Need an explanation from a picky eater.

My SIL is a picky eater and my wife says she's been that way since a child. Has issues with texture, etc. She hates "raw" cheese. It has to be melted in order for her to eat it.

She also became a vegan for a short time and was a pain in all our asses. Eventually she just went back to being a vegetarian. Unfortunately she still complains about restaurants not catering to her needs.

My BIL on the other hand became Buddhist several years ago and it's hard to have a BBQ with him because he always wants chicken and it can't be prepared or grilled in the same area any red meat was cooked. I respect his religion, but I've watched him cheat and eat spiral cut honey ham.

In reply to Huckleberry:

How do calves have that much cholesterol already? I'd imagine that they'd have hardly any plaque buildup

I love really rare meat, I'm not a milenial, and I hate meat with a bone. I was in my20's before I tried fried chicken. Don't really care for wings or a drumstick.

Don't believe I've ever had cow or calf heart before. Will have to find it and try it.

SyntheticBlinkerFluid wrote: My BIL on the other hand became Buddhist several years ago and it's hard to have a BBQ with him because he always wants chicken and it can't be prepared or grilled in the same area any red meat was cooked. I respect his religion, but I've watched him cheat and eat spiral cut honey ham.

You are a lot nicer than I am. When I am cooking, I cook my way. Anyone that wants something different, might want to bring their own food.

Ill eat a ham or turkey if its a full on roast but with individual cuts of meat like steak, porkchop and chicken i only eat boneless meat. I also trim all the fat off my meat before eating it. No weird attatchment to it being a former living animal since i hunt and eat wild game. I just prefer not too have to deal with a bone in my food. Even the wild game meat is cut free of the bone before freezing.

captdownshift wrote: In reply to Huckleberry: How do calves have that much cholesterol already? I'd imagine that they'd have hardly any plaque buildup

Good point. Or not. I don't know. But, it's cholesterol and as long as it's floating and not sticking you are fine. So, make sure to chew the fat for grease and drink a lot of alcohol to clean any residue and you should be fine.

People only eating meat that doesn't have bones is the laziest thing I've ever seen/read on the internet, and I know that this exists:

dropstep wrote: Ill eat a ham or turkey if its a full on roast but with individual cuts of meat like steak, porkchop and chicken i only eat boneless meat. I also trim all the fat off my meat before eating it. No weird attatchment to it being a former living animal since i hunt and eat wild game. I just prefer not too have to deal with a bone in my food. Even the wild game meat is cut free of the bone before freezing.

I've noticed that wild game, at least venison, tastes better if deboned during the butchering process before slicing into steaks and chops.

Hi. Picky eater here...

Yeah, I don't like eating meat off the bone either, though the reason depends on the meat: For steak & porkchops, I really can't stand gristle, so I usually order the smallest cut available, as it typically has the lowest mean/gristle ratio. Those cuts usually don't have bones either...but I'm also lazy so id prefer to not have to cut the "good" meat from the bone.

Chicken is another story. Honestly I really don't care for the meat as much as I do the breading, so I'd rank it popcorn chicken -> nuggets -> fingers/tenders. I won't eat it off the bone - too greasy, don't like the dark meat or the skin.

I don't eat seafood at all. I've had battered fish before, but like chicken I prefer the breading more than the meat, and I think fish tastes worse than chicken. Plus there's always a chance of a stray bone.

I'm ok with eating lips/shiny happy people/whatever in hotdogs or sausages, probably because it's ground up fine enough to be indistinguishable, and they're generally pretty tasty.

I can't stand fresh or cooked fruit, it tastes like dirt to me. However I love fruit flavors: candy, drinks, etc...but not watermelon or apple, they're berkeleying gross.

I don't eat many vegetables(and no raw ones) either: potatoes, beans(in chili, or green beans if they're seasoned well), and carrots(if they're cooked in a roast.

I love pasta though.

Generally, I'm on the all-sugar/all-carb diet, and somehow it seems to work for my body.

Edit: I just thought of a couple more things...

I hate bacon. Or more precisely I hate real bacon. The fatty part is disgusting, though I don't care for it being too crispy either. However, I love turkey bacon! <3 Seriously, I'll gobble that E36 M3 up!!! Speaking of, I'm not much for roast turkey, but I love those frozen turkey rolls - you know, the rectangular brick-sized piece of (white)meat in the aluminum pan w/gravy? Mmm... Oh, and I love spam too, but only the spam-lite.

This seems relevant. I know people like this—they can't eat real food. They also thinking cooking with base ingredients is magic. http://www.cracked.com/blog/the-5-stupidest-habits-you-develop-growing-up-poor/

petegossett wrote: senseless words...I hate bacon...senseless words.

You are dead to me.

SyntheticBlinkerFluid wrote: My SIL is a picky eater and my wife says she's been that way since a child. Has issues with texture, etc. She hates "raw" cheese. It has to be melted in order for her to eat it. She also became a vegan for a short time and was a pain in all our asses. Eventually she just went back to being a vegetarian. Unfortunately she still complains about restaurants not catering to her needs. My BIL on the other hand became Buddhist several years ago and it's hard to have a BBQ with him because he always wants chicken and it can't be prepared or grilled in the same area any red meat was cooked. I respect his religion, but I've watched him cheat and eat spiral cut honey ham.

I am a Buddhist and I eat red meat on occasion. Nothing I know of says you can't. you just can't kill the animal in question or go out of your way to order it. Ordering meat is akin to ordering it's death, but if it is offered to you or readily available, there is nothing saying I cannot eat it.

