Do you guys have a pickey eater in the family?

GATraveller

Man - that is one of my pet peeves.  I'll eat anything that doesn't eat me first as long as it's hot and there's lots of it.  One of my girls is fairly picky.  We make sure they try at least one bite of everything we cook so they can make a logical decision instead of just refusing to eat something based on sight and/or smell.  My wife has gotten food poisoning from Salmon (from local restaurant) and crawfish (from next door neighbor) so now won't even consider either.  The salmon one kills me because she used to eat it once a week up till getting sick from it.  
 

BYS1981

My 4 year old is sometimes picky, but the funny thing is she loves steak. she ate 3 helpings of steak 2 nights ago, she asked for a 4th,but we made her eat her corn too.

BYS1981

WeberWho? said:

My wife has come a long way since we first started dating.  Anything other than S&P was foreign.  It's not that she didn't like stuff but said she grew up on Stove Top and ground beef.  So  much was new to her.  She never even had salmon before she met me!  I can't think of anything she disapproves of which is super nice.  She digs some heat and enjoys trying anything that's put in front of her.  Got lucky I guess. 

I also thank my parents every once in awhile for forcing us to eat food what we didn't want to eat when growing up.  It wasn't a choice it was what we were going to eat.  I can't thank them enough for that!  

I was 26 when I first had salmon and sushi etc.  Luckily, I got a job that gave $25 and $50 allowances for lunch and dinner... I really expanded my pallet at that time. 

aukerns08

GATraveller said:

Man - that is one of my pet peeves.  I'll eat anything that doesn't eat me first as long as it's hot and there's lots of it.  One of my girls is fairly picky.  We make sure they try at least one bite of everything we cook so they can make a logical decision instead of just refusing to eat something based on sight and/or smell.  My wife has gotten food poisoning from Salmon (from local restaurant) and crawfish (from next door neighbor) so now won't even consider either.  The salmon one kills me because she used to eat it once a week up till getting sick from it.  
 

I can understand where your wife is coming from on the avoiding salmon and crawfish after the food poisoning incident.  I got food poisoning from tilapia once at a local restaurant.  Tilapia was never my favorite fish but I used to eat it quite regularly and I didn't hate it for sure but now I can't even get it up to my mouth without feeling sick.  I'm sure it's a mental thing from the experience but I swear everytime I've tried to eat it since as soon as I get it close to my mouth and nose when taking a bite I feel terrible.  Best thing for me is to just avoid it.

Fred19Flintstone

I've gotten sick from too much beer in college.  I got over that.

aukerns08

My wife is pretty picky but she's come a long way in the 6 years we've been together.  When we first started dating her go to order when we would go out was chicken tenders and fries.  She just wouldn't risk not liking something.  Since then she's expanded on some things held pat on others, she still orders the same meals each time we go to the regular places but it's no longer chicken tenders.  She still hates mushrooms, onions, asparagus, and dislikes broccoli but she will eat broccoli begrudgingly.  I've figured out it all comes to how she grew up and what they ate.  Her family does a lot of casseroles and one pot type meals and she hates those with a passion.  It sucks when you want to do something in the crock pot over the winter time but I'm okay with it because my family didn't do a lot of those dishes growing up so I'm not really giving anything up either.

I hate to admit doing this to her but to try and expand her pallet I decided to take the approach you would on a child and just hid the things she didn't like by cutting them up as small as I could and mixing them in.  She'd get so pissed when she would eat something, like it and I'd tell her it had one of her hated ingredients in it, especially with mushrooms.  She really doesn't like mushrooms because they're a fungus and that causes a mental block for her or something.  However just a week or so ago I cooked some fillets and had sliced shrooms as a side because I love some steak and shrooms and she tried the shrooms, on her own with no pressure from me and she said she really liked them.  Maybe we're making the turn.

