There was an article in the paper a few years back noting that picky eaters may have overly sensitive taste buds. Having been a lifelong choosy eater I quickly latched onto this new victim status.
You see, my eating habits are somewhat legendary (though not in a good way). I never met a vegetable I liked, though now I do consume spinach and carrots after they have been liquified in my Veggie Boy shakes.
But it turns out that I’m not really picky! Those of you who don’t have Hypersensitive Taste Bud Syndrome (HTBS) are eating lots of foods that taste bad, but you just don’t know it. If you want to know if something really tastes good or not, just ask.
Remember, I’m part of a protected class now, so careful with the picky eater jokes.
Just in case you thought I was making this up, here’s a related article.
Filed under: Family / fun
[...] They finally took spinach off the market. Of course it is bad for you – it has been trying to warn you with its terrible taste for years. [...]
Saw this was a top post of yours. Had to check it out. Nifty! I too have HSTBS, though I am now OK with raw spinach in a salad w/ Ranch Dressing and raw carrots with Ranch Dressing (also copper penny carrots are good, though they are cooked–in lots of butter and brown sugar!)
Thanks for giving me some defense when Mom asks why I don’t like such and such, and thanks for stopping by my blog!
I’m HSTBS too! There’s lots of us.
Thanks for the laugh. If you have an article link, I’m sending it to my parents!
I found a more recent link and added it to the original post. Maybe we need a support group where we meet weekly and eat breakfast cereal or something plain.
Is it just me or am I feeling the creation of a another blog coming on? Speaking of HSTBS, where are the feds on this????
[...] this out when I visited Neil’s blog. Turns out you just need one other than the original poster to come out about it, and you discover [...]
As long as it’s breakfast cereal without milk. I can’t stand it when it gets all mushy.
[...] Neil’s 4 Simpsons Blog [...]
Wow, a whole new blog just for HSTBS sufferers! We’re mad as – OK, we’re not that mad, just a little irritated – and we’re not going to take it anymore!
I, on the other hand, prefer my cereal to be soggy
By the way Neil, I really like this blog layout. It is easier on my young eyes
LOL! I like the new blog.
We’ll have milk on the side during our boring breakfast cereal meeting.
I’m vegetarian, so you can only imagine how much fun it is to feed me. Of course, everyone laughs at the veggie who hates broccoli, but whatya gonna do?
I can’t stand the feel of soggy cereal in my mouth! As Neil said, we’re not mad, maybe a little irritated, and I’d add to it in need of some understanding support from one another. We’re gonna have some good thoughtful HSTBS+ (HSTBS Positive) discussion over there. Remember,m you can be HSTBS+ at any age, so keep that in mind when you comment on postings.
Thanks, I’m enjoying the new layout as well. Oddly, this one doesn’t show bullets, but I like everything else about it. The double columns provides symmetry and appeal to my Monk-like nature.
TheoBromophile, don’t feel bad about being a broccoli hater. My youngest daughter thought she wanted to be a vegetarian until I pointed out to her that 1) she really like Chicken McNuggets (OK, not much meat there) and bacon and that 2) she hates vegatables.
[...] Scott, founder of the HSTBS Support Blog. Neil (your co-admin on this blog) sparked the idea in his blog post that has been getting a lot of attention as of late. I figured since we are probably scattered all [...]
Neil,
One of my friends’ daughters announced, at age 15, that she would be a vegetarian. She didn’t much like vegetables, so she basically became a cheese-atarian, which did not appeal to her parents.
I’m really picky about my vegetables – mostly, I don’t like cooked green veggies (spinach, broccoli, peas). For what it’s worth, I did eat more of them when I stopped eating meat. For what it’s worth, you can get soy bacon AND most bacon bits are completely vegetarian. So your daughter can make the transition to the Dark Side.
I think that to be part of picky eaters is not good.For me this is some kind of a disease or I don’t know how to name it.
Neil,
When I was a kid, I hated oatmeal. My mom made it every weekday morning, because it was economical. I had to eat it. There was no option. She over-cooked it so that it stuck in my throat. I always felt like I was choking to death…but you DID NOT defy my parents.
I got in trouble for even making a face.
My throat always felt constricted for hours afterwards.
When my husband took me to meet the in-laws for the first time, my MIL made oatmeal for breakfast. I ate the whole bowl with a smile that never wavered.
Years later, I can still choke it down, but I’m still amazed that anyone eats it at all if they have any choice what-so-ever.
Hi Teresa,
Mmmmmm . . . oatmeal! I actually like it – provided there is plenty of milk and sugar on it.
LOL about the MIL. You’re a good sport!
I can relate, though. Some foods just make me gag – mainly vegetables like lima beans. Haven’t had one of those for 35 years or so!
Teresa,
I feel your pain about the oatmeal. When I was a young girl, my father would make a big batch of oatmeal when HE got up at 5:00. By the time my breakfast rolled around (6:30 or so) that oatmeal was something akin to wallpaper paste! These days I like the steel-cut style, but rolled oats are strictly for baking at my house.
Neil,
My parents were of the “try at least one” ilk. When I was growing up, I had this hollow plastic booster seat that had removable rubber pads. One day Mom was cleaning the dining room chairs and notices the booster seat rattled. She shook it at bit and out came several lima beans, a few slivered almonds, and some black olives– BUSTED!
