Food textures
 

This is kind of a weird topic, but I was just getting hungry and thinking about lunch. An apple with peanut butter sounded great. Um... maybe not the best choice today with a huge wound in the mouth (molar extraction yesterday).

Made me realize I am so not a soft foods kind of gal. I like nuts, veggies, apples - crunchy foods! And of my favorite junk foods before I gave them up? Potato chips! And ice cream with chocolate covered nuts. Well, and Reeses peanut butter cups - those aren't on the menu despite being soft! :-)

Guess I'll go eat that burek (cheese/egg/phyllo dough) thing I made last night to help me get through the next through days without resorting to breads and pastas for soft foods.

My husband and family think I'm crazy (and maybe you will too :yes::crazy:), but certain textures repulse me!
1) pickles (love the taste but they squeak on your teeth)
2) oatmeal (like the taste but it's too mooshy/slimy)
Case in point: when I was in nursing school they had us drink something with different amounts of the thickener they use for people who can't swallow correctly. They showed how the actual thickener product doesn't have any taste to it, but it definitely made my brain think the fluids tasted WAY different with it in it.
Anyways, I saw the title of this thread and my brain was immediately filled with all these thoughts so I thought I'd share

I definitely get moods for certain textures. And I have aversions to certain textures. Like cottage cheese, can't do it, like the taste, love all other dairy, can't eat cottage cheese. It wasn't until I was well into my 20s that I could eat beans. Things like cooked mushrooms make me gag, and I can't eat scrambled eggs by themselves, has to be like on bread, or with a bite of sausage. Yet I love things like yogurt and mashed potatoes, which are in the squishy family.

The funny thing is in the morning, I can't eat food. I've tried in the past but within a couple hours of waking, the only thing I can stomach are smoothies so I make them or something soft like chia pudding.

I don't like foods that bounce back in the mouth - mushrooms, olives, seafood (fish is OK).

I was uber careful about not presenting those preferences to my older son. What what were the ONLY foods he didn't like? Mushrooms, olives, seafood (oh and potatoes, but for a different reason). And again, it was the texture.

We both like the flavor mushrooms give (like in spaghetti sauce). We just pick out the actual mushroom. We love olive oil, just not the olives and we both love fish, just not seafood (lobster, shrimp, mussels, etc)

Stewed rhubarb exemplifies the exact texture that makes me gag. Fortunately there aren't too many things with that texture.

I'm a veeeery textural based eater. I frequently say "I don't like things in my stuff and I don't like stuff in my things." I don't like yogurt with fruit chunks. I can't eat most soups because I gag as soon as I hit a bit that isn't liquid or meat. No nuts in desserts, I like nuts just not in stuff. Anything stringy, I will pick the strings off bananas and if I don't bite through celery all the way and get a string I have to spit it out.

I also like the taste of mushrooms but can't eat them due to texture. I like soft foods for the most part. I don't even like my toast all that crispy (My best friend says I eat warm bread). Generally anything crunchy has to be a vegetable and can't really be in or on anything. No veggies on pizza, sandwiches (Unless it's nothing but veggies), stuff like that.

My little brother also has a bad textural eating issue, except his is with soft foods not crunchy.

I'm the opposite - I love mushy food so I love thick soups, mashed anything, etc! :)

I cannot stand the texture of cottage cheese. It makes me gag. The taste is fine but I just can't get it down. Feels like vomit in my mouth.

I also hate having raw celery in foods like chicken salad. I love celery by itself or even cooked in soup (must be completely soft), but I can't stand it mixed in with things.

I LOVE crunchy foods as well. Though, what I call it is "chunky foods", so it's a bit different. I love food with chunks in them. I'm not a very picky eater to begin with (I think, I'm told otherwise sometimes) but chunky foods are my favorite. I love ice cream with chunks in it, chunky stew, chunky salads, chunky peanut butter, chunky chili, chunky chocolates, etc, etc.

I'm a "chunky" girl. :)

I don't really have an issue with texture aside from something being slimy. Anything slimy is a no go. It makes me think of alien or squid tentacles.

