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6 Jedi Mind Tricks That Convince People To Eat HealthyIt’s A Texture Thing: How To Get Over Slimy, Spongy And Other Unfamiliar Food Textures
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Taste is the sensation we usually associate with food, but picky eaters can be just as fixated on texture as flavor. Ask someone who doesn’t like mushrooms or eggplant what turns them off and they are just as likely (if not more likely) to say the food is “slimy” or “mushy” as they are to complain about the taste.
Of course texture is important. It is the essential difference between fresh and stale popcorn, and the springy crunch of a fresh grilled shrimp versus the rubbery give of an over-boiled one. But for most picky eaters, the issue is rarely a matter of cooking preference.
In the human mind, texture is easily associated with other non-edible, and often gross looking, sounding or smelling substances. A picky eater who doesn’t like a specific texture will often describe the food as feeling like brains, snot, rubber or other things most of us would agree are unappetizing. Once this association is made, the idea can overpower any pleasurable that might come from the food.
One way to address this is to form a new association. One reader I spoke with says he was able to overcome the “dead tongue” feeling of raw fish in sushi when a friend suggested he think of it like lunch meat instead. Though sushi and lunch meat have little in common, this small shift in perception was enough for him to become an avid sushi lover.
To implement this on your own, try to think of a food you enjoy with a similar texture as one you don’t like. For instance, instead of associating a tomato with snot (I lost track of the number of people who have told me this), try pudding, egg yolk or a fruit smoothie. If your brain can only come up with gross things, try asking a friend for help.
Another useful technique is to try the offending food in a new setting. An important part of the sushi story is that the person was on vacation in Mexico when he decided to try the raw fish again. When many things are unfamiliar, the strangeness of a particular food texture is less noticeable than it would be if it were the only new thing you were confronting. In another example, a mother cured her child of picky eating by taking him on a trip around the world. The new cultures and environments were enough for her 9-year old to feel comfortable stepping out of his normal habits and be more adventurous.
Indeed, embracing a sense of adventure is very important. Whenever the jet-setting child was nervous about a new food, his mother said she could hear him repeat to himself, “I just have to try it.” And no one forced him to eat anything. Repeated brief exposures to something new is sometimes enough for a person to get over the unfamiliar component, which is often the main reason for the aversion in the first place. If you’re persistent enough, almost everyone can learn to like something new.
A related approach is to try a food cooked in a new way. I’ve helped several people overcome aversions to eggplant that they had attributed to texture by roasting it without much oil. Pan sautéing can often make eggplant oily and slimy, but roasting gives it a more chewy texture. Once these people realize they enjoy the flavor of the food in this new format, the slimy version is suddenly not so bad.
To some extent, aversions to specific food textures is embedded in Western cultures. In contrast, the Chinese culture embraces food texture as a unique element in food, completely distinct from taste. In Chinese cuisine (the real stuff, not Panda Express), ingredients are frequently added solely for texture, such as jellyfish and sea cucumber. They have little flavor on their own but add a springy crunch to a dish that is considered a delicacy. Westerners can learn from this approach and develop a more open mind when trying new foods. When you focus on the texture in food not as something you are being subjected to but as a unique and interesting experience to be appreciated, it can break those unpleasant associations and help you enjoy what a less adventurous palate would struggle with.
If none of these work for you, there is always the bootcamp method. One reader explained how his son overcame his strong aversions to tomatoes and mushrooms in Marine Corps basic. After a day of intense training, the recruits were taken into the mess hall, given a plate of food and five minutes to eat it—the drill sergeant would sometimes count down the final seconds. No other food was available to the recruits, so anything you skipped meant less calories and energy for tomorrow. “The recruits ate what was put in front of them or went hungry,” so his son tried not to think about it and forced himself to choke down everything. It wasn’t until after he left basic that he realized he was over his food aversions.
While real, clinical food aversions do exist that can cause people and even babies to gag and vomit in response to certain food textures, most of us can get over texture issues if we want. Persistence, an adventurous spirit and a few psychological tricks can go a long way.
How did you get over your food texture aversions?
I work with children with autism and “picky eating” is one of the most common symptoms. Often it has to be with their “OCD-like” tendencies (kids won’t eat anything crunchy, any yellow foods, anything too salty, anything too cold, etc), but I have had kids vomit just at the sight of certain foods (like tomatoes!). Anyway, we use a lot of graduated exposure techniques – breaking it down to baby steps and having the child become comfortable with each step. For example, for a week or two, you just have to deal with the tomato on the table (after which you are heavily reinforced). The next step is tomato on your placemat. Then plate. Then you have to touch it. Then smell it. Then lick it. Then bite it, etc.
It sounds ridiculous but for kids iwth special needs, you might need to go that slow in order to get over an aversion. Just forcing a child to stick a tomato in their mouth may create a traumatizing situation, after which he is ten times worse around tomatoes!
Anyway, just another example from my world!
Yep, that’s exactly the kind of clinical case I was referring to at the bottom of the post. Thanks for the insight!
I can’t get over the feeling of cold rice in my mouth when eating sushi. Hence, I hate sushi. I’m South Asian, and to me, rice should be steaming hot, fragrant, and soaked in spiced yogurt or dhal/lentils. The coldness of sushi rice just isn’t appealing.
