The Science Behind Picky Eating
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Some foods just get to us. Whether it's texture, color or smell, everyone has their reasons -- however silly -- for their picky eating.
For example, I refuse to eat "chunks." This includes blue cheese, feta cheese, Thousand Island dressing, etc. Chunks. I don't even care what it tastes like -- I'm just not eating it. And, according to Psychology Today, I'm not alone...
In the first comprehensive survey of food pickiness among adults, anthropologist Jane Kauer interviewed nearly 500 adult Americans about their attitudes toward foods, food variety and eating habits. Kauer, found that mild pickiness is quite widespread -- about one-third of her volunteers described themselves as "unusually picky eaters."
It may not be surprising to learn that 60 percent of us like to leave our plates clean or that close to half of us eat just about the same thing for breakfast nearly every day. But stranger habits are also common. Many people refuse to drink while they eat. Others won't eat food that is lumpy or has a filling, like raviolis or egg rolls. Nearly 20 percent of us are repelled by raw tomatoes (something about the gooeyness inside the firmness), and about the same fraction of us simply don't like trying new foods.
In the course of her survey, Kauer found a few extremely picky people. (One woman she interviewed, for example, ate little more than canned brains, undercooked French fries and fried eggs. Kauer thinks this intensely fastidious eating is probably related to obsessive-compulsive behavior.) Questioning the pickiest third further, Kauer identified a master list of foods that are almost universally accepted: fried chicken, French fries, chocolate chip cookies, and above all else, Kraft macaroni and cheese. ("People seem to respond to the orange color," she says. "Maybe it's a signal that it's really fake and therefore really safe.") Obviously, these are all classic comfort foods, but more important for the picky person, they are unlikely to have weird or surprising ingredients. "We all know what's in fried chicken, for example, even if we get it from some place we've never been before," she says.
Why is it that all the universally accepted foods are bad for you?!?!
Read the rest of the Psychology Today article here and feel free to share your "safe" and "icky" foods below!
Labels: diet, kids, weight, weight-loss
Comment: Wednesday, October 10, 2007 11:22:00 PM - 
said...
Hmmm. I am not terribly picky. The one major thing that will turn me off is sogginess. I can't eat soggy bread (no stuffing, no bread pudding, no soggy sandwiches) because it hit's a gag reflex.
Other than that it's just a few things that I developed an aversion to when I was pregnant. I can't eat Gyros any more. There's a seasoning in the lamb that turns my stomach ever since I was prego. And I lost my taste for sardines then too. I over did them the second trimester.
I LOVE fruits and veggies. Main problem is that I tend to like starchy, sugary and fatty foods more. I always enjoy a nice salad or some fruit, but the temptation to grab the Triscuits or tortilla chips or chocolate or candy is just soooo strong sometimes.
Comment: Thursday, October 11, 2007 10:51:00 AM - said...
I won't eat anything that floats or is in water. Soup, pickles, lo-mein, things like that...eew.. Now I at least know I'm not crazy!
Comment: Thursday, October 11, 2007 11:11:00 AM - said...
Liver. Just SAYING it makes my throat close up...no food should be dry AND wet at the same time. Vile stuff.
My mom used to make it at least twice a month when I was a kid-couldn't eat it then, can't eat it now.
Other than that, I think I'm like most people-nothing way over/undercooked or oozing grease. Although I have to admit I'm kind of in agreement about the raw tomato thing-I just pop out the gooey bits and eat the firm parts.
Comment: Thursday, October 11, 2007 1:21:00 PM - said...
Canned meat, chicken or fish. Like Spam, tuna fish,meat raviolis. It all tastes like metal mixed with rancid meat mixed with salt.
Comment: Thursday, October 11, 2007 1:27:00 PM - said...
To the person who won't eat stuff floating in water... I never thought about it, but pickles are kind of gross to look in that jar when you think about it.
Comment: Friday, October 12, 2007 7:37:00 AM - 
Sas said...
I will eat just about anything (although I would stay away from canned brains if I were to encounter them) except for parsnips. As far as I'm concerned they should never have come up out of the ground. Who decides that anyway?