I saw your post from yesterday and just wanted to say *hugs* and hope you feel better.

Your mother-in-law sounds like mine in many ways and I can assure you that she will NEVER live in this household, so you get my sincere admiration in that respect. [I started reading a book recommended on 3FC "Will I Ever Be Good Enough? Healing the Daughters of Narcisstic Mothers". I find it very interesting and am amazed at how much applies to my mom and my mother-in-law. I'm only about half way through but I can't wait to read about the part where it explains why they are the way they are (from their own upbringing). My mom has her things I won't ever understand and have carried with me for a good 20 years. But my mother-in-law can be downright selfish, passive aggressive and bossy. I'm finally cutting the cord between my DH and her after finding out her sneaky ways after all this time.] Sorry to go OT, I just felt bad for you dealing with your own dental pain and her being a witch. And the post about her and your undies getting mixed up made me shudder!

Love reading your posts. Take good care of you today. :)

I am a crunchy food person, also.

Cannot touch soup or cottage cheese.

I have 2 adult sons that have never ate a banana in their lives. My late husband and I both loved bananas...our kids would not touch them because of the texture. :shrug:

I am with you! I don't mind crunchy things at all but when I have to have something, it's going to be squishy. Love a good custard, pudding, jello, oatmeal, ice cream, yogurt... I find if the texture is silky enough, a sugar-free, low fat pudding is as decadent as an ice cream sundae to me!

Crunchy things hurt my mouth, scratch my gums or get stuck in my teeth easily and I hate that feeling!

The only texture I really can't stand I won't eat very often is Angel Food Cake. My teeth hurt when I eat that and in a way I can't quite explain...

I have a lot of issues with textures, I prefer crunchy foods

ive always wondered what that thickener made stuff taste like...years ago in my program i had a little boy who couldnt swallow correctly and i had to mix all his stuff with that thickener and monitor him at snacktime...never did taste it though

Shytttt, that vomit comment almost ruined cottage cheese for me, lol. Luckily I have a strong stomach and I reallyreallyreally love cottage cheese that much.

I had some texture aversion as a kid (tomatoes, ewwww) but these days I really have none. It's actually a bit unusual, from what I can tell :)

I don't have problems with textures, unless something is way too crunchy. Interestingly I'm reading this book called The End of Overeating and they talk at length about the texture of food. They spend a lot of money testing the textures of certain foods like chips or cheetos and other snack items. They try to reach an optimal level of initial crunch, but then most people want the food to melt in their mouth so you have a crunch and melt effect. Chain restaurants will optimize their food like a crispy chicken breast for example will look crunchy and initially be crispy but it will melt in your mouth. This allows more food to be consumed. It's fascinating.

But anyway, I'm surprised by this thread. I love all foods, seafood, mushrooms, bananas, mashed potatoes, soup, I love it all. It just sounds like pickiness to me. I had a friend at work who would bring her lunch every day and it was a white bread sandwich with american cheese and a del monte fruit cup in syrup. Absolutely no texture. She had other food weirdness too, can't eat chicken if it's on the bone, must always be in boneless or nugget form. What is up with that.

DS13 did a complete 180 after getting into truly solid foods. I think he spent a decade absolutely refusing anything smooth, like squash, mashed potatoes, pudding, yogurt - as if to say "NO MORE BABY FOOD - EVER!!!!" That kid would probably chew the bark off a tree! Only in the last year or two has he been willing to eat smooth stuff. I notice that he washes every bite down with a glass of water, even while he's telling us it doesn't taste bad.

I forgot to mention that I don't like long stringy food so spaghetti noodles (angel hair, etc) are out. Sometimes, I can do the really thin rice noodles and flat noodles. It is definitely a texture, how they feel against my throat but also it is that it reminds me of a pile of worms so I will also get a gag reflex by just looking at a picture of spaghetti. This is fairly recent though, I always had a gag reflex from eating but I could look at noodles without an issue.