Again though, I rarely eat red meat, it's heavy and does not often agree with my intestinal issues. Poultry and Fish though, those I indulge in

I think a lot of the fussiness about food stems from the distance between the actual animals and the products we eat. It's easy to look at a chicken breast in a Styrofoam and plastic container and not associate it with something with feathers that was running around, eating bugs and being ill-tempered.

Fussiness about food stems from having other viable options. The real hungry do not bandy about the details until after they swallow. Only the privileged have the ability to turn food down. We are really lucky to be able to use the word "them" in this thread.

*just dropped some holiday donations off at the friends of the poor earlier this evening... Then got tipsy thinking about it. Feeling a bit lucky. It will pass.

I'm a picky eater, but the presence of bones in meat doesn't bother me. That said, if offered the option between bone-in and boneless steaks (say, ribeyes) at the store, I'll buy the boneless ones even if they cost more because they cook more evenly.

In reply to Brett_Murphy:

There's a whole lot of truth to that for me. I know 100% there's not a chance I could kill something then eat it. I've seriously pondered becoming a vegetarian, but the fact I can only stand about 3 or 4 vegetables and zero fruit makes that a bit difficult.

Toyman01 wrote:

petegossett wrote: senseless words...I hate bacon...senseless words.

You are dead to me.

Petegossett said: However, I love turkey bacon! <3 Seriously, I'll gobble that E36 M3 up!!!

And I'll bury you.

To the original point, I suspect a large part of the problem is restaurants and the explosion of families eating out so often. Not just fast food but in the US whether you go to an Italian place, a Mexican place, or a good old fashioned American food eatery there is a "kids menu" with the same items on it.

Hamburger, grilled cheese, spaghetti, chicken tenders.

People grow up eating this crap and then we expect them to suddenly switch over to spicy, fatty, weird, bone-in options. Kids eat what they are trained to eat. I've had this "discussion" with mine and it goes a bit like this: "I cooked this, I like tasty things so I cook tasty things. You are expected to eat the meal I provide."

Apparently I'm an old school shiny happy person but it works.

Tom Suddard wrote: This seems relevant. I know people like this—they can't eat real food. They also thinking cooking with base ingredients is magic. http://www.cracked.com/blog/the-5-stupidest-habits-you-develop-growing-up-poor/

That Cracked article is 100% true.

captdownshift wrote: Boneless wings all end up as terrible, dried out, over-breaded, over-sauced hunk of poor excuses for chicken that would have me tempted to go vegan if it's the only form of wings that I could enjoy. You might as well plunk down a dollar for a McChicken if you're considering such crap.

I disagree. There are a couple places around here that make good boneless wings, and mine are really good. Yeah, if you're going to someplace like Buffalo Wild Wings, your description is spot on. But BWW sucks from top to bottom anyway.

On the subject of picky eaters, I knew somebody who liked peanuts and liked peanut butter, but was utterly appalled at the idea of crunchy peanut butter.

Oh, and DD#1 once asked me to skin her pancakes, when she was 7 or 8.

petegossett wrote: I don't eat many vegetables(and no raw ones) either: potatoes, beans(in chili, or green beans if they're seasoned well), and carrots(if they're cooked in a roast.

Haha, please do not take offense to what I'm about to say because tons of people don't do this, but potatoes and beans are not even vegetables, haha. No offense intended though, and all in good fun.

I grew up in a household with very few rules, but the rules that existed were concrete and unbreakable-

• Do not ever get arrested or in trouble with the police.
• Always address an elder by 'sir' or 'miss/maam'.
• Finish your plate at meals. If your plate is not finished, it gets foiled and put in the fridge for next meal. You will not get another plate until the one from the previous meal is cleaned. No exceptions.

We were an old school, poor, French Canadian family where only 1 of my parents AND their siblings graduated from high school, so we ate some crap for sure. Chicken hearts, gizards, calves liver, tripe, turkey necks, boiled dinner with petrified beef cuts. You name it, we ate it. Our 'fancy dinner' was when Blade steaks went on sale at the grocery store, and let me tell you- you did NOT cut the tendon out of the center. That was valuable nutrition as well as jaw muscle strength training.

Needless to say, my nickname as an adult is garbage gut. I will eat anything, and I haven't found an exception to that phrase yet.

KyAllroad wrote: To the original point, I suspect a large part of the problem is restaurants and the explosion of families eating out so often. Not just fast food but in the US whether you go to an Italian place, a Mexican place, or a good old fashioned American food eatery there is a "kids menu" with the same items on it. Hamburger, grilled cheese, spaghetti, chicken tenders. People grow up eating this crap and then we expect them to suddenly switch over to spicy, fatty, weird, bone-in options. Kids eat what they are trained to eat. I've had this "discussion" with mine and it goes a bit like this: "I cooked this, I like tasty things so I cook tasty things. You are expected to eat the meal I provide." Apparently I'm an old school shiny happy person but it works.

We went to see Alton Brown last month and he does a good bit the first thing he'd do if he ruled the world is eliminate Kids Menus. I'm a bit of a picky eater as far as I don't generally like fish or pork but I have no issues with bones other than chicken wings. That's mostly because I don't like all the skin. Even with breasts and drumsticks I peel the skin off before I eat.

My father was also of the take it or leave it camp. If it's something I don't want I'll survive the night without dinner. Once he started paying me to work for him in about the 3rd or 4th grade I would buy a jar of peanut butter for myself so if I didn't want what they were having I'd make myself a sandwich.

Picky eater? Or discriminating gourmet?

1988RedT2 wrote: Picky eater? Or discriminating gourmet?

Refuse meat on the bone and boil a hot dog. You decide.