Comment: Friday, October 12, 2007 9:32:00 AM - Jen said...
Yay! I'm not crazy. I don't eat fruit - besides Red Delicious Apples and the occasional serving of watermelon on a hot summer day, I've pretty much wiped out the entire food group. And I absolutely HATE tomatoes! Good to know I am not alone.
Comment: Friday, October 12, 2007 10:40:00 AM - said...
I just can not bring my self to eat onions or mushrooms. With onions I believe that it is a texture issue, it just hits the gag reflex. I can eat onions only if they are deep fat fried and breaded for onion rings, isn't that weird! Mushrooms I think is also a texture thing, but I'm not crazy about the tast eighter.
Comment: Friday, October 12, 2007 1:12:00 PM - said...
I wont eat mayo or mustard on anything- EWW! I also wont eat ham, spam, or fish! I dont eat green candy, jello or fruit loops!! Im about the pickiest eater EVER!
Comment: Friday, October 12, 2007 2:01:00 PM - said...
Can't eat anything with tomatoes or onion!
I think i've pretty much survived on toast since i was about 9 (all those carbs may have been the problem leading to my weight!)
I'm too damn picky, but i just can't bring myself to eat something i find icky! (for lack of a better word!)
Comment: Saturday, October 13, 2007 12:08:00 PM - said...
I won't eat red meat, fish, chicken, or most pork. I don't like the texture.
Comment: Sunday, October 14, 2007 8:52:00 AM - said...
I'll have to say that I will eat just about anything that doesn't eat me first. Guess I am not very picky eater, huh...
Comment: Sunday, October 14, 2007 9:11:00 AM - said...
I always get harassed for being so picky...my ideal of seafood is the hushpuppies...Anything white (MAYONNAISE, Tater sauce, dressing, eggs, soups, pastas that are white, french onion dip, cottage cheese, cream cheese...eeewww...nasty nasty nasty...) My brother and sister are the same way, but parents aren't. We think it was due to the daycare we were in that served mayo sandwiches all the time. I do not eat fruits unless starburst candy is a fruits....Veggies? What's that? Well, I'll eat potatoes-baked or fried only, and corn on the cob...if it's green I won't touch it. Meat: has to be well done hamburger and chicken. I'll eat roast beef sometimes. My main foods are: pizza, spaghetti, burgers, mac and cheese, chicken breast only, fries, bread, tacos with just meat and cheese, some desserts but not most...i hate pies. I hate my food to touch. I hate the rubbery, consistencies of foods. I don't wont' my corn juice running all in my fries and chicken. Buffetts are the worst! EEEWWW! So many hands touching stuff. And stuffed all mixed together like casseroles, pasta salads, is just gross! I love spaghetti sauce but it is has hunks of onions, mushrooms or green peppers, I'm getting out the strainer and I will strain out just the sauce and throw out the other junk. I hate to watch someone eat chicken wings...biting on those bones and sucking everything off of it (veins, wiggly stuff...eewww)
Okay, I feel better seeing that there are lots of other picky people out there, but is there anyone that hates Mayo as much as I do? I don't even want to touch the jar and if I have to use it, I wash my hands afterwards! Please let me know if anyone else is this picky!
Comment: Sunday, October 14, 2007 10:41:00 AM - said...
I love liver and I'm having mustard greens for lunch. I also love fryed hog brains and scambled eggs.I love all food.
Comment: Sunday, October 14, 2007 12:19:00 PM - said...
Raw dog cannible sandwich, thick patty of raw ground round with a slice of burmuda onion covered with salt and pepper yum yum. Sushi yuck.
Comment: Sunday, October 14, 2007 12:33:00 PM - Mary said...
Cold yogurt. I can tolerate it cooked in something, but cannot eat yogurt just out of a container...makes me gag. I wish I could because I know it's very, very healthy. And I like sour cream and creme fraiche. I don't know why I have a problem with yogurt.
