Picky eaters

[slim da reaper]

Oh this reminds me Chicken tikka masalla is a British dish, originated in the UK in the 1960's, and not the Indian subcontinent.

[HT Reddy]

and now pretty much the national dish in the UK :)

[Gertrude]

England was the first place I had it. Kind of surprised me at the time to see it everywhere and the only obvious 'exotic' dish in sight. It seemed out of place, but now I know :)

[Eyelesbarrow]

Not to mention, I like many bitter-tasting food. Like, for instance, bitter melon, a staple of Southern Chinese summer cuisine. So, yes, you may have super-taster gene that makes certain food taste bitter, but it does not mean that you must dislike it.

It's one of our household vegetable items too. I hated it as a kid but my taste buds have adjusted to it by now.

By the way, does anyone hate Mexican food? It seems to be cool even with plain eaters. I'd have to say that the kind of food I see the most resistance to is Indian food. Then probably sushi.

Of course, I haven't seen too many people getting in line to eat British food, but that's just sanity talking.

I love Mexican food and it has a lot of similarities with our national cuisine. (Thanks, galleon trade!) I've noticed that for some people, the turn off when it comes to Indian food is the strong smell of the spices. It can be overpowering to people coming to it for the first time.

Eh, Brit food: I'd fall in line for a good fish and chips. With malt vinegar, yes please. ;)

[TerraPrime]

Tbh I've never even tried Mexican food, but Mexican tends to be very spicy doesn't it, with peppers etc in and theres something about eating peppers or anything cooked with peppers thats has me running to the toilet soon after.

I have not had any Mexican food that I would consider "spicy," in the U.S. Not unless I asked for extra jalapeno on the nacho. Now, I know that I have not had real Mexican food. So, perhaps in the genuine Mexican cuisine, there are outstanding dishes that are spicy. But I've had none in restaurants that claim to sell Mexican food in the U.S.

As a point of reference, if you buy pre-made salsa (hears several people fall over on account of the uncouth practice), and it says mild or medium, then to me, it is not spicy at all. It's just tomato sauce. The hot salsa is starting to be spicy to me. When I make my own guacamole, I use 2 fresh jalapenos per 2 avocado, to get a mildly spicy guac.

[Lady Blackfish]

I've had authentic Mexican a few times, it wasn't very spicy IMO but it was only twice, so not a really good survey.

[Gertrude]

I'm not an expert either, but I have the impression that real Mexican is not as spicy as we think it is. The Tex-Mex variety is what people (in the states) think of when they think Mexican for the most part. I could be wrong though.

[Maid Sansa]

By the way, does anyone hate Mexican food? It seems to be cool even with plain eaters. I'd have to say that the kind of food I see the most resistance to is Indian food. Then probably sushi.

I guess I'm the only person in the world with an aversion to Mexican food. Not quite an aversion, maybe, because it doesn't taste bad... but the spices, they HURT. Now, the obligatory disclaimer: I've had Mexican food all over Europe, in restaurants of varied price ranges, and in the UK. I always ask for the least spicy thing on the menu, and I get told, yeah, take this dish, it's so mild babies wouldn't feel a thing! Two, max three bites later, my mouth is burning and I'm in pain.

I did try to accustom myself to it. This always ends with me trying to choke down about half of my portion and mostly leaving hungry. I tried adding pepper to my food, gradually. Doesn't work. There's a point beyond which I can't seem to go.

Also, people don't believe me when I ask them not to put so much pepper on my food (if someone else is cooking for me) because I'm really sensitive to spicy stuff. It's always "But this is nothing! You should be able to eat it no problem!", and then getting offended because it hurts me to eat.

As for pickiness, yes, I used to be a picky eater. I trained myself to tolerate and even enjoy some things I used to hate, like broccoli, zucchini and Camembert, but for example, gherkins and tomatoes are still a no-no. Being threatened and sometimes beaten as a child because I would not eat them seems to have stuck.

The worst thing is eating at someone else's place. Hereabouts, you're supposed to eat what's put in front of you, and hosts usually don't consider it necessary or even polite to inquire about your eating issues. I sometimes get the feeling people don't even really believe in food allergies or health issues, it's always just "those new-fangled doctors and their pandering to the picky". Seriously, a colleague who's coeliac once politely told someone he could not eat the flour-based stuff because of health issues, and was told to "just try it, no need to be so picky!"

Anyway, I usually get eyerolls and sighs to the point of "Is there ANYthing at all that you DO eat???" with a very long-suffering face, as if I had not just eaten all but one thing that was put in front of me. That's why I'm trying to at least not gag at the foods I hate. Unfortunately, with limited success.

[Red Sun]

I'm not an expert either, but I have the impression that real Mexican is not as spicy as we think it is. The Tex-Mex variety is what people (in the states) think of when they think Mexican for the most part. I could be wrong though.

That's my experience as well. The home-made chilli con carne I ate in Chiapas and many of the other dishes were not particularly spicy, at least in comparision to Thai or Indian food. And I found the breakfast, consisting of heated tortilla, beans and/or cheese very bland, and I had to get used to the blandness.

However, I learned about the awesomness that is mangos with chilli or black pepper. That's a mixture of sweet and spicy I didn't know before.