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No and no. I think picky eating is a mental thing with most kids, anyways!

I would say I was a semi-picky eater, I hated weird textures (potatoes I'm looking at you) and have started to grow out of it in my mid-20s. I have purposely made myself try things I hadn't eaten as a kid with an open mind. I now eat several items I never did growing up!

Yes and yes. There are certain things I will never eat (like condiments).

Yes and YES.

DH has made me try a ton of new foods, but there are still more things I haven't tried than things I have/will

No and no. I was never a picky eater, and I don't think I eer will be!

Yes and no. Now I eat almost anything (save for most white condiments and tuna from a can), but as a kid, I was a total pain in the butt. Thankfully LO is pretty chill about eating nearly anything so far.

No and no...my mom NEVER had to worry about me not eating enough. Probably why I became a chubby teenager before vanity forced me to slim down!

Not at all, I used to eat everything and still do. I've noticed amongst a few friends (including DH, my sister and my nieces) that the second born is the picky eater and the first is fine. DH and my sister literally grew up on chips, burgers, chicken nuggets etc.

I was a picky eater but am more adventurous now. A lot of foods started looking more appealing in college for some reason....

@blackbird: This is a common misconception that really frustrates some adults like me who are picky eaters. Yes, some children are picky due to power struggles, discomfort, swallowing issues, whatever. But many children purely don't like the taste or texture of many foods, and that isn't due to external factors.

A recent study linked ear infections to picky eating in children, and speculated that it was due to nerve damage causing an enhanced bitter taste sensation. I suspect this is my issue - I had a ton of ear infections, and all my life I've experienced most foods as overwhelmingly bitter. Grapefruit? I literally do not understand how people can eat it. Beer and wine? Again, it's hard for me to understand.

A lot of picky eating may be mental, but some large portion of it is not.

People called me picky, but I wasn't the traditional picky kid. I loved vegetables (especially lima beans, green beans, and peas), but I hated things like condiments, spaghetti, PB&J's.

As an adult? I don't like eggplant/squash/zuchinni/okra unless it's deep fried, not a big fan of bell peppers, and still don't like most condiments - but other than that, I'm a very adventurous eater. I love international food and strong flavors, and I love trying new things, so I wouldn't call myself picky.

@sarac: I agree, I definitely think there's some physical justification for picky eating. DH was an ultra-picky child and he's much better now, but still can't eat some things. He talks about how certain foods taste incredibly "bitter", when they don't taste bitter at all to anyone else. Come to think of it, he's had horrible ear infections in the past...

I was never a picky eater, but I did (do) have a few things that I don't like to this day. I still hate all fish and seafood, and I don't like canned peas though I can tolerate them now.

I was a super picky eater as a child, but I eat pretty normally now. I still have foods I really dislike and won't eat (squash and similar veggies because I hate the texture, pretty much all sea food), but it's no big deal. My mom was the same way growing up.

To those of you who say they didn't have the chance to be picky, what do you mean? Is it that your folks would make you clean your plate? Or that you wouldn't get a special meal because you didn't like what was served? Both?

I ask because those sorts of things didn't work on me. I was the kid who, if told to eat everything, would sit at the dinner table and stare at the plate for 4+ hours and just be hungry. Saving it in the fridge for later didn't work because I wouldn't eat it then, either. My mom never worried because she had been the same way as a kid and grew up to not be picky, but it drove my stepdad nuts. A few times he actually force fed me foods I didn't like. Those are all foods that I have such a strong aversion to today that they make me physically ill when I try them. It's sad, because many are things I hear are good (sweet potatoes, for example), but when I've given them honest chances I struggle to even keep them down. The tactics for getting me to eat things I disliked also affected my long term relationship with food. I think it's important for kids to try things, but if they are able to get proper nutrition otherwise I don't think it's okay to force them to eat something they think is gross.

No and no. If anything, I've become less "picky" as I got older trying out new things!

I was very picky as a child, I am better now as an adult but I still am more picky than most adults. I am pretty well convinced that I have mild sensory issues between my food issues and a few other quirks that I have. I have definitely expanded the number of foods I will eat but the new things still seem to fit the categories that were acceptable to me as a kid for example-- I loved smooth, creamy things as a kid and now I will eat avocados; I wouldn't eat real mashed potatoes because they were lumpy, now I eat them but I usually use the tines of my fork to break up any big lumps.

@sarac: That is so interesting to me! I am always reassured to hear that sometimes there are actual reasons for picky eating.

I've never been a picky eater. As a kid, I'd eat almost any vegetable. There are a few things that most people like that I never could make myself enjoy, like oatmeal. I hate the texture of it! I have to make myself eat it. Yuck!

I've never been a really picky eater, but we did eat a sort of limited menu at home when I was a kid, so there were a lot of things I didn't try until adulthood.

@sarac: There are also people who are super-tasters. Don't know if you are one, but apparently you can test the density of your taste buds with a dye and see if you are one.

Mr Jacks and I joke that I'm a supertaster, but I haven't actually done the test.