When I was a kid there was one rule in my family when it came to food; if it’s on your plate, eat it. There was no, well, if you try it and still do not like it, you don’t have to eat it. Like it or not, somebody worked for the money to buy food and somebody cooked it so we ate it. Even calf brains and eggs on some Sunday mornings when my dad decided to make and have breakfast. He bought ‘em, he cooked ‘em, we ate ‘em. Nowadays, I do have my druthers so whatever I want, that’s what I cook and that’s what Yvonne does as well. Sometimes she or I will cook for two but generally, we’re good at grazing. I think the pickiest eater I have met was a guy who came to our restaurant and whatever he ordered, one type of food couldn’t touch the other and if something did touch, he didn’t want it. The remedy I came up with was to buy one of those kiddie plates with the sections on it. Notably, I bought the plate as a kind of a joke but nothing touched and the guy was happy.
I picked up a dozen of those at Goodwill. I mostly use them for holding parts when I work on stuff, but I break them out when I have baked beans or coleslaw so that their juices are contained. My food can touch, but I don't want it soaked by an invader.
I don't really remember being a picky eater. Maybe when I was small, but I grew out of it although some foods were and still are more palatable than others. I tend to think about the nutritional value of food regardless of taste too, because you couldn't survive on just what you like and be healthy. When I joined the service it was basically eat what they had in the mess hall or starve.
My two older brothers were both picky eaters so my mom was tickled when her happy pork chop showed up. Now I cook for my husband who is only really interested in the meat and my son who is vegan, so that leaves me, the omnivore, working clean-up. Friday is shopping day so that's when we have salad as the main dish since all the produce is fresh. Our typical salad is, lettuce, cucumber, orange pepper, radishes, mushrooms, broccoli, tomatoes and avocado. Huge bowl of salad for my son, tiny bowl of salad topped with a can of salmon for hubs, and both for me. Also a loaf of disappearing French bread. You all have made me so hungry for boloney/ham salad and home fried potatoes.
Somehow, my mother managed to implant the idea to me that trying out a new food was an ADVENTURE, and something to be looked forward to, whether I liked that food or not. It was still a lot of fun to try it and find out ! So, I am in no way a picky eater, although there are foods that i do not care for, just like everyone else here. I still enjoy trying most new foods, unless it is something that seems really repulsive to me as actually being a food, like the now prevalent idea that people should eat bugs. Not happening. I will happily become a vegetarian, or even a vegan , before I am going to eat any kind of bug, or even the fake lab-grown meat that Bill Gates is promoting.