s/o of foods when a kid

bancbev · February 2010

Do you think kids/people are picky eaters because it is ingrained in them what foods they like/dislike or is it because their parents did a poor job of expanding their palette when they were young?

Anna&Matt · February 2010

I think the first. We ate very bland, boring foods growing up and I will eat just about anything now.

mrsmacias2008 · February 2010

maybe a little of both. What pisses me off the most is when parents ALWAYS give their kids choices on what to eat. For example, my sister will ask all her kids what they want. One will want ravioli and the other wants a sandwich. So, now she has to do two separate things. When my mom cooked, we either ate it or got nothing. She wasn't going to make five different dinners.

OregonPachey · February 2010

I do. I have a coworker that seriously only eats five things:

Pizza
Fried chicken
Steak
Chicken nuggets
French fries

Her mom never cooked as a kid and she was not exposed to different foods. She assumes foods are "gross" if she has never had them and she won't even try new things.

SoCaliAli · February 2010

I think it is a little of both. My brother used to refuse anything that was different from what he ate at home, until he met his fiance. Now he will try anything (and he ends up liking most of it). My parents tried to get him to try the same stuff and he refused.

melodylb · February 2010

mrsmacias2008:

maybe a little of both. What pisses me off the most is when parents ALWAYS give their kids choices on what to eat. For example, my sister will ask all her kids what they want. One will want ravioli and the other wants a sandwich. So, now she has to do two separate things. When my mom cooked, we either ate it or got nothing. She wasn't going to make five different dinners.

This exactly.

andrew's wifey · February 2010

bancbev:
Do you think kids/people are picky eaters because it is ingrained in them what foods they like/dislike or is it because their parents did a poor job of expanding their palette when they were young?

I think a little of both.

An example of a parent doing a poor job of expanding kid's palette I have is my SIL (DH's sis) has a son in SIXTH grade. She still makes him separate meals.

Wifey421Brooke · February 2010

I guess a little of both. I have two sisters and me and the middle one will eat just about anything. The oldest will not eat any veg, greens, and many other things. I could not live with no veg in my diet.

buckin · February 2010

BOTH and neither. As we grow, our bodies grow, develop and we enjoy different smells, textures and tastes.

I truly think some tastes are not compatable with us at different stages of our life. Think about baby food. Some of that shiz is nasty but babies gobble it up, then as adults they taste it before feeding it to their child "oh, I loved these as a kid.....gag...OMG..how did I eat this crap?" (No? maybe its just me then).

I loved pizza as a child..can't stand it now. Loved shrimp..till i threw it up the day before my gall bladder ruptured...can't even look at it hardly now.

Things, experiences, our bodies change us. If we have parents who expose us to more foods and try to feed us different things, I think we are more apt to be experimental with foods as adults but I don't think that is the sole factor in developing our palettes.

Jenandtonica · February 2010

Nope. My patents thought I was picky. It turns out I just enjoy more/different foods than what makes up their 6-meal rotating menu.

capinjen152 · February 2010

Personally, as a picky eater I say it has nothing to do with my parents not having enough variety. I just flat out refused to eat something I didn't like. My mom finally gave up and at 16 let me make my own food if I didn't like what they were having.

I went through many nights hungry because I wouldn't eat (even after having the timer set, putting something in my mouth and faking sick to get rid of it, etc).

Now I eat some of those things, but have held strong on a few things I never would eat (onions, mushrooms, liver, cooked celery). I think it has to do with preparing my own meals and knowing what is actually in it. I make meatloaf, spaghetti, etc without the things I hate and will eat them.

mmkaye · February 2010

I think both and neither as well. For years I couldn't eat green bean casserole because it gave me food poisoning one time.

As a child I ate sweet and sour chicken and until this year couldn't stand the sauce because I got a stomach bug and threw it up.

My parents probably could have expanded our palette more than they did because my mom was good about making chicken for us kids if they were having fish (because we all hated fish) and stuff like that. But as I got into my 20's, I started liking fish on my own.

But there are ingrained things too. I have never liked shrimp. I hated them as a kid, they make me gag now. It is more a texture thing than anything.

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