Comment: Sunday, October 14, 2007 1:35:00 PM - said...
i won't eat eggs..except for eggs that are scrambled by me or the yellow of a boiled egg. the white of the egg grosses me out and yes it would cause the gag reflex in me. also i won't eat liver cause of the texture and the taste eww. but i will eat anything else just about. i am game to try anything
Comment: Sunday, October 14, 2007 11:24:00 PM - said...
I have always been "grossed out" by chicken because of the blood vessels in them; I also don't like discovering something chunky in something I expect to be smooth. I'll try most foods, but still consider myself a picky eater & wish I wasn't grossed out so easily. Tofu works for me well instead of meat. I prefer highly processed white carb food, peanut butter, & chocolate, which unfortunately are not the healthiest. Raw tomatoes have always been icky to me, but I never figured out why since I love tomato sauce. Strange.
Comment: Monday, October 15, 2007 12:05:00 AM - Israel said...
i like fruits and veggies, not eggs. cheese is okay for me too.
Comment: Monday, October 15, 2007 2:16:00 AM - said...
If it smells funny I can't eat it, especially anything with tomato sauce (ketchup?) on it. I also eat with my eyes, if I don't like the look of it I have to be very hungry to eat it.
Comment: Monday, October 15, 2007 6:50:00 AM - said...
I won't eat: big pastas like lasagna (but vermicelli is okay), anything with cooked fruit, foods that are mushy, like white bread (I spend a great deal of time toasting things hard but not burnt), milk (yuck!, but I love cheese), eggs, pancakes, waffles, squash of any kind, bananas ( I love the smell and I like things that are banana flavored like banana bread, but I hate the "ickiness" of the actual fruit)
Comment: Monday, October 15, 2007 7:16:00 PM - said...
I happen to love all foods equally. I will try any food once, especially if my brothers do it first, then I must. When I was a kid I didn't like yogurt only because my mother always got pink colored yogurt and I thought it resembled skin. Gag! But I'm way over that now. You name it, I've probably tried it and even enjoyed it. Yes, that inclueds liver and sushi and a number of cow parts.
Comment: Tuesday, October 16, 2007 7:59:00 AM - said...
I hardly ever try any new foods. I don't like many green veggies. I hate peas. It's something about the smell and how it squishes in your mouth. I hate mayo. I can't stand the smell of it. Although I like fry sauce, (combo of mayo & ketchup) potato salad and deviled eggs. I love any kind of potato, cooked anyway or raw. But augraten potatoes are disgusting. I hate tomatoes, onions, some peppers, but I love salse. I eat it on tons of things. I used to love ketchup, but ever since I stopped eating condiments to trim some pounds, I find the smell revolting. I do not eat anything that swims, except tuna on rare occasions. Nor do I eat spare parts of animals, including hot dogs or bologna. I rarely eat products that come from a pig, I only eat ground beef from cows. And I don't like eating chicken that resembles parts of the chicken. (KFC, is gross. But I love their mashed potatoes.) I love olives and mushrooms so much that I'll open a can for a snack. I don't like yogurt or anything to do with lettuce. And I hate most cheeses. I'm glad I'm not the only picky person out there.
Comment: Tuesday, October 23, 2007 9:09:00 AM - said...
I can eat almost anything. i like comfort foods: mac n cheese, chicken noodle soup, chili w cheese.
I don't like asparagus, i don't care how it's cooked, i don't like it.
Comment: Tuesday, October 23, 2007 1:20:00 PM - said...
I am not normally picky but... I hate canned meats (tuna, spam, etc.) they are horrible. Mayonnaise (it is just greasy gross slimy ickness). Anything that has soaked up tomato juice (pasta has to be topped with sauce seconds before I'm gonna eat it or else). Oh, and chicken legs, something about those veiny stringy leg parts just make me gag. Surprisingly, I actually like liver, though I can't bring myself to actually cook it. Umm..oh, and although I love zucchini bread - I can't cook that either, the mixture looks like someone threw up. Lastly, eggs... no oggly googly whites of any sort.
Comment: Friday, October 26, 2007 5:24:00 AM - said...