I haven’t been able to get over it, but I think it’s culturally unacceptable nowadays to not like sushi. It signals you aren’t an adventurous eater (even though I love other Asian cuisines, and other Japanese foods). Any tips?
I don’t think sushi rice is meant to be eaten cold anyway. Much sushi nowadays are offered in ‘fast food’/convenience manner. Maybe try eating at a well-established Japanese resto that serves properly made sushi that isn’t stored and pulled out of the fridge.
I’ve been training myself to like mushrooms by repeated exposure using a variety of different cooking methods. I keep pairing the mushrooms in small quantities with foods that I already know that I like. It’s only been a couple of weeks and already I’m happy to add them to my usual dishes and don’t find them ‘slimy’ anymore.
Gold star for comment of the day!
I have recently acquired a taste for tomatoes beans. I never disliked the flavor of certain foods but some textures do often freak me out. For beans, I slowly started introducing them into meals by essentially diluting them in something crunchy (like lettuce). In the beginning I would find myself picking around them until I would inevitably eat one. Since then, I slowly introduced them into my diet more and more and have come to love them. They make me feel more full and can make a salad last twice as long without me feeling hungry, especially once I was able to add more to a salad. Now they’re my best friends!
Now tomatoes are a different monster! I still find myself picking them out of things, especially when they’re out of season. I conquored my fear of tomatoes by just thinking that it was the source of delicious marinara/pasta sacue. Till this day, I can really only eat them when they’re in season because when they ant, they have no flavor and they just feel soggy with a dull flavor. I also overcame this texture by mixing it with things I enjoy eating and have learned to enjoy the taste and color (and acid) tomatoes add to a dish.
These are such great ideas, thanks for sending this link to help me overcome my oyster aversion! I must admit, it was eating 6 at once on my first experience that’s put me off ever since…so maybe also one at a time to ‘build up’ my tolerance will help too!
I’m one of those clinical cases when it comes to onions (specifically raw). If they aren’t cooked until mush, I can’t eat them. Their taste overwhelms any other flavor in the entire dish and their texture make me gag. I’ve ate them, sometimes without knowing they’re in whatever I’m eating, only to gag and shake and lose my entire appetite. I’ve been through this so often that I don’t vomit anymore, but I still can’t enjoy a meal with them. The real kicker is that I’ve always been TEASED for it, even from my own family. Yes, even as an adult around other adults I get comments like, “I learned how not to be picky, what can’t you?” Even if I ask for the onions to be minced or cooked throughly or just using onion powder, people tend to refuse because I can’t get over my “pickiness.” I realize that for less serious aversions (or ones that stem from never trying a food), you want to be positive with an “Anyone can do it!” attitude, but it seems like so many people just assume that this is the case with me and I’m not trying hard enough. I would be SO much happier if I liked onions since they’re in EVERYTHING and hardly ever cooked in a manner that I’m okay with (beyond caramelized, I’ve tried that). Thanks for giving people like me a shout out though, so that more people can know that there are different kinds/levels of taste aversion.
Ive had an aversion to fish, i dont know why. Im looking to eat healthier sources of protein rather than raw meat. Possibly even Sushi (which i am kind of nervous to try).
What helps me to be more open to it is that plenty of people eat it regularly and often. I loved the bit in the article about chinese textures and finding other ways to compare things
If I was picky with textures I might have been naturally skinny all my life…. I have that problem with my oldest daughter -she hates slimy, mushy….
I like your advise on getting over food aversions by trying food cooked another way. I don’t like to eat okra because it is slimy but recently I learned that if you fry it and eat when it is fresh out of the grease it isn’t as slimy as usual and depending on the batter very tasty. Hence I know eat it more often that way.
I have a big problem with food that is too smooth (especially cold-smooth). I didn’t eat yogurt until I was 20ish years old, for example – until one day I just forced myself to eat it. I was having digestive & yeast problems and was ready to try just about anything. So every day, I would force myself to eat one container of yogurt, even if it took me an hour…and it did, in the beginning. Slowly, I started to like it! Now, several years later, I can even eat the plain varieties without minding (I started with the flavored kinds to help out)!
Sushi (with fish) was another texture problem, which I am still trying to get over. Again, I just force myself to try at least one piece every time I go, and try to combine it with something I love (like avacado). I even found myself thinking about how good it was the other night!
I really like the points you made on Chinese cuisine. As you point out, texture is in fact a very much revered part of Chinese dining. When describing the meal/food, texture is just as important as taste and flavour. Which is why mushrooms are such an important element in Chinese cooking. Certain types of mushrooms offer a pleasant chew when bitten into, while others are enjoyed for its slippery texture. Every dish prepared has both a taste and texture element to it.
My only texture issue is one I don’t think I’ve heard anyone else mention, here or elsewhere: I have trouble with raw veggies and even crisp fruits. Chewing up a raw carrot, or a broccoli sprig, turns it into a mass of particles in my mouth which I physically can’t swallow unless I wash it down. Lightly steamed, yes; raw, no.
I am a teenager and would consider myself a very picky eater. Not because I don’t like the taste, but because I don’t like the textures of them. I partly blame this on my mom as she only fed me the food I would eat, instead of making me try different things.
Now I am trying to eat healthier for my sake, and I can’t figure out a way to get use to the food.
Any tips/help? Maybe substitutes for food that I like, with something “healthy” of the same texture?