Picky Eaters I guess I can be called a picky eater. Don't get me wrong I love to eat and I'll eat as much as the next guy, but must be pure and meet my mental cookbook. Over the years I've been accustomed to eating my favorite foods the way I like it. I love pasta and the flavoring of Basil but I don't like seeing the Basil Leaf hanging around in my dish with the tomato sauce. I will pick every leaf out and hang it over the edge of the bowl. I eat vegetables raw like carrots & peppers never cooked. I always loved tomato sauce but never ate a raw tomato until I was in my mid-20s. Pepper steak I picked out the peppers, I'm fine today with peppers the carrots that are cooked. Except for corn I've have never eaten any of the frozen vegetables that you buy in a grocery store, never even tried broccoli, cauliflower, asparagus, string beans Etc. Of course my favorite vegetable besides tomatoes is potatoes, I can have them in any form french fry, Mashed, baked, I guess I like the starch. Are any of you picky, eating certain foods for whatever reason?
I grew up in a family of 8. We were not permitted to be picky. I used to hate beans, and would pick them out of my chili and line them around the plate. If ham & navy beans were on the menu, I'd be having cornbread for dinner. Other than that, I never had any dislikes, other than green olives and pickled eggs.
My wife and mom both make "Chi-Chi's and pasta soup", which is chick peas and pasta in a base similar to tomatoes soup. They always put an extra small bowl next to me so I'd have a place to put the chickpeas I picked out of the soup. The pasta is always medium size shell macaroni, and it's a real challenge picking the chickpeas that are stuck in the cavity of the shell. I am picky picky picky.
When I moved to this rural community, I joined a church that was part of a 3 church "charge," meaning that they shared a pastor and helped each other with events, maintenance, etc. I loved any event when I got a chance to cook and to eat everyone else's food. So many of these folks grew up raising their own food and their own meat critters, so it shocked me to see so many of them with tons of food dislikes. I made Chicken Divan for a group of 50 people for a church party, and I heard tons of "Ewwwwww....broccoli!" Regarding pasta and beans...I have a great recipe for tuna, pasta and canellini beans with a garlic oil & lemon juice dressing. I've reheated leftovers on a perforated griddle over a charcoal grill to get the smokey flavors. Mmmmm.....
In my youth, I guess I was kind of picky. I could not be in the same ROOM with liver. But since my 60's I crave it--especially rabbit liver. My daughter has me make it into pate--the only way she will eat it--and loves it too. I used to hate beets, asparagus, radishes and now I love them and most all veggies. I love tarragon but hate oregano. I hate sugar in my coffee. When my mom lived with me, she would come in and sip the mug on the table, make a face and put in about half a pound of sugar. I would forget that she did that, later I'd pick up my mug, make a face and dump it out. (I don't care if my coffee is cold.) She had alzheimers, I just forgot.
I see you mentioned radishes, when I first started gardening I grew them I tried them and I got to like them in my salad and will occasionally purchase them. Most of the salad ingredients I like, my favorite lettuce is iceberg especially if it's crunchy. Usually add tomatoes, olives, if available some shredded cheese. I do not like onions or cucumbers.
I'm not a picky eater and neither is my husband, though he absolutely will not touch bologna. I think he had too many "baloney" sandwiches as a kid and he's done with it.
I love cukes, especially cuke sandwiches. Crunchy salted cuke slices on rye bread with lots of mayo. Mah mouf is happy.
I just cleaned out my freezer and tossed some bologna I had in there. I don't eat a lot of lunch meat, so the balance of a pak gets frozen before it goes bad. I bought it because every once in a great while I'll get a taste for a fried bologna sandwich. I don't recall having bologna much as a kid. I do recall that my father liked luncheon loaf with stuffed olives and pimentos in it. (yuck) The guy also liked pickled eggs. (yuck) And pickled pig's feet. (yuck) And Black Label. (in a pinch)
A while back I got the "fried baloney sandwich" thing in my head so I bought some Oscar Meyer. (♫ My baloney has a first name, it's O S C A R... ♪) Well, the stuff was nasty. Seemed nothing like I remembered but then I suppose nothing is. And ewwww, that olive loaf stuff. My mother liked that, and some nasty "liver loaf". Hurl.
I had a similar experience with Spaghetti-Os. I used to like them as a kid (not that we ate a lot of convenience foods.) When they went on sale for 10/$10 I picked some up. As you said: "Nasty." The rest went to the food bank. Dunno what happened to the recipe.
We had a lot of baloney sandwiches as kids. My mother also ground it up and made "ham salad" out of it. I was an adult before I realized that other people make ham salad out of....gasp....HAM. I won't touch baloney now. Yuckkkkk.
As a kid I never knew it was an option to be a picky eater, until I got around my cousins on my mom's side. I still remember my grandmother telling a story about one cousin when he was maybe 10. They went to visit some very poor relatives in another state. For the special occasion of their visit, the relatives got store-bought ice cream. They asked my cousin if he wanted ice cream, and he replied, "What flavor is it?" She told it like it was the worst sin anyone could have committed, and that even a child should know better. I didn't like home canned green beans. My mother spent days in the summer in an un-air-conditioned kitchen canning enough to line up along the basement wall. My parents ate them and said they were good, so I figured it must be me. Looking back now I think it was a trick. I still like Oscar Meyer thin sliced bologna, rolled into a tube, eaten as a snack. Ketchup only belongs on cheeseburgers, not even on hot dogs.