Food aversions

Post Reply New Topic

For those with food aversions, is it that you can never eat those foods under pain of death, and you would rather go without, or could you eat them if you had to?
For example, I hate sultanas cooked in food because of the disgusting squishy texture, but if I had to, for example, if I was invited to a dinner and they served a dessert with sultanas, I would be able to suck it up and eat it to be polite, although I would be grossed out.
Where do you sit on the food aversion spectrum?

I have trouble getting past the gag reflex. Trying to force myself to eat things doesn't really work.

Wet meat - no couldn't happen

Chicken with bones and tendons - not on your life

Dark chocolate - kill me with a pitchfork

Peaches - maybe, if you want to clean up the vomit

Canned fish that smells like catfood - do the maths

Those big thick Chinese noodles that look like garden monsters - just no

Buttermilk - add it to the peaches and we'll have a party

* let's go for a walk * ^

I'll get my coat

I suppose I'd be well able to eat most foods if I had to. But for a long time it's been very rare that I've had to, so all I know is that when it's been necessary I've not had any terrible reactions. And I'm not willing to do any experiments that involve eating what I dislike eating.

So, is a food aversion by definition a food which cannot be tolerated under any circumstances?

My daughter has food aversions to anything that's mushy with chunks, like relish or cottage cheese.
She can vomit just looking at them.

I think there are degrees of aversion though.
There are some things I really don't fancy like you with sultanas, but I'd eat them.
Garlic is one for me.
I can't stand it on anything except garlic bread.
Put it on meat or veg and I just wanna die.
The other day I ate it on meat and veg for a family birthday.

I just asked my daughter what was her worst food aversion and she said "Anything with the consistency of cottage cheese - like mushy and wet and cold ... "

Her definition of food aversion is "If I try to put it near my mouth I will gag involuntarily. If it goes in my mouth I will vomit."

I don't know the dictionary definition though. Maybe there are degrees of aversion?

I hate rice.
Its like eating mouthfuls of maggots.
But dry maggots.

I can eat rice if I mix it with something, but its still gross.

I googled the meaning and it said it’s a severe dislike, usually psychological and the result of conditioning like a learned response. It didn’t mention sensory which seemed weird but maybe that’s part of the conditioned reflex?

I developed some aversions from morning sickness and I still can’t eat the stuff 30 years later.

As a kid I would refuse to eat specific foods unless it was under specific conditions (like used in a specific dish, or I was legit forced to, etc.). I would feel ill and 100% refuse to eat those things because their texture would make my brain scream at me to want to spit it out. As an adult I've figured out how to "acclimate" myself to their texture, at least to a degree, so I'll eat them to be polite or if I need to. I do have foods that I still hate, but I have a borderline fear of them so I never mention them so people don't pester me about not wanting to eat them and attempt to make me do so.

I've never liked the texture of rice and I still don't. I like brown rice because it's a bit different though and tastes a bit different.

My daughter always had a lot of food aversions. When she was young she was at her dad's house and he's one of those anal people who forces kids to eat things they don't like. He put canned peaches in front of her and said she couldn't leave the table until she ate them, so she sat there all day - something like ten hours.

She gets her stubborn streak quite honestly from me.

He actually caused her to have several eating disorders but that's kind of off topic.

I think aversions are worse for those of us with strong sensory aversions in other areas too. I'm hyper-reactive to other sensory things like lights and soft sounds and touching certain things with my hands. It seems logical that I'd also have a strong gag reflex for food that looks, smells, tastes, or feels nasty.

Weirdly, I have a gag reflex for things that aren't food, such as sponges.
I only have to look at one and I can taste it in my mouth and want to vomit.

I can't stand touching food leftovers, like cleaning stuff out of a pot or a bowl from the fridge.
If food gets in the sink I freak out because I can't touch water to get it out of the drain.
I can't wear rubber / latex gloves either.

I have to clean some Bolognese from a pot tonight and I've been dreading it for hours.
It's like a nightmare for me.

Cant you hose it off in the back yard or something?
At midnight.
Alternatively, toss the pan in the bin.
Leave it on an ant nest?

I actually wrote that it's easier to toss the pans but I deleted it so I wouldn't seem like a psycho.
I can't have a garden hose either because I can't touch water and it might make yard monsters.
I'm more nuts than you'd even guess.