A couple other things that we've done to help expand her pallet have been taking a couple cooking classes together those helped tremendously because she had no control over the menu and you always eat what you made.  Also her mother's and grandmother's cooking has gone really downhill lately with everything being overdone, dry and carb city..  She's said for the past couple years that she would much rather I do the cooking for holidays.  Having the baby helped because she wants him to try foods and not be as picky as she was/is so she's expanding so he can't use the Mommy doesn't eat it excuse.  She was also really paranoid about getting sick from food not cooked to proper temp, even though I would probe it prior to serving and cook to temp, so I got her a temp guideline magnet for the fridge for different proteins and her own Thermapen so she can check on her own and it's encouraged her to cook more.  It's kind of like on a cycle now, 3 weeks out of the month she's pretty good about how picky she's going to be and the other week we're back to her old ways.  

aukerns08

Fred19Flintstone said:

I've gotten sick from too much beer in college.  I got over that.

True, I'm with you.  I will say though getting sick from beer is a lot different for me than that food poisoning sickness though.  Back in college we'd just puke and rally since it made you feel better.

DaveRichardson

Had a girlfriend back in college that presented me with a sheet of paper, three columns, front AND back, of things she was allergic too.  After a few months, I was happy to add my name to the bottom of the list!!!!

theyolksonyou

I was the picky one when my wife and I got together. My dad has always been incredibly picky, so I grew up eating plain mashed potatoes and pinto beans almost every day with some form of protein. 

Fast forward to our relationship. My in laws love to eat and eat different things. After my wife and I started dating, I started eating chinese(never had it) Mexican(a rarity) and we both started on sushi. We both love that. 

I still didn't like peppers and onions etc...  Got the eggs, started cooking some of the stuff you guys post and now peppers and onions are regulars I. The fridge. My tastes continue to grow. 

Now celery and cucumbers.... Not yet 

northGAcock

I have the opposite.....I have a dog that will eat anything.

aukerns08

@DaveRichardson that made me laugh out loud in the office. 

DaveRichardson

Glad I could help ya @aukerns08. Man, was that a bad decision on my part!

lewisj82

My wife and I will eat, or at least try, pretty much anything. In fact, she's the one that's gotten ME to give things a try that I hated growing up (squash, asparagus, brussels sprouts... mostly veggies. Still hate olives though...) Even our three year old is a rock star when it comes to eating. She'll at least try things before she decides she doesn't like it. 

Outside of us she has some family who won't eat meat on the bone, so no ribs or bone in chicken for them. Can't be too spicy, won't eat medium rare steaks ,which is really the only way I cook them, and any pink in any meat, smoke on chicken or properly cooked pork, is questionable for them as well. I hate having to plan menus around their culinary shenanigans. 

fishlessman

northGAcock said:

I have the opposite.....I have a dog that will eat anything.

my old german shepard would not eat hotdogs......if there was venison on the grill

Ladeback69

My 6 year old is the picky one, but he likes meat if it smothered in ketchup, except for chicken legs and my ribs.  He even dips broccoli and green beans in ketchup.  The only breads he eats is pizza, pretzels and Gma's cinnamon rolls. My wife and her family keep try to force him to eat veggies more, but that will come with time I tell them.  If he had his way, he would eat only pizza and McDonald's nuggets with fries.

My wife likes most things, just can't be spicy at all though.  I'm the one who is picky about what fish I eat.  I like salmon, some white fish, and most Seafood, but I have to be in the mod for it.  Beef and pork are my first choices like most of us.

MaC122

I love everything that was given to us and ill try a food at least once. Could you imagine going though life and you never tried celery seed @theyolksonyou ? I guess the part that I like about being an egghead is the new things that pop up on this forum. One week we are all breaking in our new Woks. The next week we are making beer can burgers. Glad to be apart of this community

theyolksonyou

MaC122 said:

I love everything that was given to us and ill try a food at least once. Could you imagine going though life and you never tried celery seed @theyolksonyou ? I guess the part that I like about being an egghead is the new things that pop up on this forum. One week we are all breaking in our new Woks. The next week we are making beer can burgers. Glad to be apart of this community

Funny you should mention that, I can pick out celery seed from potato salad.  Really don't like celery. 

abpgwolf

I am very fortunate! When our boys were little, the rule was they had to eat a small "thank you" portion of everything served (to thank the cook). Today as teenagers they will eat almost anything and will try anything at least once. My wife and boys love the meals we make on our BGE.