"fussy eater" news and stories

According to an article in the Wall Street Journal this weekend, scientists think that “picky eating’ may have developed as a survival trait that kept children, and perhaps adults, from snacking on poisonous and unknown foods during the hunter-gatherer stage of life. Unwillingness to eat the unfamiliar until it becomes a safe, known quantity is a good survival tactic. Modern humans (with the possible exception of the roadkill chef) do not have to worry about survival in this manner because to most of us, safe food is readily available; survival of the species is no longer a major factor. So what is it that makes some people turn up their noses at cheese or sushi?

A recent study of 50 extremely picky adults at the Monell Chemical Senses Center in Philadelphia seemed to indicate that texture, more than flavor, is what turns people off. They hate surprises or simply don’t want to learn how to eat them. Many parents try to overcome these fears in their children, but the problems can be more difficult to deal with in adults. Most adults can avoid the foods they don’t enjoy, but if they travel on business, for example, encounters might be inevitable. The WSJ offers a few tips from eating consultants to wary business travelers: take a lot of foods you like (rice, potatoes) and don’t even ask what unknown foods are. Either take a little and “kind of nibble a little bit” or just push it around on the plate.