Ever seen that headline? I Googled it before I wrote this, so don’t tell me you have.
At some point in your life, I’m sure someone has said to you one of the following phrases:
“You don’t know you don’t like it unless you try it.”
“You’re not starving. I can’t see your bones.”
“You won’t grow up if you don’t eat vegetables.”
Children are expected to put all kinds of revolting foods into their mouths without arguing about it. I think that is an unreasonable expectation, seeing as our taste buds develop at all different stages in our lives, and not everyone’s develop the same way at the same time. We know that our sense of smell and taste are indicators for things which are not good to put into our bodies, such as spoiled food. It makes perfect sense that they should also indicate food that is not spoiled, but simply will not go over well in the digestive system. So don’t tell me I don’t know if I’ll like it or not. Trust me, I know.
It’s a hard life being a picky eater. Your body has an aversion to a variety of foods and although you are hungry, you can not bring yourself to eat them. If a picky eater told me they were starving, I’d believe them. It’s difficult to force your body to consume something it so clearly does not want to digest. You can sit there for hours thinking about how mom won’t let you have dessert if you don’t try eggplant quiche, but the concept of placing it on your tongue is so repulsive that it’s worth it to give up chocolate cake just to avoid the eggplant experience.
I still will not touch broccoli. And guess what? Now that I’m a grown up, nobody cares.
Liora Sophie 