Food Disasters

Interestingly what’s the idea with the food experimentation? Just something you suddenly decide to try or is it planned in advance?

I'm likely hyposensitive to taste and texture (Autism) and I like experimenting with new things (ADHD), so I'm never afraid to try something new.

Sometimes I'm out of an ingredient and try using something else. It might work, it might not. Usually, it doesn't go horribly wrong, so I might learn something new.

Sometimes I have some boring leftovers and I want to see if I can "do something with them", so I'll mix things together that, with hindsight, should not have been mixed.

The porridge with orange juice was an attempt to simulate Milupa Sunshine Orange, a favourite food of my daughter when she was being weaned. Needless to say, the simulation was imperfect. (Do NOT try my DIY version at home; it's horrible!)

Sometimes it goes right (for me). Did you know that chilli flakes go really well with granola? (If you're just eating some of it dry as a crunchy snack.) A heaped teaspoon of cocoa powder in a chilli con carne also does it no harm.

Ah I see, have you always had issues with particular foods and have you found that it’s improved over the years if so?

Big thank you for sharing that and being honest. I was interested to know as my son struggles to eat a varied diet, it’s more than the usual preferences it’s an outright refusal so he’s down to a restrictive dinner diet of cheese and pasta, cheese and tomato pizzas, sausages and chicken dippers. He’s been this way since he first started eating foods, I remember feeding him peas for the first time and even as a baby he would retch so it’s been a long standing issue. I believe he has ARFID a long with a lot of other autistic traits. Thankfully he does eat most fruits but does also prefer snacking over big meals. 

My issues fall into two categories: particular foods I don't like (smells); and particular combinations of foods I don't like (textures).

I don't like matured cheeses. The smell makes me retch—really retch. From mature cheeses, the smell of butyric acid and isovaleric acid both stand out as individual smells and I don't integrate their combination into a "tasty cheese" smell, I associate them only with other common sources of those acids: vomit and smelly feet, respectively. Nothing that smells like that is going into my mouth.

I tried tea and coffee as a kid, really didn't like them and never tried them again. I have grown to tolerate the taste of coffee in, say, desserts, and I quite like the aroma. However, I feel there is no point in getting hooked on caffeine and becoming one of those boring types who extol the virtues of coffee and how great it is at getting their day started. (Of course it is, you're in withdrawal from your caffeine addiction. Your "hit" only makes you feel normal.)

What caused me most issues as a kid was (and I only figured this out recently) combinations of foods that lacked distinctive flavours and textures. At some point in my day, I need a big hit of flavour and texture, or I will not be happy. As a kid, if similarly boring, bland and untextured meals were served to me day after day, I could start with the "Not again!", move on to "Why do we have to have this?", escalate to "I hate this!" and start slamming doors. It got worse when I was a teen: two or three bland meals a week and after a few weeks I would refuse to eat those meals.

My issues fall into two categories: particular foods I don't like (smells); and particular combinations of foods I don't like (textures).

I don't like matured cheeses. The smell makes me retch—really retch. From mature cheeses, the smell of butyric acid and isovaleric acid both stand out as individual smells and I don't integrate their combination into a "tasty cheese" smell, I associate them only with other common sources of those acids: vomit and smelly feet, respectively. Nothing that smells like that is going into my mouth.

I tried tea and coffee as a kid, really didn't like them and never tried them again. I have grown to tolerate the taste of coffee in, say, desserts, and I quite like the aroma. However, I feel there is no point in getting hooked on caffeine and becoming one of those boring types who extol the virtues of coffee and how great it is at getting their day started. (Of course it is, you're in withdrawal from your caffeine addiction. Your "hit" only makes you feel normal.)

What caused me most issues as a kid was (and I only figured this out recently) combinations of foods that lacked distinctive flavours and textures. At some point in my day, I need a big hit of flavour and texture, or I will not be happy. As a kid, if similarly boring, bland and untextured meals were served to me day after day, I could start with the "Not again!", move on to "Why do we have to have this?", escalate to "I hate this!" and start slamming doors. It got worse when I was a teen: two or three bland meals a week and after a few weeks I would refuse to eat those meals.

Big thank you for sharing that and being honest. I was interested to know as my son struggles to eat a varied diet, it’s more than the usual preferences it’s an outright refusal so he’s down to a restrictive dinner diet of cheese and pasta, cheese and tomato pizzas, sausages and chicken dippers. He’s been this way since he first started eating foods, I remember feeding him peas for the first time and even as a baby he would retch so it’s been a long standing issue. I believe he has ARFID a long with a lot of other autistic traits. Thankfully he does eat most fruits but does also prefer snacking over big meals.