the book (literally) and many that were not! Still that kid lived on Nutri Grain bars and cereal for the better part of three years. Now that he is older I can convince him to try some new things, but they are few and far between and if he does not want to eat them he will go hungry – for as long as he needs to.

After reading the last few responses I realize that I associate picky with not liking certain foods, I don’t associate it with health restrictions or preferences like being vegetarian.

What I’ve learned from from facilitating a workshop for over 2000 people annually for 6 years is that some people are ‘picky’ for all sorts of valid reasons.

There were many Indians attending, and the spectrum of their dietary requirements for religious reasons was fascinating. One did not eat any type of meat and requested that whomever was preparing his meal change plastic gloves first in case they had been making something like a meat sandwich beforehand. We learned about all sorts of food reactions and disorders that I had never heard of before. We also put bowls of assorted candies out on their desks, and I loved going around at the end of the day to see what was left behind. We’d restock them with what the did eat to provide an unexpected delight the following day.

On the surface, a niece appears picky in her eating habits. But I’ve seen her when her lips swell up like a pair of water balloons, so we make separate arrangements or she prepares the food herself. A shame really…it’s a quite entertaining sight.