I can't stand mushy things; mashed potato, mushy peas, overcooked vegetables, etc. Especially if it's different things mushed together - shepherd's pie is my worst nightmare!

Funny,because that was my first thought too :D


As for texture...I think the only things that bother me are foods that have a rubbery texture.I think that's why I only eat the white meat on chicken.The dark meat tends to have rubbery surprises in it.If I have to chew it to death to break it down,it's a no go.

I guess there's more as certain veggies I will only consume in certain ways.Like carrots can be raw or stirfried,but I wont eat canned carrots.Canned peas and green beans are ok,but frozen aren't because they aren't soft enough.

Wow, that's funny. That's exactly the reason why I don't eat white meat on chicken, too dry and rubbery. The dark meat has such a better softer texture. You must not be cooking it right.

I can't stand coconut beccause of the texture, it reminds me of fingernail clippings...mushrooms, olives, uck.

I also don't like things that are super crunchy or crumbly. That's because of the messy factor though. Even when I was a baby I didn't like getting messy.

I don't think I've met a food or a food texture that I don't like...hence my weight problem, lol!

Hmm....my issues with texture are weird...for instance... i hate cotton candy because it reminds me of the gauze they stick in your mouth at the dentist...i dont like scrambled eggs and i dont like the grittyness of raspberies with the seeds...the skin of green wax beans..oh..and the fuzz on fuzzy peach skin..yuck!

That's so funny! My DS17 refused, absolutely refused to eat any sort of baby food/cereal. And if I did attempt to feed it to him, he acted like I was trying to kill him! After a month or two I gave up. He nursed exclusively, and he was huge--he was 30 lbs at 6 months, until he went straight to table food at 8 months. The kid is seriously weird!

As for my food issues, I pretty much like all food, which was probably my issue in the first place.:^:

I remembered I don't like the plastic-y noodles in dishes like pad-thai! Yuck!

And cottage cheese is absolutely awful, I can't even swallow it with my eyes closed and pretend it's something else.

*shudders* reading this thread!

I can't imagine eating canned vegetables but I'd say that is a taste not texture thing :)

I don't care for slimy things (okra), but the absolute worst for me is food that grows as I chew it! Beef jerky makes me gag because of this.

The meat itself is fine,it's whatever else..maybe the tendons that are hiding near the meat,lol.

I don't do jelly-like foods, and I absolutely cannot handle mushrooms...I don't like the taste, but the texture makes it all worse. Just the tiniest bite makes me gag...

Nowadays it's quite common to skip "baby foods" altogether. It's called baby-led solids or baby-led weaning. My son, now 20mos never had purees, we introduced solid food at 6mos, nothing mushy. Pear slices, avocado slices, chunky food that he would pick up with his hands. Besides oatmeal we never spoonfed him.

Check out this funny video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zzPMAJCPhmA
of a baby starting off on solids at 6mos.

Food and texture is a strange thing.

When I was a kid, tater salad, macaronie salad and cole slaw were ICK. Then one time my Mom made head cheese, some strange concoction made from pig fat. Major gross. It was like a spam jello mix. YIKES! She could not figure out why us kids did not like it.:?::dizzy:

Over the years, and sometimes given the lifestyle, I've tried a lot of foods. When we were poor, a friend gave us some ground raccoon. It's not bad. Makes great chili.;) Would not make burgers out of it.

Rocky mountain oysters! YUM!

On the other hand, lamb, ICK, the dog would not even eat it.:?:

Had rattlesnake, not bad, would not make it a staple. Venison/deer, properly processed is a great lean meat choice. Pheasant, dryer than a pop corn fa@t. Gotta drown it in sauce. Dove breast, yum, wrapped in bacon with a bit of brown sugar, and baked!

The one thing I tried and will NEVER do again, is fresh oysters on the half shell. So gross. I will not eat anything I cannot catch in my mouth and chew. It just slid past my tongue and teeth and slid down my throat like a glob of snot. So GROSS!

While raising my kids, I did take notice that texture some times did play into what they would or would not eat. They may not like it today, but wait a few months and they like it. For kids, it's all about learning and growing.