Picky Eating

I'm well known as a picky eater. I'm not as bad as I used to be, but I still have a steady diet of only a few select, approved foods.

I'm not ashamed of the fact that I'm picky, but people love to try and pressure me to eat things I don't want to, calling me childish if I don't. However, I don't think childishness has anything to do with it.

Now, to be clear, I don't think people are being mean-spirited when they suggest that I should, say, have lettuce and tomatoes on my hamburgers for instance. I'm sure there are people who legitimately judge people based on their eating habits, but I don't think I would hang around with such a person for very long. No, usually it's just friends who are either making fun of me good-naturedly.

I tend to respond in kind, saying that I simply have "refined tastes" or something to that effect. It's in good fun.

However, I'd be lying if I said I didn't get tired of it sometimes. I've been called a picky eater for as long as I can remember, and it's simply the way I am. I've tried many different sorts of food, and found I simply didn't like them. To dispute a taste is futile: you might as well say I'm childish for not favoring your favorite color the same way you do.

The part that concerns people the most, though, and the part that really separates me from non-picky eaters, is that I've had enough negative experiences with new food that I'm hesitant to experiment further. There are so many things that I know I don't like, I feel I can just make assumptions about most everything else and spare myself the experiment.

I do try new foods: I'm usually pretty open to variations on something I'm familiar with, for instance. Also, I trust my nose a lot, so if something smells good I usually feel comfortable giving it a shot.

However, I'm a very stubborn person. The best way to make sure I never try something is to pressure me into trying it. It's a admittedly spiteful attitude but, to be fair, I probably had no intention of eating [insert suggested food here] anyway, even before you started to try and convince/guilt/bribe me into trying it.

I apologize for the rant. Suffice to say, I'm content to be picky, and I'm not sure why so many other people are offended by that.