Food: Hypersensitive; Hyposensitive or somewhere in the middle?

I do eat the pineapple raw and on it's own, I like that the taste of it is both sweet and sharp at the same time. 

I guess if you have gut health problems then probiotics would help with that?

The vegan cafe seems interesting! I made a vegan orange cake a couple of years ago as there was a few recipes from 'Deliciously Ella' in Sainsbury's magazine that month and as we had guests due that weekend, I thought I'd give one of the recipes a go. It tasted different but still good and very nutty! Because ground almonds were used in place of another ingredient, I can't remember what now, a lot of things were substituted for something else. I'll have to dig that recipe out again! The French chain restaurant with a Parisian vibe seems nice!

I mostly drink Nescafe but every so often Aldi has Beanies flavoured coffee in stock (for cheaper than in Sainsbury's) and I get that when they have it. At the moment I've got Cinder Toffee flavour which is good and Caramel popcorn flavour which disappointed me as I could only taste the popcorn and not the caramel :-( I think that coffee wakes me up a bit and stops me from being as mentally foggy as I would be without it. If you don't already drink it though, it's probably best not to start as caffeine is addictive, I get caffeine withdrawal headaches when I cut down on the amount of coffee that I drink!

I also love food! I'd have to add a good helping of sweet chilli sauce to that beans on toast though :-)

I keep saying  that I don't have a thing about textures but I've been reading through my own replies and it would seem that I do have a thing about mashed/smooth food with unexplained lumps in it! Well there's no telling what the lump might be right? That's interesting that you like the contrast of different food textures, are there any other good food texture combinations? 

I've never really been one for tomato sauce, except with burgers or sausages. I am making up for it with the sweet chilli sauce though!

I wonder what it is about the texture of pineapple that causes you to react like that, the crunchiness perhaps?

I didn't used to like yoghurts with bits of fruit in them when I was a child either, I thought the bits were something offensive, not sure what! Are there any foods that you do enjoy?

What do you eat on what days?

It's always sensible to know what you're going to order before you get to the restaurant as it saves having to spend ages deciding what to eat once you're there! I always get my eldest to decide what she will order before we go out to eat as she is the most indecisive person ever and will easily take over half an hour to decide what she wants to eat when we go out!

Definitely! It's easier to just keep eating/doing the same old thing over and over!

I think sometimes we just get stuck with something and even though we want to change it, it just sort of sticks, for longer than it should do! I'm sure you will eventually move past toast and marmalade, hopefully onto something that you do like!

I absolutely adore food, bland and plain or adventurous and spicy. I could eat beans on toast everyday, for every meal for a year and not get bored. (My body wouldn't thank me for it though!!)

I think it's more the texture of food I love. I love chewing crunchy biscuits and feeling the transition to it going 'gooey'. I sometimes ephasise this feeling by eating a biscuit and then half way through chuck something soft in like a jaffa cake! I like a consistent volume of food in my mouth at any given time when I'm eating meals which is why I eat far too fast... 

Since I was a child I put tomato sauce on EVERYTHING! It brings familiarity to every meal and a meal isn't the same without it. I've been known to go to very fancy restaurants, have an amazing steak (blue of course), and then request tomato sauce to dip it in! 

Textures can also cause me intense displeasure and are one of the few things I cannot control in public. One of the worst offenders for me is pineapple. If I sink my front teeth into raw pineapple I will stand up, I will flap my hands and I will tell it to **** off!

I think it's a topic that will get a lot of very different responses!

Well I can kind of understand only wanting to eat chocolate :-) A few people have mentioned sensitivity to textures, I really don't think the texture of food bothers me though! I love the smell of coconut but not the flavour of the actual fruit, that is another thing that I wouldn't eat by choice, oh and raw carrots, I'm not a fan of those either! I'm not too keen on processed peas either, I used to refuse to eat them when I was a child and still avoid them now, garden peas are much nicer, I don't 'do' mushy peas either! I agree with you about gherkins, I do not see the point in gherkins! I used to hate in when I was younger and got a burger from McDonalds only to have to sit and pick out the bits of gherkin before I could eat the burger, I actually switched to burger king because of gherkins! I'm also a very habitual eater, I always have bran flakes with milk and a banana for breakfast and have done so for months; also for either lunch or dinner I will have baked salmon with rice and salad/tomatoes, I've done that for months too. So there's only really one meal a day that I frequently vary. It makes food shopping easier right?

Do you eat the pineapple raw on its own? I haven't had it in years, I can't remember if I like it or not now.

I might be dependent on the probiotics, it depends how you look at it. I would say it's more that they should be an integral part of most people's diets, or at least people who have gut health problems anyway. They may not need to be taken forever though.

That Afro-Caribbean restaurant sounds tempting. Where I live there's a vegan cafe that I like. I've only eaten there once but they make their own biscuits and cakes, salads, soups and one main dish. There's a French chain restaurant on a corner called Bistrot Pierre that's quite nice too, with a diverse menu and very airy and bright, and has a bit of a Parisian kind of vibe.