Wow! This post has picked up some ground again!
Kelly, what exactly are steel-cut oats? I stock groceries and noticed that we recently started getting some Irish Steel-Cut Oats recently, but I’ve not had the opportunity to examine them. From the sound of shaking the box, it almost sounds like a Cream of Wheat/Malt O’ Meal substance (if I’m way off here, keep in mind that I’m quite single
)
Anyhow, like Neil, I’m cool with oatmeal as long as it contains enough sugar and milk (same criteria for coffee).
I like a mixture of 1/2 sugar, 1/2 oatmeal. Oddly, I can manage oatmeal, even though I don’t like mushy foods (lima beans, peas, cereal with milk).
My parents made me “try it.” Whatever “it” was, I had often tried it before and hated it. (This Irish girl has a hate on for potatoes.) I tried, in my very literal way, pointing out that I had tried it on many previous occasions and found it to be lacking. That didn’t get me very far….
We were in the “try it” camp to a degree. I would point out that some things spelled badly, so I didn’t want to eat it. They would say, “But it tastes different than it smells.” I’d reply that I’ve noticed a remarkable correlation between the smell and taste of something (OK, I used different words, but that was the essence).
They also did the “one green bean (or whatever objectionable foodstuff was there) for every year of your age.” That got pretty bad after I was 5.
How did that work for mashed potatoes? Or large objectionable foodstuffs?
Could that be one piece of oatmeal?
I played the mind-games with our kids.
The oldest came out from his nap one day in October wearing his halloween costume (He was looking forward to Halloween) I was making pea soup. He said “What’s that?” I said “It’s Halloween soup”
He ate two bowls, and it’s still his favorite. NOBODY likes pea soup, but my kids do. Also, whenever I introduced a new food, I would tell them they were too little to eat it, because they wouldn’t appreciate it enough, and not allow them to have it the first couple of times. Then, I would allow them to “prove” to me that they liked it.
It worked for everything but mushrooms and summer squash Neither of them will eath those things. The oldest won’t eat black olives.
Pea soup in the guise of Halloween soup!?!?!?!? That is cruel and unusual punishment that makes the reports on the evening news from Gitmo and Abu Grab (sp???) sound tame.
My parents always did the “try it you might like it” speech. Even after I tried and it was then verifiable that I disliked, they ran the whole “you don’t know what you’re missing” bit. I could at least at that point say that indeed, I did know what I was “missing” and that I wouldn’t be missing it all that much. Besides, it was more for them if they liked it (whatever it happened to be) so much.
There are reports on teh evening news about Gitmo and Abu Garaib? I stopped watching ‘caus eall I saw on there were cute kitten stories and people who wouldn’t stop talking about Anna Nichole Smith and how she was still dead and stuff.
If they’ve started talking about news I’ll have to tune in again.
I come from I long line of successful brainwashers. My Grandma convinced my uncle that pease were his favorite vegetable just by telling him such– over and over and over again. Mom convinced me that I didn’t like candy by saying, “Oh, you won’t like that- it’s pure sugar.”
My friends are amazed that I truly don’t like most candy.
Scott- the steel cut oats are pieces and maintain some structural integrity when cooked. Rolled oats are way processed, you know. Wikipedia has a better explanation than I.
I am doing a project for school and would like to gain permission from you to have the access to use your images on my website. My project is on eating healthy and your image is rellevent. I would like it if you replied to me with your answer .
Thank you
I too have HTBS. I’ve been “picky” all my life. I don’t like vegetables, I eat everything as plain as I can. For example, pepperoni & cheese pizza, not all dressed, hotdogs and burgers with ketchup only. I get a gag reflex very easily when I eat something I don’t like. I even get the gag reflex without even having the food touching my tongue… I always though I was very picky, but I guess I’m not picky, it’s just HTBS, that would explain alot.
i have it too i hated alot of things my parents served any they said i was a picky eater, you can find out if your one by going to a museum of science they have little slips of paper that if they’re really bitter then you have it but if you taste nothing then u dont
Wow, this might explain some things. I always noticed EVERYTHING in food. Every. Single. Seperate. Taste.
I was a very very fussy eater, but thankfully my mom didn’t cram the stuff down my throat because SHE was picky too, once.
Even though my brothers were (to a lesser extent) too, they didn’t share the same mindset. Yay hypocrisy.
But anyway, I am always told “Oh try it, you won’t taste it a at all!
”, I tell them I WILL taste it.
They tell me, in a more polite way, that I’m just bullshitting. I try it, I immediately spit it out because I taste what I apparently shouldn’t have. (onion, various vegetables, hazelnut or anything I dislike, which is a lot of things)
I then get the joy of a horrible aftertaste in my mouth for hours unless I drown it out with something incredibly spicy, sour or sweet.
I also can’t stands foods with certain textures.
I now believe that I might actually have HTBS, it makes sense.
Just today I was eating a roll with JUST chicken and pepper (the usual) and I suddenly encountered the horrible tang of ONION in it.
I struggled to avoid spitting it out in the middle of the computer lab.
Personally, I hate this, but it’s who I am, I guess.
omg now i know what i have after many years of not liking foods i know what the problem is
I can’t believe this is still coming up as one of the top posts. You poor, misunderstood hyper-sensitive taste bud people!
Yeah, it comes out of the woodwork every few months!
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