The term picky for me seems a bit of an understatement... I eat Peanut butter, bread, crackers, corn on the cob, cereal, french fries, really crispy bacon, pancakes, granola bars, ice-cream (plain, no stuff added), lightly egged French toast, nuts, sunflower seeds, milk and some pulp free juices.... that's all...
Toast and peanut butter for supper every day for over 35 years and it tastes just as yummy today as it did back then.
I wish it was different for social reasons, but honestly I am very healthy. I get sick less than everyone I know, my blood pressure is great, and I am only about 20 pounds over weight (compared to many, it's not too bad).
I have progressed in the last few years to be able to handle foods that I don't eat and to handle dirty dishes, but I don't see my menu changing any time soon.
Comment: Thursday, January 10, 2008 4:02:00 PM - said...
I HATE fish. My whole family and all ours friend love fish so its not that I "heard"someone say "I dislike fish" that I got this from. I can't stand the smell or the taste. I also can't stand some textures of foods in my mouth like jello or watermelon. My father is hyer-sensitive to corduroy fabrics, our son is that way to velvet and velour fabrics which is why he always screamed from the time he was 14 months old when he visited and sat on Santa's nap. We stopped that nonsense when he was three yrs of age. Too upsetting for everyone. Now, our son at 34 yrs of age we totally understand why he screamed and went into a panic whenever he saw a Santa Claus. Even fabric in the store grosses him out if he touches it (like my dad with corduroy). To this day I do not like the taste of raw tomatoes either. Too acidy. If they are cooked I can eat them. But raw - forget it. And beef/chicken liver and pate is terrible. I wouldn't eat that food on a dare. This is NO way to cook it that I can get it down and it stay there. Eeeewww. And parents who force their children to eat foods the child does not like - it's a form of child abuse. My mother would force me to sit for two or three hours at the dinner table when she served fish, liver, tomatoes, jello, watermelon and make me eat this food long after everyone had left the table. It became a battle of wills. I'd rather take a beating than not have to eat this stuff that made me physically sick. Basically my mother was a control freak about food. And now she wonders why my older sister has a weight issue.
Comment: Monday, January 14, 2008 4:16:00 PM - said...
I hate everything that comes out of the water or near the water. Lobster, fish, crabs, etc.. You name it I won't eat it. What's funny is that I like Tuna. I believe that the thought of seeing it cooked but looking exactly as it did when it was alive(ex. lobster)turns myself. It makes me gag to even think about putting it near my mouth. I am a chicken and turkery lover though.
Comment: Friday, January 18, 2008 9:33:00 PM - said...
I don't like salmon,calamari, tofu, avocados or olives,(but I do like olive oil). I also won't eat undercooked meat and even eggs can't be looking at me, they have to be scrambled or hard cooked. I also don't like maple syrup or strawberry jam. To me they are sickening sweet. When I was growing up we were poor and ate a lot of pancakes with syrup and jam which was readily available since we lived so close to Canada. It took me a long time to eat a pancake, but now I can, but still can't do the sweetness.
Comment: Thursday, January 24, 2008 6:44:00 PM - said...
I eat a lot of things as long as it isn't bitter, slimy/ gooey, or overly-spicy. I eat A LOT of fruits and can stand leafy greens as long as they are boiled in water first. Being health conscious, i develop some distaste towards oily or fatty junk. I also hate mayo and greasy stuff. I don't really eat with my eyes, so I can stand many things. For some reason, I'm not too fond of mustard and relish. Not too certain why, but my mind is open to a lot of food! Oh! I also dislike very sweet things. It hurts my throat after eating it. :\
Comment: Sunday, February 10, 2008 6:55:00 PM - said...
i hate a lot of things incuding: mayo, pickles, onions,flan, red snapper, anything to sweet, ham and cheese together, yellow cheese, salad, salad dressing, beets, pizza, hot dogs, sun chips, and liver. and gurl dat only eats toast u need some real food in ur body not da nutients u get from ritz.
Comment: Thursday, February 28, 2008 10:00:00 AM - said...
I sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo hate beets~! they are discusting .. WAY TO RED AND DRIPPING RED INK BLOOD LIKE LIQUID AND IT TASTE LIKE SOME SORT OF FUNK AT THE BOTTOM OF THE OCEAN.ITS CREEPY~! OMG but I really really hate and want to vomit if I even smell eggs ew the sulfer in eggs smell like sewer. next its a liquid chicken people~! we are not happy with choking that poor bird but then they eat the liquid membrane inside a shell? yuck yuck thats what reptiles do.. why humans? sick ~! omg when its friend and had that slime that looks like snot~! YUCCCCCCCCCK~!LIVER IS SO NASTY. and one more thing I love mint candies but it has to be spirimint ..I hate pepermint and chocolate with mint is not right~! NEVER IS ICE CREAM WITH MINT FLAVOR OH NO!~..the end~!
Comment: Thursday, April 17, 2008 3:04:00 AM - said...
27 years old and finally researching on why I am such a picky eater. Glad to find out that I am not alone!! My girlfriend is now taking lessons from my mom on how to cook for me. I hate lettuce and my "salad" is crutons, cheese, ranch dressing, and bacon bits. My spaghetti sauce has to be strained even if its the traditional, no chunks. I will still find little bits of onion in them. HATE ONIONS! But I can eat things like chip dip (I avoid the chunks) and sour cream and onion chips. I can eat onion rings if you de-onion them. The only veggies I eat are corn (including on the cob) and green beans but they have to be from a can. I won't eat them fresh. I do eat carrots raw. I won't eat those if they are cooked. I hate fish, except for fish sticks. Love steak, chicken, burgers (only cheese and ketchup), ham, turkey. Pizza is a big fav. But I the sauce can't be chunky.
Comment: Wednesday, June 11, 2008 4:13:00 PM - said...
I have a pretty bad problem with picky eating myself. Zero vegetables. ZERO. I mean, I could eat a carrot if I had to, and I guess a Potato is a veggie, but it ends there. There are so many restrictions as to how things are prepared, and what ingredients to include, it's kind of insane. I'm struggling to find food I like to eat, because I don't like veggies and don't like many fruits. I need to have a better diet, because I need to lose weight, but the thought of trying vegetables is repulsive. And if it looks or smells nasty, I won't touch it. Smell is a big one, especially. I've gotten better, but not significantly that it's going to affect my weight loss plans. I need help. :( I wish I could forget that I hate everything. >.<
Comment: Wednesday, June 11, 2008 4:28:00 PM - said...
I am the pickiest eater I know. I don't eat Pizza, ketchup, seafood (NASTY!), Pickles... I don't eat any vegetables except for Potatos (which have to be well mashed, or in the form of a roasted potatoes or fries) - although I could eat raw carrot if I had to. I don't eat may fruits either, and even then I'm picky. I love bananas, but there is only a 2-3 day span when they're actually edible. I'm picky with what meat I eat - White chicken only, preferably deboned and without skin - though I've gotten better with eating it on the bone from Swiss Chalet, I still don't like it otherwise. Of course, Chicken fingers are my life. Turkey is the same. I eat ground beef (as is, or in hamburger helper) burgers (but the processed boxed kind only) and roast beef, if it's not too fatty. Bacon is good, and so is roast pork. Deli meat is touch and go. That pretty much sums the meat up. I love Milk & Cheese (not all kinds of cheese though, just a few) and can tolerate banana yogurt on occasion. I eat pasta - either plain with butter plus salt pepper and parmasan - or if it's in an alfredo or cheese sauce. Spagetti sauce is nasty. Pickles are nasty too, as well as all condiments. ALL condiments. I hate raisins. I don't mind nuts, when it's a hazelnut or almond in a chocolate bar, or if it's peanuts as is or as peanut butter - but I don't like nuts otherwise (not in icecream, not in muffins, not in cookies, nothing). I don't eat any sort of microwaveable frozen dinner. The list is really long, anyways. It's really sad. :( I really want to change, but I just can't bring myself to. I used to eat corn on the cob and cucumber when I was a kid - and although I think I could learn to like corn again, I hate the smell of cucumber. Basically, if it smells really bad, I won't touch it - and if it looks revolting, ditto on that. It's a hard battle.
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