I agree, sugar is addictive. As you say it's your habits, whether or not you crave them.

What kind of coffee do you drink? Does that give you energy?

That's useful info about the potatoes, the Chinese are quite wise when it comes to food culture.

You really should give it a go.

I will be sticking to rice for now.

I might have to go and buy a block of Stilton today, I feel like eating some now!

'Cheese hangover' :-)

A couple of people that have responded to this thread have mentioned having difficulties or preferences regarding certain textures of foods, personally I don't think that I'm bothered by different textures. Oddly, I'm not a huge fan of cooked tomatoes, although I can eat them and I'm fine with them incorporated as part of a dish such as spaghetti bolognese. What textures do you prefer?

I don't use vinegar either but it's got nothing to do with the taste, I actually like the taste of vinegar and will eat it with pickled onions or as salt and vinegar crisps. I just managed to make an association in my head when I was 6 between having eaten vinegar the night before and getting a sickness bug! Unfortunately, although I realise logically that the vinegar had nothing to do with it, I've never managed to unlearn/over-ride that association and still won't put vinegar on food! 

Do you use spices in food more for heat than flavour then?

I might have to try some sauerkraut juice as it seems to be so popular!

Maybe better to stick with rice then? 

It must be difficult having food sensitivities?

I'm glad that not eating carbs is making you feel better though! Honey in yoghurt sounds tasty! I've never had sauerkraut juice! Fruit is good, I'm really into pineapple and pink lady apples at the moment. I still use a hand operated press for squeezing oranges/lemons/limes when I need to use their juice in cooking.

It's good that the probiotics are helping you to digest everything else, do you become dependant on the probiotics?

I don't eat out often but I've been out, a couple of times for a meal at a relatively new Afro-caribbean restaurant, their food is really good! What type of restaurant would you eat at if you did eat out? There's a Hungry Horse near here which is good too :-)

Water is good, I'm trying to replace some of my drinks of coffee with water instead!

I swear that sugar is addictive! I haven't eaten chocolate or anything sugary since last year (apart from a few bits around Christmas time) and since not eating it, I don't crave it, I really couldn't care less for chocolate or sweet food at the moment. However, I used to be so addicted to chocolate and sweet things like cakes and biscuits, if you eat them regularly then your body gets used to it and craves them every day. 

I always make sure that I eat enough 'good' carbohydrates such as potatoes/rice/pasta/ otherwise my energy levels drop, I can't have a meal that doesn't include carbohydrates otherwise I get faint. Be careful though if you are sensitive to carbohydrates.

I'd agree. I only eat certain things on certain days, and if I'm going to a restaurant I know what I'm ordering.

Cheese is worth it, so much.

Kitsune said:

What sort of mushy food with strong flavours?

Loads of different types of curry, arrabiata, mofongo (the Panamainan style), meat and tatties, stovies, tagine, gumbo, chicken sofrito, brown stew chicken, run down chicken, and many more.......if it doesn't take much chewing, and is tasty, I'm good.

Kitsune said:

omelettes are good, there are endless different variations of ingredients that can be added to an omelette!

Goats cheese and chives is my favourite. Foo Yung is basically an omelette too, Foo Yung Dan is best.

Kitsune said:

What are your 3 best cheeses?

That is a very, very tough question. There's lots of cheeses like ricotta, and other cream cheese type cheeses that aren't so much cheeses that are for basic eating. I'll go with ones that are easy to find and cheeseboard type cheeses. Number one is one called Crackler, it's got big soduim lactate crystals in it, real mature. Number two would be Boursin, it's a classic and great to just whack in a lettuce leaf and eat. For number three I'd say Gorgonzola, it is the stench of cheese. So good melted onto a margarita in little bits, it just adds cheese to chesse there. I'm a big fan of cheese, I'll travel for some cheeses, there's a few farms by the roadside in the country near here, and they do unpasturised stuff. If I go to the West Country I put on a few pounds, it's cheese heaven. My cheese rankings change though!

Kitsune said:

You drink a lot of milk then?

Lots. Too much.

Kitsune said:

I can't eat aniseed now either. What's holy basil? I've never heard of it before.

Aniseed is evil. Holy basil is an asian basil, I use it in stuff like Thai Green Curry, sometimes Tamarind Duck.

Kitsune said:

I love coffee! Too much!! I had done really well cutting down to two cups a day a little while back, then half term happened!! 

If I drink coffee I feel like a tweaker or crackhead. It really hits me. Not sure why. I can eat coffee cake or ice cream, if I drink it though it makes me feel real weird.

Kitsune said:

Ice cream tastes good but I can't eat it often as my gums are so sensitive to extremes of temperature. Me trying to eat Ice cream ends up being a really torturous slow drawn out process! You're lucky you can eat it!

Oh I get those Sensodyne moments! It's just so good I ignore it though!

Kitsune said:

Biscuit thread bumped ;-)

Biscuits are a thing of beauty, only with milk though! Apart from digestives, which should be eaten with cheese!

I wonder if its because we are such creatures of habit/routine so tebd to stick to what we are used to?