"Uncut Lettuce As Salads": People Share 30 Common Food Trends That They Hate

We were interested as to why some people are such picky eaters. Dr. Harron, the founder of Monarch Wellness & Psychotherapy, was kind enough to shed some light on the topic. 

"Picky eaters usually result from a combination of genetics and environment," she explained to us.

"They may have more sensitivity in terms of food taste and texture, and then if they are not exposed to a variety of foods early on, they may begin to feel like they aren't able to eat a wide variety," Harron told Bored Panda.

The clinical psychologist shared her thoughts on what someone could do if they wanted to try and expand their culinary horizons a bit.

"If someone is a picky eater, they can begin to expand their culinary tastes by trying small amounts of new and different foods," she suggested taking small steps at first.

"The only way to expand your comfort zone is to sit outside of it," Dr. Harron said.

"If this is extremely difficult, or your diet is extremely limited, you might want to be evaluated for Avoidant and Restrictive Food Intake Disorder (ARFID) and receive professional support."

The author of the thread, redditor u/ahfansaerdet, has some very understandable pet peeves about food. In their opinion, there shouldn’t be any bones in stews or sauces. They’re also not a fan of cartilage in meals. And that’s fair! Ideally, everything on your plate is edible and you don’t have to get messy with your fingers and/or napkin. Yours truly, for instance, deeply loathes fish that still has bones in the filet. I don’t want to think about the (tiny) possibility of choking while I’m trying to enjoy the exquisitely-prepared dish.

Meanwhile, other redditors shared their own dislikes. Some, for instance, can’t stand dishes that have shrimp with tails on them if they’re not meant to be eaten by hand. Others don’t like eating salads where the ingredients are mega-sized: they don’t want to cut everything themselves. Still, others can’t stomach ordering meat dishes that are half fat (yuck!). In short, people expect chefs to maintain certain standards, not take the easy way out while picking the ingredients, cooking, and plating everything.

While it’s fine to be picky about what you eat, it’s best to focus on the quality of the ingredients and to focus on healthy dishes, rather than to boycott something because you find the texture weird or it ‘looks icky.’ If you go down the latter path, you’re effectively limiting yourself. And it can be quite fun to expand your culinary horizons. 

For instance, ‘So Yummy!’ points out that some of the top ingredients that people loathe include beets, olives, and cilantro. As it happens, they’re ingredients that yours truly has had a particularly tough time enjoying, growing up. However, after getting the initial ‘ick factor’ and trying the items in different forms and dishes, I’ve genuinely come to enjoy them. Personal growth? In a small but satisfying way—yes! Culinary adventures are a simple, fun way to spice up your life (though I still prefer my beets caramelized rather than raw).

As we’ve mentioned on Bored Panda previously, what foods you’re going to enjoy comes down to a mix of nature and nurture: specifically, it depends on your tastebuds, as well as what your relatives cooked for you when you were little. If you’re used to stronger spices because they’re what’s used in your culture’s traditional meals, you’ll be more positively predisposed to spicy food than someone from a different background. Meanwhile, if your parents avoided mushrooms or never really told you to eat your greens, you might find the texture too exotic to enjoy. As 'Your Kids Table' notes, some kids might simply be scared or anxious to try new ingredients. 

If you’re a parent, you can always try bribery to make your kid try something new or nutritious. There’s nothing like the promise of ice cream or video games to improve someone’s chances of taking a bite out of that weird tiny tree-like thing they call broccoli. However, you shouldn’t force your children to eat something that they absolutely despise. Otherwise, you might create more negative associations in their mind. 

What are your biggest culinary pet peeves, dear Pandas? Do you consider yourselves to be picky eaters? What would genuinely need to happen to make you send back a dish at a restaurant? Feel free to drop by the comment section to share your thoughts with us and all the other readers. (And if you've got any fave dishes you'd love to tell us all about, we're always looking for fun recipe ideas!)